IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 30/09/2011

Download of the Day: Thunderbird 7.0
Our Download of the Day today is Thunderbird 7.0.

Thunderbird is a great email client from the same people who brought you the Firefox browser.

Thunderbird gives you IMAP/POP support, a built-in RSS reader, support for HTML mail, powerful quick search, saved search folders, advanced message filtering, message grouping, labels, return receipts, smart address book LDAP address completion, import tools, and the ability to manage multiple e-mail and newsgroup accounts.

- Tabbed email
- An Archive feature similar to the one in GMail
- Lightning fast search
- Smart folders

The latest version includes the following changes:

Changes in Version 7.0

- Thunderbird is based on the new Mozilla Gecko 7 engine
- Several user interface fixes and improvements
- Several fixes to attachment handling
- Ability to print a summary of selected email messages
- Platform improvements to Address Book
- Fixed several security issues
- Numerous platform fixes that improve speed, performance and stability

Download Now - TweakTown Download of the Day

Deal of the Day: Motorola Xoom 32GB Tablet for $349.99 with $5 Shipping
Our Deal of the Day today is the woot.com - Motorola Xoom 32GB Tablet for $349.99 with $5 Shipping.

Offer: Factory refurbished, get one for just $349! While supplies last so hurry while it's still available.

MOTOROLA XOOM 32GB TABLET DEAL

Activision exploits Modern Warfare 3 by featuring Pepsi sponsorship, eat Dorito's and drink Mountain Dew to receive Double XP
I don't understand the point of this, and it crosses some very questionable lines for Activision, but to steal Battlefield 3's thunder; it requires thinking outside the square. Activision have teamed up with Pepsi and have announced a promotion called "Rank Up XP". What Rank Up XP offers is, whatever Pepsi products you buy, Mountain Dew and Doritos, players can redeem codes found in the packaging for Double XP time in Modern Warfare 3. A 20 oz gets you 15 minutes whilst a 12 pack gets you 45, and so on.

No, I'm not kidding around. The problem with this is, the XP in Call of Duty is a form of currency. Currency in the game buys you weapons, perks, attackments, killstreaks and so on. For a game that is already over-priced, a re-hash of the older titles, no new graphics engine or technologies built in, charging for the "Elite" service, on top of your monthly Xbox Live membership (PSN is free), this is just a step in the direction of overboard.

Activision are willing to exploit fans even [more] through this promotion. Considering that Activision sold $360,000,000 worth of copies in 24 hours of the last COD title... do they really need to cash in with this type of exploitation? What do you think?

MeeGo goes into hibernation, comes back in 2012 as Linux-based Tizen OS
MeeGo lives on! It breathes another day thanks to the Linux Foundation with their announcement that it'll be replaced with Tizen, a Linux-based, open-source OS. Samsung and Intel are collaborating to lead the development of the platform, with the LiMo Foundation - a consortium of companies including Panasonic Mobile Communications, NTT DoCoMo and SK Telecom among others. Tizen is said to support HTML5 and WAC-based apps and will be designed to run across a wide spectrum of devices, including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, netbooks and in-car infotainment systems.

The MeeGo project, seems to be on-board with the initiative, promising to "make sure that users of MeeGo can easily transition to Tizen", while assisting Meego developers as well. Tizen is expected in Q1 2012, with the first Tizen-powered devices set to hit the market in the middle of 2012.

L.A. Noire will hit PCs in November
L.A. Noire has enjoyed much success on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but now PC gamers will be able to get their hands dirty in the 1940s-based crime drama adventure game. L.A. Noire is headed to PCs in November with US gamers being able to grab it on November 8 and it's released in Europe on November 11, for $49.99. No word on the Mac edition yet, but Mac-based users will be able to access the game via OnLive.

It's received a name change also, now dubbed L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition, the package includes all of the downloadable content previously released on consoles. It also includes support for NVIDIA's 3D Vision and will be controllable with either a mouse and keyboard, or a gamepad. System requirement wise, it's not too bad:

· Operating System: Windows 7 / Windows Vista Service Pack 1 / Windows XP Service Pack 3 / OnLive for PC or Mac

· Processor: Intel Dual Core 2.2GHz to Quad Core 3.2GHz / AMD Dual Core 2.4Ghz to Quad Core 3.2Ghz

· RAM: 2GB to 8GB

· Hard drive space: 16GB

· Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 512MB to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1536MB / Radeon HD 3000 512MB to Radeon HD 6850 1024MB

· Sound Card: 100% DirectX 9 Compatible

Catalyst 11.9 Windows 7 Driver Analysis

Introduction

Talk about cutting it fine this month. Literally just days before the end of the month, AMD finally release the latest Catalyst driver release. The worst thing is, like me, most people probably don't really care about it as just a few days earlier a pre-release 11.10 driver came out which brought with it a focus on Battlefield 3.

