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Corsair unveils Obsidian 750D enthusiast grade PC chassis

Charles Gantt | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Sep 20, 2013 8:03 PM CDT

Today, Corsair announced the launch of the newest addition to their world-famous Obsidian line of enthusiast grade PC cases. The all new Obsidian 750D will fill the gap between the high-end Obsidian 800D and the mid-range Obsidian 650D.

Corsair says that the new 750D retains the full-tower design and features enough room for those who prize storage space while still retaining enough room for today's high-end, longer graphics cards. The company says that even when packed full of hard drives and video cards, there is enough room for a custom-built water cooling setup to be installed.

The case weighs in at 9.5kg and has a footprint of 235x560x546mm and supports XL-ATX, EATX, HPTX, and ATX form-factor motherboards. Like all other Obsidian series cases, the 750D features a brushed aluminum front panel with an overall sleek black exterior finish. For those looking for a minimalist style and a full side panel window, this is the case for you.

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Continue reading: Corsair unveils Obsidian 750D enthusiast grade PC chassis (full post)

GTA V sets new record in sales - $1 billion in just three days

Charles Gantt | Gaming | Sep 20, 2013 2:12 PM CDT

Earlier this week, I reported that Grand Theft Auto V had become the fastest selling game of all time, and was well on its way to reaching $1 billion faster than any other game by weeks. Today, Take-Two Interactive announced that in just three days' time, GTA V has surpassed the $1 billion in sales milestone.

"We believe this marks the fastest that any entertainment property, including video games and feature films, has reached this significant milestone," the company said in a statement.

"Grand Theft Auto is a cultural phenomenon and Rockstar Games continues to redefine what can be achieved in interactive entertainment," said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. "We are incredibly proud of the extraordinary critical and commercial response to Grand Theft Auto V."

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Continue reading: GTA V sets new record in sales - $1 billion in just three days (full post)

Netflix's CEO slams Canada's broadband caps

Anthony Garreffa | Internet & Websites | Sep 20, 2013 1:31 AM CDT

Netflix's Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos has some harsh words about Canada's big ISPs, where he said that: "it's almost a human rights violation what they're charging for internet access in Canada."

Sarandos' harsh words were said during the Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment conference in Los Angeles Wednesday. Sarandos was referring to the low broadband caps in Canadian ISPs like Bell and Shaw, which force their customers to pay more if they exceed their 15GB monthly cap. Netflix's CEO, Reed Hastings, has called caps and overage feeds like the aforementioned ones above are "grossly overpriced."

Sarandos was asked if business for Netflix would grow in Canada if consumers' Internet caps were increased, where he said: "The problem in Canada is... they have almost third-world access to the internet."

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Continue reading: Netflix's CEO slams Canada's broadband caps (full post)

LeakedTT: AMD Hawaii R9 290X GPU specs, lick your lips, folks

Anthony Garreffa | Science, Space, & Robotics | Sep 20, 2013 12:29 AM CDT

We're all used to the naming scheme that AMD has adopted for its GPUs, with the current high-end single GPU being the Radeon HD 7970. This is all going to change with the next generation of GPUs from the chipmaker, and we have some leaked specifications to now share with you.

The next-gen GPUs from AMD will adopt a new name, with the high-end GPU to arrive as the Hawaii R9 290X GPU. This GPU is set to be based off of AMD's second generation Graphics CoreNext architecture, based on a 28nm process and will go head-to-head with NVIDIA's best GPU, the GTX Titan. We should expect an estimated die area of 430 mm², which is 18% bigger than Tahiti.

On top of that, the R9 290X - this is going to get very confusing, but we'll get used to it soon enough - will feature 2,816 stream processors across 44 clusters of 64 stream processors each. This represents a 37.5% increase over its predecessor, Tahiti. Base clock speeds should float at around 900MHz, but we should see overclocked models that will pass this easily.

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Continue reading: LeakedTT: AMD Hawaii R9 290X GPU specs, lick your lips, folks (full post)

Tim Cook says that Microsoft is copying Apple's strategy

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Sep 19, 2013 10:28 PM CDT

You know that saying of eating your own words? It looks like Tim Cook is going to get very full, very soon. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, sat down with Bloomberg Businessweek, enjoying a joint interview with head of design, Jony Ive and software chief Craig Federighi.

