Latest News - Page 2807

Fitbit will soon launch three new fitness trackers, with the top-of-the-line model being the new Fitbit Surge. Surge will be more than the average wearable, with the company referring to it as a "superwatch".

The new Fitbit Surge should be priced at $249, with the superwatch featuring built-in GPS tracking, PurePulse heart rate monitoring, and the ability of real-time workout data for various activities. The superwatch will provide users with stats on distance, pace, elevation climbed, heart rate intensity, and more. The new Surge will also carry over Fitbit's 24/7 activity tracking, where it'll make sure that you're getting enough sweat generated on your body each day.

Sleep tracking continues over, with the Surge having its, and your stats wirelessly synced over to the Fitbit app. Surge will also have "smart" notifications for phone calls and texts, and you can also control your music playback from Surge, which is a nice touch - pun not intended, but hey it works. Surge will launch in three colors: black, slate, and a colorful tangerine option.

Two US ad agency interns are creating quite the stir with their idea of throwing up a new crowdfunding campaign for Half-Life 3. The duo is looking for a total of $150,000 which they think will help push Valve over the edge and "get Valve to finish the game we've dreamed about for all these years".

The $150,000 won't be used to help Valve in any way, but it will instead be used for a massive marketing campaign targeted against Valve, and its employees, shouting from the rooftops: "WE WANT HALF-LIFE 3". At the time of writing, the campaign was a little short of its $150,000 target, with just $942 raised. The theory behind the campaign is that "we think that the fans aren't doing enough, we think that we've never truly been united in getting our voice heard". As for the tiered goal system, we have:

So it sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen, and even if Valve wanted to show off Half-Life 3, it's not going to be from a public-funded whinge campaign. What do you think about all of this?

When NVIDIA announced the GeForce GTX Titan Z back at GTC 2014 in March, it was an expensive beast at $3999, but now Overclockers UK has dropped the price on some of its Titan Z's, radically.

Just last week, the site dropped it from its launch price of $3863, to $3219, which is a decent drop. But, the company has just taken a massive $900 off its price, dropping it down to 'just' $2415. For $2415, you're getting a triple-slot, dual GPU card with 12GB of RAM, two full GK110 GPUs with 2880 stream processors, 240 texture units, an 48 raster operations pipelines.

You'd still be better off with two GeForce GTX 980s in SLI, but for some people a single card is what they want, and no single card can compete with the Titan Z right now.

The competition between GIGABYTE and ASUS is as fierce as ever, but ASUS is set to lower the prices of its motherboards, and spend considerable amounts of money on furthering its marketing reach according to DigiTimes' industry sources.

ASUS has reportedly planned multiple promotions, where it will sell bundles with its GPUs and motherboards, hoping to gain thousands more consumers with its impressive line up of GPUs. DigiTimes' sources noted "GIGABYTE's motherboard and video card businesses are separate units and the two departments hardly cooperate over sales and marketing. Although GIGABYTE's motherboard business has been performing strongly recently, Asustek's new strategy is expected to impact GIGABYTE's motherboard business group".

Just how much is ASUS planning to spend on marketing? According to DigiTimes' sources, the Taiwanese manufacturer has already prepared between $32 million and $65 million to boost its marketing. The company is expecting to see its profits for 2014 drop because of this, but the marketing should gain more sales going into 2015. The sources continued "GIGABYTE had profits of NT$3-3.3 billion from the motherboard business in 2013. Although the company's shipments in 2014 are unlikely to achieve the targeted growth of one million units, profits in the year are expected to stay at around NT$3 billion because of the rising proportion of high-end models".

