AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) both anticipate and enable the outstanding high-definition experience desired and expected by tech enthusiasts and everyday consumers alike. With the ability to handle the demanding workloads in our visually rich lives, APUs are redefining the computing landscape. And, as the software industry embraces APUs with a growing number of applications – like MotionDSP vReveal – you are even more empowered to achieve a phenomenal experience and virtually endless possibilities. As applications continue to be optimized for APUs, users can potentially see increased performance for certain applications through monthly updates to our AMD VISION Engine.

If you are looking for a new notebook or desktop, an APU-powered system is the way to go and we’ve “pinned” nine of the coolest systems on the market in our new AMD APU-powered Laptops & Desktops Pinterest board. Each laptop and desktop links back to one of our technology partner sites to make it easy for you to find more information on (and buy) the product. Here’s a list of products you’ll find on our Pinterest page:

• Gateway NV55SO5u Laptop powered by AMD A8 APU
• Acer AS5560 Laptop powered by AMD A8 APU
• iBUYPower Gamer Mage Desktop powered by AMD FX 8-core processor
• Lenovo ThinkPad X130e powered by AMD E-300 APU
• Lenovo C325 Touchscreen powered by AMD E-450 APU
• HP Pavilion g6 in Dandelion Breeze powered by AMD A-Series APU
• HP TouchSmart 320-1050 Touchscreen All-in-One with AMD A-Series APU
• HP Pavilion dm1z Laptop with AMD E-450 APU
• HP Pavilion dv6 Laptop with AMD A-Series APU

We first launched our AMD Pinterest page in November 2011. Along with our top APU-powered products on Pinterest, you’ll also find some of our favorite tech accessories, including headphones, laptop bags and cases, random gadgets and more. We’d love to hear what (p)inspires you!

Leslie Sobon is the Corporate Vice President, Desktop Product Line Management. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only.  Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

In the past, there’s always been a big performance difference between the “desktop” experience and the “browser” experience. Those lines are beginning to blur, thanks in large part to new standards like WebGL that provide web developers more direct access to the amazing graphics capabilities in modern PCs, like those powered by AMD Radeon™ HD discrete and APU graphics.

That’s why I’m excited about the Google MapsGL announcement. Google MapsGL brings the power of hardware accelerated 3D graphics to Google Maps, providing a better maps experience with smoother transitions, 3D building and ability to “swoop” into Street View without a plug-in.

Here’s a screenshot from my HP Pavilion dm1z powered by the AMD E-350 APU, which has fantastic graphics for such a thin and light notebook…perfect for the new hardware acceleration in Google MapsGL.

Also, check out the MapsGL video posted by Google.

One thing is clear — hardware acceleration is no longer for niche applications. It is used by so many of today’s most popular applications. It can help improve the speed and experience of your favorite software, from browsers to video editing to productivity apps.

I look forward to spending countless more hours roaming the Earth…just a little faster now.

And with plenty of legroom.

Where would you like to see hardware acceleration applied next?

Gabe Gravning is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only.  Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

New Desktop-Like Features in iOS 5:

• Tabbed Browsing: I remember some apologists explaining away the lack of tabbed browsing with the iPad 1. Now Safari has tabs…. on its 9.7″ display.
• Basic Photo Editing: No longer an add-on app like my favorite, Photogene, photo enhancements are available right inside the Photos app. Users can use auto-enhance, remove red eye and even crop photos.
• Reading List: Previously available on the Mac, the iOS Safari browser has the Reading list, a place to save articles you wish to read later.
• Mail Features: Now users can edit email text, add or delete email folders, and even search all the email text, not just the subject line for topics. All of this in the new Mail.
• Calendar Features: Like on Lion, users can drag time bars to set meeting time, can view attachments inside the calendar app and even share calendars.
• Mirroring: Via a cable to wirelessly through an Apple TV 2, see on a monitor or TV exactly what is on the iPad 2 or iPhone 4s.

• Improved Task Switching: With new “multitasking” gestures, users no longer need to click the home button to return to the home screen or switch between apps. They use a four-finger left-to-right gesture to switch tasks and what I call the “claw” to go to the home screen.

New iOS-Like Features in Lion:

• New Gestures: Every iOS user is familiar with finger scrolling, tap to zoom, pinch to zoom and swipe to navigate. Now this is available on a Lion Mac.
• Full Screen Apps: By design, every iOS is full screen. Now Lion has this capability.

• App Store: Required since the first iPhone; now ships with Lion.
• Launchpad: This is Lion’s fancy name for iOSs Home Screen.  This is where users can view their app icons.
• Mail Improvements: Yes, even desktop Mail is getting more like iOS. In this case, adding full height message panes.

So What? Why Should We Care?

So what does this mean, if anything? It is too early to tell, but it could signal a few alternative scenarios:

• Unity of UI? By uniting many of the UI elements across phone, tablet and computer, quite possibly it could make switching between iPhone, iPad and Mac easier. Also, as advanced HCI techniques like voice and air gesture emerge, do input techniques get even closer? Can one metaphor work across three different sized devices?
• Easier Switch to Mac from Windows? The logic here says, even if you were brought up on a Windows PC, if you can use an iPhone or iPad, you can use a Mac.
• Modularity? I’ve always believed that a modular approach could work well in certain regions and consumer segments, but only if the OS and apps morphed with it. For example, a tablet with a desktop metaphor makes no more sense that a desktop with a tablet metaphor. What if they could morph based on the state but keep some unifying elements? For instance, my tablet is a tablet when it’s not docked. When docked it acts more like you would expect with keyboard and mouse. They two experiences would be unified visually and with gestures so that they didn’t look like two different planets, but two different neighborhoods in the same city.
• Desktop OS Dead or Changing Dramatically? What is a desktop OS now? If a desktop OS is a slow-booting, energy-consuming, keyboard-mouse only, complex system, then Microsoft is killing it with Windows 8 next year anyways, so no impact.
• Simplicity Dead? If phone and tablet OSs are becoming more like desktop OSs, is that good for simplicity? Or are desktop operating systems getting more like phone and tablet operating systems? How do you mask the complexity and still be able to do a lot?

