IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 20/05/2012

Facebook completes first post-public acquisition, acquires Karma
There's been a lot of news today about Facebook and its IPO and here is another. Facebook has just completed its first acquisition after becoming a publicly traded company. The mobile commerce startup Karma has been acquired by Facebook. Karma specializes in apps for gifting friends and family. The acquisition sees 16 employees joining Facebook.

The terms of the deal are undisclosed as of now. The acquisition should help Facebook monetize its app and mobile offerings, something its admittedly weak in. Facebook said in a statement: "We've been really impressed with the Karma team and all they accomplished in such a short time. This acquisition combines Karma's passion and innovative mobile app with Facebook's platform to help people connect and share in new and meaningful ways."

Karma also posted on its own blog:

We founded Karma with the goal of adding the sentiment and meaning back into gift giving. That's what Karma is all about. That's what the Karma team set out to achieve.
Over the last year, we've built a new e-commerce platform from the ground up. We've been honored to partner with amazing brands to create a curated catalog of products. We made those products instantly giftable in a brand new way. And we harnessed the power of Facebook's social network to ensure you never miss a chance to show someone you care. The phenomenal response and feedback we've heard from customers has more than exceeded our expectations. And we're just getting started - today we take social gifting to the next level.

We're thrilled to announce that Karma has been acquired by Facebook. The service that Karma provides will continue to operate in full force. By combining the incredible passion of our community with Facebook's platform we can delight users in new and meaningful ways. As we say ...only good things will follow.

Simply put, together we can celebrate life's important moments in ways we could not before. A word of heartfelt thanks to our partners, customers, and our incredible team for helping us share Karma with so many people.

Sincerely,

Karma Co-founders Lee & Ben

This acquisition makes sense as Facebook really needs to start making money off of its mobile offerings. More and more users are ditching traditional computer access for mobile access of the social network, so they are losing ad revenue from the traditional site. Karma and its founders should be able to help monetize Facebook's mobile offerings better than Facebook has.

Facebook IPO is first to trade 500M shares in first day
A lot of the talk today has been about Facebook's IPO which, while successful, did have a few surprises in store for Facebook and onlookers. First, Facebook didn't start trading on time due to a Nasdaq glitch. Apparently Nasdaq had an issue with its message relay system which wasn't sending out confirmations of purchases and sales.

That glitch doesn't seem to have affected total trade volume, however, as the Facebook IPO becomes the first one ever to trade 500M stocks in its first day. Prices for the stocks remained fairly level, spiking up to $42 and closing at $38.37. The stock price was set at $38 to start trading off. Within the first 30 seconds, 82 million shares had been traded.

It's a bit surprising that the stock didn't spike above $42 given the hype surrounding the IPO. The fact that it traded pretty level is a good indication that Facebook chose a good opening price. As such, it netted Facebook just about as much money as it possibly could and didn't give the early traders the money instead.

Americans watched an incredible 37 billion videos online last month
37 billion. That's the number of online videos watched by Americans last month. In the United States, ComScore found that 181 million users watched 37 billion online videos last month. That means that 84.5% of United States Internet users watched at least one video last month. Incredibly, the average person watched 21.8 hours of video during the month.

Of course, Google grabbed the large majority of the viewers with 157.7. Second place went to Yahoo with only 53.6 million. Beyond that was Vevo, Facebook, and Microsoft with 49.5, 44.3, and 42.8 million viewers respectively. Hulu was even further down the list grabbing only 28.2 million views yet they came in just behind Google in terms of total time spent by the average user at 3.8 hours.

Video ads were also shown quite a few times in order to pay for the videos. 9.5 billion video ads were shown to users last month with Hulu showing the majority of those ads. This fact isn't surprising as viewers have to sit through the ads in the middle of their favorite TV shows. Video ads also accounted for 20.5% of all videos watched last month.

A new study shows BitTorrent piracy leads to higher album sales
BitTorrent may not be all bad for the music industry which is contrary to how they would like to portray it. It seems that piracy could aid album sales, if a new study is to be believed. North Carolina State University assistant professor Robert Hammond examined prerelease albums being BitTorrented and the album sales of said albums.