Apple unveiled its new 27-inch iMac during the week, which featured a beautiful 5K display with a resolution 5120x2880, and now iFixit have given it the usual teardown treatment. So what better way to spend your day after you've spent thousands of dollars buying the new Retina 5K iMac, than to rip it apart, right?

iFixit's teardown reveals that Apple's new iMac features an easily accessible RAM upgrade panel, and when it came to the 5K panel, the iFixit crew found that it requires a steady hand to remove it, but it's not all that hard. The 27-inch 5K panel itself is made by LG, with most of the hardware powering it coming from Texas Instruments. Going deeper into the new iMac, the iFixit team found that the layout of supporting hardware was close to identical to that found in last year's model.

The new 27-inch 5K iMac received a repairability score of 5/10 from iFixit, with the team saying that the user-replaceable RAM, HDD and CPU were all good to see,but the HDD and CPU upgrades the removal of the entire display. iFixit did add that the glass and LCD being fused together, along with the fact that there is double-sided sticky tape there that needs to be replaced to remove and replace the display, received negative marks from iFixit.

The FCC is laying the ground work for 5G mobile Internet in the United States, with the council voting unoanmously to start looking at accessing the higher-than 2.4GHz frequency spectrum than was previously thought to be unusable by mobile networks.

This would pave the way for Gigabit Internet connections, similar to what South Korea is doing with its incredible 10Gbps Internet access. The FCC believes that using "millimeter waves" would have higher bandwidth made possible, for more people and devices with speeds that blow most other in-home broadband connections provide now.

The problem is, it only works over short distances - for now at least - and requires line-of-sight for their point-to-point microwave connections. This is what the FCC hopes to fix, with this unanimous vote meaning research can nnow begin to see this technology arrive in the hands of US broadband users. Current estimates have it pegged at being available by 2020, so let's hope they're right.

Microsoft is positioning itself to launch the new Halo: Master Chief Collection on November 11 for its Xbox One console, and even though the game arrives on a Blu-ray jam-packed with 45GB of content, you'll still need a massive 20GB day-one download to get it working.

What comes in that wave of 20GB? Microsoft says "features and multiplayer content" for the game. The company explains: "From the start, our philosophy has been to give Halo fans the best possible experience and not compromise the quality or features of the collection. The result is that Halo: The Master Chief Collection will take up almost all of the usable space of a single Blu-ray (45 GB), and we will also issue a content update at launch that is estimated to be 20 GB".

Microsoft continued: "You'll be able to start playing Campaign and more as the content is installing, with some features and multiplayer content being added via the update. Yes, the update is large, but we weren't about to cut corners to save disc space. This ensures that you are getting every bit of Halo goodness we can fit in. Our work is not done, however, as we continue to tune, tweak and optimize the online experience to ensure a smooth multiplayer launch. This will continue right up until launch day".

TSMC was meant to be ramping up its 16nm FinFET production any time before the end of the month, but the manufacturing company has provided an update for this, saying it is happy with the yield, but is pushing back mass production of 16nm to early 2015.

The company said this would happen in early 2015, but finished by saying it could even fall into Q3 2015. Once TSMC has reached mass production of its 16nm FinFET process, it will provide added performance and power savings when compared to current technologies. TSMC has said that it is happy with the first yields of 16nm FinFET, but will not start mass producing it until around the second half of next year. The company said: "On the yield learning side, the progress [of 16nm] is much better than our original plan".

TSMC continued "This is because the 16nm uses similar [BEOL] process to 20SOC, except for the transistor. Because of the excellent progress in yield learning and readiness in manufacturing maturity and also to meet customers' demand, we plan to pull in 16-nanometer volume production through the end of Q2 next year or early Q3 year 2015". The full reason behind the delay isn't known right now, but the demand of 20nm is growing quick with the launch of the new iPhone, with Apple tapping TSMC for the production of its A8 and A8X chips.

Countless people were counting the days before Project Cars was released, which was meant to be before the end of the year, but the developer has delayed the game to March 17, 2015 in the US. Europeans will receive the game three days later on March 20, 2015.

