Your next house could be 3D-printed, would take just three weeks to build
3D printers are the new everything right now, where we've heard about
moon bases being 3D-printed,
buildings being 3D-printed and even
stem cells - what next? Houses. Yes, houses.
A London-based design firm, Softkill, has just talked about their entry into the rat race that is 3D-printed houses, with a structure they claim would take just three weeks to build. From the picture above, it looks like a million spiders have crawled in and just spun a house out of their webs, but this is all part of what Softkill call their ProtoHouse, and will reach the prototype stage by the middle of the year.
During an interview with Dezeen, Softkill's Gilles Retsin didn't like the idea of their rival project by Universe Architecture, where he said:
We actually don't even consider that a 3D-printed building, because he is 3D printing formwork and then pouring concrete into the form. So it's not that the actual building is 3D printed.
ProtoHouse will be 3D-printed using just Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) out of fibrous nylon with computer algorithms designed to micro-organize the material. The material is strong as well as lightweight, and can be shaped into not only parts for the house itself, but the furnishings inside.
The house wouldn't take too long to build either, with Retsin saying that an 8x4-metre, one-storey house would take around three weeks for the printing process, with assembly taking place in the space of 24 hours. There's no bolts, screws, adhesive - just the process of simply clicking everything together. Waterproofing would be done post-construction to keep the residents inside the house dry.
Read More ...
Google flaw gives your personal details to app developers
We all know Google scraps countless amounts of data from anyone who uses their services, which, let's face it, is everyone - but, it looks like it goes much deeper than that.
From what Sydney-based app developer, Dan Nolan, has found, each time you purchase an app from the Google Play Store your personal details are sent to that developer. This includes your name, address and e-mail address. Nolan spoke with news.com.au, saying that he wasn't comfortable being the receiver of this information, and that there is no reason that a developer needs to have this - very powerful - information given to them without their consent.
Nolan took to
his blog, saying:
Let me make this crystal clear, every App purchase you make on Google Play gives the developer your name, suburb and email address with no indication that this information is actually being transferred. With the information I have available to me through the checkout portal I could track down and harass users who left negative reviews or refunded the app purchase.
Now, malware can scrap sensitive data from users' computers when installed - so does this make all apps from the Google Play Store effectively, malware? One would think so. For me, I know all of my data is recorded - if it's not by Google, it's by supercomputers by the NSA and co. All things digital are recorded - Facebook is the perfect example.
Why should the CIA look into someone anymore, when they're entire life has morphed digitally into Facebook? Locations, photos, relationship status, where they work, what they eat - everything is right there. It's incredibly scary, but it has been a slow unveiling that it has become normal to have our lives online now.
Where to from here?
Read More ...
Australian carrier Telstra says Motorola X Phone will be 'game changer'
While the details on Google and Motorola's X Phone are still few and far between, Australian wireless carrier Telstra seems to think that it will be a "game changer." An anonymous Motorola source said, "
Google has been working on this device for a long time. It has software features and capabilities that are not available on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or Apple iPhone. The software is really powerful and it pulls together Google services like no other manufacturer has done in the past."
Hugh Bradlow, CTO for Telstra, reportedly told senior staff that the X Phone will be a "real breakthrough, a game changer that will put pressure on Samsung and Apple."
The device will likely launch Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie and could possibly be unveiled at Google I/O in May. Other than a rumored 5-inch display, there really isn't much else known about the device, though it has been confirmed by a posting on LinkedIn. We certainly can't wait to see it and we imagine you can't either. What is one feature you'd like to see in the device?
Read More ...
Gabe Newell says they aren't canceling any projects despite reported layoffs
The web has been ablaze today with rumors and reports of Valve conducting layoffs, though the company has not confirmed or denied that layoffs occurred today. However, Gabe Newell has sent a statement to Engadget that says Valve is not canceling any projects or changing any priorities.
We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren't canceling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing. No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here.
It's interesting that Valve wouldn't deny the rumors and reports of layoffs if there haven't been any. However, just because they haven't denied it, it doesn't mean that there have been layoffs. We'll be sure to let you know as soon as we find out more concrete information.
Read More ...
Retina 13" MacBook Pro gets price slashed by $200, 15" gets spec bump
Apple's flagship Retina MacBook Pro line of computers are getting a little bit more value for the money. The 15-inch version of the Retina MacBook Pro is receiving a 0.1GHz speed boost on its quad-core processor and is remaining at the same price of $2,199 for the intro version.
The 13-inch version is now $200 cheaper than before and will set you back $1,499 for the base model which includes 128GB of sold-state storage. If you need 256GB, it'll set you back that $1,699.
It's not immediately apparent what has sparked Apple to cut the price of the 13-inch model and boost the specifications of the 15-inch model. Perhaps it's the slumping Mac sales or perhaps its the stock price that has been getting hammered lately. Either way, you can't say no to more value for your dollar.
Read More ...
LinkedIn CEO in good mood, gives iPad mini to every employee
Both LinkedIn employees and Apple are probably pretty happy with LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner right now. The CEO has rewarded employees for a great 2012 by providing them each with their own iPad mini. This means that Weiner spent over $1.2 million on 3,500 iPad minis. Ouch. We hope he worked out a discount!
The good deed was first tweeted about by Darain Faraz: "
We wanted to acknowledge the hard work and accomplishments of all of our employees in 2012. During today's biweekly All Hands meeting, we surprised our employees with iPad Minis as a small gesture of the company's gratitude for their contributions."
It's these small things that keep employees happy and working hard for a company. LinkedIn pulled in a record Q4 with earnings topping $303 million.
Read More ...
NVIDIA Q4 2013 results come in at $1.1 billion in revenue, $174 million profit
NVIDIA has reported their fourth quarter 2013 earnings and they are up year-over-year. While the earnings are up year-over-year, they've dropped slightly from the records set last quarter. NVIDIA saw a total of $1.1 billion in revenue, which is down from last quarter's $1.2 billion and up from 2012's $950 million.
Profit came in at $179 million, down from $209 million last quarter. For the entire year, NVIDIA's GPU business brought in a total of $3.2 billion, not too bad when you consider that this year hasn't been too great to PC sales. NVIDIA notes that its Tegra business continues to grow:
"
This year we did the best work in our company's history," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of NVIDIA. "
We achieved record revenues, margins and cash, despite significant market headwinds."
If you're interested in the nitty-gritty details, the full PR is available on
NVIDIA's website.
Read More ...
HP to use Android on upcoming Tegra 4-powered tablet
HP is reportedly working on a Tegra 4-powered tablet and has been since before Thanksgiving according to sources familiar with the subject. ReadWriteWeb is reporting that HP could announce this tablet very soon and that it would be one of the first Tegra 4 devices on the market.
More notably is it will be the first time HP embraces the Android operating system. With their recent introduction of a Chromebook, HP appears to be getting friendlier with Google. The sources state that HP are also toying with the idea of releasing an Android-powered smartphone, though CEO Meg Whitman says they aren't releasing a phone this year.
The report states that HP is holding private meetings at Mobile World Congress and it's thought that they will demonstrate the tablet to select people. The announcement isn't expected to come any time before the show later this month.
Read More ...
Surface Pro not very repairable according to iFixit, achieves lowest score possible
For the Surface Pro owners out there, you best be careful with your device. Mobile device repair site iFixit has taken the Surface Pro apart and rated its ability to be repaired a 1 out of 10, the lowest score possible. Just to open the device, they had to remove over 90 different screws.
Other notable devices that received a similar score would be the Retina iPad, which received a score of 2/10, and the Retina MacBook Pro, which received a 1/10 score because of all of the adhesive used to secure things in place.
The Surface Pro makes use of a "metric duckload" of adhesive to secure the screen. While we're not quite sure just how big a "metric duckload" unit of measurement is, we have a feeling it's not a small quantity. Basically, you shouldn't attempt repairing a Surface Pro unless you are a trained professional and have lots of practice.
Read More ...
Google brings Google Now widget to Android home and lock screens
Google's highly acclaimed Google Now app has just gotten a widget that is compatible with both your home screen and lock screen. Along with the new widget, Google has updated the searching abilities of the app and it can now find movie tickets through Fandango, houses for sale through Zillow, and "support for US college sports."
In other words, you'll now be able to do even more from the app. With March Madness coming up, Google has added support for college sports so that it can be a one-stop shop for all of your searching needs. The updated app is available in the
Google Play Store and can be updated through the Google Play App.
Read More ...
RumorTT: iPhone 5S to be built in March, launch in June
More rumors have come out of the Apple camp with Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek saying that the iPhone 5S will go into production starting in March. According to his supply chain sources, they are slowing down production on the iPhone 5 in order to ready themselves to start producing the iPhone 5S.
His research note indicates that Apple is planning to launch the iPhone 5S during their Worldwide Developers Conference in June, though it could be delayed until July. He says this likely won't happen due to the fact that there are "few changes for the iPhone 5S vs. the iPhone 5."
Read More ...
Last '7 Wonders of Crysis 3' video released, watch 'End of Days' now
Crysis 3 fans can now catch the latest and final episode of "The 7 Wonders of Crysis 3" web series. The game launch is just around the corner and this is an excellent way to prep for the launch and keep your excitement building. Check out the video below:
What do you think of it? Are you excited for the game to release on PS3, Xbox 360, and computer on February 19? Let us know in the comments.
Read More ...
Apple has officially lost 'iPhone' trademark in Brazil
Apple is no longer allowed to use the "iPhone" trademark exclusively in Brazil after the Brazilian Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) has ruled that IGB Electronics SA own the rights to the name. The INPI ruled in favor of IGB Electronics as the company has owned the rights to the name since the very early 2000's.
