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AMD is making its way to E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), the world’s premier trade show for all things gaming, taking place from June 11 to 13, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.


So far, 2013 has been a big year for AMD, especially in gaming, so we’re incredibly excited to be at E3 to share our latest technologies with gamers everywhere.


Our motto at E3 this year is BE INVINCIBLE.



Guided by our Unified Gaming Strategy, we’re relentlessly forging ahead to push the boundaries of elite experiences in gaming. Our strong industry partnerships and innovative technologies enable us to power gaming experiences across consoles, cloud platforms, tablets and PCs: AMD is Your Core of Gaming.


E3 attendees will be able to experience AMD-powered next generation gaming in person. Our newest innovations in desktop, tablet, notebook and console processing, and the latest AMD Radeon™ graphics cards, will all be on full display.


Expect announcements of new gaming partnerships with game developers from us as well. 


If you’re attending E3, you can find us in the South Hall at booth #423. I hope to see you there so we can talk about the AMD commitment to games and gamers, and you can go hands-on with a complete range of state-of-the-art computing solutions at our booth.


At the show, you can also get up close and personal with our executives like Roy Taylor (@AMD_Roy), VP of global channel sales and Matt Skynner, VP and general manager of graphics.


Follow our E3 activities at your leisure via social media, on our Facebook and Twitter pages or by following #AMDE3.


With AMD-powered gaming technology, we want you to feel unstoppable as a gamer. Do you feel INVINCIBLE? 

 

John Taylor (@JTRex) is Corporate VP of Communications and Industry Marketing 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.

Computex Taipei – one of the world’s largest and most important annual technology fairs – is fast approaching. This year’s edition of the international computer expo begins on June 4 and runs for five days. As always, AMD will be highly active at Computex, unveiling exciting innovations and engaging with fellow trailblazers in technology.

 

Our Computex booth (TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall: Booth #L0617a) will be jam-packed with hands-on demos of our latest technology including tablets, APUs and GPUs. Visitors will have the chance to test out the top Never Settle: Reloaded titles on many of these systems.

 

Lisa Su, our Senior Vice President and GM Global Business Units, and Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit, AMD., will be taking the stage on June 5th at 10 am at the AMD Elite Experience Zone hosted in the Bellavita, Taipei to showcase how AMD is pioneering possibilities with our latest hardware and software solutions. Jurien Katsman, the CEO of Nixxes – the developers behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution™, Hitman: Absolution™, and TombRaider™ – will join Matt on stage to highlight the collaborative work we are doing with cutting-edge game creators and to look ahead at the next phase of our long-standing partnership.

 

You can follow the press conference live on Twitter by following #AMDComputex.

 

As AMD continues to pioneer possibilities and shape the future of computing, we are thrilled to share these exciting developments – and many more – with the tech community, the Asia Pacific market and the world at large.

 

Of course, we have plenty of surprises lined up for Computex, including major new announcements and debuts. Check back here for more news and follow us our Facebook and Twitter pages for ongoing updates.

 

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Gabe Gravning is a Director of Product Marketing, Global Business Units 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.

Having just announced three new additions to our mobility lineup today, it seems like a perfect opportunity to talk a little bit about the state of the Client (aka PC) market. It’s no secret it has been a tough couple of years for the PC and it’s a daily topic here at AMD. Regardless of the hype, when you take a closer look it’s clear that the PC industry isn’t going away, it’s evolving. And the research supports this: forecasts from major industry analyst firms for traditional notebook and desktop form factor sales are expected to decline, while new form factors like small form-factor touch notebooks, tablets, hybrid and convertible devices, and ultrathins showing anticipated growth.

 

So, what’s driven this change and what does it mean for AMD?

 

 


AMD’s APU and SoC strategies, plus HSA compatibility all combine to provide the best present-day user experience and enable the future of computing

 

For one, over the past decade or so, we’ve moved from a single device, productivity-focused, more x86 processing-is-better market, to one of people carrying multiple devices of different shapes and sizes where mobility and entertainment-oriented workloads reign supreme. Add to this a number of trends and user experiences, including touch technology, the always-on/always-connected lifestyle, social media and casual gaming, on-the-go content capture /creation /manipulation and sharing and you get a very different (evolved) Client market place.

 

 

In this new market, the processor architecture of decades-past alone just doesn’t cut it - while it may date me a little, to paraphrase the infamous words of one of my favorite Sci-Fi series of all time, “ [x86 alone] can’t do it, Captain! [It doesn’t] have the [processing] power!” And AMD is uniquely positioned to deliver exactly this across a variety of form factors.

 

acer_aspire.pngAnnounced today, the Acer Aspire V5/V4-122 features an AMD A6 “Temash” APU and is the perfect mix of portability, gaming ability, battery life, performance, and value in a slim, light form factor with touch screen.

AMD predicted this shift when we had the vision to reinvent the processor – combining the parallel compute capabilities of the GPU and serial processing of the CPU onto a single chip – taking the first step toward enabling the experiences we’re seeing rise in popularity today and making the creation of the industry's first Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) possible. These new user experiences are exactly what our APUs are conceptualized around - interactive, energy efficient, graphics-intensive, and visual – and they need the seamless integration of the combined processing power of CPU and GPU that only AMD can deliver thanks to our extensive IP in both areas. Sure, our competition has APUs, and you’ll also notice that a larger percentage of their die is increasingly being dedicated to the GPU. But, they cannot deliver an equivalent level of experience. That is our edge. That's the AMD APU Advantage.

