Latest News - Page 2950

Today, Bitfenix announced an all-new version of its award-winning Prodigy chassis. Dubbed the Prodigy M, this new revision is designed around the mATX form factor and is being touted as the most compact and highly compatible case in the micro-ATX segment. The original Prodigy, while only reserved for the mini-ITX form factor, was a huge hit and taught many of us that you do not need a massive case for a high-performance system.

While this new case is able to accommodate the much larger micro-ATX motherboard, the overall dimensions of the case stay the same, allowing enthusiasts to build more feature-rich gaming systems, A/V workstations, or just a powerful PC inside a small form factor case. The new Prodigy M is able to accommodate dual graphics cards in either SLI or Crossfire configurations as it now features five expansion slots.

Bitfenix has completely retooled the inside of the chassis to accommodate both micro-ATX and mini-ITX motherboards, while also making room for graphics cards up to 320mm in length. There's still room for a full ATX power supply, a single 5.25-inch drive, and users are able to fit CPU coolers up to 180mm in height. In case water cooling is your thing, Bitfenix says that there is space for a 240mm radiator with a maximum thickness of 27mm.

Edward Snowden, who you should know by now is one of the biggest whistleblowers ever, has said that the NSA targeted reporters who wrote 'critically' about the government over the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US and warned it was "unforgivably reckless" for journalists to use unencrypted e-mail when discussing sensitive matters.

This is coming from an interview between Snowden and the New York Times Magazine, where Snowden said he came to trust Laura Poitras, a documentary filmmaker who helped report his disclosure of the NSA's spying programs along with Guardian reporter, Glenn Greenwald, because she herself had been targeted by the US spy agency.

Snowden said in the article: "Laura and [Guardian reporter] Glenn [Greenwald] are among the few who reported fearlessly on controversial topics throughout this period, even in the face of withering personal criticism, and resulted in Laura specifically becoming targeted by the very programs involved in the recent disclosures."

The closer we get to the launch of the Xbox One, the more we're finding about the next-gen console from Microsoft. The internal architecture of the Xbox One is built to detect if it is overheating, and will self-regulate its power.

The report is directly from Xbox's general manager of console development, Leo del Castillo, during an interview with Gizmodo. del Castillo said that this will help minimize detrimental shut-downs caused by overheating. He continued: "One thing that we have more flexibility with the architecture of the Xbox One, is that we can dial back the power of the box considerably."

del Castillo went on to add: "We had a little less flexibility with the 360. And so basically, if we couldn't dissipate the heat, there wasn't a whole lot of leverage we could pull to keep the heat from being generated, so we had a limited amount of time before it just shut down. Xbox One can actually dial it back to a lower power state, so low in fact that it can in a mode that uses virtually no air flow."

Ah, Facebook, you just never stop, do you? The social network's latest addition to its mobile platform includes a slew of new features that will help make your life just that much more convenient.

Facebook users will soon be able to reserve a table at their favorite restaurant (of course, this depends on the city/restaurant/country) through Facebook Pages, find a movie showing time through Pages, and enjoy full hashtag support. Facebook has partnered up with real-time reservation service OpenTable, which works in over 20,000 restaurants.

Normally, a would-be restaurant customer would use the OpenTable app or reserve their table through OpenTable's website, but now Facebook users can do it all within the participating restaurants' Facebook page.

If there's one thing AMD is doing right, it would have to be the Never Settle program. The chipmaker has just launched its Never Settle Forever program, which changes things up considerably.

With the older Never Settle bundles, depending on the GPU the consumer purchased, they were given specific games. When things kicked into second gear with Never Settle Reloaded, consumers were given the choice of a few titles when they purchased a GPU. The more they spent on their GPU - or the higher the series of Radeon - the more games they received.

Now, the Never Settle Forever program is here, and each tier offers a larger range of games, and more of them. As you can see from the image above, the Radeon Bronze Reward includes one free game, from a choice of six titles. The Radeon Silver Reward includes two games from a selection of eight games. The final, and highest reward is the Radeon Gold Reward, which offers three free games from a total of nine choices.

A chinese woman has had her eye and hand damaged when her iPhone 5 exploded, where beforehand, she stated that her iPhone 5 was hotter than usual during phone calls.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time an iPhone 5 has hurt someone, where a flight attendant died and a man was electrocuted, which was found to be caused by a fake charger. Apple has since sent out an advisory to warn all Chinese customers to buy original, official Apple chargers. The Cupertino-based company is even offering discounted chargers when you trade in your old charger.

