Cute Taiwanese girls playing with PlayStation Move at Taipei Game Show 2011
Taipei Game Show 2011 - When I said in an earlier post that there was lots of cool technology at Taipei Game Show 2011, I meant it, but it was all being hogged by loads of lovely Taiwanese girls. That's not necessarily a bad thing, maybe just a reason for all the girlie videos today. Sorry ladies.
So, besides Sony having a kick ass Gran Turismo 5 five screen simulator at their booth, they were also actively promoting PlayStation Move - the gaming controller competitor to Microsoft's Xbox Kinect that actually requires a controller. Booth babe ladies were scattered on a stationary merry-go-round setup with loads of PS3's and the Move motion controller.
Sure, Move is far from new, but it's still kind of newish in Taiwan and the first I have really seen it in action for a considerable amount of time.
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Awesome Gran Turismo 5 five screen simulator at Taipei Game Show 2011
Taipei Game Show 2011 - Sony had a massive presence at the Taipei Game Show 2011 with it's large PlayStation booth going toe for toe right next to Microsoft and it's Kinect gaming stations.
One of the cool things Sony was showcasing was an awesome Gran Turismo 5 racing simulator setup with no less than five Bravia HDTVs, racing chair and Logitech gaming hardware. The setup was made that little bit sweeter with a Taiwanese booth babe girl that even knew how to drive.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to sit down and have a play, I think Sony wanted more attractive people than I sitting down and enjoying it. Nonetheless, a pretty cool setup by Sony who in my opinion had the best booth at TGS this year.
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Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY PS Phone Hands-on at Taipei Game Show 2011
Taipei Game Show 2011 - Today marked the first day of the Taipei Game 2011 and we went along to see what was on show. Besides the vast amount of beautiful show girls, there was some cool new technology to take in at the event. Don't worry; we're coming back to the show girls soon.
Earlier this week at the Mobile World Congress in Spain, Sony Ericsson officially unveiled the PlayStation Phone aka the Xperia PLAY, the first PlayStation certified smartphone. Think of a Google Android 2.3 smartphone and a PlayStation Portable fused together. It has all the same controls as a PSP and the same level of graphics quality, but of course offers much more in terms of communications as you would expect from a phone.
The Xperia PLAY we went hands-on with today is finished as far as the hardware and outside appearance goes, that part won't change. However, the firmware and other software bits still needs some work according to Kevin, the Sony Ericsson representative that we were talking to at the show. Apparently they will have the software up to scratch and at shipping level standard in around one month and the phone / portable gaming console should go on sale sometime in April for a worldwide launch.
The representative was not prepared to discuss details on pricing. Watch the video above for a short and sweet hands-on introduction to the Xperia PLAY. Are you going to buy one? Let us know by commenting!
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Download of the Day: Google Chrome 10.0.648.82 Beta
Our Download of the Day today is Google Chrome 10.0.648.82 Beta.
Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.
One box for everything
Type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages.
Thumbnails of your top sites
Access your favorite pages instantly with lightning speed from any new tab.
Incognito mode
Don't want pages you visit to show up in your web history? Choose incognito mode for private browsing.
Safe browsing
Google Chrome warns you if you're about to visit a suspected phishing, malware or otherwise unsafe website.
For information about alpha and developer builds, check out the Chrome dev channel here.
The latest version includes the following changes:
Changes in Version 10.0.648.82 Beta
- Contains stability fixes.
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Deal of the Day: Buffalo 2TB DriveStation External Hard Drive for Only $59.99 with FREE Shipping
Our Deal of the Day today is the Dell Small Business - Buffalo 2TB DriveStation External Hard Drive for Only $59.99 with FREE Shipping.
Offer: A GREAT buy on a 2TB external hard drive! If you need external space for your laptop or desktop, this is a great one to consider. Hurry before they expire it!
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Chinese hackers launch cyberattack on Canadian government
Chinese hackers have recently launched a massive cyberattack on Canadian government websites and employees, gaining access to a cache of highly classified federal information. The attack was detected last month and was claimed by the government to only be an attempt to access their computers - however the CBC is stating this as innaccurate.
Canada's two major economic departments, the Finance Department and Treasury Board were the victims of the successful attack. Hackers were able to gain control of the computers of senior government executives in the two departments. However, the hackers were unable to obtain passwords to unlock entire government systems.
Immediately following the attack, the government shut down all internet access in both departments as a firewall to other attacks or more information being siphoned out of the departments. Unfortunately it's unclear whether the hackers were able to gain access to other government networks. This attack has left thousands of government employees without internet access as officials were left attempting to fix the messy situation.