Where We Go From Here

We will all get a front row seat next year to see how users react to one interface on three platforms. Windows 8 will test this next year and Metro UI will be on phones, tablets and PCs. The only caveat here is the Windows 8 desktop app for traditional desktop which will server as a release valve for angst and a bridge to the future. Whatever the future holds, it will be interesting.

Pat Moorhead is Corporate Vice President and Corporate Marketing Fellow and a Member of the Office of Strategy at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied

]]> http://blogs.amd.com/home/2011/10/13/ios-5-trying-hard-to-be-a-desktop-os/feed/ 0 http://blogs.amd.com/home/2011/10/12/icloud-is-awesome-yet-incomplete/ http://blogs.amd.com/home/2011/10/12/icloud-is-awesome-yet-incomplete/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:26:08 +0000 Pat Moorhead http://blogs.amd.com/home/?p=5165 Continue reading]]> After release to developers at Apple’s WWDC, the Apple iCloud is available to all consumers today with access to iOS 5 and updated iTunes.  In many ways, it is incredible that millions will have access to the consumer power of the cloud.  It’s very integrated into the experience, but then again, it’s incomplete when compared to the best-in-breed cloud apps and services available today.  Will that make a difference in consumer acceptance?  Let’s see.

What Makes a Great Cloud Experience?

A few applications define by example what a great cloud app or service can provide.  These are Evernote, Amazon Kindle, and Netflix.  What makes these great examples of consumer cloud offer?   While very different in terms of usage, they share similar variables that in aggregate make them awesome:

• Cross Platform: Windows, OSX, iOS, Android and the web.  Kindle and Netlix are even available on special-purpose devices like the Kindle and Roku.  Consumers can buy into the service and not worry about the platform going away.
• Continuous Computing: Continuous computing means a few different things. On content consumption, the next device picks up exactly where the last device left off. On Netflix, if I am halfway through a movie on my iPad I can pickup at the same spot on my Roku. When I pick up another Kindle device, it asks me whether I want to go to the latest bookmark.
• Sync: While a step back from continuous computing, it does assure that the same files are on the same system. On Evernote, every change I make is in synch when I open up the next device.
• Continuous Improvement: Monthly and even weekly updates to add features and functionality.
• Compatible and Data Integrity: Even with all these updates, the data keeps its integrity.  If the service has a question about which version is the master, it asks me.  Evernote will tell me that I have a duplicate entry and lets me pick the version or content I want.

iCloud: Cross Platform

As we all know, Apple by design works in its own walled garden but that doesn’t mean its completely closed off.  You cannot get iCloud enabled apps like Pages, Numbers, Keynote or iBooks for Windows or Android.   Even worse, you cannot get to your photos and PhotoStream on any mobile device other than iOS.  To be fair, users can get access to Photo Stream on a Windows PC via iTunes, but users should at least be allowed access to their own photos over the web if they want. Users can access iWork compatible documents on all “modern” browsers by going to iCloud.com and downloading files.  Windows users then need to drag and drop the updated file inside the web-based iCloud.com. - Grade D

iCloud: Sync

iCloud will automatically  ”sync” photos (Photo Stream), purchased music and TV shows (iTunes), apps, letters (Pages), spreadsheets (Numbers), and presentations (Keynote), reminders, calendar, email, notes, and contacts.

There are some major exceptions.  iWork documents will not auto sync with the Windows “Documents” folder, as I think users would expect.  Sugarsync, am iCloud and Drobbox will automatically sync documents with Windows.  Also, personal videos and commercial movies do not sync on any platform which I don’t fully understand.  Maybe its a concern with storage on iOS devices or storage and throughput  in the iCloud. - Grade B

iCloud: Continuous Computing

Within iOS phones and tablets, users can start right where they left off for TV shows, games (Games Center) and book bookmarks (iBooks).

iCloud will not save the “state” for playing music (Music), playing movies (Videos), or web pages (Safari).  Add the PC and Mac into the continuous computing arena and iCloud experience starts to degrade for most all use cases for a variety of reasons.  iOS games don’t run or sync on a Mac or PC and on Windows  platforms iWork isn’t available.  Consumers over time will expect continuous computing on every usage model on every platform, the way Evernote does it today. - Grade C

iCloud: Continuous Improvement

I cannot definitively answer this question as it will emerge over time, but I must extrapolate from what I have seen from previous drops of Apple software. Apple software drops, iOS in particular, have been consistent, often, and very solid code. – Grade A

iCloud: Compatible and Data Integrity

So far so good, even on difficult to manage applications like word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.  I make a one line change to a document without going back to “Documents” inside Pages, the one line changed on every other system. – Grade A

What, not Straight A’s?

Apple has never needed to achieve a 4.0 in everything to be successful.  Getting all A’s in the core segment of users and building useful solutions that just work has been the hallmark.  The first iPhone proved this and the iPhone 4s will prove this again as everyone else offers 4G but Apple doesn’t have to. A good fallback to Continuous Computing in good Sync, and I believe that as long as Apple still allows other services with better capabilities into their walled garden, it won’t be an issue now. Over time, I believe Apple will fill in the gaps in iCloud and that have fully thought through where they could add the most value and that’s what they hit first.  Your move, Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

Technology allows me to document the moments that mean the most to me: time spent with my family; the day-to-day events which are forever in danger of being taken for granted. Were it not, that is, for home movie making. For whilst this is no doubt a thorn in my wife’s side, it allows me to capture moments to be looked back on fondly in years to come.

It has to be said that it’s with great joy that I weave these clips together into something a whole lot more presentable and tangible than my unsteady hand and chuckling narration can testify to.

Now to the technological details which allow this to happen: there’s this fantastic MotionDSP software called vReveal which is accelerated by the AMD A-Series APU, making the video editing process that much more rewarding. The MotionDSP software specializes in cutting-edge video image processing, providing fantastic performance in terms of quality, speed, and ease of use. Essentially, it makes it a whole lot clearer when once it was a blurry undeterminable image.

