Computex 2012 - We're live here in Taipei and we've just sat in on the Acer press conference where a fair amount of exciting gear was unveiled. Without going into a tonne of details [just yet], what we can tell you is that Windows 8 is a central part of not just Acer's future, but the industry's future. We saw some devices being shown off in the form of a few Ultrabooks, and a 27-inch all-in-one Windows 8-based PC, the Acer Aspire 5600U.

I've got to admit, before this event, I didn't have much faith in Acer going forward into the future, say, 5 years from now, but what they showed off gives me the utmost confidence that they have what it takes to win not just confidence in the industry, but consumer confidence. The all-in-one desktop they displayed was pretty insane, being capable of going into portrait, and swivelling completely horizontal, so it would feel like a super big tablet.

Standing there with our competition winner Roshan (amazing guy btw!), we listened to the presence-bringing J.T. Wang take the stage, where he reiterated how much Windows 8 will change Acer. Normally this would be just press talk, but the room filled with applause when he talked, and his aura took the room into his world. Acer showed off the Aspire 5600U which was very, very impressive, sporting a Full HD display and the ability to tilt completely horizontal. While this may sound unimpressive in text form, it was very cool to see this happen on-stage. The ability to purchase an off-the-shelf desktop PC, and tilt it horizontally to play games, or just take in content is just so impressive. Kudos, Acer.

MCV is reporting that Sony could acquire high-profile cloud gaming firm, Gaikai. It was revealed to MCV exclusively that Sony were looking at acquiring either Gaikai, or OnLive. Either company would bolster Sony's efforts into the cloud gaming universe.

Just yesterday, Gaikai sent out invitations to journalists for what they're calling a game-changing announcement, it reads:

Intel is set to show off some new Ultrabooks powered by their third-generation Intel Core processors otherwise known as Ivy Bridge. Intel took to their blog to state this, and have announced there are now 21 Ultrabooks on the market today, and this list will continue to grow with more than 110 designs currently being worked on.

Intel have said to anyone outside of the company, this may look effortless, but it has been anything but. Intel have knuckled down with customers, partners and suppliers all around the world to "re-think and re-design virtually every major component that makes up an Ultrabook". Intel says they can't wait for everyone to see the next wave of Ultrabooks that sport the Ivy Bridge-based processors that are set to be unveiled next week at Computex in Taipei.

The new Ultrabooks are said to deliver "impressive 3D graphics" that will have "2X the performance gains in media and graphics" on Intel's 17W Ultra processors (gen over gen). Intel have also increased the specifications that they use to define a third-generation Intel Core-based Ultrabook device:

Valve today announced through a press release that the upcoming DOTA 2 will be a free-to-play title, and in preparation for the DOTA 2's release, also announced the DOTA Store. When the DOTA 2 Store's doors open, it will offer items created by Valve, and members of the community.

These items can be used immediately, and will be carrier over after the public launch of DOTA 2. Early access to the game isn't required in order to purchase items before the launch. Gamers may, however, get into the game now by purchasing the DOTA 2 Early Access Bundle of items. IceFrog, design lead on DOTA 2 says:

I imagine most of you are sick of the spam floating around on Facebook; I know I am. Part of the problem is due to OpenGraph and the ability to auto-share. This auto-sharing is the source of many of the annoying, spammy posts that keep showing up in my already crowded news feed. And they crowd out the really important things, such as TweakTown posts.

Facebook has come up with a solution to this problem: the "10 second rule." What this rule does is require a user to read a post or watch a video for at least 10 seconds before it can auto-share it out with the rest of your friends. According to a developer blog post, "Built-in watch and read actions can only be published after someone engages with the content for 10 or more seconds. If a video is shorter than 10 seconds, the viewer must watch the entire video."

The frictionless sharing that Facebook introduced a year ago was helpful in gaining views for integrated services, but it has been taken advantage of since then. Thankfully, Facebook has decided to try curbing it with this new rule. Facebook is also requiring developers to allow access to app content without auto-sharing it. It will be interesting to see if the amount of spam is cut down due to these new changes.

