Latest News - Page 2798

Police have confirmed that multiple suspicious packages have turned up on the doorstep of the New Zealand Herald office in Auckland, as well as the New Zealand Parliament.

The first package arrived at the NZ Herald with a note that it contained the deadly Ebola virus, while another bottle turned up at Parliament House in Wellington. Both bottles included a letter attached, warning that the bottles had Ebola inside. Police said in a statement: "Wellington Police have secured a package delivered to the Parliament mailroom today with the assistance of the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team". The authorities continued: "An initial examination of the package has shown it may be similar to a package received in Auckland this morning which referenced Ebola. It contained a document and a small plastic bottle with a small amount of liquid in it".

New Zealand Police talked with Mashable, saying: "A small amount of liquid in a plastic bottle sent to the Herald has been secured by Auckland City Police after it arrived in a suspicious package this morning, Herald management implemented the appropriate processes around suspicious packages and called police to attend the mail room at about 9.30am". The bottle, and its contents, are now secured and have been sent to The Institute of Environmental Science and Research, where they'll be swabbed for DNA and fingerprints.

We saw the beginnings of GIGABYTE's new watercooling system a few months ago, but here we are: the company has just announced its new GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce Tri-SLI cooler.

The new system attaches onto three GeForce GTX 980 cards, cooling all three of them down with a very powerful, 3-way SLI closed-loop liquid cooling system. What we're seeing here is a combination of three of GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming cards (that's a lot of Gs), which are non-reference GPUs with improved PCBs and cooling designs, with the WaterForce cooling system on it.

Each GTX 980 is overclocked to 1228MHz on the Core, and 1329MHz Boost, while the memory is at 7010MHz. There's a massive external casing that comes with it, which will be placed on top of your chassis, providing configuration controls. Each card is cooled by its own 120mm fadiator, with three of them found in the massive contraption that sits on your case. There are a total of six pipes that lead from the front of the chassis, to the cards, where they're cooled. GIGABYTE also provides individual fan speed adjustment, and coolant pressure controls, which can be tweaked from the front panel. The company also provides a 5.25-inch front panel display, where you can see all of your readings for coolant temperatures and fan speeds.

For years, George Lucas has been saying he has a bunch of independent features he has wanted to make, as soon as he was free of the 'Star Wars' shackles, but who would have thought one of the first would be a fantasy animated musical?

According to industry bible Variety, Lucasfilm owner Disney, through it's Touchstone label will release 'Strange Magic' in January 2015, a animated fantasy musical directed by sound designer turned director Gary Rydstrom and featuring the voices of Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Sam Palladio and Alfred Molina, with a story penned by George Lucas.

'Strange Magic' was already in production when Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012. Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and Industrial Light & Magic, have produced the CG animation.

The Pentagon has tasked the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with finding new methods for drones to be able to launch from aircraft, including the B-1, B-52, C-130, and other large aircraft. Drones would be able to launch from aircraft, conduct their missions, and return to the aircraft so the host plane can fly away from potentially dangerous airspace.

Here is what the DARPA request says: "The agency envisions a large aircraft that, with minimal modification, could launch and recover multiple small unmanned systems from a standoff distance."

"We want to find ways to make smaller aircraft more effective, and one promising idea is enabling existing large aircraft, with minimal modification, to become 'aircraft carriers in the sky,'" said Dan Patt, DARPA program manager. "We envision innovative launch and recovery concepts for new [unmanned aerial system] designs that would couple with recent advances in small payload design and collaborative technologies."

OWC has built a reputation around offering a wide assortment of Apple-related products, perhaps most notably SSD upgrade kits. The latest upgrade bundle from OWC features a 1TB Aura or Aura Pro SSD (960GB user-addressable) for MacBook Air users with 2010, 2011, and 2012 models. The large capacity provides double the maximum storage offered by Apple.

OWC includes several items in the kit. All of the tools necessary for dissembling and reassembling the laptop are included, along with an Envoy USB 3.0 external enclosure. After installing the new SSD the external enclosure allows users to clone over their previous install, or copy files back and forth. The external enclosure also affords users the ability to continue to use the old SSD from their MacBook.

The Aura Pro SSD features the tried-and-true SF-2200 controller, which still manages to deliver solid performance for most consumer workloads. The SandForce controllers also offer low power consumption, which extends battery life, and AES-256 encryption for the security conscious. The entire package is covered by a five-year warranty. The bundle price for a 1TB SSD is $579.00, for 480GB it is $329.00, 240GB for $189.00, and a 120GB kit weighs in at $119.00.

Microsoft took a major step forward after releasing the Lumia 535 smartphone, its first handset without Nokia branding. The device is powered by Windows Phone 8.1 and will cost around $137, featuring a 5-inch qHD display screen, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.