What makes the driver probably not stand out even more is the fact that when you fire up the release notes, we've got no mention of any kind of performance increases on offer. As always, though, we take the time to go through the latest driver on a couple of cards and see just what kind of performance we get from the driver when compared to the previous month's one.

There's really not much more that needs to be said. We'll check out the testbed we're using today before we just get stuck straight into the performance side of things then wrap everything up.

So with that all said and done, let's not delay any longer and just get into it to see what's happening.
... Read the rest in your browser!

Thecus® Announces the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i3-Based N8900
A powerful 8-bay rackmount NAS designed for professionals

08/15/2011 - Thecus already has an 8 bay rackmount NAS, the N8200XXX featuring a quick Intel® Atom processor and providing a very good value. This product fills an important niche in the market and provides users with an excellently priced large storage NAS. Before this, Thecus was already known for innovative and powerful appliances such as the N8800SAS with SAS support and heavy-loaded hardware. With the N8900, they've decided to go one step further in performance and provide a state of the art NAS device for the most demanding users: USB3.0, HDMI output, and 10Gb Ethernet compatibility are only some of the key features included. Let's have a closer look.

Powerful Hardware for Superior Performance
As part of the latest generation of leading CPUs on the market, the Intel® Core i3-2120 processor integrates 2 cores at 3.3GHz to match the N8900's no less than 8GB of DDR3 memory. Fast RAID operations, multitasking, reactive virtualized environments, application serving, and more; anything your business needs.

To maximize your data safety, the N8900 benefits from a unique Thecus feature: Dual DOM design. The DOM (Disk On Module) is the equivalent of the BIOS on a computer: if it fails or gets corrupted for any reason, all your data can be heavily damaged. Thanks to Thecus Dual DOM design, there is a second DOM ready to replace or reprogram the first one. In this way, Thecus has reduced DOM failures by 67%(1)!

A Design Focused on Flexibility
The N8900 also embeds what's best for connectivity: two USB 3.0 ports, audio output/input, and an HDMI connection. Those will also give users even more possibilities when writing their own modules thanks to the brand new Thecus software developer kit.

In addition, the N8900 is built with several free PCI-e extension slots (one 4-lane and two 8-lane slots), which can be used for virtually everything. For instance, you can decide to add more USB 3.0 or eSATA slots. For companies with higher-end needs, you can choose to install a 10Gb Ethernet adapter, allowing you to use either traditional fiber or high-performance/low-cost base-T cables!

Speaking of flexibility, the N8900 is compatible with every common (and not so common) file system: Ext3, Ext4, and XFS. There are also 6 modes of link aggregation supported to maximize performance. Coupled with 6G SAS hard disks, the final results can't be wrong!

(1)Statistics provided by Thecus Technical Support, based on a comparison made during the first semester of 2011.

For more information on the N8900, check out: http://www.thecus.com/product.php?PROD_ID=56
For more information on Thecus, go to: http://www.thecus.com

About Thecus®

Thecus® Technology Corp. specializes in IP Storage Server and Network Video Recorder solutions. The company was established in 2004 with the mission to make technology that is as transparent as it is easy-to-use and products that are not only the best on the market, but are accessible to experts and novices alike. Combining a world-class R&D team highly experienced in storage hardware and software development with a keen customer focus, Thecus® stays close to the market to develop high-quality products to fulfill the storage and surveillance needs of today's world.
For sales inquiries, please contact us via email: sales@thecus.com

For marketing inquiries, please contact us via email: marketing@thecus.com

GIGABYTE Launches LAN Optimizer Utility
- Intelligent Network Management, Made Easy -

Taipei, Taiwan, Sep 27th 2011 ¨C GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd.. a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the launch of LAN Optimizer, a free software application that offers user-friendly, intelligent network management. Prioritizing network-sensitive applications such as streaming media content, communications and online gaming, LAN Optimizer intelligently manages your network to deliver an optimized online experience.

"LAN Optimizer is a unique and exclusive GIGABYTE application that allows our customers to get the very best online experience by taking charge of their internet bandwidth in a way that was only available to very high-end solutions in the past," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of Motherboard Business Unit at GIGABYTE. ¡°GIGABYTE motherboard users can now intelligently manage different types of network traffic at the touch of a button, dynamically optimizing their home network according to their needs."