Apple is still allowed to sell devices under the iPhone trademark, though this could open them up to a lawsuit by the trademark's owner. IGB Electronics could attempt to gain exclusive rights to the name through a lawsuit or could deal with Apple to let Apple pay them royalties in exchange for exclusive use.
Read More ...
RumorTT: New details about the Galaxy S IV surface online
Contrary to previous rumors, Digital Daily is now saying that the Samsung Galaxy S IV will retain the traditional home button and navigation keys. Along with this rumor, they said that the S-Pen stylus will not be a feature included in the S IV and will instead remain a feature exclusive to the Note line of devices.
For Samsung to keep the S-Pen as an exclusive feature on the Note line of devices actually makes a lot of sense. While it's a cool feature, it really is one of the major selling points of the Note line. If it no longer is exclusive to that line, users might shift away to the new S IV.
We'll know which rumor is true when the device is announced during a rumored press conference on March 15.
Read More ...
New research has the potential to boost GPS accuracy by an astounding 90%
A team of Spanish researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid have developed new technology that is capable of increasing GPS enabled devices accuracy by as much as 90 percent. The new system could be installed in car and smartphone GPS circuits for very little cost, too.
The team's findings were posted on the UC3M website, which explains that the team has been able to improve GPS precision by combining readings from several different sensors. The advance in precision is achieved by combining GPS signal with accelerometers and gyroscopes to better reduce the margin of error in location awareness.
This new technology has the potential to reduce the margin of error from 50 meters in urban areas to as little as two meters. Rural accuracy would also improve from about 15 meters to around two meters as well.
In a statement, the researchers said:
"Future applications that will benefit from the technology that we are currently working on will include cooperative driving, automatic maneuvers for the safety of pedestrians, autonomous vehicles or cooperative collision warning systems,"
Read More ...
Jawbone MyTalk user accounts hacked - email, passwords and names stolen
Owners of Jawbone headsets, and Jambox owners, who use the MyTALK service, could have had their passwords leaked in a recent "security compromise", says the company. A limited number of accounts were affected during a recent hack into the company's systems.
Jawbone said that it took action to halt the attack, but the intrusion lasted several hours. It appears that only names, email addresses, and passwords were stolen from user accounts to the MyTALK service. Jawbone is advising all users change their passwords on the service, as well as any sites that you might use the same password on.
Affected users have had their accounts reset, and should have received an email alerting them to the intrusion, along with instructions on how to change your password. No word was released on who might have hacked into the system, and no one is claiming the breech at this time.
Read More ...
Pulse adds new "highlights" feature to popular news reader app
Pulse News Reader is one of my favorite apps, one that I use it almost exclusively for my news aggregation. One feature I always found lacking was the ability to see what my friends have shared using the service. Now, it appears, that my wishes have come true with Pulse announcing a new feature today.
The development team behind the popular news reader has just announced that it has added a new "Pulse Highlights" feature that will allow users to see content that has been aggregated by their content their friends have liked and shared on both the pulse app and Facebook.
"
We've always been good at providing you with really good things to read. But now we are also getting into discovery. With Highlights, discovery is about people: close friends and family sharing content that's interesting and relevant for you", said Pulse co-founder Akshay Kothari.
Read More ...
Yahoo's Marissa Mayer says Microsoft search deal not delivering as expected
In a recent interview with Reuters, Yahoo chief exec Marissa Mayer said that the company's partnership with Microsoft's Bing search engine is not producing the market share that was expected.
In 2010 Yahoo and Vole signed a 10 year contract in an effort to steal some search engine market share from search giant Google. From the looks of things, what actually happened was Microsoft and Yahoo actually ended up just trading that market space with each other.
In December 2012, Yahoo owned about 12% share, with Microsoft having just over 16%. Two years ago before the deal took place the numbers were flipped around almost exactly with Microsoft having 12% and Yahoo owning 16%. While Meyer is not happy with the numbers, it does not mean that she wants out of the partnership, she just would like to see improvements made.
Read More ...
ASUS releases RT-N12HP Wireless-N300 router sporting massive 9dBi antennas
Life has a funny way of presenting answers to problems. Just last night I was discussing high-gain wireless routers with my colleagues here at TweakTown, and when I check my inbox this morning, I find a release on this beauty from ASUS.
The RT-N12HP Wireless-N300 is the latest offering in home wireless networking from ASUS, and sports two massive, detachable 9dBi antennas. The monstrous rabbit ears are said to give consumers 300% more Wi-Fi range if your devices have equally robust network adapters.
The device also brings some interesting admin features to the table such as the ability to control up to four distinct networks, primary and guest networks with separate options, and even dynamic bandwidth allocation. I was unable to locate any pricing at this time, and also came up empty on retail availability dates.
Read More ...
HTC releases lens flair video, sneaks in blurred images of upcoming M7 smartphone
Days ahead of its global launch, the new HTC M7 smartphone has been spotted in new video. The UK division of HTC has placed a countdown clock on its website that indicates we have roughly six days before something happens.
Judging by the video, that something is either a new Ridley Scott directed Star Trek movie, or it is the launch of HTC's latest flagship Android smartphone. In the video the first thing you notice is an abundance of lens flairs and fleeting glimpses of what appears to be a blurry HTC M7.
We can see sleek, machined aluminum edges, and what appears to be a camera lens. One other feature that is instantly noticeable is the new phone seems to be dressed in white, something that has been very popular with rival Samsung's Galaxy S line of smartphones. I for one am very excited to see all of the new devices that will be making appearances this month as they all should hit the market around the time my upgrade becomes available.
Read More ...
Opera adopts Webkit as it hits 300 million users
Opera, the little web browser that could, has decided to ditch the Presto rendering engine in favor of the more developer friendly and open source Webkit. This announcement comes hot on the heels of reports that put its user base around the 300 million monthly user mark.
Switching to Webkit will be greatly beneficial to the open source project, web developers, and the Chromium project. Hakon Wium Lie, CTO of Opera Software said, it
"makes more sense to have our experts working with the open source communities to further improve WebKit and Chromium, rather than developing our own rendering engine further."
The switch to Webkit will not be an instant one though as Opera plans on rolling the change out to iOS, Android and PCs over the next year. CEO Lars Boilesen said that he hopes that the change will help the browser
"claim a bigger piece of the pie in the smartphone market".
Read More ...
Ask the Experts: I have a VisionTek Radeon HD 7850 clocked at 1GHz, if I want to CrossFire, does it need to run at the same speeds?
Our
Ask the Experts section has a new question, with Mark in the US wanting to CrossFire his AMD Radeon HD 7850s but wants to know if he needs the same model or not.
Q: I have a Visiontek 7850HD clocked at 1000mhz. If I want to run in Crossfire mode with another 7850HD do the core clocks have to match?
A: You can view the answer to Mark's question right
here.
Read More ...
Tim Cook says that for the iPhone, larger screens aren't everything - the experience, is the key
Tim Cook had some interesting things to say during the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, where the Apple CEO touched on a number of topics, including some rumors of a next-gen iPhone including a larger screen.
Cook talked about the user experience, saying that the experience is more important than what cranks along inside of the phone. When talking about a larger screen size on the iPhone, Cook said:
I don't want to say what we will do or won't do [regarding a larger screen for the iPhone], and so don't interpret anything I say along those lines. Let me go back and compare it to the PC industry for a minute. The PC industry over the years, the way that companies competed were two things: specs and price. And so people would want to say, "I've got the largest drive," or, "I've got the fastest processor," or in the camera business people began to say, "I've got the most megapixels."
The truth is, customers want a great experience, and they want quality. They want that "Aha!" moment each time that they use the product. And that's rarely a function of any of those things. These are things that technology companies invent because they can't have a great experience, and so they talk about the spec of something.
Cook continued, talking about smartphone displays, saying that "some people are focused on size." He continued, explaining that some things are better than just increasing the screen size, citing the poor color saturation and brightness on OLED displays:
And so I only bring these points up to say there are many attributes of a display, and what Apple does is sweat every detail. We care about all of them, and we want the best display. And I think we've got it. I feel great about it.
I'm not going to comment about what we're going to do in the future, because that releases our magic, and I'm not going to do that. But, you know, the customer experience is always broader than that which can be defined by a simple number.
The Apple CEO did say something interesting, where he said that Apple would "
never ... make a crappy product." He says that for new products, Apple must design "
something great, something bold, something ambitious". I wonder where that train of thought was when they were working on the iPhone 5?
Read More ...
President Obama's new executive order addresses cybersecurity issues
President Obama is getting a bit of attention today thanks to his State of the Union speech, where he introduced a new executive order to address cybersecurity problems across the United States.
The now second term President said that the US and allied nations must take action to stop the constant attacks, as "
we cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy." The new executive order continues on a voluntary initiative that started in May 2012, supervised by the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
The already in-place measure has been criticized over its lack of definition and scope, as well as its failure to find what actually makes up a cyber attack that requires a response. The original proposal has a lack of civil rights protections, which is, of course, a huge problem. In a draft of the document released during the State of the Union speech, the White House notes that the new measure must include "
strong privacy and civil liberties protections", where it addresses the criticisms of the program currently enacted by 12 companies, as well as the federal government.
The order describes the framework for the government and private sector cooperation as "a set of standards, methodologies, procedures, and processes that align policy, business, and technological approaches to address cyber risks" with specific provisos and sources of funding to be worked on by the House, and by the Senate.
The order demands action within 120 days from the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, where they would issue instructions to security agencies that "ensure the timely production of unclassified reports of cyber threats to the US homeland that identify a specific targeted entity."
Read More ...
During his State of the Union speech, President Obama talks about Apple bringing Mac production to the US
If you didn't watch it live, President Obama had his State of the Union speech a few hours ago, and mentioned Apple during his speech to Congress. Obama took a few minutes to talk about Apple bringing Mac production back to the US this year.