Microsoft purchased Nokia in April for $7.2 billion and wanted to move ahead without the Nokia branding - recently confirming that devices would be known as Microsoft Lumia.

Even if the company is able to release affordable, appealing smartphones, trying to compete against the Apple iPhone and Google Android smartphones will remain an uphill battle. Windows-powered smartphones only have 2.7 percent of the global smartphone market, according to Strategy Analytics, as its market share continues to drop.

The Intel DC S3500 series competes in the price-sensitive segment and is geared for read-intensive and mixed workloads. The DC S3500 (evaluated here) doesn't sport quite the performance of its older brother, the DC S3700 (evaluated here), but provides plenty of performance and endurance for many workloads. Today Intel is announcing the release of 1.2 and 1.6TB variants, along with a new M.2 design. Expanded capacity is coupled with low power consumption that delivers reduced TCO. The DC S3500 has an active read power below 1.3 Watts. A sprinkling of other datacenter-specific technologies provide resiliency and a 0.3DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day) endurance limitation. End-to-end data protection, data redundancy technology, AES encryption, and power loss protection, ensure data safety.

Intel 20nm MLC NAND and a new 8-channel controller drive the DC S3500 models. Details are scant on the new Intel-proprietary controllers, but we will update readers as more information becomes available. We can expect to see the same consistent performance from the new drives, with a .5ms latency maximum for 99.9% of 4k random read IOPS. There are 10 capacity points available for the 2.5 drives, allowing users to tailor capacity for their specific needs. The high-capacity 2.5" variants feature up to 500/460 MB/s of sequential read/write speed and up to 65,000/18,500 random read/write IOPS. The larger pool of flash provides a bit more performance for the high-capacity variants, but the entire DC S3500 range features varying speeds based upon capacity.

The M.2 design relies upon the SATA interface and comes in 80, 120, and 340GB capacities. The performance of the M.2 variant seems tuned for slightly more random write speed than the similar capacity 2.5" variants, but slightly lower read speed. Intel is expecting the compact M.2 design to make a big splash in embedded applications, such as digital signage and slot machines. The M.2 design will also work well for server boot volumes. The ultra-dense design is particularly well-suited for blade and microserver designs, and some OEMs are in the process of developing systems with multiple M.2 connectors.

SMART Modular Technologies has announced the new M.2 SATA XR+ with SafeDATA power loss protection technology. SMART Modular Technologies, part of the larger SMART consortium of companies, is a privately-held company that has been in the electronics industry for over 25 years. Their products are usually confined to the OEM market, where they create custom designs for varying applications. The double-sided M.2 design is available in capacities from 32 to 512GB. These SSDs are designed to meet the needs of Tier 1 OEM customers and sport sequential read/write speeds of 540/320 MB/s.

SafeDATA consists of power loss detection and hold-up circuitry, in addition to advanced controller firmware, to flush all data to the underlying NAND in the event of a host power loss event. Power loss protection is a critical requirement in enterprise and embedded applications, and fusing that functionality onto a slim M.2 design opens up new applications for the dense design. The product is sampling now, and volume production begins in Q1 of 2015.

M.2 designs avail themselves well to several applications, and datacenter-centric models are appearing with more frequency. We expect to have samples of data-centric M.2 designs soon, and in the interim check out our library of competitive performance analysis of the latest and greatest enterprise storage technology in our IT/Datacenter section.

HGST is now shipping its helium-filled 8TB HDDs to retailers, with both Amazon and Newegg now listing them. Newegg is listing the HGST Ultrastar He8 8TB 3.5-inch HDD for $899, while Amazon is slightly more expensive at $933.

The HGST Ultrastar He8 8TB drive is a 7200RPM HDD with 128MB of DRAM buffer, and three interfaces: SAS-6Gbps, SAS-12Gbps and SATA-6Gbps. The 8TB HDD is based off of seven 1.2TB PMR platters, which are filled with helium which shrinks the distance between the platters, without increasing the risk and sacrifice of performance. HGST promises 205MB/sec maximum sustained transfer rates, with a 4.16ms typical latency.

The drive is also available in Japan, cheaper than it is in the US, at around $695 after conversion. The drives aren't aimed at the consumer, so we should expect these prices to not drop quickly, for now.

Far Cry 4's Creative Director, Alex Hutchinson, is making headlines again today - but not for the argument that resolution is "certainly not something" he cares about in a game, but that there will not be a sequel to the surprise-hit Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

The announcement happened during the IGN Pubcast, where Hutchinson said: "The cool thing about Blood Dragon was that it was a surprise. It was a great use of the Far Cry 3 base, and had an awesome soundtrack. So the answer is no, you won't be getting another one of those. Hopefully we can come up with something that surprises you as much as the original Blood Dragon".

