IT News Head Lines (TechSpot) 24/02/2013

Weekend Open Forum: Do you still wear a watch? There isn't a week that goes by where we don't hear about how the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets are displacing other technology segments. For many folks, a competent high-end handset can comfortably replace various portable media players, dedicated gaming handhelds, audio and video recorders, a basic camera, a... Read More ...

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Ubisoft and EA pair up, offer each other's games online Electronic Arts and Ubisoft are teaming up, each company planning to offer the other's library of games across their respective Origin and UPlay services. The move could be interpreted as a shot fired across Valve's bow -- the mind behind Steam and arguably, the king of digital game distribution -- but probably... Read More ...

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Google Glass to arrive by the end of the year for less than $1,500 Google’s augmented reality visor will reportedly be available to the general public to purchase before the end of this year. What’s more, the headset will debut for less than the $1,500 that developers and lucky contest winners are currently being asked to shell out according to Google product director Steve... Read More ...

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Google will open I/O conference registration on March 13 Google will open the registration process for this year’s I/O conference next month, according to a post on the official Google + page for developers earlier today. The annual event is scheduled to run from May 15 through May 17 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and if last... Read More ...

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Weekend game deals: Battlefield 3 $10, Dark Souls $15 If you've been waiting to take Battlefield 3 for a spin, GamersGate and Origin have the base digital game for only $10 along with healthy discounts on other franchise titles. Conversely, Call of Duty fans who haven't purchased Black Ops II yet have an opportunity to explore the multiplayer segment... Read More ...

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Nevada is first state to legalize online gambling Nevada's governor has signed into law a bill which legalizes Internet gambling. Consequently, Nevada has become the first U.S. state to legalize online gambling. The AB114 bill (pdf) also authorizes Nevada to make deals with other states, allowing them to participate in Nevada's "interactive gaming" efforts and even share revenues.... Read More ...

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Microsoft expected to reveal Xbox 720 in April following PS4 unveiling Sony’s “surprise” PlayStation 4 announcement earlier this week reportedly caught Microsoft off guard at first, according to one Sony senior official that asked not to be named. The person in question said they definitely ruffled some feathers which seems likely considering most expected the two companies to announce their next... Read More ...

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Nielsen "TV household" ratings to include cord-cutters without TVs Nielsen will soon expand its TV ratings system to include online viewers, it told clients yesterday. Armed with its broadened definition of what constitutes a "TV household", Nielsen hopes to more accurately reflect modern day media consumption and advancements in technology -- an important undertaking if Nielsen wants to subsume the growing... Read More ...

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Nikon signs agreement with Microsoft for Android-powered cameras Nokia has signed a patent licensing agreement with Microsoft that will give them access to the company’s broad patent portfolio for use with certain Nikon cameras utilizing the Android platform. A press release noted the contents of the agreement would not be disclosed but Microsoft would receive royalties from Nikon. ... Read More ...

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Chrome 25 released with voice recognition support Google has delivered the latest stable release of Chrome -- version 25 for those still counting -- which includes a number of bug fixes, improved security agains rogue extensions, and voice recognition support via the Web Speech API. The latter will allow developers to accept voice input in their web... Read More ...

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Asus' Windows 8 Transformer Book now available for pre-order Asus’ Transformer Book is now available for pre-order through MacMall nearly nine months after it was first shown to consumers at Computex 2012. The Windows 8 hybrid will set you back $1,479.99 and should be available by mid-March, according to one German retailer. Read More ...

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Qualcomm announces world's first global LTE baseband chip LTE fragmentation can be a real hassle for travelers and companies making multiple versions of the same device for different markets. Case in point, the iPhone 5 currently produced in two GSM variants plus a CDMA version, and the iPad’s 4G denomination already cost Apple a $2.25 million fine in... Read More ...

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McAfee says malware is getting more sophisticated McAfee’s fourth quarter 2012 threats report highlights the fact that malware attacks are not only growing in frequency but sophistication. The security firm said the number of trojans built to steal passwords was up 72 percent during the last three months of 2012. Read More ...

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Survey: Microsoft is now cooler than it was just a few years ago Microsoft’s efforts to revamp their image appear to be paying dividends. A recent poll from Reuters / Ipsos shows that nearly half of all participants think Redmond is cooler now that it was just a couple of years ago. In fact, respondents said Microsoft was viewed as cooler than both... Read More ...

