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iPhone 5S plagued by BSoD, who would've thought?
Windows users will remember their fair share of BSoD's (Blue Screen of Death) over the years, but those days are mostly behind us thanks to Windows 7, and up. But, it looks like some iPhone 5S users are experiencing their own BSoD screens.
The BSoD isn't what it used to be in the early Windows NT days, where it usually resulted in the installation of a bad driver, but it looks like those who are installing the free iWork apps, then trying to multi-task, a BSoD appears briefly before it restarts. Some iPhone 5S users are also reporting that they're experiencing random reboots, too.
Apple's latest iOS 7.0.2 doesn't address the BSoD or random reboot errors, but it does appear to fix up the security holes found in the lockscreen, thankfully.
Continue reading: iPhone 5S plagued by BSoD, who would've thought? (full post)
Apple joins Google in quest for BlackBerry engineers
Following in Google's footsteps, Apple is looking to gain from BlackBerry's ongoing demise. Unlike Google who opened up an engineering hub just down the road from BlackBerry, Apple is looking to poach employees from the failing company via LinkedIn.
Just days after BlackBerry announced that it would be laying off more than 4500 employees, Apple began sending out invitations via LinkedIn to a recruitment event that was being held just 15-minutes down the road from BlackBerry headquarters. Normally, poaching employees is frowned upon, but with BlackBerry now resuming talks of being split up and sold off, I am sure that these engineers see these acts from Google and Apple as a blessing.
The entire invitation read as follows:
Continue reading: Apple joins Google in quest for BlackBerry engineers (full post)
AMD unveils Gaming Evolved Control Center, makes PC gaming 'easier'
NVIDIA has its own GeForce Experience software suite, which tweaks your PC and in-game settings to provide you with a 'better' gaming experience, and now the Red Team has announced its own software: Gaming Evolved Control Center, which is still in beta.
AMD teamed up with Rapr to maek the suite, which offers tools for chat, taking screenshots, and tweaking in-game settings for better performance. Gaming Evolved is heavily spun with Rapr's community data, which determines the best configuration for your PC and games. Rapt's rewards system is mixed in, offering beta access to certain games and free DLC for using the service, which is a nice bonus.
Through AMD's new software, you can stream directly to Twitch, with the added ability of simultaneously watching someone else's broadcast while you're blasting around in another game. AMD says that its new software is designed to "make PC gaming as simple to use as consoles" but I disagree. PC gaming is not meant to be "simple," as it takes away the major difference between consoles and PCs.
Continue reading: AMD unveils Gaming Evolved Control Center, makes PC gaming 'easier' (full post)
Steam Machines confirmed to run both AMD and NVIDIA hardware
Valve have teased us quite a bit in the last couple of weeks with its unveiling of the Steam Box, Steam OS and Steam Machines, with the latter being announced with NVIDIA GPUs.
Most thought that the Steam Machines would run AMD GPUs too - like myself - but this wasn't full confirmed, leaving many to believe that maybe, just maybe, NVIDIA had secured a very tight contract with Valve. The Half-Life developer has come out and confirmed that the Steam Machines would indeed support the three primary graphics vendors today.
Valve spokesperson, Doug Lombardi, said: "Last week, we posted some technical specs of our first wave of Steam Machine prototypes. Although the graphics hardware that we've selected for the first wave of prototypes is a variety of NVIDIA cards, that is not an indication that Steam Machines are NVIDIA-only. In 2014, there will be Steam Machines commercially available with graphics hardware made by AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel. Valve has worked closely together with all three of these companies on optimizing their hardware for SteamOS, and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future."
Continue reading: Steam Machines confirmed to run both AMD and NVIDIA hardware (full post)
Sony launches the Xperia Z1F smartphone, features a 4.3-inch screen
Sony's flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z1 is highly regarded as one of the best smartphones on the market today. Looking to build off of that momentum, Sony has announced the launch of a smaller version of the phone. The new Sony Xperia Z1F is a shrunken down version of the of the Z1 and sports a 4.3-inch screen.
The smaller display retains the 1080p resolution of its larger counterpart, and a Qualcomm quad-core 2.3GHz processor is present. 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage is also featured. Sony did opt to keep the same 20.1-megapixel camera on the rear of the device, which should make many small screen loving users very happy people. The device is expected to launch in Japan in December with a world wide launch still uncertain.
Continue reading: Sony launches the Xperia Z1F smartphone, features a 4.3-inch screen (full post)
Sapphire launches new line of AMD R-Series video cards
This has been the week of AMD R-Series GPU launches, and Sapphire Technology does not want to be left out of the party. Today the company announced the launch of its first two lines of AMD R-Series video cards. Sapphire is introducing two lines with three models each today which include the R9 280X TOXIC Edition, R9 280X Vapor-X edition, R9 280X Dual-X edition and the R9 270X TOXIC, R9 270X Vapor-X, R9 270 Dual-X edition.
