Google's Nexus 6 should arrive with a 5.9-inch 2560x1440 QHD display
Google is close to unveiling its new Nexus 6 smartphone, which according to Android Police, will feature a 5.9-inch 2560x1440 QHD display. There's some great new information on the phone, with a detailed picture of Google's upcoming flagship.
The 5.9-inch display is going to make it feel absolutely huge, even against the now large iPhone 6 Plus, or Galaxy Note 4. We have black, front-facing stereo speakers, with the power button and volume rocker finding their homes on the side of the device. Inside of the Nexus 6, we have a 3200mAh+ battery, which should keep the massive 5.9-inch QHD display and the rest of the pone powered for the entire day.
There's a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with OIS, backed up by a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies. The 5.9-inch QHD display will provide a retina-busting 496PPI, which should have display enthusiasts drooling. With Android Police giving this rumor a '9/10' we should expect this smartphone to be announced any day now, but I'm disappointed we have seen Google push the new Nexus right up to 5.9-inch. I'm hoping Google surprise us with a second Nexus, with a 5.2-inch (or so) display.
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AMD releases its new Catalyst 14.9 drivers
AMD has just released its new Catalyst 14.9 drivers, which has a massive list of performance improvements that it provides to various benchmarks, and some of the hottest games out right now.
The biggest improvements come to games like Murdered Soul Suspect on the Radeon R9 290X at 2560x1440 with 4x MSAA and 16x AF enabled, where there's performance improvements of up to 50%. Plants vs. Zombies receives an improved CrossFire profile, with the R9 290X in CrossFire at 4K seeing 92% scaling. Batman: Arkham Origins also sees improved CrossFire scaling, bumping up to 70% improvements.
Mantle improvements are also at play here, with Mantle being supported on AMD Mobile products with Enduro technology. Battlefield 4, Thief and Star Swarm all see improvements. You can read the full list of improvements, and grab the new Catalyst 14.9 drivers right here.
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Take 'Maleficent' by the horns in our Blu-ray promo, thanks to Disney
To celebrate next week's home video release of the 2014 blockbuster smash 'Maleficent' starring Angelina Jolie, we have five copies of the Blu-ray release to give away, thanks to our friends at Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.
Once upon a time, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) the strong and powerful fairy, fell in love with a human peasant boy named Stefan (Sharlto Copley). As the pair grew older however, Stefan's desire for the throne outshone his love for Maleficent. A great betrayal led to a bitter and long lasting feud between the two, who now ruled the human and fairy realms as sworn enemies.
To go into the running to take one Blu-ray copy home, simply correctly answer the following question:
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Music industry struggles to cash in on streaming music sales
Streaming music sales are rising in popularity, but still cannot make up for the drop in both physical CDs and digital downloads, according to a report released by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As Pandora and Spotify continue to shake up the music industry, Apple - and its acquisition of Beats - can help push the industry forward, despite the difficulty in convincing streaming users to purchase music.
Music business analyst Mark Mulligan noted that the music industry must try to determine if streaming music should be used as a marketing or sales tool in the future. There also is concern that many Spotify stations, for example, rely on major music hits from a small number of artists, while other songs and albums build a slow following over an extended period of time.
"The streaming picture is changing at an absolutely staggering rate and everyone across the value chain needs to get their heads around all the potential permutations else get left behind," Mulligan noted. "These are both exciting and daunting times."
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Using Google Glass while driving is no safer than using a smartphone
It doesn't matter what type of technology is developed, when it comes to driving behind the wheel, your attention should be focused on the road. Recent research found that drivers in a simulator using both Google Glass and a smartphone to text were equally slow to respond to their environment, posing significant safety hazards.
"While Glass-delivered messaging has benefits, it does not in any way make driving-while-messaging safe," said Ben Sawyer, lead researcher, in a University of Central Florida peer-reviewed study done alongside the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Google Glass wearers reportedly recovered slightly faster than those using a traditional smartphone, but there was less distance between their vehicle and other vehicles ahead - dropping risk perception of a changing environment. There were hopes that the head-mounted display would allow drivers to keep their attention on the road in front of them, but interacting with Glass still proves to be too distracting for drivers.
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Microsoft confirms plans to open Fifth Avenue store, close to Apple
Microsoft plans to open a new retail store at 677 Fifth Avenue in New York City, a few blocks away from Rockefeller Center - and not too far away from a rival Apple store. The company currently has more than 100 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, with at least 10 more expected to open before the end of the year.
Learning from the success of the Apple store, where die-hard customers and curious onlookers wander in, Microsoft hopes its retail experience will help draw in potential customers. Even if a Microsoft store cannot draw the same attention as a rival Apple store, it's an important opportunity to allow consumers the chance to test new technologies they might be unfamiliar with.
"As our first flagship store, it will serve as the centerpiece of our Microsoft Stores experience," the company said in a blog post. "This is a goal we've had since day one - we were only waiting for the right location. And now we have it."
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GoPro unveils the Hero4, 4K recording at 30FPS and much more
We thought GoPro would wait a week or so to unveil its new Hero4 cameras, but nope, we were wrong: here they are! GoPro has officially unveiled the new Hero4 cameras, once again arriving in two editions: Black, and Silver.
