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If you are the DIY sort that is always tinkering with One project or another, you may be familiar with the Raspberry Pi. This cheap little developer board has found its way into many a cool project since it launched. One thing that the device has been missing is its own sound card.

Element 14 has announced the launch of a sound card for the Pi to fill that gap in features. A Wolfson audio processor is integrated into the sound card and supports audio at 24-bit/192KHz. It can be directly connected to an amp using a 3.5mm output or a digital S/PDIF output.

The sound card also handles audio recording using a pair of onboard MEMS microphones. One of the nicer features of this card is the price. The Wolfson Audio card for Raspberry Pi sells for $33. Affordability is one of the hallmarks of the Pi and its accessories.

This morning, Microsoft released one of the most anticipated games of 2014 to the world. Titanfall has been described as Halo for the next generation of gamers, as well as Call of Duty evolved, and Microsoft is billing it as the best FPS to hit the Xbox One since launch. Everything did not go smoothly though, and the Electronic Arts distributed game experienced connection issues which prompted EA to issue a patch just hours after the the game launched.

Just minutes after the game went live, both PC players and Xbox One owners who had pre-loaded the game began to experience connection issues which saw them stuck on the "initializing screen." This issue is quite similar to what Diablo 3, Sim City and Battlefield 4 users experienced on launch day as well. Fortunately, EA issued a 380MB patch around 2AM that has seemed to fix the issue.

The issue is not related to EA's servers though as the game is the first to be hosted on Microsoft's Azure cloud servers, which is able to scale up based on the amount of load the system is experiencing. EA says that some of the issues stemmed from a network issue with those using Belkin routers, which is fixed by players opening some ports in the routers admin panel. Titanfall is available on Origin and Xbox Live for $59.99.

Audi unveiled a system during CES 2014 that is able to connect with compatible traffic lights and give the driver a countdown on the dash showing when the light will turn green. Audi has offered some more information about the system, and the carmaker says that the system will save fuel as well.

The way the traffic light recognition tool will help save fuel is by connecting with the start stop technology inside the car. The start stop system will leave the engine off until five seconds before the light turns green. Audi figures that the system could save about 240 million gallons of fuel if it was in wide use.

The system could also cut emissions by 15%. If you are wondering why the engine starts five seconds before the light turns green when most start-stop systems can start an engine in less than a second, the 5 seconds is meant as a reminder to the driver to get ready to drive.

Samsung Electronics made an announcement today that it has started the mass production of 20 nanometer based DDR3 memory modules. The company is using the immersion ArF lithography to roll out 20nm based 4Gb for its most advance DDR3 memory.

Young-Hyun Jun, the executive VP of memory sales and marketing for Samsung Electronics said,"Samsung's new energy-efficient 20-nanometer DDR3 DRAM will rapidly expand its market base throughout the IT industry including the PC and mobile markets, quickly moving to mainstream status. Samsung will continue to deliver next-generation DRAM and green memory solutions ahead of the competition, while contributing to the growth of the global IT market in close cooperation with our major customers."

Samsung said that it refined its design and manufacturing by using modified double patterning and atomic layer deposition. Because of this, Samsung was able to improve the scaling of its NAND flash memory. According to the manufacturing giant, this technology marks a new milestone as it allows 20nm DRR3 memory production using these equipments. It also helped them to establish a core technology required for next generation 10nm DRAM production.

CeBIT 2014 - We have had some hands-on time with MSI's unique Nightblade gaming barebones PC at CeBIT 2014 in Germany. Take a look at our hands-on video below.

Inside of the Nightblade we have a unique OC Genie button, which is capable of overclocking the Nightblade with just a press of a button. Better yet, the overclock is represented by a red light emitting from the Nightblade. Inside of the MSI Nightblade is a case fan that was custom-made for the chassis. The fan speed is dynamically adjusted depending on what you're doing at the time, with the fan capable of driving up to 3600RPM.

