Latest News - Page 2962

We all know the Microsoft Surface RT has not lived up to the hype Redmond wanted it to and as a result it appears that the company could be readying substantial price cuts across its debut tablet. Today, The Verge is reporting that Microsoft will cut prices on its 32GB and 64GB models.

The report says that a 32 GB Surface RT will see is price slashed to just $350 while the 64 GB model will now run consumers $450. Those wishing to add a touch cover can look to spend $100 more raising the prices to $450 and $550 respectively. Engadget contacted Microsoft for comments and the software giant replied that it does not comment on rumors or speculation. Of course we all know that this effectively means "Yes we are slashing prices but do not tell anyone please."

In the wake of turmoil at Hewlett-Packard, it appears that Lenovo has seized the opportunity to claim the throne as the largest PC manufacturer in the world. This claim comes as the latest numbers from the IDC and Gartner are released to the public. It appears Lenovo has managed a 1.7 percent gain in market share in the global PC market over the last year.

While the margins are small, Lenovo managed to ship a little over 200,000 more units than HP's 12.4 million units shipped during the Q2 time period of 2013. Lenovo is sitting at 16.7 percent of global market share, while HP is floundering at around 16.3 percent. The once king of the world, Dell, is roughly four million units behind both companies with a market share of just 11.8 percent.

Up and comer Acer shipped roughly half the number of units that Lenovo did in Q2 and holds on to about 8.3 percent of the global sales market. Also notable is ASUS who shipped about 4.5 million units during Q2 and held onto a 6 percent market share.

It appears that life for future PlayStation 4 owners just keeps getting better and better with every passing day. Today, a Sony official has confirmed that gamers will be able to access their entire PS4 game library from any PS4 console. Sony's R&D senior team leader Neil Brown confirmed that users will be up to log into their accounts from any PS4 console and start playing straight away thanks to the console's play as you download feature.

"You can visit your friends' house, you can log into your account and play any game from your digital library, which is good. But how useful is that if it takes half a day to download the game you want to play?" He went on to say that the system is quite similar to how Blu-ray technology works in that chunks of data are automatically copied over in the background leading to faster speeds after the first few minutes.

When it was first founded over 20 years ago, Defcon was been known as the gathering place where anarchist, geeks, hackers, and the feds could all hang out, talk security and get along on neutral ground. Unfortunately for the feds, the NSA has managed to break a bond of trust that lasted over two decades.

This morning, we learned that the organizers of the Defcon Hacker Conference, held in Las Vegas Nevada, have asked that all federal employees planning to attend the show to please sit out this year as they are not welcome. This may seem like a drastic move to some, but others see it as a way to express the loss of trust many in the online community are feeling at the moment.

"For over two decades DEF CON has been an open nexus of hacker culture, a place where seasoned pros, hackers, academics, and feds can meet, share ideas and party on neutral territory," Jeff Moss, aka The Dark Tangent, wrote in a blog post published Wednesday night. "Our community operates in the spirit of openness, verified trust, and mutual respect."

Today, Google released a complete refresh of its Google Maps for Android app. The company says that the new app brings forth an entirely new mapping experience that makes exploring the world and getting to the places that matter to you a lot faster and easier.

Google says that the new Google maps for mobile builds on the design that was released last year for iPhone and improves on it with new search and navigation features. Additionally, this is the very first dedicated Google Maps for Android tablets and iPads.

The new app brings forth an explore feature that the company says is a fast and easy way to visually browse and discover new places without even typing. Users must simply tap the search box and you'll see cards that show great places to eat, drink, sleep, and shop.

It was just two years ago that a 1 GHz processor in your smartphone was considered a big deal, but by today's standards 1 GHz is pretty slow. Today, ARM announced that it will be ramping up clock speeds in its mobile processors to the 3 GHz range in 2014.

