RumorTT: Pegatron, Foxconn reportedly begin assembly of next-gen iPad

Macotakara, a Japanese blog, reports that Apple's contract manufacturers, Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron Technology, have both been issued orders to start assembly of next-generation iPads, set for an early-March launch. This comes after reports from an iLounge story where editor Jeremy Horwitz said he had hands-on experience with a next-gen iPad prototype.

Horwitz said:

The new iPad's body is so slightly thicker than the iPad 2 that the change is unnoticeable on first inspection; a roughly 1mm increase will barely be perceptible to users. We've heard that the only accessories that might have issues are cases, and then, only cases that were precisely contoured to fit the iPad 2's back. [...] Switch, button, speaker, and other elements located on the side edges are all the same, as are the headphone and Dock Connector ports. In other words, last year's accessories should generally work properly with the new model, which is great.

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Microsoft have (for now) halted plans for Web TV subscription

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 12, 2012 2:25 AM CST

Microsoft has clamped down its plans to launch an online subscription service for TV shows and movies, according to a report from Reuters. Microsoft were deep in discussion with potential programming partners for over 12 months now, and were, up until recently, planning to launch the service in the upcoming months.

They have done a 180-degree turn on that decision, after deciding that the licensing costs were too high for the business model they envisaged, according to people "familiar with the discussions". One senior media executive who was involved in these talks, said:

They built Microsoft TV, they demoed it for us, they asked for rate cards but then said 'ooh ah, that's expensive.'

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Dell looks to a late-2012 launch for consumer tablets

CES 2012: Dell have plans to launch their first consumer tablet late this year, where it will face not only strong competition, but will go head-to-head with releases between now and then, too. With Apple and Samsung playing the David and Goliath battle in the consumer tablet market, how can Dell do something different to make customers not just want, but need their tablet.

Dell have had a successful lead in the boxed PC/notebook build-to-order market, but even now, they face slim profits and a market that doesn't quite want desktops or notebooks, as much, anymore. The enterprise-focused Streak tablet from Dell was just a test, and now they want some of that consumer tablet pie.

Chief Commercial Officer, Steve Felice, said at CES this week:

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Bulldozer patches now available for Windows 7, offers 10% improvement

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Jan 12, 2012 12:30 AM CST

Microsoft have shuffled their feet a little bit and released two patches for AMD's Bulldozer platform according to the AMD Blog. AMD note that the AMD FX processors sport a unique dual-core module architecture codenamed "Bulldozer", which current versions of Windows 7 were not specifically architected to utilize.

In AMD's initial testing of the upcoming Windows 8 OS, they've seen performance improvements of up to 10-percent in some applications when compared to Windows 7. This comes down to the fact that the system correctly recognizes the AMD FX processor architecture, and cores. AMD put this down to a close collaboration between Microsoft and AMD, where Microsoft completed back-porting of some of the Windows 8 scheduler code for AMD FX processors and baked it into a hotfix, now available, for Windows 7.

If you're an owner of an AMD FX-based processor, here's some instructions to update Windows 7 and enjoy the extra performance:

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Mad Catz Pro Circuit Game controller, mod your own controller

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 11, 2012 11:25 PM CST

CES 2012: Mad Catz have just introduced a very interesting looking console controller. Enter the Mad Catz officially-licensed Major League Gaming (MLG) Pro Circuit controller for the Xbox 360. How is this different to any other controllers, you ask? Well, Mad Catz teamed up with Major League Gaming for one, and second, they engineered a high-end Xbox 360 gaming controller that must be not just seen, but used in order to appreciate.

It sports slip-deterring rubberized grips, a robust braided cable, and just looks beautiful. One thing that Mad Catz have changed up is that the directional pad and thumb sticks are, wait for it, modular. You can rip these puppies out and swap them around! If you like your Xbox 360-style controller, keep it as is. If you like the PlayStation 3-style (where the thumb sticks are side-by-side), then pull them out and change it. Feel like a cool kid? Well, keep it custom and do it your own way.

Not only are the ProModule components swappable, but Mad Catz sell ProModule kits (sold seperately) which provide all sorts of different colors, tensions, lengths and textures. As well as that, removable top and side faceplates are available in both matte and glossy finishes, right out of the box. Additionally, the MLG Pro Circuit Controller even comes with a ProCase, so you can throw you controller, accessories, cover and cable all into the bag and run out the door to your pro-gaming competition, or just a friends house.

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ioSafe get all crazy trying to electrify media and new Thunderbolt drive with Tesla coil

Cameron Wilmot | Storage | Jan 11, 2012 9:17 PM CST

CES 2012 - This morning we ventured out to the Las Vegas Country Club where the folks over at ioSafe held one of their now famous CES demo-lition events. In previous years they've done things like take media to a shooting arrange to blast the hell out of their drives and have done other things like run over the drive with massive earth movers and such.