As for GPU support, the Nightblade is capable of housing a full-size GPU, with a maximum length of 290mm and 35mm thick. Even something as powerful as AMD's Radeon R9 290X can be installed into the Nightblade. MSI has installed its own MSI GAMING motherboard inside of the Nightblade, as well as a 600W PSU that should be capable of driving any combination of hardware you desire.

Michał Krzemiński, the Senior Art Producer at CD Projekt RED, the studio behind The Witcher 3, has some interesting things to say when it comes to next-gen consoles and games.

He was asked about next-gen tech and RPG titles, where he talked about the on-going 'resolution war' that we are seeing roll out in front of our eyes thanks to the Xbox One and PS4. Krzemiński said: "If you're asking me to throw a rock in the PS4 vs. Xbox One resolution war, I won't. The game is not finished and talking about resolutions, framerates and min. specs (for PC) is, I think, pointless. Everything can change during the optimization process at the end of development. Rest assured, we're working our butts off make The Witcher 3 run and feel equally awesome on every platform."

Krzemiński was asked if there's anything that the next-gen hardware has allowed CD Projekt RED to do that might not have been possible on the previous generation consoles, to which he said: "There's no one specific thing that next-gens allowed us to do. There's a whole ton of them. Essentially, the game can look mind-blowing, we've got seamless gameplay with no loading screens (almost everything is streamed during gameplay, cutscenes etc.), we can add visual effects unavailable to us before because of performance issues and so on, the list is huge. All this constitutes a giant, lush open world with a myriad of things to do, quests, adventures, monster hunts, events and so on."

Intel's latest cable with green coloured housing has the ability to carry data at 800Gbps. This cable is based on the company's Photonics technology.

The cable uses 64 fibers, out of which 32 is dedicated for transmitting and 32 for receiving. Each fiber has a capability to move 25Gbps of data. The cable uses MXC (NOTE: Not an acronym) connectors. These connectors are significantly smaller than the Ethernet cable connector.

To develop Silicon Photonics transmission, Intel partnered with Corning to developed new fibers to support the new technology. The chipmaker also worked with US Conec. This helps to convert electric signals into optical signals- and vice versa.

Gaming-focused YouTube network, Machinima, just received an injection of $18 million from Warner Bros. Entertainment in another round of funding. Warner Bros. wasn't alone in funding, with participation from Machinima's existing investors jumping in, too.

These companies include MK Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Google Capital. Chairman and CEO of Machinima, Allen DeBevoise said: "We are thrilled to be partnering with Warner Bros., the leading producer of exactly the type of content that resonates with our global audience of video gamers and millennial males. There are myriad opportunities to connect Warner Bros.' content to our audience across YouTube and our highly successful apps, and similarly to maximize the value of our content by utilizing Warner Bros.' expertise in global distribution beyond YouTube."

The new funding from Warner Bros. extends its relationship with Machinima, with the two companies working on the live-action web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy together.

Zotac is well known for its video cards and its series of Zbox mini PCs for a very long time. The company worked with both AMD and Intel based mini PCs in the past, providing very small systems and barebones for its buyers. The company recently introduced some of its upcoming Zbox mini-PC systems during the CeBIT trade show. The Zotac Zbox 'E' series will be using Haswell and Iris Pro integrated graphics and the smaller Zbox unit AQ02 series will be using AMD Richland APU.

Zotac's senior direct Carsten Berger said that Zbox E series can deliver a good gaming experience and maintain balance between size, performance, heat dissipation and energy consumption. Intel's Haswell architecture and Irs Pro 5200 enabled them to do just that within the Zbox form factor. Zotac is confident that the E-Series can deliver smooth medium quality gaming experience and the perfect option for those LAN party gamers who want a compact PC gaming system.

The E series comes in a black enclosure, with the choices of i5 4570R and i7- 4770R. Its 'Plus' series variant offers 8GB DDR3 memory and 1TB 5400 RPM mechanical drive. It features dual DisplayPorts, dual Gigabit Ethernet, 6Gbps SATA and mSATA ports.