He did add that the company will get pounded about it, where he added: "And if we did make one, I'd probably get told on Twitter 'are we going to get a Blood Dragon every year? You're just in a factory churning things out'".

The upcoming 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', marks the first time that a 'Star Wars' movie had been filmed in the United Kingdom since principal photography completed on 'The Phantom Menace' in 1998, with Pinewood Studios serving as the films set base. George Lucas completed principal photography of its two prequel-sequels 'Attack of the Clones' and 'Revenge of the Sith' at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.

Now, according to the BBC, Pinewood Studios CEO Ivan Dunleavy has confirmed that the as-yet untitled 'Episode VIII' will return to the UK studio, continuing the trend of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy.

To be directed by Rian Johnson of 'Looper' fame, 'Episode VIII' is scheduled to be released sometime in 2017.

We can't let NVIDIA have all the next-gen GPU fun, can we? AMD has reportedly kicked off internal testing of its next-generation GPU, known as Fiji XT.

The news is coming from the Zauba.com database, which "monitors imports and exports to and from India, where high-tech companies employ many engineers" according to KitGuru. AMD's Indian office received a "printed circuit board assembly (video video card) C880 Fiji XT P/N.102-C88001-00" which could be the company's new GPU.

VideoCardz.com is also reporting that the Fiji XT architecture will arrive to us as the Radeon R9 390X, and could use the 28nm process (which is what the R9 290X is built on) or the smaller, more power-efficient 20nm process. We should expect a new GPU from AMD in the next six months or so. The last time we heard about the Radeon R9 390X, we heard it would arrive with HBM memory and baked onto the 20nm process.

Apple seems to have gotten themselves in a bind with TLC flash, at least if one is to believe the reports that the intermittent crashes and reboot cycles for iPhone 6 Plus users are due to the TLC controller. Apple refuses to comment on the issue, but several sources have speculated the problem lies with TLC NAND. Apple only uses TLC in a select few products, one being the iPhone 6 Plus, which also just happens to be the only model with the issue. Now sources are speculating that Apple is going to abandon the use of TLC NAND entirely.

Apple, as the world's largest flash customer, has a vested interest in using as many types of NAND as possible. This also includes TLC, which some view as a less-desirable form of flash. TLC stores 3 bits per cell, compared to MLC, which stores two. In the dinosaur ages (only a few years back), even MLC was considered unfit for use in mainstream devices. Only one bit per cell NAND (SLC) was considered fit for consumption. Time and clever engineering have radically altered that view, and common MLC NAND powers computers, datacenters, and just about every mobile device inbetween.

Enter TLC. Many of the same concerns have been voiced about TLC, mirroring the initial concerns about MLC. Cost savings for Apple are always a concern, they are in the business of making money, but there are other advantages that go beyond price. In reality, Apple only saves roughly five cents per GB using TLC, but have had to invest millions to utilize it. TLC does have lower endurance than other forms of NAND, but it also stores more data. For Apple this is a desirable attribute that has more traction than the cost savings of slightly cheaper TLC NAND. They can pack more data into the slim device, and that is part of the reason they are very unlikely to abandon TLC. HD Video and high-res images require more storage space, and recent concerns about the safety of data in the cloud are leading to increased storage capacity in mobile devices.

Other World Computing (OWC) has announced a new PlayStation 4 upgrade kit. The current crop of new game consoles are becoming more focused on becoming the hub of the home entertainment system. This leads to a need for more storage, but unfortunately the stock storage capacity of gaming consoles hasn't increased enough. Swapping out the internal drive on the PS4 usually voids your warranty(**correction - Users can swap drives with any drive without voiding warranty**), but OWC has announced a fix for that problem.

OWC's new Hard Drive Upgrade Kit allows users to boost their capacity up to 2TB, and still retain their warranty. The kit claims to boost performance and features a 5,400 RPM drive in the 2.5" form factor. As an added bonus, OWC includes an external enclosure that allows users to convert the old internal drive into external storage. The kit includes everything you need to backup the data on the existing drive, then transfer it over to the new one. A set of fairly simple instructions is included, and is also available online.

The kit can be purchased with 1, 1.5, or 2TB HGST/Toshiba/Seagate HDD's (different capacity points feature different drives). Interestingly enough, the 1TB will provide the most performance, as it is actually an SSHD. SSHD's merge flash goodness with spinning platters to provide much faster data for commonly loaded data, such as the PS4 OS. Tyler recently took a look at Toshiba's SSHD, and you can get a good idea of the performance boost by reading his Toshiba 1TB SSHD (MQ01ABD100H) Review. The Toshiba drive will definitely boost the speed and load times of commonly accessed games, and we would like to see OWC offer SSHD's for higher capacities as well.

