QNAP v3.4 firmware to launch January 14

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | Jan 11, 2011 8:30 PM CST

QNAP devices are awesome-sauce. I run a TS-639Pro at home myself and could seriously, not live without it. Once you experience the amazing things that a great NAS can do, you'll never go back.

QNAP has announced it will be rolling out it's v3.4 firmware starting January 14. The firmware fill be for Intel-based NAS devices only at first with the other NAS devices getting their v3.4 rollout on January 30.

The new features of this firmware include real-time remote replication, older firmwares supported data backup to remote storage, an offsite server or an attached disk, but it had to be done on a periodic basis. With the v3.4 firmware, remote replication can be enable to automatically happen as soon as the files are modified.

Continue reading: QNAP v3.4 firmware to launch January 14 (full post)

OCZ says hasta la vista to the DRAM market

Anthony Garreffa | RAM | Jan 11, 2011 7:00 PM CST

OCZ has said hasta la vista to the memory market. After starting out in the memory market, they have expanded into other markets which has seen exponential growth.

OCZ's third quarter financial report has shown this, OCZ's SSD business have revenues that were up 325% over the same quarter last year for a total of $41.5 million. It was also 105% higher than the Q2 results.

The memory side of OCZ was not doing so well, reporting revenues of $6.26 million, a drop of over 50% compared to Q2 and a drop of 71% than the same quarter last year. This is largely a result of OCZ discontinuing all of their memory, apart from their high-performance gear.

Continue reading: OCZ says hasta la vista to the DRAM market (full post)

Eurocom Panther 2.0 gaming notebook breaks 3DMark 2006 record

Shane McGlaun | Laptops | Jan 11, 2011 1:00 PM CST

Gaming notebooks are a lot of things and powerful is one of them. Power hungry is another thing they are famous for meaning that they often have really short battery life. The rigs also tend to be expensive. That said, a lot of gamers will still opt for a gaming notebook when it means lots of performance in a form factor that is easier to take with them to a LAN party than a desktop.

Eurocom as a really cool gaming notebook called the Panther 2.0. The rig has a big 17.3-inch screen with full 1080p resolution and can be fitted with a number of GPU and CPU options. Eurocom took one of the machines fitted with an AMD GPU and Intel CPU and used the rig to blow up some 3DMark2006 records.

The test machine has an Intel Core i7-980x extreme processor, 12GB of RAM, and a 500GB Seagate solid hybrid storage drive. The graphics on the machine was via a pair of AMD Radeon HD6970M GPUs. With the hardware onboard the Panther 2.0 scored 22669 points in 3DMark06, becoming the first notebook to hit such a high score.

Continue reading: Eurocom Panther 2.0 gaming notebook breaks 3DMark 2006 record (full post)

Elder Scrolls Skyrim gets screenshots and details

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 10, 2011 9:38 PM CST

Elder Scrolls Skyrim has a lot of ES fans licking their lips waiting for some screenshots or details, well, I have your fix right here. Check out a screenshot below of Skyrim!

Looks great, doesn't it? There's a bunch of details released on it too, these details involve the story, enemies, the graphics engine, combat and weaponary, magic, cities, levels and skills, NPC's, quests and the player.

I'll give you a bit of a tease and include "the story" and "the engine":

Continue reading: Elder Scrolls Skyrim gets screenshots and details (full post)

AMD CEO Dirk Meyer resigns

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 10, 2011 6:21 PM CST

AMD has just announced that CEO Dirk Meyer has resigned. Currently there is no official reason for his resignation, except that he reached a "mutual agreement" with the company's board.

Current CFO, Thomas Seifert will be the temporary CEO whilst a new one is found. Bruce Claflin, Chairman of AMD's Board of Directors and head of the CEO Search Committee said "Dirk became CEO during difficult times. He successfully stabilized AMD while simultaneously concluding strategic initiatives including the launch of GlobalFoundries, the successful settlement of our litigation with Intel and delivering Fusion APUs to the market."

He also added "However, the Board believes we have the opportunity to create increased shareholder value over time. This will require the company to have significant growth, establish market leadership and generate superior financial returns. We believe a change in leadership at this time will accelerate the company's ability to accomplish these objectives."

Continue reading: AMD CEO Dirk Meyer resigns (full post)

Epson debuts new PowerLite 92, 93, 95, and 96W projectors

Shane McGlaun | Displays & Projectors | Jan 10, 2011 2:00 PM CST

Epson is more of a printer company than anything else in my mind. However, that's not all the firm is about. It makes a full line of projectors and other items that are used in businesses, homes, and the classroom all around the country. Epson has announced a new line of projectors aimed at the classroom that replaces the PowerLite 83V+, 83+, 84+, 85+ and 826W+ units on the market right now.