With this software you’re able to do great things with both video and smartphone footage you may otherwise lose heart on. There’s a One-Click-Fix function, which allows you close to real time clean-up of videos. It enables you to use things like color correction, brightness and contrast adjustments, sharpening, and even flipping of images should you so wish. This is all done super simply too – the fact that my kids often join in to help is a testament to this.

With vReveal and AMD’s innovative technology, those shaky handheld videos can be restored to a smooth, enjoyable format you can then mold and play with to create your presentable home movie. Trust me, when you’re bringing your family and friends round to watch something you’ve slaved over for the past number of nights, you need the highest quality to truly astound them!

Take a look at this video which showcases MotionDSP’s vReveal software accelerated by the AMD A-Series APU, and see for yourself the benefits it brings to consumers when they are video editing: “AMD A-series APUs power vReveal’s panoramas from video”

Michal Lisiecki is Product Marketing Manager EMEA at AMD and has worked for ATI/ AMD since 2005. He is our photo and video expert. Being a family man with three kids, Michal spends a lot of time videotaping them and capturing the memories and experiences using new software to make video filming easier for everyday use. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

Delivered Responsiveness

Amazon had a great showing at their launch event, but attendees weren’t able to freely touch the tablet themselves.  Demos were carefully scripted that showed how good the responsiveness was.  I remember how amazingly responsive the TouchPad tablet demos were, only to be disappointed at launch with the lags.  The lags were quickly fixed with a patch a few weeks later, but the damage was done.  Basic pinch, zoom, page turn, app load and app close must be responsive or it will just feel cheap.  Buying a tablet with bad touch is buying a car with a loose steering wheel and a missing tire.

Display Quality on Videos and Photos

At 7”, to effectively see video content at the same size versus a 10” tablet, users must hold it closer to their face.  Will we be able to see pixels?  Hold the original iPhone close to your face, play a video, and you can see the pixels.  That for me could be a deal breaker, but hey, that’s me.  At $199, the Kindle Fire is a less considered purchase, but still considered.  Heck, consumers return $5 food items because they didn’t like it, so don’t think they wouldn’t return a $199 Kindle Fire if it didn’t do what they expected.

Video Content Quality

I am one of the few people who own a Google TV.  While I like the Amazon streaming service, it can get quite pixelated at times.  It happens a lot more than it happens on Netflix, too, which leads me to surmise that it’s an Amazon issue. Bandwidth won’t be an issue on the downloaded content, but, again, what about the quality?  I have downloaded movies from Amazon Unbox on my laptop and sometimes they are pixelated in spots.  My laptop is 1366×768 on a large display and the Kindle Fire has 1024X600 resolutions at 7”, so probability will hopefully be small. The final question is how 16:9 content looks on a 16:10 display.  Will there be black blocks on the top or bottom of the display or will the content be zoomed in and possibly blurry?

Software Storage Footprint

With 8GB of storage, users will need to be very choosy with what movies, TV shows, music, games, apps and app content they store on the tablet. So the software storage footprint gets important.  For example, if it takes 2GB, that leaves 6GB left for apps and content. The Amazon Cloud storage is great, but who wants to be deleting and re-downloading songs and apps to make room for a downloaded movie or a game that requires a huge, secondary download after install?

Let’s take a look on iTunes at the popular movie “X-Men: First Class”. It packs a 1.79 GB download. While I don’t think the Amazon “portable” version will weigh in at this size, users will still need to think about their storage, and that’s never good.

Silk Web Acceleration

Silk promises many things, and to the user it promises faster web page downloads for a more enjoyable browsing experience.  It could, potentially, eliminate any browser compatibility issues with the device and a web page. For example, even if the Silk browser didn’t support [?] the latest or oldest web standards, by pre-rendering certain elements of the page, the user wouldn’t detect a thing, only that they can interact with the web page.

This begs about 100 questions, but I’ll leave that for another analysis.  I do have a few I will highlight.

• Privacy: Amazon knows everywhere I’ve been.  Is there a way to opt out?  How will it protect my personal information?
• Standards: Which will it support, which won’t it?
• Security: Will it capture my passwords?
• Control: Will user have any kind of control over which sites get “silked” and which ones don’t?  I can’t expect Amazon to pre-render every site correctly, particularly the smaller ones.

Conclusion

On paper, the Amazon Kindle Fire appears to provide an exceptional value proposition for the consumer who is on a budget and cannot afford the iPad 2.  There are, however, many unknowns that have yet to be determined that could impact the user’s experience.  My experience with Amazon is that they under-promise and over-deliver.   It’s been that way since their existence.  I don’t think they are going to stop that given the importance of Kindle Fire to Amazon.  I ordered mine within 5 minutes of the “doors” open up and I’ll hopefully have the answers to these questions above.

Pat Moorhead is Corporate Vice President and Corporate Marketing Fellow and a Member of the Office of Strategy at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied

Acer Iconia W500, Tablet and Clamshell PC

The first tablet I used was in 1991. It was the NCR 3125, was pen-based, and ran Go operating system and Windows for Pen Computing. Yes, Microsoft was in tablets almost 20 years ago.

The W500 thankfully has evolved a little over this period. The W500 is Windows 7-based and comes with a dual core AMD APU with discrete-level AMD Radeon™ graphics. Leveraging the strength of Windows, it also ships with a dock with a full size keyboard, USB ports and wired Ethernet. This lets you use the W500 as a full clamshell PC, as well as a tablet.

Touch, Windows, and the W500

One of the most notably things I experienced was the touch experience. I have used many Windows-based tablets, UMPCs  and MIDs previously, but never stuck with them for more than week. The pen just didn’t match my personal workstyle and finger-stylus didn’t work well on any unit I used. The Acer W500 was different, though, very different. When I used Microsoft applications, it worked pretty well and was responsive enough. And yes, there is a little auto orientation and pinch and zoom lag. I’m not saying it trounces the touch experience of the iPad, but is light years beyond anything I have previously experienced on Windows. It’s apparent Acer and Microsoft did a lot of work here.

