NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 can overclock... itself!
I bet you read that title, and thought "haha, yeah right", well, strap yourself in ladies and gentlemen. NVIDIA's 28nm-based Kepler GK104 GPU is being shown around the Game Developers Conference, as we speak, with Heise.de citing people it spoke to at CeBIT.
Let's do this: some models of the GeForce 600-series from NVIDIA will introduce a load-based clock speed-boost feature, similar to Intel's Turbo Boost, where the GPU will ramp up clock speeds to the GPU when it senses heavy loads. If there's a stressful scene to render, the GPU overclocks itself, gets through the scene, and goes back down to stock speeds. Wow.
This ensures that the GPU has higher minimum and average frame rates, which is a great thing to see. Another thing to point out, is the GK104 does actually sport 1,536 CUDA cores, which should give it a definite kick up the bum for number-crunching scenarios, such as shading, post-processing, and GPGPU-based work. But, the CUDA cores don't automatically give you super amounts of performance, unfortunately.
Continue reading: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 can overclock... itself! (full post)
Corsair puts their foot on the Accelerator, releases new Accelerator Series SSDs
Corsair have just released a new range of SSD series today, the Accelerator. The drive is aimed for caching purposes, and even comes bundled with NVELO's DataPlex caching software. Corsair had shown off the Accelerator series at CES 2012, but the drive has not been made available until today.
The Corsair Accelerator series is available in three sizes: 30, 45 and 60GB. The drive doesn't need to be super-large, as its only used as a cache drive, so it only stores the most frequently accessed data. Caching is aimed toward average users as utilizing two separate drives can be a bit hard for the novice user, whereas advanced users want total control over their data.
Keeping the price of the drive down is important, as it will attract more buyers, especially those who don't yet own an SSD drive. The new drive sports a SATA 3Gbps interface, which Corsair chose to keep the price down. The drives come in two different specs, with two different controllers between the 30GB (SandForce SF-2141 controller) and the 45/60GB drives with the SandForce SF-2181 controllers.
Apple's new iPad also gets 4G LTE high-speed mobile internet access
Apple aren't wasting any time with this event and not boring us with facts and figures. We already saw that the new iPad will get Retina Display, but it will also get 4G LTE high-speed internet access.
For comparison, the iPad 2 has 3.1Mbps on EV-DO and 7.2 Mbps on HSPA and the new iPad will get 21Mbps on HSPA+, 42Mbps on HSDPA and a massive 73Mbps on supported LTE networks. According to Engadget, Verizon, Rogers, Bell, Telus and AT&T will be the LTE partners.
In addition the new iPad can be a personal hotspot like the iPhone 4, but it will still depend on if your carrier supports it or not.
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Fibble: Crytek's first mobile game, powered by CryENGINE 3
Crytek's first game in the mobile universe is called 'Fibble - Flick 'n' Roll'. Crytek say that the game is a "highly engaging puzzle game" that "combines strategy with physics-based interactions" with vivid and highly detailed visuals.
CEO and President of Crytek, Cevat Yerli says:
Going mobile is an incredibly exciting step for us as a game development company. The way that people play games on mobile devices is a real blessing. This allows us to get back to our roots, experiment and focus our energy on creating great gameplay experiences while still keeping Crytek's high production values.
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OCZ unveils Vertex 4 SSD, sports Everest 2 controller
CeBIT 2012: OCZ have just unveiled the successor to the Vertex 3 SSD, dubbed Vertex 4. Vertex 4 is a fourth-generation SSD which sports the Everest 2 controller, as well as synchronous MLC flash memory that should sport speeds of up to 550MB/sec read, and 500MB/sec write, with 90,000 IOPS (4k random write).
OCZ, if you remember, exited the memory market in early-2011, where they cited weakness in the global DRAM industry, but noticed rapid growth in the solid-state drive market. OCZ then scooped up South Korea-based Indilinx, who they worked on the original Vertex SSD.
OCZ's Vertex 4 drive is the second drive to sport technology from the acquisition and the first to use the Everest 2 platform. OCZ did launch the Octane SSD in October of last year, which featured the original Everest controller, and was the first SSD to ramp up to 1TB in a 2.5-inch form factor. No release date is set on the Vertex 4, but we should see it hitting shelves in the coming months, and we should also see it in capacities up to 2TB.
Continue reading: OCZ unveils Vertex 4 SSD, sports Everest 2 controller (full post)
EA pulls Simpsons game from iTunes, says its due to overwhelming popularity
EA have removed The Simpsons: Tapped Out from the App Store for a, well, weird reason. First up, an anonymous gamer posted on EA's help forum, asking about the game, and had a very interesting response from an EA representative:
To ensure current players have the best possible experience, we've temporarily removed The Simpsons: Tapped Out from the App Store to limit the game's server capacity to its current players and address connectivity and lag time issues.
