Coby Electronics 32-inch HDTVs recalled after fire risk

Michael Hatamoto | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 17, 2013 7:09 PM CST

Coby Electronics 32-inch flat screen HDTVs with the model number "TFTV3229" are being recalled due to potential fire risk, according to media reports.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) confirmed there have been at least six reports of TVs overheating, emitting smoke, or igniting in small fires. No reported injuries related to the faulty TVs.The TVs were sold starting in August 2011 until November 2013 at Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, H.H. Gregg, Toys 'R' Us, ABC Warehouse, P.C. Richard and Son, Sears/Kmart, and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Coby was a Chinese-based high-definition TV manufacturer that is known for selling low-cost, entry-level HDTVs that are drastically cheaper than rival models from Samsung, Sony, LG, Sharp, and other competing companies. Unfortunately, Coby USA is no longer in operation, so the retailers are handling the recall.

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Google, or Skynet? Google acquires robot maker Boston Dynamics

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 17, 2013 6:12 PM CST

Is Google feeling festive, or is the Mountain View-based giant feeling a little T-101ish? Well, Google has acquired robotics engineering company Boston Dynamics, which is best known for its quadrupeds, and super-impressive robots.

We've already seen BigDog, a motorized robot that is capable of walking through ice and snow, the Cheetah - which is capable of running at 29 miles per hour, and a convincing humanoid known as Arnold Schwarzenegger PETMAN. We don't know the business side of the deal, or the exact amount of money it took to acquire the robot maker.

We do know that a $10.8 million contract that the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) had with Boston Dynamics would still be honored after it has been acquired by Google. Something else I find fishy, is that a year ago the Director of DARPA left the defense agency, moving to... Google. Now Google acquires a high-end robotics maker? Yeah... Skynet is getting closer, folks.

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Lian Li Unveils the PC-V358 M-ATX Flip-Open PC Chassis

Charles Gantt | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Dec 17, 2013 2:00 PM CST

Today Lian Li unveiled a new brushed aluminum cubed PC chassis designed for mATX motherboards that features the unique ability to flip open for easy access to internal components. The front hinge design of the PC-V358 is said to allow for ample access to core components of the PC making for a cube style PC that is much easier to work on than traditional small form factor cases.

The PC-V358 features support for 240mm radiators from custom liquid cooling kits or All-in-One kits. The radiator can be mounted on a swing-open bracket which is secured by thumb screws, making for an effortless install of advanced cooling solutions. Two front 120mm fans and a rear 120mm fan handle all of the passive cooling duties by providing ample airflow to all components.

Storage capacity is capped at six 3.5-inch hard drives, and two 2.5-inch SSDs. Alternatively up to 8 2.5-inch drives can be installed with the use of adapters. The PC-V358 has room for a single slim optical drive as well. VGA cards up to 330mm long and PSU's up to 200mm long fit inside, and for those not into liquid cooling, a 130mm tall CPU cooler will fit as well. The new Lian Li PC-V358 will retail for $179 at Newegg.com at the end of this month.

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VIA files suit against Asustek over alleged misuse of trade secrets

Charles Gantt | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 17, 2013 11:03 AM CST

Today VIA announced that it has filed suit against a subsidiary of Asustek as well as four of its employees over allegations of misappropriations of trade secrets. The civil lawsuit has been filed in the Taipei District Court with VIA seeking damages equating to $138 million US.

The lawsuit states that misappropriation of VIA intellectual property related to USB technology occurred and names Asmedia Technology, Asustek, Asmedia Chairman Jerry Shen, Asmedia President Lin Chewei, and other Asmedia employees as those responsible for the misappropriation.

"As a long-time leader in IC design and technology innovation, VIA strongly believes in the importance of protecting intellectual property rights," commented Wenchi Chen, CEO of VIA Technologies, Inc. "In addition to protecting interests of VIA and our shareholders, the aim of this suit is to ensure our industry operates in a healthy market environment that fosters innovation and promotes fair competition." Further information can be found in a excerpt from the official announcement below.

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Avatar sequels to be filmed in New Zealand, $500 million+ to be spent

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Dec 17, 2013 1:37 AM CST

The New Zealand government has inked a deal with James Cameron and major studios for not one, but three Avatar sequels to be filmed in the country. New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, announced the news, stating that there would be a budget of at least $NZ500 million ($461 million or so) spent locally during its production.

