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Microsoft Claims Four Million People Already Upgraded to Windows 8 Windows 8 just arrived last Friday, but already Microsoft is claiming four million upgrades to the new OS have been sold. Microsoft's new OS features a pretty nice upgrade price of only $39.99 for Windows 8 Pro, or $14.99 if you purchased a Windows 7 PC after June 2, 2012. Now, the four million number is only counting consumers and not enterprises that typically have volume licenses for an immediate upgrade, which could account for a larger amount. The number is also only for downloaded copies of W8 as retail numbers are not yet available, and neither is a direct comparison to previous Windows' versions. Still, Microsoft was not too eager to announce adoption numbers after Windows 7 launched, so maybe the tide is turning. At least in terms of upgrades that is, as the number of users on preview builds and RTM copies of W8 were five times smaller than the number for W7 before the official launch. Read More ...
Kingston Adds 64GB microSDXC Memory Card Kingston has announced a new 64GB microSDXC Class 10 memory card. Using the micro Secure Digital eXtended Capacity format and exFAT file system, this card provides minimum transfer speeds of 10MB/s. Targeting the ever expanding mobile market that includes smartphones and tablets, this card provides an excellent way to increase storage space for devices that typically have limited storage included. Kingston will offer two different models, one with an included SD card reader, and from what I have seen both will have an MSRP of $100. Read More ...
Cooler Master Announces New Liquid Cooler Cooler Master first got into the liquid cooling market with the Aquagate series, and the company is now adding the Seidon 120M to its lineup. The Seidon combines the water block, radiator, and pump into a single unit to make the jump to watercooling easier and less intimidating for all. The water block is made of copper and features Micro Channels to maximize heat dissipation, and also contains the pump for this system. A 120mm radiator can accommodate a single fan on each side and a 120mm PWM fan is included. The fan can be adjusted from 600 to 2400 RPM. The Seidon 120 is available immediately for Intel and AMD sockets at an MSRP of $69.99. Read More ...
Getting Rid of Glare for Solar Power Of the many ways to improve the efficiency of solar power, increasing the amount of light that hits the photoelectric material is likely the most obvious, but is not the easiest to achieve. This is in part because the refractive index of the coating on top of the panel affects how much light is reflected away, and that is limited by Nature. However researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are working to change that, as reported by the American Institute of Physics. The lowest naturally occurring refractive index for a solid is 1.39, and nothing between that and 1, the refractive index of air and other gases, has been discovered. However, materials with tunable refractive indexes have been developed recently, and the researchers are investigating how those may work as an antireflective coating for solar panels. These materials are actually thin-films with special structures that enable them to reach as low as 1.05 for their refractive index. With such a low value it will be possible to minimize multiple kinds of optical phenomena including Fresnel reflection, Bragg reflection, diffraction and more. Perhaps most importantly though, the addition of an anti-reflective coating, like what the researchers are investigating, is not going to disrupt the regular production of solar cells. A purely additive process is used which deposits the material onto the panel, and can be done without affecting the cell itself. Read More ...
NZXT Unleashes the Kraken with New Line of All-in-One Water Coolers NZXT is perhaps best known for its computer cases, but the company has a variety of products besides those. Recently, NZXT has unveiled a new line of products and released the Kraken, its first all-in-one premium water coolers. These self-contained systems are the first ones available in 140 and 280mm sizes, which should be plenty big enough for even the fastest processors. NZXT has made the Kraken coolers with 36% more surface area than 120/240mm radiators and fully interactive fan control, so any user should have no problem keeping things cool. Its HUE lighting system is also included on the coolers to give off a unique look, while the black sleeved cables and 16" tubing ensures a nice, clean look in even the largest cases. Each Kraken cooler is fully compatible with all current sockets from AMD and Intel. The 140mm Kraken X40 cooler comes with NZXT's FX-140 PWM fan and the ability to install a second for a push-pull setup, while the 280mm Kraken X60 features two of the FX-140 PWM fans and the ability to install two more for a massive push-pull configuration. The X60 also has a SATA power connector for easy installation and cable management. The NZXT X40 is priced at $99.99 and the X60 at $139.99, so neither one will require breaking the bank to keep your system cool. Both models include a two year warranty and should be available soon. Read More ...