Top Things I Really Liked About the W500 Tablet

The fact is, every piece of electronics has pros and cons. That’s true for the W500. What I’d like to focus on are the things I really liked about the experience. There is enough Windows bashing out there that I don’t need to spend the time on that.

• Video Content: With the W500, you don’t have to worry or face the complexity of which paid video service will play back. Whether you prefer videos available from Apple, Amazon, Vudu (WalMart), Blockbuster, or the full library of YouTube, the W500 can play it. This is a big issue with today’s tablets. Today, iOS and Android are limited in paid content playback. There’s no Amazon Video, Blockbuster or YouTube LeanBack for iOS. Android tablets cannot playback Hulu, Blockbuster, Amazon Video, or Netflix. YouTube is interesting, too. Ever click on a YouTube and it says, “cannot play on this type of device”? That says the content provider doesn’t allow it to be played on mobile devices, namely iOS and Android.

The other area is video format. Most tablets only support a small band of video formats. Consider that very few, if any, of your home videos would ever natively run on the iPad. The W500 can play virtually any file format on the planet today.

• Video quality: The W500 can take advantage of what could be considered the world’s most sophisticated tablet GPU, the AMD Radeon™ HD 6250. It has the AMD Vision Engine, the fancy name for the hardware and software that make videos look better. Take a video that’s “jerky”, one of millions that get taken with smartphones every single day. The AMD Vision Engine includes features to help reduce “jerkiness” and helps make the video more enjoyable to watch. Also, video can be upscaled when taken at a lower resolution than the display, which when using a phone, is mostly the case. The W500 upscales the video and applies filters that help make it look smoother and better.

• Home Content Access: One of tablet theories is that the user doesn’t need as much storage as a PC so they will get the high density somewhere else, like the cloud. The other place is content on other devices inside the home. The W500 has what I consider the best DLNA client, Windows Media Player (WMP) . I could access almost every picture, song and video off of my other PCs in the house. In fact, even if I am away from the house I could get access to my content at home via the “Stream” function in WMC. In contrast, I have used virtually every other DLNA client out there and have had minimal success at best. The one exception is Air Video for iOS that will actually transcode on the fly.

• Multi-Monitor: With the W500, I can connect to a larger display and run two sets of content. I found this most valuable when using this is a productivity environment. For instance, I am typing this blog on the W500 connected to a 22” Samsung SyncMaster at 1080P while having my calendar and message window on the tablet Window. I’ll have to experiment more on the home entertainment side and report back on my experiences. The first one that comes to mind is displaying Amazon VOD on the 60” HDTV via HDMI while surfing the web on the tablet’s display. I simply cannot do this with any other media tablet available today.

• Peripheral Connectivity: I can connect digital cameras, video cameras, scanners, printers, USB flash drives, keyboards, mice, and even more storage, directly to the W500. Yes, I can print too, and without being connected to the internet or have a special monitor. I know, duh, it’s Windows. Some iOS and Android tablets can do some of these things, but only the W500 can do them all, and do it consistently.

• Full Web with Real Browsers: I know, I am getting into fighting words here. But, surprising to me, I liked my interaction on the full and complete web with full tabbed browsers like Internet Explorer 9. Sites with Flash-based interfaces and even passwords were all supported. Flash-based content, too, all there. Sites like Twitter, with the full Twitter capabilities. The speed of moving through all the features of ESPN.com. Quickly going through Facebook photos and Picasa Web photos.

• Photo Management: I really appreciated the ability to take the SD card from my digital camera, import, quickly triage, tag faces, and upload to Picasa web. I am able to do this with other tablets, but it takes special peripherals like the iPad Photo Kit and triaging the pictures just takes so long, not to mention the inability to tag people on the device. I shouldn’t have to have two devices to do this, should I? While I give kudos to the folks who developed “Web Albums” for iOS, I experience perpetual stalls as I am uploading. Anyone who uses Web Albums knows what I am talking about.

• Productivity: Let’s admit it, a keyboard, mouse and multitasking just make many people more productive, whether it’s a Mac or a PC. Now of course it depends on the type of productivity and work environment. Because the W500 comes with an attachable keyboard and is Windows, I am infinitely more productive doing what I do, which is communicating, researching, and producing content, normally involving PowerPoint, Excel, Email, and a Browser. I constantly tab back and forth, back and forth. The alt-enter key and task bar are my secret work weapon. I have tried and tried many times with my previous media tablets to do this and just haven’t been successful. I do love doing email triage with my iOS and Android tablets.

• MS Office: The W500 enables 100% compatibility with MS Office and office documents like Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook. Duh….its Windows. I have used virtually every iOS and Android-based office productivity suite out there, all of their updates, and it just isn’t the same. If just one slide that has been created in PowerPoint and translated to Docs To Go presentation gets messed up, it could blow an entire presentation. Can you imagine presenting to your CEO, hitting that key slide and it’s garbled? It’s not just me as no one I know who presents with PowerPoint or does Excel will only travel on a business trip with their tablet.

Conclusion

After going deep with no less than 10 non-Windows tablets and just as many MIDs, I had some very positive experiences with the Acer Iconia W500. Again, I’m not saying it’s perfect for everyone, cannot be improved, and everyone must buy one now or they’re dumb, but I found many elements I could get very excited about, particularly after my prior experiences with Windows touch display devices. AND, my expectation is that with the next version of Windows, I could consider ditching my iPad, but that’s a long way away and many things can and will change along the way.

Have a flame, comment or question? Let me know below.

Pat Moorhead is Corporate Vice President and Corporate Marketing Fellow and a Member of the Office of Strategy at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party sites, products and trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

See Pat’s bio here or past blogs here.

Follow @PatrickMoorhead on Twitter.

Haven’t heard about this particular PC? Well, it’ll be available sooner than you think, thanks to the world’s first Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). The AMD Fusion APU represents one of the largest research and development investments ever made in the history of microprocessors. It’s the reason AMD bought ATI Technologies in 2006. It’s the reason AMD is singularly poised to take the PC into its third generation. It’s the reason we will soon have PCs like never before. And it’s launching at CES 2011.

