Latest News - Page 3112

We've seen a few different AMD Catalyst drivers lately, with today bringing the Catalyst 11.11a driver. What does it do? Well, as usual, it supports Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP and brings some fixes, support and improvements for Batman: Arkham City, RAGE, Skyrim and Battlefield 3.

You can grab the drivers here, and for a rundown of what the Catalyst 11.11a driver does, take a look below:

Batman Arkham City:

I was in high school when Buffy was on TV, I absolutely was in teen-love with Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Now there's rumors of the Facebook phone once again, codenamed "Buffy." The phone is reportedly going to sport a modified version of Google's Android OS which Facebook have tweaked heavily to deeply integrate its services, as well as featuring support for HTML5 as a platform for applications.

Facebook have only recently chosen HTC after considering Samsung as a potential hardware partner. This means we won't see products with the Facebook branding for at least 12 months. Buffy has reportedly been an ongoing area of concert for Facebook for two years now. Buffy is led by Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, and a spokesperson for Facebook may have declined to comment on Buffy directly, but did say to AllThingsD:

Microsoft Chairman and co-founder, Bill Gates, has donned his suit, put his hands on his hips and walked into court on Monday in a billion-dollar antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft over Windows 95. Yes, Windows 95.

Microsoft did attempt to get the billion-dollar antitrust case dismissed by a federal court, but failed. Bill Gates was forced to take the witness stand on Monday to defend Microsoft. Novell filed the antitrust lawsuit and are attacking Microsoft over Word Perfect. Novell originally sued Microsoft in 2004, claiming that Microsoft violated U.S. antitrust laws and harmed Novell's range of software products.

Novell has provided an Exhibit of an e-mail from 1994, which was from former Microsoft CEO and chairman Bill Gates to his software development teams. Gates started his testimony with a history of Microsoft (or a commercial) by saying "We thought everybody would have a personal computer on every desk and in every home."

Microsoft really wants to see what startups can do with their motion-based Kinect camera. Selling 8 million in 60 days wasn't enough, and Microsoft sees the future of gaming (and technology) as a huge part of Kinect. Microsoft is now preparing to help teach developers around the US what it takes to make the Kinect work for products on the Xbox or Windows PCs.

Microsoft is choosing ten different developer firms and individuals to come to Seattle for three months to learn the Kinect system inside-out. The ten people or startups will participate in what Microsoft call the "Kinect Accelerator program" and will work out of the Kinect Accelerator office.

Whilst in the program, the participants will learn everything they need to know in order to create things for Xbox and PC that work with Kinect. They won't just get three months of free training, they'll also receive $20,000, an Xbox dev kit, and the Windows Kinect SDK. Once the training is complete and the startups get their ideas perfected, Microsoft will sit them down in front of investors, venture capitalists, and media to try and grab some additional funding.

Rockstar have just released the first details of the Max Payne 3 Special Edition which will be made available on all three platforms including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. The Special Edition is available for pre-order starting immediately and only available until January 15th, 2012 while supplies last.

Max Payne 3 Special Edition will cost $99.99 and features digital multi-player character and weapon packs not found anywhere else. The Special Edition of Max Payne 3 includes:

A copy of Max Payne 3.

We've talked about this before, but some fresh news has floated up onto the surface of the waves of the Internet. New reports from Chinese websites have sparked up the XDR2 topic again with new rumors that AMD will attempt to deploy XDR2 memory on their next-gen ultra-high end products.

XDR2 is quite powerful according to Rambus, where it can transfer twice the amount of data per clock when compared to GDDR5. AMD and Rambus have had better relations with each other when compared to most other companies. In 2006, AMD settled outstanding disputes with Rambus by willing to pay licensing costs for certain technologies claimed by Rambus, turning a lead in the relations between the two companies.

XDR2 offers not only double the bandwidth, but power consumption is reduced by 30-percent, which would make it a very attractive point for AMD and their high-end units. Rambus have also allowed support for both XDR2 memory controller and GDDR5 memory, which would allow AMD to offer two GPUs. One with XDR2 memory, more performance, more expensive, whilst lower-end would have a 7900 series GPU with GDDR5.

There is a huge post on the MSDN blog about Windows 8, and how they are improving the setup experience. Microsoft are really working hard on perfecting Windows 8 and after reading the blog I'm 100-percent confident they are on the road to success.

They've got some big challenges ahead of them, and are committed to get more PCs working with Windows 8 than any previous version of Windows was capable of. With more than 450 millin PCs that will be Windows 8-capable, Microsoft expect that many systems that are currently rocking along with Windows Vista and even Windows XP will be eligible.

Windows 8 will also now be offered through an online installation, with a "pre-key" inside the setup image that is downloaded to a unique user, this means that you won't even need to enter the 25-digit product key during installation. In pre-installation, Windows 8 will scan your PC to determine compatibility, resulting in a summary report that shows what programs and devices on your system will/won't work, and what items require your attention.

It's holiday season once again and while everyone is dodging each other for that latest and greatest smartphone or tablet, Google would like to remind you that there are other options. Options such as their Chromebook, which they've now commenced a fresh push on, including an updated interface and some much more competitive, and festive pricing.

