Latest News - Page 3066

It only takes one incident, but that one incident is bad enough, so Samsung are investigating the case of the GALAXY S III that exploded in a user's car, with fears over a potential overheating problem. The user was baed in Dublin, Ireland, where he was driving and noticed a white flame and sparks coming from the S III before it exploded on the dashboard of his car.

The user posted on popular Irish forum Boards.ie, where he said:

Apple's latest MacBook Pro may feature that gorgeous 2880x1800 resolution with it being dubbed 'Retina display', but it seems that the notebook doesn't run that high resolution by default. The new Retina MacBook Pro (or rMBP) uses the screens extra pixels to display a higher level of detail on a canvas representing the previous 1440x900 resolution.

The result of this? All windows and user interface elements all appear to have the same relative size as the rMBP's predecessor with the 15-inch 1440x900 display, but with 400-percent more detail. If owners of the new rMBP wish to use a high resolution, then you can go to System Preferences and select a different resolution, all the way up to 1920x1200.

Those who want even more screen real estate, ranging up to the eye-busting 2880x1800 will have to use a workaround that is, wait for it, not authorized by Apple. Macworld reports that in order to get to the 2880x1800 resolution, you'll need to use either a third-party app like the paid SwitchResX, or one of a number of free options suhc as Change Resolution.

Here's a cool new tip and trick for you Google searchers out there, which, judging by the market share, is most of you. If you're anything like me, you're not one to clutter up your favorites list with a bunch of bookmarks. The only downside to this is finding that really informative website you found yesterday while Google'ing.

Have no fear, as Google is using the vast amount of information about you to help you! As long as you are logged in to your Google account, you can filter the results to show only pages you haven't visited or only pages you have visited. There are other filter options as well, but these are the coolest.

After searching on Google, click on "Show Search Tools" on the left hand side of the page. This will pull up a menu with various options. On that menu, all you have to do is select "Visited Pages" and only pages that you have clicked on will show up. Nifty! But what if I want to find something new? Select the option "Not yet visited" and pages you haven't visited will show up.

Alan Turing, a man you've probably never heard of and you probably couldn't live without his work, would have celebrated his 100th birthday tomorrow. Mr. Turing was the man who basically invented modern computing. He was also significantly important during World War Two due to his work in cryptography and code breaking.

Now, one of his inventions has been rendered in Lego form as a cerebration of his brithday, which, for inventors, is like an actor being parodied on The Simpsons. It's a sign that you have really made it. The machine is really simple and the heart of the machine is a Lego Mindstorms NXT set, but the soul is Alan Turing's genius.

The use of Legos demonstrates just how simple his machine was:

As if we don't already have enough internet codes, it appears there will soon need to be one more. A Google employee has offered up one option for the code that will surely soon be necessary. Tim Bray has proposed that the new code be '451' in order to honor the late author Ray Bradbury, whose science fiction classic Fahrenheit 451 warned of a dystopian world defined by government-imposed censorship.

"We can never do away entirely with legal restrictions on freedom of speech. On the other hand, I feel that when such restrictions are imposed, they should be done so transparently; for example, most civilized people find Britain's system of superinjunctions loathsome and terrifying," said Bray in an interview with the Guardian.

"While we may agree on the existence of certain restrictions, we should be nervous whenever we do it; thus the reference to the dystopian vision of Fahrenheit 451 may be helpful. Also, since the Internet exists in several of the many futures imagined by Bradbury, it would be nice for a tip of the hat in his direction from the Net, in the year of his death."

There's still a fair bit of time before Intel releases server chips based upon the Ivy Bridge architecture, but that isn't stopping avid readers and power users from questioning what comes next. Next, by the way, is Haswell, which is the successor to the current Ivy Bridge architecture and is a completely new design.

The leaked slides would appear to be real and detail some of the chip's features that we should expect when it releases. As far out as it still is, some of these details could be subject to change. The slide claims that there will be minimum of 10 cores per CPU and will sport up to 35MB of total LLC, about 2.5MB a core.

It is said to have 40 PCI-e lanes and will sport Hyperthreading and Turbo Boost. It appears that the new CPU will be getting a new socket (of course) called R3 or Socket R3. This is most likely so that it can handle the 4 channels of DDR4 operating from 1333MTS all the way up to 2133MTS. Additionally, it sports two QPI paths so there will be a max of two CPUs per system.

Looking through the specifications sheet for the upcoming Microsoft Surface tablet that runs the ARM processor reveals some interesting information. One, Microsoft has no quoted battery life specification and also never gave one during the presentation. And two, the specs say how many watt-hours the battery holds.

"They didn't talk about battery life, which is very important to decisions about [which] tablet to buy," said Michael Cherry of Directions on Microsoft. Gregg Keizer at ComputerWorld points out that Surface RT battery is rated at 31.4Wh which is not tiny, but is about 25% smaller than that of Apple's 42.5Wh rated battery.

