Intel “DZ77GA-70K” Z77 Ivy Bridge motherboard pictured

As we know from the last couple of generations of Intel chipsets, Intel likes to make its own motherboards. Z77 will bring no exceptions, The Intel DZ77FA-70K is an LGA 1155 Z77 based motherboard.

CES 2012 Gaming Case Line-up

Going by Thermaltake's official spec sheet, the company has packed a powerful cooling system into an otherwise aesthetically superior case.

Asrock Z77 Extreme6 Socket 1155 Motherboard

Well the time has come. It is like Christmas time for many. Santa has delivered a brand new toy. In this case it is Christmas in April. Santa is Intel. And the elves are every motherboard manufacturer on the planet. The gifts contain motherboards with the brand new Panther Point Z77 chipset. Definitely just what the kiddies have been waiting for..

G.SKILL Memory Delivers the Fastest DDR3 Frequency Ever!

On 27th February 2012, the highest DDR3 memory frequency record was smashed again by the well-known Swiss overclocker, Christian Ney. Using G.SKILL extreme RipjawsZ memory kit, Christian Ney has achieved the astonishing score of DDR3 3736MHz with 4GB high capacity memory stick.

Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe Intel Ivy Bridge Motherboard Starts Selling in China

With one month to go until the official release of the Intel 7-series chipset family, a Chinese online store has listed Asus’ upcoming P8Z77-V Deluxe motherboard for Ivy Bridge processors with pricing being set at 2,499 RMB ($396 US).

Showing posts with label Tech News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tech News. Show all posts

Saturday, September 01, 2012

Valve Launches Greenlight For Steam

Valve has announced the launch of Steam Greenlight, a new platform feature that enlists the community’s help in selecting some of the next games to be released on Steam.

Announced earlier this summer, Steam Greenlight allows developers and publishers to post information and media about their game in an effort to convince the Community that the game should be released on Steam. Greenlight piggybacks on Steam Workshop’s flexible system that organizes content and lets customers rate and leave feedback.

“We’ve been working on this feature for the last few months with the input from a group of indie partners, and the response has been extremely positive,” said Valve’s Anna Sweet. “With the additional help of beta testers, we are able to launch with a solid line-up of titles for the community to start viewing and rating. And, as we’ve done with all Steam features, we intend to continually grow and modify Greenlight as more and more developers and community members have a chance to get involved.”

As well as serving as a clearing house for game submissions, Greenlight provides an new level of added exposure for new games and an opportunity to connect directly with potential customers and fans.

Source: http://gamingbolt.com

Thursday, August 23, 2012

New Logitech's Washable & Spillproof Keyboard

Logitech has unveiled a new keyboard designed to solve one of the oldest problems known to PC users everywhere: the dreaded soda splash. The PC accessory maker's new Logitech K310 washable keyboard is promising to alleviate your worries about dumping a cola, coffee, water or other beverage all over your precious typing space. With the K310, all you'll have to do is unplug the keyboard from your PC's USB port, wash it with mild soap and water, let it dry and resume typing -- assuming your PC or laptop didn't get splashed in the process.

The advantage of a washable keyboard is something I know about all too well. My heart sunk this year when a soda can slipped out of my hand and dumped its full contents all over my Lenovo X220. Thanks to the X220's spill resistant design, my computer came away unscathed, but I ended up spending $40 on eBay to replace the keyboard for my laptop.

ow for the same price as my keyboard replacement, Logitech is promising a keyboard you can soak without worrying about destroying it. The K310 is a full-size keyboard with number pad that features laser printed and UV coated keys that won't lose their lettering from repeated washings. The hand-wash only keyboard can be submerged in up to 11 inches of water and features drainage holes on the underside for faster drying times.

The K310 can stand up to water as hot as 120 degrees, but since you can't get the USB cable wet Logitech's new keyboard is definitely not dishwasher safe. You also don't want to wash the keyboard with anything other than a mild dish soap, Logitech warns.

The K310 is available for pre-order for $40 on Logitech.com.

Source: pcworld.com

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Invisible Bike Helmet For Your Head

Two Swedish women have invented a bicycle helmet that remains invisible unless you need the headgear which is designed to inflate in a fraction of a second.

The Hovding has been invented by Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin to solve the issues we all have with helmets like giving bad hair. The Hovding looks like a collar at first, worn around the neck. Inside it is an air bag, similar to the ones in your car.

The helmet also has a “black box”, similar to ones on airplanes, to record the movements of the cyclist, and recognise the acceleration and angular velocity during an accident. “It became mandatory for children to wear a helmet in Sweden and many people didn’t use them,” ABC News quoted Haupt as saying.

“We wanted to see if there was a way to change today’s helmets and wanted people to wear them by free will, not by law.

“We found out people wanted something that was almost invisible that didn’t destroy their hair or annoy them, something with the possibility to change the looks of the helmet like they can with mobile phone shells and wigs,” she said.