The R9 280X TOXIC Edition features Sapphire's new Tri-X Cooler design which utilizes three airfoil section fans in conjunction with 10mm heat pipes to deliver unmatched cooling performance. The GPU features 3GB of GDDR5 memory and supports Direct X 11.2. Resolutions up to 2560x1440 are supported and 4K displays can be utilized via a built-in HDMI 1.4a port.
Sapphire's R9 280X Vapor-X edition is a slightly toned down version of the R9 280X TOXIC, and features vapor-chamber cooling. This cooling solution provides a more quiet but efficient method thermal dissipation that allows you to game at max while keeping the ambient noise low. Additionally a 280X Dual-X cooler edition has been announced that features the two Aerofoil fans, and heat pipe technology.
Continue reading: Sapphire launches new line of AMD R-Series video cards (full post)
Maingear to feature AMD R9-290X GPUs in some upcoming systems
AMD might not be friends with ORIGIN PC anymore, but it sure is BFFs with Maingear, who has just announced it will be fitting AMD's latest R9-290X GPU inside some of its upcoming systems.
While the rest of the new R7 and R9 GPUs are simple HD 7000 Series rebadges - which is unfortunate - the R9-290X is not. It's a true Hawaii core, and should pack quite a serious punch in the performance department. The R9-290X will ship with a glorious amount of RAM, 4GBs of GDDR5 to be exact, and it will also tow TrueAudio and 4K support, too.
Maingear will throw the R9-290X GPU in its Shift and F131 systems, where you'll also receive a copy of Battlefield 4, with Battlefield 4 themed cases and hardware, too. These Maingear systems will be "limited edition" builds, so you'll have to be quick to snap them up. Maingear's Shift setup will feature two R9-290Xs in CrossFire, and it will support up to three cards in CF with either the FX 9370 or 9590 CPU and a starting price of $3,789.
Continue reading: Maingear to feature AMD R9-290X GPUs in some upcoming systems (full post)
GTA V update pushed out, will fix 'game progress loss' in GTA Online
Grand Theft Auto V is breaking all sorts of records, but it's also breaking gamers' hearts by being problematic in GTA Online unfortunately. But it looks like those days could be behind Rockstar, with the latest patch hopefully fixing GTA Online's various issues.
A new update is being pushed out to GTA V that will address issues related to "game progress loss in GTA Online" and other various technical issues. The update is available for the PS3 version right now, with a title update being pushed onto the Xbox 360 version of the game tomorrow "at the latest" according to Rockstar.
The update should fix the issues we reported on a few days ago now, but Rockstar says with the exception of "some specific instances where players purchase a vehicle and the save does not occur due to a cloud save failure." A separate patch will be pushed out to fix those issues. The patch hitting GTA V will fix the following issues:
Continue reading: GTA V update pushed out, will fix 'game progress loss' in GTA Online (full post)
Foursquare for iOS gets refreshed look and real-time recommendations
Today Foursquare released an update to its app for iOS that introduces a completely new UI design. The new design was first released on Android back in August, and has finally began rolling out to iPhone users. Unfortunately, in the beginning only a few thousand users will receive the update while Foursquare works out any bugs that may pop up.
The update features a new recommendation system that that runs continuously in the background, and monitors a user's location to recommend establishments nearby. The system will also recommend popular food and beverage choices once the user checks into the location. These recommendations are made based on previous user's comments and advertising partners.
Foursquare had the following to say in a statement:
Continue reading: Foursquare for iOS gets refreshed look and real-time recommendations (full post)
Lian Li shows off a new stunning double-wide brushed aluminum PC case
We first saw Lian Li's new brushed aluminum PC-D600 double-wide PC chassis earlier this year at Computex 2013. The PC-D600 is truly a behemoth of a PC case and for people like me with expansive watercooling systems, you need all the extra space you can get. Today Lian Li officially launched the PC-D600 in the US.
Constructed of 2mm thick aluminum panels, the PC-D600 boast two separate compartments with expansive mounting points for cooling fans and extreme radiators. The first compartment is the size of a regular full-tower PC case and is accented by a large side panel window. This provides the perfect canvas to display an extreme gaming setup while being able to hide the wires in the second compartment which is hidden from view.
Lian Li has provided room for a 240mm radiator to be placed over the motherboard even with a push/pull fan setup while the right side of the case boast enough room to fit a 420mm radiator without any modifications. Those who like to cut metal will find even more room for large radiators on this side of the case. For those who need extra room, the entire set of three HDD cages in the right side compartment are removable to allow room for extensive setups.