The investigation netted some interesting results. What he found was that there was a correlation between the two, although it was pretty small. Keep in mind that correlation does not equate to causation. Since this is an observational study rather than an experiment, it's impossible to say with certainty that BitTorrent aids album sales.

It is, however, possible to indicate that they seem to. After watching 1095 albums, Hammond noted "The findings suggest that file sharing of an album benefits its sales. I don't find any evidence of a negative effect in any specification using any instrument." The average increase in sales was around 59.6 albums, so its not a landslide increase.

This study also does not account for BitTorrent use after the release, nor does it account for singles downloads and sales, which are more likely to occur with a casual pirate. In other news, a similar study has shown similar results in that movie rips don't seem to affect box office revenues.

Sony PlayStation to get game pre-loading feature, downloads pre-ordered games before release
It's always frustrating to pre-order a game and then have to wait for it to download after release. That's why Sony is introducing a pre-loading feature into PLayStation Network. What the feature will do is allow users to download a pre-purchased game before it officially releases so that it is playable once the release date passes.

The debut of the pre-loading feature will be with the upcoming game Sorcery which will release next week. Valve's Steam already has a similar feature built-in and it is loved by users of the digital download and management software. A pre-loading feature makes sense on so many different levels, it's a bit surprising that it has taken Sony this long to implement it.

Pre-loading will also take care of some of the server hammering that usually occurs on a major game launch day. It also allows users who don't have the fastest connection, such as yours truly, to be able to play it right when it launches. It should also help increase pre-sales as the game has to be pre-ordered by a user to take advantage of the feature.

G.Skill TridentX PC3-21300 8GB Memory Kit Review

The TridentX series is the latest out of the team at G.Skill and the first time we saw them was a couple of weeks ago with the launch of the new Ivy Bridge platform. Coming in at a strong price point, the new PC3-19200 8GB kit really impressed us.

Of course in typical G.Skill fashion, PC3-19200 was just a starting point; the next step up comes in the form of a PC-21300 kit that carries a massive stock speed that we'll take a look at in just a second. The first thing we need to do is take a closer look at the modules.

Taking a look at the kit you'll see it's pretty much identical to the original PC3-19200 kit we looked at the other week. We've got the new black and red TridentX heatsink design and that typical good looking black PCB that we expect out of G.Skill these days.

We can see that one side has the G.Skill and TridentX logo while the other has the G.Skill logo along with a sticker that gives us a more detail run down on what exactly we're dealing with when it comes to this PC3-21300 kit today.

Moving in a little closer we get a better idea of what exactly we're dealing with thanks to the specifications sticker. The first thing we notice is that PC3-21300 translates to a massive stock speed of 2666MHz DDR. We're also dealing with a dual-channel kit that consists of two 4GB modules making for 8GB in total.

Of course the high 2666MHz DDR default clock does come at a cost and in this case it's the timings. You can see that we've got quite a relaxed 11-13-13-35 setup at 1.65v. This is pretty relaxed, but considering the default speed of the kit, it's exactly what we'd expect.

Before we get into the testing side of things there's one more piece to the puzzle. Being such a high speed kit G.Skill have included the Turbulence II RAM cooler to make sure the kit runs as cool as possible so the default speeds can be achieved.

With that all covered it was time to get into the testing side of things to see just how this latest kit from G.Skill performed. We headed into the BIOS and set our XMP to Profile 1 and then rebooted our machine. We booted up straight away and got into Windows with no problems.

Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of 22,726 MB/s / 20,956 MB/s, Copy speed of 24,270 MB/s and latency of 32.5ns.

Performance is strong and up compared to the PC3-19200 kit just as you'd expect. Even at these high MHz we want to see more, though, so it was time to head into the BIOS again and see just what we could get out of the kit. The first thing we tried was setting our memory divider to 2800MHz DDR.

Unfortunately we couldn't get our machine to boot so we headed back to the 2666MHz DDR divider and started working with the BCLK to see where we could end up at. We started at 2720MHz DDR and got into Windows no problem, we then moved up to 2745MHz DDR and again had no issue.

We moved up a little at a time till the point where we couldn't get into Windows in which case we moved back slightly. Having a look below you can see we eventually got up and running in Windows at a really impressive 2760MHz DDR, almost 100MHz DDR over the already very high 2666MHz DDR default.

Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of 21,175 MB/s / 21,685 MB/s, Copy speed of 22,118 MB/s and latency of 31.5ns.

Performance is really interesting; we can see that the read and copy numbers dropped slightly when overclocked while the write and latency both improved. These results were consistent throughout our testing. One of the key areas is probably latency and we can that the kit has improved in that area, but the read and copy numbers are interesting.

With that all done there's only one more thing to do and that is to push our CPU clock up with our RAM running at 2760MHz DDR. You can see below with the 103.5 BCLK and a 45x multiplier we ended up in Windows running our CPU at 4.66GHz.

Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of 21,773 MB/s / 24,130 MB/s, Copy speed of 22,525 MB/s and latency of 30.1ns.

Across the board we can see strong gains in performance with a strong boost to write performance and improved latency. Here we've got a kit of RAM that runs extremely fast on the new Intel Ivy Bridge platform.

Priced at $199.99 the price jump over the PC3-19200 kit is quite large, it's literally double. This is the price you pay, though, for high speed RAM kits. As the clocks go higher, the ability to get quantity that can guarantee those speeds become smaller and that inturn raises the price.

The addition of the Turbulence II cooler also slightly bumps up the price. If you're looking for a kit that can perform, though, this is one you should be looking at. G.Skill has been extremely aggressive with new Ivy Bridge RAM and is releasing more models than its competitors.

If you don't quite need this speed, but like the TridentX series, I'd recommend saving some money and picking up the PC3-19200 kit. If you're happy to spend the bigger bucks, though, and you want a kit that can do in excess of 2700MHz DDR when overclocking, then this PC3-21300 kit is probably just what you're after and won't disappoint.

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Synology Announces Cloud Station Availability for Mac
Synology Inc. today released the Mac client of Cloud Station Beta, providing an easy, yet secure data synchronization solution for Mac users.

"Cloud Station redefines the role of a NAS server, making Synology DiskStation and RackStation a true private cloud which not only pushes your data to all your devices automatically, but also keeps them up-to-date," said Darren Lin, Product Manager of Synology Inc. "Cloud Station can grow with users' demands with no recurring fees. It is one of users' favorite features in DSM 4.0, and we are excited to bring it to Mac users."

Cloud Station syncs and backs up users' content seamlessly across their PCs, Macs, and DiskStation or RackStation. On an offline computer users can still view and edit files, and the changes will be synchronized to other computers when Internet connection resumes. Cloud Station provides users with extra peace of mind by saving the previous versions of their files for easy data restoration. In addition, Cloud Station is a convenient way for business to boost office productivity. Account users can own their particular Cloud Station folders, or share a Cloud Station folder to collaborate on a project.

Availability
Synology Cloud StationBeta package and its Windows and Mac clients apply to the following models: DS412+, DS112, DS112j, DS712+, DS212, DS212+, DS212j, RS2212+, RS2212RP+, RS812+, RS812RP+, RS212, RS812, DS1512+, DS1812+, DS3612xs, RS3412xs, RS3412RPxs, DS3611xs, RS3411xs, RS3411RPxs, DS2411+, RS2211+, RS2211RP+, DS1511+, RS411, DS411, DS411+II, DS411+, DS411j, DS411slim, DS211+, DS211, DS211j, DS111, DS1010+, RS810+, RS810RP+, DS410, DS410j, DS710+, DS210+, DS210j, DS110+, DS110j, DS509+, RS409+, RS409RP+, RS409, DS409+, DS409, DS209+II, DS209+, DS209, DS209j, DS109+, DS109, DS109j, DS409slim, DS508, DS408, RS408, RS408RP, DS108j

They are available for free download here.

PQI Introduces Mirrored Stainless Steel USB 3.0 Intelligent Drive U821V
Power Quotient International (PQI) is always ahead of the market trend, this time presenting its latest, innovative new product, the USB 3.0 Intelligent Drive U821V traveling disk. It comes in a tasteful design with a modern and stylish look and features various vintage editions that will become popular collector's items.

