As I predicted, set-top box manufacturers are scared of Google's new Chromecast HDMI media streaming dongle, and rightfully so. The little device costs just one-third of what comparable devices cost from other major brands. With companies like Netflix, Vimeo, Spotify, HBO, and PLEX either supporting Chromecast or planning support, the $35 dongle looks more appealing than anything else.

Today, Apple has dropped the price on its refurbished Apple TV box from about $85 to just $75. Is this because of Google's success with the $35 Chromecast? That could be it, but Apple does have a history of reevaluating their refurbished prices and dropping them if the market is slow, so it really could be either of the reasons. A brand new Apple TV unit retails for about $99 new, so there is little value in choosing the refurb over the new, but my bet is to go with the $35 Chromecast.

The Australian Finance Review has just published a new story that suggests that the NSA may have hardware level backdoors built into current generation AMD and Intel processors. Leading security expert Steve Blank says that he first caught on to the practice when he noticed that the NSA had access to Microsoft emails before they were encrypted. He says that he would be extremely surprised if the NSA did not have access to a processor microcode level backdoor on every PC in America.

His reasoning behind the theory is quite simple. The sheer power needed to brute force crack AES 256-bit encryption on a single file would be equivalent to "the power of 10 million suns" and that a hardware backdoor would require almost no effort to enter and would allow agents access inside your PC in a matter of minutes. Jonathan Brossard, another expert in the security field, demonstrated this as a proof of concept at last year's Black Hat conference. These backdoors are made possible because they are placed inside the microcode which is stored on the chip itself and gets updated every time Microsoft, Apple, or any other OS pushes out an update.

Yesterday, Comedy Central launched its new CC: Stand-Up app on the Xbox 360. The new stand-up comedy app brings over 6,000 videos from more than 700 comedians straight to your living room for the first time ever. Comedy Central says that the app is different from the iOS and Android versions as the Xbox app focuses more on long term viewing rather than on discovery of new comedians and new material.

"We're looking opportunistically at all these different platforms, moving down the chain from biggest to smallest," said Ben Hurst, Viacom Entertainment Group's vice president of mobile and emerging platforms. "We want to get digitally distributed content everywhere." When asked if the company is worried about the new digital content leaching off viewers from its cable channel, Hurst said "We've now introduced fans to a new comedian or have gotten them excited to watch the new special. We view this as additive, not cannibalistic."

Comedy Central also launched a companion site to the Stand-Up app earlier this month named CC: Stand-Up Direct in which users can access the full stand-up library over the net and pay $5 per stream or download. The new Xbox CC: Stand-up app is available free of charge to Xbox Live Gold subscribers, which costs just $5 per month with a one-year agreement.

Late last night, reports started to surface that accused Samsung of rigging the code in its Exynos 5 variant of the Galaxy S4 to boost clock speeds when the device ran specific benchmarks. Our own Anthony Garreffa covered the story shortly after the news broke. This morning, not 12 hours later, Samsung has responded and as one would expect, the company denied everything.

Samsung says that the "BenchmarkBooster" used on the Exynos 5 is not intended to boost frequencies when running certain benchmarks. Normally, I would tend to give the company the benefit of the doubt, but with the code being named "BenchmarkBooster," I am finding it hard to drink this glass of Koolaid. However, regardless of benchmark performance, the Galaxy S4 is still one hell of a phone and with the code in question only boosting performance by 7 percent, does it really matter? Everyday average users could care less about a benchmark result that says this phone performs 1.3564 percent better than another phone.

Samsungs full statement is below.

If we were to just look at the amount of employees Amazon has, and the amount of extra jobs they're creating across the US, one would think they're preparing for the company to get bigger in the near future.

Well, according to a report on BGR, Amazon are looking to refresh its Kindle Fire HD, which would include a huge performance boost from the current device. Amazon are looking to bake in the speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC to reach that high-performance category. We are to expect three new devices from Amazon, ranging from 7 inches up to 8.9 inches.

The first, would be the entry-level 7-inch Kindle Fire, which would receive a refreshed 1280x800-pixel display. The other two models would replace the current Kindle Fire HD 7- and 8.9-inch models, and would include the super-fast, and very capable Snapdragon 800 SoC.