Heat Transfer Under Examination At the macroscale, man understands things pretty well, thanks largely to the fact that we exist on that scale. At the micro- and nanoscale though, our understanding fades away, especially with regard to heat. Light and electricity we understand fairly well, but our understanding of heat transfer is quite lacking, but researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are working to change that, as reported by the American Institute of Physics. As photons carry light and electrons carry electricity, we know that phonons carry heat, but exactly how those packets of vibrational energy move from particle to particle is difficult to observe. The researchers accomplished this by using a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of carbon chains. On one end of the chains were caps that attached to the silicon substrate, while at the other end were one of two caps that connect to a layer of gold. The strength of the bond between the gold and the SAM was dependent on the cap, and that variability is what the researchers used to study heat transfer. Using a laser the researchers were able to analyze the loss of heat in the system at the atomic scale with picosecond resolution. Thus far they have confirmed that stronger bonds transfer heat more quickly than weaker bonds. With more observations though, they hope to construct theories to explain the data they will be collecting. Read More ...
Samsung Announces 4.65-inch Galaxy Premier, Comes with HD Super Amoled, 8MP Camera While Samsung's recent Galaxy S III Mini received a lukewarm reception, the company plans to make amends with its shiny new Galaxy Premier phone. Its exterior design closely resembles that of the Galaxy S III, and retains a few of its mighty predecessor's impressive hardware specs. The Galaxy Premier sports a decent dual-core 1.5 GHz TI OMAP 4470 processor partnered with 1GB of RAM, although the screen size has been shortened to 4.65-inches on a full 720 x 1,280 Super AMOLED panel. Thankfully Samsung has chosen to keep the 8-megapixel camera intact so you can still take some decent phone pictures, with Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC connectivity options available. The Galaxy Premier has been announced for a Ukranian release at an estimated US $680 price tag, although availability to other countries might be confirmed by Samsung at a later date. Read More ...
Miniaturized Optical Accelerometer Developed Tiny sensors surround us as more are packed into our phones, tablets, laptops, and more. Perhaps one of the best known examples is the accelerometer which tracks the movement of a proof mass to measure the forces on the sensor. Typically this is part of an electrical system, but researchers at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester have devised a new optical accelerometer with multiple advantages over the current technology. Like much else in the technology world, sensors are trying to be miniaturized, but there is the catch that components, like the proof mass, are more sensitive at larger sizes. That means the miniaturizing the sensor could impair its performance. The optical system the researchers developed though can be made just microns large thanks to its highly sensitive lasers. This new system is comprised of a laser, two cavities, and a proof mass. The laser light shines into the cavities, where it bounces back and forth before escaping. One of these cavities is tied to the proof mass, so as it moves, the cavity changes. This causes a change in how much light escapes the cavity, and that can be measured very precisely. Also, as the light bounces back and forth, it has the effect of negating fluctuations due to heat and softens the motion of the proof mass, for even more precision. We may not see this technology used in any device for a while yet, because while it can be made from silicon, it requires a laser be integrated into the electronics, which is still something other researchers are trying to perfect. When that is accomplished though, we will see new devices with sensors more precise than almost anything you can find today. Read More ...
Intel Developing 48-Core Processors for Mobiles In a time where dual-core smartphones are becoming commonplace, Intel has commenced development of many-core processors meant for mobile devices such as tablets, phones, and ultrabooks. The technology is built on 48 processing cores and could be adopted in the next five to ten years, which may finally blur the lines between a desktop computer and a smartphone. "This could really open up our concept of what is a computer... The phone would be smart enough to not just be a computer but it could be my computer," remarked analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy. Tasks will be shared between the numerous low-powered cores, which Intel thinks can be more energy-efficient than using just a few cores. While that much computing prowess is staggering, Intel's SCC (single-chip cloud computer) is still under an experimental stage, but is nonetheless a promising peek into the possible future of mobiles. Read More ...
Hardware Roundup: Wednesday Edition We have seen a series of Z77 chipset motherboards come through the roundup lately, and today we have a pair of MSI boards for you to examine. First up is the Z77A-GD80, NSI's flagship Z77 motherboard, with Thunderbolt connectivity onboard. The second offering from MSI is the Z77 MPOWER board with extra features to ensure clean power for overclocking. You can keep all that heat under control with the Corsair Hydro H100 water cooling kit. With all the digital media the average user has today, especially with mobile devices, the Synology DiskStation DS213air NAS offers some neat features such as a wireless interface which allows it to act as a Wi-Fi hotspot or join a wireless network. Cooling Corsair Hydro H100 Water Cooling Heatsink @ Frostytech Gaming Medal of Honor: Warfighter Tested, Benchmarked @ TechSpot Input Devices SteelSeries Diablo 3 Peripherals @ LanOC Reviews Motherboards MSI Z77A-GD80 with Thunderbolt Motherboard @ PC Perspective MSI Z77 MPOWER LGA1155 Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews Storage/Hard Drives Synology DiskStation DS213air NAS @ Madshrimps Video XFX Double D HD 7970 GHz Edition Video Card @ [H]ardOCP Read More ...
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