Next-gen GIGABYTE Ivy Bridge boards including Z77X-UD5H shown off in Las Vegas

Cameron Wilmot | Motherboards | Jan 9, 2012 6:48 PM CST

CES 2012 - GIGABYTE just got done holding their "Meet the Executives" event at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas and one of the big points for staying ahead of their competition (ASUS) was to be first out with new technology.

One big new piece of technology coming out sometime later this year is Intel's Ivy Bridge platform. We are already bound by an NDA, so there is little we can say. A quick search on Google though shows things like native USB 3.0 and PCI Express 3.0 support. It will be a mid-range platform, you can think of it as an updated Z68 Express for upcoming Intel processors.

After giving attending media a rundown on GIGABYTE's aims for 2012, Colin Brix of GIGABYTE started bashing on the door of a nearby room in the hotel suite and asked if we could interrupt and show off the Taiwanese company's range of upcoming Ivy Bridge boards. We got see the full model range including the G1. Sniper 3, G1 Sniper 3 M3 (Micro-ATX), Z77X-UD5H, Z77X-UD3H and B75M-D3H.

Continue reading: Next-gen GIGABYTE Ivy Bridge boards including Z77X-UD5H shown off in Las Vegas (full post)

Apple, Nokia and RIM supply backdoors for government intercept, according to hacked memo

Anthony Garreffa | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Jan 9, 2012 6:39 PM CST

First up - this does not surprise me. I've thought for a very long time that this happens, as with most things, right under our noses and no one even knows. I'm sure it goes much deeper than this, and we'll never find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes, but on with the news. A group of Indian hackers known as "The Lords of Dharmaraja" had posted documents that were pillaged during the hack of an Indian military network. It was removed, but thanks to Google Cache, you can see an image of it below, and if that's not good enough, click here to read it directly.

Slashdot had reported on it too, and unveils some more info:

Continue reading: Apple, Nokia and RIM supply backdoors for government intercept, according to hacked memo (full post)

Newer Technology Shows Dual Socket USB Power Outlet without Phantom Draw

Chris Ramseyer | Networking | Jan 9, 2012 12:35 PM CST

CES 2012 - Newer Technology, part of the MAC Sales clan which includes OWC SSDs displayed a product I'm sure everyone reading this can appreciates. USB ports built into power sockets aren't anything new but all of them we've seen continually power the USB ports. This is a big waste of power since you don't have devices connected all of the time to the USB ports.

Phantom power draw is a big issue when you are paying the electric bill but Newer Technology has come up with a simple solution to turn the ports off when not in use. The USB ports provide up to 2 amps of power when the USB door opens. A micro switch gets activated and your iPad, iPod, cell phone or other device gets the juice.

The Newer Technology Power2U is currently available at MACSALES.com for less than 30 Dollars.

Continue reading: Newer Technology Shows Dual Socket USB Power Outlet without Phantom Draw (full post)

Pre-CES 2012 preview of Thermaltake cases Level 10 GTS and Armor Revo

Cameron Wilmot | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Jan 9, 2012 3:01 AM CST

Last month we visited the Thermaltake HQ in Taipei where we stumbled upon a few products where we got the chance to film them on video in this pre-CES 2012 preview of a couple new cases from the Taiwanese company.

CES 2012 - First up we have the Level 10 GTS which is a new case coming onto the market by the end of Q1 2012 and should end up retailing for around $100 USD. It gets its design from its bigger full tower brother, the original Level 10 GT. Of course the GTS is much cheaper and has a similar feel as the GT and the same extended case width which users like. It will also get bundled with a quick access drive bay that allows you to move around hard drives from one Level 10 GT/GTS to another Level 10 GT/GTS or other computers thanks to the addition of the SATA (data and power) to USB 3.0 adapter that comes included.

Next up we have the Armor Revo which takes some of the design theory from previous Thermaltake Armor series cases but at the same time mixes it up quite a bit. The front is rather busy with a rather unique, funky and stylish design with a mesh flow down the center of the case. You can always rely on Thermaltake to come out with something that stands out from the crowd. This is definitely the sort of case that you are either going to love right away or turn your nose up to. On the top front of the case you have your standard audio ports, eSATA, two USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. There are also high and low fan speed adjustments and LED on and off buttons as well as a docking area for 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard drives and on the right side is the power and reset buttons along with the power status LED.

Continue reading: Pre-CES 2012 preview of Thermaltake cases Level 10 GTS and Armor Revo (full post)

Sony announces high-speed XQD memory cards

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | Jan 9, 2012 1:29 AM CST

In today's world of high-speed data transfers, cameras and their memory cards have been relatively left behind. But, Sony have stopped that with the Sony XQD memory card, based on the PCI-Express specification, the XQD format is aimed at improving digital image capture speed and performance.

It is capable of capturing up to 100 frames in RAW format in continuous shooting mode. Sporting write speeds of 125MB/sec, and theoretical maximum write speeds of 5Gb/s, or roughly 600MB/sec. You can see how this is exciting for photographers. Director of consumer media for Sony Electronics, Viviano Cantu, says:

Continue reading: Sony announces high-speed XQD memory cards (full post)

Consumer Electronic sales during holiday period dropped 6% from last year

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 8, 2012 11:27 PM CST

The Consumer Electronics Show starts up this week and right out of the gate in relation to consumer electronics is a report from the NPD Group: Consumer electronic sales during the 2011 holiday period dropped 6-percent when compared to 2010.