The Intelligent Drive U821V is a unique "zero-step" storage device that can simply be inserted and ready for use without having to first remove a cap or push out a retractable USB head. As if this unconventional zero-step design is not enough, the U821V traveling disk sports a utilitarian, corrosion-resistant, stainless steel surface. The PQI Intelligent Drive's hard, smooth exterior also has a beautiful, mirrored, silvery sheen and a special LED at the end that flashes blue when data is being read. PQI outdid itself again designing this user-friendly traveling flash drive.

The Intelligent Drive U821V has USB 3.0 high transfer rates, low power consumption and is backward compatible with USB 2.0. It also features a more stable power management system that greatly reduces the risk of data loss. This energy-saving, environmentally friendly flash disk comes in several sizes, including 8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB, and comes with a lanyard to easily attach it to a phone, employee badge, or bag. The Intelligent Drive U821V's swivel design removes the hassles from attaching and detaching. This slim, stylish and functional storage device is the perfect complement to the Ultrbook. With all these exciting new features, the Intelligent Drive U821V is something you cannot afford to miss this summer. Hurry to your nearest retailer to experience the Intelligent Drive U821V today!

U821V Specifications

Interface: USB3.0

Capacity: 8 GB / 16 GB / 32 GB

Dimensions: 14.0 x 32.5 x 8.6 (mm)

Weight: 6.19 ± 1 (g)

Software: Support Ur-Smart

Warranty: Lifetime warranty

VIA Announces Ultra Compact, Fanless VIA AMOS-3002 System
VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient computing platforms, today announced the VIA AMOS-3002, an ultra compact, fanless system designed around the tiny VIA EPIA-P900 Pico-ITX board. The VIA AMOS-3002 provides embedded customers with a system that delivers all the latest features and digital media standards required for a diversified range of embedded applications including telematics, in-vehicle control, machine to machine controller (M2M), digital signage and kiosks.

Leveraging the digital prowess of the combined 1.0GHz VIA Eden X2 dual core processor and the VIA VX900H media system processor (MSP) on the VIA EPIA-P900 board, the VIA AMOS-3002 offers a powerful, rugged and HD-ready industrial-class PC that combines all the benefits of high performance 64-bit computing in an ultra compact system. The highly integrated, all-in-one VIA VX900H boasts ruthless hardware acceleration of the most demanding codecs, including MPEG-2, WMV9 and H.264, in resolutions up to 1080p across the latest display connectivity standards, including native HDMI support, for next generation multimedia-intensive applications.

"The VIA AMOS-3002 advances the ultra compact AMOS series systems, delivering fanless dual core computing and advanced multimedia capabilities," said Epan Wu, Head of the VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "The superior versatility and reliable compact design of the VIA AMOS-3002 makes it ideal for a diversified range of embedded applications."

VIA AMOS-3002

The VIA AMOS-3002 is specifically designed to support the VIA EPIA-P900 Pico-ITX board, which combines a 1.0GHz Eden X2 processor and the VIA VX900H MSP, to operate completely fanlessly within a robust chassis measuring 19.7cm x 10.4cm x 4.9cm (WxDxH). The VIA AMOS-3002 has a certified operating temperature of -20 to 60 degrees C, vibration tolerance of up to 5Grms and a shock tolerance of up to 50G. The VIA AMOS-3002 is also available with the VIA EPIA-P830 featuring a 1.0GHz Nano E-Series processor, offering an operating temperature of -20 to 70 degrees C.

Storage is provided through a Cfast slot for a SATA interface Flash drive while an optional storage sub-system expansion chassis offers support for a standard 2.5" SATA drive. Comprehensive I/O functions on front and rear panels include two COM ports, six USB 2.0 ports, including two of which are lockable for increased ruggedization, line-in/out, one DIO port, one VGA and one HDMI port for display connectivity and two GLAN ports for dual Gigabit networking. Optional Wi-Fi and 3G networking are available through a MiniPCIe expansion slot.

BitFenix Launches the Recon and Hydra Pro Fan Controllers
BitFenix is proud to introduce two brand new fan controllers designed to put the user in the driver's seat - Recon and Hydra Pro. Recon is the world's first Internet-connected fan controller, offering total control even on the go. Hydra Pro delivers powerful 30 W per channel performance and, when combined with BitFenix Spectre and Spectre Pro LED fans, convenient push-button LED on/off functionality.