This is a big deal. It’s a defining moment in the history of the PC. The AMD Fusion APU puts multi-core CPU (x86) technology, DirectX®11 GPU graphics and parallel processing engine, a dedicated HD video acceleration block, and a high-speed bus all on the same piece of silicon. All together.

And with everything together, the possibilities are endless. So we thought CES would be a great time not only to celebrate this milestone, but to have some fun discussing all of these possibilities.

We’ll be doing just that next Tuesday evening (January 4, 2011) in Las Vegas at the House of Blues. We have invited some cool guys to talk about how the PC is finally growing up to be the sexy showstopper we all knew it could be.

Emceeing our event will be Joel McHale. The host of E!’s The Soup, star of the sitcom Community, and stand-up funny man is taking time from his busy schedule poking fun at Wendy Williams to give the PC some love.

We will have three panelists joining Mr. McHale on stage. First up is Steven Bathiche (A.K.A. Stevie B) from Microsoft Corp.’s Applied Sciences Group. Mr. B co-invented Microsoft Surface. And much of his work around novel human interfaces is behind the ‘have-to have’ holiday gift: Kinect for Xbox 360.

Mr. B will be joined by Joel Silver, cofounder of the Imaging Science Foundation. Mr. Silver introduced video image quality calibration services into consumer electronics, and has been instrumental on advancing electronic imaging quality. He’s a key guy to thank for HDTVs.

Rounding out our panel will be AMD’s CEO Dirk Meyer. Mr. Meyer will discuss how we’ll soon realize the PC’s true potential: from new user-interfaces, to next-gen HD, to personal supercomputing, to advanced security. Things that are made possible with an AMD Fusion APU.

It’s the work and passion of these gentlemen for creating the new PC era that drove us to this celebration event at CES. Whole new worlds will open up with the PC this decade, and their imagination can now be realized.

What you would imagine for the PC these next 10 years? Leave a comment below with your predictions. And, if you’ll be in Las Vegas on Tuesday January 4th, 2011 and would like to join us for the evening, send us your name (plus up to one guest) to AMDCES2011@bitecommunications.com. We have 20 passes to the party that will be issued on a first come, first served basis. The event kicks-off at 7 p.m.

See you there!

Leslie Sobon is Corporate Vice President, Product Marketing at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

*AMD defines “all day battery life” as 8+ hours using industry standard tests.

It’s almost Cyber Monday and AMD is on the lookout for deals on AMD-based products in stores and online. If you seek Cyber Monday deals, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/amd and there you will find a deal stream full of bargains on notebooks, desktops, processors, motherboards and Radeon^TM graphics cards featuring AMD technology. If you want to help us source deals and enter our contest to win a notebook PC or an AMD Phenom^TM II X6 processor, login to Twitter and post information on your deal with the hashtag #AMDdeals.

With high technology wizardry we pull the tweeted deals onto our Facebook page for all to see. With great prizes and help from some dedicated deal seekers we hope you will be able to find a notebook, processor, or DIY component at a great price. The prize matrix and contest rules are posted online and here is a guide to the deal stream.

DEAL SEEKERS

Just go to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AMD and click to view the deal stream. That’s it. You can also see the stream using a twitter search for #AMDdeals on notebooks, desktops, AMD Phenom^TM II processors, or Radeon graphics.

DEAL FINDERS & CONTEST ENTRY

Want to help the deal seekers and get an opportunity to win some great prizes? Follow these steps:

• The contest will run from Sunday November 28, 2010 to Monday, November 29, 2010
• Find great AMD deals at e-tailers from around the web, and submit deals on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag, #AMDdeals
• Post and retweet as many deals as you want! Each tweet or retweet submitted will be counted as a separate entry into the contest and you can enter up to five times for each prize period listed here:
  • Sunday November 28^th from 12:00 a.m. CT – 6:00 a.m. CT
  • Sunday November 28^th from 6:00 a.m. CT – 6:00 p.m. CT
  • Sunday November 28^th from 6:00 p.m. CT – 12:00 a.m. CT
  • Monday November 29^th from 12:00 a.m. CT – 6:00 a.m. CT
  • Monday November 29^th from 6:00 a.m. CT – 6:00 p.m. CT
  • Monday November 29^th from 6:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. CT
• Everyone will be able to see the latest deals on the deal stream
• Eligible contestants will be entered to win a prize when they tweet or retweet a deal during each prize period.
• Prizes being given away over the course of the contest include Notebook PCs based on VISION technology from AMD and AMD Phenom^TM II X6 processors.

Click here for full contest rules and details. Thank you for your help in feeding the deal stream and good luck in the contest!

With high tech wizardry, we pull the tweeted deals onto our Facebook page for all to see. With great prizes and help from some dedicated deal seekers we hope you will be able to find a notebook, processor, or DIY component at a great price. Details on the prizes can be found below, and the contest rules are posted here.

Deal Seekers

Just go to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AMD and click to view the deal stream. That’s it! You can also see the stream using a Twitter search for #AMDdeals on notebooks, desktops, AMD Phenom^TM II processors, or Radeon graphics.

Deal Finders & Contest Entry

Want to help the deal seekers and get an opportunity to win some great prizes? Follow these steps:

• The contest will run from Wednesday, November 24, 2010 to Friday, November 26, 2010
• Find great AMD deals at e-tailers from around the web, and submit deals on Twitter using the hashtag, #AMDdeals
• Post and retweet as many deals as you want! Each tweet or retweet submitted will be counted as a separate entry into the contest and you can enter up to five times for each prize period listed here (all times CT):
  • Wednesday, November 24^th from 6:00 am– 4:00 pm
  • Wednesday, November 24^th from 4:00 pm – 12:00 am
  • Thursday, November 25^th every hour from 12:00 am – 6:00 am
  • Thursday, November 25^th from 6:00 am – 4:00 pm
  • Thursday, November 25^th from 4:00 pm – 12:00 am
  • Friday, November 26^th every hour from 12:00 am – 6:00 am
  • Friday, November 26^th from 6:00 am – 4:00 pm
  • Friday, November 26^th from 4:00 pm – 12:00 am
• Everyone will be able to see the latest deals on the deal stream
• Eligible contestants will be entered to win a prize when they tweet or retweet a deal during each prize period
• Prizes being given away over the course of the contest include notebook PCs based on VISION technology from AMD and AMD Phenom^TM II X6 processors

Click here for full contest rules and details.

