AMD releases Catalyst 14.2 BETA 1.3 Driver

Roshan Ashraf Shaikh | Video Cards & GPUs | Feb 26, 2014 7:43 AM CST

AMD releases catalyst 14.2 BETA 1.3 for 32 and 64 bit version of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. The BETA drivers provide performance improvements and updates. The updates are available for AMD Radeon with discrete and APU- desktop and notebooks.

The updates contain series of fixes and updates such as crossfire profile updates and performance improvements for GPU configuration with Thief and even fixing frame pacing for dual video card support and non-XDMA configuration for screen resolutions above 2560 x 1600 for Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4.

There are only couple of known issues found in this BETA driver, such as the inability to render the right eye with Crossfire and Stereo 3D enabled on Thief.

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MasterCard wants to use your phones location for security

Anthony Garreffa | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Feb 26, 2014 4:25 AM CST

Let's face it, whenever you're shopping and using your credit card, you'll have your smartphone on you, too. Well, now MasterCard is working with network company Syniverse in order to reduce fraud when using your credit cards overseas.

The companies are working on tying your credit card to your smartphone, so that the card is only capable of working when your smartphone is near. Hany Fam, president of global strategic alliances at MasterCard explains: "There have been many attempts to help prevent credit card fraud, but this is the first solution that works globally and without the need for new devices or infrastructure".

If you end up using this new system, you won't feel it in everyday use. Your smartphone will just need to be turned on and kept with you. Syniverse acts on the phone operator's side of things, interconnecting between different networks reaching more than 5 billion mobile devices globally. The company is capable of locating users' phones on their signal alone, without mobile data being enabled, or used.

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Nexenta continues to storm the market with SDS solutions

Kalen Kimm | IT/Datacenter & Super Computing | Feb 26, 2014 2:03 AM CST

Nexenta has quietly accumulated a significant customer base of more than 5,000 users and nearly one exabyte of storage installed. Continuing upon that success, Nexenta announced today the upcoming release of NexentaStor 4.0 in Q2 2014 that will bring enhancements to failover time and overall reduced latencies. In addition to improved performance, Nexenta has put forth an effort into improving its out of box experience by simplifying installation and management with wizards and advanced monitoring tools.

While solutions around "software defined" networks, storage, and data centers are relatively nascent, Nexenta is staking its claim early on by partnering with industry leading system integrators. As an existing premier reseller partner for Nexenta, Eva Cherry, CEO and President of Silicon Mechanics says,

"Silicon Mechanics' strong partnership with Nexenta has been instrumental in helping customers realize the benefits of Software Defined Storage with an innovative product that improves performance and reliability...we are excited about how the enhancements in NexentaStor 4.0 will continue to help customers address the challenges inherent in big storage."

Continue reading: Nexenta continues to storm the market with SDS solutions (full post)

Titanfall on PC will use a titanic amount of HDD space: 48GB

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 26, 2014 12:27 AM CST

If you thought Max Payne 3 had a mammoth installation on PC, prepare yourself for Titanfall. Respawn Entertainment's mech-based first-person shooter will see an installation of 48GB.

Compared to Call of Duty: Ghosts which took up 40GB of HDD space, Titanfall really takes the cake here. Titanfall's minimum system requirements have also been released, which are pretty moderate:

OS: 64-bit Windows 7, 8, 8.1

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Broadcom introduces 5G Wi-Fi 2x2 MiMO combo chips for smartphones

Broadcom introduces BCM435 SOC which is the first 5G Wi-Fi (802.11ac) 2x2 Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) SOC for smartphones. This will allow manufacturers to provide twice the Wi-Fi performance of a single MIMO enabled devices while improving the power efficiency of up to 25% while using wireless applications.

This chip also supports Rezence wireless technology which is developed by the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP). This chip will work for Android, Windows and Chrome based systems. It was reported earlier that Dell recently joined the alliance to get the wireless charging technology for its devices.

"Smartphones have become the epicenter of today's digital life and consumers are demanding ever increasing levels of performance and sophistication," said Dino Bekis, Broadcom Vice President, Marketing, Wireless Connectivity Combos. "As a leader in wireless connectivity solutions, Broadcom continues to deliver unprecedented features and capabilities to this demanding and rapidly growing market."

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Snowden's latest: NSA sets up online "Honey Traps" to capture people

Anthony Garreffa | Current Affairs | Feb 25, 2014 10:29 PM CST

The leaks just don't stop from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, with Glenn Greenwald reporting on his latest leak that US spy agencies manipulate and control online behavior in more ways than one.

The NSA even goes as far as making something the GCHQ calls "Honey Traps", which leads to some very suspect behavior. This includes changing a targeted users photos on social networking sites, writing a blog purporting to be one of their victims, and then contacting their colleagues, neighbors, friends and so forth. These tactics are being used by GCHQ's previously unknown and secret JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group).