A statement from the company reveals that it has plans to move away from the 28nm process and begin manufacturing chips on a 20nm process which will set the stage for the 3GHz core speed. TSMC, the fabrication house which has signed a deal to manufacture Apple's new line of chipsets, has said that the new process is expected to deliver a 30 percent increase in clock speed while at the same time a 25 percent reduction in heat. These gains can be attributed to efficiency gains from the next-gen manufacturing process.

ARM says that most of the new transistors added will be dedicated to graphics processing performance. The 25 percent reduction in power function will translate into a 25 percent boost in battery life. Since battery life is still the top complaint when it comes to smartphones ARM says that consumers should look forward to the new 20nm process.

Anyone who knows me or follows my DIY/maker posts here on TweakTown knows that I am one of the biggest fans of 3-D printing that has ever lived. Since the original RepRap project began back in 2005, I have lived 3-D printing. This next tidbit of news is probably some of the most exciting I have ever reported here TweakTown.

Researchers at North Carolina State University have managed to produce an alloy of liquid metals--gallium and indium--that allows droplets to retain their shape when placed upon each other. This led to the development of a liquid metal 3-D printer. Normally liquid metal reacts the same way any other metal does when more is added, by this I mean it all congregates into a single mass.

The researchers discovered that when combining gallium and indium, the metals combined to make an alloy that forms a skin around the material. This allowed researchers to create structures by piling drops on top of each other using a very tiny syringe. Naturally, this process was automated and through the use of CNC robots, a liquid metal 3-D printer was born.

Iran has followed through with its plans to launch its own national email service which requires all citizens to sign up for it as a "safe" way to communicate with government officials. Each citizen was given an email address but before they can use it, account holders will have to provide their local post office with a full name, their national identification number, and their postal code.

Mohammad Hasan Nami, Iran's minister for information and communication technology, said: "For mutual interaction and communication between the government and the people, from now on every Iranian will receive a special email address along with their postcode." He added that "With the assignment of an email address to every Iranian, government interactions with the people will take place electronically."

Independent experts doubt the plan, however, and say that the plan will most likely not materialize across the country as the newly elected president Hassan Rouhani, who has taken a softer line on Internet and web censorship, is due to be sworn-in in August.

Some Google users were shocked to find the service not available this morning, which caused a small bout of mass hysteria on social networking sites such as Facebook. The outages began around 9:30 AM ET and reports began to surface on Facebook and Twitter shortly thereafter.

An hour later, around 10:30 AM ET, all of Google services had appeared to be restored and back to their full functionality. Among the services affected were Google+, Google Drive, YouTube, and Gmail. The outages appear to have only affected those living in the southeast region of the United States, however, this reporter experienced no interruptions at all.

Of course, the interruption of Google's services created quite the uproar in the online community and CNN.com managed to capture a few of these reactions for our viewing pleasure. I have listed them below for your enjoyment.

Pretty much every PC gamer on the planet was disappointed when they learned that Rockstar Games had no intentions of publishing its upcoming Grand Theft Auto V title on PC. The series began on the PC and has a following unlike any other game, not to mention an entire community based around modding the game on PC.

This morning it appears that there may be a little hope for those eagerly anticipating a GTA V PC launch. In a since-removed job advertisement, Rockstar appears to be seeking a graphics programmer to work at the company's Leeds studio "to help bring our latest titles to the PC platform." The advertisement was first spotted by fansite RockstarWatch.

The advertisement explained that the graphics programmer would be working with Rockstar Studios world-wide to port existing titles to the PC. With all of the company's previous titles being available on the PC, this can only mean that Grand Theft Auto as well as Red Dead Redemption will be coming to the PC in the future.

As typhoon season approaches, Google has expanded its Public Alerts system to include Taiwan and has launched a dedicated crisis map for the country in preparation for the rainy season. These new additions come just in time as weather agencies are currently monitoring a typhoon that can hit the island any day now.

In a blog post this morning, Google said that starting today, the Google Public Alerts page (Source #2) will feature severe weather alerts for typhoons and flood-related events in Taiwan. Additionally, these alerts will also appear on Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Now. For example, if a typhoon alert is issued, the alert will be displayed once you search for relevant information on Google Search and Google Maps. Google Now on Android or iOS will also display a card with information about any typhoon alert if the warning has been issued near your location.