Sources say the hackers used a spear-phishing attack, gaining control of Canadian officials' government computers, posed as executives and then send out e-mails to technical staff from the departments to trick them into releasing key passwords that gave them access to several government networks. It is still unclear just how much classified information was stolen.
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OCZ Vertex 3 Pro gets caught doing 550MB/sec in a 500MB/sec zone, pays the fine for being awesome
OCZ's Vertex Pro 3 is set to put the SSD market on fire by offering a blazing 550MB/sec maximum read and 500MB/sec maximum write speeds. This speed is attained by OCZ using the new SandForce SD-2500 controller which it sports.
The SSD has been tested by a bunch of sites today and it's mostly the same conclusion - this is the shiznit. Anandtech even says it's "the first drive that really needs a 6Gbps interface." The drive isn't available yet and the hardware included is not final, but once it hits retail it's sure to shake things up considerably!
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Apple sucks up 60% of the markets touch panel capacity, laughs manically
Apple plan to ship 40 million iPad products in 2011, the large amount of products being manufactured and shipped surely isn't easy and in order to secure such a large number of possible sales Apple has had to occupy close to 60-percent of the global touch panel capacity which is causing tight supply with the iPad's enemies.
TPK and Wintek are two of the biggest players in touch-panel manufacturing and Apple have secured most of their manufacturing for 2011 leaving other companies hoping to cut into the tablet market. Second-tier players are having to also fight with companies like RIM, Motorola and HP which leaves Samsung, Acer and HP having to turn to smaller touch screen suppliers such as Sintek Photronic, Egalax-empia Technology, AimCore Technology, and J Touch.
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NVIDIA set to pounce with a GeForce GTX 550 Ti on March 15?
It looks like the NVIDIA drivers have let another cat out of the bag. The 266.7x beta drivers list a GeForce GTX550 Ti based on NVIDIA's GF116 graphics processor. It's expected to be a 40nm-based design and feature a 128-bit memory bus, a TDP of 110W or less and should ship with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. Output wise it should include two dual-link DVI connectors as well as a mini-HDMI output.
It is said to resemble the PCB design of NVIDIA's GeForce GTS450 but since it carries the GTX branding it should have another kick in performance. Rumor has it that the GTX550 Ti is said to smack down the Radeon HD 5770 by a good 35% in DirectX 11 games and 20% in DirectX 10 games. Pricing wise we should see it at $200, roughly $50 cheaper than the GTX560 Ti.
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The upcoming battle between Smartphone and next-gen Consoles
Let's discuss something that is not really being talked about right now, the smartphone and gaming industry. Smartphones really shined throughout 2010, with Apple's iPhone and iOS dominating as well as Google and their Android OS. These were based off single-core designs and relatively basic GPUs included.
This year we're on the verge of having quad-core CPU smartphones backed up with 12-core GPU's all inside a smartphone (or should it be 'super-smartphone'?) that will barely get warm under load. Tablets are becoming a tour de force in all industries and will surely take pot shots at the notebook industry and possibly overtake it in a relatively short period of time.
What does this mean for next-gen consoles? Surely they'll have to have more than just quad-core CPU's inside if a relatively basic (when in comparison) smartphone can include this. What about GPU power? Are Microsoft and Sony thinking of the future? Current gen consoles have been out for over five years and took multi-billion dollar losses to even get here. Both sides have committed to a ten year life span of consoles.
Remember the RROD from the Xbox 360's? A billion dollar problem for Microsoft. We haven't seen that in any of the current generation smartphones or tablets. Technology has improved at an unprecedented rate over the past 5 years.
Yes, technology has always moved this fast - but not in the leaps and bounds we're experiencing at the moment. The technology industry (TV's, smartphones, tablets, PC's, notebooks, consoles) is an industry that is very hard to predict, because there's so many players constantly releasing new products as well as having something behind the scenes that will literally knock the socks off of most people.
Will this be the case for next-gen consoles? If so, with the amazing leaps and bounds smartphones and tablets are doing, consoles will have no option but to have an exponential increase in power. Not just CPU and GPU, but in all things they do (connectivity, prices of games, user-input, Kinect/Move, etc). PC's currently have a minimum of dual or quad core, 4 - 8GB of RAM, very powerful GPUs (and multiple one at that) and are constantly upgradeable.
Next-gen consoles are going to need to stand out from an ever-evolving smartphone and tablet market in order to capture an audience that they are barely sustaining now.