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Facebook building cold storage data facility to maintain your old pics Earlier this year it was revealed that Facebook users have uploaded more than 240 billion photos to the social network and add another 350 million photographs each day. As you can imagine, it takes an incredible amount of space to store all of those old memories. Read More ...

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AMD Turbo Dock balances your tablet's performance and battery life AMD recently announced a new innovation for tablets and hybrid PCs that will be shown off at Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona. It’s called AMD Turbo Dock and in a nutshell, it allows the system to adjust performance based on whether or not the tablet is docked. ... Read More ...

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RIAA report bashes Google's anti-piracy efforts as ineffective A new report issued by the RIAA lambasts Google's piracy-curbing efforts, claiming the search giant's promise to demote unsavory file sharing sites several months ago has shown "no demonstrable impact" on the demotion or removal of links to well-known copyright violators. The music agency reports that "serial infringers" -- identified... Read More ...

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Canon's MREAL headset combines virtual reality with the real-world Canon today announced their Mixed Reality headset, or MREAL, will be available for purchase starting March 1. The device, which has reportedly been in development for years, takes real-world objects and pairs them with virtual reality components to give the wearer a vision of what real life could hold. Read More ...

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Google unveils Chromebook Pixel, expects you to pay $1,299 Google has just announced the latest addition to its lineup of web-centric Chromebook laptops. Unlike prior variants that drew their main value from their low price tag, the new Chromebook Pixel hopes to entice another set of users who live in the cloud and are willing to spend ‘a little... Read More ...

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Thursday tech deals: 40" Samsung HDTV $398, 60" Sharp $798 Samsung 40" 1080p LED LCD HDTV for $398 + $13 s&h Read More ...

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Mobile games outsold handheld games from Nintendo and Sony in Q4 We’ve known for a while now that mobile games were having a serious impact on the traditional handheld industry. This was evident when Nintendo was forced to slash the price of the 3DS to make up for lower than expected sales and even more so just a couple of days... Read More ...

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Nvidia's new headquarters to rival Apple's spaceship campus Nvidia announced plans earlier today to build a new campus to accommodate the company’s growing workforce. CEO Jen-Hsun Huang revealed the plans on the company’s official blog, pointing out that their Santa Clara headquarters barely has a spare desk and they are simply bursting at the seams. ... Read More ...

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Gigabyte intros Thin Mini-ITX motherboards, now available on Newegg Gigabyte recently debuted their latest motherboard series based on the Thin Mini-ITX form factor. The two new boards, the Gigabyte N77TN and the B75TN, adhere to Intel’s AIO PC specification and allow system builders to create a slim and compact computer. Read More ...

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Canonical releases Ubuntu Touch developer preview for Nexus devices Canonical has launched a new version of its Ubuntu operating system designed with smartphones and tablets in mind. Available as a developer preview ahead of a full release sometime early next year, the software is available to download right now and is compatible with a handful of different Nexus products:... Read More ...

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Petition to legalize unlocking reaches 100K signatures, warrants White House response With over 100,000 signatures (and counting), an open petition asking the White House to legalize unlocking cell phones could elicit an official response from the Obama administration. Currently, 100,000 signatures within the first month of a petition's life is the minimum activity required before White House officials respond to a... Read More ...

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Dead Space 3 PC Graphics Test

Dead Space 3 might be a direct console port but it's done right, at least as far as I can tell after a few hours of gameplay. The game might not have DirectX 11 features or a high resolution texture pack, but I personally found it to be quite enjoyable. Read More ...

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BlackBerry Z10 Review

The BlackBerry Z10 debuts at a time when smartphones are as much about play as they are productivity, and this phone can thrive in this era only if it can strike a balance between entertainment and enterprise. Is this the savior that BlackBerry - the company and operating system - so desperately needs? Read More ...

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Cooler Master HAF XB Review

Mixing things up, Cooler Master's latest mid-size enclosure breaks the conventional mold with boxier dimensions -- in fact, the company describes it as a LAN box. Given the HAF XB's cube-like figure, it's no surprise that Cooler Master is pushing the LAN-friendly angle as well as pitching the HAF XB as the ideal test bed. Read More ...

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The Best PC Game Mods You Can Play Today

Thanks to mods, your entire PC gaming experience can be improved by the work of dedicated fans. Because some mods are so extensive, transforming almost everything about the source title, we felt it was only fair to list 12 of the best of them here, since they may as well count as their own new games. Read More ...

