ASRock Visits the TweakTown labs in Orlando, FL

Sean Kalinich | TweakTown | Aug 27, 2009 8:54 PM CDT

In our review of the ASRock X58 Extreme we had a few issues with memory; most notably with our kit of Kingston KHX160003K3/3GX. For some reason we could not get that RAM to post. Well this started a series of e-mails between ASRock and TweakTown.

We tried a different BIOS and still could not get the board to post with that kit of memory in the board. Well today an ASRock Engineer actually stopped by our lab In Orlando, FL to take a look at the board and at the setup.

This is an impressive move by a mainboard company and the first time a company engineer has actually wanted to physically see the issue. I am very used to getting a new product or trouble shooting over the phone or through e-mail but a personal visit is something altogether different.

Continue reading: ASRock Visits the TweakTown labs in Orlando, FL (full post)

BioShock 2 Sea of Dreams previewed

Sean Kalinich | Gaming | Aug 27, 2009 1:12 PM CDT

If you are a fan of BioShock then this is right up your alley. After a couple of years wait BioShock 2 is coming closer to its release. The developers of BioShock and BioShock 2 are the remnants of Looking Glass Studios. LGS was the mastermind behind the games System Shock and System Shock 2 (are you seeing a trend here?)

As with the move from System Shock to System Shock 2 BioShock 2 takes place years after the event. Unlike System Shock 2 you are returned to the scene of the original event; the City of Rapture. You take on the character of the first Big Daddy.

This time due to your status as a very powerful Big Daddy you have access to the outside of the city. This was not possible before and adds a new level to the scope of game play. The same role-playing like style exists in BioShock 2 that was pioneered in System Shock 2 is present in the new BioShock. This system has been copied by many other games including Lucas Arts and even id Software in their latest release Wolfenstein.

Continue reading: BioShock 2 Sea of Dreams previewed (full post)

Microsoft Officially Drops Price on Xbox 360 Elite

Sean Kalinich | Gaming | Aug 27, 2009 10:09 AM CDT

The rumors about Microsoft dropping the price on the Xbox 360 Elite have come true. But the secondary rumor about the Xbox 360 Pro going the way of the Dinosaur also seems to fallen through a lttle.

According to Microsoft the new pricing will put the Elite at $299.99 a full $100 cheaper than before while the Pro will drop down to $249.99. These will continue to be sold until current supply is gone and then they will be no more.

The pricing puts the Xbox 360 Elite in line with Sony's new PS3 Slim. But according to MS that was not the plan. MS says that they had the price reduction in mind for the holiday season. They have also removed the HDMI cable from the packaging saying that their research indicates most people do not use them.

Continue reading: Microsoft Officially Drops Price on Xbox 360 Elite (full post)

Battlefield's Frostbite Engine ported to DX11

Sean Kalinich | Gaming | Aug 26, 2009 2:38 PM CDT

Here is some news that we all have been waiting for. The crew over at DICE has been hard at work on the Frostbite Engine. This is the engine that is used in the Battlefield games. The current version supports up to DX10 and can be run on the XboX 360, PC, and PS3. The new version will have support for DX10.1 and DX11.

The main feature they are interested in is the highly parallel workings of the engine. It is capable of running two to eight threads. This is perfect for the i7 and represents a real multi-core advancement over past games.

The actual port of the game was not that difficult as it reportedly only took three hours to complete. You can now add Battlefield to the list of coming DX11 games. This shows a much faster adoption than DX10 did when it was at the same place. Of course there are not as many differences between DX10 and 11 as there were between DX9 and 10.

Continue reading: Battlefield's Frostbite Engine ported to DX11 (full post)

Nokia Booklet 3G to have Atom Z530

Sean Kalinich | Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones | Aug 25, 2009 1:26 PM CDT

Yesterday we heard about the new Nokia Booklet 3G. There was not much detail at the time so we did some wishful thinking.

Well today we have more information about the new Book. One thing we know now is the price. This comes in around $799 and makes this about the most expensive netbook I have ever personally seen.

The Booklet 3G will also have an Atom Z530 (1.66GHz) 3G capability, WiFi, SD Card reader, swappable SIM cards (for use worldwide), a 120GB HDD and a few other nice features.

