Samsung gets fat of Apple
 
Apple has signed a deal worth $240 million (well over R1.7 billion) with Samsung, that’ll see the Korean manufacturer providing Apple with an additional 3 million iPad screens. “The most expensive component in the iPad is the display and touch-screen interface that costs $80 for all models. The 9.7-inch display is more than twice the size of the iPhone 3GS screen and costs five times as much,” a high-ranking industry representative told The Korea Times. The iPad launches on 3 April in the States.
 
In related news, Apple have reportedly pre-loaded its iBook Store with over 30 000 free titles from Project Gutenberg.
 
Size does matter for Sony
 
Sony unveiled the world’s smallest AVCHD HD camcorder yesterday. The company’s new Handycam HDR-CX7 weighs about 425 g and can record almost three hours of full HD video on an 8 GB Memory Stick PRO Duo media card (sold separately). Their new HDR-SR7 AVCHD HD camcorder can record 22 hours of full HD video on its built-in 60 GB hard-drive, while the HDR-SR5 model can record up to 15 hours on its built-in 40 GB hard disk drive. Both SR models feature Sony’s HDD Smart Protection system that guards against data loss.
 
Re-worked Sense for the Legend
 
Yesterday HTC introduced an enhanced version of their Sense UI experience for Android 2.1, which will be available on the HTC Legend. “HTC Legend takes Android to another level in both substance with HTC Sense and style with HTC Legend’s revolutionary crafted aluminum uni-body design,” said Jack Tong, VP of HTC Asia. The Legend will be available in Europe in April.
 
Dates for GTC 2010 announced
 
Nvidia announced the dates for the 2nd GPU Technology Conference (GTC 2010) yesterday. GTC 2010 will be held at the San Jose Convention Center in California from 20 September to 23 September. “Last year’s GPU Technology Conference was very exciting, with many top researchers and developers demonstrating how they are using the GPU to solve some of the world’s most difficult challenges, from medical diagnostics to energy exploration,” said Bill Dally, a chief scientist at Nvidia. “I am eagerly looking forward to seeing the new advances that will be unveiled this year.”