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USA Edition Latest Posts - Page 48


Ask the Experts: Should I go for Radeon HD 7950's in CrossFire, or a single HD 7970 on my Samsung S27A950D 120Hz monitor?

By: Anthony Garreffa | More News: Video Cards | Posted: Apr 11, 2013 6:30 am

Our Ask the Experts section has a new question, where we have Daksh wanting to know if he should go for a single or dual-GPU setup on his Samsung S27A950D monitor.

 

TweakTown's Ask the Experts

 

Q: Looking for new graphics card setup everything else is up to date with latest hardware.

 

I am confused between 1x AMD Radeon HD 7970 or 2 x HD 7850's, I'm using the Samsung S27A950D 120Hz-capable monitor. What is your preference?

 

A: You can view the answer to Daksh's question right here.



Google makes Nexus 10 flip cover available on Google Play Store

By: Anthony Garreffa | More News: Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Posted: Apr 11, 2013 5:37 am

Google have now made that little removable strip along the rear of the Nexus 10 usable by releasing a flip cover for the 10-inch slate. The Nexus 10 Cover is now available from the Google Play Store.

 

google_makes_nexus_10_flip_cover_available_on_google_play_store

 

It's available in two colors, scarlet or dark gray, and folds over to protect the screen on your Nexus 10, as well as putting your tablet to sleep when it is closed. The Play Store states that the cover will ship in three to five days, and it's priced at $30. Not bad at all to protect your precious tablet.

 

You can get it right now from the Play Store.



"Always-on" tweeter, Adam Orth, is no longer working for Microsoft - Internet pitchforks work, it seems

By: Anthony Garreffa | More News: Business, Financial & Legal | Posted: Apr 11, 2013 4:37 am

We heard Microsoft's Adam Orth talking about the always-on debacle that is sure to light up Internet messageboards and social networks across the world in the coming months and years, but it looks like the Microsoft creative director is no longer working with Microsoft.

 

always_on_tweeter_adam_orth_is_no_longer_working_for_microsoft_internet_pitchforks_work_it_seems

 

A close source of Orth has told Kotaku that he resigned from the company, and wasn't fired. Microsoft were asked to confirm the news, with a spokesperson for the company responding with "we do not comment on private personnel matters". Microsoft did apologize because of Orth's comments, hours after his rant on Twitter.

 

One would gather that all of the publicity he received from the Internet has caused the former MS creative director to resign from his position. I'm sure he'll talk about it soon enough.



RumorTT: Microsoft to release 7-inch Surface tablet

By: Anthony Garreffa | More News: Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Posted: Apr 11, 2013 4:34 am

Well, well, Microsoft - game on. The Wall Street Journal are claiming that Microsoft are working on a new generation of Surface tablets, which will include a 7-inch variant.

 

rumortt_microsoft_to_release_7_inch_surface_tablet

 

We know that Microsoft weren't just stopping with one generation of Surface, and I'm sure the next-gen Surface devices are going to be much better than the ones we have right now. Also keep in mind the rumors of a 7-inch gaming tablet under the Xbox brand from last year, and the news from Microsoft begins to get a little more exciting.

 

What would you want from a 7-inch Surface? We should expect it to only come with a 1024x768 display, which isn't mind-blowing, but it's good enough.



Disney Australia announce Wreck-It Ralph Blu-ray release

By: Ben Gourlay | More News: HT & Movies | Posted: Apr 11, 2013 4:24 am

The local arm of Disney has announced the multi-tiered home video release of 2012 CG animated flick Wreck-It Ralph for the 24th April, available on DVD, Blu-ray double play (with DVD) and 3D release featuring the 3D and 2D versions on two discs, along with a DVD.

 

disney_australia_announce_wreck_it_ralph_blu_ray_release

 

Wreck-It Ralph, utilizing the voices of John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman was released to both critical and financial acclaim and features cameos from video gaming history's most beloved characters such as Sonic The Hedgehog, Bowser, Zangief and Q*bert.

