Apple has recently been doing quite well for themselves recently. In the browser department, Safari is gaining users while Firefox is losing them. However, every rose has it's thorns. Safari has been often criticized with having a memory leak problem. A system can lose up to 76% of system performance just by having Safari open in the background. There have even been articles published detailing how you should shut down Safari when running anything else. Fortunately, Apple began working on a fix to this problem as soon as they heard about it. Anyone who runs Safari should grab the update.

As you may have noticed, RAM prices have dropped sharply over the past few months. Turns out that it's a good idea to "buy low, sell high", to quote a familiar stock market tip. The prices are only temporary, and as Vista really gets popular among consumers, and as prices get too low to compensate for manufacturing costs, manufacturers will simply raise prices again. Expect to see prices go back to "normal" during the second half of 2007. In the meantime, feel free to buy plenty of RAM while prices are still low and reasonable.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of DRAM memory modules and flash products, today announced that their 800MHz DDR2 modules have passed ATI CrossFire Certification.

Super Talent's most popular gaming memory kit, T800UX2GC4, has passed ATI's intensive qualification testing, which ensures that this Super Talent memory kit is compatible with the ATI CrossFire gaming platform. ATI's Certification List can be found here.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced that its low-latency HyperX memory modules are also available now in 4GB kits(6KHX6400D2LLK2/4G). Working at DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12@2.0V all 4GB HyperX memory kits complete 24 hours of burn-in reliability testing, extensive dynamic testing as well as visual inspection. The 6KHX6400D2LLK2/4G is available now for 500$. Kingston additionally offers 1-(KHX6400D2LLK2/1G - 160$) and 2GB (KHX6400D2LLK2/2G - 308$) memory kits as well as modules ranging from 512MB to 2GB capacities, all members of the low-latency HyperX brand. All HyperX DDR2 memory modules come with a lifetime warranty and 24/7 technical support.

Samsung Touts 4 GHz Memory for Graphics Cards

Getting more speed is always nice - and Samsung is about to break the speed barrier yet again, pushing GDDR4 chips to 4 GHz and beyond. At the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), Samsung presented its new GDDR4 memory chips that operate at about 40% higher speed than GDDR4 was initially estimated to, but use more power.

4 GHz GDDR4 memory chips are only "available" in 512 MB capacities and were manufactured using 80 nm process technology. They were designed for a power supply voltage of 1.4 V - 2.1 V, reports PC Watch web-site. The data rate of 4 Gb/s (4 gigabit per second, or 4 GHz) was achieved with devices operating at 2.0 V, which is higher than Samsung's current-generation GDDR4 chips that can function at up to 1.9 V officially.

GDDR4 memory at 4.0 GHz delivers bandwidth of 16 GB/s and if such chips were used in today's graphics cards that have 256-bit memory bus, this would result in peak data bandwidth of 128 GB/s, two times more than the ATI Radeon X1950 XTX (the only graphics card on the market that uses GDDR4) can offer. For tomorrow's graphics boards that will have 512-bit memory access Samsung's new chips would give peak memory bandwidth of 256 GB/s, which is nearly three times more than 86.4 GB/s that the currently highest-performance graphics card - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX - has.

Are we beginning to enter the era when GPU memory will be clocked many times higher than our CPUs?

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today unveiled the OCZ PC2-8500 Reaper HPC Series. This 2GB dual channel kit features the proprietary OCZ Reaper HPC (Heat Pipe Conduit) heatspreader, engineered to deliver superior silent heat dissipation over traditional heatspreaders.

Corsair, today expanded its Secure Digital(SD) card family with the new 4GB SD High Capacity (SDHC) cards. Based on the SD Association 2.0 specification and tested to be fully compliant with SDHC host devices, each Corsair 4GB SDHC card blends Class 2 performance and high capacity to offer expanded storage for rich digital media. The SDHC form factor addresses the growing usage of larger capacities supported by high performance digital cameras, digital camcorders and other handheld devices used to record high definition digital content. While the maximum capacity for a standard SD card is capped at 2GB, the new SDHC standard extends storage capacity from 4GB to 32GB.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - IBM has devised a way to triple the amount of memory stored on computer chips and double the performance of data-hungry processors by replacing a problematic type of memory with a variety that uses much less space on the slice of silicon.

International Business Machines Corp. said Wednesday that its new memory technology will help unclog crippling bottlenecks that build up as increasingly powerful microprocessors attempt to retrieve data from a separate memory chip faster than it can be delivered.

