GIGABYTE lists its GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce 3-way SLI kit for $2999

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Dec 10, 2014 10:17 PM CST

GIGABYTE surprised the world with its super impressive GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce 3-Way SLI Kit, but now it is finally beginning to sell the best Christmas present ever. The kit is listed on Newegg, with a price tag of $2999.

For $3000, you get three NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 GPUs, and an external liquid cooling box (with three 120mm radiators and fans). Breaking it down, the GPUs are around $550 each or $1650 for three. This means that the external liquid cooling box and all of the associated work GIGABYTE has pumped into this product, is costing a $1350 premium. This is a massive ask, but for some people who want the ultimate in 3-way SLI, it's a nice option.

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Netflix teases it could soon have 'as many as 20 original series'

Anthony Garreffa | Celebrities & Entertainment | Dec 10, 2014 9:32 PM CST

I'm a massive fan of Orange is the New Black and House of Cards, but Netflix is ready to start ramping up the number of original series that it produces and airs on its service.

Vulture spoke with Netflix's Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos, who said that users can expect many more Netflix shows going into the future. He added that the company could even release a new show every two and a half weeks or so. He said: "I think that we can expand on our original programming ... from where we are today to probably as many as 20 original series. So the idea of launching original series or [an] original season of content every two [and a] half weeks".

Not all of the shows will be of interest to such broad ranges of viewers, with Sarandos explaining: "Not a show or not a new show for everybody, every two and a half weeks, but a new show that for segments of the viewership every couple of weeks".

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Apple iPod Classic's reach a new extreme - $90,000 sale of rare item

Chris Smith | Audio, Sound & Speakers | Dec 10, 2014 8:51 PM CST

Remember how we told you to hang onto your iPod classic for a little longer as they're discontinued and selling for a mint? Well, if you're looking for a house deposit or a fancy new imported car - now might be the time to auction off your limited edition iPod classic.

Spotted recently on eBay thanks to Mashable, this special edition U2 iPod was auctioned off for a cool $90,000. Factory sealed and engraved with the autographs of U2's band members, this UK edition has surely helped boost some lucky fans bank accounts - and drained another.

There's also been a $180,000 iPod classic offering pop up on the popular auction and trade website, seeing investors jump at the chance to bolster their income for the year. We've also seen reports that sealed first-generation iPods are now going for a cool $20,000.

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Rapoo releases stylish spill resistant wireless keyboard and mouse

Chris Smith | Peripherals | Dec 10, 2014 8:02 PM CST

If you're looking for something a little more stylish for the office, Rapoo have set out to provide you with a solution. Their new 8000 mouse and keyboard set are designed as a minimalist peripheral solution, seeing simple and effective styling all wrapped up in their low $19.99 retail price.

Coffee drinkers rejoice - the keyboard on offer is spill-resistant alongside running on a 2.4 GHz wireless connection, this board can be used up to a length of 10 meters away from the source device. Also providing 360 degree coverage, the keyboard offers customizable media keys, making it a possibility for your home entertainment system also.

The mouse gives you a handy 1000 DPI and is available in this set across different color options, including black/blue, black/green, black/gray and white/pink. This kit is available now from Walmart for the previously-quoted cheap retail price of $19.99 and sets out to offer you a home or office solution that's a little more stylish than the rest.

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Fractal Design announce the Define R5 chassis

Chris Smith | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Dec 10, 2014 5:49 PM CST

With space for up to eight internal hard drives, any full size video card and incorporated dense sound-absorbing material all wrapped up in Fractal's signature clean overall design, the Fractal R5 case has arrived.

Self-quoted in their press release as "the definition of silence", Fractal sets out yet again to build on their simple, elegant and high-quality Scandinavian design concepts as seen throughout their other cases in the Define series. Although somewhat lacking in different types of models on offer, Fractal has decided to steer away from 'giving it all' and focusing on a few simple case design concepts - working harder on singular projects to make them right.

Fractal make sure to mention that water cooling is a viable option in this case, allowing the user to install radiators up to 420mm in the top and 360mm in the front of the chassis. However if air cooling is more your thing, they're providing two GP14 140mm low noise fans as standard.

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Marvel wants Spider-Man to appear in 'Captain America 3'

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Dec 10, 2014 5:13 PM CST

The rights to Marvel's stable of comic book heroes are splintered between studios, with the majority including 'Avengers', being held by Disney, but others, such as 'X-Men' are owned by Twentieth Century Fox and 'Spider-Man' by Sony Pictures. With Disney carving out a fan-pleasing cohesive cinematic universe with their properties, it's put more pressure on the studios to unify the Marvel characters.