Game quality is getting lower as the restrictions of consoles are being realised; AAA titles need to sell 5 million copies or more to deem them "successful" in this world of Call of Duty $1 billion revenue-type games.
How will the console market evolve? There's a box in front of Microsoft and Sony right now and it requires thinking out of it in order to move forward. Especially with billions of dollars, millions of customers and various developers and corporations that solely rely on game development and sales in order to exist.
Will we see the usual thing we saw from Sony last time? Where the PS3 was meant to be capable of dual-HDMI output, with the console supporting dual 1080p outputs? AAA titles these days are usually rendered (on both consoles) at ~1200x600 resolution, then upscaled to 1280x720 or 1920x1080 by your TV.
False promises can now be fulfilled on next-gen consoles with current GPU hardware more than capable of 1080p @ 60fps or 1080p @ 120fps (allowing either smooth 120fps or the option of 3D).
Will this strike a change in the gaming market? Cheaper games? More indie developers? Consoles with upgradeable parts? - Right now, I'm sure Microsoft and Sony are shaking in their boots. The Mobile World Congress is showing them that all players in the market are willing to place bets on the smartphone and tablet markets, where the two juggernauts of the console industry are struggling to move past a ten-year development cycle.
Games on smartphones are tipped to reach current-gen console quality within two years, yet current-gen consoles will still be offering the same thing they've offered since 2005. Will game developers wake up and realize that there needs to be a revolution in gaming instead of the usual evolution in hardware?
Since the 360 and PS3 we have had games with $50 - $100 million budgets; the games medium is being taken just as seriously as any tent-pole Hollywood movie. With this in mind, is it time for an exponential leap in graphics quality so that 10 years from now the console won't be over taken by smartphone and tablet technology?
As an avid gamer, I can't wait to see what the next-generation of games brings us.
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Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler Review
Introduction
Anyone who has gone looking for a CPU cooler knows there are a ton of choices on the market. In most instances, you the buyer, have some prerequisites to the purchase of any cooler. Things like noise level, appearance, and fit are top of the list in most instances. On the flip side of things, there are a bunch of guys who don't really care what it looks like, or if it will fit in a case, as likely they are using some sort of test bench. What matters most to these users is performance and if they can set new records with the use of a newly released air cooler.
I know there are plenty of users out there who outright doubt the name Thermaltake, and at first glance will render this cooler a farce based on the name of the manufacturer, and always refer to old issues that this company has long since dealt with. In recent months Thermaltake has dropped quite a few quality products on the market, and just to stay in air cooling terms, the Frio and Jing coolers did very well in both overclocking capabilities and low noise level cooling, respectively. For those naysayers and those who already know that Thermaltake has a good hold in the market with impressive offerings, may just have to pick up their chins from your desk after reading this review.
Today we are going to be looking at the Frio OCK. This isn't just a simple take off of the Frio that Thermaltake already presented to us, but rather a radical redesign with both a new tower design at its core, and a very cool shroud system for the fans. Taking its design cues from the game Star Craft II, this cooler is going to offer not only good to outstanding performance, but it also adds colors and designs not seen in air cooling towers to date. I say we dive right in and get a look at what the OverClock King can do and see if this King is worthy of the name and the throne.
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Build and protect with ease, in the latest In-Win BUC PC chassis
Build and protect with ease, in the latest In-Win BUC PC chassis
Taiwan - February 2011 - In-Win Development Inc., a leading innovator in contemporary PC hardware and multiple winner of the internationally renowned reddot design award, has today launched its new performance PC chassis, the BUC.
The "shield" concept behind the BUC's design is echoed across its front panel, while the strong SECC steel construction and a hard-wearing black interior and exterior create a reliable, subtle and high quality case for PC builders.
The BUC's design gem is the clever EZ-swap HDD drive bay, with a lockable door that allows access to three HDD without having to remove the whole side panel. The tool-less, vibration reducing drive bays complete the package to give a triple innovation.
With convenient Super-speed USB 3.0, USB 2.0, audio and eSATA ports on the top of the chassis, users can easily connect headsets, cameras, cell phones, external hard drives and a wealth of other devices with ease.
Finally, three integrated 120mm and several extra fan positions give it excellent cooling potential for all the latest hardware as well.
With core design innovations and high quality of construction, the In-Win BUC PC chassis is a great choice for PC builders worldwide.