Google has also launched a dedicated Google Crisis Map for Taiwan (Source #3) that provides details in the event of a crisis such as shelter locations, evacuation routes, and much more. Google has teamed up with Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, Water Resource Agency, Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, Directorate General of Highways, and the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction to get such a project up and running.

Earlier this morning, Digital Storm unveiled its new VELOCE gaming notebook, which is being touted as the ideal balance between power and portability. The 13.3-inch gaming notebook packs a serious punch while weighing in at only a mere 4.6 pounds. Digital Storm says that the 1.26-inch thick VELOCE is ready to go to battle anytime, anywhere.

"VELOCE is the gaming notebook the industry has been waiting for," said Rajeev Kuruppu, Digital Storm's Director of Product Development. "The notebook strikes the optimal balance of power and portability without sacrificing gaming performance and is the first Haswell based slim gaming notebook to offer a stunning full 1080p HD display."

The VELOCE features an Intel Core i7 4800MQ Haswell processor, 8GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GTX 765M GPU, and a 13.3-inch full HD 1920x1080 display. Other key features include room for two storage drives (mSATA & 2.5") with RAID capability, a dedicated internal network port, SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 1.4, VGA video out ports and Bluetooth connectivity.

This morning, Google announced that it will once again allow users to make phone calls from within Gmail through the use of Google Hangouts. The company says that it doesn't matter whether its users are on Gmail or on the web; all users will be able to call the US and Canada for free.

Google says that it heard the cries from many users who were disappointed that they could no longer make calls from within Gmail and this was the major factor in their decision to return the service. Calls can be made to anyone in the US and Canada for free from any country in the world where Hangouts are available. Calls can also be placed outside of North America through the use of Google Voice. A call to India will cost users $0.02 per minute while a call to Mexico will run users $0.15 per minute.

Users do not need to make calls through Gmail alone as Google+ and Chrome extensions also support the feature. The company tells us that with Hangout calls up to 10 people can converse through the video chat while up to five people can participate in voice only. This gives the ability for 15 people to be on the same call it one time.

This morning, GIGABYTE announced the arrival of a new addition to its gaming keyboard lineup. The FORCE K7 Stealth Gaming Keyboard is touted as having the embodiment of a Stealth fighter with its scissor-key structure and slim solid body. The keyboard features an extremely short actuation distance for accurate and stable key presses in addition to a switchable three-color backlighting system.

The new gaming keyboard also features anti-ghosting capabilities that surround the WASD cluster that guarantees that the general gaming combination keys are registered and executed without conflict. Just like other models in the line, the keyboard features a twin wheel design that offers prompt control of keyboard backlighting and volume levels during intense gaming sessions.

Below is a quote from GIGABYTE on the features of the new FORCE K7 Stealth Gaming Keyboard:

More details have surfaced on LG's upcoming flagship smartphone, the Optimus G2. Engadget has just posted several leaked photos of a new LG device that is said to be the company's new flagship smartphone. The phone takes some design cues from LG's Nexus 4 with rounded corners and an almost edge-to-edge screen.

The phone features no hardware buttons and looks significantly more sloped without the Nexus 4's hard edges. According to Engadget, the G2 is significantly larger than the Nexus 4 due to it featuring a 5.2-inch 1080p screen. LG has revealed in the past that the next generation Optimus G phone will feature a QUALCOMM Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.3GHz.

The phone will feature 2 GB of RAM and will sport a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera. Most notable is that LG has chosen to place the volume rocker buttons on the back of the phone below the rear camera. The reasoning behind LG's decision to do this is unknown and quite frankly, I think it is a horrible idea. Rumors are circulating that we could see the G2 launched on August 7 at a press event LG has been sending out invitations for. All images are courtesy Engadget.com.

NVIDIA announced today its latest plans to compete in the ongoing bundling war with graphics rival AMD. The company has partnered with Ubisoft to bundle Splinter Cell Blacklist with the company's GeForce GTX graphics cards. Additionally, the company will include a bonus copy of the 2010 release of Splinter Cell Conviction.