According to the company’s website, shaped like a hood, the air bag is triggered when sensors – a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes, pick up “abnormal movements of a bicyclist in an accident”.

The air bag can inflate and surround your head in 0.1 seconds. A small gas inflator fills it with helium. It needs to be powered on for which there is a power button and when it’s on, LEDs light up to tell you how much electricity you have to work the inflator.

There is also a sound to tell you it is powered on in case you cannot see it around your neck. That means you also have to charge the invisible helmet. It uses a microUSB port and the company says a charge lasts about a month during normal use.

The data is stored in the Hovding so the company can then see what sort of accident it was. As with any wearable gadget, the women put effort into the design.

It is obviously more invisible than current helmets, and there’s an added bit to make it blend in even more. The collar has a removable liner so you can change it to match your shirt.

Source: firstpost.com

Friday, August 17, 2012

Now Watch 3D films without glasses

A new technology has been developed that will make it possible for viewers to enjoy three-dimensional programmes without those bothersome 3D glasses.

Though prototypes of these TV screens already exist, consumers will not have to wait much longer for the market introduction of these autostereoscopic displays.

Nevertheless, the content might be a bit problematic - the 3D movies currently available on Blu-ray are based on two different perspectives, i.e. two images, one for each eye.

However, autostereoscopic displays need five to ten views of the same scene (depending on the type). In the future, the number will probably be even more.

This is because these displays have to present a three-dimensional image in such a manner that it can be seen from different angles – indeed, there is more than one place to sit on a sofa, and you should be able to get the same three dimensional impressions from any position

Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz Institute, HHI in Berlin recently developed a technology that converts a Blu-ray’s existing 3D content in a manner that enables them to be shown on autostereoscopic displays.

“We take the existing two images and generate a depth map – that is to say, a map that assigns a specific distance from the camera to each object,” Christian Riechert, research fellow at HHI said.

“From there we compute any of several intermediate views by applying depth image-based rendering techniques. And here’s the really neat thing: The process operates on a fully automated basis, and in real time,” he said

Previous systems were only capable of generating such depth maps at a dramatically slower pace; sometimes they even required manual adaption. Real-time conversion, by contrast, is like simultaneous interpretation: The viewer inserts a 3D Blu-ray disc, gets comfortable in front of the TV screen and enjoys the movie – without the glasses.

Meanwhile, a hardware component estimates the depth map in the background and generates the requisite views. The viewer is aware of nothing: He or she can fast forward or rewind the movie, start it, stop it – and all with the same outstanding quality.

The flickering that could appear on the edges of objects – something that happens due to imprecise estimations – is imperceptible here

The researchers have already finished the software that converts these data.

In the next step, the scientists, working in collaboration with industry partners, intend to port it onto a hardware product so that it can be integrated into televisions.

Nevertheless, it will still take at least another calendar year before the technology hits department store shelves.

The technology will be unveiled at the IFA trade show in Berlin from August 31 to September 5.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Maximus workstation platform launch by NVIDIA

The technology deployed in the Maximus will automatically assign visualisation and simulation or rendering work to the accurate processor

NVIDIA has launched a new Kepler GPU architecture featured Maximus workstation platform, which is offered with Quadro K5000 or with Tesla K20 GPUs.

The new Kepler architecture supported GPU platform is expected to enhance performance and efficiency of the workstation used by manufacturing, visual effects and oil exploration professionals.

The company has earlier launched a Maximus platform, which allows the workstation users to simultaneously perform complex analysis and visualisation on a single machine.

Initially, Maximus was a single system which would manage interactive graphics and the compute-intensive number crunching required to simulate or render them, further resulting in accelerated workflows.

In the new Maximus, compute work is allocated for running the new NVIDIA Tesla K20 GPU computing accelerator, which will free up the new NVIDIA Quadro K5000 GPU to handle graphics functions, the company said.

The technology deployed in the Maximus will automatically assign visualisation and simulation or rendering work to the accurate processor.
Features of NVIDIA's new Quadro K5000 GPU include bindless textures, which allow the users to access over 1 million textures directly in memory while reducing CPU overhead.

The FXAA/TXAA film-style anti-aliasing feature will enhance image quality, while its frame buffer capacity is increased to 4GB and a new PCIe-3 bus interconnect has been added which speeds up data movement by 2 times over PCIe-2.

A new display engine which can drive up to four displays at the same time with a single K5000 and a display port 1.2 supports resolutions of up to 3840x2160 @60Hz.

The another variant NVIDIA Tesla K20 GPU features SMX streaming multiprocessor technology which offers for up to a 3 times performance per watt advantage, while the dynamic parallelism and hyper-Q GPU technologies ease parallel programming and improve performance.

