IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (Legit Reviews) 08/01/2010

Microsoft Slate Tablet PC Shown Off At CES 2010

With Apple having been rumoured to be making a tablet PC for the best half of last year, Microsoft has decided to pre-empt any such product by working in partnership with HP (and other manufacturers) to release tablet pc's running windows 7.

HP's Slate PC Offering

Microsoft and HP have teamed up to introduce a slate computer ahead of Apple's much rumoured device launch. The firms unveiled the Windows 7 powered touchscreen machine, also known as a tablet, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The aim of the device is to bridge the gap between laptops and smartphones.

OCZ Technology Showcases Cutting-Edge SSD Technology at CES

OCZ Technology plans to unveil an array of next generation solid state drives (SSDs) along with other premium hardware at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. With its finger on the pulse of emerging and booming markets, OCZs impending line of SSDs are designed to optimize entire businesses as well as the computing experiences of everyday consumers.

This CES we continue to build on our lineup of SSD solutions designed for enterprise class applications, commented Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. In addition to our robust lineup of 2.5 solid state drives we will be launching new drives with interfaces that include SAS and PCI-E which make it easier than ever for enterprise clients to replace expensive-to-maintain, traditional storage media with a higher performing and more reliable solution.

CES 2010: NVIDIA Shows GeForce GF100 Fermi Video Card

Three months on since we got details of NVIDIA's upcoming flagship graphics card, the elusive GeForce GF100 is spotted at CES press event running a DirectX 11 game demo! Read on to see it in action.

With the 2010 edition of CES kicking off tomorrow, we headed to the Digital Experience press only event to get a preview of what will be on display this week. While we saw many things that caught our eye, nothing could top the live demo of NVIDIA's upcoming flagship. NVIDIA had the GeForce GF100, or Fermi if you like, up and running the Unigine DirectX 11 benchmark Heaven. Performance numbers are hard to come by on the GeForce GF100, but we overheard someone saying that it is around 36% faster than ATI's Radeon HD 5870. When asked to confirm the number, NVIDIA could not comment. We also heard a rumored launch date of March 2nd, 2010 from various people at the show, so it looks like the graphics card is close to coming out.

WD Launches My Book SuperSpeed USB 3.0 External Hard Drives

WD recently introduced its fastest My Book external hard drive ever -- the new My Book 3.0 desktop external drives are among the first devices certified with the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface. With an interface that's up to 10 times faster than the previous-generation USB 2.0 interface, the high-performance My Book 3.0 drive significantly reduces the time it takes to open and save large files. The new My Book 3.0 drives have 1 TB capacity and a 2-year limited warranty. My Book 3.0 drives are available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. MSRP for the My Book 3.0 drive 1 TB is $179.99 USD. MSRP for the My Book 3.0 drive in a kit that includes a USB 3.0 PCIe (gen2) adapter card is $199.99 USD. The 2 TB My Book 3.0 drive is expected later this week.

Crucial RealSSD C300 6Gbps SATA SSD Demo

The SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface on My Book 3.0 drives provides transfer rates1 of up to 5 gigabits-per-second, allowing users to open and save files up to 4.7 times faster than USB 2.0. The new My Book 3.0 drive is compliant with the USB-IF SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard to provide compatibility with other USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 products. SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1.

iPhone App Allows You To Check Up On Your Date

Today's dating scene is tough to navigate, which is why Intelius developed Date Check, a free mobile app that deciphers fact from fiction in the palm of your hand. Simply enter a name, phone number or email address and instantly get accurate and comprehensive results, but there is a catch. You will need to pay to see the results. With features like Sleaze Detector, Compatibility, $$$, Interests and Living Situation, you can be in the know on the go. No wonder the slogan for the company just happens to be "Look up before you hook up."

What is a Date Check? In just seconds, you can be up-to-date on the person you're dating by obtaining important information collected from over 250 million public records. The data is compiled into easy-to-read, organized reports which include criminal convictions, sex offender checks, marriage records, lawsuits & judgments, household members, address history & more.

