Sheer and Delightful Arrivals!



Ohhh... the Luxury of Silks! Fresco style tunics and dresses to inspire your summer style. The color palette is simply blooming with floral delight!





(Lauren and Jeff did today's post all by themselves... I'm sad to say that your friendly neighborhood blogger is headed off to another city! I'm teaching Lauren and Jeff the ins and outs of Blogger -- they're catching on fast. :3)
READ MORE » Sheer and Delightful Arrivals!

Hand Carved


jv will be adding more works to his
hand carved, graphite series in the near future.
READ MORE » Hand Carved

Vintage summer skirts!

The fun thing about vintage clothing is its inherent uniqueness. When you find handmade pieces like these, you know you've got something special!

These skirts just scream springtime to me -- bright colors, handpainting and sparkly accents, bold prints, and just the right amount of twirl.













READ MORE » Vintage summer skirts!

Hour Glass

tall, walnut, hour glass vessel 11 inch diameter x 20 1/2'' tall
[shown unfinished & saturated in PEG]
part of jv's walnut series
READ MORE » Hour Glass

Intel Unleashes New 320 Series SSD with Increased Capacity

Intel 320 Series SSDIntel has just announced their newest product, the Intel SSD 320 Series, which represents a significant upgrade to Intel's existing lineup of solid-state drives. According to Intel, this series of SSD can have up to 600GB and improves performance all while having a better price than the current X25-M Series. This new SSD definitely fulfills Intel's promise of their 25-nanometer multilevel cell flash manufacturing process. This process increased production in 2010 and increased SSD capacity points while also reducing production costs by cramming 8GB of storage onto a single 167mm flash die.

For those of you who don't know, that is twice the capacity that could be produced by the previous 34nm process. Intel has done a lot of work with the 320 Series. Everything you know about the SSD has been redesigned. It now uses an all-new Intel controller and even supports 128-bit AES encryption. This series also enhances data reliability through extra arrays which amplify the error correction that is already in the flash. Then it adds a failsafe in order to enable the drive to complete writing a file even if it has been interrupted by a loss of power.

With all these new features, the new SSD should not have any problems appealing to the target audience of consumers and business users. Intel expects the 320 Series to even find a place in data center and server applications as a replacement for the 15,000 rpm hard drives. Intel has not yet released a retail pricing, however, they do expect the drives to sell in quantity for $89 (40GB), $159 (120GB), $289 (160GB) $529 (300GB) and $1,069 (600GB). If you want a comparison, the Crucial RealSSD 300 (256GB) currently sells for $475 while the Intel X25-M (160GB) goes for about $410.

Intel has stated that they expect the 160GB SSD 320 Series to sell for "about $100" less than the X25-M. A year ago a 256GB SSD would run you around $750, so if Intel's expected volume prices can become retail prices, we may just see a new lineup that could help adapt SSD into a more mainstream item.

Source: PCWorld - Intel 320 Series SSD Boosts Capacity, Drops Cost


Find out what is going on in the Tech Army World. What are the Top 10 Money Making Missions? What other companies have joined and what do they do? How do I join the Tech Army Organization ?

READ MORE » Intel Unleashes New 320 Series SSD with Increased Capacity

Double enclosed

double enclosed, walnut vessel
8 & a half inch diameter x 12 & a half inches tall
[shown unfinished]
part of jv walnut series

READ MORE » Double enclosed

Check out these new bags!

Okay, back to the new things. This is a brand Lauren found while cutting a crazy swath through casinos and VIP parties at trade shows in Las Vegas recently.



These bags by Hobo International are kind of a departure from the more embellished Hop Sing aesthetic. Sleek and modern, the buttery leather bags and wallets could compliment any style, really, whether bold and colorful or soft and neutral.









I can't think of what you wouldn't be able to fit in the double-clasped "Lauren" wallets... it's like every time I look them over, I find another pocket...





Hobo International makes dozens of super-classy styles. And Hop Sing loves 'em, so keep an eye out for new designs in-store soon -- like, next week soon!
READ MORE » Check out these new bags!

Chrome 11 Hits Beta Form with Some Amazing Additions

The latest and greatest edition of Firefox, known as Firefox 4, was just released a few days ago in an official worldwide release. Upon looking at it for the first time, it appears to be a great update to the Mozilla Firefox browser containing immense speed improvements. And if there is anything a browser needs these days to stay in the game, it is fast, and I mean fast, speeds.

You can attribute that need to Google's shot at an internet browser with Google Chrome, which is one of the fastest growing internet browsers on the market. But just because Mozilla added faster speeds to Firefox 4 to combat Google Chrome does not mean Google Chrome is just sitting there taking it. On the exact same day that Mozilla launched Firefox 4, Google pushed out Chrome 11 in beta form. At first glance, Chrome 11's beta may appear to be no more than a reason to show off the new Google Chrome icon. However, if you dig deep, you will realize that there are a few amazing things to be seen, things you won't want to miss.

One new feature for Chrome 11 is added support for HTML5's speech input API. What this means is that you will have the ability to talk to your computer while Chrome 11 interprets it. For those of you tech savvy folks that have already gotten the hang of this via an Android device or other mobile platform, this is something you will definitely love. One thing to note is that this is an HTML5 spec so it is not Chrome 11 specific, any internet browser can use it. Though if you want to use it right now, you have to get the Chrome 11 beta.

