Prolimatech Super Mega CPU Cooler Could be an Overclocking Winner
If the performance of its well regarded Megahalems can be anything to go by, then the successor to that heatsink will surely aim for improvements. Apart from a name that seems to have been picked in what must have been a particularly thrilling marketing meeting ("How about super?", "or mega?" "I know, we'll call it super mega") the cooler itself looks promising. Designed for Intel CPUs, the construction consists of six heatpipes (6mm in diameter) which feed into a densely packed array of cooling fins (mostly aluminum, but there are few copper fins for good measure).
Those copper fins appear to be the most obvious change from a design that closely resembles the Megahalems, in fact we could call is a Super Megahelems (so that title now makes more sense). The dimensions remain the same at 130mm(L) X 74mm(W) X 158.7mm(H), though the weight jumps to 945.3 grams. It will accommodate both 120mm and 140mm cooling fans. The CPU mounting mechanism has also been improved and apparently offers up to 70 pounds of contact pressure (and we all know that good contact improves performance). Now all we are waiting for is a price and a release date. Oh and to see how it measures up to the competition of course.
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Five Security Companies Being Sued
McAfee, Symantec, Webroot Software, Websense, and Sophos are going to see their day in court. According to Finjan, a former security company, the companies are in violation of two patents. Finjan is seeking financial damages and an injunction to stop those five security companies from selling software allegedly tied to the patents. What I find interesting is Finjan was bought out in late 2009 by the security firm M86. The two targets that were filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware are Patent No. 6,092,194 and Patent No. 6,480,962. Check out those patents to see more details.
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Graphene-Enhanced Batteries Coming Soon
I must admit, I've used rechargeable batteries to power some electronic gadgets around the house. However, I will usually avoid them because I am impatient for the full charge - sometimes it takes hours! But there's hope on the horizon for gadget geeks - Graphene-Enhanced Batteries will be readily available in stores soon. What does that mean? The recharge time will take minutes instead of hours. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is working with a private firm to develop and commercialize lithium-ion battery electrodes using "Vor-x". Now, I don't know what all this means, but I would assume this is good news for cell phone companies, especially for the Motorola Android users like myself. Read more about this Graphene-Enhanced battery on the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's website.
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Microsoft Entices App Developers with Incentives
Its a no-brainer that Microsoft is lagging behind giants Apple and Google in the smartphone industry, especially in the apps department. With the App Store and the Android Market offering a vast collection of apps for free or for purchase, Microsoft has decided to entice mobile app developers by using various incentives if they create apps for its upcoming Windows Phone 7 operating system. Incentives include cash, free test handsets, developer tools and software development and marketing funds. The incentives even stretch to revenue guarantees in some situations, according to Todd Brix, a senior director over at Redmond. Brix went on to say:
"We are investing a lot to attract developers big and small to Windows Phone 7 to let them understand what the opportunity is and provide as many resources as we can to help them be successful on our platform. We're open for business and we want to work with them."It seems that Microsoft has finally realized that if its new mobile platform is to be successful, it needs to offer consumers a comparable offering of games, music and apps in its Windows Phone Marketplace. This decision is vital to the uptake of Windows 7 Mobile considering that the App Store and Android Market contain over 290,000 apps combined; a stark contrast to Microsoft's pitiful 246 apps at the end of last year. Unnamed sources with knowledge of the incentive scheme have said that at least four app developers have been contacted by Microsoft and offered the previously mentioned incentives for apps created and ready before or near to the release of Windows Phone 7.
It is clear that Microsoft wants to buff up its presence as a real player in the smart phone market, following some time in the backseat. It is "devoting a larger sum this time" to app development than ever before to the new operating system, but I ask: can money really buy everything?
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Video Games Make an Appearance in the Supreme Court
What is art? Is it just a picture drawn by a person with some ink and paper? Is it the written language in the form of a story, or perhaps the notes composed into a musical number? The answer is simple, all of these forms are considered art, there is no question to the validity of this claim; nor would anyone ever dream to question that claim. Recently, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Schwarzenegger v. EMA. Over the past 20 years, gamers have been plagued by people who claim violence in video games is wrong. When Grand Theft Auto 3 hit the streets, people such as Jack Thompson, a disbarred attorney from Coral Gables, Florida, were in an uproar. While there are undoubtedly extremely violent games, for most gamers it becomes more of a question of parenting and moral standing as opposed to video games causing people to lash out in violence. However, with the pending Supreme Court hearing, the decision to side with the state of California would mean that video games would essentially not be viewed under the First Amendment rights:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"
If the law is passed, and video games are taken out from under the umbrella of the First Amendment, it could mean new laws being put in place for developers, publishers, even retailers, prohibiting violent video games. However, if the Supreme Court disagrees with California, video games would be protected, and games will continue to be created without restriction. The ECA has created a petition to allow those who are in favor of the court not allowing such a bill to pass, which can be found at the ECA's main site. While it is completely optional, it is important to remember the freedom of speech enjoyed by those who write, compose, or draw and how much those forms of art have helped shape video games today.
What do you think? Head over to the forums and discuss!
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Hulu Plus Launches on Playstation 3 Exclusively for Remainder of 2010
A small victory for Sony today as it announced that the Hulu Plus service will be exclusive to the Playstation 3 for the rest of the year. A select group of Playstation Plus subscribers will gain first access to Hulu Plus on their console while remaining Playstation Plus members can download the app and request an invite to the preview period. Even if you are a Playsation Plus subscriber and paid the $50 a year, you will still need to pay an additional $10 a month to use Hulu Plus. Anyone who hasn't subscribed to Playstation Plus will have to wait until the preview period ends before shelling out the 10 bucks a month. The preview period should run for a few months so non-Playstation Plus subscribers should not have that long of a wait. In any case, this is a good victory for Sony since Netflix passed on its console to launch the Netflix HD service on the Xbox 360.
