Samsung have started mass production on a slew of new mobile flash memory chips that could give us nearly four times the speed of current chips. Samsung's Pro Class 1500 high-speed embedded memory will hit 'SSD-like' speeds in read/write operations in smart devices with capacities of 16, 32 and 64GB.

With smartphones already reaching 2GHz clock speeds running four cores, the CPU can't be the one to do all of the heavy lifting and continue to make the device feel fast. The job of system RAM is to keep an eye on all open programs, and if this part of the device is lacklustre, you'll feel it. Samsung have claimed that the new flash modules can reach speeds of up to 140MB/sec with write speeds hitting 50MB/sec at 1,500 IOPS writes and 3,500 IOPS reads.

Samsung seem to have leant on multiple technologies in order to reach these speeds, such as the 20nm manufacturing process, quick toggle DDR 2.0 memory that sports its own controller and a new JEDEC memory standard. At the moment there's no ETA when we should expect this tech to be baked into devices, but it shouldn't be too long.

According to a tweet from electronics retailer Negri Electronics, it looks as though they'll be selling the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 this week. The 10.1-inch tablet comes with a price of $750, which isn't too bad considering what this tablet is capable of.

The closest competition is the iPad, which can be found for around $250 cheaper, but it's the Nexus 7 that is going to be the strongest competitor, and nearly $500 cheaper than the Note 10.1. Negri Electronics' listing shows that the Note 10.1 will include the 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos processor, 16GB of internal storage, a 10.1-inch 1,280x800 resolution touchscreen, and as the radio, it looks like it'll sport quadband 21Mbps HSPA 1900/1800/900/850.

The firm is listing it for shipping as of 8/3, which was a few days ago, meaning that people should be getting their hands on these bad boys any day now.

I don't get excited for technology that often anymore, but it looks like I'm going to have to put that aside for now because Oculus' latest project Rift, currently on Kickstarer, will supposedly deliver "truly immersive virtual reality". Oculus Rift, according to the guys and girls behind it "is a new virtual reality (VR) headset designed specifically for video games that will change the way you think about gaming forever."

Rift sports a wide field of view, high resolution display and ultra-low latency head tracking. The team is raising money on Kickstarter where they can build development kits for the unit, meaning that they can get the Rift into developer's hands, quicker. The team note that VR has been stagnant for quite a while, and in order to provide believable immersion, you'd be looking at $20,000 or more. Oculus want to change that up with Rift, which is designed to "maximise immersion, comfort and pure, uninhibited fun", all while sitting at a price that is affordable to everyone.

Oculus have raised just over $1.2 million from 5,113 backers, and have 26 days to go. I'll be making a pledge in the next few days, this project is looking to be great for the gaming community.

Logitech and Skype have jointly announced the new Logitech TV Cam HD. The new device features an HD camera that sits on top of your TV and outputs the video via an HDMI cable. This device should make it easier for families to share everyday moments from the room that a large amount of time is spent in.

"Amazing connections happen when the video calling experience moves to the TV in the living room: the most popular and comfortable place in the house," said Joerg Tewes, vice president of Logitech's digital home business group. "Because of the size of the TV screen and the quality of the video, the new Logitech TV Cam HD with Skype brings a whole new social element to the living room, helping you feel like your family and friends are right there with you. It's a transformative experience."

All that is required to make calls is the device and an Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection. Users operate the device using the included remote to sign in and make video calls to other Skype users on any Skype-supported device. Users can also call mobile or landlines using their Skype credit straight from the device.

Need to get your kids to stop asking you for an iPad? How about spending a mere $90 on a full Android ICS tablet to get them to leave you alone. Not a bad deal, and the new Matrix One slate is a perfect solution which fits the bill. You aren't going to get much in the way of specs for only $90, but for $90, you get a reasonable amount.