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Windows 8 Packaging retail box revealed

LinkA lot of people, including yours truly, have been vocal about their disdain for Microsoft’s new look. Sure, the simplistic look works, but it just doesn’t feel like Windows anymore. For those who feel like Microsoft is abandoning the classic Windows design, the packaging isn’t going to change your mind.

The Verge got an exclusive sneak peek at the packaging that you’ll see on store shelves when Windows 8 launches on October 26. While there’s something to be said about good design, it just feels a little too colorful and fun. I’ve always associated Windows with business and enterprise, not the consumer market.

Of course, this is a new direction for Microsoft and the design change was needed. Windows 8 is all about taking on the consumer market and kicking the post-PC era into high gear. While you can use Windows 8 on desktops, Microsoft is definitely hoping to become a leader in the tablet arena with the Surface tablet.

Putting my old man persona aside, I can definitely see the new Windows 8 packaging attracting the young people who like spiffy designs. I mean, just look at the Windows 7 packaging:


That packaging doesn’t look fun at all. I like it because it’s classic Windows, but we’ve already established that I’m the equivalent of an 80-year old man when it comes to Windows design. I’m resistant to change and that’s fine. It’s good to see that Microsoft has not become an old man with me. They’re willingness to change and put such a huge bet on tablets is going to make or break the company in the next few years.

It might seem weird to draw this much from just some simple packaging, but art really does say it all. The new packaging is a window into a crazy new world that’s entirely foreign to me. Besides, if Windows 8 fails, we can at least put the packaging up in some modern art museum.

Source: webpronews.com

Monday, July 30, 2012

Ubisoft UPlay DRM exploit opens PCs to security risk

Paying customers frustrated and angry: 99%. Pirates thwarted: 0%. I'd say that about sums up Ubisoft's score when it comes to the studio's DRM tech and PC gaming, particularly with this latest bit of news: Cyber experts say Ubisoft's mandatory UPlay network features "really bad, easily exploitable" code that creates serious security risks for all who use it.

A step-by-step video now making the rounds on the internet shows how holes in UPlay can be exploited by hackers, allowing them to search your files and take control of your PC. Speaking with CVG, Trend Micro Director of Security Research Rik Ferguson said the UPlay security flaw creates a huge risk that Ubisoft must address immediately.

"Pushing out such easily exploitable code, to such an easily targeted platform as a web browser through such a huge gaming population presents a huge risk and will of course be of interest to online criminals," Ferguson told CVG. "Ubisoft should be patching this code as a matter of urgency and in the meantime, gamers should be disabling the plug-in."

The browser plug-in Ferguson describes is automatically created during the UPlay installation. Disable it immediately by following these steps:

Firefox: Tools – Add-ons – Plugins – Disable the Uplay and Uplay PC Hub plugins

Chrome: Visit About: Plugins and disable

Opera: Settings – Preferences – Advanced – Downloads – Search 'Uplay' and delete

We've reached out to Ubisoft for comment and will update this post with any response.

Any more reasons you want to give PC gamers to illegally download cracked versions of your games, Ubisoft?

Source: gamespy.com

Thursday, July 26, 2012

GTalk goes down 'majority of users' affected

7.20 pm: Same story continues. Google’s latest message on the App Dashboard is We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 7/26/12 8:20 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.

Google Talk has now been out for nearly 4 hours.

6.25 pm Update Its getting obvious that this problem is going to take some time. Google just updated with this not-so-encouraging message:

Our team is continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 7/26/12 7:20 PM with more information about this problem. Thank you for your patience.

The time gap for fixing the problem keep increasing.

Latest update: Some contacts are visible. Some users are receiving messages but are unable to send any. Hopefully Google will resolve the service soon. It is a world-wide problem as Google has confirmed.

Google’s popular chat-messaging service, GTalk seems to be down. Users are not able to see contacts or send messages. Even if you do see contacts, your message won’t get sent. In some cases, it does say that the contact did not receive your message.

At times, the typed message is not visible in the chat-box.

Twitter is already abuzz with people wondering why GTalk is down. It doesn’t seem to working on Android devices either. Logging into the Talk app either fails or the contacts don’t appear at all.

According to IBN-Live, there was still no official intimation from Google regarding the GTalk downtime at the time of posting.

We will keep you updated on Gtalk problems. It seems to have affected users worldwide.

Google’s App status page shows outage for Google Talk. Google has posted:

“We’re aware of a problem with Google Talk affecting a majority of users. The affected users are able to access Google Talk, but are seeing error messages and/or other unexpected behaviour. We will provide an update by 7/26/12 5:20 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change.”

Another update from Google: We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 7/26/12 6:20 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.

Google talk is now out for nearly two hours.

Source: Firstpost.com

Monday, July 23, 2012

Debates about the Mass Effect 3 Ending

Joe Frazer emailed in to say reviewers are influencing developers in creating safe sequels.

This week we've got Jez Potter, who says he loved original Mass Effect 3 ending.

