New Physical Layer Transceivers From Broadcom

Two new transceivers for the physical layer have been introduced in the market by Irvine, California-headquartered Broadcom Corporation. The model numbers of these transceivers are BCM8155 and BCM8157.

These transceivers support data rates ranging from 8.5 Gbps to 11.352 Gbps. The two models are fully integrated MSA-compliant, multi-rate SONET/SDH, 10GbE, 10FC and OTU-2 optical transport network devices that operate at 8.5 GFC, OC-192, 10GbE, 10FC or FEC data rates. The two devices support NRZ (Non Return to Zero) and DB modulation.

According to the company release, the transceivers are capable of providing low jitter generation of less than 200 femtoseconds (or 2mUI RMS) and provide ample margin for designs required to meet the ITU and Telcordia maximum specs limit of 10mUI RMS for jitter generation.

The BCM8157 is aimed at metro applications where it can be deployed in line cards in order to interface to XFP modules.

The BCM8155 has very advanced features such as the capability of RZ modulation, duo-binary encoder, dispersion compensation, 10GHz clock output, 10G transmit pre-emphasis and pseudo random binary sequence (PRBS) pattern generation and detection capabilities. This makes the transceiver especially suitable for OTN equipment that uses 300-pin MSA-compliant modules for long haul transmission.

Read more about the new technology brought to the market by Broadcom, here.

New Version Of Creative Suite From Adobe

San Jose, California-headquartered Adobe Systems Inc has launched a new version of its celebrated software, Creative Suite 5 (CS5).

A new, distinguishing feature of this new version is the inclusion of signature Omniture technologies, which came about as a result of Adobe’s acquisition of Omniture last year. What this means is the Creative Suite 5 will now allow developers and users to capture, store and analyze information generated by Web sites and other sources.

Another new feature is the inclusion of Flash Catalyst, which enables developers to design interactive content without writing code and improves the collaborative process between designer and developer.

The collection of software includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash Professional, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro and After Effects. These tools can be purchased separately or as part of one of the five CS editions. These five editions are: Master Collection, Design Premium, Web Premium, Production Premium and Design Standard.

The Master Collection boasts of more than 250 features that are new to the CS lineup. The suite also detects the presence of NVIDIA GPU processors and leverages them to open projects faster.

Read more about the exciting launch of an upgraded version of the celebrated Adobe’s Creative suite, here.

Movies Come Preloaded On Seagate Hard Drive

Scotts Valley, California-headquartered Seagate Technology LLC and Hollywood based Paramount Pictures Corporation have entered into an agreement, whereby 20 movie titles from Paramount have been preloaded into the hard drives of Seagate. Customers who buy these specially-marked hard drives will get to watch these movies after buying the license keys to unlock them.

The hard drives that have received this special treatment are Seagate’s 500GB FreeAgent Go ultra-portable hard drives. The movie that can be unlocked for viewing without any additional cost is “Star Trek”, the 2009 version. The other 20 movie titles require online purchase of the license keys, whose cost ranges from USD 9.99 to USD 14.99. This amounts to over 38 hours of movie viewing on a small, packet-sized hard drive.

The movies range from the classic “The Manchurian Candidate” (2004) to science fiction “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”, from “The Italian Job” (2003) to “The Love Guru”, and from “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” to “Enemy at the Gates”.

Paramount has now shifted its business model from the traditional cinema hall / DVD to distribution of its products on online, mobile and portable devices, videogames and emerging technologies.

Read more about this interesting arrangement between Seagate and Paramount, here.

New Versions Of MacBook Pro Pack In More Power

The MacBook Pro just became more powerful. The Cupertino, California-headquartered Apple Inc has introduced new hardware elements into the popular MacBook series of computing machines, ensuring that the systems don’t go out of fashion because of newer competition.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro model now features 4GB RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor and a 10-hour built-in battery. For this size, Apple has introduced two different processors: the one with 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 250GB hard drive is tagged at USD 1,199. The one with 2.66Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo and 320GB hard drive is tagged at USD 1,499.

The 15-inch version is available in three models: the 2.4Ghz Intel Core i5 processor model has NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, 320GB hard drive and costs USD 1,799. The 2.53Ghz Intel Core i5 processor model has NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, 500GB hard drive and costs USD 1,999. The 2.66Ghz Intel Core i7 processor model has NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, 500GB hard drive and costs USD 2,199.

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro comes in one model only: 2.53Ghz Intel Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, 500GB hard drive, and costs USD 2,299.

Read more about the upgradation carried out by Apple to its popular MacBook series, here.

iPhone OS 4 Beta Version Released

Cupertino, California-headquartered Apple Inc has released the next version of the Operating System for its celebrated iPhone device. iPhone OS 4 beta version is now available to the community of iPhone software app developers.

The beta release includes a software development kit (SDK) that comprises 1,500 new application programming interface (API) modules. A key feature of the new OS version that is attractive to the developer community is its multitasking capability: there are 7 new multitasking services to choose from for incorporating in the developer apps. These services have been designed such that the device’s battery life is preserved and the foreground app performance does not deteriorate.

At the user level, the new OS offers over 100 new features. One nifty feature is called “Folders”, which helps the phone’s owner to organize and access over 2,000 apps on their iPhone in logical folders. There is a new Unified Inbox, which allows users to see messages from all their email accounts displayed together in a single inbox. Users can now thread their messages by conversation and make it easier to stay current with the latest email discussions.

Read more about the latest version of iPhone OS features and functionalities, here.

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