Android 5.0 Lollipop will be splashing onto countless smartphones and tablets in the coming months, where we normally see Google's Nexus line of devices receiving the latest update, first. Not this time! Motorola's Moto X is the first smartphone to receive the deliciously-named OS, a first when it comes to Android updates.

Normally we would have seen the Nexus 4, Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 devices all receive their Lollipop updates, but it's Motorola's flagship smartphone that has it first. The HTC-made, NVIDIA-powered Nexus 9 already has Android 5.0, but that's the only device (up until now) that featured the new OS. Google's latest smartphone, the Nexus 6, isn't really available yet - so there's no smartphone on the market with Lollipop on it, apart from the Moto X.

The Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the Moto X has been pulled - surprise, surprise - but it's great to see that a handset like the Moto X is receiving its update super quick. Let's hope that Sony, Samsung, HTC, LG and others can follow through with quick updates.

After months of allowing competing smartwatches take over the US market, Taiwanese giant ASUS has launched its sleek ZenWatch in the country. The wearable is being sold right now through Best Buy, at $199.

The ASUS ZenWatch features a beautiful 1.6-inch, curved Super AMOLED display, a Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of on-board flash storage. The entire thing is encased in stainless steel, with a beautiful leather strap - making it look more like a watch than some of the competing devices.

There's over 100 watch faces available from ASUS, as well as a feature that locates your smartwatch quickly by tapping the ZenWatch. Google Play won't be available at launch, but ASUS has promised that it will be coming in an update.

Thanks to our friends at Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, we have copies of this week's DVD release of Marvel's 'Agents of SHIELD: The Complete First Season' up for grabs for five lucky readers!

In the wake of The Battle of New York, the world has changed forever. An extraordinary landscape of wonders has been revealed! In response, mysteriously resurrected Agent Phil Coulson assembles an elite team of skilled agents and operatives: Melinda May, Grant Ward, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons and new recruit/computer hacker Skye. Together, they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.

But every answer unearths even more tantalizing questions that reverberate across the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe: Who is "The Clairvoyant"? What is Hydra's sinister master plan; what dark secret lies behind Skye's puzzling origins; and most importantly of all, who can be trusted?

After their official meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing, the leaders of Russia and China got together and exchanged gifts. Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, gave Xi Jinping, China's president, a smartphone. This wasn't any ordinary smartphone, it was a Russian-made, dual-screen smartphone (the world's first), known as the YotaPhone 2.

The handset that Putin gave Jinping was also a special edition version of the handset, something that included a data protection system that was designed by Russian engineers. This makes the phone "unique" in the way of safety, according to Rostec company, the firm who made the phone. Rostec has said that China's leader was the first person in the world to own the YotaPhone 2, with the official launch of the Russian-made handset to begin next month.

The YotaPhone 2 sports the world's first dual-screen, with one of its displays using electronic paper technology, being always-on, even with a drained battery. Some people refer to it as the "Russian iPhone", with the YotaPhone 2 selling at around $300.

It looks like the refreshed 16nm-based GPUs from NVIDIA could be delayed, due to TSMC not being able to hit its scheduled 16nm FinFET mass production schedule - which was due for Q1 2015. The reason? TSMC is busy pumping out A9 chips for Apple and its new iPhones, which is seeing volume 16nm production shifted a few quarters deeper into 2015.

For NVIDIA, this means that the company won't be able to bring its "Big Daddy" GM200 chip to fruition, at least on 16nm, until late 2015 or early 2016. The process shift is a lengthy one, something we saw with "Big Kepler" a couple of years ago. 28nm went into mass production over at TSMC in October of 2011, but the GTX Titan was released in February 2013. Two years of waiting for NVIDIA, with TSMC finally getting its act together for 28nm volume production, in order to built a chip that was reasonably priced, which resulted in the GeForce GTX 780.

TSMC has said that its 16nm process will result in around 7-9% of its total revenue in Q4 2015, which means that if any 16nm-based GPUs make it to consumers late next year, the amount of them will be quite small.

During NVIDIA's earnings call a few days ago, the company teased its upcoming next-gen GPU, even though it only released its GeForce GTX 900 series a couple of months ago - cards that are still kick ass. These cards are based on the GM204 GPU, but the new one coming is the GM200 core, which should provide a big boost in performance.

Previously, we thought that NVIDIA would release this GPU on 16nm, but the 16nm process is being chewed up at TSMC. NVIDIA's Maxwell architecture is so efficient, it could fit on the 28nm process, and be re-released next year, or early 2016 when the 16nm FinFET process is ready for it. This would allow for even more performance, allowing NVIDIA to strike at AMD twice, and probably still win all sides of the battle.

Just how fast should we expect these new GPUs to be? We could expect around 50% more performance than the GeForce GTX 980, which is already a damn impressive card, but 50% more performance? Yes, thanks, NVIDIA.