I've just finished Mass Effect 3, having got there spoiler-free (don't ask me how). And I was blown away. There's been a great deal of furore about the ending, sometimes with justification, sometimes not. As a dyed-in-the wool ME fan, I was rocked by the ending in a way I've never experienced in this medium before. At 2am, and with that haunting piano refrain still echoing in my headphones, I sat furious, elated, desolate. So many questions, so much to process.

But all the debates about the ending, to me, seem to miss the bigger picture. For the end of a videogame to have the same crushing emotional impact as the end of a beloved TV show or movie franchise vis a new experience for me. It's a testament to the commitment BioWare have to gaming, and the potential that have as an artform, as a medium capable of telling mature, engrossing stories, rather than just new and interesting ways of shooting people in the face.

There were certainly missed opportunities and missteps − I do think they made a bit of a dog's dinner of the ending, and it's ambition as 'high sci-fi' stumbled within the confines of gameplay conventions − we all know that thanks to the shrieking masses on the web there will now be an Extended Cut [It's out now - Ed], but for me the ending and trilogy as a whole exemplifies BioWare's ambition and courage.

Which ever way you look at it, ME was a stunning trilogy with unforgettable moments - and can any other game claim to have been discussed and analysed in the way that ME has? Sure, ME3 made some concessions to bigger business requirements − multiplayer, multi-platform tie-ins, etc. They didn't spoil the game for me, because honestly I couldn't care less about any of that. I cared about the story, the story of my Shepard; the guy I spent 150 hours of my life fighting, romancing, sacrificing, and agonising with. And I enjoyed every second of it.

XBW says: Jez, your letter is refreshing like a gallon of Mojitos on a hot summer day. In a rush to criticise the ending many have forgotten about the 150 hours of game before that. We've always said it: Mass Effect is about the journey, not the destination. And god forbid anyone speaks out to say they're happy with the ending.

CVG says: I agree with you Jez, and in fact I still haven't checked out the Extended Cut DLC because of it. Although I'll admit the ending provided more questions than answers those brief few minutes were insignificant compared to the hundreds of hours that preceeded it.

Source: computervideogames.com

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Intel Lynx Chipset features 25 percent lower TDP

Intel is really serious about getting its TDP levels down with every generation. Despite the current enthusiasm for ARM tablets, Intel still has quite a lot to offer in mobile space, especially in notebooks and convertible ultrabooks.

The next generation scheduled for mid-2013 codenamed Haswell is a second-generation 22nm part with the Lynx chipset that has 25 percent lower TDP and 50 percent lower average power consumption than the current Panther Point chipset. These numbers are projected and not based on actual data measured in real life tests, so in the end they might deviate a somewhat from the projections.

Intel also brings a power optimizer CPPM part that should help to drive the power requirements further down. The most interesting part is that Lynx chipset also has support for 15nm Broadwell chipset that is expected by mid-2014 timeframe.

Intel advertises this chipset as the lowest power and the most feature rich one to date. It sure looks interesting and supports all the latest technologies you can imagine including 4 SATA 6Gb/s, 6 USB 3.0, up to 8 PCIe 1X Gen 2, the ability to interconnect easily with Intel Clarkwill GbE PHY, Wilkins Peak Wimax, Intel HD audio, VGA, a lot of RAID functionality, Intel Active Management Technology 9.0, Rapid start and smart response and many other goodies.

Ultrabooks and notebooks in the latter half of 2013 will sure look feature packed.

Source: fudzilla

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Intel ready to offer All-in-One desktop PCs in India

The world’s largest and highest valued semiconductor chip maker, Intel, is looking to partner original design manufacturers(ODMs) to offer All-in-One(AIO) desktop PCs in India. The AIO segment has been growing steadily in the country and across the globe, a company official said.

The Intel India director, Rajiv Bhalla, stated that AIO desktops are gaining traction in the desktop market, driven mostly by the consumer segment, where their share is expected to grow steadily and hit 33 per cent by the end of 2015.

He revealed that the shipments for AIOs have been growing steadily for the last five quarters with an average of 50,000 shipments per quarter in India.

The firm believes that the AIO segment will revive the desktop market which has witnessed a four percent growth year-on-year.

Last year 2,60,000 units of AIOs were reportedly sold in India. The company, which launched smartphones recently, is looking for new partners.

Intel has partnered Lava in India, Orange in Europe and Lenovo in China for the smartphones. The firm is looking for more partners globally.

Source: Bhaskar.com

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Apple iPhone 5 is available for pre-orders in china gray market

Don't get too excited but it looks like the Apple [AAPL] iPhone 5 (or is it iPhone 7*) release is closing in, as China's thriving gray market importers have begun offering the new phone for pre-release sale as the company prepares for the "biggest consumer electronics launch in history".

Buying on rumor

Logically it might make little sense, but reports this morning claim some Chinese online retailers have already begun offering the unannounced, unconfirmed and unrevealed smartphone for pre-release sale -- and orders are coming in.