One of the topics discussed was Microsoft's recent acquisition of Nokia's Devices and Services division, where Tim Cook said "everybody is trying to adopt Apple's strategy. We're not looking for external validation of our strategy, but I think it does suggest that there's a lot of copying, kind of, on the strategy and that people have recognized that importance."

Ironically, Cook says that everyone should have their eyes on Nokia, as he thinks that the company is the perfect example "to everyone in business that you have to keep innovating and that to not innovate is to die."

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Continue reading: Tim Cook says that Microsoft is copying Apple's strategy (full post)

RumorTT: NVIDIA is developing something BIG and it's not a GPU

Charles Gantt | Current Affairs | Sep 19, 2013 8:02 PM CDT

Earlier today, vice president of Epic Games, Mark Rein, tweeted something that instantly caught the tech world's attention. In his tweet, he said that earlier this week while at NVIDIA, he saw the most amazing thing and it was not a GPU. This is led to much speculation as Rein is a longtime supporter of Oculus VR's Rift technology.

Could this mean that NVIDIA is working on their own VR technology? This could be the case, but I won't jump the gun too soon as NVIDIA has been working hard at enabling mobile GPUs to play more graphically intensive games. With Project Logan, we're already seeing super high frame rates thanks to tessellation technology that is running on Tegra-based processors. I feel that this is the safer bet, but only time will tell what Rein was talking about.

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Continue reading: RumorTT: NVIDIA is developing something BIG and it's not a GPU (full post)

Google updates logo with a new look and releases a new navigation bar

Charles Gantt | Internet & Websites | Sep 19, 2013 7:33 PM CDT

Today, Google unveiled a new logo and a completely redesigned navigation bar that effectively removes the black bar that resides at the top of the screen when visiting any of Google's online services. The new logo is much flatter and removes the glossy embossing that it featured for so long. Additionally, the font is a little bit different and the colors are a little more subdued.

The other major change is the removal of the black navigation bar we first hated but quickly grew to love. It has been replaced by an icon that opens up to reveal a Chrome Launcher-style window that lets you choose which service you would like to navigate to. I don't know how I feel about this yet as it seems to add an additional click into my workflow. I'm sure that as time progresses I will learn to love it just like I did the black bar.

The new logo and navigation bar will roll out to all users in the coming weeks and will be featured on mobile devices as well. Google says that these changes have been made to help streamline user workflow and to bring the company's UI up to date with current trends.

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Lenovo and Acronis release a new data backup protection solution

Charles Gantt | Storage | Sep 19, 2013 6:31 PM CDT

Today, Lenovo EMC announced the launch of a new, unique data protection solution that is said to provide 360-degree backup protection for business information storage on servers, PCs, and even NAS devices. This new solution combines LenovoEMC storage technology with state-of-the-art backup software designed by Acronis.

Acronis Backup and Recovery is available today as an add-on application download for existing Lenovo EMC px series hardware. Lenovo says that this solution is a new approach to NAS backup and that the Acronis backup engine provides automated and fast incremental backup of data located on the NAS to a network storage target.

"Protecting data is critical for businesses today," said Eric Arcese, president and general manager, Lenovo EMC Ltd. "Organizations need a cost-effective data backup and protection solution with advanced capabilities. Our new Lenovo EMC px Acronis Backup Appliance seamlessly combines leading-edge hardware with innovative backup software in a single high-performance solution that doesn't need or require any additional hardware or third-party software. We put it all together in one product that we believe is the most dependable, easy-to-use backup solution on the market today."

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HP launches 4 new Android-based tablets ranging from mild to wild

Charles Gantt | Mobile Devices | Sep 19, 2013 5:25 PM CDT

Earlier today, HP released four new Android-based tablets to their Slate series. The new tablets range in size and hardware and have features that are sure to please almost anyone. While HP did not release many details about the internals, below is a list of what we know.