The woman who was hurt, who only goes by the last name of 'Li', has said she dropped her iPhone 5. The drop caused a crack in the top right hand corner of the display, after which she noticed the iPhone 5 was getting quite hot during a 40-minute phone call. She tried to disconnect the phone call, noticing that the display was no longer working.

Apple is close to unveiling the iPhone 5S, but just how big will the launch of their latest flagship smartphone be? We can expect the iPhone 5S, and cheaper iPhone 5C to be unveiled at its September 10 event, but an analyst is making a very big claim, before Apple has even announced the smartphone.

Trip Chowdhry, the Managing Director of Equity Research at Global Equities Research, thinks the iPhone 5S launch is going to be huge. He told Benzinga: "The new iPhones will be massively successful. This will be the most successful product launch ever in the history of Apple." Chowdhry believes Apple has a lot going for them right now, with the upcoming Ashton Kutcher starring 'Jobs' movie, which is centered around Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and that it will "evoke positive emotions toward Apple and its products."

This is where I'll chime in, where 'success' and 'sales' are vastly different from pushing the industry, or consumers' expectations of the iPhone 5S. Sure, it might sell well, but the iPhone 5S will most likely not be that different to the iPhone 5. If Apple were to branch out and provide a few different sizes (4-, 4.5- and 4.8-inch for example) then things could be different.

Samsung has just unveiled its 55-inch curved OLED TV, pricing it quite competitively against fellow South Korean rival, LG, and its own 55-inch curved OLED TV. Samsung is selling its KN55S9C display at just $8999.

LG, on the other hand, is selling their 55-inch curved OLED TV in the states for $14,999 exclusively through Best Buy. The Korea Times has reported that the price drop is lower than the $13,000 originally charged for the Korean version, where they add: "Samsung's price cut came as a result of improved manufacturing yield, and [Korean] customers that already purchased one will be refunded the difference."

$8999 is a lot to drop on a 55-inch curved OLED, so this new TV will mostly cater to those who enjoy luxury. But, at $6000 cheaper than the LG OLED TV, you wouldn't want to have one of those in your living room and reading this news right now.

Flash Memory Summit 2013 - Today, Samsung introduced the world's first solid state drive based on its industry-leading 3-D V-NAND technology. The announcement came during the keynote speech at the 2013 Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, California. Samsung says that this new SSD is designed for use in enterprise servers and data centers.

The new V-NAND SSD comes in two versions--a 960GB model and a smaller 480GB model--with the 960GB boasting the highest performance levels. Samsung says that it offers an increase in sequential and random write speeds of more than 20 percent by utilizing 64 dies of MLC 3-D V-NAND flash.

Samsung says that the V-NAND SSDs offer 35,000 program erase cycles and is available in a 2.5-inch form factor. Samsung's proprietary 3-D V-NAND technology achieves manufacturing productivity improvements over twice that of 20nm-class planar NAND flash by using cylinder-shaped 3D Charge Trap Flash cell structures and vertical interconnect process technology to link the 24 layers comprising the 3D cell array.

I am willing to bet that many of you have never heard of Alcatel One Touch, much less know that they manufacture Android-based smartphones. Today, the company released its new Idol X smartphone that runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is available in yellow, red and black.

The Alcatel One Touch Idol X feature some pretty beefy specifications that include a five-inch 1920x1080 resolution IPS display, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, and 2GB of RAM. A 13.1-megapixel rear camera is on board to handle all your imaging needs, while 8GB of internal storage is present that can be augmented by the addition of a microSD card.

The specifications get better as we learned that within the 6.9 mm thick chassis, Alcatel managed to somehow squeeze in a 2000mAh battery, yet keep the phone's weight to 120g. All those features are cool, and definitely give the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 a run for their money, but the fact that the phone is basically bezel-less really kicks it up a notch. The Idol X will be arriving in the UK in the coming weeks, but pricing and carrier availability have yet to be released.

Today, Apacer unveiled the newest generation of its SDM5 modular SATA SSDs. The new SATA Disk Module 5 adopts the SATA 3 6GB/s high-speed interface standard and features Toggle DDR2.0 NAND Flash. The module incorporates a specifically designed 2-channel bidirectional structure that allows the device to reach read/write speeds of up to 315MB/s and 145MB/s, respectively.

