COMPUTEX Taipei 2011: Tick, tock. Intel has teased the world with their Ivy Bridge-based technology, building upon their 2nd generation Intel Core technology, Ivy Bridge is expected to find its way into systems in the first half of 2012. Laptops that are powered by Ivy Bridge will bring improved power efficiency, smart visual performance, increased responsiveness and enhanced security. Ivy Bridge will also be the first high-volume chip based on Intel's 22nm manufacturing technology that uses a revolutionary 3D transistor design dubbed Tri-Gate which was announced last month.

Intel Corporation Executive Vice President Sean Maloney has today said that by the end of 2012, he expects 40-percent of the consumer laptop market will emcompass an emerging new breen of no-compromise computers called "Ultrabook". The new Ultrabook's will combine best-in-class performance, improved responsiveness and security all bundled into a thin, elegant form factor.

But, like those ads on TV that promise steak knives with "and that's not all" promises, Intel isn't finished yet! In Intel's news release, Maloney goes into detail on how Intel are looking at the future. Along side the Ultrabook unveiling, Intel have said there'll be a fair amount of changes between now and then to the Core processor range that will allow Ultrabook to take off. He also reiterated Intel's push to accelerate the pace of innovation for Intel's Atom processor-based system-on-chips (SoCs) for netbooks, smartphones, tablets and other companion devices.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011: ASUS are set to raise the bar with their Republic of Gamers line with a bunch of new products. Take a deep breath right about now... because you're going to need it! First up, we have the ASUS ROG G74Sx 3D Gaming notebook. This notebook is a high-performance notebook for gamers on the go, it features clean, angular lines that of which nothing less than a damn stealth fighter jet has, and the power to match thanks to Intel's amazing Sandy Bridge architecture.

NVIDIA fills out the graphics quota of the G74Sx notebook with a GTX 560M chip that will allow great frame rates at the native 1920x1080 Full HD resolution as well as NVIDIA 3D Vision which allows playback of 3D Bluray movies and 3D Vision-compatible games. ASUS have gone one-up on this notebook by using an innovative thermal design that features twin fans to draw cool air from the front of the case whilst two rear exhausts help by expelling warm out the rear.

It also features a gamer-friendly keyboard that looks ever-so-stylish. Backlit keys are included to make sure your parents basement lighting (or lack thereof) doesn't effect your late night or all night gaming sessions.

THQ has just announced Metro: Last Light as a 2012 title for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC platforms. The new foray into the Metro universe will feature multiplayer, something that was not available in Metro 2033. The developers are touting that they're exploring ammo as a currency; fresh idea, I love it! Below is the announcement trailer!

Danny Bilson, EVP Core Games, THQ has said:

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011: LucidLogix has had a hard time hitting the big time with their technology but this is definitely a sign of change - Virtu is a Universal GPU Virtualization method that can work on anything from Sandy Bridge-based and AMD Brazos-based processors. The technology will dynamically balance the advanced power-efficient, built-in media features of integrated GPUs with the high-end DirectX 11 3D, anti-aliasing and performance features of discrete GPUs.

Another benefit is power consumption, the software is able to switch between integrated and discrete graphics options without the need of the user switching cables from port to port when changing tasks.

Virtu Universal features a new Vsync method in which it can include the best image quality without tearing, providing the user with maximum frames per second without jagged or jumpy and fluctuating frame rates. Normally once an FPS limit is hit, with Vsync on, there'll be tearing or a visible issue on the image on your screen; not with Lucid's Virtual Vsync. Lucid are claiming it has up to 250-percent better responsiveness and 250-percent higher frame rate that standard Vsync provides (60fps).

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011 - Yesterday we stopped by the NZXT suite where we spoke to marketing manager Victoria who gave us a rundown on a couple of their upcoming products.

We start off with the Sentry Mix which is a fan controller offering six 50-watt channels and that should be plenty for some very high profile cooling fans inside your case. The channels are adjusted from the front of your case with a device that fits nicely inside one of your drive bays and looks rather slick.