President Obama didn't specifically name which Macs would be manufactured in the US, but we should see the Mac mini manufactured in the US - creating nearly 200 jobs in the US. Obama said:
Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.
After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. After locating plants in other countries like China, Intel is opening its most advanced plant right here at home. And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was right there, sitting in the First Lady's box (take that as you will) which is the usual spot for guests who are mentioned during the President's speech.
Read More ...
Micron P400m 200GB Enterprise SSD Review
Introduction
The Micron P400m is Micron's latest SSD in their well-rounded enterprise SSD series. The P400m is the new mainstream enterprise SSD, and Micron offers the
P320h as the flagship PCIe solution and the
P400e as the entry level SSD.
The new P400m enterprise SSD features Micron 25nm MLC NAND in conjunction with the Marvell 9187 controller. One of the many compelling features of the P400m is its 10 DWPD (Drive Writes per Day) of write endurance, which is guaranteed by Micron's first enterprise SSD five year warranty.
The P400m brings sequential read/write speeds of 380/310MB/s, and random read and write IOPS of 60,000/26,000. While the random write IOPS may seem low to the casual observer, it is important to note that these fall into Micron's' traditionally conservative specifications. Measurements are taken while the SSD is in steady state with full span random writes. This is the most demanding scenario for any storage solution, and many other SSD manufacturers will only advertise FOB (Fresh out of Box) specifications.
Micron's previous enterprise SSD, the P300m, was an SLC SSD that provided the ultimate in write endurance for users. SLC can withstand 100,000 P/E cycles, making it incredibly resilient in heavy write workloads. The progression of time and technology has allowed Micron to extend the same 10DWPD endurance to the MLC P400m. The transformation of the P400m's MLC into a solution with similar endurance to an SLC SSD is quite the feat.
Micron's' eXtended Performance and Enhanced Reliability Technology (XPERT) is a new feature from Micron that makes its debut with the P400m series of SSDs. This suite of hardware and firmware optimizations provide the exponential increase in the longevity and endurance of the 25nm MLC NAND employed in the P400m. XPERT also includes data redundancy in the form of the RAIN (Redundant Array of Independent NAND) functionality. This data redundancy is an extra layer of protection that will recover user data should the device suffer an uncorrectable data error, or even the loss of a whole page or block of data. We will cover the XPERT suite in more detail on the following page.
Micron uses a custom high quality MLC NAND from their foundry as a key building block for the P400m. Micron manufactures their own components, which allows them to create custom NAND for their products. This custom NAND has its own designation not found on Micron product sheets, and Micron will not be providing resellers with this specific NAND outside of the P400m. Micron also produces their own DRAM and serial NOR which gives them total control of the data media. This inherent knowledge of component design, manufacture, and core characteristics provide Micron with an advantage during the design and integration phases.
Micron utilizes the proven Marvell 9187 controller with the P400m. This popular 8-channel controller delivers its speed via the 6Gb/s SATA port and allows Micron to create their own firmware. This tailor-made firmware is enhanced to work efficiently with the Micron NAND, adjusting the NANDs characteristics as it ages to wring more endurance from the flash.
The P400m is intended for mainstream enterprise use and will perform well in a variety of environments. Financial applications, virtualization appliances, logging, VDI, boot storm, data warehouses and VOD (Video on Demand) applications will all benefit from the Micron P400m. One benefit of the SATA connection is that it allows for a wide variety of applications and deployments. Micron already has a SAS alternative in the works for those who need the functionality provided by SAS.
The SATA space is a good fit for an SSD designed and engineered for mainstream use. With the enterprise SATA SSD market projected to jump from two million units in 2013 to three million units in 2016, the time is ripe for manufacturers with their own foundries to begin churning out mainstream enterprise SSDs en masse.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
The Castle (1997) Blu-ray Review
I think it's fair to say that whilst Australia definitely punches above its weight in regards to television, there are very few Australian made films that genuinely add to the Australian experience, stand the test of time and convey our culture and way of life. For every
Red Dog and
Crocodile Dundee, there's dozens of cheap ass films that served solely to extract a lazy grant from the Australian film council.
It's not much, but Daryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton) is proud of his 'Castle'; the Bonnie Doon property adjacent to an airport he shares with his family. Whilst some might label them as 'bogans', they are quite unaware of their social status and are proud of their lot in life. However, when a property developer approaches Daryl with an offer to purchase his modest property in order to extend the airport, he's prepared to fight them all the way to the high court with his crew of well meaning cohorts.
The Castle is one of the few Australian films so successful that it's had such success that multiple quotes from the script have entered the Australian vernacular, and 15 years on its success continues to provide. The film, made for just $19,000 and lensed in under two weeks, was a massive successful for Working Dog, the production company made up of members of the D-Generation, famous for such shows as
The Late Show, and spin-off programs such as
Frontline and
Funky Squad.
The Castle is also noteworthy due to the first feature film performance from a certain Eric Bana.
Video
The Castle is presented in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression.
For years, the only available Australian release of
The Castle was derived from an ancient VHS master which cropped the original aspect ratio to 4x3 which featured slightly more vertical information, at the expense of the horizontal, deviating significantly from the intended aspect ratio. In 2008 Roadshow released a remastered DVD version from a new master which rectified this. This Blu-ray release comes from that same transfer, with naturally better results.
Filmed with such brutal efficiency,
The Castle has never been, nor will it ever be a pretty film, with generally poor lighting, but this Blu-ray accurately reflect the way the film is meant to look. The image is crisp and clear, and with a pleasing amount of film grain.
Noteworthy is that the fact that due to being filmed on 16mm stock, this 1080p transfer is essentially the same resolution as the studio master, with 16mm film equating to around 2K resolution.
The Castle is simply not going to look better than it does here.
Audio
The Castle is presented in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, at 24 bits.
Roadshow have given the choice to view the film with the original Australian audio track, or in conjunction with the orchestral score by Edmund Choi which was produced for the American market. The film works much better without the score in my opinion.
Let's be clear. This is a film that scarcely benefits from stereo to 5.1, let alone from lossy 5.1 to lossless 5.1. Still, I guess we should be grateful nonetheless. Dialogue is rarely a problem to hear, although some of the rushed recording methods leave a bit to be desired. There's very rarely any hint of surround activity in the dialogue heavy feature, but there is some suitable ambience in outdoor scenes, along with some mildly aggressive airplane noises.
Overall, this is hardly anything to write home about, but as far as an accurate reflection of the original elements goes - this is superb.
Extras
Sadly
The Castle does not feature any extra features. This seems to be a deliberate choice of the filmmakers, coupled with a general lack of original materials from the film's production. That said, it's a shame that we don't even get the original theatrical trailer, which is available on the U.S. release DVD. A short featurette on the cultural impact of the film would have been nice too, but alas.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Kingston HyperX Limited Edition PC3-19200 16GB Quad Channel Memory Kit Review
Starting off 2013 I really wasn't sure what we'd be seeing from companies when it came to review samples because that core component category tends to be a little quieter than normal. Last year was slightly different, though, as we saw AMD launch the HD 7000 series with the HD 7900 series coming out just before the Christmas holidays then more and more models coming out in the following months.
What I didn't think we'd see, though, is a bunch of RAM come in for testing. Recently we had a chance to look at the new
Kingston Beast series in the form of a 16GB PC3-19200 kit. Along with that we recently checked out the
ADATA Gaming Series V2.0 16GB kit which also carried with it a PC3-19200 speed.
Today, though, we move away from the recent Dual Channel kits we've looked at and look at a Quad Channel kit from Kingston that falls into yet another new series. With the X79 platform so established, it's been ages since we've seen a Quad Channel kit, with the last one being a
32GB kit from G.Skill, which really impressed us.
We've recently seen Kingston release some new series and today we're looking at another one. Celebrating a massive 10 years of the HyperX name we've today got the new Kingston HyperX Limited Edition kit with a pretty sexy looking heatsink going on. Along with that we find ourselves giving a brief *sigh* as we see the company again opt for a green PCB instead of a black one. Are you guys listening to us?
Looking above we can see that the heatsink follows a similar design as we see on the Genesis series of RAM which has the LOVO, PnP and Blu kits all fall under it. Today, though, we see the new HyperX Limited Edition series that falls underneath it.
Flipping over a pair of the modules we can see what's going on with the heatsink. The overall design of the heatsink is similar on each side with the silver cross being shown to make an X in the middle. On one side you can see the HyperX logo on the left and on the other side you can see we've got a nice little HyperX 10 Years logo on the right, which looks cool.
On the other side of the kit we've got the Kingston logo on the left and on the right hand side you can see a sticker that gives us a rundown on the main information that we'll be looking at in just a second. Overall, though, we've got a pretty good looking heatsink that sits nice and low which is always good news for those with larger than normal CPU coolers.
Moving in a little closer to the sticker you can see we've got a whole bunch of information being shown, but most of it won't mean a whole lot with the model number across the top being the only piece of information that is helpful. Instead of breaking that down, though, we'll just get into what exactly we're dealing with.
On the speed front we're dealing with a PC3-19300 kit that translates to a strong 2400MHz DDR. On the timing side of things the kit comes in at 11-13-13-30-1T at 1.65v. Considering the speed of the kit these are fairly standard timings and should bring with it some good performance. As you saw earlier we're dealing with a Quad Channel kit with four 4GB modules making up a total of 16GB.
Heading into the BIOS we setup the speed and the timings of the kit manually. We then saved everything and rebooted. Just as you'd hope our machine fired up straight away and as you can see above in our AIDA64 CPUID screenshot everything is running correctly.
Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of
20,245 MB/s / 15,540 MB/s, Copy speed of
17,573 MB/s and latency of
44.4ns. As you'd expect these numbers line up just as you'd expect and in typical fashion come in behind Dual Channel kits on the Z77 platform. This is nothing new as we've always seen Dual Channel perform exceptionally well on the latest Intel platform.