Google are slowly changing their Chrome OS to be more like a Windows laptop, or as user-friendly as an iPad. In May, Google introduced a file system and laptops with working SD card slots, which is a huge upgrade from the once only cloud-based launch. While Chrome OS and Chromebooks are still cloud-heavy, you can now side-load files and even download them to an easily accessible file area on the system.

Where Chromebooks make it easy, is beyond the usual Google/Gmail sign-in, there's no setup. Nothing. Nada. Zip. For those with a Gmail account, you just sign in like you do on an Android-based tablet or smartphone (something I utterly love) and from there, it'll sync your data, contacts, e-mail, photos (from Google+ and others). It really is a no hassles, easy setup process.

Whilst most people are enjoying Battlefield 3, there are some issues. Usually I hate issues on big AAA titles, but I forgive DICE for this. Battlefield 3 really pushes most boundaries of games these days, scale, graphics, audio, detail, etc. It's hard to release a game that looks this good, on consoles too, without some bugs.

But, DICE are preparing a major PC patch full of tweaks and improvements. A post on the EA blog explains it a bit more:

There are going to be as many as 50 Intel Ultrabooks to be launched at CES in January next year. According to Shawn DuBravac, director of research for show organisers the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), he expects a truck load of ultrathin laptops to be unveiled in Las Vegas. DuBravac told journalists at a CES Unveiled even held in London:

Up to this point, there has only been a few manufacturers who have announced Ultrabooks, as most of them are awaiting the 22nm refresh of Ivy Bridge before releasing their devices. Intel CEO Paul Otellini is set to give a keynote speech in Las Vegas, where Ivy Bridge is likely to be officially released alongside a large amount of new Ultrabooks.

I found this video on my stumbles through the [sometimes] strange corners of the Internet, where YouTube user 'n0w1kn0w' posted a video with the title "You have 30 days to pay me $5,000,000...", the video is below, watch it first and then read more below:

Now, it starts off all boring - at one point I thought he was building a mobile bomb that he was going to place in some Government building and then keep it there for 30 days waiting for his $5,000,000, but then the video gets quite serious with n0w1kn0w visiting a pyramid in Egypt, and rolling his remote control car into it.

The video is quite well done and I like the music (usually YouTube videos like this have really bad music tracks). But, lets think of it logically. Let's say he found something secret that The Powers That Be didn't want us to see, proof of aliens? A scroll? A device? Let's assume he found something, that YouTube video would be ripped off the Internet and he'd be thrown in the biggest, darkest hole you could imagine.

Norwegian-based start-up FXI, has unveiled their new prototype, codenamed 'Cotton Candy', a cloud-client on a USB stick. Cotton Candy sports a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9, as well as a quad-core ARM Mali-400MP GPU, 1GB RAM, MicroSD reader, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, USB and HDMI outputs.

This is virtually the same hardware that powers one of the best smartphones on the market, Samsung's Galaxy S II. What is different with Cotton Candy is software. It acts as a cloud-client on-the-go. You could be running a PC with Windows, Linux, or a Mac, an Embedded device or just a TV, you'll be able to plug the Cotton Candy stick into a USB port of a PC or into the HDMI port of a TV. After you've plugged it into the device, that device turns into a portal to the cloud, allowing you to carry your own personal OS on you at all times, whilst having the experience that is identical no matter the device you're next to.

Google's Android OS powers Cotton Candy, so it will turn any device into a larger Android-powered device. Applications will have the ability to both send and receive data to and from the cloud, with control of Cotton Candy through a mouse or keyboard, and if they're not available, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth peripherals, or even a mobile phone.

I've been playing Battlefield 3 a few hours here and there and I just love it. It's an amazing achievement from DICE and the new DLC pack Back to Karkand is set to kick some serious ass. A new gameplay trailer is out and it looks like it's been done on PC this time.

In the video above, Strike at Karkand is shown off, with the streets recognizable from the fan-favorite Battlefield 2. If you pre-ordered Battlefield 3, you'll get Back to Karkand for free, if not, it will set you back $15. Back to Karkand DLC includes four maps, Gulf of Oman, Sharqi Peninsula, Strike at Karkand and my personal favorite, Wake Island. New weapons, vehicles and special assignments are also featured.

PS3 Battlefield 3 gamer? You're in luck, you'll get a week of gaming in before we all do. PS3 gamers gave a week early access to Back to Karkand.

Nintendo has a grand PR stunt for the launch of Mario Kart 7 which launches on December 4 on the Nintendo 3DS portable gaming console; real-life replicas of the classic Mario Kart and Luigi Bumble V Kart. Yes, real-life replicas!

The replicas were built by West Coast Customs, who are known for their awesome work on the MTV series "Pimp My Ride." Mario's shiny red go-kart comes complete with its glider attachment for flying. Luigi's go-kart includes a cool rear propeller that's used for underwater navigation. In the below picture is Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America:

The karts will sit on display at the LA Auto Show, November 18-27 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. But, there's a really good thing coming from Gamespot here. A competition for the chance to take one of these bad-ass looking go-karts home! The competition is through GameStop's PowerUp Rewards program, where a PowerUp member must make a purchase or trade in a game at GameStop in the month of December.