Continue reading: Lian Li shows off a new stunning double-wide brushed aluminum PC case (full post)
Steven Chu and Guy Kawasaki to present keynote at SMSF 2013
Today Samsung announced that Dr. Steven Chu, the former US Secretary of Energy, CGO of Cisco Wim Elfrink and author Guy Kawasaki will each head up keynote addresses at the 2013 Samsung Memory Solutions Forum. The event will be held on October 22nd, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
Continue reading: Steven Chu and Guy Kawasaki to present keynote at SMSF 2013 (full post)
Slashdot launches redesigned website in beta form, we check it out
Recently Slashdot announced the websites third redesign in its thirteen year lifespan, and TweakTown was invited over to take a look at the new diggs. This morning I was given a personal walkthrough with Slashdot's Senior Editor, Tim Lord, who emphasized that Slashdot's goal with the redesign is to help better deliver content to its readers across all devices.
The first thing that really caught my eye is the website's new modern theme. The old sites rounded corners and "Web 2.0" gradients are no more, and the new layout is very appealing to the eye. Lord told me that they really focused hard on simplifying the overall layout, and wanted to make things easy to navigate. The removal of the sites old left-hand navigation bar has greatly cleaned up the overall appearance as well.
Lord said that while Slashdot has always been more heavily weighted towards text, the new layout allows Slashdot to display a single eye catching image atop some of the frontpage post. While some users prefer an image along with their teaser, so do not, and Slashdot has kept those users in mind. A new widget has been placed at the top of the news feed that allows users to switch between three viewing modes. The Standard View will appear as default and will display a single image along with the content teaser. Additionally users can select Headline and Classic views that will set the site to display just the post headlines or the classic view which displays the full post.
Continue reading: Slashdot launches redesigned website in beta form, we check it out (full post)
Grand Theft Auto V smashes six world records according to Guinness
We all knew that Grand Theft Auto was destined to be huge, just how huge was anyones guess. Today Guinness World Records announced that GTA V has managed to break not one, but six world records in less than one month since its launch. This brings the total number of world records held by the franchise to seven.
Rockstar has reported that Grand Theft Auto V sold more than 11.21 million copies in just the first 24 hours alone and then broke $1 billion in sales in just 3 days, making it the fastest selling video game of all time.
Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief, Craig Glenday, said: "GTA totally deserves to be recognized as an icon of modern British culture, and we're thrilled to be able to feature the game in the record books. Gaming is no longer a niche hobby, as GTA 5 has proved, and how exciting that it's taken on the might of Hollywood and won! I'm also doubly proud as a Dundonian to welcome this home-grown series back into the Guinness World Records book."
Continue reading: Grand Theft Auto V smashes six world records according to Guinness (full post)
Transcend launches new DDR3-1866 RAM to support high-power servers
Today Transcend unveiled a new line of memory modules aimed at the high-end enterprise server market. The new DDR3-1866 modules come in 4GB capacities and are featured in both Registered DIMM and Unbuffered ECC DIMM profiles. Transcend says the new DRAM modules are ideal for servers running Intel's Xeon E5-2600 v2 processors for optimal performance.
The company says that each module is constructed with the highest quality DDR3-1866 DRAM chips and have a latency of 13-13-13 with an operating voltage of 1.5V. The modules are said to fully comply with JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standards, which ensure the best performance, compatibility, and stability. Each of the new 4GB DDR3-1866 modules are backed by a lifetime warranty. SKUs are listed below.
Continue reading: Transcend launches new DDR3-1866 RAM to support high-power servers (full post)
Fujitsu unveils the Lifebook U904, features 14-inch 3800x1800 screen
Fujitsu has just unveiled its latest notebook, the Lifebook U904, which features a 14-inch IGZO panel and a super-high resolution of 3200x1800. There are two models, one with a glossy panel and touch input, and the second is an anti-glare panel without touch capabilities.
The Lifebook U904 is powered by Intel's Haswell range of processors with Intel HD Graphics 4400 powering the graphics side of things. We have it weighing in at 3.06 lbs and a thickness of 0.61 inches. Fujitsu claims that its Lifebook U904 is the "world's thinnest 14-inch ultrabook." There's a choice of an SSHD or SSD for storage, USB 3.0 and HDMI connectivity are featured, as well as optional LTE wireless which is a nice touch.
You can grab the Lifebook U904 from Fujitsu's online store starting from $1,999 which comes with a glossy touchscreen and 320GB SSHD. Windows 8.1 is featured, so you shouldn't expect to receive the Lifebook U904 until after October 17.
Continue reading: Fujitsu unveils the Lifebook U904, features 14-inch 3800x1800 screen (full post)
Sony's HMZ-T3W is now available for pre-order
Sony's third-generation personal 3D viewing headset, the HMZ-T3W, is now available for pre-order. If you want to grab the Sony HMZ-T3W, you'll need to pre-order it directly from Sony's website, or in retail Sony stores.