About In Win
IN WIN Development Inc., an ISO 9001 manufacturer of professional computer chassis, server chassis, power supplies and storage devices, is the leading provider of enclosure solutions to system integrators worldwide. Founded in 1986, IN-WIN provides high quality product that conform to all safety regulations, as well as unsurpassed customer service. Our slogan "Contemporary and Innovative" serves as the foundation of not only our product development but also our attitudes in serving and catering to our strategic partner's wishes. We take the "im" out of "impossible"Â…
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Toshiba Introduces STOR.E ART 4 External HDDs with USB 3.0
Toshiba Introduces STOR.E ART 4 External HDDs with USB 3.0
Toshiba Computer Systems, a division of Toshiba Europe GmbH, today unveiled the new STOR.E ART 4 external hard disk drives featuring SuperSpeed USB technology (USB 3.0) for super-fast data transfers with a transmission rate of up to 5 Gigabit per second. The sleekly designed external hard disk drives will be available during the first quarter of 2011 throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa.
"USB 3.0 will become a standard feature in the computing market of the future. Toshiba anticipated this trend, and launches not only new hard disk drives but also notebooks featuring the SuperSpeed data transmission technology," said Marco Perino, General Manager Digital Products EMEA Toshiba Computer Systems. As users are increasingly storing large files such as videos, music tracks and photos, they demand a fast data connection between the backup medium and the computer. USB 3.0 offers data rates of up to 5 Gigabit per second. Compatibility to the widespread USB 2.0 ensures that computers supporting only USB 2.0 can also be used with STOR.E ART 4.
Backup technology and password-protection on board
Coming pre-loaded with NTI Backup Now EZTM, STOR.E ART 4 allows users to easily organize their backup routines. NTI BackupNow EZ software provides fully-customisable backup capabilities, including the option to backup specific folders, certain file types, and to conduct a system backup. In addition, complete password-protection with up to 256-bit data encryption prevents unauthorized access to data.
Designed to give storage a personal touch
Available in a selection of three models with red, blue, and white coloured graphical accents on a high gloss black finish STOR.E ART 4 gives customers the choice to express their personal style. It provides a capacity of up to 1TB. Thanks to the small dimensions and light weight of less than 190g, rubberised edges, a power supply via the USB connection and an embedded shock sensor protecting data stored on the disk in case of an accidental drop or shock, STOR.E ART 4 is ideal for mobile usage. It is also suitable for stationary usage, making a very smart desk accessory.
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SPARKLE Introduces Calibre X570 Graphics Card
SPARKLE Introduces Calibre X570 Graphics Card
SPARKLE Computer Co., Ltd., the professional VGA card manufacturer and supplier, today proudly introduced the Calibre X570 graphics card , delivering intense cooling performance and the broadest set of features for gamers who demand the best. With the excellent cooling solution from Accelero Xtreme, the Calibre X570 Graphics Card brings ultimate DX11 performance with OC function. This offers opportunities for enthusiasts and anyone intent on more hardcore applications to tap their full, powerful potential. Compared to reference GeForce GTX 570 graphics cards on market, the the Calibre X570 Graphics Card is overclocked out of box, it boosts the core, shader and memory clocks significantly to 772MHz, 1544MHz and 4212MHz, bringing better performance in the latest DX11 games.
Accelero Xtreme Cooling Solution
Using the Accelero Xtreme cooling solution from Arctic Cooling, the Calibre X570 Graphics Card provides ultimate cooling weapon for hardcore gamers. The Accelero Xtreme features 5 heatpipes, 107 fins and 3 PWM fans. The radical optimized air flow design is targeting to cool effectively up to 225 Watt heat dissipation. The Accelero Xtreme can dramatically cool the temperature of the GTX 570 GPU at least 15ºC lower than the stock cooler. Together with the integrated memory and voltage regulator cooling, the Accelero Xtreme not only enhances the overclocking potential but also extends the card's service life. The three PWM fans bring maximum air flow but operate extremely silence, thanks to the low noise impellor design and the patented fan holder which eliminates the humming noise. The unnoticeable operation of Accelero Xtreme brings you the unparallel non-disturbed gaming experience ever before.
32x Anti-aliasing technology
The Calibre X570 Graphics Card implements a brand new 32x anti-aliasing mode for higher levels of image quality. And the GeForce GTX 570's enhanced compression engine maintains incredible performance with anti-aliasing and resolution cranked up, providing both high frame rates and top notch image quality.
1280MB GDDR5 Video Memory
Latest DX11 games and 3D applications, such as Lost Planet2, Mafia II and 3DMark 11, insanely use as large as possible number of bump texture, transparent texture to describe faces of characters and render realistic gaming scenes, so they put rigorous demands on the bandwidth and capacities of video memory and demand at least 1GB video memory. Compared with high-end graphics cards on market with 1GB GDDR5 video memory, the Calibre X570 Graphics Card comes with incredible large 1280MB high speed GDDR5 video memory, meeting the rigorous demands from current DX11 games.