Since we've tested stock performance, it was time to head back into the BIOS and see what we could do with overclocking. Unlike the Z77 platform, we don't have the same divider range. After 2400MHz DDR, our next option is 2666MHz DDR. We didn't expect this to work since our test CPU is limited to around 2600MHz (memory speed) and with no surprise after it was set we rebooted and found our testbed wouldn't boot.
With the next divider not working it was time to head back into the BIOS, move to the 2400MHz DDR divider again, and work with the BCLK. The only way to really do it is slowly increase the BCLK and reboot till we can either no longer boot or not get into Windows.
Slowly working our way up from the stock 100 BCLK we ended up getting to a strong 106.3 BCLK. As you can see below, this pushed the RAM up to 2551MHz DDR with the same 11-13-13-30-1T setup. It also pushed the CPU clock speed to 4252MHz.
Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of
21,415 MB/s / 16,414 MB/s, Copy speed of
18,849 MB/s and latency of
42.1ns. Across the board you can see improvements in every area along with a reduced latency time.
As always there's one more thing we always try to do when we overclock and that is push the CPU speed up with the overclocked RAM to see just how much performance we can get out of the kit. We know our CPU is good for around the 4.7GHz mark so leaving our BCLK at 106.3 we upped the multiplier to where our CPU would sit at around 4.7GHz. Unfortunately our machine wouldn't post.
Working down our multiplier we had trouble getting a post out of our machine till we reached around the 4.3GHz mark. Considering this is only slightly above the clock we got with the default divider we decided to go back to the drawing board and take a slightly different approach.
We loaded our normal 4.7GHz OC Profile on our ASUS test motherboard and started at 100 BCLK again. We moved our BCLK up and CPU multiplier down trying to stay as close to the 4.7GHz mark. We knew that our memory clock would be a little lower, but we hoped that the increased CPU speed from 4252MHz would be enough to still give us a boost in performance.
In the end we got a 45x CPU multiplier and a 105 BCLK. This pushed our CPU to 4725MHz and using the 2400MHz DDR divider you can see above our RAM came in at 2520MHz DDR. Only slightly lower than the 2551MHz DDR we achieved above. Our CPU was running almost 500MHz faster, though.
Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of
22,550 MB/s / 18,238 MB/s, Copy speed of
20,417 MB/s and latency of
40.7ns. While our memory speed wasn't quite as fast as our previous test, you can see that across the board our numbers have improved and by a nice little chunk. Still this comes as little surprise to us as we often see the increased clock speeds on our CPU brings with it the largest gains.
Kingston have put together a really nice kit of RAM here today and coming in at $124.99 for this Quad Channel kit makes it look even more attractive. The heatsink is nice and it's great to see them mark it with a 10th Anniversary label.
While not a part of the new higher end Predator Series, the 2400MHz DDR clocks with its CL11 timings provide some very strong performance. As for the overclocking side of things we can see performance in this area is very strong as well. This is great news considering the X79 platform isn't known for being as strong on the RAM overclocking front when compared to its younger brother, the Z77 platform.
Like most RAM kits we see from companies these days this is another great option for people looking for a strong performing 2400MHz DDR kit. How this one differs to most others that we've looked at recently, though, is the fact it's a Quad Channel kit instead of the typical Dual Channel kits we've been seeing. All round the new Limited Edition HyperX kit is a strong addition to the already strong line up from Kingston.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Sound Blaster Axx SBX20 Bluetooth Portable Speaker Review
Creative Labs have had a huge range of audio equipment on the market over the years, covering just about every facet of gaming audio as well as branching out into the realm of personal and portable audio as well. The shift from awesome sound cards and multimedia speaker systems into the world of headsets and portable speakers has been a stepped progression for Creative Labs, but it seems as though they are fairly dedicated to the market now. And the reduction in speaker system's and sound card solutions overall from that company is another clue to the new found direction that Sound Blaster is headed.
All of this does make a degree of sense because we are now well and truly in a world of portable devices and people are spending more time on the go and not just fixed in one position as they once were. Now consumers have more and more tablets, smartphones and laptops - it's a matter of catering to a market.
The Sound Blaster Axx SBX20 is a portable speaker that stands quite tall with controls built into the top and a thin cloth covering the sides of the unit.
The SBX20 is quite a heavy speaker which is always a good sign in our experience and seems to be built from good quality materials. The only label on the unit is a small Sound Blaster emblem on the top. Facing the rear of the unit is a USB power connection, a headphone jack and an AUX connection for devices not featuring Bluetooth. There is also a small bass port that is actually oblong rather than circular like most.
Also of interest is the iPhone app that can be scanned via the barcode QR on the box and downloaded via your smartphone in order to control the SBX20. This app allows for basic controls over the unit. Interestingly though, this app is being used to sync the unit with the smartphones 'iPod' function, which we felt was arguably better than the actual app is. We suspect this allows for multi-platform use and may be necessary for Google Android users, but don't quote us on this.
On the surface the SBX20 looks like an interesting product on its own, but as a successor to previous Sound Blaster Bluetooth solutions, it does have something to prove today. In terms of connecting the unit for use we had no problems whatsoever, and were able to get things going in a couple of moments, thanks to a well-designed Bluetooth system that syncs quickly and easily. For connection of other devices there is the AUX port, but today for testing we used the Bluetooth functionality with an iPhone.
From a technical perspective the SBX20 is a feature laden product in its own right that promises to deliver a lot. Probably the most notable of all the features is the SB-Axx1 processor which basically is the thing that makes the SBX20 sound good even if the input quality of the audio is not fantastic.
In the past we have been pleased with the Bluetooth processing ability of several similar products tested from Sound Blaster. This is why we have little to no doubt that they will be able to make the SBX20 sound great. In terms of other features of interest is the call function which allows you to make and receive calls using the SBX20 and even tailor a sweet spot for your own voice using another built in function. Lastly of interest here is the control software that can be downloaded for use on a smartphone. Now we do agree this is a good idea in principal, we did not find the app to be overly intuitive nor really interesting to use. But many may well enjoy it more than we did.
The SBX20 is a well built and fantastic sounding portable speaker. It packs in a lot of technology into a small package that can be taken wherever is needed. Playing back of music is a very enjoyable experience overall with great sounding tones throughout and plenty of power when things heat up. Overall we did like the SBX20 for much of what it can do and think that it has a place in a very busy market, which is now the portable speaker market. We would however like to see only one of these speakers for sale from Creative Labs' Sound Blaster division rather than three, which as far as we can see is a little overkill, in as we have just said is an already fully stocked area of the market.
Listening to music through the SBX20 is a very enjoyable experience overall, with the majority of the audio we played back during testing being of a very respectable quality. The low-end (bass), while not being huge, is certainly enough to provide a good sense of depth and enjoyment when listening to various types of music. However, there are going to be certain types of bass heavy music that do strain the smaller drivers in the SBX20, so be warned there. This is not a bass monster by any means and this should be considered when deciding on whether to buy the SBX20.
The high-end was quite good for the most part with a nice airy feel to it, and not a real harshness that can detract from the listening experience. The high-end was also very smooth and controlled which is a hallmark of Sound Blaster as we have come to see for ourselves. The mid-range is great in a word, and was very impressive when listening to vocals with a nice timbre to the sounds and plenty of smooth mid-range clarity that gives the sound a very life like and captivating quality.
During our testing we had no issue with the Bluetooth function as we were able to get it up and running quickly. We also found that the algorithms charged with processing the audio were fantastic as has been the case in the past with Sound Blaster, who must be almost industry leaders in developing high-end consumer audio from wireless solutions.
The SBX20 is a really well thought-out evolution of many years work from the Sound Blaster team, who has arguably developed one of the best methods of playing back audio using Bluetooth that we have tested. The processing done inside the SBX20 is a secret weapon in itself and should be guarded as such by Creative Labs. We can see this technology taking off big time, but not until some further clarity is gained in this very crowded area of the market. And this is a good segway into our only gripe, which is that Sound Blaster has made not one, but three different models of this speaker. This is simply too many in our opinion and could detract from the shining light, being the SBX20. Keep things simple so that the true message does not get diluted too much, that's our advice.
But that really is a small issue within what is a very respectable product that we are sure will do quite well. It gets our recommendation.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
MyDigitalSSD BP4 120GB 2.5-inch SSD Review
Introduction
Yesterday we had
the new MyDigitalSSD BP4 240GB on the test bench and were impressed with its price, price to performance ratio and industry leading notebook battery life performance. Today we have the 120GB model.
Last month we also started a quest to look at some of the newest 120/128GB SSDs and the BP4 fits right in. In 2012, we observed this capacity size starting to change, for the worst. Companies started making 128GB models with just four or eight NAND flash chips. We've shown in the past something car guys have always known, there's no replacement for displacement. A majority of SSD performance comes from parallel operations, reading and writing to several or all of the flash at the same time. The same concept one-step back in the storage world is called RAID.
The good news for shoppers is that NAND flash is getting faster. Toshiba's new 19nm Toggle 2 is faster than the 32nm and 24nm of yesterday. Another good thing is that some SSD manufactures aren't trying to cut corner.
The new MyDigitalSSD BP4 120GB still uses sixteen NAND flash chips, and because of that, this new low-cost drive is very fast by today's standards.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Fractal Design Define XL R2 Black Pearl Full-Tower Chassis Review
Introduction
In the same conversation I sat down for with Josh Smith from Fractal Design at CES during our meeting there, I was told that by the time I arrived back to my house, this chassis should be waiting there for me. As I was finally able to play catch up with some of their cases last year, one chassis I missed sadly was to have a look at the Define XL. From what I have seen in their other products, I can only imagine this chassis was a beast just like all the rest I have had a chance to look at. Even not having actually seen the chassis, I did venture back in time a bit and read a few other reviews of the original Define XL, just to brush up on its offerings and do a little bit of a compare and contrast.
