XFX & Sapphire HD 7770 1GB Review
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Darksiders II Slashes Way to June Release
Darksiders II is the sequel to the first game, but instead of playing as War a second time, you will journey through the game as Death. This member of the Four Horsemen carries two scythes to battle his foes, and features a stylized take on the Grim Reaper. Darksiders II will arrive on June 26th this year, which is a bit of an unusual time but should help make the summer months pass a little faster. Like most recent games, there will be retailer exclusive pre-order bonuses where you can decide the company to get your hard-earned dollar. GameStop, Best Buy, and Amazon each have a different bonus in the US, while UK and Australian gamers can check out the list at THQ.
The GameStop pre-order bonus sounds like the most enticing, as it features the Death Rides Pack that has "multiple, exclusive side quests" across a couple of environments. It also allows you to "aid an ancient Construct, battle The Bloodless, and retrieve Karn's lost treasure." Best Buy will get the Angel of Death Pack, which has angel-themed armor and scythes for Death, plus a new color trail for his crow. Lastly, Amazon has the Speed of Despair Pack, which increases the speed of Death's horse Despair to allow for much quicker travel across the game world.
Darksiders II will be available on the PC, PS3, and 360, with a Wii U version planned for a later launch.
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Resistance: Burning Skies Arrives May 29th for PS Vita
The PlayStation Vita will soon be enjoyed by gamers outside of Japan, and whether you are picking the new handheld up early or waiting a while, you will have no shortage of games to choose from. We have known about a Resistance game for the Vita for some time now, but not a lot was revealed until today. Resistance: Burning Skies will arrive on the PS Vita on May 29th, and Sony is billing the new game as "the world's first portable dual-analog FPS." The new Resistance focuses on a different tale in the game's universe, as you play Tom Riley, a firefighter from New Jersey, learning a new kind of heroism as the Chimera invade the East Coast in 1951. Resistance: Burning Skies has been built to take advantage of all the features of the PS Vita, from the front and rear touch controls to the two analog sticks. All of this should make for a grand FPS experience you can take with you wherever you go.
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YouTube Learning What is Funny: Will Laugh at Humanity in Tech Apocalypse
What would you do if you had access to every video on YouTube, the programming experience and computing power of Google? Well for some Googlers the answer is to make an algorithm to predict what the funniest YouTube videos are. This is accomplished by examining the video itself, as well as the title and comments.
Naturally certain things tip off the algorithm, such as laughter in the video and "lol," or other expressions of humor, in the comments. The algorithm is multi-lingual too, as it recognizes "jajaja" and "kekeke," which are Spanish laughter and Korean giggles respectively. Variations of "lol" are also deciphered and appropriately weighted by the algorithm; "LOL," "loooool," "lolololololol," and "lollll!!!" are all understood to be stronger than just "lol."
To view the computer-certified funniest videos on YouTube check out the Comedy Slam channel on YouTube. If you disagree with the algorithm, you can vote on what videos you find funniest here: Comedy Slam Vote.
What is the funniest YouTube video? Watch and see below.
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Cooler Master Releases NotePal X3 Notebook Cooler
Cooler Master has announced the addition of the NotePal X3 to the NotePal X Series. The X3 is targeted towards the most powerful laptops available, which happen to produce the most heat as a result. The cooling is provided by a 200mm fan that features user controllable fan speeds to tune the cooling to the current situation. It also features focused airflow to help users that tend to have sweaty hands while using their laptops. Adjustable height and angles provide for better ergonomic adjustments, and a blue LED provides a nice glow. The NotePal X3 will have an MSRP of $39.99.
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OCZ Announces Z-Drive R4 CloudServ
OCZ has announced a new PCI Express flash storage system, with capacities far beyond current solid state offerings. The Z-Drive R4 CloudServ targets the cloud computing market, and hopes that its high throughput and capacity will help make it a staple in data centers everywhere. PCIe based solutions offer far greater bandwidth than SATA based solutions, making them an ideal choice for very large data sets that need to be processed quickly. The CloudServ is said to be able to provide several GB/s in throughput while processing 1.4 million Input/Output Operations per Second (IOPS). This is made possible through a combination of hardware and software control, primarily OCZ's Virtualized Controller Architecture 2.0 and SANRAD VXL virtual acceleration caching software. The drives will be available in capacities ranging from 300GB-16TB. According to OCZ CEO Ryan Petersen, “The Z-Drive R4 CloudServ PCIe solid state drive delivers game-changing performance and enables clients to process massive data-sets with up to 16TB of storage capacity on a single, easy-to-deploy card."