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Most Anticipated PC Games of 2013

It's an exciting year for gamers as we approach the next console generation and new software projects inevitably hit the PC as well. We've assembled a list of the hottest PC games expected to hit shelves over the next 12 months. Our selection includes 35 games and 10 bonus mentions we're lukewarm about. Read More ...

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MSI GX60 Gaming Notebook Review

The MSI GX60 aims to deliver a solid gaming experience on the go without breaking the bank. The GX60 packs a quad-core AMD A10-4600M CPU alongside the very speedy Radeon HD 7970M discrete graphics, 15.6-inch Full HD display and SSD/HDD storage options for a very attractive price. Read More ...

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Culture Smash: The State of PC Gaming in Japan

What Western gamers think of PC games - the games from developers like Valve and Blizzard - aren't. When many Japanese gamers think of the country's PC gaming industry, the kneejerk reaction is to think of either dating or first person shooters. Read More ...

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Windows 8 Boot Issues? Try Fixing the Master Boot Record (MBR) or Boot Configuration Data (BCD)

Once you settle on the idea that you are not having a hardware problem and you are unable to boot up, your best bet is to try to fix the MBR (Master Boot Record). With a long history of dual booting different versions of Windows over the years, finding a corrupt MBR, boot sector, or Boot Configuration Data (BCD) is nothing new. Read More ...

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Do Video Games Make You Violent? An In-Depth Look At Everything We Know Today

In the wake of last month's tragic shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school, and the revelation that killer Adam Lanza had enjoyed shooter games like Call of Duty, violent video games have again become a significant topic in national conversation. But have researchers found any links between video games and violence? Read More ...

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Apple's Near-Impeccable 10-Year Run: Where They Succeeded and Others Were Too Lazy to Innovate

During the past 10 years Apple has systematically attacked and conquered from several fronts. Here's a brief recount of those winning products, and where it applies, the industry incumbents that for one reason or another failed to innovate or at least failed to beat Apple at breaking products to the masses first. Read More ...

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TechSpot PC Buying Guide

The TechSpot PC Buying Guide provides you with an in-depth list of today's best hardware, spanning four unique and yet typical budgets. Whether you are a first time builder seeking guidance or a seasoned enthusiast, we've got you covered. Read More ...

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Acer Aspire S7 Review

The touchable, classy Acer Aspire S7 is targeted right at the road-warrior, power-hungry, super-user. Two years after the introduction of Ultrabooks, we have yet to see a model that executes on all counts, but despite a couple of disappointing flaws this is one of the closest to the perfect mark. Read More ...

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Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 Case Review

Cooler Master recently launched the updated Scout 2 chasis priced at just $90 -- slightly less than the venerable HAF 922. Despite its relatively low price, the Scout 2 has plenty to offer, including ergonomic steel-reinforced carrying handles and room for up to two SSDs, nine fans and any graphics card. Read More ...

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The Year in Tech: 2012 Top Tech Stories

This year we have divided stories in 12 heavily packed categories, with nearly 500 hand-picked headlines total. Feel free to jump around between your favored topics, but try not to miss the tech culture section where we revisit some of the most entertaining stories we covered this year. HereÂ’s our take on 2012Â… Read More ...

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Nokia Lumia 920 Review

In the Nokia Lumia 920, Windows Phone 8 has a worthy competitor to iOS and Android. It also features brand new software that is faster and more robust than its predecessor. Will a winning hardware foundation and vastly improved software secure the Lumia 920 a place among the elite? Read More ...

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The Best Gaming GIFs of 2012

Video games and gaming in general had its highs and lows during 2012, but more importantly, we've all turned those highs and lows into animated GIFs for the rest of the internet to behold. Read More ...

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Best Gadgets and Tech Products of 2012

Before we move on to the latest and greatest devices of 2013, we figure it's worth revisiting some of 2012's most popular devices as suggested by our Product Finder, which includes reviews by hundreds of seasoned specialists across the Web. We've included 59 products across 14 categories along with their aggregate review score and a brief commentary that explains why they're special. Read More ...

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Lenovo Yoga 13 Review

Lenovo is looking to capitalize early and often with the do-it-all Yoga 13. Priced from $999, this system was one of the first portable systems to launch alongside Windows 8. Without jumping right to the conclusion from the get-go, I will let you know that it's a very capable all-around system that doesn't compromise on that it is first and foremost: a notebook. Lenovo Yoga 13 Review. Read More ...