Black Friday 101

Once you have taken a look at the deal stream, it’s off to the races for Black Friday. If it’s your first time scouring Black Friday deals or you need a refresher, here are some tips.

1. Monitor newspapers, flyers, Twitter and Facebook for coupons and deals
2. Make a list of the items you want in advance.
3. Figure out your budget ahead of time and then compare prices.
4. Look for early bird discounts and early openings and arrange your shopping schedule accordingly.
5. Map out your plan of attack and remember that traffic can be heavy on the roads, in the parking lots, and in the stores.
6. Bring water and snacks for you and the kids, you will likely be out longer than you expect.
7. Stay safe, stay friendly.
8. If you don’t find the deal you are looking for, there is always Cyber Monday!

Thank you for your help in feeding the deal stream and good luck in the contest!

We see signs of this happening every day.  The Internet is all about videos, photos and the sharing of digital content.  And we all want our Internet experiences to be easy and entertaining; the technology should just work.

That’s why I’m excited to see today’s news from our friends at Google.  Like AMD, Google is focused on improving the computing experience, and I believe the industry initiative they are leading to introduce the WebM Internet video format has the potential to do just that.

Announced at Google I/O 2010, the new WebM video format is based on the VP8 codec technology that Google is offering as open source.  The VP8 codec was originally developed by On2 Technologies.  Video compression technologies from On2 have been used by such leading technology companies as Skype, so we might expect the new format to be robust.

With the release of this new video format, Google is taking an open standards approach so that future consumers will be confident that any .webm file will play in any supported player.  And at AMD, we love to hear about other companies that are furthering the cause of open standards, because that is the key to delivering on the promise of the vivid, digital world that’s coming.

What are your thoughts on the WebM video format introduced by Google?  Do you think it can be as pervasive as MPEG?

By the way, I look forward to seeing an animated video version of the Google doodle… 

Jo Albers (@GalJody) is a Manager of Public Relations at AMD. Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

At CES 2010 computing and mobility continued to converge, and a new class of notebook gained moment. It’s called an UltraThin notebook. An UltraThin notebook based on Vision Technology from AMD combines much of the performance and capability of a full sized notebook or desktop PC in a slim and portable notebook PC. At CES, Lenovo introduced the first ever commercial AMD-based Lenovo laptop, the ultra-thin ThinkPad X100e, featuring VISION Pro Technology. Lenovo joins the ranks of HP, Dell, Toshiba, MSI, Acer, and ASUS, in introducing ultra-thin notebooks based on AMD Vision technology.

UltraThin notebooks based on Vision Technology from AMD have multi-core processors based on our latest architecture for balanced performance and multi-tasking capability. They have surprisingly powerful and industry leading integrated graphics capabilities, great for vivid HD video playback on your HD monitor or screen, the stunning interface of Windows 7, and casual gaming. Many also include HDMI video ports for a completely digital flow from your notebook to your big-screen TV for playing HD movies, watching online video, or enjoying family photos and home video. They also may come with Windows 7 Home Premium or Enterprise, enabling you to have the full Windows 7 Experience. Take a look at some of the latest UltraThin notebooks from Hewlett Packard in this video where I discuss the features and capabilities of today’s UltraThin notebooks.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2aNhBb4iCs

AMD’s Simon Solotko Outlines the Features and Capabilities of UltraThin Notebooks

At CES mobile computing was a hot topic as AMD’s CMO Nigel Desseau joined executives from Microsoft, Lenovo, Intel, and enTourage discussing “Netbooks: Here to stay or passing fancy.” Nigel asserts that form factors should not be our focus, but rather “does it solve their problems?” The emergence of smaller, portable devices came as 2009 marked rapid growth in netbook sales and major debates on their capabilities and their limitations.

UltraThin notebooks based on Vision Technology from AMD are designed to be significantly more powerful than today’s “netbooks” and I worry that netbooks which typically provide a fraction of the capability that people expect may have a limited useful life. In Nigel Dessau’s blog he points out that according to research group NPD, 60% of consumers who purchased a netbook thought it would have the same performance as a notebook. In general, netbooks lack the performance necessary to play back high definition video.  They often lack the capability to have a fluid web browsing experience, unable to meet the demands of web technology such as Adobe Flash. In addition, netbooks which employ Windows 7 Basic have typically shown a lack of ability to multi-task in the way that  PC users have become accustomed to.

As applications become more powerful, I want more capability and potential from notebook, not less. I want a notebook that is slimmer, faster, with a great keyboard and large, bright screen. I want to enjoy the upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium or Ultimate with all of their video playback and multi-tasking features and capabilities. With an UltraThin notebook, I have those capabilities in a slim, nicely designed notebook.

The award winning DirectX 11- capable models in the ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series continued to turn heads at CES with the ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card selected as an Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Award winner. At CES 2010 AMD brought similar state-of the art graphics capability to a broad range of notebooks. AMD kicked off a strong start to the year with the launch of the DirectX11-capable models in the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series of graphics chips.  With the introduction of these first DirectX 11-capable mobile processors, notebooks can power vivid gaming and multi-media performance. ATI Stream technology will accelerate a new class of specifically-enabled multi-media tasks on notebooks utilizing a combination processor and graphics technology. With ATI Stream technology-enabled applications, you may edit video with accelerated video rendering with Cyberlink PowerDirector, speed web browsing with accelerate Adobe Flash, and accelerate stunning visuals with Microsoft DirectCompute.

AMD has a number of exciting innovations for mobile computing ahead, improving the performance of mobile solutions while increasing their usefulness and performance. As we bid farewell to CES 2010, we’re looking forward to continue building amazing, vivid mobile experiences in decade ahead.

Simon Solotko is a Senior Advanced Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied

The first is to take on more complex tasks enabling a new kind of user experience.

