Filed under: Gaming

Good news for folks with a GeForce 8 GPU and lots of questions about how the recent Ageia acquisition would affect them: your current card will be receiving PhysX support. When NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was questioned in a recent conference call, he noted that the firm was currently “working towards the physics-engine-to-CUDA port,” and it could be delivered as “a software update” to every card that’s CUDA-enabled (read: all of the GeForce 8 GPUs). Sadly, the bigwig still wouldn’t say when to expect the release of the first PhysX port, but we really can’t imagine it taking too awfully long now.

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Filed under: Displays

Ugh, we were already sick of digital photo frames — and now it looks those now-discontinued virus-ridden Insignia units from Best Buy and several other models produced in China were carrying a much nastier trojan that we’d originally heard. According to an analyst form Computer Associates, the trojan, called Mocmex, is able to block more than 100 types of security and anti-virus software from killing it, and bypasses the Windows firewall to download files from remote locations, spreading them randomly over your hard drive and any portable storage device you plug into your PC — like, for example, a digital photo frame. The trojan is apparently set to only steal gaming passwords at present, but CA says it’s capable of stealing nearly any information on your machine, and thinks it might be a test for a much worse virus yet to come. Infected frames have come from Sam’s Club, Target and Costco, in addition to Best Buy, so we’d say to avoid picking one up until this mess gets sorted out — or, you know, forever.

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Filed under: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Yeah, the Apple TV (take 2) update took a bit longer than promised to actually arrive on the scene, but now that it’s available for existing ATV owners to chew on, we’re interested in hearing from its toughest critics. Rumors of Apple finally enabling some sort of HD movie / television show download service had been making the rounds for what seemed like ages, and after months of waiting for a move to be made, take 2 made its debut under the shadow of the MacBook Air.

Aside from finally offering up 1080p support and giving users the ability to rent HD flicks (though only some with Dolby Digital 5.1), the v2.0 upgrade changed up the look and added in Flickr integration. Granted, the innards here have remained the same, but we’re not just interested in finding out what you adore / detest about the newest update. Oh no — we’re also curious to know how you think the existing hardware is handling its new duties. Has anything slowed down? Are you still (or were you ever) satisfied with the port assortment? Have you found yourself itching to downgrade? We know, software updates as substantial as this one hardly ever never leave everyone happy, and while we’ve done some sizing up of our own in regard to HD quality, how would you like to see things tweaked for take 3?

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It’s lucky we’re the kind of good eggs who’ll spend Friday afternoon making sure you don’t go into the weekend without this essential knowledge. Here’s a round-up of what we spied in sunny Spain.

Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG engaged in a touchscreen battle for the ages with the Xperia X1, Samsung Soul and LG KF700 all launching their challenges to the Elvis of mobiles – The Apple iPhone.

All three are stepping on Steve Jobs’ Blue Suede Shoes, but will the iPhone get All Shook Up or are the pretenders on a one way trip to Heartbreak Hotel? Click on the links above for first-look videos at each handset.

Nokia upped-the-ante by unleashing the awesome N96 (video) and a new 6210 Navigator handset, with a built in compass for dumb-proof destination-reaching, also made waves.

We had a nice perv at the first phone with a Google platform, The Android, and also at the Wellness Navigator, a phone from DoCoMo which measures your body fat, heart rate and even how stinky your breath is.

Sony Ericsson also dropped a series of new muthas, including two new CyberShot snapper phones and an all-new G series – the pick being the G900 which boasts Wi-Fi and a 5.0 megapixel touchscreen focus camera.

We’ve cobbled together our remaining footage to offer you a quick viewing of the G900, Navigator, the LG KF600 and the LG prototype watch phone, which is definitely one to keep an eye on.

So, now you can impress the ladies at the pub with your cranium of new knowledge. Actually, perhaps that’s not such a flash idea.

We love a bit of gadgety prediction here at T3 Towers. And none more so when it comes to one of our all-time faves, Nintendo’s mighty Wii.

According to games blog Joystiq, analyst Evan Wilson from Pacific Crest Securities, reckons Ninty is lining up a new edition of its revolutionary console in 2010.

He says that this will kick off a new round in the ever bitter next-gan gaming wars, with the Big M ripping the covers off a new Xbox later that same year.

He also says that Sony will weigh in with a full redesign of the PSP, which will go up against an all-new DS Lite.

Seems terribly exciting to us, but whether these dreams come true remains to be seen. Analysts are tricky customers and can either be spot on, or, like Apple lover Piper Jaffrey, be very wrong a lot of the time.

In the meantime, we’ll have to content ourselves with news of an all new slim version of the PS3 later this year and hopefully a slew of improvements to the existing hubs.