Lenovo Releases a Convertible Laptop

Lenovo takes a notebook and "chops the top!" This is pretty cool stuff, it's both a notebook that can convert into a tablet. Both the notebook and tablet have their own processor and operating system, that can sync to work together, or work separately.

Lenovo today announced the industrys first hybrid PC for consumers, the IdeaPad U1 hybrid notebook, featuring a groundbreaking detachable screen. The IdeaPad U1s unique design is engineered to provide consumers with two PCs in one device each with its own processor and operating system that work together and independently as either a clamshell laptop or a multitouch slate tablet. Leveraging the benefits of both CPU, the two devices can synchronize to work as one with the ability to share battery power, 3G wireless, data and documents. In this way, the base laptop system can serve as a hub and docking station and the slate tablet as a mobile device. The two PCs have been engineered to work together and independently through Lenovos Hybrid Switch technology that enables seamless toggling between the two processors.For instance, users can surf the Web in laptop mode and then continue from the same point without interruption if they detach to tablet mode.

Technocel Announces the Ear Vibe - the Stereo Headset that Vibrates with the Music

Technocel, an accessory solution provider with over 11,000 products for the wireless market, announced their latest innovation, the Technocel Ear Vibe, the first stereo headset that vibrates to the beat of your music, providing you with the ultimate music listening accessory. Ideal for music, movies and gaming, the Ear Vibe will be available January 15, 2010 for $29.99.

It features high-fidelity stereo sound and includes a microphone for hands free voice calls for clear conversation and music. The Ear Vibe is compatible with most mobile phones that have music playing capability, as well as all mp3 players including the Apple iPod.

ioSafe Introduces the ioSafe Solo External SSD Drive

Remember the sage advice you received to store your important data off-site to protect against loss from fire, flood or other natural disaster? ioSafe is attempting to make that task obsolete with their ioSafe Solo SSD. Priced at $499 for 64 GB, $749 for 128 GB and $1250 for 256 GB and begin shipping in February 2010.

ioSafe today announced the availability of the new ioSafe Solo SSD - a solid state, highly ruggedized model of the award-winning ioSafe Solo desktop external hard drive. Combining ioSafes new proprietary ArmorPlate, a military grade steel outer casing with SSD technology, the new ioSafe Solo SSD adds unprecedented shock, drop and crush protection to the existing fire and water protection.

LaCie Introduces LaCinema Mini HD Media Player

The LaCinema Mini HD may be small but that hasn't stopped LaCie from packing it full of mouth-watering features such as Wi-Fi, powered USB, and DLNA compatibility. Available in 500GB in Europe and worldwide later in Q1 at the MSRP of $299.99.

LaCie today unveiled LaCinema Mini HD, the all-in-one Wi-Fi High Definition media center. Its amazingly small and stylish design packs a big punch, bringing your HD movies, photos and music collections to your widescreen TV in full 1080p resolution. Transferring content to the LaCinema Mini HD is easy through the bus-powered USB connection for maximum transfer speeds, or by connecting the drive to a home network.

Klipsch Audio Turns On The LED Light Speaker

Looking for a new energy efficient lamp? How about a new wireless speaker to bring audio to a room without it? Maybe an all-in-one solution is the way to go! Klipsch has a very cool lamp/speaker combination that gives you LED lighting and wireless audio in an attractive package.

Klipsch Audio Turns On The Light Speaker

Klipsch has a new and innovative way to hide where the sound is coming from with their LightSpeaker. It is the first product to combine efficient LED lighting and wireless ambient sound into a single unit that installs like a light bulb. A bundled package, consisting of two LightSpeakers, a transmitter, radio frequency remote, mini jack to RCA plug cable, lenses and trim, retails for $599. Single LightSpeakers are also available for $249 each. Klipsch will begin selling the LightSpeaker on klipsch.com later this month, with broader distribution slated for March.

