Some of Google’s product launches distinctly remind me of this one South Park episode where Eric Cartman boosted visitor numbers at his theme park by artificially barring people from entering. While that's not entirely the case here, an invite-only system decidedly helps pique user interest by inducing a feeling of exclusivity and it seems to have worked quite well for Google in the past with services like Gmail.

Google+ launched on June 29^th as private invite-only beta with much fanfare as Google tried to take yet another stab at social networking. Users were impressed with the clean, intuitive UI and features like Circles and Hangouts. Some have even gone as far as to abandon Facebook completely and migrate over.

However all is not rosy as Experian Hitwise reports total visits to the website fell to about 1.79 million in the week ending July 23^rd, a 3% drop from the 1.86 million in the previous week. Average time spent on the website also dropped from 5 minutes, 50 seconds to about 5 minutes, 15 seconds. However, the stats don't account for people using the Google+ app, so take these numbers with a pinch of salt.

I’ve personally been using Google+ since launch day, and have found myself spending less time on the website of late. What about you guys? Let us know in the comments!

Source: Mashable

During its Q2 2011 earnings conference, AMD’s interim-CEO Thomas Seifert revealed that AMD already has working samples of GPUs using a 28nm fabrication process. AMD claims it is on track to introduce a revamped lineup of GPUs codenamed “Southen Islands” using the new process later this year. AMD expects to lead the graphic processor industry’s transition to the 28nm process.

AMD has tapped both Globalfoundries and TSMC to manufacture the new GPUs on their 28nm process. But since both the processes are vastly different, AMD would need independent GPU designs for each foundry. In spite of the risks, the cost savings from moving to the 28nm process should be significant, assuming good yields. Considering AMD’s GPU business lost $7 million this quarter, this is definitely good news.

It’s always a gamble to design complex GPUs on a cutting-edge process; Nvidia learnt it the hard way with the Geforce FX Series (NV30) back in the day when it was manufactured on the 130nm process. Let’s hope AMD has a better luck.

Source: AMD Q2 2011 Earnings Conference via Xbit Labs

It hasn't been a great year for Logitech, and that's owing in part to the failure of their Google TV platform to take off in a market filled with cheaper alternatives. Amidst their dismal Q1 Financial Statement, Logitech announced that they would be slashing the price of the Logitech Revue below cost in order to boost sales. The box was somewhat well received by reviewers, but the original price of $299 was a sore spot, and the previously discounted $249 price garnered no favor. At $99, though, Google TV is now competing with the likes of Roku and Apple TV, still a tough fight, but not nearly so unbalanced by price. 

This is, of course, all as the Google TV 2.0 update is in process, and the opportunity to run Android apps on the big screen for $99 could be a truly enticing opion. It's unclear when this pricing will take affect, but it'll be interesting to see if future Google TV product pursue this aggressive pricing. We hope to get a chance to chat with Logitech reps soon so stay tuned and post any questions you might have. 

Source: Logitech

UPDATE: Per Logitech PR, we have a few clarifications. First, as many have noticed, the Revue's $99 price is now live. Further, Logitech wanted to emphasize that the Revue was not being sold below cost, merely at a discount, this is possibly an accounting matter as there's no denying that Logitech already charged themselves $34 million this quarter as a cost of this discount. Lastly, reports that the Revue had negative sales this quarter, that is that a greater number of units were returned than sold is erroneous. The figures invovled are actually regarding channel returns, units that sat on store shelves long enough that they were sent back by the retailer. So, that's not really much consolation. It's not that it was returned too much. It never sold at all. The good news? The Google TV 2.0 update has leaked and adventurous users are welcome to see what's in store.

The last several days have seen lots of speculation about an AT&T branded Motorola phone whose model number (MB865) mirrors that of the long awaited Droid Bionic (XT865). So it was with some interest that images of an attractive Android slab appeared on a Chinese forum (the forum requires an account but can be seen with a translated write-up here) with obvious similarities to the Atrix 4G and sporting AT&T branding. The leaker confirmed with us today that the model he saw was the MB865 and sported a dual-core processor. The screen resolution was unknown but rumored to be qHD like the Atrix before it.  

Ever since Motorola scrapped the original Droid Bionic, lots of rumors have swirled about what the product would finally look like. The concensus now is that a device codenamed 'Targa' would replace the original Bionic and feature a hump reminiscent of the X2. What has been lacking for this device are specifications. While some have speculated that NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 would be the SoC of choice, battery life concerns would make this unlikely. Instead, a faster dual-core option could be in order, including faster Tegra 2 variants or SoC's from TI that have seen recent attention from Motorola. To be sure, this device is not so angular nor humped as the Targa shots would suggest. 

So, is this phone a Droid Bionic cloned Atrix 4G sequel? We're not sure, but we'll be really interested to find out more as AT&T begins it's LTE rollout.

While SSDs are all the rage these days, Western Digital is still making headway on their 10,000RPM VelociRaptors. The drives come in 150GB, 300GB, 450GB and 600GB capacities in both 2.5” and 3.5” form factors. However, until recently only the 450GB and 600GB variants were available with SATA 6 Gbps and a larger 32MB cache.

But it seems Western Digital has showered some love on the 150GB and 300GB variants, bringing them up to speed with their larger capacity siblings. The new models are now listed on WD’s website here. No word on Stateside pricing or availability yet, but it might be reasonable to expect a slight price bump.

A quick look at some online retailers still shows the older SKUs (WD1500HLFS, WD3000HLFS) with SATA II and 16MB cache going for about $119.99 and $149.99 respectively. Although SSDs have become more affordable over the years, from a pure performance per dollar standpoint, these Velociraptors are still hard to beat.