The colors can also be changed with the touch of a button. You just use sliders to go up and down to adjust the voltage of the fans, the sliders were also very smooth to use. It should go on sale later this year in Q3 or Q4.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011: HIS are showing the new HD 6970 Mix at Computex which offers us support for three monitors without the need to go DisplayPort. One of the biggest issues regarding Eyefinity for people has been the need to get that DisplayPort monitor, HIS step away from this by offering us the ability to run Eyefinity via two DVI ports and HDMI.

This isn't the first time we've seen a company offer us this ability with an AMD card but I have to say that this is one of the better solutions as HIS have chosen to do it on a higher end model that has the capability of running Eyefinity in games.

HIS are utilizing the IceQ cooler which you'll see soon here as I've just finished testing the new HIS HD 6970 IceQ Turbo. It's a mean looking cooler and it feels like they're kicking it ol' skool with the design which reminds us of some of the older versions. Of course it's been heavily upgraded rocking a mean heatsink and some fancy copper pipes.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011 - One of our other stops today was with DisplayLink who had a whole bunch of cool demos on display which we will get to a little later on. The first demo we are covering is one that involves the mighty scarce Apple iPad 2.

Alright, so DisplayLink is usually known for its mixed hardware and software solutions, but the demo here works purely with software and the magic of wireless. Using just a standard laptop (yes, without any tricks - Windows 7, Vista (32 and 64bit) and XP (32bit) compatible) with the free software from DisplayLink installed and the app on the iPad 2 (also works on older iPad), you are able to extend your desktop to your iPad 2 with ease.

Basically you just install the app on your iPad or iPad 2 and get the software installed on your PC and you can get access to additional display with range up to standard wireless distance. The best part of this technology is that it is free, but only for a limited time. After watching the video above, you might want to go grab it now before DisplayLink start charging for it.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011 - As well as stopping by the notebook department during our GIGABYTE visit on the 36th floor at Taipei 101 today, we of course made a stop with the motherboard who had no shortage of new motherboards to show off.

Dino from GIGABYTE Australia was on hand to introduce three new boards, but kind of got a little shy when it came to the third and very new board. We got a look at their new AMD 990FX motherboard that was released today that finally brings all the big GIGABYTE features to the AMD platform in the flavor of the UD7.

Next up we also got a look at the Z68-Gaming motherboard. You might remember the previous range of gaming series motherboards from GIGABYTE based on the P65 chipset. The word was that if that range was successful and sold well, the gaming series would continue. Obviously it was a successful move by GIGABYTE to focus more on gamers and sales must have been good as we get the new Intel Z68 chipset with gaming mobo treatment from the Taiwanese mobo maker.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011 - Today we stopped by the OCZ booth where in typical style we saw a whole bunch of new storage products from the company who keeps pumping out new SSDs.

First up we got a look at the Z-Drive R4 88 which is an enterprise easily out of reach for most end-users. This is a drive intended for very intensive applications and the demo OCZ had on display in a Supermicro server was pushing over ONE MILLION IOPS. Yes, you read that right.

Next up we get into the creative area and see the new RevoDrive Hybrid. As the name suggests, this is a PCI Express based SandForce SSD that comes with 60GB of flash memory. Unlike a typical SSD, that flash is not accessibile and is instead used as a cache to dramatically speed up the performance of the bundled 500GB or 1TB 2.5-inch hard drive. In the video above, you can see it hitting over 700MB/s.

If $60 per recycled game wasn't enough, Activision Blizzard are launching an online service dubbed Call of Duty Elite that will work with the next outing in the COD universe, Modern Warfare 3 as well as future installments of the game. The monthly subscription fee will let users gain access to extra content that won't be available on discs sold in stores, including downloadable map packs that give new levels to play.