Super Talent Announces Volume Shipment of USB 3.0 RAIDDrive

Not many users have the hardware to support USB 3.0 but that hasn't stopped the flood of USB 3.0 devices hitting the market. Super Talent has announced their new RaidDrives in three large capacities 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. Pricing and availability are still forthcoming.

Super Talent Technology, an inventor of USB 3.0 flash drives, today announced volume shipment of its newly announced USB 3.0 RAIDDrive. The new drive, available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, is fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 standard and operates at 10x speeds when used in conjunction with a USB 3.0 port.

D-Link Tosses Pebble Into Media Player Pond at CES 2010

It's a safe bet here in Las Vegas that we'll see quite a few media streaming devices at CES 2010. D-Link has kicked things off with their latest offering named "Pebble" which is aptly named if you take a gander at the image below. The Pebble will be available for $119.99 in the first half of 2010.

D-Link Pebble -- a uniquely designed media player that lets users play virtually all of their media in an attractive, easy-to-use and compact device. Lightweight, decorative and functional, no other media player of its style and price offers full network capabilities in such a compact package. Pebble streams music, photos and video wherever they are stored on external hard drives, in USB thumb drives, SD/XM/Flash memory cards, network attached storage (NAS) devices, PCs or the Internet. An optional dongle is available for wireless 802.11n connectivity.

ATI XGP (eXternal Graphics Platform) Radeon 5830 Demo At CES 2010

ATI's XGP technology (eXternal Graphics Platform) is an external graphics solution for notebook PCs. ATI XGP is designed to deliver enthusiast-class graphics performance, true multimedia upgradeability and multiple connectivity options, revolutionizing GPU performance on a notebook PC equipped with an external PCI Express 2.0 connector. This video is of a demo system that they had setup at CES 2010 showing off Radeon 5830 graphics.

ATI XGP technology simple connectivity enables a number of different usage scenarios for The Ultimate Visual Experience. Enjoy multi-monitor support using standard display outputs or connect USB-based devices such as a TV tuner or a Blu-ray drive. With the integrated digital outputs you can view high-definition content on a variety of devices including HDMI with integrated audio and DVI3. Take advantage of ATI Avivo HD featuring AMD's Unified Video Decoder (UVD) and place yourself in the center of all the action with smooth playback of full 1080p content. With ATI XGP technology you can experience superior graphics performance when plugged in or switch to energy-efficient integrated graphics when on-the-go, for extended battery life.

CyberLink PowerDVD Linux Supports Intel Moblin Version 2.1

CyberLink recently announced that they have developed a Linux version of PowerDVD to support Intels Linux-based Moblin 2.1 operating system. Moblin 2.1 operating system is specifically designed to run on the Intel Atom processor delivering minimized boot times and efficient power consumption on netbooks, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and embedded devices.

"We are excited to expand the multimedia experience to all consumers adopting the Linux platform," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink Corp. "With support for Moblin 2.1 operating systems, consumers can enjoy the best movie playback experience with a breakthrough in performance and energy efficiency on netbooks and MIDs."

VIA Announces Industry's Fastest USB 3.0 to SATA Controller

VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today launched the VIA VL700 USB 3.0-SATA Controller, a highly integrated single chip solution that allows users to connect SATA hard disk drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD), and optical disc drive (ODD) devices to their PC via new USB 3.0 specification ports. With data transfer rates of up to 5Gbps, USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed USB) offers ten times the throughput available to USB 2.0 based devices, meaning large amounts of information stored on a SATA device can be effortlessly transferred to a PC in a fraction of the time it would usually take.

Developed by wholly owned subsidiary company VIA Labs, the VIA VL700 supports both SATA 3Gbps and 1.5Gbps data transfer rates and also Native Command Queuing (NCQ), which allows HDDs/SSDs to internally optimize the order in which received read and write commands are executed, thereby increasing performance. Additionally, data transfer to and from SATA-based DVD and Blu-ray Disc players is supported.