So, EA removed The Simpsons: Tapped Out, because it was too popular? I was never the popular kid in school (contrary to popular belief from my flowing locks and eagle-sharp eyes, I look like a young Alec Baldwin), so I don't understand how this happens. EA predicts that players who have already downloaded the game will experience a smoother experience, with EA saying "actually, your experience should only improve as we work on a solution".
Microsoft reveals Office 15, sports touch-friendly features, simpler UI
Microsoft, in its venture to reclaim the love of its users, has started seeding its Office 15 technical preview to select, lucky partners, earlier than normal this year to get it ready for the public. The Verge has managed to spy some shots of Office 15, and its new features.
Office sports a large influence of MS's Metro, where it has a cleaner interface and touch mode, which makes working with your documents and presentations on a desktop, tablet or smartphone, that much easier. Word has also received some love, now including double-click to zoom, smoother scrolling, video embeds, and the ability to share documents online through a browser.
Excel has also received some upgrades, now including some formatting controls, as well as chart animations. PowerPoint wasn't left out, and is now easier to drop Excel charts into presentations without messing with formatting. Outlook now sports weather forecasts built-in, in-line replies, and greater multiple e-mail account support. One Note wasn't left out of the upgrades, and now has improved tables support.
EA talks SimCity, PC-exclusive, and new trailer
GDC 2012: EA have just announced that SimCity will be named, well, SimCity. No numbers, no space, just SimCity. It's being made by Maxis, and is a PC-exclusive. Yes, you read those words right: PC-exclusive. EA/Maxis have thrown a trailer into the lions pit, aka, the Internet, and boy is it exciting me.
Maxis' goal is to create a vision o the game that includes more choice, while simultaneously making the game the most playful and most responsive one in the series. The game will be in 3D, and will offer online components, but the emphasis of this full announcement is on how much the spirit of the original games are to them, which is great.
Maxis stressed that everything you see in the game, is there for a reason, with greater emphasis on detail, and a greater impact from your sim-building decisions. You'll be able to interact with the cities of your friends, and for example, if your city pollutes, you could lower the air quality in your neighboring cities. SimCity also sports roads like I like my women: curvy. A city is not built on a grid, and now we have curvy roads, finally.
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RumorTT: iPad 3 will be called the iPad HD
VentureBeat has heard the rumbles from reliable sources, and are reporting that the next iPad to hit, won't be called the iPad 3, and will actually be dubbed 'iPad HD'. iPad HD would make sense, as the new iPad sports a high-resolution Retina Display with a 2048x1536-pixel display.
Right now, the current iPads feature 1024x768-pixel screens, so the iPad HD will blow them out of the water. Apple aren't the first ones to hit a homerun in terms of screen resolution for a tablet, but are the first ones to go over 1080p. ASUS' Transformer Prime features a 1080p display, but of course, in the usual Apple tradition, we should expect the high-res display to be a world first somehow. Hopefully we see iTunes HD debut at the same time, or else it will [mostly] be for nothing.
The iPad HD name would also make more sense, considering it will most likely ship with a suped up version of Apple's dual-core A5 processor, dubbed A5X. No quad-core A6 for you, iPad fans! Whilst ASUS and other companies are releasing quad-core tablets, Apple will behind the eight ball this time with a slower dual-core. Yes, most apps and games don't use it, but bragging rights are bragging rights at the end of the day. Other companies will be able to use this against Apple when pushing their products.
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The US has filed paperwork to extradite Kim Dotcom from New Zealand
The US is hungry for blood over the MegaUpload debacle, and now US prosecutors have filed papers that seek the extradition of Kim Dotcom, founder of MegaUpload, along with three colleagues, who are charged in the US with allegedly running a criminal enterprise responsible for online piracy of copyrighted goods.
The extradition papers jumped over the pond on Friday and found themselves on the desk of the North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand, confirmed by the country's Ministry of Justice's spokeswoman said on Monday, according to PCWorld. It was decided on Wednesday by the High Court of New Zealand, Auckland Registry that Dotcom could stay free on bail, after government prosecutors acting on behalf of US authorities appealed a February 22 decision of the District Court to grant Dotcom bail.
The judge has said that he understands the extradition hearing won't take place until August, and also observed that for Dotcom "to be incarcerated for another six months awaiting the extradition hearing, the risk of flight has to be a real one". Dotcom has an electronic monitoring device monitoring his every move, which was one of his bail conditions, which has reduced the risk of flight, he said. He added:
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