Google released Android 4.3 into the wild last week, but the latest iteration in their mobile OS includes some improvements to Photo Sphere. Photo Sphere is used to take 360-degree photos, and is quite a nice ability of Android.

The latest software improvements to Photo Sphere in Android 4.3 make it easier to upload and share pictures on Google Maps. Google have taken the how-to a step further by providing a couple of handy tips:

How many hours did you put yourself through in Atari's 1984 classic, Paperboy? I know I rode through that game for countless hours, and it looks like I might just do it again with Globacore's new title.

Globacare are a creative technology company who specialize in large multi-touch displays, and have unveiled a new work-in-progress, first-person homage to Paperboy, Paperdude VR. Paperdude VR uses Oculus' VR headset, Rift, as well as Microsoft's motion sensor, Kinect. You can see in the video above that player rides on a stationary bike, attempting to throw newspapers into peoples' mailboxes.

Paperdude VR is a great concept, something that might just keep gamers a bit fitter than they are now. Constantly peddling your bike in a game is sure to keep gamers a bit fitter. The more I see on Oculus Rift, the more I want it.

Canada's Next-Generation Canadarm (NGC) have developed a new version of their robotic space arm that will help out with space exploration. The program itself is designed to support missions in both low-Earth orbit, and deep space.

The next-gen robotic arm will be used for jobs from repairing communications satellites to helping out on manned missions to the moon, asteroids, Mars, and other vast parts of the universe. Alain Ouellet, the Director of Space Exploration Development at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) said:

"With the retirement of the space shuttle, a new generation of crewed space exploration vehicles will soon become available. However, these new vehicles are much smaller in size compared to the space shuttle, and therefore there is a need to adapt the robotic arm technology developed for the shuttle and the International Space Station."

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the company's best-selling smartphones of all time, and one of the hottest devices on the market right now. This all comes down to how it is perceived in the market, and how reviewers (like myself) and users, talk about the phone.

Well, it looks like AnandTech have donned their detective outfit, and found that Samsung have been tweaking the Galaxy S4 to perform better in benchmarks than it does anything else. AnandTech found that the Galaxy S4 has its GPU limited to 480MHz in most apps and games, but when it comes to benchmark tests such as AnTuTu, GLBenchmark 2.5.1 and Quadrant, it overclocks to 533MHz, giving it a huge advantage.

You'd think the funny business would stop there, but it doesn't. Samsung have also souped up the CPU clock speed in certain benchmarks, where in GLBenchmark 2.5.1, the CPU clock speed is at 1.2GHz, and never drops below that. But in GFXBench 2.7, the GPU clocks between 500Mhz and higher. AnandTech even found a string that shows the Galaxy S4 is hardcoded to specifically perform better in specific applications for benchmark testing with "Quadrant standard, advanced, and professional, linpack (free, not paid), Benchmark Pi, and AnTuTu" being mentioned.

Not even two days ago, TCL announced their new 50-inch 4K-capable TV for the US market, costing only $999. Australian's are usually the last market that most companies cater for, but TCL have decided to go Down Under early.

The company have announced the TCL E5691, which is a 65-inch edge-lit LED 4K/UHD TV, for $4999. Expensive, but considering high-end 65-inch 1080p HDTVs are around that price in Australia, you can't complain too much. TCL will be cramming in SMS on Demand, SMH.TV, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other apps into the TV. As for inputs, we have three HDMI inputs, 3D-support, and a USB port that supports Time Shift PVR settings.

The TCL T5691 provides a 4096x2160 resolution, and will upscale HD content to 4K, meaning that your Blu-ray movies will look a little nicer than they usually do. TCL will be releasing other sizes, which has my interest more. We start with the 40-inch for $899, a 46-inch model for $1199, a 50-inch version for $1399 and a non-3D version that comes in 32-inch for $549.

Earlier today iBUYPOWER unveil their new competition-grade gaming systems that involved a partnership with Computer Logic Gaming, and now they're just announced a partnership with AMD that sees their Valkyrie and Revolt systems powered by AMD CPUs.

