New beta of SwiftKey Flow is available, features 'flowing' in nearly all text fields, and more

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Jan 28, 2013 10:31 PM CST

The previous beta of SwiftKey Flow hasn't allowed you to 'flow' in all text fields, but it looks like this has been fixed up in the latest betas to hit the SwiftKey website.

The new beta looks much more refined and sports less features this time around, where it includes easier corrections, new languages, a new theme and more. The full changelog is quite hefty:

Changes in this version:

Continue reading: New beta of SwiftKey Flow is available, features 'flowing' in nearly all text fields, and more (full post)

Crytek opens new studio in Austin, Texas, fills it with former Darksiders developers

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 28, 2013 9:35 PM CST

THQ was broken apart last week, with bits and pieces being sold to other companies in various forms. Now we're hearing that Crysis developer, Crytek, have just opened up a new studio based in Austin, Texas, and have filled it with some of the core developers from Vigil Games.

Vigil Games are the guys and girls behind Darksiders, but with THQ sinking, they were left without anything to do, until Crytek come to their rescue. Ex-Vigil co-founder, David Adams, has now become the CEO of the newly-formed Crytek USA Corp., where he has said:

I'm thrilled to be a part of the newest Crytek studio, which will boast some of the brightest development talent in the industry. The studio's launch represents Crytek's commitment to delivering diverse and high quality content to players everywhere.

Continue reading: Crytek opens new studio in Austin, Texas, fills it with former Darksiders developers (full post)

LeakedTT: AMD's upcoming Richland APU specifications

Trace Hagan | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Jan 28, 2013 8:03 PM CST

Specifications for AMD's upcoming Richland APU processors have leaked online. The Richland series of APUs will follow the current Trinity desktop APUs that are currently available and will continue to use the 32nm lithography process currently employed. The new chips will offer about 8 percent better performance than Trinity.

The full specifications are listed out in the chart above. The chips offer a 300MHz boost in base clock speed across the entire range. Turbo speeds are also increased and the boost ranges from 200-400MHz. AMD managed to boost these clock speeds, all while remaining in the same 65W and 100W TDPs present on Trinity.

The unlocked K-series processors are the only ones to feature the 100W TDP. Integrated graphics remain based upon the 6000-series GPU, even though they feature numbers in the 8000 range. Reports say that the Richland APUs are already in the hands of system builders, so we could be seeing a release of these parts soon.

Continue reading: LeakedTT: AMD's upcoming Richland APU specifications (full post)

Twitter complied with 69% of US data requests

Trace Hagan | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 28, 2013 6:04 PM CST

Following in the footsteps of Google, Twitter has released its second transparency report. The report details that Twitter complied with 69 percent of US data requests, which is less than the 88 percent of requests that Google responded to. It seems that Twitter puts a bit more effort in blocking data requests.

The report also detailed that the US government led the pack in sheer quantity of data requests. For last year, Twitter said it received a total of 1,858 requests for information from governments, 6,646 reports of copyright violations, and 48 demands from governments demanding material to be removed.

We've been thinking about ways in which we can more effectively share this information, with an aim to make it more meaningful and accessible to the community at largeWe believe the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact. To that end, it is vital for us (and other Internet services) to be transparent about government requests for user information and government requests to withhold content from the Internet; these growing inquiries can have a serious chilling effect on free expression -- and real privacy implications.

Continue reading: Twitter complied with 69% of US data requests (full post)

Complain to Facebook's CPO Erin Egan through 'Ask Erin' app

Trace Hagan | Internet & Websites | Jan 28, 2013 5:31 PM CST

As part of Facebook's governance change--you know, the one that took away your right to vote--Facebook instituted a policy that would allow easier access to their chief privacy officer, Erin Egan. The way Facebook is allowing access is through a new app aptly named "Ask Erin."

The app is basically a comment form on the site's "Facebook and Privacy" page that allows users to directly ask questions of Erin Egan. While she won't answer every question, certain ones that have value for the public or are especially important will be features in a series of posts present within the app.

Specific account questions should still be directed to the Help Center. To get the ball rolling, Egan answered three common questions in a blog post:

Continue reading: Complain to Facebook's CPO Erin Egan through 'Ask Erin' app (full post)

NVIDIA beta driver 313.95 said to boost Crysis 3 performance by up to 65%

Trace Hagan | Software & Apps | Jan 28, 2013 3:01 PM CST

Are you an NVIDIA GPU user? Planning on checking out the Crysis 3 multiplayer beta that starts tomorrow? If so, you should really consider picking up the new 313.95 beta driver that NVIDIA has released as they are touting Crysis 3 improvements of up to 65 percent, which should really help you get your game on.

