AT&T now offering Galaxy Note 8.0 for $199 if you purchase a Galaxy S4 starting June 21

AT&T have announced both the pricing and availability of the upcoming Galaxy Note 8.0 from Samsung, where they're offering a nice incentive to people who want to purchase the device. Starting on June 21, if you purchase the 8-inch slate it will set you back $399 on a two-year contract.

This isn't the only purchasing option the US carrier have on offer, though, so if you purchase a Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Active or Galaxy Note II at the same time as the Galaxy Note 8.0, AT&T will drop the price from $399 to just $199 - shaving it in half. This isn't too bad at all, if you were after a tablet $199 isn't too much money to plonk down on an 8-inch slate. The Note 8.0 features a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, an 8-inch 1280x800 display and a decent 4600mAh battery.

Continue reading: AT&T now offering Galaxy Note 8.0 for $199 if you purchase a Galaxy S4 starting June 21 (full post)

Microsoft to drop linked accounts in Outlook.com, will be replaced with user aliases

Charles Gantt | Internet & Websites | Jun 17, 2013 2:02 PM CDT

Microsoft users have long enjoyed the privilege of linked accounts in both Hotmail and Outlook.com services, but that is all about to change. Microsoft says that sometime in the next few months it will be removing the linked account feature from Outlook.com and will be replacing things with user aliases.

Microsoft ultimately blames poor security for the changes noting that users usually keep their main account up to date with password changes, but rarely modify linked account passwords. The new user aliases will essentially be new email addresses that are managed under a single user account. Additionally you will be able to forward all email from secondary accounts to the main account and have the ability to reply from any of the secondary accounts from within the main account.

We've found that quite often, people who use linked accounts keep their primary account's security info (including password and proofs) up to date, but don't lavish as much care on their secondary accounts. It's easier for a malicious party to compromise one of those secondary accounts, which gives them full access to your primary account. Note that if we detect suspicious activity in your account, we automatically unlink accounts to try to help prevent this abuse, but we think we need to go further.

Continue reading: Microsoft to drop linked accounts in Outlook.com, will be replaced with user aliases (full post)

Samsung to release new Galaxy S4 variant, this time with 100% more LTE Advanced

Charles Gantt | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Jun 17, 2013 12:53 PM CDT

Samsung's Galaxy S4 is redefining diversity in the mobile phone market. The company has already released several iterations of its flagship phone including what is basically a point and shoot camera glued onto the back. This morning we are catching word of yet another variant that will propel the S4 into another level of speed.

Samsung's co-CEO JK Shin confirmed this morning that the company is working on a modified version of the Galaxy S4 that will support 4G LTE Advanced. This next generation radio will boost the S4's speeds significantly, up to as much as 3Gbps down and 1.5Gbs up in theory. Real-world speeds will be somewhere in the 300Mbs down and 150mbs up due to software constraints.

"We'll be the first with the commercial launch of the advanced 4G version of the smartphone," Shin told Reuters, adding that he expects the device to be a crucial part of its product portfolio. "The new LTE-Advanced (4G) phone will be another addition to our high-end segment offerings that ensure healthy profit margins."

Continue reading: Samsung to release new Galaxy S4 variant, this time with 100% more LTE Advanced (full post)

G.Skill breaks six world records during live OC event at Computex 2013

Charles Gantt | Tweaking & Overclocking | Jun 17, 2013 11:48 AM CDT

G.Skill became the big winner during the 2013 Computex show held in Taipei Taiwan with a massive six world records being shattered during a live overclocking event held by the company. Each rig that broke the record was using G.Skill extreme performance DDR3 memory modules and was overclocked by the best professional overclockers in the world.

In all six world records were broken including: Memory Frequency, PI Fast, Super Pi 32M, 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme, 3DMark Fire Strike and 3DMark 05. Other participating hardware was provided by ASUS, Intel, GIGABYTE and EVGA.

Memory Frequency- DDR3 4283.2MHz

Continue reading: G.Skill breaks six world records during live OC event at Computex 2013 (full post)

Apple releases statement on customer privacy in wake of PRISM

Charles Gantt | Current Affairs | Jun 17, 2013 9:11 AM CDT

This morning, Apple has released its first official statement on customer privacy in the wake of the PRISM scandal in Washington. Apple was one of the companies named as a willing participant in the NSA's spying program and was one of the first to deny its participation entirely. The statement released by Apple this morning clarifies how and when the Cupertino giant hands over customer information to the US Government.

To get started, Apple released some vague figures on the number of data requests received from US law officials during a 17-month period that ended on May 31, 2013. The company says that during that time frame it received between 4000 and 5000 request for customer data, most of which involved investigating robberies and "other crimes", aiding in the search for missing children or alzheimer's patients, or suicide prevention measures.

