AMD releases beta of new 3D multimedia browser

Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices has released a beta of a new 3D browser, which is designed to let users easily share multimedia files stored on their PCs with their social networks.

The browser, called Fusion Media Explorer, allows users to browse music and video albums stored on a PC, and share those files with social networks, said Casey Gotcher, director of product marketing at AMD, in a blog entry on Wednesday.

The software is available for download from AMD's Web site.

News about the browser's beta launch was originally reported early on Thursday by The Inquirer.

AMD has integrated social-networking sites like Facebook and YouTube into the software to easily upload and share multimedia files, Gotcher wrote. Users can simply select video or music files while browsing albums in a rotating 3D interface and drag and drop to upload those directly to Facebook or YouTube.

Similarly, multimedia files can also be downloaded from Facebook to a PC through drag and drop, Gotcher wrote.

Videos stored locally can be played back with an internal multimedia player. The built-in Web browser is also capable of doing mundane Web tasks such as interacting with friends on social networks, or playing back video from YouTube. An internal search engine allows users to search for multimedia files stored locally.

The browser is intended to showcase multimedia capabilities for PCs based on AMD's laptop and desktop platform, which includes processors and graphics cards, Gotcher wrote. Since it bought graphics card vendor ATI in 2007, AMD has been touting its efforts to build better graphics capabilities into its desktop and laptop chips, while criticizing Intel for providing poor integrated graphics capabilities with its processors.

AMD in January launched a new mobile platform, called Yukon, which includes chips for small and affordable laptops that provide a full PC and multimedia experience without compromising on features. It also launched the Dragon platform, which includes Phenom II processors for desktops and ATI graphics cards.

By 2011, AMD hopes to integrate graphics capabilities directly into the processor, which could help improve gaming on PCs, while reducing the need for a separate graphics card.

AMD did not immediately respond to questions on whether the browser would work with Intel chips. A public beta of the software will be released in a few weeks, Gotcher wrote.

The software works with Microsoft's Windows Vista and upcoming Windows 7 operating systems. It is not compatible with Windows XP or Linux, according to AMD.

IDG News Service

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