 

Both Blu-ray releases feature a number of worthwhile additional features, such as behind the scenes featurettes, faux video game commercials, and the Disney short Paperman which appeared before the theatrical release. On the 3D release, the short is also featured in 3D.

 

In the coming weeks, we'll take a closer look at the Blu-ray, but for now you can read our review of the theatrical release here and watch the trailer below.

 



Quantic Dream, the developer of Heavy Rain, looking to hire staff for future multiplayer projects

By: Anthony Garreffa | More News: Gaming | Posted: Apr 11, 2013 3:33 am

The developer behind the PlayStation 3-exclusive game Heavy Rain, is hiring staff for some upcoming multiplayer title(s). A job listing spotted by Kotaku states that the developer is looking for a "creative lead online programmer with a passion for online gaming in order to be with us for our future AAA projects."

 

quantic_dream_the_developer_of_heavy_rain_looking_to_hire_staff_for_future_multiplayer_projects

 

Quantic Dream says they're looking for an experienced programmer with a "strong understanding of the multiplayer genre". Up until now, Quantic Dream's games have been single-player experiences, driven heavily by their story. Next-gen consoles might help all of this, where we might see some multiplayer elements.

 

The thing is, Quantic Dream are no normal developer - they don't just release a game, they invest so much time into the details within the game world, that this multiplayer news should excite all gamers. Multiplayer within a Quantic Dream game could see gamers playing characters, within the single-player world. What if it was your job to play a detective, and you could lie or tell the truth, kill the main character or not, and have multiple choices through an open-world game?


Continue reading 'Quantic Dream, the developer of Heavy Rain, looking to hire staff for future multiplayer projects' (full post)



Intel's 2013 update to their Xeon family isn't being rushed, but it will pack quite a punch when it arrives

By: Anthony Garreffa | More News: CPU, APU & Chipsets | Posted: Apr 11, 2013 2:26 am

With no real competition in the server/workstation space, Intel aren't just rushing out their 2013 update to their Xeon platform of processors. Toward the end of this year, we should expect the Ivy Bridge-based Xeon E5 and E7 processors, while the Xeon Phi MIC/co-processor/accelerator gets segmented into more SKUs and thanks to a new stepping, we're seeing clock speeds pushed from 1.1GHz to 1.238GHz with nearly the same TDP and form factor.

 

intel_s_2013_update_to_their_xeon_family_isn_t_being_rushed_but_it_will_pack_quite_a_punch_when_it_arrives

 

What we will see when the new Xeon processors arrive, is a 12-core part with 30MB of cache and quad-channel DDR3-1866 server memory paths per socket with clock speeds pushing 3GHz and Turbo Boost to boot. Power consumption on these insane 12-core processors should see a helping hand from its 22nm FinFet '3D transistor' process.

 

Toward the end of the year, we should expect the E5-4600 v2 series, which is the same as the above solution, but 4-socket-enabled where the dual QPI links make a square interconnection layout between the CPU. At around the same time, we should see the 15-core IVB-EX enterprise Xeon processors - the E7-4800 v2 and 8800 v2 - which will replace the Westmere-EX processors we have had for the past couple of years now.


Continue reading 'Intel's 2013 update to their Xeon family isn't being rushed, but it will pack quite a punch when it arrives' (full post)



Code in OSX 10.8.4 confirms Macs will be getting 802.11ac wireless

By: Trace Hagan | More News: Computer Systems | Posted: Apr 11, 2013 12:59 am

Code in the latest OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 beta seed seems to confirm that future Macs will be coming with support for the super-fast 802.11ac wireless protocol. Within the systems WiFi-frameworks folder, the following code can be found, supporting previous rumors Apple is working on getting 802.11ac into future Macs:

 

code_in_osx_10_8_4_confirms_macs_will_be_getting_802_11ac_wireless

 

This means that most, if not all, future Macs will be produced with the 802.11ac wireless standard supported. We'll probably see a refresh of the MacBook Air sooner rather than later and I imagine 802.11ac will be included at that time. This means Apple will likely be releasing 802.11ac compliant AirPort routers and iOS devices.