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The Fear is Gone: My PC is my Next-Gen Console

In September, I got myself a gaming laptop (yes, yes, I know, but it's a powerful one). I installed Steam and started downloading games. These games started updating themselves, snatching whatever files they needed, installing DirectX and god knows what else. I was trusting Steam and it was making my return to PC gaming a cinch. Read More ...

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Western Digital Black 4TB Hard Drive Review

The Black 4TB has a 7200RPM spindle speed with an average access time of 4.2ms. WD says it has a drive to drive throughput of 154MB/s, making it the fastest Black hard drive yet. This in addition to dual-actuator technology, 64MB of cache, 6Gb/s SATA support and a Marvell dual-core controller. Read More ...

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Acer C7 Chromebook Review

A $200 laptop is a difficult thing to assess. On one hand, the Acer C7 Chromebook has that shockingly low price tag, on the other, there is weak build quality and a netbook-grade processor. The trade-offs are not trivial and thatÂ’s before we acknowledge that the Acer C7 runs Chrome OS. Read More ...

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The Best PC Game Mods of 2012

This year was a big one for PC mods, with two - DayZ and Black Mesa - rivalling commercial products for public awareness and, perhaps more importantly, quality. Here's a shortlist of the best mods released during 2012. Read More ...

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Corsair Vengeance C70 Military Green vs. Thermaltake Level 10 GT Battle Edition Review

Despite the prevalence of military-themed motherboards, enthusiasts haven't had a whole lot of stock options for matching cases. Hoping to fill that void, Corsair updated its Vengeance gaming lineup with the C70 series in Military Green while Thermaltake launched the Level 10 GT Battle Edition. Read More ...

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Adobe's Flash Updater: Bloated, Confusing & Shady

Being one of the most prolific sources of security vulnerabilities in Windows and other platforms, Adobe Flash Player needs no introduction. In spite of that reputation, and the fact that the rest of the industry is moving away from Flash, it'd just seem Adobe is making all possible efforts to make its software more bloated and less attractive to all consumers alike. Read More ...

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Far Cry 3 Performance Test: Graphics & CPU

Like the original game, Far Cry 3 is set on a tropical island found somewhere at the intersection of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. We'll be testing FC3's open world environment using 29 DirectX 11 graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia. Read More ...

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Polyglot 3000 3.71 Automatic Language Identifier with Unicode support (over 400 languages). Read More ...

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K-Lite Codec Pack Update 9.7.7 This is a cumulative update for the latest version of the K-Lite (Mega) Codec Pack. Read More ...

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Norton AntiVirus X 9.x-10.x Defs 02/22/13 for Mac OS X Keep your Norton Anti-Virus updated. Read More ...

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Secunia PSI 3.0.0.6005 The Secunia PSI is a free security tool designed with the sole purpose of helping you secure your computer against vulnerabilities in programs. Read More ...

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Pale Moon 19.0 Custom-built and optimized Firefox browsers for Windows. Read More ...

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VueMinder Calendar Lite 10.1.6 VueMinder is a calendar program providing content-rich popup reminders, desktop alerts, and reminders that can be sent via email or SMS. Read More ...

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MSI Extractor 4.01 MSI Extractor is a simple application that allows you to easily extract MSI files. This program written in Pascal. Read More ...

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cFosSpeed 9.02 Internet-Accelerator + Traffic Shaping + ping optimizer + packet prioritization Read More ...

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eXtreme Movie Manager 8.0.4.9 It lets you catalog any video formats such as DivX DVD, VHS, SVHS, VCD or LaserDisc with detailed information. Read More ...

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Mac Blu-ray Player 2.7.7.1148 Mac Blu-ray Player is the first universal media player for Mac & PC in the world. Read More ...

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VSO CopyTo 5.1.1.1 Backup your music, games, movies, video, photos and data files. Read More ...

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dBpowerAMP Music Converter R14.4 This great audio tool has a wide range of functions and is easy to use. Read More ...

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File Expert for Android 5.1.2 File Expert is an ultimate app for managing your files on your mobile phones, tablets, personal computers and cloud storage servers. Read More ...

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ICQ 8.0.6003 Send files from your PC to mobile, Facebook and Google+ friends. Read More ...

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EditPad Lite 7.2.3 A general-purpose text editor, designed to be small and compact. Read More ...

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System Cleaner 7.10 Keep your PC running faster, cleaner, and error-free with System Cleaner full set of 7 powerful tools. Read More ...