The second is to serve many persons at once. Combined with the first, we now have persons who are sitting, standing and moving while working, interacting, and enjoying.

The first and second could consume many years of exponential improvements in computing capacity while serving humankind in new and compelling ways.

The third is for machines to idly dream of the day when they will divine their own purpose…

- “Inez Drew”

Q: Could you define the hypothetical home central computer?

A: A multi-user computer which supports several users at once, employing a single pool of computational resources and applications, from multiple locations. Applications may be installed once and used by each user. Settings may be set once and used in each location. User profiles can be customized and each user enjoys their own, separate usage session. The full computing experience is available in multiple locations and computing resources are shared by the group.

Q: What are the envisioned characteristics of a central computer versus a personal computer?

A: The personal computer is personal, being for one user at a time, on a single desktop, in one personal session, in one room. The central computer is designed for several users, each on their own screen, running multiple concurrent, but private sessions, anywhere in the home or beyond. Each user would own a session which encapsulates executing applications, each session mapped to a screen, each screen mapped to its input devices such as a pointer or video camera. Common resources including processing capability, software, data, and media and rich interaction would be available to each user.

Q: From a hardware perspective, how would a central computer differ from a personal computer?

A: A central computer requires additional general purpose computation to support multiple users, high peak-usage behavior to support demanding multimedia tasks while supporting multiple users, capability to accelerate and deliver 3D graphics and video to multiple screens, and multi I/O connectivity to support multiple screens and surfaces in multiple locations throughout the home and beyond.

Q: How might a central computer impact today’s digital home?

A: In today’s digital home a network binds together heterogeneous devices, which in turn are connected to screens, using common protocols such as TCP/IP, HTML, UPnP, and many media formats. In the central computing home, a single computer could be connected to many screens with local input devices. The central computer could be configured to see network devices, peripherals, or the web in a way that provides a personalized experience and uniform access on multiple screens. The benefits of centralized management are as described in prior entries in this series.

Q: How would the operating system of a central computer differ from that of a personal computer?

A: A central computer would require an OS with support for multiple concurrent user sessions on multiple screens, and able to manage personal and shared devices and storage. The OS could allow multiple instances of the same application to run in accordance with the license rights of each application. Concurrent user sessions might be fully virtualized for additional robustness. User settings, device connectivity, and web access could be centrally configured and customized for each user. Access could be restricted protecting private data or blocking unwanted or inappropriate content on a user by user basis.

Q: How would the applications of a central computer differ from those of a personal computer?

A: Applications could support environments from the living room to the desktop to the handheld. Imagine applications which provide a different interface depending on the screen size and its associated usage. We could manage our movie rental services while sitting at our desk, then browse and enjoy them while sitting in front of the big screen with an appropriate interface for each. We could install a game once and use it on each screen, in the living room, bedroom, or office. We could configure our and social media software at our desk and enjoy updates and shared photos and video in our living room. The central computer could benefit from standardized living-room appropriate input devices to provide a better interface to big-screen applications.

Q: How is the central computer concept different from a home file or media server?

A: A home server stores, serves and streams files to heterogeneous devices using standard protocols. It does little computing. A central computer could provide all of the compute capability and connectivity required to deliver a complete and powerful experience on each screen without those heterogeneous devices required to play back content on the remote screen. A central computer in this example is not a media server, it is a complete media and productivity experience delivered to each connected screen. Home storage could still benefit from a media server which intelligently and securely stores, archives and shares with the central computer and remote, web-based users.

Q: What are your assumptions about media access and digital rights management?

A: Two models: Local content and web-based content. I personally believe that services which provide online, web based viewing will supplant broadcast models, save for remote locations which lack broadband. Web content may be streamed, rented, or downloaded. Digital terrestrial and Satellite content could provide a good and adequate baseline of broadcast content. The central computer could provide full access to complex and evolving web-based content and be well prepared to support evolving media standards because, like today’s PC’s, it employs the flexibility of software to accomplish these tasks.

Q: Tell us about “uniform access” to content? Why is it important?

Today’s set -top media players and media-enabled game consoles have their own interfaces, their own ways of organizing content, and their own content support limitations. With a central computer, content access could be uniform. If you like a particular media environment, you could run it consistently on each screen in your home. Media compatibility might be limited only by the capabilities of the broad offering of media playback software available. Local content could be stored wherever, on network attached devices for example, but the central PC could provide uniform access and recognize that storage in a uniform fashion.

Q: How does a central computer change the gaming experience?

A: A central computer will be ready to play games and share them throughout the home, unlike today’s consoles and PCs which are bound to a single location. My sense is that gaming is moving quickly to digital content distribution – no need to buy duplicate hardware to run a game on each screen when we can purchase it once and run it on every screen. Also, with a central computer we might have ready access to games rendered remotely, on the web, providing a state of the art gaming experience without state-of-the art gaming hardware. PC games need no longer be bound the desktop – they could be available on every screen, big or small, sitting or standing.

Q: What is the relationship between central computing and cloud computing?

A: A central computer could provide uniform access to the cloud from many rooms in our home. It could provide the ability to ingest and interact with rich content from the web expanding the possibilities for the richness of the experience we enjoy from the cloud. Essentially, powerful web-browsers, media players, and plug-ins could be configured once and extended throughout the home, providing a powerful interface to the web and the resources in the cloud.

Yet, by having a powerful local resource, I could create my own local outpost for “the cloud” – a “home cloud.” I could serve games to my friends far away and play against them simultaneously in more than one room. Receive, store and manipulate information from the cloud from any room knowing that the data is in the same physical location, but easily accessed wherever I am. If I am away from home, I might easily access my information or even applications on my central computer which has been configured once for the task. My data could either be in the cloud or on my central computer. It could always be available.

Q: When do you believe we will see the first central computers? Why?

A: I think we are closer than we think. I believe there are a combination of likely events that will bring us to the verge, and some software and solution development which will then push us over the edge. I believe that the date range for these innovations and solutions is 2010-2015. This will be the subject of future entries. Much of the proof of concept already exists in the homes of today’s enthusiasts who endeavor to bring the worlds of computing, electronics, and entertainment closer together.