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said its solution entails swapping out most of the static random access memory, or SRAM, used to store information directly on computer chips and integrating onto the chip another kind of memory, known as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM.

IBM said it has been able to speed up the DRAM to the point where it's nearly as fast as SRAM, and that the result is a type of memory known as embedded DRAM, or eDRAM, that helps boost the performance of chips with multiple core calculating engines and is particularly suited for enabling the movement of graphics in gaming and other multimedia applications.FoxNews

OCZ Technology Group, today announced the PC2-6400 Flex XLC CL3 series. This latest edition to the highly-awarded OCZ Flex XLC product family is engineered to produce significant performance gains on the latest NVIDIA nForce SLI platforms by implementing Enhanced Performance Profiles (EPP) and allowing the memory to operate at a stable 800MHz at CL3 upon start up. Developed and tested on the 680i platform, the Flex XLC CL3 series provides rock-solid stability and compatibility for enthusiasts looking to reap the benefits of aggressively priced, low latency memory.

This is an interesting contest, as it is quite easy to enter and you will not have to worry about giving away a lot of personal information. All you need to do is "Design an ad (text based, slogan or banner) to promote Mushkin Memory".

There are two kits of memory up for grabs. The contest is open to all residing in North America.

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the PC2-6400 Gold Edition 4GB (2x2048MB) dual channel kit. These new modules are optimized for transitioning from Microsoft Windows XP to Vista. Running at 5-5-5 latency timings(2.0V), the PC2-6400 2GB modules deliver maximum memory bandwidth, while eliminate the compatibility and overclocking issues with four 1GB modules. The PC2-6400 Gold 2048MB Edition memory will be available in 2048MB (2GB) modules and 4GB dual channel kits. All Gold Edition modules are 100% hand-tested for quality assurance and compatibility and feature high quality, gold-mirrored XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) heatspreaders. Furthermore, each OCZ Gold series module is backed by the industry leading OCZ Lifetime Warranty and technical support.

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high performance computer products, today launched Mac Memory, their first memory DDR2-667 SODIMM products to support Apple PCs. Three products were announced today, the 1GB upgrade module, the 2GB upgrade kit (two 1GB modules) and the 3GB upgrade kit (one 1GB module and one 2GB module). The 1GB upgrade module and 2GB upgrade kit are compatible with the MacBook family, MacBook Pro family, and Intel-based versions of the iMac. The 3GB upgrade kit is compatible only with the MacBook Pro family and those models of iMac's supporting up to 3GB of system memory.

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced their Vista Value Upgrade series which includes the highly anticipated 4GB (2x2048MB) dual channel kit. The new lineup of memory is optimized for perfect compatibility for those transitioning from Microsoft Windows XP to Vista.

Corsair, today unveiled production-ready 2GB DDR2-667 (PC5300) ValueSelect SODIMMs. Designed for current generation notebooks and mini-PCs, the new high density SODIMMs allow users to maximize memory bandwidth and minimize performance bottleneck to deliver superior user experience. The Corsair ValueSelect SODIMMs are optimized for Microsoft Windows Vista client operating system.

Rambus will demonstrate its most recent implementation in the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, the XDR memory architecture at this year's DesignCon 2007. Rambus demos, displays and presentations include: XDR memory architecture with data rates ranging from 3.2-8.0GHz, FlexIO&trade' processor bus offering data rates of 400 MHz to 8.0GHz, DDR technology performing memory transactions to and from a DDR2 device operating at 800Mbps (400MHz clock), Rambus Gen2 solution compliant with PCI Express base specification and LabStation bring-up debug and characterization tool. For additional information, please visit the DesignCon 2007 page.

Chemists from UCLA and the California Institute of Technology have managed to create an ultra-dense memory device capable of storing 100 Gb (gigabits) per square centimetre, an accomplishment which could lead to much smaller and more powerful computers than we have today. The memory uses a series of perpendicular nanowires crossing over each other, with 400 silicon wires crossed by 400 titanium wires, both 16nm wide. At each crossing are approximately 300 bistable rotaxane molecules which can act as switches and therefore be used to store data in a very small space.

Hynix Develops 2GB DDR2-800 Memory Modules

Hynix has developed a 2GB DDR2 memory module with operating speeds of 800 MHz, which makes it the world's first in memory industry. The 2-Gbyte DDR2 module is based on 90-nanometer process technology using advanced wafer-level packaging technology (WLP). Hynix did not say precisely when the new memory modules will start mass production.

