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Right off the top, I have to tell you, this episode is laden with podcast-exclusive discussions and news!

When a listener question dives deep into the workings and scheming of AMD, Scott gives us the complete scoop on what exactly Advanced Micro Devices has planned for the years to come. During the "station break," we chat with TR newcomer Perry Longinotti about the Acer Aspire One, its pros and cons, and the netbook category on the whole. In the final stretch of the show, Scott and Cyril discuss the some neglected news from Nvision 08, including how SoftKinetic plans to make the Wiimote obsolete and how MotionDSP's CUDA-based software could reveal the truth about Bigfoot.

Can AMD take the inside track in the coming months with its 45nm Phenoms? Does the Acer Aspire One meet our standards? And can Cyril finish Stalker before the weekend is over? Find out in this episode of the TR Podcast.

Send in listener mail, and we'll answer on the podcast. - jdrake@techreport.com

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Listener mail:

AMD CPU questions (0:04:24) - from Masaki:

Since a month, or so, ago, people and the web has all been talking about IDF, Larrabee, Nahelum, even NVision. I have heard that, also on the web, AMD has an Anti-IDF camp like a couple of years ago. It seems no one is interested with the camp as I can hear nothing at all about the camp. My first question is: Was there the camp? Or just a rumor like all the other rumors? If there was, what was the content?

My second question is: Even with a few samples tested, pictured on the web, what do you guys think about the 45nm Phenoms and also the upcoming products now? I originally think the announcement of ACC will come with the announcement of 45nm chips together to heat the market, but this is not the case. Surely people (like me) around the world are waiting for the chip to come out, but it has completely missed the Core 2's shrink (not to mention the excellent E7200, E8400/8600 and Q9300) and now the new Corei7 is really around the corner, a corner seems to be even closer than AMD's. Please give your views on this.

I have been following AMD for years and it seems to me that they have a fate just of chasing Intel. AMD won only a few times during the pass 10 years though. . . . will AMD be chasing Intel always? . . . Do you think it is really possible for AMD to produce 32nm working samples of any processor in their name within months? And how does this affect their 45nm development work?

Tech discussion:

Acer's Aspire One netbook (0:33:54)- Read more

SoftKinetic (0:58:21)- Read more

MotionDSP (1:05:21)- Read more

Badaboom Media Converter (1:08:37)- Read more

Google’s new Chrome web browser (1:14:19)- Read more