Officially, the Dreamcast died an ugly death at the hands of the PlayStation 2. The system didn't have the support of EA. Sega couldn't compete with Sony on marketing, the inclusion of a DVD drive, and the backwards compatibility included with the PlayStation 2. The end result is that Sega became what it is now: a software company.

That's the official story, at least.

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Microsoft Hardware today announced another addition to its Bluetooth line of products: the Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000. Redmond says that the keyboard is the thinnest it has ever produced (just a few millimeters thicker than a AAA battery at the back), while still utilizing the Microsoft Comfort Curve keyboard layout, which encourages natural wrist posture with a slight six-degree curve. The keyboard also features a portable Bluetooth Number Pad that can be used with the keyboard or by itself (it comes with its own carrying case). Here's a picture with dimensions, as well as the feature list from Microsoft:

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Intel brought its mainstream desktop CPU lineup into the Nehalem era today with the launch of the Core i7 860 and 870, and the Core i5 750. Also launched today is the P55 chipset, which implements a new system architecture that represents a significant break with Intel's past. In this short article, we'll take a brief look at each, in turn.

In previous articles we've covered Nehalem's microarchitectural improvements to the Core 2 Duo lineage, so we won't recap that here. What is worth repeating, though, is that Nehalem is Intel's first x86 design to feature an on-die memory controller. This significantly changes the system topology, but in a direction that AMD already went way back in 2003.

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Intel's plan to improve the PC's performance and power efficiency by putting a chunk of flash memory cache on motherboards was previewed at the 2006 IDF under the codename "Robson," and when it was launched the next year as "Turbo Memory" it never took off. Now the company has a followup to Turbo Memory, codenamed "Braidwood," that will debut in the new 5-series chipsets for Nehalem. Braidwood's ability to cache frequently used data, like application binaries and open files, will significantly decrease boot and load times, and provide users with a more responsive computing experience.

Why didn't Turbo Memory take off, and why will Braidwood be any different? And is a recent, widely cited report by Objective Analysis correct in asserting that Braidwood will nullify any advantages that SSDs offer, thereby killing the latter?

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The PlayStation 3 launched on November 17, 2006, and the 60GB models were sold for the scandalous price of $600. Sony had set expectations so high that a backlash was almost inevitable. Now you can get a newly redesigned PlayStation 3 for $300, half the launch price of the premiere console, but along the way features have been lost. Ports have been removed. Logos have changed.

What a difference a few years makes. The 60GB consoles have been discontinued and there is no longer any way to play PlayStation 2 games on PlayStation 3 hardware. Even though the price has been halved, there is a small but vocal group of gamers who jealously hoard their 60GB model, and wouldn't trade it in for the new and "improved" system if their lives depended on it. I should know, I'm one of them.

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