 

 

 

And, with our new mobility platforms and executing to our roadmaps, we’re perfectly poised to win in what we’re calling the convergence era of computing with power-sipping APUs that deliver a responsive, visually stunning and leading-class experience across a variety of form factors – from performance and media tablets, to hybrid and convertible devices, to entry-level small form-factor touch and premium ultrathin notebooks. Add to that our involvement with the Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA) Foundation, where members are collectively working to build a standards-based heterogeneous compute ecosystem to create the next foundation in general purpose computing, as well as our expanded focus on the embedded and Semi-Custom markets that focuses on integrating AMD processors into devices like: gaming consoles, set-top boxes, smart TVs, and servers, and you’ll soon see a world powered by AMD APUs. And that’s a world I can’t wait to see.

 

Gabe Gravning is the Director of Client Marketing 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.

Supercharge Your Creative Workflow - See how AMD boosts the quality and performance experience on Adobe Photoshop® CC and Adobe Premiere® Pro CC
photoshop_cc_totem_3in_72ppi.png premiere_pro_cc_totem_3in_72ppi.png creative_cloud_totem_3in_72ppi.png

AMD is a sponsor of this year’s Adobe MAX, The Creative Conference in Los Angeles (May 4-8) where we are pleased to announce continued collaboration with Adobe to boost quality and performance of new and enhanced features in the latest versions of both Adobe Photoshop CC and Adobe Premiere Pro CC, by leveraging the massive compute horsepower in AMD APUs, AMD RadeonTM HD graphics, and AMD FireProTM Professional graphics. By continuing to use an open standard, cross-platform approach with OpenCL™ and OpenGL, coupled with the affordable and flexible licensing terms of Adobe’s Creative Cloud membership, Adobe is bringing the benefits of acceleration in its flagship products to a broad range of PC form factors for all types of users.  Now that Adobe and AMD have shattered the cost and performance barriers, any creative pro or consumer can access the tools needed to follow their dreams.

 

 

Last month at NAB 2013, I posted a blog highlighting AMD and Adobe’s announcement on expanded OpenCL support for Premiere Pro, including multi-stream and mixed-format accelerated workflows with real-time effects, color grading, and finishing with hardware-accelerated rendering to the chosen final destination format. Today AMD has more good news: Premiere Pro offers even more OpenCL-accelerated features, including the following:

 

 

      • OpenCL hardware-powered rendering with Adobe Media Encoder. Users can queue up multiple Premiere Pro projects to be rendered using all of the available GPU horsepower in the background.
      • Multi-GPU support. Users with multiple AMD graphics devices in their PC can achieve fast render results by leveraging all of their GPUs.


The latest version of Adobe Photoshop adds new and enhanced features on top of the dozens of existing open hardware-accelerated features. Adobe Photoshop’s impressive list of GPU-accelerated features now includes the following:

 

      • An all-new, higher-quality Smart Sharpen filter. The new Smart Sharpen filter leverages OpenCL and AMD graphics technology to sharpen images faster1 while minimizing halo effects on distinct edges and providing precise noise reduction control.
      • An enhanced Blur Gallery. The Blur Gallery now harnesses the power of AMD graphics technology to deliver mouse-down previews quickly, accurately, and in high on-screen resolution of up to a million pixels. This high-quality, instant on-screen feedback allows artists to work more efficiently without unnecessary disruptions to their creative workflow. Non-destructive hardware accelerated Blur Gallery effects are applied as as Smart Objects to create a desired look for images and even video within Photoshop CC.
      • Faster Liquify. Performance enhancements made to the Liquify effect  so that creative professionals can now push, pull, rotate, reflect, pucker, or bloat selected image areas to achieve unique artistic effects with greater speed2 while working with even the largest images. And now with the added Smart Object support, you can create, edit, and maintain a specific look without having to ever start over.

         

Both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro fully support advanced display technologies, such as 4K and AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology.

 

If you are at Adobe MAX this year, please come check us out (Booth #115). See www.amd.com/adobe for updated information about AMD and Adobe.

Supporting Resources
  • With Adobe Creative Cloud, a simple monthly membership gives you the complete collection of Adobe creative desktop applications. Along with cloud storage, Creative Cloud members automatically get access to new tools and product updates as soon as they’re released.
  • For more information about AMD Performance
  • Details about AMD and Adobe
  • For more information about AMD FirePro™ Graphic
  • Find more great apps accelerated by AMD at www.amd.com/appzone
  • For more information about Adobe
  • For more information about AMD

 

 

Clarice Simmons is a Senior Marketing Manager 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

 

 