"Users have been clamoring for these two devices for a while now, and I'm proud to report that the wait is finally over," says BitFenix Product Manager David Jarlestedt. "With Recon and Hydra Pro, BitFenix once again takes our disruptive ideas and brings them into a new design space - fan controllers. Offering never-before-seen functionality at competitive price points, Recon and Hydra Pro are set to become the go-to thermal control devices for enthusiasts the world over."

Recon
Designed for the new age of mobile devices, Recon is the world's first Internet-connected fan controller. After installing the included Windows-based software, this five-channel fan controller enables users to connect to it using smartphones, tablets or laptops via the Internet. Once connected, users can monitor and adjust their fans and temperatures via their mobile device. Best of all, the mobile interface is browser-based, which means it is compatible with virtually any mobile operating system, including iOS, Android, or Windows. At home, the easy-to-use touchscreen interface displays current system temperatures and fan speeds, while giving easy access to the Recon's advanced functionality.

Recon sports two specially-designed microprocessors that continuously interact with your motherboard, providing real-time status monitoring and control. Users can also save presets and recall up to three presets on-the-fly, making quick adjustments push-button simple. And to keep things looking awesome, Recon's SofTouch bezel delivers a luxurious matte finish and soft feel. With Recon, users are always in total control of their system - even on the go.

Hydra Pro
Two devices in one, Hydra Pro combines a powerful fan controller with an LED control device. Its five thermal channels deliver up to 30 W of power each, and are easily controlled via low-profile sliders that make it compatible with a wide variety of cases - even those with doors.

But when coupled with BitFenix Spectre and Spectre Pro LED fans, Hydra Pro really begins to shine. Users can connect their Spectre and Spectre Pro LED fans to Hydra Pro using the two pin cable that comes with every Spectre and Spectre Pro LED fan. Once connected, users can control fan LEDs with a single button push. Featuring signature BitFenix SofTouch surface treatment on the outside, Hydra Pro makes an attractive addition to virtually any system.

Pricing and Availability
BitFenix Recon carries an MSRP of 34.90€ in the EU, $39 in North America, and will be available at the following retailers starting next week:

North America
- Performance PCs (http://www.performance-pcs.com/)
- Canada Computers (http://canadacomputers.com/)

Europe
- Caseking (http://www.caseking.de/)
- Overclockers UK (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/)
- Specialtech (http://www.specialtech.co.uk/)

Australia
- PC Case Gear (http://pccasegear.com/)
- Scorptech (http://www.scorptec.com.au/)

BitFenix Hydra Pro carries an MSRP of 30€ in the EU, $34.90 in North America, and will be available in early June.

For more information on Recon and Hydra Pro, go to: http://www.bitfenix.com/

SAMSUNG Announces Retail Availability of its First Wi-Fi Capable SMART Camcorder and its Rugged Waterproof, Shockproof and Dustproof* Pocket Camcorder
Samsung Electronics America Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, announced the nationwide retail availability of two highly-anticipated full HD camcorders, the QF20 SMART Camcorder and the rugged W300 pocket camcorder. Both camcorders offer unique feature sets that meet the video demands of a variety of different users, including those who are constantly connected and want the instant gratification of sharing videos, and the adventurist looking for a durable go-anywhere video companion.

To address the growing number of users accustomed to real-time sharing, the Samsung QF20 SMART Camcorder features Wi-Fi connectivity to instantly back up and share videos with friends and family directly from the camcorder. User-friendly features like the QF20's 2.7-inch LCD with an intuitive touch screen interface make it an ideal choice for the connected user who wants to seamlessly share videos to social networking sites like YouTube, Facebook, and Picasa. The Samsung QF20 also includes an impressive 20x optical zoom, making it easy to get close to the action, such as recording a school play from the audience.

Just in time to capture the spring season's sporting events and other outdoor activities, the W300's rugged design is ideal for shooting 1080p full HD video in a range of conditions. It is waterproof up to 15 feet, shockproof from heights of 6 feet and dustproof* - making it an extremely reliable pocket camcorder to take on popular outdoor activities, such as snorkeling, hiking, playing in the sand, biking, and swimming in a pool. The W300 features an anti-fog coating, and offers an Auto Aqua mode that senses the camera is underwater and corrects the color to ensure rich and true-to-life images.