Reuters tells us Chinese ecommerce website, Taobao is already hosting listings from jump-the-gun sellers, some of whom are even publishing mock-ups of what the new phone will look like, alongside lists detailing some of the claimed features (biometric recognition systems, anyone?).

Sellers are requesting deposits to secure the first units of the iPhone to be smuggled into the country of up to $1,100. They plan to purchase the device in Hong Kong or the US and then import them into China -- and it seems some people are already stumping up the cash to secure the freshly smuggled devices when the product ships, perhaps as soon as late September.

In a sense this is a fitting tribute to many months of furious iPhone 5 speculation. We've seen mock-ups, claimed images of parts of the device, and, most recently, claimed engineering pre-production mock-ups of the phone.

China is Apple crazy

China's market for iPhone imports is interesting. Partly that's because iPhones are presently manufactured in China; partly because the country is crazy for Apple devices. One Chinese teenager even sold a body part in order to raise the cash to get one. Sweating blood to get what you want is a noble thing, of course, but selling body parts seems a step too far, though it clearly reflects the mood in China where mini riots took place when Apple shut its retail store for iPhone 4S sales.

Demand for smuggled iPhones means the country's biggest carrier, China Mobile, already has over a million of the devices on its network -- even though it doesn't (yet) offer iPhones officially. It is expected to introduce the iPhone 5 later this year, when millions of Chinese nationals will doubtless purchase the officially supported version of the device.

The gray imports market also means Apple stores worldwide often see queues of folk waiting patiently in line when they open in the morning. These customers purchase their allotted maximum number of iPhones and send them back to China for resale in exchange for a fee.

Feature rumor 101

When it comes to the iPhone 5, what are people looking forward too?

  • A 4-inch display
  • An improved quad-core processor, likely manufactured using 32nm process tech
  • Improved graphics and a better camera
  • A new Dock connection, likely to be Thunderbolt or mini-USB
  • Tougher glass
  • A thinner chassis
  • International support for those 4G/LTE networks which exist
  • Much-improved iCloud integration
  • iOS 6: Many improvements in Siri
  • iOS 6: Apple Maps
  • iOS 6: Passbook, potentially though not necessarily featuring NFC payment support
  • iOS 6: Facebook and Twitter integration

Apple is putting a lot of hope into its new device. Not only is the company facing the imminent arrival of Microsoft Windows 8-powered smartphones, but it continues to face stiff competition from Android-powered devices (in particular those from Samsung). RIM, Palm and Nokia now appear to be spent forces in this sector.

The stiff competition is creating a challenging environment for the firm. More than this, economic weakness means many consumers are now opting to delay their iPhone purchases pending arrival of the new model. Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba claims Apple has: “Already started experiencing a slowdown due to the impending iPhone 5 launch.”

The analyst remains optimistic for Apple once the new smartphone ships, as well he might given Foxconn leader Terry Gou's somewhat belligerent statement that the iPhone 5 will "put Samsung's Galaxy III to shame" when it ships. That's fighting talk.

The moral of this tale? If you really want to get hold of an iPhone 5 and don't mind waiting for it to arrive, you can place your orders now if you happen to be in China.

Source: Computerworld.com

Alienware M14x R2 Gaming Laptop

System Review: Ivy Bridge lands on Dell’s venerable line of Alienware gaming laptops.

From the outside there’s little to differentiate Alienware’s R2 version of its M14x laptop, but inside it’s a generational leap from the original. Designed around the recently released mobile Ivy Bridge processors, it’s a desktop replacement at heart, eschewing the push towards ultra-thin and light laptops that’s dominating the mobile computing space at the moment.

Being able to pack enough performance for serious gaming into a 14in laptop is a challenge, though, something made clear when one looks at the specifications for the M14x. It is available with a variety of processors, from the reasonable to the ludicrous, yet it tops out graphically with a GeForce GT 650M.

Given that NVIDIA has sneakily rebadged a bunch of its old Fermi GPUs to bulk out the 600M lineup, we’re at least happy that the 650M is based upon Kepler, but it’s slightly disappointing that you can’t opt for a higher end GPU in the M14x – if you want more power you need to look at the larger M17x and its RADEON HD 7970M.

In the CPU stakes, however, there are no such limitations, with the M14X available in specifications from a more than competent Core i5-3210M all the way up to the monster in Intel’s mobile line-up, the Core i7-3820QM. This can be paired with up to 16GB of DDR3, and hard drive configurations range from 1TB mechanical drives to 256GB SSDs.

This massive range of customisation means that you can get an M14X for anything from $1,499 up to $3,575. Our testing has been done on a high end model, which has the Core i7-3820QM, 16GB DDR, 256GB SSD and an Atheros Killer Wireless-N adapter, all of which cost a premium over the standard model.