OCZ Vertex 5 SSD coming next month, features updated Barefoot 3, 20nm NAND flash

By: Trace Hagan | More News: Storage | Posted: Apr 11, 2013 12:44 am

OCZ has confirmed the existence of a new solid state drive, believed to be the Vertex 5. Current estimates place the launch as occurring sometime next month, though OCZ would not confirm naming or launch window. They did say that it features an updated Barefoot 3 controller and 20-nanometer NAND flash.

 

ocz_vertex_5_ssd_coming_next_month_features_updated_barefoot_3_20nm_nand_flash

 

The Vector SSD is currently OCZ's fastest SSD and is based off of the Barefoot 3 platform. It's possible that the next solid state drive could be called something like Vector 2, but Vertex 5 makes more sense. Earlier this year, OCZ updated the Vertex 3 to use 20nm NAND flash and called it the Vertex 3.2. All other features remained the same.

 

Last year, OCZ had some financial troubles that resulted in mass layoffs and discontinuation of numerous product lines.



Bitcoin market price crashing, price dropped $100 in mere hours

By: Trace Hagan | More News: Business, Financial & Legal | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 9:34 pm

If you're a Bitcoin owner, today is certainly not a good day. The value of Bitcoins has declined extremely rapidly, dropping $100 in value in just a few hours. Earlier this week, Bitcoin prices were as high as $260. As of the time of writing, Bitcoins were at $149 after having dropped as low as $105.

 

bitcoin_market_price_crashing_price_dropped_100_in_mere_hours

 

Some believe the cause of this crash was an inevitable "downward correction" due to the price rising too quickly. Others have suggested that the Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, is suffering from a DDoS, resulting in significant lag time and a destabilization of the market. It'll be interesting to see if the price rebounds quickly or if it takes a slow, but steady, increase.



ReportTT: Apple ditches Samsung for upcoming A7 processors

By: Trace Hagan | More News: Business, Financial & Legal | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 9:03 pm

We've had several different reports since October of last year that Apple is planning on using TSMC for production of its next processor, thought to be the A7 line of processors. Apple has plenty of reason to avoid using Samsung for its microprocessor producing needs. Probably the main reason, Samsung is one of Apple's chief rivals.

 

reporttt_apple_ditches_samsung_for_upcoming_a7_processors

 

The reports continue to stack up. This time it comes courtesy of the Korea Times who spoke with an executive as one of Samsung's local partners in Korea. According to the executive, Apple is "sharing confidential data" about its A7 processors with TSMC. They add that TSMC has started "ordering its contractors to supply equipment to produce Apple's next processors using a finer 20-nanometer level processing technology."

 

Of course, this doesn't mean that TSMC is the final choice. It does, however, appear to be a top contender. We'll let you know as soon as we have something concrete.



ReportTT: Next-gen Xbox will take over TV, interact with cable box

By: Trace Hagan | More News: Gaming | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 8:32 pm

The Verge is reporting that the next generation Xbox from Microsoft will take over your TV and feature deep set-top box integration. They say that the Xbox 720 will be able to interact with a user's cable box and TV much like Google TV.

 

reporttt_next_gen_xbox_will_take_over_tv_interact_with_cable_box

 

The report states that the Xbox 720 will accept an HDMI connection from the cable box so that it can pass the signal through with an extra UI imposed on top. The Xbox 720 will also make use of Kinect to detect viewers watching and be able to pause video content if a viewer looks away much like the Galaxy S3's eye-tracking technology.

 

We still don't know much about the Xbox 720, but an event is expected in May at which Microsoft will detail the next-gen console.