There have been reports about the upcoming NVIDIA mainstream DirectX 10 parts. One big thing was the 256-bit memory interface of the 8600. It seems that this feature will be reserved for the high-end cards. The 8600 series will feature a 128-bit memory interface - no more.

OCZ Announces the PC2-6400 Flex XLC, a High Performance Memory Solution for EnthusiastsWith the goal of providing their latest proprietary technology to every enthusiast, OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today launched the OCZ PC2-6400 FlexXLC 2x1GB Kit, the mainstream edition of the recently released DDR2-1150 memory part. Intended for the enthusiast looking for the absolute highest performance and value, the new PC2-6400 Flex XLC delivers unprecedented speed, signal integrity, and thermal management, all at a lower price point than the current flagship high-speed binned Flex XLC solution.

A-DATA has shown off prototypes of an upcoming solid-state drive for ExpressCard, IDE and SATA interfaces. The samples have capacities of 32, 64 and 128 GB. The 32 and 64 GB drives come in 1.8" form factors while the 128 GB drive is in a 2.5" size. Solid state drives promise to be much faster than traditional hard drives. Since there are no moving parts, the drives can reach sustained read speeds of 62 MB/s and have an access time in the sub-millisecond range. Regular hard drives typically have access times between 8 and 19 ms. In addition, SSDs promise to enhance battery life by a few minutes. A-Data didn't specify the price, but did say that mass production should start late Q1 2007.

Transcend information, a leading company in manufacturing flash memory products showcased its new SD gaming cards designed specially for game consoles, such as Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii, at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The growing popularity of game consoles has catapulted the need for higher performance and bigger capacity flash memory cards.

Rambus Inc., one of the world's premier technology licensing companies specializing in high-speed chip interfaces and Spansion Inc., the world's largest pure-play provider of Flash memory solutions, announced today that they have signed a patent license agreement. This five-year, royalty-based agreement grants Spansion a license to a broad range of Rambus patents. Rambus management does not expect revenue generated from this license agreement to be material. Specific terms of the agreement are confidential.

Kingston Technology announced today the launch of its new 1.150GHz(PC9200) and 1.200GHz(PC9600) DDR2 HyperX memory modules to the market. The KHX9600D2/XX modules operate at DDR2-1200 CL5-5-5-15@2.3-2.35V while the KHX9200D2/XX works at DDR2-1150 CL5-5-5-15@2.3-2.35V. Kingston Technology's new HyperX 1.1GHz and 1.2GHz modules are available now in 512MB and 1GB capacities, 1GB and 2GB kits are also available to support the latest in high-performance computing. Each module completes 24 hours of burn-in reliability testing, extensive dynamic testing and visual inspection. Kingston Technology's HyperX DDR2 memory also comes with a lifetime warranty and 24/7 technical support.

As a part of the CES live demonstrations, Corsair announced the new TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF DOMINATOR memory kits. Designed for overclocking and achieving the highest frequencies in mind, the TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF DOMINATOR is rated and tested at a frequency of 1250MHz(5-5-5-15-2T@2.4V), thus making it the world's highest frequency production ready memory. Specially designed for NVIDIA nForce 680 SLI media and communications (MCP)-based motherboards, the new DOMINATOR extends Corsairs leadership in enthusiast memory. All DOMINATOR memory modules feature Enhanced Performance Profiles (EPP) and SLI-Ready technology. As a DOMINATOR modules the Airflow Fans are included within each kit. A DOMINATOR heat sink assembly, using DHX technology and the addition of the Airflow fan, allows a Corsair module to reach PC10560 or 1320MHz at CAS 5 settings. The TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF DOMINATOR 2GB kits will be available by the end of January through Corsair's worldwide authorized distributors, retailers, resellers and e-tailers. All Corsair memory products are backed by a lifetime warranty and complete customer support.

Transcend Information Inc., a world leading company in flash memory cards, has announced its 2GB microSD Memory Card. This new card is the smallest memory card (15mm x 11mm x 1mm) in the world, and it is a great choice for the next generation of mobile phones and portable devices, which include a memory card slot as standard. In addition, Transcend's microSD card can also be used in regular SD memory card slots by combining the card with its provided adapter. Transcend's microSD card is now available in 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB and 2GB capacities.