NVIDIA engineers are working closely with the Ubisoft Toronto development team to incorporate an array of cutting-edge gaming technologies for Splinter Cell Blacklist including DirectX tessellation, NVIDIA HBAO+, TXAA antialiasing, and surround technologies to ensure gamers can experience smooth frame rates and awesome visuals in all of their covert missions.

Due to launch on the August 23, the game is to be made free to anyone buying an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, GTX 660 Ti, GTX 670, GTX 680, GTX 760, GTX 770 or GTX 780 from the usual participating retail partners from now until December 31. In Splinter Cell Blacklist, Sam Fisher returns as leader of 4th Echelon, an elite counter-terrorism unit armed with a new mandate to hunt down the masterminds behind The Blacklist, a series of deadly escalating attacks on U.S. interests. To stop the Blacklist countdown, gamers will choose the best way to face any challenge by tapping into Sam's arsenal of lethal skills and training.

Earlier today, Steam updated the page for Dota 2 to reflect that its beta program has finally come to a close. The page directed players to check out various links which did not work and featured a graphic stating "The Beta Is Over." Also listed is a launch date of July 9 for the production version of the game.

Unfortunately, Steam has since removed the page but according to Valve, the disappearing act is the result of some technical difficulties. Below is a quote that can be found on the new Steam page:

Over the last month or so, we have seen a wealth of new games announced. While they are all quite spectacular in their own right, none of them come as highly anticipated as Grand Theft Auto V. GTA V has to be the most talked about game of the year and RockStar is doing a good job at keeping the anticipation levels high.

This morning, RockStar Games released a new trailer video of actual in-game footage that takes us on a more in-depth look at the reimagined San Andreas. We learn more about the game's three leading characters, which are all playable on-the-fly during gameplay. This means that you can switch to each of the three during missions to provide new vantage points to shoot from, or even to handle different parts of the mission such as flying the escape helicopter while the other two characters hang onto a rope.

The video also shows off old and new features such as the ability to deeply customize vehicles in customization shops, a playable stock market system, investing in and selling real estate, and even playing a round of golf. Traditional features such as getting a tattoo, buying clothing, and flying planes also make a comeback for what is almost guaranteed to be the most thrilling GTA ever.

This morning, reports are coming in that Apple has began to cut production on its iPhone 5 model. The report comes from Brian Blair of Wedge Partners, an analyst who closely follows Apple's production numbers. Apple's core suppliers are said to be expecting a cut as large as 20 percent for orders of components that make up the iPhone 5.

"So, when they make a dramatic change in their forecast, they need to let their suppliers know," Blair said. "And this is coming from some of our supply-chain work out of China and Taiwan that has let us know, not exactly, but that there's been roughly this kind of a change in their forecast for the period from June to December, about a 20 percent cut in what they've been telling their suppliers to be ready for."

Industry insiders say that Apple has cut iPhone sales forecast down from 115 million units to about 90 million units. Cutting back production is usually seen as an indication that Apple is getting ready to release its next generation in the iPhone series, so maybe we will begin hearing a solid release date for the iPhone 5S as well as that low-cost, budget level iPhone as well.

Early this morning, Facebook finally switched on Graph Search for all of its English-speaking users in the US. By expanding its test program that was rolled out in January from a few thousand users to a few million users, Facebook can now see how its new search performs on a massive scale.

Graph search is a tool that allows people to search Facebook's fast database using natural language searches to find almost anything the social network has ever indexed. An example of one search would be: "Photographs of my friends taken before 2005" or "restaurants in New York City my friends have visited and liked." Facebook would then return results based on your query.

I feel the graph search, while cool, is not really useful past searching for restaurants, photos, or places. I have been a member of the beta program since the week it was released and to be quite honest, the novelty wore off very fast. In the past few months, Facebook has modified the search so much that now most results are quite broad and not a specific as they used to be.