The company says that it's legal team evaluates each request and delivers the "narrowest possible set of information" to the government agency that submitted the request. Apple also stated that if any inconsistencies or inaccuracies are found in the request, they deny the whole thing. To wrap things up, Apple noted that Facetime and iMessage data is fully encrypted and not even they have the capability to decrypt them, and went on to state that "similarly, we do not store data related to customers' location, map searches, or Siri requests.

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PS4 demolishes Xbox One in an Amazon customer poll

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jun 17, 2013 4:30 AM CDT

I think the line in the sand has been drawn with next-gen consoles, but just how far back as Microsoft been pushed? Well, according to a poll run by Amazon on their Facebook page, Microsoft are really losing this war, by a long shot.

They asked readers which next-gen console they prefer, the PS4 or the Xbox One and the results are absolutely huge. The PS4 has 31,689 votes and the Xbox One has just 1,754 votes - yes that is not a mistake. Of course, this doesn't mean that the PS4 is going to be 20x more popular, or make 20x the sales - but this is an interesting statistic. This doesn't mean the Xbox One is finished, but it'll be interesting to see where things sit in a couple of years from now.

All I know is that I would've bought an Xbox One on launch if there was a killer app, but nothing I've seen makes me want one. The built-in Kinect sensor being always-on kind of turns me off, and isn't something I want sitting in my house. I like that Sony at least gives you the option, which is definitely the right move.

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CPU-Z makes its way to Android, get detailed information about your smart devices internals

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Jun 16, 2013 6:33 AM CDT

CPU-Z is now available for Android, a tool that has been used for many years by people like myself and other enthusiasts to get information on their systems and to check their latest overclock and what not. The app is now available for Android, which is a refreshing change.

CPU-Z for Android provides a slew of information about the internals of your Android-powered device that you can use for debugging, optimizing or tweaking, just like you would on your Windows-powered PC. There are different tabs for your SoC, system build information, battery stats and live sensor data. There are obviously other apps that provide users with a similar experience, but this is CPU-Z, something that has been a long time companion of PC tweakers and enthusiasts.

I'll be installing this on my phone this afternoon for a tweak or two! You can grab it, here.

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Microsoft damage control: Xbox One games will be playable after next-gen, maybe

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jun 16, 2013 4:28 AM CDT

Microsoft are having to go into some serious damage control post-E3 2013, as the Xbox One is really losing steam with gamers. Xbox Live director of programming, Major Nelson, took to Reddit in r/games and during an interview answered the following question:

After the Xbox One servers are shut down at the end of the new generation, will Xbox One games still be playable?

Interesting question, which should have an interesting answer, right? Well, Nelson answered with:

Continue reading: Microsoft damage control: Xbox One games will be playable after next-gen, maybe (full post)

Intel's Haswell-E to kick some serious ass, features 8 cores, DDR4 support, X99 PCH and more

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Jun 15, 2013 10:49 PM CDT

Intel have just launched their Haswell processors, or fourth-generation Core processor, but they will never stop. The 2014 platform known as Haswell-E will launch as an 8-core processor, oh baby, yeah.

Intel's Haswell-E platform will launch in 2014 and will be their enthusiast platform, we're going to get into some specs now so you'd better put a book on your lap or something. Haswell-E is set to debut in the second half of next year and will be Intel's first 8-core desktop CPU, so expect some serious CPU performance. We should see an offer of between 6- and 8-core CPUs with up to an amazing 20MB of L3 cache.

But, wait, there's more! 8 physical CPU cores means we're still greeted with Hyper-Threading, meaning 16 logical cores. Maximum TDP for Haswell-E should sit at around 130-140W with the processor itself sitting on the 22nm second-generation Hi-k process. Performance-wise, with the additional two physical CPU cores and the usual improvements in the architecture, we should expect a 33-50% performance increase over the 2014 platform.

Continue reading: Intel's Haswell-E to kick some serious ass, features 8 cores, DDR4 support, X99 PCH and more (full post)

Thought the speed of light was fast? NASA is about to get a speeding ticket with their next field test

I think mainstream science has been suppressed for a very long time now, and it's about time that we find out, as a human race, what the reality of our existence really is. The first steps in this, are reversing the mainstream points of science. It looks like NASA could do something good here, with their latest field test that could prove that there is a possibility of faster-than-light travel.

Harold White and his team at NASA have been working on something called the Alcubierre Drive. This new method could use a solution which would see a craft placed within a space that is moving faster than the speed of light. This means that the craft itself isn't moving at the speed of light, meaning the craft itself doesn't need a propulsion system capable of travelling at that speed. This is where things get a little confusing, so grab your white lab coat and come on a walk with me.

The Alcubierre Drive is based on Einstein's field equations, which suggest that a spacecraft could indeed travel faster than the speed of light. But, instead of the craft itself pushing past the speed of light, it would do so by contracting space from in front of it, and expanding the space behind it - a nice trick. It's this type of science that I love reading about, and I think this is the future of space travel - thinking outside the box, which this kind of is.

Continue reading: Thought the speed of light was fast? NASA is about to get a speeding ticket with their next field test (full post)