But, it doesn't look like it'll get any better. The NPD Weekly Tracking Service notes that the decline comes off of another decline from the year before. 2011's drop was not as bad as 2010's bad, but it shows the direction the market is headed. NPD says:

Continue reading: Consumer Electronic sales during holiday period dropped 6% from last year (full post)

Tobii lets you control Windows 8 with your... eyes

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Jan 8, 2012 9:24 PM CST

This is something new for me, I've never heard of it before and wow does it sound interesting. Tobii, have introduced eye-tracking technology called "Gaze", where you can control Windows 8 with your... eyes. Yes, the eyes you're reading this text with, can control the next-generation OS from Microsoft. The project is a result of research conducted in 2001 at Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology.

Gizmodo tried it out and they seem to have nothing but great words to say about it, and it makes me just as excited to read about it and imagine the possibilities. Gaze's eye control device, which is said to look like a "horizontal rectangle glass obelisk attached to the hinge of a laptop", is incredibly accurate.

Just like smartphones, Gaze requires some personal calibration before you can use it and some unique finger movements. Gaze is said to be very accurate, never missing the target by more than a "few pixels". On top of the eye tracking, swipe gestures are also available through Windows 8 and Gaze. Included at the demo was an Asteroids-like game with Tobii's Gaze and everything that was impressive about Tobii before, was just as impressive in Asteroids, according to Gizmodo.

Continue reading: Tobii lets you control Windows 8 with your... eyes (full post)

Space Quest fan game, Vohaul Strikes Back, a fan-made feature-length sequel to Space Quest

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 8, 2012 9:22 PM CST

Team VSB, a bunch of peeps who have built a feature-length Space Quest game called "Vohaul Strikes Back" is now available, and best of all: for free. Vohaul Strikes Back is a labor of love, with nearly 10 years of work going into the game.

It's also the first original Space Quest game of this scale since the official Space Quest 6 which was released all the way back in 1995. Vohaul Strikes Back doesn't include a voice pack, but Team VSB are working on one. If you'd like to help the team out with the voice pack, you can reach them through their forums.

You can check out their website here, and download the game (again, for free!) from here. I'm quite enjoying the amount of love these old-school adventure games are getting, now if we can just get updated Full HD versions of my favorite FMV games such as Night Trap, Under a Killing Moon and others, I'd be in nostalgic heaven.

Continue reading: Space Quest fan game, Vohaul Strikes Back, a fan-made feature-length sequel to Space Quest (full post)

CES Unveiled was a wash; check out what we found to be more worth your time!

Chad Sebring | Trade Shows | Jan 8, 2012 8:49 PM CST

So as Cameron and Chris talk me into running through CES Unveiled, I found myself packed in a room with hundreds of people, just after what should have been the biggest tip off of the night. As we passed through the doors, there was a lady handing out iPhone cases to everyone who wanted one. Once we passed through the doors you see food, a bar at each end of the hall, and what seemed to be an iHall.

With select few displays showing convection cook tops, some radar detectors, and the most impressive of the whole room was the ice block that chilled the Vodka for the Martini's that were given away to keep us in the room longer. I realize it was an open bar, and that is all fine and great for us who were in the room, but poor Cameron had to drink his Jack and Cokes with Coke Zero of all things, as regular Coke was something the bartender seemed to have no concept of!

After fighting your way through tons of people and getting slammed by bags from every angle as you try to squirm your way through the masses, I for one was left underwhelmed at what was actually being displayed to kick off the event. Most of my time speaking with others was spent looking at the nuances of the new convection cook tops, as it was seriously the biggest draw to me personally in the room, as I don't own any Apple products. For those that do, there were a couple of cool devices to mix with your iPhone and iPads, but again, enough is enough with the iGadgets.

Continue reading: CES Unveiled was a wash; check out what we found to be more worth your time! (full post)

Steam had a huge 2011, 100% sales growth, 5 million simultaneous users during Holiday Sale

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jan 8, 2012 7:12 PM CST

Valve just released their 2011 growth data for Steam, and during 2011 the platform grew to offer over 1,800 games to more than 40 million accounts. Year-over-year unit sales increased by more than 100-percent for the seventh straight year, and during the 2011 Holiday Sale, Steam's simultaneous user numbers ballooned to over 5 million players at once.

If you're a storage fan, get this: Steam doubled the amount of content delivered from 2010, to serve over 780 Petabytes (with a P!) of data to gamers around the world. To sustain this demand for bandwidth, the Steam infrastructure more than doubled its service capacity and a new content delivery architecture was deployed to improve user download rates.

Steamworks-powered games hit 14.5 million copies registered in 2011, a 67-percent increase over 2010. Included Steamworks titles were huge sellers like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and more. Since Steamworks started over three years ago, it has shipped in over 400 games. Gabe Newell, co-founder, president of Valve and my personal super hero, says:

Continue reading: Steam had a huge 2011, 100% sales growth, 5 million simultaneous users during Holiday Sale (full post)

Newsletter Subscription