First up, the Valkyrie is available with AMD's high-end A10 quad-core CPU and a Radeon HD 8970M GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory. The AMD-based Valkyrie systems can be configured with both an SSD and a HDD for the best of both worlds, super-speed and huge storage. iBUYPOWER also decided to offer an AMD option on their Revolt system, where customers can choose an AMD A10-6800K quad-core CPU. This means that the Revolt remains "the industry's leading benchmark in compact, high-performance gaming systems" according to iBUYPOWER.

Darren Su, Vice President of iBUYPOWER has said: "At iBUYPOWER, one of our core strengths is being able to offer customers a wide selection of configurations for any of our systems. Yes, we're about producing the best performing systems, but we also want to answer the call for choice. With new Revolts and Valkryies featuring AMD components, we cater to our customer's needs."

Today, iBUYPOWER and Computer Logic Gaming (CLG) have teamed up to launch several new custom-designed, high-performance gaming systems that are sure to give any gamer the advantage needed when competing in competition level events. iBUYPOWER says that the systems were designed from the ground up and built around the needs of a hardcore competition gamer and that all of the new systems have been tested by teams from iBUYPOWER and CLG to ensure that every aspect of the systems were tweaked to perfection.

The new systems come in three unique configurations and are encased in a "Custom Laser-Etched Chassis" which bears the CLG logo on the case's side panel window. "We've stayed true to our mission since day one of committing to the eSports scene. We want to support and give back to the community," said Darren Su, VP of iBUYPOWER. "CLG told us that fans demanded something competitive and we listened."

Available with up to an Intel Core i7-4770K CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 graphics, 16GB of DDR3-1600 memory, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, and sealed-loop liquid-cooling, each of the CLG systems will most definitely plow through any game you chose to throw at it. "I'm a computer enthusiast, and as the owner of CLG, I care a lot about what we put our brand on. The specs to price ratio on the CLG edition iBUYPOWER computers are great, which makes me happy to be working with them," said HotshotGG, Owner of CLG. "Plus, have you seen the custom case designs?"

Today, Mach Xtreme announced the launch of its new LX series of USB 3.0 compatible flash drives. The MX-LX series is aimed at those who are looking for a fast USB 3.0 thumb drive but still want high-capacity and affordability. Mach Xtreme says that the new flash drives are based on a native USB 3.0 controller chip and implement advanced dual-channel technology.

Mach Xtreme says that the LX flash drives reach up to 190MB/s read and 85MB/s write performance and are available in capacities of 8GB all the way up to 64GB. No information on pricing or availability were given at the time of writing, but you can head over to the company's product page (Source #2) for more information on pricing as it becomes available.

Today, Phanteks introduced two new lines of PC cooling fans, the PH-F140SP and PH-F140XP series of premium case and radiator fans. The PH-F140SP includes two models, the PH-F140SP_BK and the PH-F140SP_BK_LED, while the PH-F140XP series features a single unit that is designed to work with PWM control for those who want the most out of their system.

The PH-F140XP features a unique Maelstrom concept and PWM functionality for those who need fast speed for performance but wish to turn things down when a more silent approach is justified. This 140mm fan is designed to be used in both stand-alone PC case cooling setups as well as the primary radiator fans on PC liquid cooling setups. The fans are designed to overcome high static pressure, blade deflection, and noise challenges.

The PH-F140SP series is also designed to overcome high static pressure, blade deflection, and noise challenges, but does not feature the PWM functionality that the PH-F140XP series does. The PH-F140SP_BK_LED model features 4 LEDs to help illuminate your high performance machine. Both series feature UFB bearings, pre-installed rubber vibration dampening rubber pads, and the MVB 9-blade design. MSRP on the PH-F140XP is $17.99, while the PH-F140SP_BK and the PH-F140SP_BK_LED run $14.99 and $15.99, respectively. Each fan comes with a 5-year limited warranty.