The device features a 7-inch screen which has 5-point multi-touch support. The screen resolution is a pitiful 800x480 and won't be able to compete with most tablets on the market. It also features a 2MP front camera, a Cortex A8 clocked at 1.5GHz, 512 MB or 1 GB RAM, Wi-Fi connectivity, a 3200 mAh battery, and Android 4.0.3 ICS.

The best feature is probably its mini HDMI port which supports full HD. Theoretically, you can use this tablet to stream full HD to your home 50-inch big screen TV. The 4GB base model comes in at $89.99 and the 16GB model will only set you back $129.99. They are also available in black, white, blue, and pink which should match any style your kid might have. Save the money here and buy yourself an iPad or Nexus 7.

It's about time one of the big manufacturers jumped into making benchmark software for Android phones and tablets, and with today's announcement, that's just what Futuremark has done. Futuremark has joined forces with hardware manufacturers Acer, Intel, Qualcomm, and SingTel-Optus in order to produce the best, most accurate benchmark possible for Android.

Jukka Mäkinen, Futuremark CEO said, "For more than ten years we have worked with the world's leading PC hardware manufacturers to create 3DMark and PCMark. As a result, Futuremark benchmarks are the industry standard for PC performance measurement used by hundreds of press publications and millions of end-users. As we bring 3DMark to Android, we are excited to expand our cooperation to include Acer, Intel, Qualcomm and SingTel-Optus, technology leaders who will bring unparalleled insight, experience and vision to the development of 3DMark for Android."

We will see the new benchmark later this year. It's certainly something that is craved by reviewers and journalists around the web. Even better, the results will be able to be directly compared to those of the new Windows version also coming out later this year. Here's what some of Futuremark's partners have to say about the new benchmark:

All it took was 45 minutes for financial services firm Knight Capital to lose an astonishing $440 million on Wednesday, the money was lost during a newly-installed trading piece of software was installed, and it went wrong, very wrong.

$440 million represents nearly double the company's second quarter revenue, and could be enough to see the firm head into an unescapable downward spiral. Automated high-speed trading on the stock market seems to have caused the company this massive problem, but how does it seem to happen so easily? Well, according to the New York Times, Knight Capital "accidentally sold all of the stocks it bought on Wednesday morning":

Research firm Strategy Analytics have some interesting numbers out, where it shows that Apple still have complete and utter dominance when it comes to the tablet market, with 68% of shipments secured by the Cupertino-based company for Q2 2012.

Google's Android platform scooped up 29% of the remaining share. IDC have also released their own estimates of tablet shipments for the same quarter, with their estimates similar to those from Strategy Analytics, with estimates of 25 million tablets shipped, and 68% share for Apple's iPad. IDC breaks these numbers down by manufacturer, instead of platform.

According to IDC's report, Samsung is sitting comfortably at second position, behind Apple. But, even with a very strong 117.6% year-over-year shipment growth, Samsung still can't touch Apple, being outsold at a margin of 7-to-1. IDC says:

Microsoft have just announced that they've inked an intellectual property (IP) deal with Honeywell, adding them to their ever-growing list of third parties who have to pay to use its software. Microsoft said in a statement:

This deal includes mentions of Chrome OS and Android, and now Microsoft has been quite effective in bringing Android OEMs into agreements that see the company collecting fees. It's not known whether all companies pay a per-unit cost, but at the end of the day they're having to hand over cash to Microsoft, or grab the closest lawyer.

According to Activision Blizzard's recently quarterly report, the powerhouse developer earned $1.1 billion in net revenue for the second fiscal quarter and a total of $2.2 billion for the first six months of the fiscal year.

These numbers were boosted by the huge sales of Diablo III, which saw 10 million copies sold and counting. 10 million copies is only until June 30, and there are sure to be more to come. This has made it "the #1 best-selling PC game in North America and Europe for the first six months of 2012".

Activision Blizzard also gave credit to other titles, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. All three of these games became "the top three best-selling games in North America and Europe", for the same period of time. Whilst these three games saw some insanely good numbers and praise, Blizzard's other game, World of Warcraft, did not.