GIGABYTE LAN Optimizer
LAN Optimizer offers intelligent and adaptive network analysis and management for all network traffic types. Automatic prioritization of data streams from online games, streaming media content and web browsing helps to prevent your network from being strangled by network-intensive traffic such as large data downloads. This means users can now enjoy optimized gaming, communications and entertainment connectivity, while performing multiple online tasks. In cases where an internet connection is shared, LAN Optimizer ensures that the whole family will enjoy sufficient network bandwidth, on all connected devices.

Key Features
LAN Optimizer is a free software application that works in conjunction with the Realtek 8111E Network LAN Controller to monitor and manage your PC¡¯s network behavior. It¡¯s simple user interface allows you to select the types of network traffic you want to prioritize, including gaming, media streaming, communications or web browsing data traffic. You can also target specific applications, choosing to prioritize or block accordingly. LAN Optimizer also features automatic management options that use adaptive networking intelligence to ensure that you are getting the best online experience possible.

See the GIGABYTE LAN Optimizer in action on GIGABYTE¡¯s MoboTV Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjX3fr3LMlU

LAN Optimizer is freely available to GIGABYTE motherboard customers and will work on applicable motherboard models. Get the latest version here: http://www.gigabyte.us/support-downloads/support-downloads.aspx

*1.This list is subject to change without notice¡£
2.Product features may vary by model, if your motherboard is not on the list, please refer to the GIGABYTE website for more support information.

To learn more about the GIGABYTE LAN Optimizer, please visit:
http://www.gigabyte.us/MicroSite/300/lan-optimizer.html

About GIGABYTE

GIGABYTE Technology Co. Ltd., headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, is known as a leading brand in the IT industry with branch offices located in 24 countries around the world. Founded in 1986, GIGABYTE started as a small research and development team and has since taken a position as one of the in the world's top motherboard manufacturers. In addition to motherboards and graphics cards, GIGABYTE further expanded its product portfolio to include notebook and desktop PCs, datacenter servers, networking products, mobile handsets, and home entertainment devices to serve each facet of the digital life in the home and office. Everyday GIGABYTE aims to ¡°Upgrade Your Life¡± with innovative technology, exceptional quality, and unmatched customer service. Visit http://www.gigabyte.us for more information.

VIA Announces Next Generation VIA EPIA-M720 Mini-ITX board, Offering Improved HD Audio and Video Performance

Featuring the VIA VX900 MSP, the VIA EPIA-M720 includes support for DDR3 and SATA II

Taipei, Taiwan, September 27th 2011 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the next generation VIA EPIA-M720 Mini-ITX board. Featuring the VIA VX900 MSP, the VIA EPIA-M720 is an upgrade from the VIA EPIA-LN delivering DDR3 and SATA II support for greater performance, richer digital media and extended connectivity for embedded devices.

Combining a VIA 1.0GHz C7 processor with the VIA VX900 unified all-in-one media system processor, the VIA EPIA-M720 delivers a highly optimized platform that boasts comprehensive HD video performance, HD audio and HDMI support in a compact, power-efficient package to meet the broader scope of needs for today's advanced digital signage, POS, Kiosk, ATM, home automation, healthcare and media client system design applications.

"Featuring the VIA VX900 MSP and improved connectivity, the VIA EPIA-M720 allows for an easy upgrade for customers," said Epan Wu, Head of the VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "The VIA EPIA-M720 offers substantial performance improvements which will enable the creation of a wealth of innovative next generation embedded devices."

VIA EPIA-M720 Mini-ITX Board
Measuring just 17cm x 17cm the VIA EPIA-M720 features the 1.0GHz VIA C7 processor for fanless configurations with ultra low power requirements. The VIA C7 processor is combined with the VIA VX900 MSP, supporting up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 DIMM system memory and featuring the VIA ChromotionHD 2.0 video processor. The VIA EPIA-M720 also adds support for Windows 7 and Windows Embedded 7 operating systems.

Rear panel I/O includes two PS/2 ports (KB/MS), one HDMI port, one VGA port, one COM port, one Gigabit LAN port, two USB 2.0 ports and three audio jacks. An onboard PCI slot is accompanied with two SATA II connectors, an additional COM port, a further three USB 2.0 pin headers for 6 USB ports (including two optional ports), SPDIF out, one pin header for LPT and an SMBus header.

For more information about the VIA EPIA-M720, please visit:
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/ProductDetail.jsp?productLine=1&id=1590&tabs=1

Images related to this announcement can be found here:
http://www.viagallery.com/index.php?option=com_flickr4j&Task=sets&Set=72157627724796770&Page=1

About VIA Technologies, Inc.