ReportTT: Microsoft Office not coming to iOS or Android until fall 2014

By: Trace Hagan | More News: Apps | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 8:02 pm

According to a leaked roadmap acquired by ZDNet, Office for iOS and Android won't be coming until fall 2014. The roadmap details various different Office products, including "Gemini wave 1.0" that will launch the Metro-style of core Office products. They will be designed with touch in mind and run on Windows 8 and Windows RT. These will be coming by October 2013.

 

reporttt_microsoft_office_not_coming_to_ios_or_android_until_fall_2014

 

Gemini 1.5 will come in April 2014 and consist of an update to Mac Office, updates for Office for Windows Phone, and support for LSX hardware. Finally, fall 2014 is listed as the time period for when Office for iOS and Android will be released. Previous rumors had suggested iOS and Android versions would be released in early- to mid-2013.



First Samsung Galaxy S4 commercials posted to YouTube, shy away from Apple bashing, promote features

By: Trace Hagan | More News: Business, Financial & Legal | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 7:31 pm

Samsung has posted up the first advertisements for its upcoming Galaxy S4 device. In the videos, embedded below, Samsung stays away from bashing Apple and Apple followers. Instead, Samsung does what most companies should: focus on the new features present in the device.

 

 

The first video, seen above, shows off Samsung's new S Translator.


Continue reading 'First Samsung Galaxy S4 commercials posted to YouTube, shy away from Apple bashing, promote features' (full post)



Good guy Oculus Rift does it right, receives high repairability score in iFixit teardown

By: Charles Gantt | More News: Gaming | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 6:30 pm

iFixit seems to tear apart every piece of new technology that is released these days and we love them for that. This time the Oculus Rift goes under the knife screwdriver to show us what makes it tick.

 

good_guy_oculus_rift_does_it_right_receives_high_repairability_score_in_ifixit_teardowngood_guy_oculus_rift_does_it_right_receives_high_repairability_score_in_ifixit_teardown

 

The team at iFixit were able to get their hands on a developer's edition of the virtual reality headset and made it clear that this is merely a prototype model and the actual production unit may change. The tear down reviled an Innolux HJ070IA-02D 7-inch LCD that has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, with 640 x 800 per eye.

 

The LCD is controlled by a Himax HX8851 controller. The head tracking is accomplished by a STMicroelectronics 32F103C8 ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller with 72MHz CPU, Invensense MPU-6000 six-axis (gyro + accelerometer) motion tracking controller and an A983 2206, which is believed to be a three-axis magnetometer.

 

iFixit awarded the Oculus Rift a repairability score of high, which is rare these days.


Continue reading 'Good guy Oculus Rift does it right, receives high repairability score in iFixit teardown' (full post)



LeakedTT: Images of supposed next-gen iPad bezel surface, lends credence to rumors of a major redesign

By: Charles Gantt | More News: Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 5:35 pm

Two images surfaced this morning on French blog Nowhereelse.fr of what is said to be the front bezel of Apple's next-generation iPad. While the design looks similar to existing iPad's, small differences can be spotted.

 

leakedtt_images_of_supposed_next_gen_ipad_bexel_surface_lends_credence_to_rumors_of_a_major_redesign

 

The image depicts a much thinner bezel than what is featured on the existing iPad and more closely resembles an iPad Mini's bezel. This could confirm rumors that the new iPad will be going on a diet and slimming down, while still keeping the same 9.7-inch display.

 

leakedtt_images_of_supposed_next_gen_ipad_bexel_surface_lends_credence_to_rumors_of_a_major_redesign

 

In the image the glass and bezel also appear to be flat, which debunks rumors of a curved screen that have been floating around.


Continue reading 'LeakedTT: Images of supposed next-gen iPad bezel surface, lends credence to rumors of a major redesign' (full post)



The Pirate Bay moves to .GL domain name, ahead of Swedish seizeure of .se domain

By: Charles Gantt | More News: Internet & Websites | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 4:48 pm

It seems that at least once a month for the past several years, the Pirate Bay has had to make moves to evade action taken against it in order to keep the ship afloat. This time the popular torrent tracking site has had to switch up its top level domain.