Starting off, we have the new HP Slate 7 Extreme, a 7-inch upgrade to the original HP Slate 7. The device features an NVIDIA Tegra 4 SoC along with NVIDIA's PureAudio technology to power its front-facing and rear bass-reflex speakers. The display features a resolution of 1280x800 and the company has included a stylus to help make navigation easy.

Up next, we have the new HP Slate Pro, an 8-inch class Android-based tablet that features a 1600x1200-pixel screen in a 4:3 ratio. The new Slate Pro also runs an NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor and features a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera, while a two-megapixel shooter located on the front handles all the self-portraits you want to take.

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Continue reading: HP launches 4 new Android-based tablets ranging from mild to wild (full post)

Verizon says Nexus 7 will work with its LTE network soon

Charles Gantt | Mobile Devices | Sep 19, 2013 4:39 PM CDT

Verizon customers who purchased Google's new Nexus 7 were surprised to find out that the tablet would not activate on Verizon's LTE network, even though it is listed as being compatible with the company's 4G service.

When asked about the compatibility by tech blogger Jeff Jarvis, Verizon said that "I'm excited you got your Nexus 7, but not all LTE tablets are created equal." Verizon later apologized for the inconvenience by a Tweet but suggested Jarvis visit the company's website to see compatible tablets.

This prompted a slew of outrage on the Internet, prompting Verizon to offer up an official statement. The company says that Google's Nexus 7 is being certified to work on its network and it should finish up shortly, which will then prompt the company to work with Google to enable LTE support on Verizon's network.

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Yahoo revamps "My Yahoo," could be possible replacement for iGoogle

Charles Gantt | Internet & Websites | Sep 19, 2013 1:50 PM CDT

Yahoo is continuing its image revamp by continually rolling out new products and redesigning existing ones that have become stale. Today, Yahoo released an update to its My Yahoo service that completely refreshes the personalized homepage.

I understand that in today's era of multiple tabs, smartphones, and tablets, the idea of an all-in-one home page seems kind of pointless to some, but there was a time that the homepage ruled supreme. Services like Yahoo, AOL, MSN, and even iGoogle popped up to fill this niche, but they almost all slipped into a stagnant state as tabbed browsing and mobile computing took over.

Yahoo is hoping that its completely redesigned My Yahoo service will once again resurrect the now all but defunct all-in-one home page. With iGoogle nearing its end of life, this does appear to be a smart move on Yahoo's part as Google refugees can equate to big money. Just ask the little-known RSS service Feedly about its increase in traffic since Google Reader shutdown.

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Apple's CEO says that a cheap iPhone was never even considered

Charles Gantt | Mobile Devices | Sep 19, 2013 10:47 AM CDT

Over the past few months, hundreds of rumors surfaced indicating that Apple was building a low-cost iPhone that it would market to those who simply could not afford a $700 premium iPhone. Last week when Apple introduced both of its new iPhone models, many were disappointed that a true low-cost model failed to make an appearance.

During a recent interview with Bloomberg's Businessweek, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple "never had an objective to sell a low-cost iPhone...We're not in the junk business!" He went on to say that instead of developing a phone that could compete with bottom of the barrel Android handsets, Apple's goal with the iPhone 5C was to "sell a great phone and provide a great experience while figuring out a way to do it at a lower cost."

The absence of a sub $450 off contract iPhone has led to a drop in Apple's share price as many investors believed that Apple's new device would at least be priced somewhere in the mid-range. Unfortunately, the once largest company in the world appears to be so detached from reality that they think only offering $550 and $800 models is a good decision. Then again this is Apple we are talking about so none of this should come as a surprise.

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Continue reading: Apple's CEO says that a cheap iPhone was never even considered (full post)

Kamcord announce its Android beta app

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Sep 19, 2013 9:01 AM CDT

Ever since it has been out, Kamcord has been locked to iOS, until today that is. The game recording app maker has announced that it has an Android beta application out, which you can try out today!

