By MarketNewsVideo Today, Nielsen Holdings (NLSN) announced its quarterly dividend of 20 cents per share, an increase of about 25% over its prior dividend in June of 16 cents. Shares of NLSN are higher by about 1.4% in afternoon trading. General Growth Properties (GGP) also announced a quarterly dividend increase to 13 cents per share, an increase of about 8% over its prior dividend in July of 12 cents. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Kenworth Introduces Factory-Installed Idle Management System
LOUISVILLE, Ky.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Kenworth has announced a new factory-installed and integrated engine-off heating and cooling idle management system for its long-haul T680 with a 76-inch sleeper.
Kenworth will offer a new factory-installed and integrated engine-off heating and cooling idle management system for its long-haul T680 with a 76-inch sleeper. The new Kenworth Idle Management System is a battery-based APU system for air conditioning that is tied directly into the Kenworth T680‘s ducting system. An optional fuel-fired heater provides full engine-off heating capability. (Photo: Business Wire)
The new Kenworth Idle Management System is a battery-based APU system for air conditioning that is tied directly into the Kenworth T680‘s ducting system. An optional fuel-fired heater provides full engine-off heating capability.
“It’s a seamless integration into the T680 which, when compared to other battery APUs on the market, provides excellent, engine-off, heating and cooling,” said Kevin Baney, Kenworth chief engineer. “And, since it’s integrated, it has a very small under-bunk footprint to maintain storage space for drivers and teams.”
The Kenworth Idle Management System provides an integrated system that extends air conditioning performance. “That’s critical to drivers who want cool comfort in their sleepers during their rest period,” said Baney.
The Kenworth Idle Management System features full on-board controls in the sleeper. “Once the truck is shut down, the driver simply uses the control panel in the sleeper to maintain temperature control,” said Baney. “An LCD display gives drivers full system information, plus allows the driver to monitor remaining battery power.”
“As a safeguard, the system features integrated power management to maximize cooling performance, yet provide sufficient power to ensure enough power is available to start the truck,” said Baney.
“With minimal environmental impact through emissions, seamless integration into the T680 sleeper, and with virtually no maintenance required, the Kenworth Idle Management System is truly leading edge and something that further sets the Kenworth T680 apart from other long-haul trucks on the road,” said Baney.
Kenworth Truck Company is the manufacturer of The World’s Best(R) heavy and medium duty trucks. Kenworth’s Internet home page is at www.kenworth.com. Kenworth is a PACCAR company. (NAS: PCAR)
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130320006224/en/
Kenworth Truck Company<br …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
AMD today announced the availability of its AMD Elite A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), formerly codenamed Richland. These processors, designed for use in notebook PCs, combine either two or four x86 CPU cores with a graphics engine derived from AMD’s Radeon HD 8000 series of discrete GPUs on the same chip.
In a briefing earlier this month, AMD indicated that it had been shipping Elite A-Series APUs since December, and that the components should begin appearing in traditional and performance notebooks later this month. AMD expects to release a low-voltage iteration of Richland APUs for use in ultrathin notebooks later in the first half of 2013.
AMD claims its Elite A-Series APUs deliver both higher performance—better graphics performance than an Intel Core i7—and improved battery life compared to its previous-generation APUs. The performance gains, AMD says, will enable an array of new user experiences, such as facial recognition to replace alpha-numeric passwords for security, and gesture control as an easier means of interacting with the PC than using a touchscreen.
AMD is bundling several applications with the APUs, so that OEMs can provide the software to end users who buy computers. AMD Gesture Control, for example, taps the APU’s graphics cores to recognize hand gestures. Users will be able to operate basic functions on media players, web browsers, e-readers and other applications by moving their hands in front of a web cam from up to three feet away.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
Chip maker AMD will sell a cut-down version of the custom chip it developed for the upcoming Sony PlayStation 4 gaming console. The accelerated processing unit (APU) from AMD won’t be quite as potent as the one destined for Sony’s console, but it will be very similar to the custom APU powering the PS4.
AMD’s head of marketing John Taylor told The Inquirer that the PC-focused APU equivalent going on sale later this year will not feature Sony proprietary technology, which will remain exclusive to the PS4. He went on to call the PlayStation 4’s processor “by far the most powerful APU we have built to date.”
The finer details of AMD‘s next-generation “Jaguar” architecture are still somewhat shrouded in mystery, but we do know some details about Sony’s processor. The chip will have eight x86-64 CPU cores, while the GPU will be based on the next-gen Radeon graphics engine, capable of 1.84 teraflops of performance power. As with all AMD APUs, the CPU and GPU will be on the same physical die, with 8GB of GDDR5 memory to share between them.