1 - AMD tests are performed on optimized AMD reference systems. PC manufacturers may vary configuration yielding different results.  Test project used the new “Smart Sharpen” effect with Adobe Photoshop CC pre-release build, version 1.0.0.157 from 4/23/2013, test image: 5616x3744, 60.2MB, .PSD format.  A notebook PC with AMD A10-5850M APU with AMD Radeon™ HD 8650G Graphics, 2x2GB DDR3-800 RAM, video driver 12.105.0.0 - 07-Apr-2013, SSD hard drive and Window 8 Professional (x64) build 9200 took 14.84 seconds with GPU acceleration on versus 31.03 seconds with GPU acceleration off.  RIN-27
2- AMD tests are performed on optimized AMD reference systems. PC manufacturers may vary their configuration yielding different results. Test project used the new “Liquify” effect with Adobe Photoshop CC pre-release build, version 1.0.0.157 from 4/23/2013 compared to the original “Liquify” in Photoshop CS6 released in May 2012, test image: 5616x3744, 60.2MB, .PSD format, on a notebook PC with AMD A10-4600M APU with AMD Radeon™ HD 7660G Graphics, 2x2GB DDR3-1600 RAM, SSD hard drive and Window 8 Professional (x64) build 9200. he original “Liquify” effect (with video driver: 8.981.0.0 - 06/20/2012) took 7.47 seconds and the new “Liquify” effect (with video driver: 9.17.10.2932 - 2/12/2012) took 36.67 seconds.  RIN-28
As the saying goes, “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” But in the technology industry, it’s really WHAT you know that matters most. Simply put: the best brains win. The importance of our strong engineering teams around the world and the talent they deliver to the business simply cannot be overstated. AMD has always made it a top priority to attract the best brains: engineering innovators bent on pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, and giving them the freedom to do just that. It’s that kind of mentality that’s kept us competitive in a tough business when so many others have tried – and failed – over the years.   With such a massive shift in our industry underway – namely the transition of growth from traditional PCs to more cloud-based mobile device computing – we thought it was important to tell you that some of the very best brains in the world have recently joined (and in some cases returned to) AMD. Why? Because these big, impressive brains believe in AMD’s business strategy, and believe in our already-strong nucleus of differentiated IP in graphics, client and server.   These are some of the very same people responsible for the world’s most popular tablets, smart phones, MP3 players and other mobile devices because they in-part architected them and the experiences they deliver. They are all distinguished innovators whose work had a major impact on x86 64-bit computing as well as low-power ARM-based mobile processing. And they now work for AMD.  As I mentioned, several of these innovators are former AMDers, so in a way you can say that AMD is “getting the band back together.” To carry that metaphor forward, we believe our engineering teams are poised to churn out a steady stream of hits for years to come.  Yesterday we announced the return of Raja Koduri to AMD as our corporate vice president of Visual Computing. Raja re-joins AMD from Apple, where he led the company’s graphics architecture. He is an accomplished engineering leader and notable graphics industry visionary. Formerly the graphics CTO for AMD, Raja now has overall responsibility for driving AMD’s innovation in visual and accelerated computing. With 20 years of hands-on experience advancing visual computing, from application software programming to GPU design, he has led engineering teams focused on graphics hardware, graphics software, parallel languages and power management.  Raja is a perfect complement to other recent, notable hires Jim Keller, Wayne Meretsky and Charles Matar as we round-out our engineering leadership team; a team stacked with both deep AMD and external experience. While we’re excited and fortunate to have world-class brains like Raja, Wayne, Jim and Charles coming to work at AMD because of the opportunity we have to disrupt the market, let’s also give thanks and credit to every one of the thousands of brilliant engineering minds working very hard all over the world to push the boundaries of what’s possible and bring AMD products to life. We hope you’re as excited as we are about what the future holds not just for our business, but for innovation itself and the impact our innovations can have on billions of peoples’ lives all over the world.   Mike Silverman is a Senior Manager in Corporate Communications 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.

AMD announces special promotional offer for select AMD A-Series APU featuring Radeon™ Graphics and new SimCity™ PC game. AMD announced a special promotional offer that brings together the AMD A-Series APU, Radeon™ Graphics and the all new EA Maxis game, SimCity™, featuring unprecedented simulation with model-like worlds and details.  EA has delivered with compelling cityscapes and engaging challenges that are truly brought to life with the visual compute power from AMD A-Series and Radeon™ graphics.  It’s the gaming performance you expect from AMD.  The AMD APU advantage demonstrates AMD A-Series APU leadership in games, compute, and benchmark performance in comparison to the competition.  The accelerated performance of multicore CPU technology and the brilliance of premium AMD Radeon™ graphics technology come together in one chip resulting in significant performance wins.