Activision hasn't announced the cost of the Elite service, but it's expected to be at the $8 per month level, which isn't too bad and would sit side by side with the pricing of a Netflix account for example. Another feature of the Elite monthly cost will be tools available to the player in the form of analyzing performance within the game, such as stats on which weapons have been the most successful in killing enemies.

This service and associated news comes a week early of E3 in LA next week and in a market flooded with expensive games and yearly replacements of the game, could spell an end to the COD dominance. Considering that Call of Duty is strongest on the Xbox 360, consider the up-front cost of the game - $60. $9.99 subscription for Xbox Live as well as $8 (or so) per month for the Elite service. That's a fair bit to swallow if it just includes some extra maps.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011: Corsair has debuted their Force Series GT range of Solid State drives and they're quite the performer. First thing you see is that the drive is race car red, so very sexy. Secondly, they're available in 120 and 240GB configurations, thirdly; performance. Performance wise the drives are very, very fast. The Force Series 3 120GB is capable of 550/510MB/sec sequential read/writes with the 240GB slightly faster with 550/520MB/sec sequential read/write performance. Near SATA 6Gbps speeds from a single drive!

Now onto the goodies, if you thought that was impressive; max random 4k write provides insane results of 85k iOPS. This is the faster as OCZ's top "Max IOPS" drive - Corsair has done it again. Even they advertise it as "There's fast, and then there's fast". You tell 'em Corsair.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011 - Corsair has got straight to work on what is officially Day 1 of Computex expanding the Vengeance series with a new LP Vengeance line. As you may have guessed from the title LP stands for Low Profile and compared to the current crop of Vengeance kits they are indeed not as tall following that more traditional height as you can see below.

We don't have exact data on what kits we'll see in the new line but offering an ultra-low 1.35v default voltage the kits will no doubt be sitting around the 1600 / 1866MHz DDR CL9 speeds. What we do know is that the kits will be available in both Triple and Dual Channel form for the X58 and P67 / Z68 platform.

Coming in a range of colors including Red, White and Blue the Vengeance LP series is a good looking one. The reduced height is also going to be appreciated for users who use massive air coolers and want good quality modules from a company like Corsair.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011 - We saw an early glimpse of it earlier in the year at CES in Las Vegas, but today we stopped by the Corsair suite to get a detailed look at its upcoming Link control software which allows you to take control of what is going on inside your system.

In the video above you get to see a look at the software that is still in beta, but is getting close to being released. Corsair Link works with a USB control unit that slots into one of your drive bays and your fans and other devices such as lighting plugs into it.

It not only allows you to monitor temperatures, but also adjust fan speeds. So, right now you are saying you can control fan speeds now, but Corsair Link takes things quite a way further. For instance, if you have a light kit installed, you can adjust the lights to change depending on the GPU temperature, for instance.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011: Cameron is busy pounding the floor of Computex making sure we're getting you the latest and greatest information on everything tech related. ASUS have managed to steal the show today, though, with the new ASUS Padfone being announced.

While information is still a little limited on the Padfone at the moment, what we can tell you is that it's two devices that can come together. We've got an ASUS Smartphone and an ASUS Tablet with the latter having a docking area for the Smartphone.

Below you can see a picture of the two devices by themselves with a single cable linking them to each other. Getting a unit hands on seems near impossible with the below being an early engineering sample that was only up and running last week.

COMPUTEX Taipei 2011 - We got an early hands-on with the Eee PC X101 here at the ASUS press conference on Day 0 at Computex.

The X101 is a brand new netbook being announced today that runs MeeGo. As far as the other specs go, it runs an Intel Atom N455 processor that brings with it 1GB of DDR3 memory. The system is "Instant On" and as you can see in the video above, it boots (and also shuts down) very quickly.

There will also be the X101H that comes with Windows 7 Starter and either a HDD or SSD depending on how much money you have to spend.