Jeff Lin, Embedded Application Product Division Senior Director of Apacer indicated, "In order to satisfy the user-specific needs for various mechanisms, we will introduce perpendicularly and parallel modularized solutions at the same time. Thus, the customer will have diverse choices in accordance with the motherboard design demands, without being limited to the joint direction of solid state drive, and develop more diversified top products at the lowest cost."

The Apacer SDM5 uses standard 7-pin signal and 15-pin SATA signal and power connectors and are featured in two different configurations with one having the connectors perpendicular to the board at 90 degrees, while the other is parallel at 180 degrees. Apacer says that the new SDM5 features a capacity of 128GB and complies with the MIL-810F certification, which is the toughest standard required by the US military regulations.

For months now, the PC community has been in an uproar over reports that Rockstar games would not be releasing its highly anticipated title Grand Theft Auto V for the PC. Today, it appears that all those worries were for nothing as NVIDIA has apparently confirmed that GTA V will be headed to PC this fall.

Website KitGuru noticed that during NVIDIA's earnings call a senior official mentioned that Grand Theft Auto V would in fact be coming to the PC this fall. I have posted an excerpt of the statement in question below. If you would like to read the full transcript, head over to Source #2 below. If this is true, today might very well be one of the happiest days PC gamers have had all year long.

Chris Evenden, Senior Director, IR said "The PC market is evolving. As entry-level laptops face pressure from tablets. Yet sales of specialty PCs like gaming systems and work stations continue to grow. The disparity reflects how consumers use these different classes of PCs. Many consumers look for PC as a general purpose device they can use for browsing, email, social media video. But much of this can be better served by a tablet. In contrast, gamers are preparing their systems for a strong roster of games coming this fall, including blockbuster franchises, such as Call of Duty: Ghosts, Grand Theft Auto V and Assassin's Creed IV."

If you've ever stared at your multiple graphics cards set up and thought to yourself "man that SLI bridge sure is ugly," then a fresh announcement from EVGA is sure to put a smile on your face. Earlier today, EVGA announced what amounts to a cosmetic upgrade for enthusiasts who run multiple NVIDIA graphics cards.

The EVGA Pro SLI Bridge is an aesthetically pleasing replacement for the typical ribbon cable-based SLI bridge that comes with all NVIDIA SLI compatible graphics cards. While it offers nothing in terms of better performance, it should really clean up the look of multiple GPU setups and give enthusiasts just a little more bragging rights about the bling in their case.

The bridge appears to be made out of plastic and features brushed aluminum panels on top with the EVGA logo front and center. Things are accented by backlighting that is provided by small LEDS shining through EVGA logos on each panel. This backlighting will only work when the bridges are used on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700-series or later graphics cards, including the GeForce GTX Titan. EVGA says that the bridges are compatible with all brands of NVIDIA graphics cards and will be available in the coming weeks.

Hot on the heels of last week's Tritton Kunai launch, Mad Catz today announced that it has began shipping the Tritton Pro gaming headset for PC and Mac. The company says that the Tritton Pro is a true 5.1 surround sound headset that features four separate drivers in each ear cup for a true 5.1 surround sound experience.

The headset also features an in-line remote that allows selectable voice monitoring that allows users to choose if they hear their own voice in the headset or not. "The TRITTON Pro+ headset received a warm reception with the passionate gamers at E3 thanks to its advanced feature set and multiple speakers, delivering highly accurate sound separation, ideal for online gaming," said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. "We believe the TRITTON Pro+ for Windows PC and Mac will enable us to further diversify our platform base within the high-end audio category."

The Tritton Pro is available in white, black, and gloss red and is available in the US, Canada, UK, France, and Germany for around $199. The headset will be available at all major electronics retailers that carry the Mad Catz brand. For more information on the Mad Catz Triton Pro, head over to Source #2 below.

Flash Memory Summit 2013 - Sandisk announced that it would be enhancing its solid state drive lineup for businesses with the addition of a new power-efficient SSD. The Sandisk X210 SSD is a SATA-based SSD that Sandisk says is an ideal solution for IT professionals looking to maximize performance or enhance the responsiveness of the company's PCs and notebooks.

"Since launching Sandisk's commercial SSD channel earlier this year, we havereceived a tremendous response from businesses that have seen significant advantages from incorporating Sandisk solid state technology into their data center and workplace PCs and notebooks," said Tarun Loomba, vice president of Storage Solutions marketing at Sandisk. "Leveraging Sandisk's most advanced flash memory technology and smart power-saving capabilities, the X210 SSD is an exceptionally fast and cost-effective storage solution for this growing market, and a great addition to our Sandisk SSD portfolio."