 

See below for details about the performance of SimCity on AMD’s A8 APU[1]:

tripleA_benchmarks.png

AMD believes the collaboration with EA is an important milestone, as it validates our products and gaming strategy, but also gives us a platform to showcase the control and performance of the 2nd  generation AMD A-Series APU.  Details of the promotion that launch today[2]:

  • Buy select A8 and A10 AMD APU* from a participating retailer
  • Receive a Origin game code for SimCity
  • Promotion offer will read:  “Buy select* A-Series APU from participating retailers and get a  game code for SimCity."  *Select = A8 and A10

*Covers both locked and unlocked parts

John Taylor is the Corporate Vice President of Global Communications & Industry Marketing 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

[1]Tests performed by AMD Benchmarking Labs.
  • AMD A8-5600K with AMD Radeon™ HD 7560D Graphics, 2x4 GB DDR3-1866, A85X, 1TB 7200 rpm HD, Windows 7 64bit.  Catalyst 12.8
  • Intel Core i3-3220 with HD 4000 graphics, 2x4 GB DDR3-1600, P67, 1TB 7200 rpm HD, Windows 7 64bit. Driver 8.15.10.2712
  • Intel Core i3-3220 with NV GT620 2GB DDR3, 2x4 GB DDR3-1600, P67, 1TB 7200 rpm HD, Windows 7 64bit. Driver 304.48
3DMark version as of March 6, 2013. SIMCITY tested with FRAPS at 720P with Medium settings and Low Lighting, Low Shadows on the game tutorial map.  SIMCITY version as of March 6, 2013.  Handbrake tested with 123 minute MPEG2, 1080P file converted to MKV. Handbrake nightly build 5269 version used.
[2] Get a Key Code for free download of SimCity (PC Game) accessed through the EA Origin® online gaming platform when you buy an eligible AMD A10 or A8 A-Series processor from a participating retailer between March 12, 2013 and either December 31, 2013 or when supply of Key Codes is exhausted, whichever occurs first.  Key Code must be used by March 12, 2014, after which the Key Code is void. LIMIT: One (1) free Key Code per game per person. Internet connection required. Internet connection fees may apply. You must be at least 17 years old to redeem this offer. Offer is subject to geographical limitations. See www.amd.com/simcityoffer for complete details.  Void in any jurisdiction where prohibited.  YOU MUST MEET THE MINIMUM AGE REQUIREMENT, WHICH VARIES BY TERRITORY, TO PLAY. EULAS AND ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.EA.COM/1/PRODUCT-EULAS. EA ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF SERVICE CAN BE FOUND AT www.ea.com.   EA MAY RETIRE ONLINE SERVICES AND ONLINE FEATURES AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON www.ea.com/1/service-updates.  2013 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Radeon, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved.  2013 Electronic Arts Inc. EA, the EA logo, Maxis, the Maxis logo, and SimCity are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.   .
Now Showing on AMD Everywhere – Adobe Premiere Pro with Real-Time Editing and Effects Today at the National Association of Broadcasters tradeshow (NAB), AMD  announced a collaboration with Adobe to deliver OpenCL™ powered hardware-accelerated for the first time on the Microsoft Windows platform with the next version of Adobe® Premiere® Pro.  This is a true demonstration of how AMD enables partner ecosystems with cross-platform open standards and empowers them to amplify experiences for creative users everywhere.  What’s more, Adobe’s support for OpenCL™ means that the leading video production and editing tools are optimized to take full advantage of a wider range of hardware – namely, AMD’s APUs and GPUs – bringing the power to create to more users and more PC form factors everywhere. Take a minute to think about that.  The next version of Adobe® Premiere® Pro, accelerated by OpenCL™, will efficiently harness the compute power of AMD APU’s and graphics products to do real-time editing. In addition, it will be up to 4.3X faster exports from a source format with effects to a preferred final destination format for quick and easy distribution and publishing*.  So, what does this really mean? There is more to this that meets the eye. Only a short time ago, if you wanted professional high-performance non-linear video editing, your choices were often limited to proprietary solutions that integrated specific video editing software with a very narrow selection of hardware choices. Such solutions were already known for their high-performance, but also as very expensive and closed. In those days, video editing was often cumbersome and difficult to use, even for seasoned professionals.  Fast forward to today, a time where Adobe is working with AMD to embrace an open standards/cross-platform approach that leverages the immense power of affordable off-the-shelf AMD APUs and GPUs.  Plus, with the expanded support to now include Windows, the number of available vendors, form factors and PC models has expanded exponentially. What’s more, through the Adobe Creative Cloud™ membership, all the creative tools once costing thousands of dollars and out of reach to many classes of users has suddenly become accessible to the creative masses - from the freelance videographer to the independent departments of large companies, to students wanting to master industry leading tools. Adobe Creative Cloud combined with OpenCL-accelerated support for a broad range of AMD devices are converging to truly bring the power of creative control into the hands of everyone.  Whether it’s our APUs that power popular ultrathin notebooks or our screamingly fast AMD FirePro™ Professional Graphics, AMD is extremely excited to break down the barriers and enable accelerated experiences with greater performance and productivity to all. 

“To achieve high-performance editing breakthroughs, we tapped into the massive compute resources of AMD APUs and GPUs.  This collaboration allows us to broaden accelerated experiences for creative professionals to Windows,”said Simon Williams, director of strategic relations at Adobe. “Greater performance and productivity with the next version of Adobe Premiere Pro means users everywhere can create and render in real-time.  We are excited about AMD’s strong commitment to AdobePremiere Pro and enhanced editing solutions.”