Here are the new SKUs.

WD1500HLHX

WD3000HLHX

Those of you on the fence about Nintendo's 3DS, your wait may soon be over: Starting August 12, the price of the system will fall from its current $249.99 to $169.99, an $80 cut. The price drop, which is also coming to Japan (a cut from 25,000 yen to 15,000 yen on August 11) and Europe (a cut of "around a third" on August 12), is undoubtedly meant to boost sluggish 3DS sales ahead of the holiday season, and to give the 3DS a comfortable market lead over the PlayStation Vita that launches later this year. It is one of the largest single price cuts in the company's history.

To appease early adopters who paid significantly more for the system, Nintendo is planning to make free games available to anyone who logs into the 3DS eShop before the price cut takes effect. These customers, called Nintendo Ambassadors, are eligible to download 10 NES Virtual Console games and 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games at no cost, and to sweeten the deal, the company says it has "no plans" to make the Game Boy Advance games available to the general public at any cost.

This drastic price cut followed by a move to reimburse early adopters has some precedent: in 2007, Apple reduced the price of the original iPhone from $600 to $400, and gave early adopters a $100 Apple Store credit in an attempt to mollify them. It's a smart move on Nintendo's part, and since Virtual Console games are very rarely changed in any way from their original versions, the Ambassador program's cost to the company will be slim.

If you've seen any of the new Thunderbolt Macs torn apart you will recognize the piece of silicon above. That flip-chip package is Intel's first Thunderbolt controller, codename: Light Ridge (clever). It features four Thunderbolt channels (4 x 10Gbps bidirectional = 80Gbps aggregate bandwidth) and up to two DisplayPort outputs. It's used in the 2011 iMac, MacBook Pro and Mac mini.

This is Eagle Ridge, it's little brother:

Images Courtesy iFixit

Eagle Ridge is available in two form factors (normal and SFF) and is effectively half of a Light Ridge chip. That means you only get two Thunderbolt channels (2 x 10Gbps bidirectional = 40Gbps aggregate bandwidth) and one DP output. Apple used the small form factor version of Eagle Ridge in its new MacBook Air to cut cost and save on motherboard real estate. The MacBook Air's GPU also doesn't support more than one external display so there was no point in using a Thunderbolt controller with two DP outputs. Note that performance is identical to Light Ridge as we demonstrated in our review here. 

I'd expect to see Eagle Ridge, not Light Ridge as the Thunderbolt IC of choice for OEMs going forward. At least if price is a concern.

Source: AnandTech

This little e-mail hit our desks today, finally giving a date for when TouchWiz would slide onto Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1. We've seen TouchWiz on phones before and had mixed feelings; but this is an entirely different beast, as this will be the first opportunity to see a manufacturer's skin over top Honeycomb's frame. We'll find out how useful the Live Panel and Mini Apps that come with this new TouchWiz UX are at a press event being held next Wednesday. After the event, the public is welcome to stop by with Tab's in tow and have the latest firmware sideloaded onto their devices. No word on when a more traditional Over-The-Air update will be available, but we expect the ROM to be hitting XDA's forums before lunch is served. We'll be their to cover the event and update as needed. 

At least one Anandtech editor has an extra spring in his step today! True to their word, Verizon has been adding and expanding LTE coverage across the US, making stops at some of the largest markets, and even some smaller ones. Verizon's announcement of twelve (Thanks @DanNeely) new markets included Tucson, AZ, home to smartphones and displays editor, Brian Klug and we can all breath a sigh of relief knowing now that Brian won't have to drive all the way to Phoenix whenever an LTE device lands on his door step. VZW has hitched their future on LTE, including a recent ad campaign that touts LTE's performance as "Twice as fast as any AT&T smartphone." By all accounts the performance is top notch and bests AT&T's '4G' HSPA+ network; now if they could just get a reasonably priced unlmited data plan. Source: Verizon Wireless

Our R6 review left us with a lingering question: who was this speed for? Now we know. Adobe and PROMISE demonstrated just how good their Thunderbolt equipped Pegasus R6 can get. Pairing the device with a MacBook Pro running Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5, the duo were able to push four uncompressed 10-bit video streams from the RAID device to the screen. This is all part of PROMISE’s PR efforts to highlight the benefits of their devices to video professionals; citing for instance the ability to edit and playback uncompressed video in real time and lack of wait time transferring large files. And if money is no object you can always daisy chain R6’s to a Babel-esque 72TB total. Source: PROMISE

We're still not sure whether the rumored performance upgrades are baked into Android's latest tablet iteration but we're glad to hear that updates seem to be rolling in quite quickly. Asus is the next on deck, announcing via their Facebook page that the Asus Eee Pad Transformer would see the update starting tomorrow, July 28th. We will be hurriedly refreshing our sample and post our thoughts as relevant. 

Like we suspected in April, the Samsung SSD found in some 2010 and 2011 MacBook Airs is indeed using the same controller as Samsung 470 series. The controller carries a model number of S3C29MAX01-Y340. The firmware is most likely different as Apple customizes the firmwares to integrate the best with OS X but the actual controller is still the same. According to Samsung, the 470 series is good for up to 250MB/s read and 220MB/s write but the earliest tests with 2011 MBA show up to 270MB/s read and 252MB/s write, which is considerably more than what Samsung claims. 

Our review of the 2011 MBA is also up with more thorough testing of the SSDs. Turns out that the Samsung has much greater random reads and writes as well. Apple still uses Toshiba SSDs along with Samsung SSDs, but there is no way of knowing which one you get before booting up the machine for the first time - it's laptop lottery. 

Thanks to iFixit for the image above.