 

the_pirate_bay_moves_to_gl_domain_name

 

The change comes in the wake of Swedish authorities announcing that they will seize the current domain, thepiratebay.se. This is not the first time similar actions have been taken, with the site previously being located on the .org TLD back in 2011.

 

This move not only creates a dilemma for Swedish authorities, but it completely messes up all of the pending DMCA take down notices that have been filed with Google recently. Since the domain name has changed, every request that has not been executed will have to be resubmitted to Google.

 

Those who have internet service through an ISP that blocks The Pirate Bay, could see service temporary restored until existing block lists are updated.



SimCity coming to Mac June 11th, if you bought the Windows version you get access to the Mac version

By: Charles Gantt | More News: Gaming | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 4:14 pm

Despite its rough start, SimCity is now running smoothly and it appears that server issues are a thing of the past. This morning EA and Maxis announced that the popular city building simulator will be making its way to Mac on June 11th.

 

simcity_coming_to_mac_june_11th

 

Lucy Bradshaw, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA's Maxis Label, said in the announcement:

 

"SimCity is coming to Mac on June 11 and one purchase will give you both the Mac and PC versions. You only need to buy SimCity once to play together across the same servers, regardless of which version you're playing. We didn't want to make any compromises when it came to the Mac so we created a native version that is optimized for the hardware and OSX."

 

That means that players who previously purchased the game for Windows will get a free Mac download as well. EA says that you will use the same Origin account to log in on both the PC and Mac leading to seamless management of your cities, regardless of which system you are playing on.

 

Since its release more than 1.3 million copies of the game have been sold.



Foxconn sees sales drop 19% in wake of declining iPhone demand

By: Charles Gantt | More News: Business, Financial & Legal | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 3:46 pm

Reuters is reporting that Hon Hai Precision Technology otherwise known as Foxconn to us westerners, saw a 19% drop in sales during the first quarter of 2013. Analysts are attributing the vanishing sales to a decline in demand for the Apple iPhone.

 

foxconn_sees_sales_drop_19_in_wake_of_declining_iphone_demand

 

Foxconn sales dipped to $26.96 billion in the first quarter, which is down from nearly $33 billion in Q4 of 2012, and $33.3 billion in the same quarter the previous year. KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo says that this decline is not surprising as first quarter reports always look worse than Q4 reports that have holiday sales included.

 

Kuo went on to say that the real telling figure is that Foxconn's year to year revenue is in the decline and that "shows that Hon Hai's revenue depends too much on Apple, and iPhone orders corrected more than expected." Apple shareholders do not appear to seem to be very concerned with this news as their stock remained flat after the Foxconn report was released.



Maker builds surveillance package to film entire postal shipment process

By: Charles Gantt | More News: Science, Space & Robotics | Posted: Apr 10, 2013 3:09 pm

Maker Ruben van der Vleuten has just published a very cool video showing a recent experiment he conducted on the process of a package being shipped from point A to point B. I am still unsure of the legality of this type of thing here in the US, so beware if you attempt this yourself.

 

 

Ruben did not document the electronics very well, but from what I can tell, he used an Arduino to build an intervalometer, that would trigger the camera to take a photo at regular intervals. If the package stopped moving for a period of time, the Arduino would only trigger the camera for three seconds every minute to prevent an excess of dark / duplicate frames.

 

maker_builds_surveillance_package_to_film_entire_postal_shipment_processmaker_builds_surveillance_package_to_film_entire_postal_shipment_process

 

Finally, Ruben very cleverly hid it all inside a very inconspicuous brown box. He tackled the task of hiding the camera by drilling a hole smaller than the size of a pea into the side and masked it by writing his name in black permanent marker around it. This camouflaged the dark hole leading to the camera lens. As an avid Maker myself, I tip my hat to Ruben for a simple, yet awesome project.




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