The HMZ-T3W features wireless connectivity this time around, instead of wrapping yourself in cords, and some nifty dual OLED monitors that Sony state simulate the feeling of sitting 65 feet away from a gigantic 750-inch display. The HMZ-T3W is capable of streaming content from up to 7 meters away from the source.
The third-generation model no longer requires an AC power socket, as you can take a portable battery pack around with you which will share power with connected smartphones and tablets. The portable battery should be good for around three hours of wireless use, or up to 7 hours if you use it over HDMI. If you are looking at picking one of these up, you'll be hit up for $999.
Continue reading: Sony's HMZ-T3W is now available for pre-order (full post)
RumorTT: End of an era for Panasonic, no more plasma TVs after 2014
We knew this was coming, but we didn't want it to happen: rumor has it Panasonic will end its plasma TV production earlier than anticipated, in March of next year. This is less than six months away, and we'll lose the best plasma TV maker in the world.
Sales will continue after March 2014, but only until inventory of the plasma TVs runs out. Panasonic has been bleeding money through fiscal 2012, and is now in talks to sell its plasma TV rights, or it will completely sell off its remaining plasma factory. When this news was presented to me, our own Chris Ramseyer - a huge Panasonic plasma TV fan - simply replied with "NOOOOOOOOOO."
Are you disappointed to hear that Panasonic will no longer be making plasma TVs? Or have you moved onto the world of LEDs, or even OLED TVs?
Continue reading: RumorTT: End of an era for Panasonic, no more plasma TVs after 2014 (full post)
LeakedTT: HTC Sense 5.5 leaks in new screenshots
Love it or hate it, you still have to admit that HTC's Sense 5 Android overlay is a pretty decent skin as far as Android UIs go, and today we got a look at what the next-generation of Sense might look like. Website Android Revolution HD managed to take possession of some leaked screenshots of what is said to be HTC's Sense 5.5.
At the moment the images only clue us in on two new feature updates, with most of the UI looking like its predecessor, Sense 5. The first thing one might notice off the bat is that BlinkFeed is now easily turned off via a new toggle button. Turning off BlinkFeed was previously a headache, and required digging through your phones settings. Now a simple single tap on a button and BlinkFeed disappears.
Secondly we notice that the camera is getting a new Panorama+ mode as well as Dual Capture that will allow the user to capture from both cameras at the same time. Being the owner of an HTC one, the Panorama+ mode is very exciting to me and I hope that we see Sense 5.5 released sometime soon. It also appears that the task switcher is more refined and features larger icons than before. No release date was mentioned, but maybe we will see Sense 5.5 released beside the HTC One MAX on October 15th.
Continue reading: LeakedTT: HTC Sense 5.5 leaks in new screenshots (full post)
ADATA adds new DashDrive Choice HC630 to external HDD lineup
ADATA has just released a new addition to its DashDrive line of external hard drives. The new Choice HC630 is a USB 3.0 compatible external storage device that is wrapped in a beautiful mystic blue metallic finish. ADATA has bundled its HDDtoGo encryption and synchronization software with the drive to help keep customer data safe and secure.
The new DashDrive Choice HC630 weighs in at just 5.6 ounces and has a footprint of barely 4.5x3x0.6-inches. A raised lip around the perimeter helps prevent surface scratches from occurring, and a LED indicator light is present to inform the user of the HDD status. The external HDD is available in capacities of 500GB, 750GB and 1TB with a three-year warranty backing things up.
Continue reading: ADATA adds new DashDrive Choice HC630 to external HDD lineup (full post)
VisionTek adds five new AMD Radeon graphics cards to its lineup
Today VisionTek announced the launch of five new AMD Radeon R Series graphic cards that are designed to provide extreme performance at almost any budget level. The new cards are built on the AMD Radeon R7 and R9 series GPUs and feature some very powerful features with prices starting at just $69.
The newly introduced video cards are comprised of three R7 series and two R9 series GPUs. These two new lines of GPUs from AMD are the first to offer support for DirectX 11.2 and the stunning 3D visual effects, life like visuals and realistic lighting this new standard brings forth. The cards also offer AMD's PowerTune, ZeroCore and App Acceleration technologies that greatly enhance not only the performance, but the entire user experience.
"We're very pleased to announce a new line of high performance graphics cards utilizing AMD's incredible new R7 and R9 Series GPUs," said Mark Bilson, Executive Vice President of VisionTek. "Our cards will redefine the gaming experience due to their visual, audio, and compute capabilities. And because they're priced attractively, these cards should be among the best-selling tech products in the fourth quarter. To coin a phrase from AMD, 'Radeon Is Gaming' truly defines our new line."
Continue reading: VisionTek adds five new AMD Radeon graphics cards to its lineup (full post)


