IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 4/17/2012

Autodesk Smoke 2013 for Mac is coming, costs just $3,495
Autodesk have been tinkering with their video editing and post-shot visual effects tool, Smoke, and will release it later in the fall. Smoke 2013 brings a bunch of new features, such as a unified interface that mixes the traditional, editorial track-based editing with Autodesk's own interface elements.

A node-based compositing tool, ConnectFX, allows editors to insert advanced effects without having to jump to a separate interface. New specific tools make the jump to the 2013 edition of Smoke, including a Color Warper for pro color adjustment, a Master Keyer for faster chromakey editing for green screens and stereoscopic 3D editing, and a 3D visual effects workflow with real 3D effects for elements like logos and titles.

All media is also put into a central area, called the MediaHub. Hardware requirements have been actually lowered, and not increased for Smoke 2013, where users can also now take advantage of Thunderbolt-based external drives and video peripherals to get the same kind of editing one would receive from the high-end Mac Pro.

Video format support is quite good, and includes Apple's ProRes 4:2:2, ARRIRAW for Arri cameras, DNxHD and RED's Redcode. Smoke 2013 won't ship until later in the fall, and will cost $3,495 per license.

Intel's Windows 8 tablet now has a public checklist
Intel is now pushing more information out on their Windows 8-based tablets during a conference in Beijing. The goals Intel have set for themselves are, well, quite a stretch, but if they pull them off I'm willing to say they will definitely have a strong iPad competitor.

Intel-powered Windows 8 tablets will sport an Atom Z2760 "Clover Trail" chip, a dual-core CPU with "burst mode" (which provides quick bursts of performance when required) and Hyper-Threading, which lets the dual-core chip act like a quad-core, again, when needed.

Intel are looking to have two tablet designs, a 10-inch tablets to verse all the tablets out now, such as the iPad, and hybrid 11-inch designs with physical keyboards. Battery life is king here, with Intel boasting 9+ hours of battery life, and roughly 30 days of standby. Remember this is just on paper right now, real-world testing will surely be less than that.

3G/4G connectivity is also another "basic" feature for Intel. Weight and thickness is another big talking point, and we're looking at less than 1.5 pounds, compared to the new iPad which weighs 1.44 pounds, this is great news. Thickness, we're looking at under 9mm, compared to the new iPad at 9.4mm. If Intel can hit these points, they will definitely have a strong contender here.

As I've said previously, I'm quite excited about what Microsoft are going to achieve with Windows 8 and tablets. When companies like Intel get into the mix, it only gets my excitement level building.

RumorTT: Motorola engineer outs Droid RAZR HD, posts photo with EXIF data
Google may be rumored to be ditching the hardware side of Motorola, but that doesn't mean Motorola are sitting around crying in the corner. No, nothing of the sort here: they seem to be actually working on brand new products.

The name of this product, Droid RAZR HD, has been leaked out from the EXIF data from a series of photos uploaded by a purported Motorola employee. The photos were uploaded to Picasa, and are listed as being uploaded by Vic Yu, who according to his Google+ and LinkedIn page is an engineer and program manager at Motorola Mobility.

Not only is the product name shown, but we know details of the camera itself: it sports an f/2.4 aperture and a focal length of 5mm. The software version listed is Ice Cream Sandwich build 4.0.3 and could have a product codename of "Vanquish". We should note that EXIF data can be faked, so the usual TweakTown-branded Salt should be thrown around here.

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580 enters retirement
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580 was a powerhouse of a card, it pushed the company away from the mess that was the GTX 480 with its various power, heat and noise-related issues, and showed the world that yes, the top dog could still be, top dog.

They reiterated this with the GEFORCE GTX 680 (with the capitilization meant to emphasise the word GEFORCE I'm guessing) and are now enjoying the fruits of their labor. The GTX 680 kicks ass, which means the GTX 580 can slide into retirement, put its slippers on and enjoy a nice, fat green pension for the rest of its life.

The GeForce GTX 580 officially launched all the way back in November 2010, and has enjoyed the crown of fastest single-GPU card until the day AMD launched their HD 7900 series. That didn't last long for AMD as NVIDIA launched the GTX 680, taking back that crown. Enjoy your retirement, GTX 580, my GTX 570's are enjoying their SLI goodness in my PC right now as I type this.

Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 1300-watt Power Supply Review

Introduction

It has been a very long time since we have had a Cooler Master power supply up for review so we are quite happy to be able to take a look this unit.

Cooler Master is well known for a variety of PC components, cases, peripherals and such. Cooler Master has a wide selection of power supplies available to cater to just about any builder's needs. Today we are looking at one of their power supplies that is geared towards high-end enthusiasts.

The selection of power supplies above 1000-watt has been increasing steadily over the past year or so. The Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 1300-watt power supply is one of the new contenders.

The power supply offers full modular cabling, quad-GPU support, 80Plus Gold efficiency, an integrated fan controller and has enough power to cook a frozen dinner faster than my microwave. All of this doesn't matter much unless the unit performs well.

Our expectations are quite high as enthusiasts seeking power of this quantity demand nothing but the best.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

Cooler Master chose to utilize a single 12V rail on the Silent Pro Hybrid 1300-watt power supply and it is capable of 105A of power. This isn't quite the full capacity of the power supply, but very close. The 3.3V rail is rated for 22A while the 5V rail is rated for a tad more at 25A. Both combined are capable of 150W. The 5VSB rail is rated for a grand 3A. Normally this is the end of the list, but there is another rail on this unit. Since the Silent Pro Hybrid 1300-watt is capable of powering two 3-pin system fans directly from the power supply, it has a 7V rail rated for 1.8A.

We were really hoping to be able to give the Silent Pro Hybrid 1300-watt a full list of green checkmarks, but it just didn't quite work out that way. The unit is filled with more protections than Planned Parenthood and is fully modular. All of the cables are of the flat ribbon variety with the exception of the 24-pin Main connector and don't need to be sleeved. The Main is of course sleeved as you would expect. Cooler Master made sure the unit was efficient enough to achieve an 80Plus Gold efficiency rating, but alas the unit is not rated for 100% continuous output at 50C. Fortunately they do rate the unit at 40C.

Cooler Master has the Silent Pro Hybrid 1300W for sale direct from their website for $329.99. Fortunately it can be had for much cheaper elsewhere. Tiger Direct has the power supply for $259.99 after $10 MIR and free shipping, which is a much more reasonably priced. Cooler Master gives the Silent Pro hybrid 1300-watt unit a five year warranty.
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Available Tags:Mac , Windows 8 , Windows , tablet , Motorola , GeForce , GTX , Cooler Master ,

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 4/17/2012

Introduction

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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