When someone says they are doing a chassis revision, a lot of time I have to turn those samples down, because adding a fan or two, or painting it another color, does not warrant a full review. Here that isn't the case at all, excuse my pun. Fractal took the original chassis, but did not do much to the outside of the chassis, as to keep the sleek looks that made the original such a success. This new revision made five major changes to the interior that I could come up with in just a couple of moments looking through the specs list. In my opinion, making a whole new chassis, and well worth its own series name, but since it is in the same clothing, Define XL it is.
Some of the changes to look for in the newly released Define XL R2 from Fractal Design are things like the fan controller, the hard drive bay configuration, the lack of the second floor, the lack of the odd fan duct at the top, more expansion slots, and another form factor of motherboard to add to the compatibility list. As you can see, just in what I listed there, there have been a lot of changes to this revision, and well worth the time and effort to go over this new chassis with a fine toothed comb.
Join me as I take a walk around the Define XL R2 and see just what Fractal had up their sleeves when designing this revised chassis.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
MyDigitalSSD BP4 2.5-inch 240GB SSD Review
Introduction
The MyDigitalSSD BP3 and its Phison S8 controller was the sleeper SSD product of 2012. The BP3 was a very fast mainstream drive with a price that blended into the budget SSD class. BP3 used a Phison S8 controller, a controller that was a break out product for Phison, blowing the capacitors off every other Phison controller before it. Phison has made further refinements to the controller to increase performance, mainly in the random area, the one place where this series needed improvement.
The MyDigitalSSD BP4 uses the newly refined S8 controller and pairs it with the newest in NAND flash technology. Toshiba released 19nm Toggle 2 NAND last year and a few products took advantage of the technology. The most well-known product was Plextor's M5 Pro, but BP3 used it as well. The new version, version B, doubles the page size to 16K. This increases sequential performance and the new Toggle 2 version B also costs less than the first 19nm.
Lower prices and new cutting edge technology, it sounds like something My Digital would latch on to and bring to market before anyone else. The BP4 2.5" drives are here in the lab, but not listed at Amazon just yet.
My Digital does have the BP4 mSATA drives listed and we'll take a look at those next week. For now, let's check out what could be a nice price to performance vs. capacity leader.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 850-Watt 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply Review
Introduction
Post CES, we always find ourselves drooling over a ton of products that may or may not ever see the light of day. Of those that will make it to the market, we are often tantalized with prototypes that will be six months or more from seeing the retail market. PC Power & Cooling gave us something this year that we were told we would see very shortly. They have a refresh of their Silencer Mk III series that will provide some updates for power users.
This time around, they are introducing two new units. The two power supplies are capable of 750W and 850W, which will take care of the needs for most with up to dual GPU systems. These round out the Silencer Mk III series rather well as there are now six different wattages available from 400W to 1200W. The unit we are taking a look at today is Silencer Mk III 850W.
On the surface it appears to be a simplistic, semi-modular 850W unit coming to an already very crowded market segment so hopefully it will stand out a bit from the rest.
Specifications, Availability and Pricing
The Silencer Mk III 850W power supply provides 12V power via a single rail design rated for 70A or 840W. Both of the minor rails are rated for 24A each with a combined maximum output of 120W for the 3.3V and 5V rails. This left us scratching our heads a little bit as even the Silencer Mk III 600W had stronger minor rails, but it should still be plenty of power. The 5VSB rail is rated for 3A or 15W. Maximum combined output for the Silencer Mk III 850W is 850W.
As with the rest of the Silencer Mk III series, the new 850W model is packed full of features, except for Over Temperature Protection. We think that this would be something of a standard for a legendary name such as PC Power & Cooling, but it apparently isn't. The power supply features both native and modular cables. All cables are fully sleeved or of the flat ribbon variety. Finally, the power supply is rated for 80 PLUS Gold efficiency and 100% continuous output at 50C.
This PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 850W power supply has an MSRP of $169.99. This is exactly what you'll find the power supply listed for on Newegg plus $5.99 shipping, and the cheapest you'll find it anywhere on the web at the time of writing this article. PC Power & Cooling backs the new Silencer Mk III 850W by a seven year warranty.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
ASRock Z77 Extreme11 (Intel Z77) Motherboard Review
Introduction
17. That's the number of motherboards that ASRock currently have using the Z77 chipset. It's truly a massive amount of boards for one chipset, but the Z77 is a mainstream one and ASRock are known for making boards for so many categories. The chipset saw Nick Shih's first board in the
Z77 OC Formula which did a fantastic job of impressing us.
We also saw a Mini ITX board in the
Z77E-ITX which was absolutely awesome and showed us just how much power can be packed into a Mini ITX motherboard. We had a look at the
Z77 Pro3 which comes in under $100 along with the slightly more expensive
Z77 Extreme6. Finally we checked out the Fatal1ty branded
Z77 Professional which looked good and performed extremely well.
If that wasn't enough ASRock Z77 boards for you, today we're checking out the brand new Z77 Extreme11 which sits at the top of the Z77 food chain. We're not too sure what to expect so we'll simply just get into the package side of things and get the ball rolling.
Once we've done that we'll take a look at the board itself, move onto the BIOS, have a look at the overclocking side of things and finally get down and dirty with the performance.
Package
Starting off with the front of the box you can see we've got a fairly typical ASRock design with a large focus on the 555 XFast Technology. Flipping the front over we're greeted with some of the major features that are present on the motherboard. Some of the highlights here include the integration of eight SAS2 ports, 3-Way SLI and 4-Way CrossFireX support. We can also see mention of Digi Power, Dual-Stock MOSFET along with the inclusion of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Moving onto the other side of the box we get our first look at the Z77 Extreme11. Turning over to the back of the box we again have a run down on some of the major features that are included on the board with the 555 XFast technology taking up a large portion. We've also got Premium Gold Caps, 8 + 4 Power Phase Design, 2oz Copper PCB, 12x USB 3.0, Lucid Virtu MVP, Fast Boost and UEFI to round out the major highlights.
As we move inside we've got a fairly typical paperwork line up with a couple of manuals, a guide on Lucid Virtu MVP and what it does along with a larger explanation on the 555 XFast technology. Above we can also see the driver CD and the standard I/O shield.
Finishing off the bundle we've got a massive eight SATA cables, two Molex to SATA power connectors along with a SLI and 3-Way SLI bridge. Finally we have the ASRock Wi-SB BOX, which is something that is new to us. This box offers two USB 3.0 ports which you can clearly see along with an SSD mount. Also included are two wireless antennas to help boost the wireless signal. It's a nice addition and beats the standard antenna that you might find yourself having sit on top of your chassis.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Patriot Memory for Ultrabook - Scaling SODIMM RAM Density vs. Battery Life
Introduction
Last month we jumped on an opportunity presented to us to use our SSD Notebook Power Test system to observe battery life with a new product from Patriot. Patriot released a new product called Memory for Ultrabook. The name is exactly what it is, but we would of preferred something cool like Battery Saver SODIMM or something a little less...err, well whatever the hell Memory for Ultrabook is.
Despite the funky product name,
Patriot's 1.35v Memory for Ultrabook RAM delivered and in a big way. In our initial testing, we observed a 17 minute increase to battery life just by replacing our OEM Samsung 4GB SODIMM with a Patriot Memory for Ultrabook 8GB SODIMM. The Patriot model we used ran at the same 1600MHz speed as our original OEM Samsung 1.5v stick so we don't lose performance in any way.
When we finished the article only one question remained in my mind, what happens when you replace two memory sticks with one and what happens to battery performance when you run four sticks?
So, today we are back and with four Patriot Memory for Ultrabook sticks running at 1600MHz. We're going to test with one, two and finally four sticks to see how physical density affects battery performance. Let's take a look at Patriot's Memory for Ultrabook specs, see the product and go over the benchmark configuration before the test results.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
The next-gen 3DMark is here, we take it for a quick spin around the block
Introduction and First Look
The original 3DMark came out all the way back in 1998, a huge 15 years ago now and arrived as 3DMark99. This, at the time, ushered in a totally new era of testing out your PC. I would've run that bad boy over a thousand times without a problem. Back in those days, we were in three-digit MHz processors, less than 512MB of RAM, and barely even had dedicated 3D graphics cards.
It was a time when 3DFX were the shiznit, and 3D graphics were just going more mainstream on PC. After that we saw releases of 3DMark pretty quickly, moving into the mainstream and being used by enthusiasts and gamers alike to test their systems out. This can be for entertainment purposes, or to test your new overclock on your CPU or GPU.
I've always found 3DMark to be the best test to see how you score against similarly speced PCs as yours. For example, you've just purchased a brand new Radeon HD 7970 GPU and you feel performance in games isn't what you've seen online. Download and install 3DMark and compare it to tech sites or other users' 3DMark scores and if you come close - you're all good - but if you don't, you know something is wrong.
Fault finding until you reach scores within 5-10% of a similar system online, and you're on the right track. That's how I've personally used 3DMark over the years, but now Futuremark are stepping in a truly different direction: multi-platform benchmarking.
The new 3DMark we're testing out today is for Windows, but there will be an Android, iOS and Windows RT versions released shortly. We've just downloaded a copy of the new 3DMark ahead of the public release to take a look at how it runs, the tests included and just a quick rundown of what to expect from the latest benchmarking software we'll all become accustomed to over the coming years. And we aren't missing anything here, the new 3DMark is simply called "3DMark", no numbers or naming after it.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Top 10 TweakTown Content from the past week [04 February 2013]
Here are our top 10 articles, reviews and guides from the past week!