Additional references:
         
  • With Adobe Creative Cloud  a simple monthly membership gives you the complete collection of Adobe creative desktop applications. Along with cloud storage, Creative Cloud members automatically get access to new tools and product updates as soon as they’re released.
    •      
  • For more information about AMD and Adobe at NAB Show
    •      
  • For more information about AMD Performance
    •      
  • Details about AMD and Adobe
    •      
  • For more information about AMD FirePro™ Graphics
    •      
  • For more information about Adobe
    •      
  • For more information about AMD 
Clarice Simmons is a Senior Marketing Manager 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
 
*Testing was performed by AMD, test project used the “Three-way Color Corrector” effect with the NAB 2013 build of Premiere Pro Next provided by Adobe, .MP4 video file, 17 seconds, 1920x1080, 24fps with .WAV audio file, 169 seconds, 1411 kb/s audio bitrate, 41 khz audio sample rate, export to Device – Apple TV, iPad, iPhone 4 and newer, 720p, 29.97 max render quality.  With OpenCL (GPU acceleration) enabled, the export took 46.6 seconds. With CPU only, the export took 246.1 seconds. Test system was a desktop PC configured with an AMD A10-6800K APU with AMD Radeon™ HD 8670D Graphics, 8GB DDR3-2133, SSD hard drive, running Window 8 Professional (x64) build 9200, video driver 12.102.0.0. RID-10

People love AMD. I never forget, take for granted, or underestimate this; it’s a rare asset in the world of technology to have real, loyal fans of our technology. From the launch of Athlon 64 in San Francisco in 2003 with an audience filled with enthusiasts, to the more than one million people who follow AMD on Facebook today, our fans are part of the AMD brand. For those of you located on the West Coast of the U.S. – as well as people just interested in the latest technology and software experiences – come be a part of the latest celebration of our fans on April 6th in San Francisco at the Metreon.  In 2012, AMD began hosting Fan Days to great success and feedback – first at our Austin Campus (pictured here), next at our Markham, Canada campus. We’ve also held Fan Days around the world partnering with media and review sites to create maximum exposure. For San Francisco, we’ve taken the best of those events and what we learned from them and applied it to the plan – and then ran that plan through an amplifier. AMD Fan Day San Francisco 2013 goes to “11”.

Austin-Fan-Day-12.jpg

This year’s event will be a hands on experience with some of the latest and greatest technologies. The new 2013 line up of AMD A-Series processors will be ready for a test drive. Amazing AMD Radeon™ Graphics will be on display. Come play and compete on some of the newest game titles available, and some that aren’t available yet.   Additionally, some of our key partners will be in attendance to showcase their technologies, games and newest innovations, including IGN, Ubisoft, Sapphire and Logitech.  Did we mention we expect to see 1,000+ AMD fans?  We are excited to bring the event to the West Coast and look forward to seeing you there.  Register here to be a part of it.   DETAILS: AMD Fan Day – West Coast  Saturday, April 06, 2013 5:30 PM - 11:59 PM (Pacific Time)  City View at METREON 135 4th Street, 4th Floor San Francisco, CA 94013   *Parking is available across the street from the METREON in the Fifth and Mission Parking Garage fifthandmission.com/  **Public Transportation is recommended as the METREON is one block from MUNI and BART lines on Market at the Powell Street Station. John Taylor is the Corporate Vice President of Global Communications & Industry Marketing 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

aviary-effects.png

 

There seems to be nothing more ubiquitous than photos. That’s why we are proud to

announce

our AMD Ventures collaboration with Aviary and our work together to optimize their new Software Development Kit (SDK) and Windows 8 app for AMD platforms.</p> The team at Aviary has done something amazing. They’ve built something very powerful, yet really simple. And their growth proves that they are onto something big. Even if you aren’t familiar with Aviary by name, chances are you may have used their technology. Aviary is the photo editing engine behind huge services and apps such as Flickr, Yahoo! Mail and Twitter. Just recently, Aviary CEO Tobias Peggs

posted a blog

announcing that more than 3 billion photos have been edited using Aviary in just 18 months – and this does not even include Twitter data!

Aviary-18-months-3bn-Photos.jpg

Aviary’s Explosive Growth (Credit: Aviary)

 


Now, Aviary is bringing that same powerful photo editing technology to a PC OS for the first time. We thought it would be a great opportunity to demonstrate that by leveraging the unique compute capabilities of AMD APUs to make the processing of even the most complex filters and effects really, really fast.

 

The result? By optimizing for the AMD APU, we saw a performance improvement of 11X on average!1

aviary-11x-faster-cputogpu.png

How did we do it? Quite simply, we leveraged the full parallel compute power of the AMD APU. Much of that highly parallel compute capability sits on the “GPU” side of the APU and is perfect for doing things like image manipulation. Since the target was to design a Windows Store app, we used

C++ AMP

to process the filters and effects on the graphics engine where it can be done much faster than processing on the traditional CPU cores. The end result is a super-fast experience that will delight consumers.

 

Competitively, the APU outperforms the competition. If you compare the upcoming AMD A4-1200 APU codenamed “Temash” designed for performance tablets to the latest Intel Atom Z2760 “Clovertrail” processor, there is a dramatic difference with an average of 16X faster2 when applying the Aviary filters.

aviary-16x-faster-competitive.png

 

AMD A4-1200 “Temash” vs Intel Atom Z2760 “Clovertrail”</p> Check out the new

Aviary app in the Windows Store

or download the SDK today!