At the same time however, if one looks at the iPad 2, they will find a 25Wh battery which provides 12.5 hours of battery life. The longer battery life is due to a lower resolution screen. Currently there are too many variables to produce an accurate prediction, but an early guess places the battery life at the same or worse.

It looks as though Valve believes there is some value to using games in education. It's been occasionally supported by studies that doing something fun helps kids learn and keeps them engaged, so the reasoning behind 'Steam for Schools' is solid. This summer, educators can apply to be included in the beta which provides a copy of Portal 2, its level editor and its workshop for hosting those levels.

"We have a limited version of Steam, which is called 'Steam for Schools.' And what we're doing is asking for teachers, after school programs, organizations - anywhere where there's a student relationship, which includes homeschooling - for them to submit a form to be part of it. It's still in beta," Valve's Leslie Redd told attendees of the Games for Change festival in New York City.

Valve has received no outside funding or grants to help pay for this program. They are a pretty successful commercial venture, so they do have a bit of extra cash laying around. Besides, doing things for children is probably the best PR a company can get, and it can't be costing that much to give away a copy or two of Portal 2.

Estonia-based company, GameFounders, has just opened their wallets and hearts to European Game Startups. GameFounders says that they are the first European accelerator to focus solely on game developers. They're offering an investment of 15,000 euros in exchange for 9-percent of the company.

You don't need to have an already-formed company, as long as your team is willing to incorporate after it joins GameFounders. The accelerator program is open to any form of game, as long as it has already launched, even if the game is in its beta stage. The website does note that "it is more likely at the moment for mobile games to get investments".

The best thing about it? It's not limited to Estonian companies:

I've been using Flipboard on my iPad when I'm laying in bed, or on the couch and it's a perfect app that I wish were on Android, and now it is. Flipboard officially launched on Android today after its short beta period and sports some new flashy super powers.

These new super powers include integration with YouTube as well as Google+ across platforms, as well as a pretty big distribution deal with Samsung. The Verge reports that the YouTube and Google+ integration works just like the Twitter and Facebook integration does in Flipboard. To add, you just tap the content guide ribbon, then select either service under 'Your Accounts', then head to 'Add an Account', easy.

YouTube on Flipboard looks great, as it pulls down all of your subscriptions allowing for simple browsing, as well as full commenting, liking, sharing, and subscriptions support built directly into Flipboard. Google+ is said to be pretty much the same, you can +1, share, and comment on posts, as well as browse circles, individual users, or pages. The updated Flipboard app is available from the iTunes App Store, Google Play Store, Barnes & Noble NOOK Store, Amazon's Appstore for Android and finally, Samsung Apps.

If you're wondering what to do when you're worth $36 billion, take a look at Larry Ellison for ideas. The co-founder of Oracle is listed as the sixth richest man on Forbe's list of global billionaires and seems as though he knows how to live life to the fullest. Err, at least spend money to the fullest.

The Hawaiian governor has announced that Larry Ellison is buying 98% of Lanai, one of the Hawaiian islands. The final price is not known, but the asking price is said to have been somewhere between $500 and $600 million. The island is 141 square miles and is currently owned by David Murdock. Lanai is also known as "Pineapple Island" as it was formerly a pineapple plantation.

It's not exactly clear why Mr. Ellison wants the island as it currently has 3,200 residents and several luxury resorts. The current company running the resorts and power, water, and other utilities is losing somewhere around $40 million a year. The remaining 2% is not owned by the same company who sold the other 98%.

DISCLAIMER: Even though the source of this story is claiming they independently verified it with three different manufacturers, it still has to do with Apple and therefore will be presented as a rumor until an official announcement by Apple is made. With that out of the way, let's move onto the details.

TechCrunch is reporting that the iPhone 5 will ditch the old 30-pin connector that has been the standard since its introduction on the third-gen iPod. Instead, the iPhone 5 is reportedly going to feature a smaller, 19-pin connector that looks similar to a Thunderbolt port. It will, however, have a different pin-out.

It's pretty obvious that Apple is more concerned now with saving space inside their mobile devices. Take a look at MagSafe 2 and this new rumored dock connector and you can see that. This new dock connector could force redesigns of accessories as it will no longer provide as much structural stability as the previous one.

In case you needed more examples of why the United States needs to focus on cyber security, take a look at a virus discovered in Peru. "ACAD/Medre.A" is a virus that is committing espionage by sending blueprints to China from companies in Peru. It has already stolen tens of thousands of blueprints, according to ESET.

The virus targeted the software AutoCAD which is a primary tool used by industrial designers and architects. It is believed the virus was first distributed to Peruvian companies through the use of an AutoCAD template given to public bodies. The virus was detected several months ago but has just seen a spike in usage.

The virus sends back blueprints to e-mail accounts provided by two Chinese internet firms, 163.com and qq.com. However, this doesn't prove China or the Chinese were behind the virus. What it does prove is that companies and governments alike need to strengthen their cyber security measures to prevent things like this from happening.