Energizer Redefines How Consumers Can Stay Powered

While the latest, greatest high-tech devices have been rapidly fueling consumers work hard, play hard lifestyles, Energizer has been hard at work innovating in order to deliver the power solutions that make peoples lives easier. From improvements in lithium batteries to extensions to the acclaimed Energi To Go line to products that charge multiple devices and induction technology applications, the company is again demonstrating leadership in portable power today and redefining how people will interact with power tomorrow.

Energizer Energi To Go SP Solar Power Packs, available in 1000 mAh and 2000 mAh power, charge a range of devices via sunlight, indoor light or AC power, making it easy and convenient to get more run-time for cell and smart phones, iPods and MP3 players, gaming devices, digital cameras and more. All Energi To Go SP products are made with lithium polymer battery cells, come pre-charged and are rechargeable up to 500 times.

Seagate Announces USB 3.0 External Hard Drive - BlackArmor PS110

Today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Seagate unveiled the BlackArmor PS110 USB 3.0 portable external hard drive performance kit for notebook computers. The Seagate BlackArmor PS110 can be bought directly from Seagate's website right now for $179.99 and it comes with Acronis' backup software.

Demonstrating its industry leadership in delivering advanced and easy-to-use storage solutions, this all-in-one USB 3.0 toolkit packages a 500GB 7200RPM 2.5inch portable hard drive, power cable and PC express card, to deliver real-world, proven speeds up to three times faster than its USB 2.0 predecessor, making it one of the fastest portable hard drives available. USB 3.0 speed has been specified at 4.8 Gbs per second or a ten times improvement over USB 2.0, however this is theoretical performance, and the new Seagate BlackArmor USB 3.0 portable drive achieves 3X performance over USB 2.0 in real world testing.

Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced Midtower Case Review

Cooler Master has released an updated one of their popular cases from their midtower line up, the CM690. The new CM690 II Advanced is a more refined and has several add features. Join us today as we give this updated case a good once over.

Overall, I really like the CM690 II Advanced. It is very easy to work in and on. The ability to remove items from the case that are not needed or to make room for things like dual radiators without cutting up a perfectly good case is a really big plus. The ability to use multiple 120mm or 140mm fans, and combinations thereof, to cool the case is a big plus. I also really liked the overall look of the case. It has simple lines and not an in your face aggressive design, but more blending in and not look out of place in my living room.

Crucial RealSSD C300 6Gbps SATA SSD Demo

Last month Micron raised the performance bar for SSDs by announcing its RealSSD C300 SSD. Today, the company announced that the drive would be coming to the retail market next month under the Crucial product name. Legit Reviews got to personally see what the retail drive will look like today and even got a demo that we recorded to show you!

The Crucial RealSSD C300 drive will come in a standard 2.5-inch form factor, supporting 128GB and 256GB capacities, and will come with a limited five-year warranty. Benchmark tests have shown the Crucial C300 to be the fastest desktop and notebook SSD available to end consumers, boasting scorching-fast read speeds of up to 355MB/s. The Crucial C300 natively supports SATA 6Gb/sthe next generation high-speed storage interfaceand is backwards compatible with the SATA 3Gb/s interface. Pricing has not been finalized as of yet, but we were told the sum of $799 for the 256GB more than once during our conversation with Crucial today.

Microsoft Shares Pricing For Office 2010

Those of you that have included Office 2010 in your yearly budget can now take a peek at which version you will pay for and how much it will actually be!

In addition to the great momentum statistics, we are also releasing Office 2010 U.S. retail pricing today. Office 2010 will be offered in four versions, to make it easier to choose a version of Office thats best for you Office Home and Business, Office Professional, Office Home and Student, and Office Professional Academic.

CES 2010: NVIDIA Shows GeForce GF100 Fermi Video Card

Three months on since we got details of NVIDIA's upcoming flagship graphics card, the elusive GeForce GF100 is spotted at CES press event running a DirectX 11 game demo by Unigine! Read on to see it in action.

Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced Midtower Case Review

Friday, January 8, 2010

IT News HeadLines (Legit Reviews) 08/01/2010

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