The delay applies to the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game, pushing it from its original release date of November 18, 2014. Slighty Mad Studios, the developer behind the game, and its publisher Bandai Namco said the reason behind the day was to shift it away from the crowded fall 2014 release window, providing them with more time to pump into development. Slightly Mad Studios' boss, Ian Bell, explained "Whilst a tough decision to make, the change in release date allows the game the greatest chance of success and visibility, and the opportunity to polish the game even further to the high standards that both ourselves and our community demand and expect".

Considering we have some big titles like Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed: Unity and many more coming out in the next couple of months, along with games that have already been released like Alien: Isolation, Destiny, and more, this decision could be very beneficial to the game. That doesn't stop me from being disappointed to hear about yet another game being delayed, which feels like it's happened quite often in the last 1-2 years.

South Korea is set to get the world jealous with an impressive new 10Gbps fiber Internet service, with SK Broadband to introduce the new super-fast Internet connection at the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunications Union to be held at Busan's BEXCO Center, in partnership with the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the National Information Society Agency on October 20.

Considering all of the advancements that broadband technology is experiencing in Asian countries like Japan and South Korea, citizens of both of these countries are product that they are far out and ahead of the United States. Natsuki Kumagai said: "In the 1960s the world watched NASA send men to the moon and many of us grew up amazed at the constant advancements of the Americans. Now the Americans watch us". Pyon Seo-Ju added: "In my travels to the United States, it is very plain they have lost their way in advancing broadband technology".

Seo-Ju continued: "Internet access is terribly slow and expensive because American politicians have sacrificed Americas's technology leadership to protect conglomerates and allow them to flourish. Although unfortunate for America, this has given Korea a chance to promote our own industry and enhance the success of companies like Samsung that are well-known in the United States today".

Just days ago, August Germar showed off his Anonabox privacy router on Kickstarter, quickly flying past his pledge goal of $7500. Germar was promising a router that would give users near ultimate privacy, routing your Internet access through the Tor network. Germar raised $585,549 before Kickstarter suspended his Kickstarter, citing Germar "broke Kickstarter rules".

The Anonabox ball of thread began to unravel when some of its backers began to ask questions about Anonabox's custom hardware, as well as the promised security of its software. It snowballed to the point of many asking for the project to be cancelled, and asked others to report the misleading information to Kickstarter staff. Kickstarter emailed the project investors, telling backers that "a review of the project uncovered evidence that it broke Kickstarter's rules". These rules include the company to prohibit "offering purchased items and claiming to have made them yourself, presenting someone else's work as your own" and "misrepresenting or failing to disclose relevant facts about the project or its creator".

It all started on Tuesday night, with users seeing issues with the router's hardware, with its designer claiming was custom-designed. The backers found that all of the parts could be acquired from Chinese suppliers on sites such as Alibaba. Germar even confirmed with WIRED that the Anonabox prototype he had was built from "off-the-shelf case and a nearly stock board tweaked to add more flash memory storage, both sourced from the Chinese manufacturer Gainstrong", according to Wired.

Back when we reported that AMD was dropping the price of its Radeon R9 290 and R9 290X GPUs in reaction to NVIDIA's new Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 970 and GTX 980 GPUs, we thought it was AMD which was dropping the prices of its high-end Radeons, but it's actually their partners who are doing the price reductions.

In the meantime, AMD has a new CEO in Lisa Su, with the company laying off some 710 employees after a tough quarter, some big changes and news for the company. During AMD's recent earnings call, the fresh CEO said that NVIDIA has released some very competitive products with their second generation Maxwell GPUs, and that the company needed to adjust to "some competitive dynamics", or repositioning other products. Su said: "We have certainly adjusted to some of the competitive dynamics, and we have made some positioning changes as well as some new marketing activities that you will see from us in the fourth quarter".