This is all packed into the familiar, robust Alienware chassis. While the actual look has the potential to be somewhat polarising, one can’t fault the build quality of these laptops. The 14in 1600 x 900 screen looks crisp and clear (although sadly covered in glare catching glass), the rubberised palmrest is comfortable, and the keyboard is actually fairly decent for a classic scissor-switch design. As is the way with these models, you can customise both the keyboard backlighting and the other highlights on the laptop via Alienware’s software.

In terms of performance the M14x isn’t going to run Battlefield 3 at Ultra settings, but we were able to achieve playable framerates at high detail. It scored P1993 in 3DMark, and running our Unigine test at the native 1600 x 900 resolution resulted in an average framerate of 15.5 fps. Tweaking down the tessellation to normal and reducing AA resulted in a much smoother average of 26fps. We were able to run Diablo 3 quite happily with everything except shadows maxed out, sitting at 50fps most of the time, but with playable framerates even when dipping during the more chaotic moments of gameplay.

It does get a little loud when the fans spin up to accommodate such moments of frenetic clicking, but that’s one of the prices you pay for such a powerful laptop. It also makes for quite a battery sucking machine, so you won’t want to be far from a power point when using it (thankfully a new generation of gaming Ultrabooks is starting to appear, if you want to balance mobility with gaming).

There’s a lot to like about the M14x R2, however we’d suggest that the system we reviewed is overkill. Ultimately the limiting factor to performance is the GPU, so you could happily get by with any of the Core i7 options on offer - the Core i7-3820QM comes with a $499 price premium over the Core i7-3610QM, which will be more than ample for gaming on the laptop. You can probably also save a little when it comes to the RAM, and you’ll likely want to look into the hard drive based configurations rather than the SSD.


Monday, July 09, 2012

Samsung Galaxy S III Issues revealed

Samsung unveiled its flagship Galaxy S III in May, as a direct rival to Apple's iPhone in the battle for the smartphone crown. The response to the phone has been staggering, with the company expecting to sell 10 million units by the end of July.

The third iteration in the Galaxy S series offers face-recognition technology and improved voice-activated controls as well as a more powerful processor that lets users watch video and write emails simultaneously.

It also has a 4.8-inch (12.2-centimetre) screen that is 22 percent larger than the S2, while it can detect eye movements and override the automatic shutdown if the user is looking at the screen.

Galaxy S III sales are expected to power Samsung to a $5.9 billion profit in the April-June quarter, a new record for the company.

But the phone "designed for humans" hasn't been without its share of problems. First came reports that a Samsung Galaxy S III had "exploded" in a user's car in Ireland. Samsung said it would be investigating the incident and Saturday blamed an external energy source for the incident, not the phone.

Now a survey has revealed that a large number of Galaxy S III owners have reported problems with the smartphone's microphone.

FixYa, a website that connects people discussing support issues with various consumer products, reveals that many S III owners have reported "a microphone malfunction which causes users to be unable to hear the person on the other end of the line."

The problem doesn't end after hanging up the phone, as it causes "signal strength will deteriorate (and oftentimes disappear) for minutes at a time." The suggested fix to the problem seems to be update to the latest firmware and restoring factory settings.

Around 15% of the problems were about the Galaxy S III's battery life, with an equal number complaining about the "device getting hot".

FixYa revealed similar stats for other popular smartphones. Microphone malfunction was the biggest problem for another Samsung manufactured smartphone, the Galaxy Nexus. Most iPhone 4S users complained about its battery life, while BlackBerry Curve users reported "random reboots" as their biggest grouse.

Source:Ndtv.gadgets

Saturday, July 07, 2012

Intel Haswell 22nm Processors Will Launch in March 2013

Even though Intel has yet to release its new 22nm Core processors based on the Ivy Bridge architecture, sources in Taiwan have already found out when the chip giant plans to introduce its next-gen Haswell CPUs.

According to DigiTimes, the outfit has scheduled the official introduction of these processors, and that of the accompanying Lynx Point chipsets, for March of 2013.

No specific date was mentioned as we are still a year away from the alleged launch, but this report seems to confirm a leaked Intel slide, which made its appearance about a month ago, revealing that Haswell is scheduled for a March-June release.

This previous report also mentioned that Intel would go for a multi-stage launch for Heswell, the first chips to arrive making part of the Core i5 and Core i7 product lines.

These will cover the mainstream and performance sector, while the lower-end Core i3 processors are expected to be launched later next year.

Haswell will be a “Tock” on Intel’s roadmap, meaning that it has an entirely new architecture built using the 22nm production node.

With Haswell, Intel plans to split its product range into two distinct groups.

The first group includes the company's desktop and notebook processors, while the latter is especially designed for Ultrabooks and drops the usual 2-chip platform approach that Intel has been using for quite some time in favor of a system-on-a-chip (SoC) design.