Think your home internet connection is fast? How about your work connection? How about you try 4700Mbps on for size. That's the new speed that has been reached by a German ISP using existing cable network infrastructure. This speed is incredible considering that most PCs only feature Gigabit Ethernet and this would manage to flood that.

Kabel Deutschland, a German cable operator, is claiming to have created a real-world download speed of 4,700Mbps. This ins't theoretical either as they are claiming this speed in a real-world test. Let's see just how fast that is. Four Gigabit connected computers would be unable to max the bandwidth available.

More incredibly, a connection of that speed, if you were able to use it all, could download a full 4.7GB DVD in just a mere 8 seconds. This title isn't the fastest real-world connection, as someone already provided a 40Gbps fiber connection to a residence, but this does use the existing cable networks. The test was carried out to test an upgraded network using the 862MHz spectrum, channel bonding, and the EuroDocsis 3.0 standard.

Not only are the browser wars heating up again, but apparently a new mapping war is heating up. The mapping world used to be just a few key players: Microsoft, Google, and a few other smaller ones. But with Apple now rumored to release its own solution at WWDC, the market is about to become a lot more complex.

It would appear that Google would like to steal some of Apple's thunder before its rumored release of a new mapping service. Google is hosting an invite-only press event in San Francisco to unveil "the next dimension of Google Maps." Considering Apple's new mapping service is expected to be 3D, does the mention of "dimension" in the invitation indicate Google is going to be adding more 3D features?

Google will also offer attendees "a behind-the-scenes look at Google Maps and share our vision. We'll also demo some of the newest technology and provide a sneak peek at upcoming features that will help people get where they want to go - both physically and virtually." Of course, Google already has the 3D Earth, but it requires a plug-in. Could this event be releasing one that runs without a plug-in?

AMD still has yet to release the desktop version of Trinity, but that hasn't stopped ECS from showing off its latest creation. ECS has released pictures and a bit of information about its upcoming motherboard designed for the AMD desktop Trinity APUs. The full-size ATX board is called the A85F2-A Deluxe and looks pretty good.

About all we know about the chipset is that it is an A85X chipset, which is one that AMD has yet to announce. We have a few more details available about the board such as it features six USB 3.0 ports, four of them near the I/O section. The board sports 7 SATA III 6Gbps ports just in case you have that many SSDs. That number also includes an external eSATA port.

The board also features two PCIe-x16 sots for graphics cards. ECS has also said that there are four more FM2 sockets in the works: the A75F2-A2, A75F2-M2, A55F2-A2, and A55F2-M3. Furthermore, the announcement says nothing about backwards compatibility, so for now, I would assume that it is not. And of course, a release date is missing as AMD has yet to release the Trinity APUs.

In a move that should help to keep innovation from being stifled, Judge Alsup, the judge presiding over the Oracle v Google trial, has ruled that sequence, structure, and organization (SSO) is not covered by today's copyright law. This, in turn, allowed him to dismiss the claims by Oracle of Google infringing on their copyright.

Instead of creating a massive precedent by making a wide ruling, Judge Alsup focused very narrowly on specific factors in the case which lead to the decision. This way he didn't create a massive precedent. He has also been very careful throughout the trial. So even though appeals are possible, it is likely his decision will be upheld.

From the judge's ruling:

It has been confirmed that Activision and Jason West and Vincent Zampella have settled their lawsuit out of court after a brief meeting on Thursday. This settlement brings to an end the two year lawsuit stemming from the termination of their employment. There was a lot of he said she said, but in the end, it seems to boil down to the fact Activision didn't want to pay them royalties.

The settlement terms, as par for the course, were not discussed and are highly secretive. This settlement also settles another lawsuit Activision was involved with. This other lawsuit was over royalties as well. When West and Zampella left, 40 or more developers left shortly after. They too filed a lawsuit saying they didn't get their royalty checks.

"All parties have reached a settlement in the dispute, the terms of which are strictly confidential," said Robert Schwartz, an attorney representing West and Zampella. West was in the courtroom, but only grinned widely as he left. Others in the game industry watched closely as it could produce some new case law that would affect somehow.