According to reports about the talk to text feature, the program works quite well. You speak whatever you want to say and the browser is able to transcribe your speech into visible text on the screen. The best part is that you don't need to install any annoying Flash player or plug-in, it just works.

Another feature of the Chrome 11 beta is an initial take on GPU-accelerated 3D CSS, according to Google. This will allow website developers to create sites with 3D effects using CSS very soon which, like the talk to text thing, is very cool.

As version numbers of internet browsers have been rapidly increasing, Google says that it does not like bragging about new version bumps. However, this one is still pretty cool and should be in stable form very shortly.

Source: TechCrunch - On Firefox 4 Day, Chrome 11 Hits Beta With The Ability To Talk To Your Computer!

Computer Service Now
READ MORE » Chrome 11 Hits Beta Form with Some Amazing Additions

Milk Jug Vessel

tall, milk jug vessel 12 inch diameter x 19 inches tall
[shown unfinished & saturated in PEG]
part of jv's new walnut series
READ MORE » Milk Jug Vessel

Feature - 'Back to Basics'

[story by Caroline Hannah]
The name of Joshua Vogel's latest venture -
Blackcreek Mercantile & Trading Company -
suggests an old-time general store,
and that perception seems just fine with him...

READ MORE » Feature - 'Back to Basics'

Walnut Series


medium, gourd shape, tall top, walnut, hollow vessel
(unfinished)
9 1/2 inch diameter x 14 1/2 inches tall


READ MORE » Walnut Series

New Group


new group of joshua vogel turnings
[walnut & catalpa wood] ready for finishing...
READ MORE » New Group

Has AMD Finally Topped Nvidia in Triple-GPU Scaling?


When building your own PC or even just upgrading the one you already have, you have a tendency to always go bigger. A lot of the time people do serious upgrades when they upgrade their GPU. A lot of people upgrade to the next higher model, but some double up and get two GPUs. But then there are the others who put their money down on the question of whether or not three GPUs is all that much better than two?

Nvidia has been the undeniable leader when it comes to multi-card scaling with AMD always trailing behind. However, there are a new array of GPUs from AMD that may just push them ahead of Nvidia in the multi-card scaling race. The geniuses over at Tom's Hardware loaded up a super fast computer with single, dual and triple -GPU configurations to find out the truth.

In the GPU market, everything is pretty much a waiting game. About every six months or so, either AMD or Nvidia releases a product and the other company waits to see what is going on hoping to bounce that one back by tweaking the clocks, power and configuration of their own device. Both companies do this in order to build anticipation with their followers.

Despite the hysteria in the GPU world, the past few launches have barely raised the bar at all. Anybody out there that wants to play their games at a high resolution without giving up all the juicy goodness of the game will probably have to use a multi-GPU setup.

So the big question here is not necessarily which card is better but rather which works better in pairs and trios. Buyers and enthusiasts can save a lot of money by purchasing AMD's 1 GB card. However, the newest 2 GB AMD Radeon HD 6950 is the least expensive three-way CrossFire option.

The closest competitor to this is Nvidia's GeForce GTX 5570 1280 MB GPU which also represents the cheapest current three-way SLI configuration from Nvidia. Tom's Hardware has already reported on great scaling from three-way SLI so what is probably the biggest question is whether or not AMD's scaling has improved to the point where it can surpass Nvidia. Two-way figures point to the positive and it seems that Radeon devices work together much better than in the past.

Overall, CrossFire's value-oriented win in the two-way area and the performance win in the three-way configuration setup was enough to make Radeon the clear cut winner according to Tom's Hardware. However, if that isn't convincing enough for you, then the low power consumption of the Radeon HD 6950 should be. If you want the full rundown and specifications of the tests and all the juicy details, head on over to Tom's Hardware now and check it out.

Source: Tom's Hardware - Triple-GPU Scaling: AMD CrossFire Vs. Nvidia SLI

Find out what is going on in the Tech Army World.



What are the Top 10 Money Making Missions?

What other companies have joined and what do they do?

How do I join the
Tech Army Organization ?

READ MORE » Has AMD Finally Topped Nvidia in Triple-GPU Scaling?

New work [cont'd]

READ MORE » New work [cont'd]

Feathers!

These fun little extensions were a last-minute addition to our Spring Fling ensembles, but they've turned out to be a real hit! So popular, in fact, that Lauren's set up a vanity station so we can apply them in-store.

We've already had a handful of ladies coming in specifically looking for the feathers -- word gets around, so if you see anyone with these pretty stripes in their hair, they came to us!









They come in lots of colors, from neutrals to neons, stripes and solids. Once the feathers are in, they're pretty sturdy. You can wash and condition them, blow-dry, even curl them if you're gentle! After a while, the bit of hair will grow out and the crimp will start to show, but if you come back to the store, Lauren can re-place your feathers if the tips are still in good shape.

Personally, I'm convinced that Jeff needs one in his beard.
READ MORE » Feathers!

Free People!

If you get the newsletter, you had a heads-up on a brand new fashion addition to Hop Sing... Free People! If you're familiar with this line, you know it has carefree, summery boho-chic (which y'know we love) designs, and now we can put it out and not feel silly about it, since it's getting nice and warm outside!



This is a really epic dress... it's made of that soft, drape-y jersey cloth -- and it has a raw hem, so if you're pocket-sized like me, you can cut the length to a perfect fit.













And if you don't get the newsletter... well, whyever not? Sign up in-store or by emailing us at hopsingtradingco@gmail.com!
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New Work




new concept.
READ MORE » New Work