This is something that the spy agencies call "false flag operations", to purposely deceive and set individuals up for the fall. Not only do the spy agencies discredit a target, but companies can be targeted, too. The work they do will leak confidential information to companies or the press through blogs and other means, post negative information on various forums, which will sometimes stop deals or even ruin business relationships.

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Toshiba announces next generation of high performance SSD's

Kalen Kimm | Storage | Feb 25, 2014 10:22 PM CST

Toshiba's storage products business unit announced the March 2014 availability of its latest generation of highly efficient SSDs. The HG6 is the newest addition to the HG family, which offers high performance and power efficiency, making it suitable for a range of applications from laptops to data center servers. The 6Gbit/s SATA drives are available in a variety of standard form factors including 2.5-inch, mSATA, and M.2, with capacities up to 512GB.

The HG6 SSD's incorporates Toshiba's error-correction technology known as QSBC, a highly efficient error correction code (ECC). This safeguards customer data from corruption caused by NAND wear, which improves drive reliability and extends the MTBF. It is also the first mainstream SSD product to use Toshiba's A19nm Toggle 2.0 MLC NAND media. These features make it a suitable solution for enterprise class servers.

Toshiba is capitalizing on its unique industry position of being both a NAND inventor and SSD solution provider to provide a highly optimized product. According to Don Jeanette, senior director of marketing at Toshiba Storage Products Business Unit, "As inventors of NAND technology, we leverage our NAND expertise to optimize the performance and data integrity of this series, and truly give customers the power of choice with a broad selection of capacities and form factors."

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Keonigsegg and Razer collaborate on Limited Edition Gaming Notebook

Roshan Ashraf Shaikh | Laptops | Feb 25, 2014 10:02 PM CST

Razer has announced its partnership with Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg for a series of 'not-for-sale' Koenigsegg branded limited edition Razer Blade gaming laptops.

As far as specification is concerned, its same as Razer Blade: Intel i7 4702HQ with 8GB memory, GTX 765M, 256GB SSD, Qualcomm NIC N1202, Razer's anti ghosting keyboard with adjustable backlight and 14 inch 1600 x 900 resolution panel. All of this in a ultra thin low profile thickness of 0.66 inch and casing made of aluminum.

Koenigsegg branded Razer Blade gaming notebooks will be unveiled at the Geneva International Motor Show in March 2014.

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Google is lobbying for states to block anti-Glass driving laws

Charles Gantt | Business, Financial & Legal | Feb 25, 2014 9:07 PM CST

New reports have surfaced that indicated that Google is actively trying to stop states from enacting anti-Glass driving laws, and has its own lobbyist leading the charge in Delaware, Illinois, and Missouri. Google's stance on the matter is that the technology is still in its infancy and not in widespread use, and therefor does not garner special legislation restricting its use.

"I'm not against Google or Google Glass. It may have a place in society," said Delaware state representative Joseph Miro, primary sponsor of a bill banning texting while driving and Google Glass behind the wheel. "My issue is that while you are driving, you should have nothing that is going to impede the concentration of the driver."

While Google is certainly correct in that statement for the moment, Google Glass is becoming more poplar and more people are being invited to purchase the product every day. Before the end of the year, Google Glass will be in hundreds of thousands of users hands, and we will begin to hear stories of how the wearable technology distracted drivers and caused accidents, but how many of those claims will actually be true? How many of them will be falsely over-hyped by the mainstream media who has no clue how the devices even work? It's only a matter of time before anti-glass campaigns kick off similar to those against cellphone use in vehicles, and unfortunately the majority of the public will bite hook, line and sinker.

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Google's underwater Street View library just got a lot bigger

Charles Gantt | Internet & Websites | Feb 25, 2014 8:06 PM CST

Google's Street View is one of the revolutionary products from the company that forever changed the way we navigate the world. With Google's recent expansion of Street View to locations beyond city streets, the service has become much more than a simple navigation too, and people are using it to take virtual vacations to remote places all over the world. Today Google rolled out more images for its Underwater Street View library, taking us to popular diving spots in Cancun, and Isla Mujeres.

These latest editions join a collection of underwater panoramic photos from hot spots such as the Great Barrier Reef, the Philippines, and Hawaii as well as spots from Bermuda Monoco, and the Galapagos Islands. Each photographic excursion takes place over a 2-3 kilometer area and is comprised of some 3000-4000 images that are later stitched together to form the breathtaking panoramic images seen in Street View.

For right now, Google seems to be focusing mainly on areas around North and South America, but the company says that in the future it will expand to the rest of the worlds underwater treasures, and that it expects to have a much larger uncatalogued within the next two years. Projects like this are one of the most important things Google does in my opinion as we know more about outer space than we do about the Earths Oceans. Personally, I hope Google teams up with someone like NOAA or Odyssey to do more panoramic images of deep water sunken ships and other ruins that lay below the waters surface.

Continue reading: Google's underwater Street View library just got a lot bigger (full post)