 

Also, be sure to mark your calendars for Aviary’s Photo Hack Day 4 ! Come join hundreds of developers at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, CA for a weekend of photo hacking fun, inspiration and prizes.

Find more great apps at AMD AppZone

Learn more about

AMD Ventures

</li> </ul> Gabe Gravning is head of app ecosystem marketing 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.

 

1 Test performed by AMD labs using a test script to measure the time to process the 19 filters from the Aviary SDK for Windows 8 on a .6 MP (953x648) thumbnail image. An AMD "Larne" reference platform system with upcoming AMD Elite Mobility Dual-Core A4-1200 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon™ HD 8180 Graphics, 2x2GB of DDR3-1600MHz RAM, video driver 12.102.0.0 - 02/18/2013, Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (x64), build 9200 averaged 17.3 ms per filter with GPU acceleration turned on through the Microsoft DirectX 11 API and C++ AMP programming model versus 210.1 ms per filter in CPU-only mode. TEM-23

 

2 Test performed by AMD labs using a test script to measure the time to process the 19 filters from the Aviary SDK for Windows 8 on a 0.6 MP (953x648) thumbnail image. An AMD "Larne" reference platform system with upcoming AMD Elite Mobility Dual-Core A4-1200 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon™ HD 8180 Graphics, 2x2GB of DDR3-1600MHz RAM, video driver 12.102.0.0 - 02/18/2013 averaged 17.3 ms per filter with GPU acceleration turned on through the Microsoft DirectX 11 API and C++ AMP programming model. A Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, Model - 31P367923U with Intel® Atom™ Z2760 with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator graphics, 2GB of DDR3-1333 MHz RAM, video driver 9.14.3.1087 - 10/3/2012 averaged 304.3 ms per filter in CPU-only mode. The Intel device does not support DirectX 11, so must run the test in CPU-only mode. Both systems used Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (x64), build 9200. TEM-21

You could say it's natural evolution.  What came before is cast aside for what's new.  We see this every year in the evolutions that happen in Detroit, Las Vegas, London and Hollywood.  But, there's one long-time innovator that is ensuring its claim to the technology revolution is well-entrenched for years to come.  And, at this year's SXSWi, AMD will shine a light on this ever-present player in our tech-filled world – the personal computer.  From the start, the PC has been about the individual.  In fact, it's hard to imagine an area of our modern geek life that hasn't either originated from the PC or has been significantly influenced by it.  PCs have been the catalyst for many modern-day improvements in art, education, healthcare, government and the ubiquitous connections that bind us as a society.  At SXSWi, AMD is taking up the torch for the PC and re-imagining it through the lens of artists, technologists and creators of weird things that are appropriately on display in Austin, Texas every March.  AMD's Technograffiti exhibit is a celebration of creative expression through technology. AMD has brought some of the greatest creators of the modding world together to deliver a compelling show full of bits and bytes pushed through everyday objects past, present and future.  These creations include more than 15 creations like the ultimate Crysis 3® PC.  There's a technology from the last century – the pay phone – married with web-based telephony. And, it's where the best AMD graphics meet the best in gaming.  This year, AMD is pairing the hottest AAA Gaming Evolved titles in its Never Settle Reloaded bundle  with cool 3D software and showing them off on some of the coolest mods in the world. After all, art is technology and, increasingly technology is art.  AMD is proud to convene these creations and their creators to champion the debt we all owe to the PC.  If you are attending SXSW or in the Austin area make sure to register and stop by. Chris Hook is a Senior Manager, Public Relations 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.
Yesterday, Sony gave a sneak-peek at its next-generation PlayStation®4 (PS4™) game console coming later this year and, here at AMD, we couldn't be more excited. Bringing a supercharged PC architecture that combines next-gen hardware, software, and the fastest game network in the world. Oh, and this is all powered by a semi-custom designed AMD accelerated processing unit (APU) jointly developed in coordination with Sony!  In fact, the PS4 is the first announced design win based on semi-custom AMD APUs. This further demonstrates our commitment to take AMD technology into adjacent high growth markets as we diversify beyond the PC.  What exactly is a semi-custom APU? Let me elaborate:  At the most basic level, an APU is a single chip that combines general-purpose x86 central processing unit (CPU) cores (in this case, 64-bit x86) with a graphics processing unit (GPU) and a variety of system elements, including memory controllers, specialized video decoders, display outputs, etc. Our semi-custom solutions take the same treasure trove of graphics; compute and multi-media IP found in our APUs, and customize them for customers who have a very specific high-volume product that could benefit from AMD’s leading-edge technologies.  In the case of the PS4, we leveraged the building blocks of our 2013 product roadmap – the same technologies you find in the latest AMD APUs powering PCs, ultrathin notebooks and tablets – to create a solution that incorporates our upcoming, low-power  AMD “Jaguar” CPU cores with next-generation AMD Radeon™ graphics delivering nearly 2 TFLOPS of compute performance! This unique APU architecture enables game developers to easily harness the power of parallel processing to fundamentally change the console gaming experience. Not only creating the opportunity for new possibilities in software design, but also faster and more fluid graphics.  This is going to be a very exciting year for gamers, especially for those with AMD hardware in their PCs and consoles, as we have even more game-changing (pun intended) announcements still to come.  Look for some more exciting things happening at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March when we will provide even more info on how we are working with game developers to make AMD the hardware of choice for running the best games! John Taylor is the Vice President of Global Communications and Industry Marketing 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.
Another year is in the books, but our team in the Sunnyvale lab has been working to begin the New Year with something truly epic.  They've been working for months on an installation at CES that brought Surround Computing to life in a big way.  It’s called AMD SurRoundhouse, and if you were following our CES coverage then I am sure you’ve heard of it.  AMD SurRoundhouse builds on the direction AMD CTO Mark Papermaster outlined for Surround Computing – the era where our devices become more seamlessly integrated into daily life.  It speaks to an era where our senses, natural motion and daily patterns work together to create an environment that is unencumbered by our devices and enabled by our intentions.  The AMD SurRoundhouse highlights the focus AMD is placing on bringing technologies to market that power the next evolution of the surround computing experience.  With AMD SurRoundhouse, we're bringing an immersive experience that draws on the senses of sound and sight to transport (figuratively) visitors of the installation at CES into another place.  According to Bill Herz, Sr. Fellow, Chief Multimedia Technologist, "This is a phenomenal exhibition of innovation in technology and in story telling techniques. It’s a new art form and portends the future of gaming."  Bringing this experience to life is quite a task.  Check out the specs below. Technical Specs for Surround HouseProcessing Single desktop system: AMD FX 8150 8-core Black Edition, Asus Crosshair V Formula motherboard, 16 GB DDR1333 system RAM, with three AMD FirePro™ W8000 Graphics cards (4 GB each) using AMD’s exclusive Discrete Digital Multipoint Audio technology. One graphics card drives four TV displays and the other two cards drive three TV displays each. Eight of the display outputs also carry a four-channel audio stream, for 32 channels of audio output. Audio Audio amplification employs eight Pioneer VSX-50 AVRs, each driving four channels for a total of 32 main channels using 32 audiophile-class 100 watt speakers. Each corner of the room includes a 200 watt subwoofer with bass audio mixed from adjacent AVRs, for a 32.4 channel audio system. Video Ten Vizio Razor LED™ M3D550KDE 55 inch Smart TVs.  An internally developed game rendering engine codenamed “Sushi” (used previously in AMD’s “Leo” demo) is rendering the presentation in real-time, at over 30 FPS, 20.7 MPixels/frame, for a total of 600 MPixels/s minimum continuous output. Three instances of the Sushi engine are running simultaneously, one for each Single Large Surface (done using AMD Eyefinity technology), and are synchronized using a simple, internally developed protocol.  The audio sound effects geometric positions are exported from Sushi into a semi- customized, two-stage 32-channel audio engine developed for the demo.  We’d love to know what you thought of AMD SurRoundhouse if you were at CES.  If you were not able to make it to Las Vegas to experience AMD SurRoundhouse in person, check out all of the videos of the experience we took here.  John Taylor is Director of Global Business Unit Marketing. 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.