Today, Marvel unveiled the new ARMADA 1500 Mini SoC that Google used in its hugely popular Chromecast. Being billed as "Game-Changing," the ARMADA 1500 Mini has been optimized for low-power applications such as TV Dongles like the Google Chromecast. Marvel says that the new chip has been "designed to provide instantaneous and seamless access to applications such as YouTube, Netflix and other cloud-based content, and deliver a ground-breaking multi-screen experience across smart mobile devices, laptops and HDTVs transforming any big screen into a smart and immersive entertainment device."

Weili Dai, President and Co-Founder of Marvell:

Last week, speculation arose that Nintendo would launch the black edition of its 3DS XL handheld console over this past weekend. The weekend came and went with no black 3DS XL showing up online or in retail stores, and we are sure this was a big letdown for some. Those who were bummed out about the no show will be excited to learn that Nintendo has officially released a launch date for the device.

Sunday, August 11, will be the magical day when we finally see the black 3DS XL arrive in stores and online for retail sales. Coincidentally, that is the same day that the new Mario & Luigi: Dream Team game arrives. No pricing info was released on the 3DS XL Black Edition, but with other colors retailing for around $200, we expect it to be priced in the same range.

In a statement, Nintendo said:

Google's Chromecast is making huge waves in the home theater market, and with the device completely selling out everywhere in less than 1 week, other companies are taking notice in a big way. This morning, we are hearing world that three of the biggest names in video streaming are voicing their interest in the device.

On Monday, GigaOM reported that Vimeo, the HD video streaming giant, has tossed its hat into the ring with the company's VP of mobile, Nick Alt, confirming interest in Chromcast. "We're excited about the emerging opportunities bridging mobile to Connected TV and we look forward to offering Chromecast support in our products." he said. Additionally, Redbox Instant says that they would love to bring their service to Chromecast. My favorite media server / media client Plex has also voiced its intentions to develop an app for the device.

Google has said that Pandora, AOL, and The Washington Post are all working on dedicated apps for Chromecast and that HBO is also looking into bringing its HBO Go service onto the device. Currently, Google's Chromecast streams content from Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, and Webpages, but if today's news is any indication, things are about to explode for Chromecast!

This morning, Samsung has released an official hands-on video of its Galaxy S4 Zoom camera phone. In the video, we see the phone in both Black Mist and White Frost trim. The host also shows off the low light flash-less performance as well as how nice the Xenon flash is over traditional smartphone LED-based flashes. Also featured is the Galaxy S4 Zoom's "Zoom Ring" which lets you navigate the phone's features, as well as rotating it to zoom in on photos. The video is about 10 minutes long, but almost every new feature is covered by the host.

A quote from the Samsung page said:

Intelligent Decisions is a company that creates virtual training simulations for the US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, and they've just acquired a license to use Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3.

VP of Simulation and Training, Clarence Pape, said that the company will use the graphics engine to improve the movements of autonomous avatars in its Dismounted Soldier Training System, as well as adding haptic feedback for incoming fire, full skeletal controls and environmental variation.

Intelligent Decisions secured the license for Unreal Engine 3 from Applied Research Associates, Virtual Heroes and Epic through the Unreal Government Network. The Unreal Government Network, whilst sounding like a joke, is very real, and is a program that handles government contracts for the Unreal engine.

Origin PC have just unveiled their new EON 13-S notebook, which features a 13.3-inch LED backlit Full HD IPS display (with a matte finish). Inside of the new EON 13-S, we have a fourth-generation "Haswell" Core processor from Intel, and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 765M GPU.

You can choose between four different Intel Core i7 processors, starting with the i7 4700MQ clocked at 2.4GHz, i7 4800MQ @ 2.7GHz, i7 4900MQ running at 2.8GHz or the i7 Extreme 4930MX clocked at 3.0GHz. All four processors are quad-core parts with Intel's Turbo Boost technology. Origin PC have decided to offer up some great memory options, too.

For starters, we have memory options of 4GB, 8GB and 16GB which arrive in either generic 1,333MHz DIMMs, or you can opt for the much better Corsair Vengeance 1,600MHz sticks. There's room for three HDDs, including dual mSATA and RAID support. There's options for an external optical drive, Creative Sound Blaster audio, Killer Wireless card and even a Hauppauge WinTV Tuner through USB.