VIA Technologies, Inc is the foremost fabless supplier of power efficient x86 processor platforms that are driving system innovation in the PC, client, ultra mobile and embedded markets. Combining energy-saving processors with digital media chipsets and advanced connectivity, multimedia and networking silicon enables a broad spectrum of computing and communication platforms, including its widely acclaimed ultra compact mainboards. Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, VIA's global network links the high tech centers of the US, Europe and Asia, and its customer base includes the world's top OEMs and system integrators. http://www.via.com.tw

A-Data Announces New S510 Series SATA 6 Gbps SSDs
ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products, today announced the release of the S510 Solid State Drive (SSD), a mid-range version of the company's flagship S511. Implementing the SATA III (6Gb/sec) specification, the S510 is aimed at the growing pool of users who recognize the cost and performance advantages of solid state drive upgrades for both desktop and portable computers.

The performance advantages of the SATA III transfer specification are becoming well-known among consumers, and the S510 capitalizes on this trend with native support through adoption of the SandForce SF-2200 series chip. Its read and write speeds are twice that of SSDs using the older SATA II specification, and in real world test simulations reached 550/510MB read and write speeds respectively, with 4K random write speeds as high as 85,000 IOPS.

Outside of the new computer market, SSDs are increasingly seen as a cost-effective option for upgrading existing laptop and notebook computers, as these systems often benefit more in terms of boot speed and application performance over comparable desktop systems. Additionally, laptop and notebook users are more likely to need the low heat and high impact resistance of solid state storage. By replacing the mechanical drive with an SSD, the useful life of the laptop or notebook can be extended.

The S510 will be available in 120GB capacities.

Thermaltake Introduces Chaser MK-I LCS Case with Liquid Cooling System
Thermaltake, being the industry pioneer brand in thermal solutions, carrying the corporate vision of "building Thermaltake Technology into a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology, and lifestyle" and continues to drive toward the corporate mission of "delivering the perfect user experience" for all man kinds. Beginning of this year Thermaltake has sent the Chaser MK-I with air cooling system (ACS) out on a mission into the universe for all e-Sports enthusiasts to counteract all heat issues.

This Fall, the new Chaser MK-I returned to the base with its indestructible form and dynamic appearance which is ready to be equipped with an alternative thermal solution - the liquid cooling system (LCS) and be transformed into the new Chaser MK-I LCS to serve a greater good for the most discerning PC gaming purists.

The Chaser MK-I LCS - In Water-Cooling Mode
Since the last creation of chassis with built in liquid cooling system. The integrated LCS has slowly revived in the universe therefore this fall Thermaltake offers all e-Sports enthusiasts with the new Chaser MK-I LCS, a full-tower with integrated LCS. The integrated LCS is the new generation drive bay liquid cooling system, consisting of an all inclusive drive bay unit and intelligent interconnecting waterblock with the robust material non-spill quick connectors offers an effortless installation. The slim waterblock was developed with pure copper base that maximizes the thermal efficiency.

Also, with dual 120mm fans and the 240mm Dimple Tube Technology radiator increases the turbulence within the radiator to perform maximum cooling action. In addition, the P500 pump pushes 500L/H of water to improve the overall cooling efficiency and performance level. Furthermore, the ultra quiet pump, 12cm blue LED fan, water reservoir are all preinstalled inside the drive bay unit to achieve maximum performance for another grand Thermaltake mission.

The Chaser MK-I LCS - Keeping Originality
With the integration of LCS, the Chaser MK-I LCS still kept its fierce e-Sports appearance and incredible functionality, like the amazing breath light effect, the internal Superspeed USB 3.0, top-mounted HDD docking station, innovative 5.25" &3.5" tool-free device with HDD anti-vibration mechanism, combat headset holder, heighten footstand to enhance the airflow, dual colorshift front intake fans, smart cable management and large interior space which support up to a 18cm CPU cooler with 3-ways SLI/ATI Crossfire VGA cards that could be up to 33cm long.

With the newly equipped LCS and stimulating functions, the Chaser MK-I LCS is ready to take another journey into the universe for Thermaltake to serve all e-Sports enthusiasts needs.

For more information, visit the product page.

Available Tags:Download , Motorola , Xoom , Tablet , Activision , MeeGo , Windows 7 , Catalyst , Windows , Driver , GIGABYTE , VIA , VIA , SATA , Thermaltake ,

Friday, September 30, 2011

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 30/09/2011

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