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SizzlingKeys 5.1 for Mac OS X SizzlingKeys lets you control iTunes without leaving your current application. Read More ...

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TextWrangler 4.5.3264 for Mac OS X Powerful and richly-featured tool for composing, modifying, and transforming text stored in plain-text files. Read More ...

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FlashGot 1.5.4.2 Free Mozilla/Firefox extension to handle downloads with external download managers. Read More ...

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DriverEasy 4.4.0.29319 Automatically Detect, Download, Backup, Restore and Uninstall Drivers. Fix your Driver Issues. Read More ...

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Fresh Diagnose 8.67 Analyze and benchmark your computer system. Read More ...

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FlightGear 2.10 FlightGear is an open-source flight simulator. It supports a variety of popular platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) and is developed by skilled volunteers from around the world. Read More ...

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Power Plan Assistant 3.0b Power Plan Assistant is a smart power management application, designed specifically for Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Read More ...

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GMABooster 2.1a Performance boost solution for Intel Graphics Media Accelerator series. Read More ...

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Trackpad++ Driver and Control Module 2.3d Trackpad++ is the world's first alternate Windows 7 driver for an Apple Multitouch Trackpad (i.e., the pointing device of the Apple Macbook Pro / Air notebooks). Read More ...

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AMD Mobility Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows Vista/7 64-bit Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit Read More ...

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AMD Mobility Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows Vista/7 32-bit Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 Read More ...

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AMD Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows Vista/7 64-bit Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit Read More ...

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AMD Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows Vista/7 32-bit Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 Read More ...

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AMD Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows XP 64-bit Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows XP 64-bit Read More ...

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AMD Catalyst Display Driver 12.4 for Windows XP Driver Date: 4/25/2012 OS Support: Windows XP Read More ...

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Realtek 10/100M Fast Ethernet PCI Express Driver 7.053 for Windows 7 Driver Date: 3/22/2012 OS Support: Windows 7 Read More ...

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Realtek 10/100/100M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Driver 5.719 for Windows XP Driver Date: 3/22/2012 OS Support: Windows 2000/XP Read More ...

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Realtek Wireless LAN ICs IEEE 802.11b/g/n RTL8188SU Driver 1086.48 Driver Date: 4/19/2012 OS Support: Windows XP/Vista/7 Read More ...

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Realtek Wireless LAN ICs IEEE 802.11b/g/n RTL8192SU Driver 1086.48 Driver Date: 4/19/2012 OS Support: Windows XP/Vista/7 Read More ...

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Realtek Wireless LAN ICs IEEE 802.11b/g/n RTL8191SU Driver 1086.48 Driver Date: 4/19/2012 OS Support: Windows XP/Vista/7 Read More ...

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Cisco Linksys E1500 Firmware 1.0.04 Driver Date: 3/28/2012 OS Support: Windows XP/Vista/7 Read More ...

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Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows 7 32-bit Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 Read More ...

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Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows XP 64-bit Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows XP 64-bit Read More ...

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Nvidia GeForce Notebook Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows Vista/7 32-bit Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 Read More ...

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Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows 7 64-bit Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit Read More ...

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Nvidia GeForce Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows XP 32-bit Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows XP Read More ...

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Nvidia GeForce Notebook Graphics Driver 301.24 Beta for Windows Vista/7 64-bit Driver Date: 4/10/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit Read More ...

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Cisco Linksys E2500 Firmware 1.0.04 Driver Date: 4/9/2012 OS Support: Windows (all) Read More ...

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Realtek PCIe FE GBE Family Controller Series Driver 6.250 for Windows Vista Driver Date: 4/3/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista Read More ...

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Realtek PCIe FE GBE Family Controller Series Driver 7.053 for Windows 7 Driver Date: 4/3/2012 OS Support: Windows 7 Read More ...

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Realtek PCIe FE GBE Family Controller Series Driver 5.794 for Windows 2000/XP Driver Date: 4/3/2012 OS Support: Windows 2000/XP Read More ...

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Realtek HD ALC 880 Audio CODECs R2.68 for Windows Vista/7 64-bit Driver Date: 4/2/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 64-bit Read More ...

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Realtek HD ALC 880 Audio CODECs R2.68 for Windows Vista/7 32-bit Driver Date: 4/2/2012 OS Support: Windows Vista / 7 Read More ...

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Realtek HD ALC 880 Audio CODECs R2.68 for Windows 2000/XP (32/64 bits) Driver Date: 4/2/2012 OS Support: Windows 2000/XP Read More ...

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