The new line of projectors includes the PowerLite PowerLite 92, 93, 95, and 96W. The PowerLite 92 and 93 projectors sell for $649 and $699 respectively and have 2400 lumens of white and color light output. The PowerLite 95 sells for $799 and has 2600 lumens of output. These three projectors offer XGA resolution.

The PowerLite 96W has 2700 lumens of light output and sells for $899 with WXGA resolution. The 93, 95, and 96W all have network connectivity and can be controlled remotely. The 95 and 96W can stream video over an IP network as well. All of the projectors have 1.2x optical zoom, HDMI connectivity, and more. The new line of projectors will ship in March.

Continue reading: Epson debuts new PowerLite 92, 93, 95, and 96W projectors (full post)

DisplayLink offers cheap app to turn iPad into secondary screen for notebook

Shane McGlaun | Laptops | Jan 10, 2011 1:02 PM CST

Working on a notebook if you are used to working from a desktop can be difficult thanks in part to the small screen that you get even on larger notebooks. If you are like me and are used to large desktop screens moving around windows and constantly searching for things on your netbook or notebooks small screen gets old fast. If you have an iPad you take with you, DisplayLink has a new app that will turn the iPad into a secondary display.

The new app is called the DisplayLink App and it's not the first app I have seen to turn the iPad into a secondary display. This is the first one for wireless graphics heavy weight DisplayLink though. The app will work with Windows 7, Vista, and XP and works in Windows 7 Aero mode unlike other similar apps on the market.

Configuration of the app is done using the DisplayLink Windows Graphics utility. The display automatically repositions when connected or disconnected and it works with other DisplayLink USB devices. It's not spelled out, but the connectivity is apparently provided by the USB charge and sync cable the iPad ships with. The app is only $1.99 and is available right now.

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Bang & Olufsen announces cooperation with Intel for new products

Shane McGlaun | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Jan 10, 2011 10:04 AM CST

Bang & Olufsen have been around for a long time and it makes some very high-end home theater and audio gear. B&O has been offering some expensive HDTVs for years now and the one thing that it really doesn't have is a connected TV. Connected TVs are the big thing from TV makers right now even if many consumers aren't ready to bite.

Bang & Olufsen have announced that it has teamed up with Intel to get the latest Intel tech to roll into a new product. The new product will be a connected TV it seems with B&O CEO Kalle Hvidt Nielsen talking about the convergence of the PC, TV and audio solutions into one.

I would bet that we would see some interesting audio tech rolled into other solutions since B&O are famous for high-end audio. "During this convergence of PC, TV and audio technologies, this strategic cooperation with Intel is hugely important to Bang & Olufsen. We looking forward to working with Intel on creating unique product solutions for the future," says Kalle Hvidt Nielsen, Bang & Olufsen President & CEO.

Continue reading: Bang & Olufsen announces cooperation with Intel for new products (full post)

Microsoft's Kinect to support PC "when the time is right"

Anthony Garreffa | Peripherals | Jan 10, 2011 12:13 AM CST

Steve Ballmer, current CEO of Microsoft has promised that Kinect will have PC support sometime in the future. Right now, Kinect is Xbox 360 territory, but eventually Microsoft have plans to move this across to the PC.

Even though the system has been hacked, prodded, thrashed and slashed on virtually all platforms, official support is always going to win. The BBC asked Ballmer "Will you plug-in the Kinect to the PC, will you go for that in the near future?", Ballmer replied with "We'll support that in a formal way in the right time and when we've got an announcement to make we'll make it."

He also said "We're trying to move beyond gaming to include the world of socialization, movies, TV, music, and we're trying to make the whole experience accessible to everybody in the family not just the traditional gamer."

Continue reading: Microsoft's Kinect to support PC "when the time is right" (full post)

LGA2011 consumer board pics ahoy!

Anthony Garreffa | Motherboards | Jan 9, 2011 6:16 PM CST

Intel has been quite busy this month with the launch of the LGA1155 socket - but this has not slowed down news floating around the web of the LGA1366-successor, LGA2011.

Zol.com.cn has been a source of some blurred out MSI motherboard shots, of which they claim the new chipset to be called X68 (although there are rumors of an X78 chipset too).

From the pics below, it seems the CPU is so large that Intel has been forced to use two levers that has to be opened and closed in a specific way. This is of course fine for 90% of users, but for the overclockers and testers, this would be a PITA.

Continue reading: LGA2011 consumer board pics ahoy! (full post)