The company says that the X210 SSD is optimized for businesses that need fast, consistent access to data, such as search engines and cloud storage providers. The company says that when used in micro- and entry-level servers, this new SSD offers increased responsiveness and sustainable performance in intensive environments, which notably reduces I/O bottlenecks. Sandisk says that the new 2.5-inch X210 SSD is available large quantities through the Sandisk Commercial Business Channel.

On Friday, LG held an event called LG In The Clouds in one of the outdoor parks in Seoul, South Korea, to promote its new G2 smartphone launch. During the event, LG released 100 helium filled balloons with a voucher for a free G2 inside each balloon.

Guests arrived with BB guns, knives, sticks, and pointed staffs that would be used to shoot down the balloons containing the vouchers that are worth about KRW 950,000 or $851 USD. As you can expect, things did not go as planned and at least 20 attendees were injured in the mad dash to grab one of the vouchers.

LG has agreed to cover the medical costs of those injured who went to the hospital on Friday and in a statement said that similar planned events have been canceled due to safety concerns. One TV channel in Seoul dubbed the event "World War G," making a comparison to the movie World War Z in which zombies climb over each other in order to reach a wall.

The man behind PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, has just unveiled his plans for the "Hyperloop" transport system that he one day hopes to see passengers take from Los Angeles to San Francisco, faster than the speed of sound.

Musk unveiled a 57-page PDF, which you can read here, which explains that Hyperloop would transport people and cars between cities in aluminum pods that travel up to 800 miles per hour, inside elevated tubes. Musk said he was inspired by the pneumatic tubes that transport mail around some buildings as his inspiration for Hyperloop.

Musk is a big fan of transport, using his billions of dollars he's made from his various ventures such as PayPal to develop the electric car company, Tesla. He didn't stop there, as he also spent money on a private spaceflight company, SpaceX. Musk has said that the Hyperloop would be a "cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table."

Google Glass users receive monthly updates to their wearable device, with the latest "XE8" update including new Google Now cards, new voice commands, and a better video player application.

The new voice actions on Glass include "post an update" and "take a note" which work well with applications like Path and Evernote, letting Glass users use these services much easier, and more on-the-go thanks to wearing the device, and using your voice to add notes. The new Google Now cards include Reservations and Events, Movies and Public Alerts, as well as more commonly-used Now cards like Weather, Sports and Traffic.

These cards will now be shown to the left of your timeline, and will become available as needed after the update has pushed to your Glass unit. There's a new Volume card in the settings, hashtag in captions and a new "send a birthday message" card available in the XE8 update.

League of Legends is getting bigger by the day, and now American Express are jumping on the bandwagon with a new line of League of Legends themed credit cards. The financial services company will launch the new credit cards on Wednesday, which is all part of a partnership between American Express and Riot Games. In the new lineup of cards, we'll see pre-paid debit cards that will reward cardholders with Riot Points, which is the in-game currency of League of Legends.

Just for signing up for the card, the future League of Legends AMEX owner will receive 1000 Riot Pionds, and will earn an additional 1000 Riot Points for adding $20 to it. After the first 10 purchases on the new AMEX card, the cardholder will receive 1000 more Points. After linking the new AMEX card to a checking account, 10,000 Riot Points will be given to the cardholder.

American Express' general manager for online and mobile in the United States, Stefan Happ, told the New York Times that the new partnership was established to "expand our traditional reach beyond the mass affluent." One of the primary reasons American Express teamed up with Riot Games was because League of Legends features a very strong 32 million player base, and a "staggering one billion hours of game play a month."

It looks like Edward Snowden might have another e-mail service to use in a little while, as Kim Dotcom is working on a secure, encrypted e-mail service that will launch under his Mega service.

The new Mega e-mail service will include most of the luxuries of modern cloud-based e-mail services, all while your data and e-mails are kept safe. Mega's CEO, Vikram Kumar, has confirmed rumors that Mega is working on an encrypted e-mail service, where he told ZDNet that the service is still a work-in-progress, and that it's difficult to provide the same functionalities of something like Gmail, but keep it encrypted.

He continued: "The biggest tech hurdle is providing email functionality that people expect, such as searching emails, that are trivial to provide if emails are stored in plain text (or available in plain text) on the server side. If all the server can see is encrypted text, as is the case with true end-to-end encryption, then all the functionality has to be built client side. [That's] not quite impossible, but very, very hard. That's why even Silent Circle didn't go there."