The GoPro Hero4 Black is the star of the show, capable of shooting 4K video at 30FPS, and is touted by GoPro as "the most advanced GoPro ever". It can shoot 4K at 30FPS, 2.7K at 50FPS, 1440p at 80FPS, and 1080p, 960p, and 720p all at 120FPS. Previously, the Hero3 Black could shoot at 4K at 15FPS, but could shoot at 240FPS at 720p, something the newer GoPro can't do. For still images, you can snap 12-megapixel photos with the new GoPro Hero 4.
GoPro has improved the audio capture on the new Hero4, which captures twice the dynamic range. The front of the new GoPro features its expected ultra-wide angle glass lens, with three different field of view settings available: Ultra-Wide, Medium and Narrow. New manual settings make the cut, with color, ISO limit, exposure and much more to tinker with. It's waterproof at up to 131 feet, or 40m, has built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, exposure settings for nighttime shooting, a "HiLight Tag" feature for marking key moments in footage, a QuikCapture feature which powers up and starts recording with a single press, and auto low-light features.
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EVGA's new GeForce GTX 980 Classified features 1400MHz+ Boost Clock
EVGA will soon launch two new GeForce GTX 980 cards, with their two forthcoming GPUs to be two of the most-remembered Maxwell-based GPUs thanks to their power. EVGA's new GeForce GTX 980 Classified and GTX 980 Hydro Copper are fastly different, but are supremely powerful.
First, we have the EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Classified, which features the latest ACX 2.0 cooler, and a custom-designed PCB that is built for overclocking enthusiasts. The GPU features the same high-density heat sink array that was laid out across the GTX 780 Ti, but offers up a new duo of fans with the ACX 2.0 that should see even quieter operation. Better yet, EVGA's GeForce GTX 980 Classified is a dual-slot card, so SLI setups will be even better than some of the competition. The new Classified GPU features a nice black/grey scheme with a hint of red. But what are we talking about when it comes to clock speeds? EVGA will be providing users with a massive 1400MHz+ Boost clock out of the box, making it one of the fastest GTX 980s available.
The EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Classified will feature the same 2048 CUDA cores found on the rest of the GTX 980s, a Base Clock of 1291MHz, Boost Clock of 1405MHz, and is capable of 2-, 3-, and 4-way SLI. 4GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 7GHz will also be baked onto the Classified.
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AMD rumored to launch its new Radeon R9 380X early next year
NVIDIA has had huge success with its new second-generation Maxwell architecture, forming the new power-efficient, but super-fast GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 GPUs. AMD were rumored to fight back at GAME24, but nothing materialized, until now. WCCF Tech is reporting from a leak from overclockers.ru, that teases AMD's next generation GPUs.
AMD reportedly talked with 4gamer.net journalists in a round table discussion, teasing details on its upcoming products to compete against NVIDIA's new GTX 900 series of GPUs. The new product that AMD will fight back with is the Radeon R9 380X, and not the 390X that most would've presumed. The new R9 380X will be based on the Pirate Islands architecture, powered by the Fiji GPU. Overclockers.ru is reporting that AMD have three new cards in the pipeline, with the Fiji-based R9 380X which will replace the R9 290X, the Treasure Island-based R9 370X, and another.
The most exciting news is that AMD will not only reportedly fight back with new architecture, but it'll shift onto a smaller process, moving over to TSMC's new 20nm manufacturing process, as well as using 3D stacked HBM memory. The third card we mentioned above is what we're all here for today, with the new R9 390X reference GPU to feature AMD's hybrid "hydra' liquid cooling, which the company used on its dual-GPU R9 295X2 earlier in the year.
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AMD to release its Radeon R9 390X early next year, 20nm with HBM tech
AMD is starting to ramp up its rumor machine, with talk of the new Radeon R9 390X, it's next generation flagship GPU. AMD's new R9 390X is expected to be available in the first half of 2015, according to DigiTimes.
The new Radeon R9 390X is based on AMD's Bermuda GPU core, which should kick some serious ass, bringing a slew of new things to AMD's silicon. First off, we should see the R9 390X being the first GPU to be built on TSMC's new 20nm manufacturing process, but the card is rumored to arrive with High Bandwidth Memory, or HBM. HBM is 3D stacked memory technology that will offer an incredible amount of bandwidth on the already-fast GDDR5 tech that is used, with around 100% more bandwidth, all while using less power.
AMD is also rumored to be using hybrid liquid cooling on the new reference R9 390X, similar to what the company used on its dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2 earlier this year. The problem here is, without a next-gen GPU coming out until at least Q2 2015 or so, what will AMD do to fight off what is an incredible new set of GPUs from NVIDIA? Aggressive price cuts on its R9 290 series, that's what. The only thing AMD can do until its launches its new R9 300 series is drop the prices of what it has now, considerably, to fight off Maxwell from NVIDIA.
Continue reading: AMD to release its Radeon R9 390X early next year, 20nm with HBM tech (full post)