As a game that was meant to be a launch title for the PlayStation 4, Evolution Studios' racing game has just been delayed. PlayStation Software Product Development boss, Scott Rhode, told IGN that DriveClub has "gone back to the drawing board."

DriveClub was meant to be a launch title for the PS4, but was delayed at the start of the year, and removed as a PS4 launch title when Sony launched its console in Japan. Rhode told IGN that Sony is "willing to kinda eat that [cost]" when it comes to pushing back a big title like DriveClub. Rhode continued: "What I will say is that it all comes back to that fundamental principle, and that's that we want to build great games."

He added: "And we really don't want to release a game before it's ready. And sometimes, this happens in the normal course of business, where we think we're on track to deliver what we think is going to be a great game, and when we get closer, we realize that we'd be doing everyone a disservice if we shipped it before it was ready."

NVIDIA GeForce's new WHQL drivers tweaked to provide the best possible gaming experience for upcoming FPS game by Respawn Entertainment: Titanfall. The company emphasized in its press released that the newer WHQL drivers are 'an essential upgrade for pilots entering the fray.'

The newer GeForce drivers also provides enhanced GPU offset options for GeForce GTX 750 Ti and GTX 750 'Maxwell' video cards. Previously these card's GPU offset was limited to +130MHz, but the newer drivers allow more ability to overclock these cards.

The following are other upgrades and added profiles:

Jason Allenmann makes some truly amazing things with Lego, but his latest creation is something for PC lovers: a fully-functional keyboard made out of the little plastic blocks.

Underneath the keyboard is the traditional circuit board and sensor pad from a normal keyboard, but the exterior is entirely made out of Legos. Allenmann said that his biggest hurdle was to interface the Lego keys with the sensor pad, but instead of using custom-painted tiles or stickers, Allenmann used printed tiles that Lego has officially released over the years.

Allenmann was quite creative with this bit of the keyboard, where the Home key is represented by a roof-shaped Lego, while a tile with a photo of a scroll is used for the Scroll Lock key. The Caps Lock? A mini baseball cap - a nice touch.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden addressed the SXSW audience from a web broadcast, where he gave some policy suggestions on how the government can better protect US citizens' 4th Amendment rights.

Snowden started by saying that intelligence agencies need to bring in a "law enforcement" model of defense, which means we could see a stop of the bulk collection of Internet and phone data, exchanging this capture-all-data method to only capturing data from suspects with a warrant. Thing is, Congress is already talking about this, with US Senators Rand Paul and Ron Wyden proposing these changes.

But, Snowden saw an overall bigger issue with Congress, who he accused of "cheerleading for the NSA instead of holding them accountable." He used the example of when the Director of the NSA, James Clapper, admittedly gave false answers to Congress about the massive data collection the NSA carries out, some members of the Intelligence Committee jumped to his defense. Snowden said: "We need a watchdog that watches Congress."

Dell introduces a new mobile workstation with ISV certification with optimized performance and dependability. Dell's Precision M2800 is a 15 inch mobile workstation with starting price of $1,199. The mobile workstation is made for engineers, designers and video editors to need a proper set for critical functions and reliability along with speed.

Dell Precision M2800 can be paired with either 4th gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, followed by AMD FirePro W4170M 2GB GDDR5 graphics, up to 16GB memory and up to 1TB of storage. The panel is a 15.6 inch UltraSharp display comes with either HD or Full HD, multi-monitor support and docking compatibility.

Jon Peddie, President of Jon Peddie Research said,"The M2800 brings forth a tremendous opportunity to address a gap in delivering an entry-level workstation with strong performance and ISV certifications to run demanding, mission-critical applications, at a great value."

It was confirmed by Sundar Pichar, the SVP of Android, Chrome and Apps for Google that the company will be releasing a software development kit specifically to be used with wearable devices within the next two weeks. The company requires a common set of protocols to make it easier for sensors to connect with the Android OS.

By doing so, it will enable developers to create multiple types of wearable devices. The SDK should enable the developers to make wearable devices even for games and fitness trackers.