Read More ...
Fractal Design Node 605 HTPC Chassis Review
Introduction
At CES this year I had an opportunity to do something I hadn't done before. We all get to run around and get maybe 20 minutes or so to chat with our company reps, but most of the time in the suites or on the floor are taken up explaining all of the new products. This year I actually got to sit down to lunch with the VP of Marketing from Fractal Design, Josh Smith, and we spent the better part of an hour and a half discussing other companies, as well as the future of Fractal Design. Here it was a light atmosphere, like two old friends having a beer at the bar. What we covered were things like videos of product testing where birdshot was shot from a shotgun at their door panels to see how tough they really were, and I believe I was told 12 shots were taken before the panel was penetrated. We also talked about some up and coming products, but most of that I am not at liberty to discuss at the moment.
What I am able to discuss is that Fractal Design is jumping into the HTPC segment now as well with their first such design. I know a lot of their previous designs may have very well worked in an HTPC environment, due to the way they incorporate sound proofing and noise management into their designs, but there has yet to be a component style design that would look right at home sitting next to your receiver and Blu-ray player. This time around Fractal looked at what they could do specifically for the HTPC crowd, and in my opinion, they didn't do all that bad as far as what this chassis looks like on paper, but at TweakTown, what is on paper is of little consequence, what matters here is the actual product, how it works, and does it do what it is intended for without cutting or frustrating its users.
This newest chassis is from the Node series, the same series that brought us the Node 304. Today we are looking at a chassis that has some resemblance to the 304, but is actually almost two 304's set side by side. This chassis is of course the Node 605 that I have been eluding to, and while keeping what made the 304 so sleek and appealing like the full aluminum front panel, and the black and white color scheme, the Node 605 definitely has a design all its own, and while I have seen similar designs, there is nothing exactly like this that I have seen before.
That in mind, I say we cover what is offered in the specifications, take a look at how it's packed, and dive right into what makes the Node 605 stand out from the others.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Blu-ray Movie Review
Regular readers of my TweakTown reviews will be quite aware of my love for animation (especially Disney), but I definitely have a soft spot for Japan's Studio Ghibli animation company, often referred to as "The Disney of the East". 25 years on it's impossible to ignore their first international breakthrough hit
My Neighbor Totoro, nor the impact it had on the company - a Totoro adorns the studios logo. My 2010 trip to Japan and the Studio Ghibli museum just confirms how far the film has penetrated the popular culture and continues to define it after all this time.
When young Mei, Satsuki and their father moves to a derelict home on the countryside in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, they quickly discover that gentle spirits inhabit the area, confirmed by the presence of a small creature that bobs up above the rolling hills. When Mei follows the creature through to the inside of a camphor tree, she discovers a huge fluffy creature she names 'Totoro', beginning a friendship which unveils the true nature of their new home - including the magical denizens that inhabit it.
My Neighbor Totoro is a relatively simple story, beautifully told. Cynics need not apply, but those willing to open their hearts to a moving and genuinely fun animated adventure should definitely give this one a look.
Video
My Neighbor Totoro is presented in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression.
Similar to previous Studio Ghibli catalogue releases,
My Neighbor Totoro has received a full high definition restoration which shows off the film like never before, with a sharp and detailed transfer which even reveals some of the shortcuts inherent in the animation process. Pleasingly, there has been little (if any) fake telecine wobble added to the new digital master, an issue which has plagued other Ghibli catalogue releases.
Color balance is very good, but compared to western animated features will appear slightly muted. This is not a fault of the transfer, but a reflection of the original production.
Overall, this is a really nice remaster which will please fans and cause many DVD copies to suddenly appear on eBay.
Audio
My Neighbor Totoro is presented in both English and Japanese PCM stereo audio tracks at 24 bits.
It's a bit of a head scratcher why the film hasn't been extended a more involving 5.1 surround mix, even from Disney who was responsible for the production of the English dub track for the American market. Confined to just two channels, naturally the audio experience won't be as involving as many film buffs are accustomed to, but I'm happy to report that the track does respond quite well to Dolby Pro Logic amplification if you are so equipped.
For review purposes I listened to the entirety of the film in its English dub and sampled the original Japanese audio. Both tracks are quite reasonable, within their aforementioned limitations. Audio fidelity is quite good and there are no problems with dialogue intelligibility.
The score by Ghibli regular Joe Hisaishi is truly wonderful and a great accompaniment. Again, it's a shame it isn't given room to breathe over surround channels, but for now at least, it is what it is.
Extras
In a significant improvement over the previous DVD release, Madman has included not only all of the previous supplements, but also a few new extra features. Let's take a look.
First up is
Picture in Picture Storyboards which presents the film in 1080p with a window in the bottom right hand corner of the screen showcasing the entire run of original production storyboards. Animation buffs might get a kick out of this, but others might be a tad bored after a while.
Next up are a bunch of production featurettes including
Creating My Neighbor Totoro and
Creating the Characters which over the span of seven minutes combined give a brief look at the genesis of the project.
The Locations of Totoro is by far the lengthiest of the featurettes at nearly 30 minutes in length, which looks at the real world locations from Director Miyazaki's youth which inspired the locations in the film.
The Totoro Experience discusses the interest in merchandising which simply wasn't available when the film was originally released, and
Producers Perspective: Creating Studio Ghibli which reveals how the studio got its curious name. The five minute
Beyond the Microphone featurette looks at the casting and recording of the English audio dub, and the
Textless Opening and Closing shows clean templates before the sequence text is dropped in.
Finally, we have two
Japanese trailers and
additional trailers for
Ponyo,
Laputa and
Arrietty.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Cooler Master Seidon 240M Water AIO CPU Cooler Review
Introduction
Cooler Master has made it this long in the aftermarket PC parts game because of one major thing, and that is the ability to adapt to what is new in the rest of the world. What I mean to say is that if you look back at what they started with as something like the Cosmos 2 in cases, they have definitely learned a trick or two. Even with cooling, they were the first to hand me a TEC assisted air cooler, they were also the first to hand me a successful version of a vertical vapor chamber designed CPU cooler. Now as the market had sort of left them behind with every company and their mothers going to an Asetek or CoolIT AIO system, Cooler Master rolled with the punches for a while, then has succumbed to the desires and trends of today and are introducing their very own design of what an AIO water cooler should be.
With all the variations on the market today, along with about three pump revisions if I have my count right, you can really get lost in what brand and what style of radiator to use. While I was given a Corsair H100 a long time ago to test, it is no longer around for comparative testing, all we can go by today is how this unit fares against coolers that Thermaltake had released on the third gen pumps, and of course the various full custom water cooling solutions. I mean I fully expect this AIO to fall right in the middle of the two anyways, so if it does that, I think Cooler Master is well on their way to success with these new units.
As I searched around for a bit of the company's interpretation of this cooler I seemed to be coming up blank. It is very easy to find the product page for the smaller version, the Seidon 120M AIO, but today we are going to be testing the larger version of this AIO, the Seidon 240M from Cooler Master. Of course it isn't a huge stretch to get that the naming comes from the Greek deity Poseidon; God of the Sea.
With a name so engrained in minds as someone who could bring tidal waves and whirlpools on a whim, it seems that these units have a lot to live up to. I say we get right into things and see just how well the Seidon 240M handles this Intel 2600K processor.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
ADATA XPG Gaming Series V2.0 PC3-19200 16GB Dual Channel Memory Kit Review
It's been a while since we've seen a kit of RAM from ADATA with the last one being seen back in October. The
8GB PC3-17000 XPG Gaming Series kit did a good job of impressing us with strong out of the box performance thanks to a default 2133MHz DDR clock along with a decent overclock, which saw the kit achieve 2580MHz DDR.
Today we're looking at a kit that again is part of the XPG Gaming Series, and this particular one is part of the V2.0 series, which has more of a focus on higher clock speeds and overall a higher end heatsink.
Looking at the kit the first thing we notice is the decision of ADATA to go down the path of a black PCB, which we love. Like we always say, it's only a cosmetic thing, but it's the decision for companies to put these great looking heatsinks on modules that is against a green PCB, and it is something that never looks great.
You can see above the black PCB against the black and green heatsink makes for a really good looking module. Along with that, though, one of the great things about the Gaming Series V2.0 is the quality of the heatsink. While most companies just opt for the heatsink to be placed together with a clip like setup, this type has two screws that help keep the heatsink together. This just makes for an overall better quality feel.
Taking a closer look at the modules you can see both sides are fairly similar. We've got the same black and green sticker on both sides with the ADATA logo on the left and the Gaming Series logo sitting just next to that. We can see on the right side we've got a sticker that gives us a run down on some of the main information.
Moving closer in we're able to see exactly what we're dealing with today. Starting from the top we've got the model that gives us a fair idea of what exactly we've got, but below that you can see we're dealing with a 2400MHz DDR kit of PC3-19200. Next to that you can see we've got two 8GB modules which makes helps make up a 16GB kit.
Below that you can see the timings. Coming in at 2400MHz DDR it comes as no surprise that the timings are a little loose with an 11-13-13-35 setup that requires 1.65v to get up and running.
With the modules looked at it's time to install them into our testbed and check out the performance. Heading into the BIOS and firing up the XMP profile we get straight into Windows with no problem just as we'd expect. We fire up AIDA64 and check out the CPU ID information to make sure everything is looking right.
As you can see above we're running at 2400MHz DDR and here we also discover that we're dealing with a 1T Command Rate instead of the typical 2T rate we see on these higher speed kits. Of course when it comes to Command Rate lower is better so the 1T number is a nice surprise.
With everything looking good it's time to get into the numbers. Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of
22,562 MB/s / 20,686 MB/s, Copy speed of
24,833 MB/s and latency of
34.2ns.