At AMD, we’ve got a lot to be excited about in 2013. We'll be bringing out more great APU products that will go into all sorts of form factors, from new tablets and notebooks to desktop and all-in-one PCs. And our collaboration with key software partners will continue to enable accelerated experiences leveraging AMD technologies. At this year’s 2013 International CES, we're particularly excited to be showing some very cool and useful capabilities that we're enabling with our upcoming AMD APUs codenamed “Richland” and “Temash.” Along with the great set of technologies we bring you today (such as AMD Steady Video and AMD Quick Stream technologies), we are bringing you some additional new experiences:

With AMD Face Login, YOU become the password

face-login.jpgWouldn't it be nice if your PC could recognize your face and log you into your Windows 7/8 account and your favorite websites automatically without you having to remember and type in lengthy user names and passwords? Well, this is essentially what you will be able to do with AMD Face Login, powered by CyberLink. Featuring CyberLink's FaceMeTM facial recognition technology designed to quickly detect and recognize individual features from the PC webcam, AMD Face Login software allows you to set up your PC so that YOU become the password. What's more, AMD Face Login also includes the robust set of webcam utilities that come standard in the latest and greatest CyberLink YouCam5 Business Edition software suite. It also includes a new Face-out function that lets you set up your PC to automatically lock the PC screen, sleep, or hibernate the PC when you leave the computer to further enhance PC privacy and save power consumption.

Abracadabra! Control your PC with a wave of your hand and AMD Gesture Control

gesture-control.png

A mouse and keyboard are great devices but aren't always the most convenient way to interact with your PC.  Say you are busy baking in the kitchen, hands dusted with flour. Now you will be able to do things such as scroll through your photos with Windows Photo Viewer, read through your PDF documents (perhaps your cookie recipes), and control the volume or playback of music or videos with Windows Media Player… all without having to touch your PC at all! Using the standard webcam (standard equipment on many PCs) and a series of simple hand gestures, you will be able to control your PC with AMD Gesture Control, powered by eyeSight. The technology has been optimized to enable greater accuracy on AMD-based PCs, even in challenging lighting conditions and is one of the results from the close technical collaboration between AMD and eyeSight technology.

