Here at AnandTech, we’ve been talking for a considerable time about Intel and Nokia’s joint collaboration in the mobile space on the MeeGo mobile operating system. Today, the two companies have announced another partnership aimed at improving MeeGo’s potential for competing against Android and iOS - a joint research program tasked with creating new mobile user experiences.

Intel and Nokia have chosen the University of Oulu’s center for internet excellence to be the host of this newly formed 'joint innovation center.' The University of Oulu is credited for being the home of IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and the open source VR platform realXtend, among other things, and no doubt Nokia already has strong ties to this large Finnish university.

University of Oulu

Starting immediately, some two dozen researchers from the university’s community will collaborate towards creating “compelling mobile user experiences.” 

Though the center’s goals are focused on 3D mobile interfaces, Intel and Nokia also noted that development time will be devoted towards crafting new interfaces for virtual worlds - but get this, for use in a mobile environment. The two talked about extending CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment - think holodeck) type interfaces into the mobile realm.

ASUS’ Republic of Gamers range is soon to have a new member, in the shape of the ASUS Rampage III Formula.  Using the X58 chipset, this board is designed for looks, uncompromised performance, overclocking, and the best possible online gaming experience with the new SupremeFX X-Fi 2 audio solution.  However, based on our recent high-end X58 roundup, the X58 market is stagnating between the budget X58 and high end, where the minor features that few people end up using seem destined to create a huge markup price.  ASUS hopes to alleviate such issues with the release of the Rampage III Formula, by finding a happy medium.

A competitive gamer loves being at the cutting edge.  Every piece of hardware needs to be meticulously set to his or her specifications and customisations – being hindered by substandard equipment is not an option.  For a number of years, Logitech have played a role in this field, trying to give the gamer what they want – assuming money is no object, of course.  Today they have announced a triumvirate of a new headset, new mouse and new keyboard to add to any prospective warrior’s arsenal, if your wallet stretches that far.

Water cooling is typically seen for an enthusiast, requiring pumps, reservoirs, tubing, know-how, and a cautious mind not to spill water all over your precious components.  The benefits of water cooling are obvious to many – having your system run cooler, better stability at higher overclocks, and aesthetics.  Lower down the order of the water cooling, manufacturers like CoolerMaster, Corsair and Coolit have over the years come to the market with all-in-one solutions, requiring little knowledge to reap water cooling benefits.  These early models were readily slated in reviews, for being more expensive than high-end air cooling, yet performing worse.  It wasn’t until the Corsair H50 and H50-1 models came along that these all-in-one water coolers were taken seriously, because here was a product that performed as good as a high end air cooler, in certain situations quieter, could easily fit in many cases, and only for a small premium.  So now Corsair is due to release the next model in their line – the Corsair H70.

If you’re on the lookout for a GTX460, you had two choices – the 768MB versions, or the 1GB variants.  From our recent review, the 1GB versions, due to their increased memory bus width, outperformed the 768MB versions by quite a few percentage points.  This is also reflected in the price of the 1GB 460 over the 768MB 460.  So now Gainward are adding to the mix, with a 2GB GTX 460 model.

The amount and speed of the RAM in a system is always indicative of the user and the software.  Small home users require nothing more than enough for the operating system, word processing, web browsing and email. CAD engineers, VM users, and video/ music/graphic editors may require density over speed, to cope with a potentially large workload, while overclocking fanatics like memory that goes fast. OCZ plans to cater to both overclocking and high memory users, with the announcement of high speed, 4GB memory modules.