Looking above you can see our numbers line up just as you'd expect. There are no real surprises so we headed back into the BIOS and got into some overclocking. Since we're at 2400MHz DDR already the first thing we did was change the memory divider to 2600MHz DDR and let the ASRock Z77 OC Formula take care of the timings. This resulted in our test system booting up straight away.
In Windows we headed over to the CPUID area to see the timings, and with no surprise, we see the timings became looser. We weren't too worried about that at the moment, though, as we want to see if there's any more headroom in the overclocking side of things.
Heading back into the BIOS we jumped up to the 2666MHz DDR divider and with no real surprise we couldn't get our machine to boot. We know that our CPU maxes out around the mid 2600MHz DDR mark so this didn't come as a shock to us. Heading back to the 2600MHz DDR divider, we then messed around with the BCLK to see if we could get anything out of it. Starting at a 103 BCLK our machine didn't boot. We moved down to 102 and 101, and both times our machine wouldn't boot. It seems that the kit didn't want to move past the 2600MHz DDR clock, even with relaxed timings.
Since 2600MHz DDR was working with no problems we moved to see if we could make the timings slightly more aggressive and move back to the 1T Command Rate. Looking below you can see we got the timings back to the default 11-13-13-35-1T clocks at 2600MHz DDR, which is nice.
We tried to go slightly more aggressive, but like the aforementioned BCLK adjustments, we didn't have any luck. Still this is a solid 200MHz DDR overclock with fairly good timings. With that done we headed back into AIDA64 and had a look at the numbers. Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of
22,759 MB/s / 20,821 MB/s, Copy speed of
23,757 MB/s and latency of
32.5ns.
You can see performance jumps slightly in the read and write areas while latency is also improved. When it comes to the Copy speed you can see it's dropped back a little, which is due more to fluctuation than anything else. Still, overall, we see a slight boost in performance.
The last task was to head back into the BIOS and adjust the CPU multiplier to give a boost in CPU speed. Jumping straight up to a 47x multiplier we end up in Windows at 4.7GHz, and you can see below with the RAM still running at a very solid 2600MHz DDR 11-13-13-35-1T.
Under AIDA64 we ended up with Read / Write numbers of
24,896 MB/s / 23,070 MB/s, Copy speed of
24,539 MB/s and latency of
30.6ns. You can see across the board we see a nice boost in performance with decent jumps in the read and write speeds along with improved latency, once again.
Overall ADATA put together a really nice looking kit that ticks pretty much all the right boxes. The black PCB looks great against the heatsink that ADATA use here. Along with that, though, the heatsink quality is just awesome and definitely stands out against a number of competitors thanks to the screw setup that helps make it extremely strong.
At $164.99 pricing is fairly typical for a 16GB kit that comes in at 2400MHz DDR. The value becomes even better, though, when you consider we're dealing with a 1T Command Rate kit that manages to keep that setting when overclocked to 2600MHz DDR. If you're looking for a strong kit of RAM that looks great, performs well and just overall does an excellent job in all areas, then the ADATA Gaming Series V2.0 2400MHz DDR kit should be one that you check out for sure.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
SilverStone SUGO SST-SG09B SFF Chassis Review
Introduction
SilverStone is a company that I may have not given a completely fair shake to over the last year or so. I tend to look at most cases in the mindset of what I think people are going to want, what I enjoyed working in, and may have cut them off at the ankles not looking deep enough into what is truly being offered in their SFF chassis lineup. I usually come to the basic conclusion that while a tad bit pricey at times, and of course it was a strong and well-built case, but I never really gave props to the engineers for what they were actually trying to accomplish with each design.
As I try to improve things this year for my readers, I want to try to put myself in the shoes of both the engineer trying to solve all of the
#firstworldproblems in SFF cases, and try to develop things that are new and eye catching, while redesigning things, that puts the average offerings to shame. At the same time I will still be playing devil's advocate and pointing out any issues or things I believe will warrant your attention.
Anyone who is interested in a SFF chassis has to have seen the various releases on the SUGO series chassis line. What started out as more of a generic cube, moved into taller mini-tower status even sprouting a handle at one point, and for the past four versions SilverStone has returned to the cube design with many improvements made to the series along the way. Things that made the SUGO series so popular since its inception was stylish looks and a very well ventilated chassis. This is something that was never lost through the years, but as things got better for the company, they kept adding new developments and improving the series into the 23 liter capacity chassis we are going to be looking at soon enough.
A new addition to the SUGO series has arrived for me to test and that is the SST-SG09B. The basic concept was to see just how well the engineers at SilverStone were at offering the most ability from this chassis in such confined quarters. While doing this, they still want to offer room for full length video cards, full sized Strider PSUs up to 1000W, and even have room for huge air coolers like the SST-HE02. The issue with this on paper is that the conventional layout won't allow for such things to work out very well.
That in mind, be prepared for a layout that is a bit unusual, but as you install parts and begin to use this tiny SFF chassis, you do find a better appreciation for where the money is going, and why you should have a SilverStone chassis on your desk over some other SFF chassis offerings.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB SSD Review
Introduction
Prior to CES 2013 we had an influx of new cutting edge SSDs hit the office. Ideally, all of these new products would have been published on January 7, the first day of the show. They weren't and it's my fault - sorry about the delay. The good news is we now have all of our testing finished and were able to spend some real time with all of these drives. Sometimes being first doesn't mean you win the race.
The SSD market is booming and the projected growth is the highest we've seen for any storage product in a very long time. This amount of growth doesn't have a lot to do with SSDs increasing in capacity or even being faster than the existing products on the market. It has to do with cost. The lower prices are driving the SSD market right now and into the future. For the next six months we won't see any large performance increases, SATA III is pretty much tapped out. We will see lower prices and higher capacities - the two roadblocks holding mainstream users back from adapting the technology.
The SanDisk Ultra Plus is a mainstream offering designed to decrease the cost of ownership. At the time of writing, the 256GB model we're looking at today costs $219.99 at Newegg, the same as the Extreme SSD 240GB. We feel the price is higher than it should be and aren't afraid to put that out in the open here on the first page of this review. I don't think the $219.99 price is going to stick for very long. I honestly think this drive will get down to around the $150 mark within the next three months.
The reason why is because the SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB uses a four-channel Marvell controller which is cheaper to use than a SandForce controller, it also uses SanDisk's own 19nm NAND flash. The flash is also cheaper to work with than the 24nm used on the SanDisk Extreme SSD. In our CES coverage we told you about Micron's coming price war that will heat up with the release of the M500 960GB for $600 with prices scaling proportionally through the other capacity sizes. The price war is coming, right now these companies are just tossing stones at each other, but soon the silos will heat up as full on nuclear war starts.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX Chassis Review
Introduction
At this exact time last year I was still in email limbo with Fractal Design, as I was trying to obtain samples and see what all the hype surrounding their products were all about. In the short span of only a year I got to look at quite a few of their cases as well as a fan controller they released not too long ago. In that time I have come to not only like the white accented black chassis designs, but have come to revere them for their sturdy construction and solid build quality. Every chassis I have seen, whether small or large, have always delivered a chassis worth owning.
We all knew about the Arc series, and of course there was the Define series that covered a few of the more popular designs over the past couple of years, but we are introducing a whole new series today. With most of the chassis designs being a regular tower configuration, most of what I have seen has been almost a direct evolution from one design to the next. Delving into the SFF chassis world for the first time, Fractal Design had no real blueprint to work from, but from what I have seen in the past, it makes me eager to see what they have in store this time around.
The SFF chassis in question today is the Node 304, one of two cases currently offered in this series. There is a larger Node chassis that is more of an HTPC design and will allow for full ATX motherboards inside of it with the Node 604. While these two cases do share a few features, the chassis layout is completely different between the 604 and the Mini-ITX compatible Node 304. Things like front mounting a PSU and using a power extension cable, modular hard drive racks, and eliminating the ODD bays to give a very clean aesthetic appeal are just some of the features to be found.
If your interest is piqued and you want to see more, continue with us as I shed light on what the new Node 304 is all about.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Toshiba THNSNF256GCSS 'Thin Sniff' 256GB SSD Preview
Introduction
Toshiba announced the THNSNF product line at Computex 2012, just over six months ago. The line consists of three form factors and each form factor divides further into capacity sizes. Each model has a unique ID since the capacity size is in each model number. Today we're looking at the THNSNF256GCSS, a 2.5"form factor drive with a 7mm z-height.
Since Toshiba almost exclusively sells SSDs directly to OEMs and system integrators, you may wonder why this drive is getting attention on TweakTown. There are a couple of answers to that. The first is to see what system builders are using - if I don't know, I can't tell you to buy an aftermarket SSD or to keep the one that shipped in your new shiny ultrabook. The second reason is this is a really cool drive with features we never expected to see on an OEM drive.
The THNSNF (you can call it
Thin Sniff, we do) was the first drive with 19nm Toggle 2 NAND, it beat Plextor's M5 Pro by several months. So, the flash is from Toshiba, the controller is also from Toshiba, but they had some help from Marvell along the way. We know this because the controller says so. This is where things start to get interesting. Unlike every other Marvell SSD controller we're seen to date, this design does not have a DRAM buffer. There is an open space on the PCB, but this is a DRAM-less design. Given the performance, we have to wonder just how fast THNSNF would be with DRAM.