It was rumoured that LG collaborated with Google on its new Smart watch, but Pichai didn't confirm it. It is speculated that this smart watch will have an always-on access to Google and allows the users to use vocal commands at anytime. LG's smartphone is expected to be announced at the Google I/O developer event in June.

Valve says that it will now let developers set their own pricing on games they sell through Steam, something the company has had strict control over in the past. Word first came of the change in policy via a Reddit user named "Sharkiller," who leaked the information from Steam's private developer forums.

The new policy allows developers to set fixed week-long promotions as well as custom promotions that set a percentage off of the price for up to two weeks at the time. Users can also now set the full price of their game to their liking which could lead to pricing wars between developers and extra savings in the pockets of consumers.

"This new Steamworks tool allows developers to configure discounts for their own products, on their own schedules. They can define custom sale periods or opt in to regularly scheduled sales. This will enable developers to better coordinate their promotions with events, announcements, or major updates they are planning for their products," said Valve.

This morning Afinia announced the launch of its next-generation 3D Printer that features several innovative new features included automatic bed leveling and nozzle height detection. The new Afinia H480 is the successor to the popular H479 which was the company's firs desktop 3D printer and quickly grew in popularity with makers everywhere.

The new Afinia H480 features a printing envelope of 5-inches cubed, a build envelope of 5-inches cubed, and features a heated build platform. The entire printer has a footprint of just 9.6-inches by 10.2-inches by 13.7 inches, allowing it to fit on any desktop surface. The inclusion of Automatic Leveling takes the H480 a step above the competition as it removes one of the tedious setup task that can consume valuable time. Automatic leveling works via a detachable Platform Calibration Probe which measures the build platform at nine different locations to ensure a perfectly level printing surface.

Just as important as a level printing surface, the distance the nozzle is from the printing surface plays a major role in good quality results. The Afinia H480 tackles this task automatically as well using a new Nozzle Detection feature, which automatically adjust the nozzle height without the need of costly setup time. We have a new Afinia H480 on the way for testing so stay tuned for the full review!

SXSW is in full swing in Austin, Texas and music fans from around the world are at the show and needing a way to get around. That means that cabs and public transport in Austin are very busy. Austin PD recently tweeted a warning to visitors at SXSW telling them to only use approved transport providers.

The core of the post is that most Uber services aren't approved and therefore SXSW attendees shouldn't use Uber even though there may be some drivers signed up in the Austin area. The Austin PD was later specifically asked if Uber rides were permitted, and responded, "No, they are not."

Uber has been on hand at SXSW the last few years and has skirted rules in Austin that prevent its service from operating normally. One way it has skirted the rules is by offering free rides. Austin PD says that any for hire service driver must have an operators permit, commercial insurance, and a chauffer's permit.

If you surf the web and read news on just about any topic, you are apt to run across little disclaimers saying that an image came from Getty Images or Shutterstock. Images from both these places cost money to license and use for commercial activities.

Not too long ago, Getty Images announced that it was allowing non-commercial use of some of its images at no charge. The catch to the free use of these images was that you can't use them for commercial purposes and Getty gets to serve ads over the top of the images.

The announcement from Getty sent stocks tumbling a bit for Shutterstock. Shutterstock CEO Jon Oringer has come out and said that the free Getty Images aren't a concern for him. He says that his firm gets 99.9% of its business from the commercial sector and that it will keep working that sector.

There are gadgets out there for just about any need you can think of. If you are a fan of wine, a new gadget has surfaced that claims to let you make water into wine in your home. The gadget uses technology to speed the wine making process.

The Miracle Machine has a bunch of sensors inside a carafe along with heaters, pumps, and transducers that can make wine quickly. The gadget also promises to be economical. The people behind The Miracle Machine say that you can make a bottle of wine each week in the machine for about $10 per month.

The Miracle Machine itself isn't exactly cheap at $499, but if you want to make your own wine that might not be such a bad price. The ultrasonic sensor in the device is able to speed the flavor development of the wine according to the designers.