If you were like me, and until very recently didn't know what Kamcord did in the gigantic, never-ending sea of applications did, it allows you to record your gaming moments and share them with the world. Right now, Kamcord has over one million videos that have been uploaded to its site from gamers all across the world. Kamcord is similar to Twitch, but is primarily focused on mobile gaming, which is exploding right now.

Jumping onto the Android bandwagon will see them grow like we have not seen before, thanks to the huge inroads that Google has done in Asian countries with Android. Android has over 60% of the smartphone OS market share in China and Japan, which should see Kamcord benefit greatly from. Kamcord co-founder, Kevin Wang, says: "Technically this represents a huge breakthrough. No one has been able to accomplish this until now because of the difficulties associated with recording performance in the Android environment."

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Continue reading: Kamcord announce its Android beta app (full post)

Cyanogen raises $7 million in funding, eyes down Windows Phone

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Sep 19, 2013 6:31 AM CDT

Cyanogen has secured $7 million in venture funding from Benchmark Capital and Redpoint Ventures, with the main goal of CyanogenMod becoming a major player in the mobile OS arena.

A major player, you ask? Yes: Cyanogen wants to compete directly with the big boys, and wants to overtake Windows Phone and BlackBerry to become the third most used mobile OS in the world. The statement comes directly from Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster, who talked to The Verge, where he said: "There's always been lot of talk around who's going to be the third dominant mobile computing platform. Windows Phone would probably be No. 3 now. If you look at what our actual user base is, we might be equal to or greater than that."

Cyanogen founder Steve Kondik also had something to say: "The mobile devices out there, they're just not meant for anybody to use. They're essentially mobile cash registers. We want to help you get stuff done, and use these things to their fullest potential."

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GIGABYTE unveils the lightest gaming laptop in the world

Charles Gantt | Laptops | Sep 18, 2013 8:32 PM CDT

Today, GIGABYTE launched what it is calling the lightest gaming laptop in the world. The new 14-inch P34G Ultrablade is extremely thin at just 21mm thick and weighs an unbelievably light 1.6kg. GIGABYTE has designed the new notebook around an ultra-smooth sandblasted aluminum matte finish that lends an air of elegance and sophistication.

The new P34G Ultrablade features a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor and a powerful NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M graphics card. Everything is remarkably cool and stable thanks to GIGABYTE's unique Supra-Cool cooling system that is comprised of a combination of dual heat pipes and dual fans that are efficient at removing heat from both the CPU and GPU.

GIGABYTE says that the P34G supports up to a 256GB mSATA SSD in addition to a large 1TB HDD for unprecedented fast storage without sacrificing capacity. A full 1080p display panel is featured, which provides excellent viewing even at angles of 170 degrees. Finally, the P34G Ultrablade features an automatic light sensing backlit keyboard that illuminates the keys when powered on in a dimly lit room.

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Say hello to NVIDIA's long anticipated 7" Tegra Note Android tablet

Charles Gantt | Mobile Devices | Sep 18, 2013 11:24 AM CDT

Today, NVIDIA released its highly anticipated Tegra Note, a seven-inch tablet that was built from the ground up by the graphics chip giant. Priced at $199 and running Android, the Tegra Note will unfortunately not be sold by NVIDIA but will rather serve as a reference design for the company's partners to produce their own.

The new Tegra Note features NVIDIA's Tegra 4 SoC alongside a seven-inch 1280x800 display and 16GB of onboard storage. A 5-megapixel rear camera handles imaging duties while a front facing VGA camera helps out with videoconferencing and self portraits. The tablet also features front-facing stereo speakers, which look quite similar to the design used on HTC's One smartphone. USB, micro HDMI, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi handle the connectivity duties while a high mAh battery provides up to 10 hours of HD video playback. NVIDIA says the tablet will run the "latest version of Android" and it will push out updates over the air.

NVIDIA says that there will be several accessories for the Tegra Note, including a magnetized "intelligent slide cover," as well as a stylus with interchangeable tips such as "chisel" and "brush." With a price tag of $199, the new Tegra Note is a direct competitor to Google's 2014 Nexus 7, which many consider to be the best small tablet ever made. I can not wait to see what companies like EVGA, Zotac, and PNY do with this reference design!

