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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:

Marvel said that the ARMADA 1500 Mini platform has been purpose built from the ground up to enable high-quality audio, video, and graphics, while still being extremely energy efficient. It was also designed to be featured in ultra small form-factor packages such as USB / HDMI dongles and it supports 1080p video decoding. The chip is also compatible with multiple DRM solutions such as Widevine and Playready. With this new SoC solution being released, we expect to see other companies releasing similar dongles in the future. Who would you like to see an HDMI dongle from? Samsung? Apple? What about a Windows 8 Solution from Nokia? Let us know in the comments.

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:

I covered the S4 Zoom back on launch day and have been pretty excited to actually see it in action since that day. The Android 4.2.2 based smartphone / compact camera mashup features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels and runs on a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. LTE support is included along with Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, and all the usual compliments of Samsung's apps. The camera features an aperture range of f/3.1 to f/6.3 and has a maximum ISO of 3200. A 16-megapixel CMOS sensor and true Xenon flash round out the shooter's impressive list of features.

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.

Samsung have countless devices within their Galaxy umbrella of products, but it looks like that is set to expand by a couple of devices. @evleaks is back yet again with some information he claims points to Samsung preparing two new slates.

The first, is a 10-inch tablet that would feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, and the second, is a 12.2-inch slate that features the Exynos 5 Octa chipset and S Pen support. So, in other words, a Galaxy Note 12, maybe. Both devices are set to arrive with the mouth watering 2560x1600 resolution, which should be quite stunning.

Last week during a team effort to combat piracy, a company working in conjunction with Microsoft filed a DMCA takedown request with Google which included 6 URLs from Microsoft itself. Yes, that means Microsoft filed a DMC takedown notice against itself on the grounds of copyright infringement. The links were generated by automated software and show how flawed the system truly is.

The software used to automate the process often hurts many more innocent webmasters than it does copyright infringers, and false triggers like this are far less rare than anyone would ever expect. In the past, Microsoft has accidentally filed DMC takedown request that targeted the US Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, TechCrunch, Wikipedia, BBC News, Bing, Google, and so many others that I could write all night and never get to the end of the list.

The takedown requests are becoming so frequent that in the past Google might have received 225,000 DMCA takedown request per week, but just over a year later they are receiving between 3.5 and 4.5 million requests every week. Google can not simply read every request and check for validity and as a result, the first half of 2013 saw Google erase 100 million links from their search engine all because an automated copyright crawler thought they might be infringing on someone's copyright. That number is double the amount of links Google removed in all of 2012 and several times more than in 2011.

Today, Cubitek Co. announced a new solid aluminum, silent mini-ITX chassis that was designed around a minimalist theme. Dubbed the Cubitek Mini Center, this super small form-factor chassis features passive cooling which allows a footprint so small that it can be tucked away into any niche you may need to fill.

Cubitek says that "the Cubitek Mini Center has an advanced passive cooling design and strategically placed ventilation further aided by the heat dissipating aluminum construction.This translates to silent performance when connected to the TV or sitting on the desk in the office. The brushed aluminum exterior on the front and sides of the Mini Center give this Mini-ITX chassis a minimalistic, elegant feel. The front and sides are not interrupted by anything such as button, lights or ventilation as to add a classical style to whatever room the Mini Center is in. "

With a footprint of just 7.8-inches x 9.8-inches x 7.8-inches, the Mini Center has room for two 2.5-inch SSDs or one 3.5-inch HDD and up to two VGA cards each up to 180mm in length. CPU coolers 85mm and shorter will fit inside as well as a full sized ATX PSU. USB 3.0 and HD Audio ports are available up front as well.

Today, Cooler Master announced the successor to its hugely popular CM 690 series of cases. The CM 690 III brings to life the third generation of one of the company's most popular PC chassis legacies. The 690 III retains the series' iconic sleek curved mesh styling, while the overall exterior takes design cues from its predecessors as well.

The interior is where you really begin noticing the major differences. Most notably is that the new 2.5-inch HDD cage designed for those with extreme SSD setups. Cooler Master says that with this new design, users can now fit up to ten SSDs inside or seven SSDs and three 3.5-inch HDDs. The SSD cage has the capacity to fit up to five 2.5-inch drives, while the HDD cage can handle an additional three 3.5-inch HDDs or three 2.5-inch SSDs. An additional two SSDs can be placed in built-in brackets behind the motherboard.