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PowerColor Announces Scholarship Fund
TUL Corporation, parent company of PowerColor, today announced the first annual PowerColor Scholarship fund. PowerColor has developed this fund in an effort to support students studying visual arts and game design because of what the company sees as a lack of tech specific scholarships.
“Education is the primary reason advances in technology exists. 20 years ago, when people said they wanted to design games for a living, higher institutions scoffed and turned them away,” says TUL CEO, Ted Chen. “Look at where we are today. Game development is a multi-billion dollar industry and visually complex movies such as Avatar have changed the way we view pop culture.”This is certainly timely news as the new school year isn't too far off. As with any scholarship, PowerColor has set down a few ground rules in order to be eligible.
- Any student attending an Accredited College or University in the US during the 2009-2010 academic school year (so you must be currently enrolled in a program in order to be eligible. High School Seniors are not eligible).
- Must have the intention to enter the game or graphic design industry in some capacity.
- Major: Game Development, Graphic Design, Web Design or anything related to visual effects
- GPA: minimum of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
- Submit verification of enrollment in undergraduate or graduate studies program for the Academic Year 2009-2010.
- Each Award is for one year. Students must reapply for consideration the following year. No applicant may receive more than one scholarship award.
- Any number of students from an institution may apply.
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Apple to Hold Media Event On Friday, July 16 - Recall of iPhone 4?
According to sources, Apple will be holding a special media event this Friday to discuss the iPhone 4. With no information other than "the event will focus on the iPhone 4", it has led to a bit of speculation as to what exactly Apple will say.
Many have suggested for a while now that a full recall on the iPhone 4 is inevitable, could that be what the event is about? Some believe that a silent recall has already begun, after reports surfaced on Gizmodo and iFixit that after having their iPhone 4s replaced by Apple that they have been unable to reproduce the signal degradation issue. One theory is that Apple has added a new nonconductive coating to the iPhone 4's antenna band for all newly manufactured iPhones. Perhaps they have been testing this for the last few weeks, and plan to announce it formally.
One other possibility is that Apple may use the event to discuss and / or demonstrate the changes in the upcoming iOS update. The press event announcement comes only a few hours after a beta for iOS 4.1 was seeded to developers. Apple had previously stated that an upcoming iOS update would "fix" the iPhone 4 signal issues by correcting a flaw in the algorithm used by the operating system to calculate signal strength.
iOS update, free bumpers, total recall, or something else? What do you think Apple will do on Friday?
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Social Networking is Great for Marketing
Yesterday, Old Spice used the internet to help draw attention to its products through its popular commercial character, Old Spice Guy played by Isaiah Mustafa. Isaiah fielded questions posted on Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit, and answered them in 30 second clips posted on YouTube. Having seen a few of the videos, I can say that they are very funny. Old Spice really has a winner on its hands here. The character first appeared in this commercial, and has appeared on television since then. Perhaps the apparent success of this campaign will encourage other companies to use social networking websites to push their products.
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Survey Indicates Desire for Subscription iTunes Service
A survey conducted by the NPD Group indicates that more than 25% of iTunes users would be interested in a subscription based iTunes service that would allow streaming to a multitude of devices. The cloud based service would allow streaming to all Apple devices, and could also include song downloads as part of the package. According to the survey, up to 8 million subscribers would be willing to pay $10 per month for the service. An analyst at NPD believes that users would only rise after seeing the benefits of the new service. The estimated revenue that could be generated by this service could provide a driving force for its release.
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Sony Launches First Interchangeable Lens HD Camcorder
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Sony Handycam name and Sony is certainly celebrating in style. The latest model from Sony, the NEX-VG10, is the world's first interchangeable lens HD camcorder as well as being the first to sport an Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor. That same sensor is found in Sony's interchangeable lens digital cameras, the NEX-3 and NEX-5, so it is good to see the same high quality shots can be had on either option. The NEX-VG10 camcorder can shoot in 1920x1080/60i at 24 Mbps so you are going to get some high quality HD video with it. For still photography, you will find it takes shots at 14.2 megapixels which should be more than adequate for anything you can think of. The camcorder comes with an 18-200 mm lens though you can use any E-mount or A-mount lens for any variety of angles or zooms you will need. The camcorder features a Quad Capsule Spatial Array Stereo Microphone, a 3 inch swivel display, Optical SteadyShot image stabilization, BIONZ processor, and twin accessory shoes. There is no internal storage but the NEX-VG10 will take SDXC, SDHC, and Memory Stick Pro Duos.
The NEX-VG10 will be launching this September for about $2,000.
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Intel to Ramp Up Production for Sandy Bridge
Not content to simply sit on its laurels after posting its best quarter ever, Intel seems to be poised to ramp up production of its upcoming Sandy Bridge chips. The reason for the increased production is because of early testing done of the chips by various customers who simply loved the performance of it. With that in hand, Intel is going to increase production and buy new factory equipment to get these chips produced faster to get into everyone's hands earlier. The Sandy Bridge chips will be built on the new 32nm process and Intel has big hopes for these chips. The CEO of Intel, Paul Otellini, is more excited about the Sandy Bridge chips than any other chip the company has produced. If everything goes according to plan we should begin to see the Sandy Bridge chips by the end of this year instead of in the first quarter of 2011.
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