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Continue reading: Say hello to NVIDIA's long anticipated 7" Tegra Note Android tablet (full post)

AMD sends out official invitations for Hawaii launch event in Hawaii

Charles Gantt | Trade Shows | Sep 18, 2013 10:14 AM CDT

It's no secret that AMD will launch its new 28nm Hawaii architecture based GPUs next week on the 25. The event will be held in Hawaii with AMD flying out tech media partners from all over the globe. Today, the company began sending out its official press invitations, which you can see below.

Not much else is known about the event other than AMD is expected to push Battlefield 4 pretty heavily as it is expected to be the bundled game with the company's flagship Hawaii based GPU. We have heard rumors that an actual Aircraft carrier will be part of the event and that there could be another big announcement as well.

Our own Shawn Baker will be on hand for the event and will be feeding us tons of content, photos, and videos from AMD's Hawaii launch event, so tune in to TweakTown for the most comprehensive coverage of the event on the net. I want to know what you think about the rumored upcoming GPUs? Can AMD release a single card solution that can compete with NVIDIA's Titan? Let me know in the comments.

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Continue reading: AMD sends out official invitations for Hawaii launch event in Hawaii (full post)

AMD: PC gaming will benefit from next-gen consoles

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 18, 2013 6:33 AM CDT

AMD is the company that has hardware in both next-gen consoles, with x86-based APUs in the Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One. We know to expect benefits as PC gamers from next-gen consoles thanks to the x86 architecture, which means better, and much more polished 'ports', if you can even call them that with this generation of consoles.

AMD's Matt Skynner has had some interesting things to say during an interview with Forbes, where he said that not only is PC gaming alive and well, but that it's actually growing. Skynner said that the architectures in the next-gen consoles are similar to that of the PC, which makes it much cheaper and most of all, easier for developers to create games for both the consoles, and PC.

Skynner actually said that next-gen games will actually run better on AMD hardware because the games have been built from the ground up on AMD-powered consoles. This is going to be quite interesting considering NVIDIA is still by far in the game, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of benefit AMD will have with these next-gen titles. You can be sure we'll be covering this when the next-gen consoles, and games launch in November.

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Continue reading: AMD: PC gaming will benefit from next-gen consoles (full post)

ASRock unveils its Fatal1ty Z87 Killer motherboard

Anthony Garreffa | Motherboards | Sep 18, 2013 4:41 AM CDT

ASRock make some truly killer motherboards, so it's about time that they used the word 'killer' in one of its motherboards. Introducing the new ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer motherboard, the company's newest motherboard in its Z87 range of motherboards.

The new Fatal1ty Z87 Killer motherboard features a Killer E2200 Intelligent Networking Platform, which should be something online gamers will be interested in, as it reduces the latency in online gaming. ASRock ran some in-house testing, where it saw a reduction in latency in League of Legends, Diablo 3 and DoTA2 by 136%, 60% and 47%, respectively.

ASRock's Fatal1ty Z87 Killer motherboard also features some of the usual high-end features we have come to expect from the motherboard maker, which come in the form of Hi-Density Power Connectors that "reduces 23% power loss and decreases the power connector's temperature." ASRock has also baked in Purity Sound, which is an on-board audio solution and HDMI-in for those who want to use their PC as a video-in device, plugging in their console for example.

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Continue reading: ASRock unveils its Fatal1ty Z87 Killer motherboard (full post)

Uncharted voice actor has nothing but great things to say about PS4

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 18, 2013 4:27 AM CDT

The man responsible for giving us the voice behind Uncharted's Nathan Drake, Nolan North, spoke with Gamerhub at the GameStop Expo in LA about the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony.He seemed to be in love with the tech inside of the next-gen console, stating that he has seem some work and just couldn't believe it was real. He said:

North then teased gamers by saying: "I've seen some stuff... gameplay... that they're testing for... I don't remember what game it was but they were doing some testing on the PS4 and I couldn't believe it was gameplay. I mean, it's extraordinary technology."

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Continue reading: Uncharted voice actor has nothing but great things to say about PS4 (full post)

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