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Study Finds Gaming Affects Marital Satisfaction
Researchers at Brigham Young University have found that online RPGs affect marital satisfaction. Before you let your minds wander too far, marital satisfaction is dependent on arguments and routines as well.
Unsurprisingly, when only one member of the couple plays a game (84% of this time the gamer is the husband), their spouse would like it if they put more effort into their marriage, and a little less into their character and/or guild, 75% of the time. This just confirms that gaming can make the marriage seem neglected by a spouse; a not very surprising finding. However, the issue is not with how much time one spends in-game but with the arguments that are associated. These arguments can lead to fewer shared activities and less serious conversation.
However, the study also found, to the researchers’ surprise, that when both members of the couple gamed together, the effect was a positive one. Seventy-six percent of the gaming-couples reported an increase in marital satisfaction due to the gaming. Of course, both people must be satisfied with the mutual participation, and if one is not then there is a decrease in satisfaction.
What the conclusion of the study really boils down to is this: be mindful of how any game affects you and your spouse. All it takes is for them to think you are gaming too much for it to be a problem, no matter how little time you actually spend in-game.
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More Than Two Million Mods Downloaded from Skyrim Workshop
Last Tuesday, Bethesda released the Creation Kit and Skyrim Workshop for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, giving gamers easy access to mods and the means to create them. Within that week, more than two million mods have been downloaded through the Skyrim Workshop, with more than 2,500 mods published. Those are staggering numbers, and just goes to show how many Skyrim players love to mod their game. Pretty much everything you can think of has or will soon receive a mod, and if you are feeling up to it, you can create anything you want in the Creation Kit. Bethesda also revealed some other numbers on Skyrim, and by revenue it was the second best selling title in all of 2011. Not too bad for a game that released in November. Skyrim is also the fastest selling title in the history of Steam, outsold other PC games by a factor of three to one, and the average play time on Steam is over 75 hours. The PS3 and 360 versions also outsold the exclusives on the respective consoles in North America last year, and overall sales remain strong this year.
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Two is Better than One in Solar Cells
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have made a surprisingly quick discovery concerning tandem solar cells. Previously the researchers had been working on single-layer polymer solar cells, which represent a large portion of polymer solar cells. Polymer, or plastic, solar cells are seen as a possible future for all solar panels as they are much cheaper to produce, and more resilient than traditional silicon panels. However their efficiency has been too low to be economically superior.
The researchers discovered they could greatly increase the efficiency of their polymer panels by adding a second photovoltaic layer to the design, and have the two connected in series. The two layers are not identical though; they have different band gaps which are directly related to the frequency of light absorbed. This allows the panel to capture and convert much more light than single layer panels, while also reducing energy losses. With further work, 15% efficiency may be achieved in the next few years.
This design could be seen in a commercial product in the near future, according to the researchers. The wet-coating process used to manufacture the tandem panels is compatible with modern manufacturing techniques, which is important for any potential commercialization.
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Mass Effect 3 Demo Lands, Includes Over Two Hours of Single Player
Today is Valentine's Day, which means the Mass Effect 3 demo has arrived. PC and Xbox 360 users can go ahead and download it, while PS3 users will need to wait for the PS Store to update. Once you have installed the demo, you will get two hours of single player content and more than enough co-op multiplayer to keep you satisfied until the March 6th release date. The single player portion of the Mass Effect 3 demo includes two missions for you to play through, and if you want to avoid any spoilers for the main game, you may want to stick with the multiplayer. If you have purchased Battlefield 3, you can begin the co-op portion of the ME3 demo right away, while everyone else will have to wait until this Friday. It is a small price to pay, but something that was not entirely unexpected. Playing the Mass Effect 3 demo will also unlock some items for use in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, so there is an extra incentive for that.
The Mass Effect 3 demo clocks in at around 2GB, and PC users will need to grab it from Origin.
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Your Heart is the Key
A common choice for passwords is someone’s name, such as a girlfriend or wife. While these people may have the key to your heart, your heart may become the key to your data, instead of their name. Everyone’s heart beats differently, so, like fingerprints and DNA, a person can be uniquely identified by their electrocardiograph (ECG).
Researchers at the National Chung Hsing University have extracted mathematical features from a person’s ECG to encrypt data on a computer. The process involves some chaos theory, which describes systems with extreme sensitivity to even the smallest conditions. For the proof-of-concept experiment, the ECG readings were taken from a person’s palms twice; once for each palm. The researchers hope to incorporate this technology into hard drives which will be decrypted or encrypted by touch.
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