The PS4-inspired APU heading to PCs will have fewer cores and less computing capability than the chips made for Sony, Taylor said. We’d expect the PC version to cut the eight CPU cores in half, as AMD has previously stated that Jaguar-powered PC processors will have up to four cores. Unfortunately, the PlayStation 4’s home run specification—the 8GB of unified GDDR5 RAM—will no doubt suffer from extensive alterations in order to play nice with standard motherboards, which will likely send the memory bandwidth plummeting from the PlayStation 4’s sky-high 176GBps rate.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
At tonight’s event we were offered a brief overview of the PlayStation 4’s powerful new hardware and a few quick glimpses at its new peripherals, the DualShock 4 and Eye. Now, the company has released additional information about the console’s internals and more detail about the controller and new camera.
Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will be powered by a custom 8-core AMD “Jaguar” x86-64 with integrated graphics APU and “next-generation” AMD Radeon graphics processor capable of driving 1.84 teraflops. As detailed at the event, it will come paired with 8GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory, making it competitive with most gaming-focused PCs on the market. As expected, the system will ship with a Blu-ray drive, built-in 80.211 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, as well as HDMI, Analog-AV, and optical digital output. Sony is giving I/O options a boost with the inclusion of USB 3.0 ports and a mysteriously vague “AUX” port. Each system will ship a “Mono Headset” for cross-game chat and other social features.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Tech
A probe into the overheating of a lithium ion battery in an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 found it was improperly wired, Japan‘s Transport Ministry said Wednesday.
The Transport Safety Board said in a report that the battery of the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit was incorrectly connected to the main battery that overheated, although a protective valve would have prevented power from the APU from doing damage.
Flickering of the plane’s tail and wing lights after it landed and the fact the main battery was switched off led the investigators to conclude there was an abnormal current traveling from the APU due to miswiring.
The agency said that more analysis was needed to determine what caused the main battery to overheat and emit the smoke that prompted the Jan. 16 emergency landing of the ANA domestic flight and the worldwide grounding of Boeing 787 jets. They said they are consulting Boeing about the issue.
The Federal Aviation Administration and aviation authorities in other countries grounded 787 fleets because of the ANA incident which followed a battery fire earlier in January in a 787 parked in Boston.
The 787, dubbed the Dreamliner by Boeing, is the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium ion batteries, which are lighter weight, charge faster and contain more energy than conventional batteries similar in size. However, the batteries also are more prone to overheating and catching fire.
AmeriGas Partners, L.P. (NYSE: APU) has been named as a Top 10 dividend paying utility stock, according to Dividend Channel, which published its weekly ”DividendRank” report. The report noted that among utilities, APU shares displayed both attractive valuation metrics and strong profitability metrics. The report also cited the strong quarterly dividend history at AmeriGas Partners, L.P., and favorable long-term multi-year growth rates in key fundamental data points. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
By MarketNewsVideo Bank of America Corporation (BAC) maintained its quarterly dividend of 1 cent per share. The dividend is payable on March 22, 2013 to shareholders of record as of March 1, 2013.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
Over the last year, AMD executives have been abandoning ship for rival Nvidia, and according to a new lawsuit, they took confidential information about the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 with them. Engadget reports that AMD has filed suit against four ex-employees, claiming that the executives absconded with thousands of confidential documents, including sensitive information about technologies at use in next-gen consoles. As our well-placed sources told us last year, custom silicon based on AMD’s A8-series APU and HD 7670 GPU will be used in the PlayStation 4, while the Xbox 720 will combine an IBM PowerPC CPU and a custom version of AMD’s 6670 GPU.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games
LAS VEGAS—Kevin Lensing, Director of AMD’s Notebook Product Line, exuded a quiet confidence at a briefing at the 2013 CES show. After hiccups and delays AMD’s APU strategy, which makes the integrated graphics core in the chip an equal partner with the CPU, is starting to gather momentum. Lensing pointed to key design wins for AMD’s APUs, including shiny new laptops and all-in-ones from Vizio, a slick laptop from Asus that’s indistinguishable from a similar Intel-based Ultrabook and HP’s announcement of a budget, touch-based Windows 8 laptop as evidence.
APUs, or accelerated processing units, combine x86 compatible CPUs with the latest AMD Radeon GCN (“graphics core next”) graphics cores. The top model A10 APU mash together a quad core CPU with 384 graphics cores, equivalent to discrete Radeon HD 8600M mobile GPU. The A10’s graphics core offers an uncompromising feature set, including full DirectX 11.1 capability for smooth running operation in Windows 8.
One key design win is Vizio’s line of sleekly designed PCs. Vizio is offering both laptops and desktop all-in-one PCs with AMD APUs plus AMD discrete graphics chips. Vizio’s 24-inch All-in-One Touch PC is one example.
AMD also pointed to the recent release of Asus’ U38 ultrathin laptop. Built into a chassis reminiscent of the Asux UX31A, the U38 was a cooperative design effort between AMD, Asus and Microsoft. The U38 uses an AMD A8-4555M APU and includes a 1920 by 1080 FullHD IPS display with 10-point touch capability.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