Courtesy of the leaked emails from the recent Sony Pictures hack, it seems that Marvel extended an olive branch to Sony for future co-operation on the character, which would have seen Spider-Man appear in 2016's 'Captain America: Civil War'.

Discussions went to the highest levels of Disney and Sony, with emails exchanged between Sony Pictures CEO Amy Pascal, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai and Disney CEO Bob Iger. Unfortunately for fans, discussions broke down last month - although there is a glimmer of hope that following this leak, fans will lobby for plans to be reinstated.

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Windows Phone owners can purchase Minecraft Pocket Edition for $6.99

Michael Hatamoto | Gaming | Dec 10, 2014 4:44 PM CST

Microsoft today released Minecraft Pocket Edition for the Windows Phone, available for $6.99. The Windows Phone version also includes Creative mode, Survival mode, and Wi-Fi-based multiplayer mode. Interested gamers must be running Windows Phone 8.1 on their smartphones.

The price tag is the same for Windows Phone, Google Android, and Apple iOS. The extremely popular game is available on a large variety of different platforms: Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Sony PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Raspberry Pi.

Microsoft bought Mojang and Minecraft earlier this year for $2.5 billion, and has promised to continue its development in a manner that won't alienate avid Minecraft gamers.

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'Mad Max: Fury Road' releases stunning new trailer

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Dec 10, 2014 4:34 PM CST

Not one to be left out of the promotional rounds in the wake of high profile trailers for 'Star Wars', 'Jurassic World', 'Terminator: Genisys' and 'Avengers: Age of Ultron', Warner Bros has dropped a new trailer for next year's 'Mad Max: Fury Road' - the fourth movie in the 35 year old franchise.

The long gestating project, which wrapped principal photography back in December 2012 serves as both a sequel and a reboot to the original 'Mad Max' series, which launched the career of star Mel Gibson back in 1979. 'Fury Road' sees Tom Hardy take up the role of Max Rockatansky along with Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and is scheduled for release in the United States on May 15 2015.

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Instagram tops 300 million users, pulling ahead of Twitter

Michael Hatamoto | Internet & Websites | Dec 10, 2014 2:18 PM CST

Social networking site Instagram has reached an impressive milestone, surpassing 300 million monthly active users. Those users post 70 million photos per day and help share 2.5 billion daily "likes" while interacting with the website. Facebook purchased Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion, and has been able to help the site grow even further - especially helping the service steadily grow outside the United States.

"We're seeing a lot of people coming in the fashion world, a lot of people coming in, in the youthful teens world, and a lot of people internationally as well," said Kevin Systrom, Instagram CEO, in a statement to CNBC.

Facebook has done a good job of bringing advertisers onboard, and Instagram should be able to utilize the experience to further monetize. Instagram first rolled out advertising about six months ago, and while Facebook keeps Instagram's revenue figures private, it would appear the sky is the limit.

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The Pirate Bay's former spokesman not saddened by closure

Paul Alcorn | Internet & Websites | Dec 10, 2014 1:13 PM CST

Peter Sunde was one of the original The Pirate Bay founders, and his stint as the official spokesman for the popular torrent site earned him prison time. In comments on his blog Peter outlined his disdain with the current state of The Pirate Bay and expressed his feelings on the matter. "The Pirate Bay has been raided, again. That happened over 8 years ago last time. That time, a lot of people went out to protest and rally in the streets. Today few seem to care. And I'm one of them."

Much of Peter's angst stems from the fact that The Pirate Bay has devolved into a soulless entity hell-bent on running garish ads to receive as much money as possible, at least in his eyes. "The site was ugly, full of bugs, old code and old designs. It never changed except for one thing - the ads. More and more ads were filling the site, and somehow when it felt unimaginable to make these ads more distasteful, they somehow ended up even worse," Peter writes. The suggestive ads began when The Pirate Bay was sold to Reservella, a shadowy company based out of Seychelles. Reservella made several moves to monetize the site, but made very few improvements in actual function and design.

The Pirate Bay owns several other domains that can be used to bring the site back online, but so far there hasn't been a trace of the trusty old pirate ship. There are several scam sites popping up that are attempting to charge subscription fees, so readers are warned to steer clear of those particular bands of pirates. The Pirate Bay pioneered torrenting, and its widespread use has led to an entire constellation of other trackers on the web. This proliferation of alternatives may blunt the blow of The Pirate Bays untimely demise, but many expect the ship to pull back into port soon.

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