Ray Tracing Brings Futuristic Graphics
Prepare yourself for the future of gaming. The Calibre X570 Graphics Card powers interactive raytracing, bringing spectacular, photo-realistic renderings to your screen for the first time. Go ahead, spoil your eyes.. By using the power of the GF110 GPUs, the Calibre X570 Graphics Card supports recursion in hardware, enabling efficient ray tracing and a host of other graphics algorithms.It excels not just at standard ray tracing, but also at advanced global illumination algorithms such as path tracing.
Tessellation Power Brings Incredibly Detailed Visuals
While tessellation has mostly been used in films. With the introduction of DirectX 11 and NVIDIA's GF110, developers will be able to harness these powerful techniques for gaming applications. The Calibre X570 Graphics Card was designed from the ground up to deliver the industry's most potent tessellation performance, which is the key component of Microsoft's DirectX 11 development platform for PC games. Tessellation allows game developers to take advantage of the GeForce GTX 570 GPU's ability to increase the geometric complexity of models and characters to enables incredibly detailed game characters and terrain with blazing performance in latest DX11 titles, such as Lost Planet 2, Metro 2033 and so on.
Advanced DX11 Rendering Architecture
The Calibre X570 Graphics Card brings a host of the next generation of gaming calculation - GF110 never before offered for the PC -- including tessellation, DirectCompute and all other DirectX 11 hardware features. GF110 architecture is specifically designed to support next generation gaming effects such as raytracing, order-independent transparency, and fluid simulations. By using GF110 architecture, the Calibre X570 Graphics Card gets a tremendous boost in DX11 game performance and image quality, and brings film-like game characters and objects to users. GF110 architecture also enhances PhysX simulations with tremendous speed upgrade. In addition, GPU computing now can be put in practice in latest DX11 games for improve DX11 gaming efficiency.
Calibre 3-years International Warranty
SPARKLE Computer Co., Ltd, is continuously improving product and service quality. High quality components are used for the Calibre X570 Graphics Card to ensure 3 years of reliable performance.
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Toshiba Breaks Barriers Bringing Highly Mobile Notebooks with Satellite R800
Toshiba Breaks Barriers Bringing Highly Mobile Notebooks with Satellite R800
Toshiba Computer Systems, a division of Toshiba Europe GmbH, today announced the Satellite R800 series, a new range of slim, light and high-spec notebooks targeted at consumers. The series includes the 33.8cm (13.3") Satellite R830, the 35.6cm (14.0'') Satellite R840 and the 39.6cm (15.6'') Satellite R850. Thanks to a sophisticated heat management system Toshiba has managed to integrate Intel's latest full-performance CPUs into the slim casings. The Satellite R800 series models are estimated to be available during the second quarter 2011 throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa.
"The new Satellite R800 series include slim, lightweight and fully-featured high-quality notebooks that are affordable for the masses," said Marco Perino, General Manager Digital Products Division, Toshiba Europe. "It offers an unparalleled blend of innovative technologies, the latest connectivity tools, high quality, durability, comprehensive configuration and a remarkable price performance ratio."
R800 gives users what they need
Featuring the most in-demand interfaces, the Satellite R800 series notebooks easily connect to the world. They come with a high-speed USB 3.0 port allowing data rates of up to 5GB. This allows back-ups of data-demanding files such as videos, high-quality photos or large music libraries on a USB 3.0 compatible storage device such as the Toshiba STOR.E ART 4 can now be done quickly within minutes. With fast wireless interfaces (WLAN 802.11n, Bluetooth 3.0 + HS) but also an HDMI port the Satellite R800 notebooks meets all needs of a modern digital lifestyle. Despite their slim design all Satellite R800 models come with an optical disc drive as standard.
Technology made to differentiate
In order to pack such a powerful punch into such slim and light devices, Toshiba made use of various innovative technologies. A sophisticated cooling system optimises heat removal and allows using the latest powerful Intel CPUs while keeping fan noise at a minimum. The casing's honeycomb structure in certain areas of R830's and R840's casing and chassis pillars on the 35.6cm (14.0'') and 39.6cm (15.6'') devices embedded into the notebook's interior makes the Satellite R800 series devices highly robust. Protection of the electronic and mechanical components is supported by either a highly resistant magnesium alloy casing (R830) or a new High Stiffness Resin casing (R840 and R850).
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