Continue reading: Nokia Booklet 3G to have Atom Z530 (full post)

Intel to show off Core i9 Gulftown at IDF

Sean Kalinich | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Aug 25, 2009 9:42 AM CDT

Despite some nice improvements from the AMD side of the CPU world, Intel is not lying down or indeed planning to slow down at all. Instead they have launched the Lynnfield (Socket 1156 Core i5 and Core i7) and are hard at work on the Core i9.

As things stand now Intel will be demoing their sexa-core Core i9 CPU at the September IDF. This will be a demonstration of not only a six core CPU but also a 32nm one.

Core i9 will be the first of the Westmere CPUs from Intel. Westmere will have the whole range of core potions including native Dual, Quad, Sexa and Octo cored options. The rumored launch date is sometime in Q4, if this is true AMD will have to make some very hard decisions. They will need to push out their version or they will get passed by. If you remember the last time they rushed to catch up to Intel it did not go well. Barcelona was not ready for launch and as a result AMD dropped further behind in the performance world. If the same thing happens again AMD will be in real trouble as they lose not only market share but developer support.

Continue reading: Intel to show off Core i9 Gulftown at IDF (full post)

IE 8 comes out tops in Security test

Sean Kalinich | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Aug 24, 2009 9:44 PM CDT

Wow, I know this little bit of news is sure to annoy a few people out there. As Mozilla complains that a browser election when Windows 7 is installed is just not enough it is having a hard time competing with IE 8 in terms of security.

According to a recent Study performed by NSS Labs Internet Explorer is more secure than FireFox 3, Chrome, Safari 4, and even Opera.

The test was to see if each browser was capable of withstanding common Web-Based attacks.

Continue reading: IE 8 comes out tops in Security test (full post)

Apple's Snow Leopard for sale on August 28th

Sean Kalinich | Software & Apps | Aug 24, 2009 1:21 PM CDT

Apple is pushing its new OS onto the faithful starting on the 28th of August. Keeping with the feline naming convention OSX 10.6 will be called Snow Leopard.

The new OS is supposed to be faster, more stable, and offers a ton of new features and improvements. There is one that is creating a lot of back and forth between the Mac Lovers and the Mac Haters.

This is the claim that Snow Leopard is a 64 bit OS. Now technically this is true but it is not true for all MACs. You see not all Intel CPUs can support EM64T (Intel's implementation of 64-Bit memory extensions) although that number is very small. Still even in some models that do support EM64T the installer will only install a 32-Bit Kernel. According to Apple even though the Kernel will be 32-bit you will still be able to run 64-bit applications.

Continue reading: Apple's Snow Leopard for sale on August 28th (full post)

Skype becoming the new Spamming tool

Sean Kalinich | Software & Apps | Aug 24, 2009 8:27 AM CDT

Ah it is my daily head ache. I power on the work laptop and get ready to start browsing the internet in search of something to write about. I also crank up the usual instant messaging applications. First MSN, then Skype; however lately Skype has been more of an annoyance than a benefit.

Starting about a month ago I began receiving invitations to view people's web cams. These are so obviously spam that it would be funny if I was not getting 3-7 per day and often 2-3 each time I open Skype.

Despite having my privacy settings to not allow IMs from people not in my contact list, and not allowing people to see me as on line unless they are in my list I still get these. They are also happening more and more frequently. To make matters worse the only recourse is to block them and select the "report abuse from this person" checkbox.

Continue reading: Skype becoming the new Spamming tool (full post)

nVidia countering AMD's Dragon with the Power of 3

Sean Kalinich | Business, Financial & Legal | Aug 21, 2009 2:03 PM CDT

nVidia is going after AMD and their "Dragon" platform. To do this they are leveraging the new Intel P55 Chipset.

You see they really do not have a complete platform solution like AMD did and now they are rapidly building one.

Referred to as "Power of 3" in the PR Slides that have gotten out into the public eye, nVidia claims that P55 with built in SLI support is perfect for their new SLI + PhysX design.

Continue reading: nVidia countering AMD's Dragon with the Power of 3 (full post)