GDDR5 is what companies use if they want to provide a high performance graphics solution. It's the best solution for a lot of different uses and can be found in systems from graphics cards to networking switches, from cars to rockets and even lunar landers. But, when is the next generation going to arrive?

Well, that would appear to be in 2014, if things continue as they are. Let's take a step back and look at the origins of GDDR. AMD was the company behind the creation of the GDDR standard. They did some great stuff with GDDR3 and GDDR5, but GDDR4 really wasn't on the market long enough to gain any sort of foothold.

GDDR6 is being designed to last until at least 2020. It is being built with numerous changes and they are really focusing on the silicon used in the memory. The part is expected to outlast GDDR3 which still makes up the majority of GDDR shipments. AMD is working hard to get the standard certified. There are a lot of interested companies such as NVIDIA and Intel, but without AMD we wouldn't have the GDDR standard we have come to love.

Are you an Apple employee or thinking about starting work there? Well, now may be a good time as Apple is getting more generous with their employee discount offerings as well as their pay. Back in January, Tim Cook announced employees would be getting a new major discount program for Macs and iPads starting in June.

Sticking with that announcement, Apple has launched the new program which should give large discounts to Apple employees. Employees will now be able to purchase Macs with a $500 discount (excluding Mac mini) and iPads with a $250 discount. Better yet, these discounts are on top of the existing 25% discount offered by Apple.

Employees must be with the company for at least three months and can only take advantage of the discount once every three years. In other news, Apple has moved up its scheduled raises from September to now. Some are reporting increases of up to 30% but the average seems to be about $2-4. The increase depends on the performance of the store and employee both.

Now when viewing apps in the Google Play Store, users will be able to see developers' responses to user comments and reviews. It's something that should have been instituted from the very beginning and it's surprising that it took them this long to add it. It's a feature that can be seen in action on Newegg's review system and, quite frankly, it works great.

Google Play Project Manager Ellie Powers:

BitFenix has reaffirmed their commitment to SuperCharge technology which allows mobile devices to charge from a PC. But why is this any different from a regular USB port to charge with? Well, for starters, it has a microchip designed to monitor the voltage required for rapid charging and will provide that voltage so that the device is not damaged.

Further improvements come in the form of using a SATA power connector to prevent the possibility of installing the power cable incorrectly. This prevents users from applying 12 volts when it really should be 5 volts or the other way around. BitFenix also calls out the safety of their implantation over others'. "Recently, similar solutions introduced by competitors have begun making their way into the market, sometimes with hazardous results. In fact, a recent case led to a wire catching on fire during normal operation."

"BitFenix is known for innovation, and the appearance of similar solutions on the market is a signal that we're on the right track," said David Jarlestedt, BitFenix Product Manager. "However, we hope that products inspired by BitFenix innovations will bring a net positive result to the community, rather than causing inconvenience or even danger to users at home. We're thrilled with the feedback we've received for BitFenix SuperCharge, and caution against the use of charging devices that are not compliant with Battery Charging Specification 1.2. From SofTouch™ and FyberFlex™, to NanoChrome™ and SuperCharge™, BitFenix will continue to bring forth new innovations along with the input of the hardware community."

Sharkoon has released a new gaming keyboard at CeBIT at an affordable price. I'm always amazed at the prices charged by some companies for gaming keyboards as I figure there is no way it can be that much better. This new gaming keyboard, the Skiller, features 18-key rollover, interchangeable WASD and cursor keys, and software for creating up to ten keyboard profiles.

With all those features, you'll be surprised to learn that it comes with an MSRP of only 14.99 euros, which works out to about $20 USD, give or take 0.25. The keyboard features a stunning visual design that includes a striking geometric design and a blue illuminated Skiller logo in the palm rest.

The company explains the features and how it is customizable: "With its programmable keys and profile memory, the Skiller is an extremely versatile companion that quickly adjusts to all changing areas of operation: Through the enclosed software all standard keys can be assigned frequently used individual functions or macros. The configuration supports the creation of up to ten profiles, each with three sub-levels. This allows an optimal keyboard layout for a variety of different applications and gaming environments to be created with only a little bit of effort."

Google has announced a new project to save endangered languages in order to prevent them from becoming extinct. The idea is to make sure that there is a record to keep languages able to be spoken so that they can be taught to future generations. Languages have many aspects which result from the culture they are spoken in, so this is important for people who study these cultures.

Google has an endearing story about one such language thought to be extinct, but revived through historical manuscripts:

The next generation consoles are at least a year from announcement, so unless a company decides to pull a fast one and release earlier, they are still a good distance out. We've reported several rumors over the past months about the specs of the upcoming next generation consoles. Of course, these could be completely off base.

And, that's what it sounds like as John Carmack is saying to not expect much improvement out of the next generation consoles. About the only feature he expects to be present in the next generation is the horse power to render games at 1080p and 60fps. Currently, games are rendered at 720p and 30fps, so it is a bit of improvement.