The mid-tower case also features support for graphics cards up to 423mm in length (with the removal of the SSD cage) and it supports CPU coolers up to 171mm tall. Cooler Master has also updated the ODD trays to feature a new tool-less system dubbed EZ-Tray. The 690 III can also support liquid cooling solutions with room for two simultaneous 240mm radiators in the top of the case as well as in the front. An additional 120mm radiator could also be installed in the rear. For those who prefer fans to handle the system cooling duties, the case is capable of supporting a total of nine fans with three of them being as large as 200mm. The CM 690 III will be available later this month and no pricing information was disclosed.

When Google first announced plans to shut down its popular Google Reader service, the web was set ablaze with millions of users scrambling to find a new RSS reader to call home. Amidst all of the hustle and bustle, three big names arose out of the noise and offered up awesome solutions to this new found problem.

Digg announced that it would begin building an RSS reader, while RSS reader veteran Feedly welcomed Google refugees with open arms. Finally, The Old Reader started to get major attention as it kept things simple and truly felt like the old Google Reader we were all about to lose. Unfortunately, it appears that the developers behind The Old Reader were flooded by the massive influx of users and as a result, were overwhelmed by the issues that come along with running a project used by millions of people daily.

Today, the developers behind The Old Reader announced that they will be closing all public access to the site in two weeks and will only be allowing a select number of users access to the private site. Currently, new user registration has been disabled and the site is not accepting any more new user accounts at all. Current users have two weeks to export their feed's OPML file that can be used to migrate to another service. I have posted the full release from the developers below.

Today, Buffalo Technology unveiled the TeraStation 3000 Series of high performance NAS and iSCSI unified storage devices. Buffalo says that the TeraStation 3000 is a "feature-rich solution for small offices and professional users." The device consists of two different configurations including a stand alone unit as well as a 1U rack mount version. Both feature capacities from 4TB all the way to 16TB and are configured using high-performance RAID-based network storage. Processing is handled via a dual-core ARM processor and 1GB of RAM to keep transfers running smooth.

"The perpetual growth and evolution of storage and backup needs in the SMB market presents network administrators with the continual challenge of effective data management," said Matt Dargis, chief operating officer at Buffalo Technology (USA), Inc. "This challenge translates into a call on vendors to provide reliable, cost-effective solutions that address ever-changing file serving and capacity requirements. Buffalo is answering this need with our recently launched TeraStation 5000 Series, and now the TeraStation 3000 Series. We designed the TeraStation 3000 to deliver simplified management, optimized resource utilization and true disaster recovery protection at entry-level price points."

The TeraStation 3000 Series provides reliable unified storage with simultaneous NAS and iSCSI target functionality and is loaded with business class features such as:

I seriously hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it appears that there will not be a movie made around the vastly popular game Super Meat Boy... at least not from one director scammer. Last week, Team Meat, the guys behind Super Meat Boy, published an hour long conference call in which a "director" was wanting to discuss working up a script for Super Meat Boy the movie. The guys caught on pretty quick that the guy was a scammer and they played along over the course the next hour and hilarity ensued.

During the conversation, Team Meat noticed that the so-called director had not even played the game as he had no clue on any aspect of Super Meat Boy. He asked them to hire him for 2 months so he could generate a "Blueprint" for the storyline at the cost of just $4,000. He then said that if everything went well, they would have to front $12k in "buddy money" for script production and if everyone was in agreement, then he would refund the $16k total that Team Meat had invested. The catch was, however, that if the director was not happy at any point, he could just take the $12k and call the whole project quits.

The video, embedded above and hosted on YouTube, is definitely worth a listen, if not for the lulz, then for the insight into how some of the true con artists in America attempt to scam possible victims. At one point, the scammer asks for sales figures and the guys reply that they are waiting on Microsoft to pay them $7 million in owed sales, and that Super Meat Boy's sales on a "small-time platform known as Steam" were eclipsed by sales on Direct to Drive. Team Meat held it together for the entire trolling session, and I must bow down to their expertise as trolling masters.

It was just over a month ago that Phil Fish announced Fez 2 at E3, but this morning it appears that the sequel to the popular indie game Fez will never be. This morning, Fish announced that Fez 2 has been canceled and he is leaving the industry for good. In a statement, Phil Fish wrote: "Fez II is cancelled, I take the money and I run. This is as much as I can stomach. This isn't the result of one thing, but the end of a long bloody campaign. You win."

Fish was quite the outspoken indie developer and stirred the pot quite a bit on occasion. He was featured in the popular documentary Indie Game: The Movie in which the cameras followed his triumphs and struggles with delays, massive bugs, and legal battles over Fez. Fish took massive criticism over Fez throughout the development process and the remarks continued even after the game was released and had become a huge hit. Apparently these comments, the pressure of topping Fez 1, and the stress that comes with being the sole developer on a massive game were just too much for Fish to take.