Desktop CPUs will feature either two of four processing cores with TDPs of 35, 45, 65 or 95 Watt, and will include a dual-channel DDR3/DDR3L memory controller, as well as GT2 or GT1 integrated graphics cores.

Mobile chips will be available in the same dual or quad-core configurations, but feature the more powerful Intel GT3 GPU, while the memory controller only supports DDR3L DIMMs.

Other features include support for the DirectX 11.1 API, support for the AVX2 instruction set, as well as a series of IPC improvements meant to increase single-thread performance.

Source: Softpedia.com

Friday, July 06, 2012

Nvidia Tegra 3 Low-cost quad-core Tegra 3 handsets coming this year

If you’re in love with the recently announced Google Nexus 7 for the fact that it packs a top of the line processor in a very, very affordable package – good news. There’s more where that came from. A lot more, in fact.

Nvidia is expanding its Kai platform into smartphone territory. Kai is Nvidia’s low-cost refocusing of the Tegra 3 quad-core chipset. It’s basically a cheaper Tegra 3 that’s been made compatible with cheaper additional hardware components (such as memory and displays). That enables $199 tablets, like we’ve seen with the Nexus 7, without giving up on the 4-PLUS-1 CPU architecture and ’12-core graphics’ that Nvidia likes so much to brag about.

Kai will be in smartphones by the end of this year. That means that we should get ready for some pretty amazingly-priced quad-core devices in the coming months. The first partners for this endeavor are apparently a number of Chinese phone makers. That’s all the information we have for now, but do note that this wording doesn’t necessarily mean that these first low-cost handsets will be confined to the Chinese market. After all, Huawei and ZTE are also ‘Chinese phone makers’ and they’re selling their products globally.

ZTE has shown a quad-core smartphone having the Tegra 3 processor built-in at MWC in February, yet that’s not been launched yet. Perhaps it will be slightly retooled and arrive on the (international) market with this Kai platform inside. That could mean it may beat all its competitors in pricing. And that’s the good thing about Kai – it has the potential to enable another wave of competition (based on lowering prices) in the mobile world. Which is always good for consumers.

Depending on how low-cost Kai will be for smartphones, Nvidia may be starting to compete heavily at the lower end of the market with the likes of Qualcomm, ST, and perhaps even with MediaTek’s most expensive chips. This shows that Nvidia is very confident about its efforts in the mobile market, and at least so far it’s probably got all the reasons to be.

Source: unwiredview.com

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Samsung creates first module of 16 GB DDR4 Ram

Samsung creates first module of 16 GB DDR4 RamWhile DDR4 memory won't be available to consumers anytime soon, development on the standard and matching hardware has almost been completed.

Samsung was one of the first to produce a DDR4 module, in December 2010. Back then it was a 2 GB module, based on 30nm memory chips.

Since then, the technology has developed quite a bit, as the first 8 GB and 16 GB modules have been produced. The memory is of the RDIMM type and is designed for use in professional servers.


Samsung cooperates with processor manufacturers and system builders, who can use the DDR4 memory to increase the performance at a lower power consumption. Samsung wants to transition to 20nm memory chips, which - compliant to the DDR4 specifications - require a 1.2V voltage. This would make the modules up to 40 percent more efficient than the latest low-voltage DDR3 modules at 1.35V. The new DDR4 standard isn't just more energy efficient, but should also allow for increased performance and a more efficient data processing.

Samsung will continue to develop the DDR4 technology, to ensure JEDEC compliance. It's expected that the DDR4 standard will be finalized in August. If that is the case, it would take at least up until next year for mass production of DDR4 to start. By the time that 20nm memory chips can be used, the capacity of a single RDIMM module may have well been doubled to 32 GB.

The first processors with a DDR4 controller have yet to be revealed. The latest reports state that Intel's regular 'Haswell' chip is based on DDR3 memory, while the high-end Haswell-EP platform will use the new standard. It's expected that it will take a while for AMD to adopt DDR4.

Samsung has played a leading role in the development of new memory standards. In 2001, it first showed DDR2 memory, which was followed up by DDR3 in 2005. In both cases, the manufacturer revealed their modules long before the standards were implemented.

Source: Hardware.info

Monday, July 02, 2012

New MacBook Pro & Air Get Discount Offers On Best Buy

Best Buy offered amazing discounts on the new MacBooks, offering upto $140 off. The offer was on over the weekend. The discount offered on the Retina Pro MackBook with 8GB memory, 512 MB solid-state drive priced originally at $2,799.99 was $140 to $2,659.99.

While the price for the least expensive Retina Pro dropped to $2,089.99, with savings of $110. The new MacBook Air fell to $949.99 from the original $999.99.


The latest MacBooks offer Intel's new "Ivy Bridge" third generation i series processors with upgraded HD 4000 graphics silicon and USB 3.0 ports. The hottest addition to the MacBook Pro family is 2880 by 1800 pixel density Retina display and an Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics chip along with other new features.