Brought to in conjunction with Haus of Gaga (if that doesn't sound like a brothel for babies, I don't know what does), Polaroid has announced for June the first in their Gaga-designed "Grey Label" (GL) product line: the Polaroid GL10 Instant Mobile Printer. The device utilizes Polaroid's "Zink" technology (zero-ink) to instantly print high quality 3"x4" pictures straight from your mobile device. If there were any doubt about Gaga's involvement, note the marketing speak in the press release:

The GL10 retails for $170, available now through pre-order. Next up, hopefully we see Polaroid/Gaga's photo-snapping glasses originally spoken of at the most recent Consumer Electronics Show that will surely pair quite nicely with this printer. See below for product specs, or hit the site above to preorder.

Google's Wallet has finally been unveiled, with Google saying "Your phone will be your wallet". This is what Google Wallet and Google offers will be capable of, by combining payments and deals into one package. It's the future of paying for things, really. Google Wallet is not a single thing, it's a cake mix of multiple products rolled into a single thing. It's an Android app, it's a way of paying for things with credit or debit cards by using your phone.

It's a coupon collector and loyalty card system, it's another way for merchants to let you pay and offer up deals. It has tentacles into other Google services such as Shopper and Google Offers. The core technology uses wireless NFC and more specifically, MasterCards's PayPass system, so you'll be able to use it anywhere that offers PayPass.

At the moment, Citi's the sole banking partner with Sprint as the carrier partner. At the moment, you're limited to a single phone and credit card for the full Google Wallet experience. Only a Nexus S 4G and Citi MasterCard will give you the "full" experience, although you can fill up the Google pre-paid card that comes with every wallet using any credit or debit card. Google are saying that GoogleWallet is "more secure than your wallet", well I don't know about that, my wallet gets my ass-time than my chair.

Following up on the reboot of the PlayStation Network, Sony is covering all of its asses bases. PSN and Qrocity users, pending they had an account before April 20, 2011 (like anybody was lining up to sign up to either after that date) can enroll in AllClear ID PLUS Identity Theft protection program. See the blog post below for more info, but hey, not a bad start on the road to reparations.

As confusing as that headline may sound, it's not a joke: Researchers Sean Gustafson, Christian Holz and Patrick Baudisch of the Hasso-Plattner Institute have created a working prototype of a touch interface that literally you can hold in is the palm of your hand.

A wearable depth camera tracks the user's movements on the surface of the palm of his or hand, corresponding to specific commands for an iPhone or other touchscreen phone, such as sliding to unlock and time settings. I just recently returned from the Augmented Reality Event in Santa Clara, of which author Vernor Vinge was one of the keynote speakers. His 2006 novel, Rainbows End, is one of the key ideological foundations of the AR industry, and in that book he features characters that can manipulate electronics and the internet by a set of clothes he describes as "wearables".

The future is now, kiddos. Phase 1: Imaginary Interfaces. Phase 2: interacting with the internet by shrugging your shoulders. Anybody else giddy?

ElcomSoft, a Russian-based company is claiming they have cracked the 256-bit hardware encryption Apple use to protect the data on iOS 4 devices, but not only that, they are also offering the software that will allow anyone to do it. ElcomSoft is a well-known corporate security and IT audit company, which works with law enforcement agencies, the military and intelligence agencies to recover data and perform forensics on devices.

Their latest tech allows them to open up the data stored on any iOS 4-based device by circumventing the hardware encryption chip Apple use to protect it. ElcomSoft's software allows full access to what is stored on the iOS 4 device, such as geolocation data, browsing history, call history, text messages and emails, usernames and passwords, it even provides access to recover data that the user has deleted from the device.

ElcomSoft have effectively created a toolkit that allows for the extraction of the encryption keys from iOS 4 devices, with these keys it is possible to decrypt an image taken from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Once that process is complete a forensic tool such as FTK or Guidance EnCase can be used to look at the data in great detail. Another shining star of this software is that it does not take long to access the data on the device.