AMD Launches 3D Media Browser: Does Anyone Care? | TechCrunch (original) (raw)
For whatever reason this week’s launch of the beta version of AMD’s Fusion Media Explorer, the company’s first forray in the social media hub / browser space, isn’t being met with a mountain of buzz. For a 40-year old giant of a tech company that’s mostly known for its micro-processors and related technologies, that’s quite surprising, especially because the product actually appears to be quite cool, if not very innovative these days.
I say appears, because the installation failed on my computer for lack of an AMD processor (I should have known), and I should probably note the application has only been tested for use on Windows and Linux machines. From what I can gather, it most certainly makes me want to test it asap though.
Here’s how AMD pitches the browser (buzzword alert):
The AMD Fusion Media Explorer (FME) is a new 3D Immersive Social Media and Digital Media Browser, built and distributed by AMD. In addition to enabling unique multimedia and social media experiences, FME does a great job of showcasing the power of AMD CPUs and GPUs. This application demonstrates what our platforms are capable of when the software is designed to take full advantage.
AMD Fusion Media Explorer combines a user’s local media items, plus related online content from providers such as, Flickr, YouTube, and Microsoft Live. In addition, FME has Facebook integration which gives our users even more options for posting or interacting with their favorite photos or friends’ photos. All of this is managed by an integrated search engine, that makes it very easy to quickly locate what you are looking for.
So basically, the FME application allows you to view and search for multimedia content like photos, videos, music etc. straight from your hard drive as well as online destinations like Flickr, YouTube and Facebook, and enables you to share them with your friends on a variety of social networking services from within the three-dimensional interface. The scrollable 3D ribbon appears to be a nice touch. For a comprehensive review, check TheInquirer or read the release notes.
The screenshots and video below remind me a lot of the (now dead) Pogo Browser initiative from AT&T, and also of Cooliris, which offers a similar desktop application.
In the blog post announcing the limited beta release of the Fusion Media Explorer, AMD’s Director of Product Marketing Casey Gotcher says that the platform has been specially developed for its Puma and Dragon-based notebook and desktop systems and will be provided free to AMD customers, and in some cases may come pre-installed on select AMD-based systems.
(Via GadgetVenue)
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