Share your screen with AMD Screen Mirror

screen-mirror.pngIf only there was an easy way to share your PC screen with other devices on your home network. Perhaps you have a nice, small tablet PC and want to mirror your desktop onto your big screen TV so you can show your vacation videos and photos to your friends, even pull up your latest Facebook post and view the comments…. With AMD Screen Mirror, powered by Arcsoft, you will be able to share your screen with supported smart displays - such as other PCs on your network and HDTVs that support the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) standard. No more worrying about which file formats are streamable and which aren’t. If it can be seen on the PC screen, it can be sent wirelessly to other compatible DLNA displays. AMD Screen Mirror also leverages AMD’s new APUs codenamed “Richland” and “Temash” to improve the user experience, helping reduce power consumption by taking advantage of the AMD Accelerated Video Convertor.  If you are at CES this year, come check us out at the CES Central Plaza of the Las Vegas Convention Center – CP-2 or follow us http://www.facebook.com/AMD,  https://twitter.com/amd_unprocessed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/amd/all.  Check out more apps accelerated by AMD technology at www.amd.com/appzone. Clarice Simmons is a senior marketing manager 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.

In October, Microsoft released its latest operating system -- Windows 8.  For many OEMs, the new OS promises to provide many new opportunities, but from the questions we are getting from our customers, there may be a bit of confusion as well.   Most notably for OEMs is that Windows 8 does not support DVD playback for protected contented in its new version of Windows Media Player, as it did for Windows 7. With the big shift to digital downloads and such, the decision to cut this feature can help reduce costs. DVD codecs, as they are commonly referred, cost money to license. By reducing the codecs included in Windows, Microsoft is able to pass on the savings to the OEMs. However, because PC buyers expect to be able to play DVD movies (aka – “shiny discs”) on their PC -- something that Windows users have been able to do for many years – OEMs may want to include some level of playback functionality for protected content on new PCs by licensing 3rd party DVD playback software.   In an industry already challenged with "razor thin" margins, this can pose a big problem for OEMs - especially those small and midsize manufacturers who lack the volume necessary to negotiate direct deals with major app developers. In an effort to help OEMs source a quality, cost-effective DVD playback solution at an affordable price, AMD has worked with CyberLink to offer its latest, award-winning PowerDVD media player - PowerDVD 12, which is optimized for several AMD technologies for a great user experience, is available today at a discounted price and reduced volume requirements, through appAttach, a new digital application distribution service which enables OEMs to easily connect with app developers to find, transact and manage preinstalled app deals over the Internet.   To get your copies of PowerDVD 12, visit http://www.appattach.com and sign-up for free.   Guest Blogger James DePloy is Founder and CEO of appAttach. 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.
With the holidays fast approaching, consumer electronics are on many gift lists. In fact, according to the Consumer Electronics Association[i], three in four gift-giving adults plan to buy a consumer-electronics product as a gift. From more brilliant graphics when gaming to longer battery life when on the go, AMD-powered products let people do more by providing superior computing experiences.  One of the hottest Holiday devices launches November 18th with the official US availability of Nintendo’s Wii U home console.  Powered by AMD, the Wii U system marks the first time Nintendo has offered an HD game machine. Wii U is available just in time for the Holidays along with other AMD-powered notebooks, tablets and desktops, rounding out tech-savvy consumers’ holiday wish list.  Some gift options, currently available, include:
         
  • For the Interactive Gamer:
           
    • Nintendo’s Wii U (starting at $299.99 SRP[ii]) will come in two versions — each of which comes with a touch-screen Wii U GamePad controller.  The Wii U is powered by custom AMD Radeon™ HD GPU technology, which provides exciting, immersive game play, brilliant HD video and television, and new forms of interaction for consumers.
    •      
  • For the Mobile Multi-tasker:
           
    • The Samsung Series 5 535 ($849.99 SRP) is under 1” thick, includes an integrated optical disk drive and it's remarkably thin and light so it's easy to take it with you anytime and anywhere. Thanks to AMD, it doesn’t let down in the graphics or processing department either, boasting an HD display and a very quick 20-second boot-up time[iii]!
    •      
  • For the Content Consumer:
           
    • If you’re into movies, music and games, the HP ENVY dv7-7230us Notebook PC ($699.99 SRP) is for you. See every move on the wide screen and hear every beat. The HP ENVY dv6 comes standard with Beats Audio™ and quad speakers with subwoofer for sound enhancing entertainment. And with AMD, your battery has an long life so you can do more, hear more, and watch more.
    •      
  • For the Gamer on the Go
           
    • If you need a system that can keep up with all your gameplay, check out the MSI GX60 ($1199.99 SRP)!  MSI's latest and greatest generation gaming notebook, features AMD's newest high-end Radeon™ HD 7970M discrete-class graphics with excellent 3D performance and amazing visuals that increase game realism. AMD Enduro™ display switching technology to throttle up performance and extend battery time as you enjoy a high-performance, high-resolution gaming experience.
So no matter who’s on your list – AMD has powered a device that will match their wish list this year!
Kristen Lisa is a PR Manager 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.
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