Even though Apple has recently launched these new products and MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with the Retina display have been in the market only a few weeks, Best Buy has offered very lucrative prices on them. The discounted models are only available for in-store pickup. The discounts however are changed frequently by Best Buy and could vanish at any time.

With reported problems in image resistance in the new MacBook Pro with Retina display, where the outline of the image still remains on screen even after the program has been closed. "I first noticed this after my MBP [Retina] had gone to sleep, but: when returning to the login screen (since I have it set to require a password whenever the computer is idle long enough) I noticed what appeared to a very faint ghosting primarily noticeable on darker backgrounds," a user wrote on the Apple forums. The company's 14-day return policy could be helpful for some new MacBook Pro buyers, who can simply ship the machine back to Apple or bring it to any U. S. Apple Store for a complete refund. Also, the one-year limited warranty comes with 90 days of free phone technical support.

Source: Topnews.net

Sunday, July 01, 2012

A pornography studio wants to make adult films using Google Glasses

A pornography studio wants to make adult films using Google Glasses that can film your life from the point of view of your eyes.

Pink Visual spokesman Quentin Boyer told PCmag.com that the style of porn known as "point of view" has been a popular type of content for quite a while now.

"Obviously, a device that allows you to shoot high quality video in a truly hands-free fashion will make shooting POV porn that much easier."

But quite what Google will think of the idea is another matter: indeed in their official unveiling Wednesday, the search giant said the product would initially be offered for business, industrial and medical use, Daily Mail reported Friday.

Perhaps the studio, Pink Visual, falls under that first category.

The glasses are designed to let users capture video with a built-in camera as well as use apps, the internet, and social networking sites on the move.

"To really know their full potential, we'll need to get a pair to play around with, but we're already dreaming up ways to use the glasses to get shots (sex-related and otherwise) that just aren't feasible using a traditional camera setup," the Mail quoted Boyer as saying.

Google points out that this is experimental technology, and a first generation device.

Google offered the first shot at the the device, known as Project Glass, to people attending a three-day conference for computer programmers this week in San Francisco.

Source: Ndtv.com

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Intel Reveals faster higher density microprocessor

Intel Reveals faster  higher density microprocessorThere is no better way to make nanotechnology cool than to put it in slim, sleek, and stylish computers.

International computer chip manufacturer Intel recently launched their latest microprocessor known as Ivy Bridge that is first in the world to be made using 22 nanometer 3-D tri-Gate transistor technology.

The 22 nanometer transistors are nearly as small as the Human Rhinovirus, responsible for the common cold, which is around 30 nanometers in size. In contrast, a single strand of human hair can be as small as 17,000 nanometers in diameter.

Smaller transistors mean a higher density in a single microchip and thereby increasing processing power while lowering energy consumption, Intel said in a statement released during the launch.

“The performance gains found in the new processors are due in part to the groundbreaking, three-dimensional structure of the new Intel transistors,” Intel said.

“Until today, computers, servers, and other devices have used only two-dimensional planar transistors. Adding a third dimension to transistors allows Intel to increase transistor density and put more capabilities into every square millimeter of the new processors,” Intel said.

The latest processors of Intel will power more than 100 Ultrabook designs that could be released in the market by next year, Leighton Phillips, Intel Asia-Pacific Product Management Pricing Director, said in an interview.

More than 35 of the designs are already available or will be out within the next 30 days, he added.
“If you look back at our first generation of Ultrabooks with the second generation of core microprocessors, we had 20 designs come to the marketplace,” Phillips said.

“For this third generation [microprocessor, there are] five times the number of designs, 100 designs of Ultrabook are being produced,” he said.

The new processor was said to increase a computer’s performance by 20 percent compared to computers last year. It will also improve the graphics capabilities of any computer, being able to deliver High Definition (HD) videos and 3-D graphics two times better.

“All the things people love to do on the PCs – from creating and editing videos and photos, surfing the web, watching HD movies or playing mainstream games – are now quicker, crisper,” Intel said.
The new processor will also have built-in security features to protect important data and information in the computer.

Intel’s Anti-Theft Technology allows an owner to completely shut down and disable the system of a computer when it is stolen so no one can use, just like an ATM card. Users who subscribe to the service will simply report that the computer is stolen and it will lockdown completely, protecting all data inside. Should the laptop be recovered by the user, a simple password will restore the computer back to normal.

Intel’s Identity Protection Technology secures users as they connect to the internet by making sure that it’s the actual user who is logging into sites and not any malicious software or virus.
Phillips said that the new processors will open new possibilities in the forms that the computer can take. Laptops could soon have touchscreens so that it can be convertible into a tablet by pulling the screen off, he said

“The best of the tablet and the best of the pc all in one,” he said about the possible future designs of computers.


Source: Technology.inquirer.net