A recent report by PC World is suggesting that Dell has recently started beta testing thumb drive sized Android mini PCs that could give Google's recent Chromecast a run for its money. Dubbed project Ophelia, the device is said to be similarly sized to the Chromecast but would feature much more functionality as it will run a full version of Android instead of a slimmed down version of Chrome OS like the Chromecast does.

Project Ophelia features the same style direct HDMI connectivity that Chromecast does and is said to feature a full version of the Google Play Store that would allow users to download the full complement of apps, games, movies, and books that other Android devices use. It will feature both Bluetooth 4.0 and and Wi-Fi, so wireless keyboards, mice, and the various Android-to-Android Wi-Fi-based remote apps that are growing so popular should work well.

Sources say that project Ophelia should retail for around $100, but for now, only beta testers are getting there hands on Ophelia, and we don't expect a release until sometime during the next fiscal quarter which could be as late as October. While the $100 price tag is a bit on the high-end in my opinion, this little device could spell big trouble for companies like Pivos, producer of the Xios DS Android-based set-top box that is one of the leading sellers for Android HTPCs.

The rumor mill is fired up and already pushing out fresh rumors this Monday morning. Today, the Verge is reporting that Nokia is in the process of mass producing a new Bluetooth 4.0 device that will pair with its Lumia line of Windows Phones. Dubbed the Treasure Tag, the device uses a combination of Bluetooth and Near Field Communication (NFC) to help you find things when they are lost.

The "Treasure Tag" is basically a small little tile that would let you track items using a purpose-built application. When the item you have tagged is lost, you can use the app to locate the item via a map which makes use of Nokia's LiveSight augmented reality view. This means that if you have lost your keys and you had a Treasure Tag attached, you could open up the app and view the keys' exact location on a mini map.

The process works in reverse, too. If you lose your phone, you will be able to push a button on the Treasure Chest and the app on your phone will activate an audible alert that will help you pinpoint the exact location of your missing device. It appears that the Treasure Tag is designed to be "always on" and will last about 6 months on its internal battery, but no mention has been made about battery replacement or rechargeability. The Treasure Tag is said to launch in the coming weeks after Nokia rolls out its Amber Update that will give Lumia devices Bluetooth 4.0 support.

Oculus Rift developer forum user Teddy0K has made a first-person, cover-based shooter using Oculus' Rift VR headset in conjunction with Razer's Hydra motion controller.

Teddy0K shows us in the video (above) that the Hydra wand is attached to the gamer's chest, while the Hydra joystick is placed in your hands and used as your weapon, as well as controlling your forward and backwards movement within the game. The motion-controlled rig allows gamers to perform in-game actions such as ducking behind cover and blind firing over it.

What we see, is an updated version of Teddy0K's HydraDeck Demo. Teddy wrote on the developer forum: "The position tracking adds a tonne to the immersion of being in a virtual world. Please be careful when playing this demo, lots of people try to support themselves on the crates when they try to stand up or when leaning up against a column, but find there is nothing there!"

It wasn't long ago that we were reporting that US-based e-tailer Amazon reached record highs on their share prices, and not long after that we reported about Amazon tripling their employees to over 97,000 in the last three years.

Now the company has announced they've created 5,000 new full-time jobs in its US fulfillment network in order to meet increased customer demand. Amazon are quite generous, too, with their median pay in their fulfillment centers around 30% higher than employees in traditional retail stores. This isn't even counting the fact that Amazon offer stock grants to full-time staff, which add an average of 9% to base pay each year.

Dave Clark, Vice President of Worldwide Operations and Customer Service at Amazon said: "We're hiring more than 5,000 people to join our team and help us continue to innovate and serve our customers. We're focused on sustained innovation across Amazon and want to help our employees succeed-whether at Amazon or elsewhere-so we offer programs like Career Choice, where we'll pay for up to 95% of eligible employees' tuition regardless of whether the skills they learn are relevant to a career at Amazon."

Valve took some time on Friday to squash a rumor from gaming blog NSS that Half-Life 3 was going to be shown at E3 2014. The report said that they had an e-mail from Valve developer John Guthrie, who said that the first-ever Half-Life 3 trailer, as well as a playable demo would be available at next year's E3.

He supposedly wrote: "I can't confirm all too much since the development is still in early stages, but for now I can confirm that we are going to release on both current and next generation consoles, and we will also release the game on our own platform exclusively for PC and Mac. We hope to have the first trailer ready for E3 2014, which we (after several times not attending) will finally come back to."

The creator of Half-Life has come out and said the report is "bogus", with the only reason they decided to step out of the shadows is because of how quickly the story had spread. I think we'll see it toward E3 2014, but I think we're going to see it released closer to the time that Oculus Rift hits the market.