During an interview between AMD's Chief Gaming Scientist Richard Huddy and KitGuru, Huddy had the following to say about the Radeon price cuts: "We have not issued any price cuts, nor price protection and we have not announced any for the future. We are conducting some promotions with our AIB partners that enables them to reach such competitive pricing on the Radeon R9 290 and 290X". How long will the cheaper Radeons last? According to Huddy: "The best news is that we have very healthy stock levels for both the Radeon R9 290 and 290X in the channel and the time to buy is now, with channel promotions bringing such great deals. We've got phenomenal products in the market and there's plenty of it around".

Weeks after NVIDIA's launch of its second-gen Maxwell GPUs, its competitor AMD has experienced "challenging market conditions" for its last quarter, just as its new CEO, Lisa Su gets used to her new position of power.

For AMD's third quarter, the company saw revenues of $1.43 billion, with an operating income of $63 million, and net income of $17 million. When things get split into individual units, we see things getting messy. AMD's Computer and Graphics division, the side of AMD that takes care of its successful Radeon business, and is considered as the "bread and butter" of Team Red, posted revenues of $781 million. This is a 16% year-on-year drop, with the division posting an operating loss of $17 million, compared to its $6 million loss in the same quarter of 2013.

AMD's Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom Division, posted higher revenues of $648 million, which is up 21% from the same quarter of 2013. This division posting earnings of $108 million, up from the $92 million of Q3 2013. The problem is, AMD says that there are harsher times to come, warning that it expects revenues to drop another 10% to 16% in its next quarter, sequentially. The company also had to slash jobs as part of its restructuring plan, culling some 710 employees from its global workforce, a number that makes up 7% of its total staff.

Apple has decided to pull Bose headphones and audio products from its online store, with the QuietComfort headphones series and SoundLink Mini and SoundLink III speakers being removed. It seems likely Apple will begin pulling Bose from retail stores - if they haven't quietly disappeared from shelves already - after the Beats headphones acquisition.

The decision was first rumored earlier this month, so it's not a surprise to see Apple reportedly following through with the decision.

Despite the snub from Apple, Bose still has a large marketing and sales presence anyway, including professional sports partnerships. However, the Beats brand still has gained some free publicity along the way, especially with NFL players wearing Beats headphones even though it is against NFL policy.

The Sony PlayStation 4 continued to dominate the North American console gaming market, outselling the Microsoft Xbox One in September. The PS4 has racked up nine consecutive months over the Xbox One, but Microsoft hopes its gaming bundles will help draw more interest leading into Christmas.

Console hardware sales increase 200 percent year-over-year, with prices dropping as the console battle continues to heat up.

Meanwhile, video game software struggled in September, even with the release of Activision's Destiny. It's worth noting that last October saw the release of Grand Theft Auto 5, which became an instant hit. Madden 15, Fifa 15, Super Smash Bros. and Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor rounded out the top five game titles in the month. Software sales were down 35 percent year-over-year, but digital video games delivered over the Internet were up 8.6 percent, up to $873 million.

Sony has shown off some new updates that are set to enter the PlayStation 4, with the PS4 interface itself being updated in a 2.0 system update. Part of the new update includes the ability of a USB Media Player, something that should be welcomed with warm arms.

Gamers can't transfer music to the PS4, but they'll be able to play MP3, MP4, M4A and 3GP files from a USB stick inserted into the PlayStation 4, as background music while they game. Sony is also amplifying the social interaction on the PS4, which will now suggest "players you may know", recommending PS4 users that your friends frequently game with. On top of that, if purchasing themes isn't something you're into, the new PS4 2.0 update will allow you to customize the background color of the PS4 interface.

The new update will also provide a feature to add a game to your library, instead of forcing you through the steps of cancelling that unwanted download. Continuously expanding gaming libraries will be easier to manage with the PS4 2.0 update, with improved filters to organize your game collection. The PS4's live broadcasting tool is also being reworked, providing gamers with more control for following broadcasts, searching for specific games, as well as archiving sessions.

Floating around in space can't be all that fun, and after being up there for days, weeks, or months on end, you'd get pretty bored, right? Well, NASA is looking at solutions to this boredom, where it is looking at creating a VR holodeck, using the Oculus Rift.