Crysis 3 is said to be another machine crusher, so any boost in performance is definitely appreciated--and needed. The 65 percent boost is specifically for the GTX 690, which I don't think most of you are using. However, some performance increase can be seen all the way down to the GTX 560.

The driver also includes SLI profiles for Crysis 3, DmC: Devil May Cry and Warframe. If you use multiple GPUs in your system, this is also an important driver update. GTX 670 owners can expect the following performance increases:

Continue reading: NVIDIA beta driver 313.95 said to boost Crysis 3 performance by up to 65% (full post)

Intel intros new SSD 525 Series, is destined for Ultrabooks and low-power SFF systems

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | Jan 28, 2013 10:00 AM CST

With Intel shifting gears and reversing out of the motherboard business, moving into their Next Unit of Computing (NUC) and reducing power consumption on their processors, a new SSD has been unveiled by the Santa Clara-based chipmaker.

Welcome the new Intel SSD 525 Series, which comes in an mSATA form factor attached to the 6Gb/s SATA standard. Intel will be providing the SSD 525 Series to OEM customers, channel and tech enthusiasts as an ultra-portable, low-power storage solution in "one-eighth the space of a traditional 2.5-inch hard disk drive". In other words, Ultrabooks, tablets and embedded applications.

Thanks to its PCIe mini-connector, the SSD 525 Series drive will sport the same performance of the Intel SSD 520 Series, making the SSD 525 the perfect choice for all-in-one desktops, notebooks, Ultrabooks and more - such as cars, digital signage, embedded video and retail solutions, too.

Continue reading: Intel intros new SSD 525 Series, is destined for Ultrabooks and low-power SFF systems (full post)

iPhone begins to lose its appeal in Asia's trend-setting cities

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 28, 2013 3:35 AM CST

There was a time when the Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone was the undisputed champion, overlooking the grassy knolls quietly whispering 'this changes everything, again' to itself, but those days are behind it thanks to huge competition coming in from what seems like all sides.

Well, Asia's more well-off consumers in Singapore and Hong Kong are slowly switching from iPhone's to the competition - something Reuters is reporting as 'iPhone fatigue'. The problem also comes from consumers wanting to try out other brands, such as South Korea-based Samsung's Galaxy range of devices, seriously chewing into Apple's market share.

Since 2010, Apple has been completely controlling Singapore in terms of market share, with more devices in Singapore running iOS per capita than anywhere else in the world. This is where StatCounter - gs.statcounter.com, who measure traffic collected from a network of 3 million websites, calculate Apple's share of mobile devices in Singapore.

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RumorTT: Apple to release 128GB fourth-gen iPad

The iPad maxing out at 64GB for internal storage really peeves some people, and having no options for expandable storage really stops the iPad from selling even more tablets.

But according to 9to5Mac, Apple is preparing to add another SKU to their fourth-generation iPad lineup, which will join the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. 9to5Mac's news comes from a source at a well-known US retailer, who shares the devices' SKU information with the site, marked up with internal Apple terminology that described both Wi-Fi-only and cellular-capable devices in both black, and white colors.

The devices' description give it away, naming it with a tease of 'ultimate'. 9to5Mac can't confirm the description means a 128GB model is coming, but developers are also finding references to a 128GB iOS device in the iOS 6.1 beta code, as well as icons being found in iTunes 11, too.

Continue reading: RumorTT: Apple to release 128GB fourth-gen iPad (full post)

NASA becomes a suspicious observer, discovers how our Sun stores and releases energy

NASA scientists are reporting that they've discovered the first clear evidence of energy transfer from our Sun's magnetic field to the solar atmosphere, or corona, a scientific theory that now has substantial backing.

The new findings come courtesy of NASA's suborbital telescope, the High Resolution Coronal Imager, which has captured the highest ever resolution images of the solar corona to date, sporting five times the amount of detail than previous tools used to study our closest star. The telecope launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico back in July of last year, and has already put smiles on scientists' faces.

The telescope's 10-minute flight had it take 165 images of a large, active region of the Sun's corona. These images showed the evolution of the magnetic field, as well as the releases of energy at temperatures of between a mind-boggling two million and four million degrees. Hi-C principal investigator, Jonathan Cirtain, a heliophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, says:

Continue reading: NASA becomes a suspicious observer, discovers how our Sun stores and releases energy (full post)