With all of the X79 news coming out on the 14th you may have missed the Revisiting the Legend: OCZ Vertex LE article that was posted. Our friends at MyDigitalDiscount.com uncovered a batch of drives in a warehouse and are blowing them out.

TweakTown has teamed up with My Digital Discount to offer a coupon code to get the legend for right around $1 per GB on the 240GB model. The coupon code, TT30off240LE is still in effect but only a few drives remain.

The Vertex LE is one of the fastest SATA II drives ever released and was ahead of it's time. It featured 3Xnm flash with 15K P/E cycles, a rarity these days in a world filled with 25nm flash rated at just 5K P/E cycles. After the coupon you can't find a better deal and the 285MB/s read, 270MB/s write speed is pretty nice too:)

Earlier today we made our way over to the Antec Taipei office where we got given access to an exclusive video preview of the upcoming Eleven Hundred Gaming Series computer case.

The Eleven Hundred is the flagship model in Antec's gaming series of cases which brings with it full E-ATX and XL-ATX motherboard support and support for up to three-way SLI and four-way CrossFireX. It's a stylish looking case which immediately indicates great quality as we have come to expect from Antec cases in the past. It looks just like a typical Antec product with included traditional features we've seen in the past, but it's also mixing in a blend of new features.

On the top of the case is a 200mm exhaust fan with a blue LED and in total the case supports up to nine fans in total for some pretty extreme cooling potential. In the past we've seen Antec including the power and reset buttons towards the front top of their cases, but this time around with the Eleven Hundred they are move to the top front of the case, which is a much better position especially for when the case is sitting on the ground.

The on-going flooding problem in Thailand is only getting worse for the technology industry, with hard drive pricing skyrocketing past what most people would have been able to dream of two weeks ago. People are expecting pricing to rebound soon, but they are wrong, very wrong.

Seagate CEO Stephen Luczo was talking to Bloomberg, where he labels "nonsense" estimates that drive production will return to "pre-flood levels" by next summer. He adds:

If you're just getting over this week's launch of Intel's Sandy Bridge-E CPUs, you might want to hold your breath just a little bit longer. Less than a week since its launch, Sandy Bridge-E is now sounding old with its successor taking shape over at Intel, with a release date for Q4 2012.

That's not the good part, the good part is that according to a leaked internal slide scored at XFastest, Ivy Bridge-E will be compatible with today's Intel X79 platform, and LGA2011 socket. This makes a SB-E upgrade that much better, as 12 months from now you can just buy an Ivy Bridge-E CPU, slot it in and away you go. You might need a BIOS flash to get there, but it makes a SB-E upgrade not so scary.

Ivy Bridge-E will be built on a 22nm silicon fabrication process, and shouldn't be much more than a shrink of SB-E. We could see the shrink allowing some headroom for enabling some of its components that have been locked away for SB-E. The fastest SB-E silicon physically holds 8 cores and 20MB of L3 cache, but the fastest SB-E-based Core processor has just six of those cores, and 15MB L3 cache enabled.

Well, it's finally settled. Rambus was dealt with a pretty big defeat on Wednesday, as a San Francisco jury rejected its claim in a $4 billion antitrust lawsuit against Micron Technology and Hynix Semiconductor. The IP licensing company lost more than 60-percent of its market value following the ruling, where investors' fear that the company won't be able to sustain its business model.

If you didn't know, the case revolved around allegations that Micron, Hynix and others had engaged in price-fixing to keep Rambus' RDRAM memory technology from gaining widespread adoption. If you remember, Intel used RDRAM with the Pentium III and 820 chipset, as well as the Pentium 4 and 850 chipset. If you remember that, you'll also remember how it was quite expensive at the time and DDR ram was just too much of a bully for RDRAM to take off.

According to Rambus, Micron and Hynix conspired to ensure Rambus memory would be more expensive, and therefore a less attractive option to OEMs. The defendants maintained that it was "design flaws, higher manufacturing costs and other drawbacks associated with RDRAM along with Rambus' business practices" that prevented RDRAM from succeeding.

Good Old Games (GOG) have been a great pillar in the PC community for offering those old games we used to absolutely love and adore, and selling them at a decent price with a no-fuss, DRM-free digital platform which is also set to get that much better.

GOG managing director Guillaume Rambourg revealed at the CD Projekt Red Investor's Day conference in Poland today that their business plans for 2012 and 2013 were to include the addition of not-so-dated games. GOG's goal is to become the number two digital game dealer. Did you notice EA's Origin wasn't even thought of there?

The new venture will include exclusive release opportunities with certain developers, but no names have been mentioned yet. The new initiative will start next year and while the low-priced classics enjoy low pricing, the new service with newer games will of course be a little more expensive. GOG have said they will continue to stick to their guns with DRM-free games and flat prices worldwide. GOG have also guaranteed they'll still bring the classic games that we've come to expect.