This is the third in a multi-part series.

<<– Click Here For Prior Entry  Click Here For Following Entry–>>

Simon Solotko is a Senior Advanced Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

-”Inez Drew”

Has the muse told us no more, and no less than exactly what we needed to hear? Seeking out a catalyst of change, let us put aside today’s reality and ask how the ideal digital home should be experienced by ourselves, our families and friends?

In a departure from the “anytime, anywhere” vision of the internet, I suggest we focus on “experienced by anyone with ease”. While I wish to access stored knowledge and entertainment whenever and wherever, I want a daily experience that is simple and fluid, not diluted with the navigation of different technologies, interfaces, and navigational paths. When I enter my home, all applications and information are available on every screen, available to everyone in my home. Our experience – the consistent way in which we interact with stored knowledge, entertainment, social spaces, and applications – is configured once, in one place, accessed and enjoyed in every place. I want a singular compute resource able to power my experience wherever we are, with a consistent connection and navigational path to personal, shared, and web resources. I want to customize my experience so it is different from others, and create capabilities that can be shared with family and friends, broadcast to wherever we are. I wish to maintain privacy while blocking unwanted content and threats, creating an environment that is secure and safe regardless of which room, screen, or interface employed.

Information and Services are Secure and Available

Configuration is Uniform and Ubiquitous

My Experience is Personalized and Portable

A Shared Experience Creates Community Knowledge and Entertainment

Here are concrete examples of the experience that I seek. Any video can be played on any screen. Any application I own needs to be installed only once, configured once, and available to my entire family. We can navigate to information and applications by the same path no matter where we are, independent of device or physical location. If we have a new peripheral such as a printer or drive, I can install it and we can access it, in the same manner, from anywhere. When my child walks up to any screen, they have access only to the subset of data, applications, and the web that we have designated. When I walk into the home, my portable devices and my home devices act as one, fully synchronized. We can play all of our games on every screen, big or small.

Now that we have the technical means to solve usage problems individually, we can focus on how to make them work together in daily life. Easier to setup, share, and extend. Customizing our experiences and extending that experience wherever we are. Yet, the proliferation of devices, software, and web applications has moved in the opposite direction, each device with its own user interface, settings, capabilities – its own experience.

To turn the tide in the digital home may require a breakthrough innovation, or a novel evolutionary turn which tends toward the unification rather than the fragmentation of our everyday experience. Where is our sword? Our catalyst of change? Are they close at hand and close to home, or far from reach?

This is the first in a multi-part series. The second has now been published and you can continue by clicking here –>>

Simon Solotko is a Senior Advanced Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

My name is Casey Gotcher, and this is my first official blog on AMD’s behalf.  I chose to wait a while, specifically to speak to this particular topic.  We have been working diligently for over a year now on this product, and I am very excited to finally take the wraps off of it publicly

What is AMD Fusion Media Explorer?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sME1gH0IC4

The AMD Fusion Media Explorer (FME) is a new 3D Immersive Social Media and Digital Media Browser, built and distributed by AMD.  In addition to enabling unique multimedia and social media experiences, FME does a great job of showcasing the power of AMD CPUs and GPUs. This application demonstrates what our platforms are capable of when the software is designed to take full advantage.

AMD Fusion Media Explorer combines a user’s local media items, plus related online content from providers such as, Flickr, YouTube, and Microsoft Live.  In addition, FME has Facebook integration which gives our users even more options for posting or interacting with their favorite photos or friends’ photos.  All of this is managed by an integrated search engine, that makes it very easy to quickly locate what you are looking for.

I like to put the goals of the AMD Fusion Media Explorer into these 3 buckets:

• Explore – Explore your digital media content, from multiple local and online sources, in a quick and easy to use browser.
• Experience – Experience your media in a more exciting 3D, immersive application
• Discover – Discover new related photos, and videos, pertaining to what you are currently looking at or listening to.

Primary Features of Fusion Media Explorer

Photos

• Find and View photos from your local hard drive, removable USB or SD cards, and online sources, such as Flickr, Facebook, and Microsoft Live.

• View related photos and videos from some of these online sources, which pertain to what you are looking at in the main viewing area.  For example, if you are looking at  your photos of Paris, you might also be presented with other users’ photos or videos from the same area.

• Upload your photos to your Facebook or Flickr account with a simple button click.  This is  often much faster and easier than going through the Web UI’s for these services.

Music

• Easily find and listen to your favorite music with our integrated search engine or 3D Ribbon.
• Use our AutoDJ feature to automatically queue up playlists for you from the same genre or artist you are currently listening to.  Click on one song and AutoDJ will take it from there.
• Be presented with related music videos or other clips while you listen.  For example, if you are listening to U2, you will likely be presented with some of their music videos to the right in our related media bar.

• As was the case with Photos and Music, easily find the video, movie, or TV show you are looking for with our integrated search engine or 3D Ribbon.
• See your video collection come to life as FME will actually start playing multiple videos in the ribbon, while you browse, making it easier to find what you are looking for.  The better the performance of the machine, the more videos FME can play simultaneously.
• Watch full screen or send to the integrated Mini player so you can surf the Web while you watch a movie.
• Be presented with related YouTube videos pertaining to the content you are currently watching.  For instance you might see cast interviews, bloopers, and sometimes even full episodes, depending on what FME can find on YouTube that relates to what you are watching.

Some other details to note about FME… It has been developed for our notebook platform technology, “Puma” and desktop platform technology, “Dragon.”  It will be provided free to our customers, via download from www.amd.com, or in some cases may come pre-installed on select AMD-based systems.

Concurrent with the posting of this blog, I am releasing a special build of Fusion Media Explorer for friends and family members.  This will supersede our public beta by a couple of weeks.  If you are interested in giving it a try, you can find it here, www.amd.com/fmepreview or find me on twitter at www.twitter.com/caseygotcher if you need the link or (especially) if you have feedback on the application.

* Internet access is required to take advantage of the online search / retrieval functions.

Casey Gotcher is Director, Product Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.