Scientists over at the University of Dartmouth's Digital Arts Leadership and Innovation lab (DALI) have been working on this type of software and technology since 2001, where they recently received a grant of $1.6 million from NASA to fund their work. They are now on a mission to create virtual environments and digital therapists to de-stress astronauts in deep space, as well as help manage inter-personal conflicts, if they were to arise.

Dartmouth research professor Lorie Loeb said in a press release that the team was working on multi-sensory experiences, something that included smells and sounds that would "trick the brain and make people feel as if they are in a variety of beautiful and calm settings, such as with their family at home or strolling on the beach". Not only that, but the team is working on digital therapists that would "assess and manage psychosocial problems to prevent them from becoming serious enough to jeopardize a mission".

According to the company's quarterly report, Intel has enjoyed a massive revenue boost, with it being the first time Intel was able to ship so many processors in a quarter. As the chipmaking giant shipped over 100 million processors in the last three months, the company generated a revenue of $14.6 billion during this time.

Intel is very confident that the fourth quarter will generate consistency, with analysts predicting a $14.7 billion in revenue. As a result, the company generated $3.3 billion in net profits. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said, "We are pleased by the progress the company is making, ". He continued, "We achieved our best-ever revenue and strong profits in the third quarter. There is more to do, but our results give us confidence that we're successfully executing to our strategy of extending our products across a broad range of exciting new markets."

The PC Client group generated a revenue of $9.2 billion, which is a 6% growth compared to Q3 2013 and a 9% boost year-over-year. Other business groups such as Data Center Group generated a total revenue of $3.7 billion during the previous quarter, which amounts to 16% growth year-over-year. But other groups such as Internet of Things group generated about $500 million in revenue which reflects a 2% down slide compared to the same three-month period of 2013. The Mobile and Communications groups generated a revenue of $1 million, but according to the company, it's consistent with its expectations. Meanwhile, the software and services group generated $558 million.

Ubisoft is nowhere to be found when it comes to the new iPad Air 2 from Apple, especially with crazy, insane numbers like 120FPS. But, the full specs on the new iPad Air 2 show that there are some big upgrades in Apple's thinner iPad Air, especially when you consider there was nothing but a Touch ID addition to the 'new' iPad mini 3.

We have an iPad Air 2 that is 18% thinner than the iPad Air, at just 6.1mm, Apple's new A8X processor backed up by the M8 co-processor, 120FPS video recording abilities with its 8-megapixel iSight camera, Touch ID, and more. We have it at 9.4 inches high (or 240mm), and 6.6 inches wide (or 169.5mm), up to 10 hours of battery life, and AirPlay Mirroring (photos, audio and video out) to Apple TV (second-generation or later).

Apple's new iPad Air 2 will be available for pre-order on Apple's website starting tomorrow, October 17, starting at $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 64GB model, and $699 for the 128GB model.

Google has signed an agreement to start laying down fiber optic cable connection from Florida to Brazil, with the agreement made with Brazil's telecom company Algar Telecom, along with African company Angola Cables.

The cable will be covering 6,560 miles and will have six fiber pairs which should provide a network bandwidth up to 1Tbps. The undertaking of this project is said to cost about $60 million. TE Connectivity SubCom is the one who received this contract for construction and said to complete its work by late 2016. Google Latin America head Cristian Ramos said, "As more people get access to the Internet, more capacity to the infrastructure that keeps the Internet running is needed, so that everyone can have a fast, safe and useful online experience."

It is being speculated that the reason for Google to choose Brazil is to bring more Internet connectivity that can greatly benefit from high-speed connections. Many countries in South America are deemed as emerging markets according to analyst from J. Gold Associate Jack Gold. On the other side, as expected not many companies are happy with Google's entry as an Internet service provider. The CEO of Allied Fiber Hunter Newby said that companies will want to control costs, provisioning, quality and repair. He also said, "Those that have control can impose their will."