Where Cameron and the movie studios benefit by shooting in NZ, is that if the three Avatar movies meet the requirements of the deal between the NZ government and the studios, they will qualify for a total tax rebate of 25%, which gets pumped into the Avatar movies. The requirements include:

The new movies will reach us on Christmas 2017, 2018, and 2019.

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ASUS PadFone X spotted in AnTuTu benchmark

It looks like ASUS could have a great year in 2014 with its PadFone line of devices, with a new PadFone turning up on AnTuTu's benchmark database, which was pulled down quite quick.

The PadFone X, as it was teased, featured the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, Android 4.4 KitKat, and smashed into some benchmarks, smacking around a few of the established smartphone heavyweights. The screen resolution on the PadFone X should be 1920x1080, but we don't know what size just yet. 2GB of RAM is featured, and 16GB of on-board flash storage should make the cut.

We should see a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, backed up by a decent front-facer, but that 5-megapixel camera on the rear is most likely a placeholder for something better in the final consumer version. We should be expecting 8-megapixel cameras by default now. ASUS should unveil the PadFone X sometime in early 2014.

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Bungbungame Project S high-end smartphone, just $299

Our friends over at New Gadgets have been on the ground with Bungbungame, a company that took to crowdfunding through Indiegogo for its Project S smartphone.

I've never heard of the Project S smartphone until now, but wow does it pack a punch: 8-core processor, 3GB of RAM, WQHD resolution, a body made from glass and aluminum, but the best bit? Just $299. Yes, $299. We're looking at a 5.8-inch 2560x1440 screen, which is just super impressive, especially given its $299 price.

The Project S is just a prototype right now, but with a finalized design, we should expect everything you see here for $299. For shooting abilities, we have a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a 2-megapixel front-facing snapper. Expandable storage is also featured, which is a nice touch these days.

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McLaren to use force field of sound waves, replaces windshield wipers

Anthony Garreffa | Electric Vehicles & Cars | Dec 16, 2013 11:39 PM CST

McLaren's Chief Designer, Frank Stephenson, has teased that a new system will be placed in McLaren's new vehicles, which will replace the ageing windshield wipers with some next-gen wipers.

The new wipers use ultrasound to send 30kHz waves across the vehicle's windshield, which would keep it clear from any debris, even those tiny insect remains that build up on your windshield, even after you've used the wipers over and over. The way it works is by creating a force field that stops rain, snow and insects from even touching the windshield itself.

If McLaren can get this technology working as it has said, I'm sure we'll see most other car makers using McLaren's patent and rolling the technology across vehicles all around the world starting ASAP.

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Yet another Battlefield 4 patch, fixing and breaking things as usual

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 16, 2013 11:34 PM CST

EA DICE has pushed out the December 16 patch for Battlefield 4 on the PC, which fixes a list of bugs, but has its own issues, too. The new update improves BF4's netcode, so that it will hopefully stop "kill trading".

Kill trading is something where two players who fire at each other, and die in the same place. The patch fixes the amount of time where players with high pings should already be dead, but get the kill instead. The patch also fixes:

But, there are new issues: users with NVIDIA GeForce SLI systems, like myself, get massive flickering issues - with the only option to stop this is by disabling SLI. DICE has said: "Both of these have our attention, and we're investigating them."

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RumorTT: Samsung's Galaxy S5 Premium to feature metal chassis

Charles Gantt | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Dec 16, 2013 3:25 PM CST

With Mobile World Congress 2014 under two months away, the rumor mill is working hard at churning out new unconfirmed specs on the most anticipated smartphones of 2014. Today a new rumor has surfaced about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5.

The latest rumors include reports of Samsung developing both a plastic and metal framed version of its next-generation flagship, and that they will be sold side by side with the metal version being branded as the premium model. Other reports are suggesting that the phone will feature a Quad-HD 2560x1440 display, 16-megapixel camera, 3GB of RAM, and a 4,000mAh battery.

While the high-resolution screen and metal framed chassis are expected, many analyst suggest that 4GB of RAM and a 2.5GHz processor will be needed to handle the 2560x1440 screen. Android 4.4 will most definitely be on board and an upgrade to Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie will come before years end.

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