"Samsung's 2012 camcorders balance innovative features, such as Wi-Fi connectivity and shooting underwater full-HD videos, with ease of use - making them approachable for all consumers," said Reid Sullivan, Senior Vice President of Mobile Entertainment, Samsung Electronics America. "The QF20 builds on the success of last year's Q10 as an easy-to-use and affordable HD camcorder that now combines a touch screen LCD and Wi-Fi capabilities for instant uploading to popular social media sites. Additionally, the W300's waterproof, shockproof and dustproof design makes it this season's must-have gadget for capturing videos of the exciting outdoor activities and trips that the warm weather brings."

The Samsung QF20's Advanced Wireless Features
With the wireless capabilities of the QF20, uploading videos to YouTube and Facebook is seamless and easy. From any Wi-Fi hotspot, users can send videos directly from the camcorder with the touch of a button. The newly-developed login browser featured on the QF20 allows the camcorder to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot in hotels, airports, coffee shops or other locations which may require visiting a landing page before gaining access to an internet connection. Additionally, with integrated Samsung TV Link feature, the QF20 can wirelessly connect to a TV or Blu-ray player, so videos can be played on the home's largest screen without the tangling of component cables. The QF20 also features Samsung's AllShare, a proprietary technology that makes content sharing with a variety of devices easy, thus powering the PC Auto Backup feature so the QF20 can wirelessly transfer videos to a computer for storage.

Easy, Comfortable and Creative Shooting with the QF20
Continuing the success of the Q10, the QF20 features Samsung's innovative Switch Grip 2.0 handle design for comfortable control when shooting with either hand, or in any direction. The QF20 can rotate 180-degrees to capture video at different angles and users can quickly switch hands without missing any action. Plus, the one-button control for video record and playback makes the QF20 extremely easy to use and ideal for users at any level.

The QF20 SMART Camcorder features Optical Image Stabilization, OIS Duo, to help reduce motion blur and a new 5MP BSI CMOS Sensor that produces videos that are crisp with true-to-life clarity and color. The QF20 includes Samsung's Art Time Lapse, a setting that takes still photos at preset time intervals and then speeds up the slow passage of time to create a unique time lapse effect.

The Multi-Proof and Flexible W300 Excels in Many Shooting Conditions
The Samsung W300 rugged pocket camcorder is designed to be the ideal companion for outdoor enthusiasts or anyone looking to enjoy carefree video shooting. While the W300's waterproof, shockproof and dustproof* features make it optimal for shooting videos in extreme conditions, it's also a compact and easy-to-use camcorder that adults can feel confident giving to children who are eager to start making their own movies.

Beyond its multi-proof rugged design, the W300 features a 29.6mm wide-angle lens, a crisp 2.3-inch LCD, and a built-in USB port for convenient charging, and transferring video files to a computer. Plus, with the Record/Pause mode, the W300 can briefly pause and then restart the video recording process without creating a new file, making it easier to edit and share videos. Available in orange, red and black, the W300 gives users a range of choice to match their unique personalities.

Creative Editing Features, No Computer Needed
Both new Samsung camcorders feature creative options that will bring videos to life, without the need for any previous editing experience. In fact, videos recorded with the QF20 and W300 can be edited directly on the camcorder, and no computer is needed to use features such as My Clip and Smart Background Music 2.0. My Clip allows the user to bookmark the most important parts of the action - as it is happening live - so during playback, the best moments can be shared as a highlights montage. The upgraded Smart Background Music 2.0 adds another level to the entertainment experience by allowing users to sync their music, and automatically adjust the volume over or under a video clip.

Pricing and Availability
The QF20 SMART Camcorder (MSRP: $349.99) and the W300 pocket camcorder (MSRP: $159.99) are available now from authorized Samsung retailers. For more information on the QF20 and W300 and Samsung's full line of camcorders, please visit http://www.samsung.com.

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Sunday, May 20, 2012

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 20/05/2012

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