This year Robb Moore and his team at ioSafe decided to do something new and setup a "Cage of Death" with a near enough to one million volt Tesla coil operated by Telsa expert Doctor Megavolt. Media were put into a nearby cage at a fairly safe distance from the proceeding bolts of lightning and inside the main cage the brand new ioSafe Thunderbolt drive was put to the test to see how it could with standard an extreme amount of electricity coming right at the device.

After the demo CEO Robb Moore of ioSafe reconnected the drive back to the system and it ended up working just fine. There were a few other little "magic tricks" during the show but we cannot reveal that at this stage since other media are still going to be attending the event tomorrow. The main message was that ioSafe is very serious about protecting your data and will go to big lengths to make that happen.

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Sony's Kaz Hirai says that the PlayStation 4 will not be at E3 2012

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 11, 2012 8:14 PM CST

CES 2012: We RumorTT'd about this a few days ago, but speaking at a "roundtable with reporters" at CES, Sony's Kaz Hirai answered a question about the possibility of the PlayStation 4 being shown off at E3 later this year. Hirai said:

Andy (House) is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3. I've always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.

Now, I'd like to go on record and call BS on this statement of a "10-year cycle", and at least bet we'll see a PS4 before the PS3 has been out for 10 years. Also, wouldn't it be perfect to pretend to let your guard down "hey guys, we're not teasing the PS4 at E3", while Sony are sitting there waiting for Microsoft to either unveil a new console, or hold off expecting Sony to not have anything.

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Reddit prepares for anti-SOPA blackout, planned for January 18 between 8am and 8pm

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 11, 2012 7:44 PM CST

Thank you, Reddit. For being one of the biggest sites on the Internet opposed to the ridiculous, corrupt crap that is SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). We've covered it a few times now and I'm completely, 100-percent opposed to it. This is something where everyone needs to be aware, and pass news around as much as possible to make others aware.

If SOPA is passed, everything you know about the Internet will change, completely. It will not be the same. It's pretty much the censorship of the entire Internet. Reddit, being as strong as they are, and very community-based, are fighting against it. Reddit will be blacking out their entire site on January 18 from 8am-8pm EST (1300-0100 UTC) as a protest.

Reddit will simply display a message about how the PIPA/SOPA legislation would shut down sites like Reddit, and they'll link users to resources where they can learn more, and suggest ways they can take action. They'll also showcase the live video stream of the House hearing, where Internet entrepreneurs and technical experts will be testifying.

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MSI's prototype GUS II - external graphics for laptops, thanks to Thunderbolt

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | Jan 11, 2012 7:03 PM CST

CES 2012: Something that has been needed for a while is external graphics for notebooks, but bandwidth has always been an issue. How do you solve this? Well, if you're MSI, you wait until Thunderbolt hits, wait until CES and then show it off in person.

MSI showed off "GUS II", which is a prototype at this stage and was hooked up to a MacBook Pro. GUS II had a Radeon HD 5770 rocking inside, and was rendering the Unigine Heaven demo, driving an external display. Better yet, MSI says that GUS II supports double-wise PCI-Express x16 graphics cards, with power consumption up to 150W. This is the most power available from a single PCIe slot, plus one 6-pin power connector.

Pricing and availability are, as usual, not known at this time. But, with Intel's 22nm Ivy Bridge processors, we could see Thunderbolt pulled into the mainstream and then we could see a sudden rush of external graphics. This means notebooks could be sold with integrated graphics and if you wanted any more GPU juice out of them, you could tap some Thunderbolt-powered external graphics.

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Sapphire CES 2012 Suite Tour - X79, Vid-2X and AMD Mini PC

Cameron Wilmot | Video Cards & GPUs | Jan 11, 2012 8:20 AM CST

CES 2012 - Earlier on today we visited the Sapphire hotel suite at the MGM Grand here at CES in Las Vegas where we met up with Bill who was kind enough to give us an introduction to some of the new toys they had on display.

First up we got a quick look at Sapphire's X79 motherboard along with their Radeon HD 7970 video card where Bill mentioned they are seeing good performance since both products are able to support PCI-E 3.0.

Next up we got a look at Sapphire's first AMD based Mini-PC called the Edge-HD3 and it is based on the AMD APU E450 processor which is clocked at 1.6GHz and Radeon HD6320 graphics. It comes with 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 320GB HDD, USB 3.0 and more. Bill mentioned they are currently at pre-production level and they should be shipping around the middle of February and go on sale for around $300 USD.

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