Speaking of performance... as you know OCZ Technology went to Marvell for their Vertex 4, at least for the hardware portion. Vertex 4 was the first drive on the market that we know of to limit single queue depth read speeds. When you cap single queue depth read performance, you leave bandwidth open for other requests, and it makes multitasking smoother. THNSNF does the same thing and this is the first time we've seen the feature used outside of OCZ Vertex 4 and Vector.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Far Cry 3 PC Review
If publishers want a case in point in how to build hype at an E3 reveal, Far Cry 3 is the perfect case. Ever since we first heard Vaas utter those now famous words, "Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?", we have waited with baited breath. The video had action, intense gameplay and also psychological elements that sent the hype levels of the game through the roof. And so now 18 months later it's time to determine if the developers have delivered on the promise from that video and aside from a few quirks here and there and a poor ending to the story, the answer is a resounding yes.
In Far Cry 3 you take control of Jason Brody, a young college kid with rich parents enjoying life to the max on an island paradise when things go awry. Jason and his friends are captured by pirates and the infamous Vaas. Taken for ransom from their wealthy parents, Jason manages to escape with his brother and from there the story becomes that you as Jason must rescue your friends, but also as you build acquaintances on the island, decide how you want the future to be for those people. There is a point where the story just becomes boring and formulaic unfortunately, but until then it's one of the best stories of this generation.
As expected based on the first two games, Far Cry 3 puts you in a massive open world with side missions and main story to complete. One of the key facets of the title is exploration and the game significantly rewards you for exploring. Whilst there are scripted elements to some of the missions, sometimes it's just interesting to wander about the island and see what the enemy and other NPCs are doing. One example was we were closing in on an enemy kill, only to see a crocodile jump out of the water to take him alive. If someone else was to go to that exact spot, it may not happen because those sequences are not scripted.
In fact, Far Cry 3 gives one of the best representations of a living breathing world in a video game to date. You can of course choose to main line the story if you wish, but that is to completely devalue the amount of effort that Ubisoft has not only put into the side missions, but also the world itself. You will miss a lot of the awesome areas of the island and some interesting, story building sequences as well. There is also a meta game within the game where you can hunt animals present throughout the world to improve Jason's overall abilities and weaponry.
For example, if you get some shark skins, you can craft a new pouch which improves your inventory level - something which is a lot more interesting to do than just buy a new pouch. You can pick up leaves and plants to help you concoct medicine to heal Jason. At no real point in the game are you forced to buy things. For example, one area which encourages exploration is the local stores. If you manage to take over the local radio tower, the shops will give you free weapons as a reward whilst that tower is not held by the enemies. It's a really interesting mechanic that rewards exploration in a manner that is tangible rather than just 'let's see this entire island'.
For the most part the missions are also enjoyable to play as well. There are over thirty campaign missions with quite a number more side missions to complete. To complete Far Cry 3 without doing side missions will take you about 10 hours and so it is a fairly meaty game when you compare it to most releases. The game does contain fast travel once you have visited a location although sometimes it is better to just explore and see the world on offer.
What Far Cry 3 manages to achieve is a believable world. This island could be a real world thing (although it's not), and the developers have clearly put a lot of work into building a fantastic world for the game. It has the crazy professor and the tribal warriors to complete the mix. But what takes it to the next level is the various fauna milling about the place. You can be swimming quietly in the rivers or ocean and the next minute a shark or crocodile attacks. The first time this happens you will literally jump in your seat and it's generally over before it even starts. You can imagine this is how it happens in the real world as well with most victims attacked before they even know it's happening.
The design of the island also allows for some open world elements to creep into the campaign missions as well. Whilst you are somewhat restricted as to the zone you can move in during missions (we guess to not break the mission entirely), you are given leeway as to how you approach the mission. Go in guns blazing? Or snipe from the mountain side? Many different ways are available to generally complete each mission and it is this variety that keeps the game fresh to the end.
On the PC at least, Far Cry 3 is a visual tour de force and one of the best games graphically we have ever played. If you have the hardware and video card to push this to the max you will see a visually stunning world with amazing graphics. Tone the graphics done a little and the game still shines even on older hardware, so it is clear Ubisoft has done its job in optimizing this game for fairly run of the mill systems as well. This is something that the original Far Cry game was criticised for not doing.
The game also features a co-operative multiplayer portion for up to four players to take part in. It is set six months before the actual events of the single player campaign and so in many ways is its own story. Introducing co-operative into such an awesome, open world game is something that Ubisoft had to do to take this game to the next level. With a length of about six hours, you certainly get your money's worth even though it's not the main campaign.
Far Cry 3 started out with a great E3 presentation that put the hype levels through the roof. Usually when this happens games significantly let us down, but in this case Ubisoft has delivered. No doubt they felt the pressure of such an awesome opening with Vaas and our main character, but instead of crumbling, they produced what is sure to be one of the best games of 2012.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Hitman: Absolution Xbox 360 Review
As a series Hitman has been quite successful and this is why it's puzzling that we are now only just getting the return of the game. Hitman Blood Money was one of the better games from the earliest times of this generation, but IO Interactive decided to put that to the side and come up with the new IP.
This game became Kane & Lynch which had middling success in both sales and critical format. So six years later we have the return of Agent 47 and it's not without changes. Absolution completely changes up the series in many ways and we still aren't sure if all the changes and decisions made were the right ones.
Absolution picks up with Agent 47 being tasked to kill his agency handler Diana. She has gone rogue and has been selling secrets to enemies of the agency so his final contract becomes her. The agency has produced another agent from a child, Victoria with Diana on her deathbed asking 47 to protect her at all costs. This is what the story primarily revolves around; the protection of Victoria and escaping from the agency that 47 once called home. From the outset this shows just how much of a departure Absolution is to the regular format with previous games tasking 47 with contracts to fulfil for the agency.
In terms of the gameplay there are a lot of elements that have returned from previous games. On some of the missions you will be tasked with taking down a target and you can either choose to go in all guns blazing or make the death look like an accident with the latter not only scoring you more points, but generally being more satisfying to do as well. Hitman can be seen as a puzzle game - trying to concoct together various environmental elements such as leaking oil and a bullet to take out enemies unseen.
This is only apparent on some of the levels. On many levels within the game there are no targets and instead it is 47's goal to reach another area to continue the story. As well as this there are times where the game takes control from you and performs kills in cut scenes. For a series which has focused so much on clean quiet kills from a gameplay perspective, to have this happen is frustrating. There are some sections in the game where quiet kills just cannot occur.
This is where you will like this game or not. Whilst in the past each mission was one huge environment for 47 to traverse and come up with sneaky ways to take out the target, in this game you are instead tasked with basically getting from point a to point b. Hitman in many ways becomes a third person shooter with the amount of sandbox missions able to be counted on less than two hands. Given that there are 20 missions overall in the game, this is a bit disappointing.
However, on those levels which do give you the freedom to explore and come up with various ways to take out the targets, the game absolutely shines. Previously seen at E3, the King of Chinatown level is one such example where there is many different ways to take out the target such as poisoning fish or blowing up a car. And it is these missions that you will revisit over and over again to try and come up with different ways to end the mission without being seen.
As well as the actual targets each mission contains a number of challenges to complete. Sometimes these challenges are to take out the targets in various different ways whilst other times it can be tasks such as finishing the mission only using 47's suit. Given that you very often traverse areas where you should not be, doing this is harder than it sounds.
Many of the elements we have seen in previous titles have again come back. You can still take the disguises of other characters although this is a bit harder than last time around.
Enemies will spot that you are not one of them quite easily and so it becomes a case of still having to focus on stealth even when blended in. To aid with this, 47 now has an instinct ability which allows you to see enemies through walls and walk near enemies in disguise without being spotted. You gain more instinct by performing quiet kills and tasks.
One of the more frustrating elements of Absolution is the change from limited save games to checkpoints. Instead of being able to save at any point in the game (within a limited number), you now have to track down and find checkpoints in the level. They are generally off the beaten track and this can be very frustrating especially on the tougher levels. The checkpoints also do not get retained if you leave your game which we have no idea why IO Interactive decided that was a good idea.
The enemy AI generally revolves around them being able to determine you are 47 rather than actually being tough. When things go bad you generally can get out of a tight spot with your bullets except towards the end of the game where that type of tactic just gets impossible due to the weaponry they have. Once they spot you the game moves into a very Metal Gear like alarm system. At the highest level they hunt you and shoot on sight whilst if you can manage to hide long enough, they will give up and lower the alarm level. Of course the best way is to not be spotted at all and in general this is possible on every mission.
On the visual and environmental side of things the game is generally impressive. Whilst there is quite a variety to the locations that you will visit during your time with the game, it is not as varied as it was in Blood Money with some locations being visited more than once. Some of the missions are quite large in size whilst others are almost corridors only. It goes without saying the larger missions are the ones where 47's abilities can really shine. One thing that is true is that in general IO Interactive has used the environments to the best of their abilities with 47 being able to perform numerous environmental based kills on his targets.
Multiplayer comes in the form of contracts mode and in an ironic twist this system is much closer to that of the older games. You can either build or download contracts from other users and basically you are dropped into a world and have to kill targets silently to fulfil the contract. As you do so you gain money which can be used to upgrade your weaponry in multiplayer. This is an interesting take on multiplayer and we hope that users really embrace this system because it's entirely possible this could give the game a lot of legs.
Hitman: Absolution is a game that made us think about how we review games in many ways. Should we review a game based on what the name is on the box, or what the content actually is. Of course the latter is the answer, but we can't help but feel that this is not the greatest Hitman game. It's significantly different to other Hitman titles, but it's also not a bad game. If you come into the game expecting Blood Money 2 you will be disappointed, but if you look past this you will find a competent Hitman game that has just enough elements of its predecessors to ensure you should play as 47 again.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Assassin's Creed III: Liberation PlayStation Vita Review
It's fair to say that whilst the Assassin's Creed II series of games were some of the most well received games this generation, the portable versions of the game haven't really set the gaming world on fire. Appearing only on the PSP (aside from the iOS games that were not 3D), the games focused on Altair, the original protagonist, rather than the very likeable Ezio.
However, with the release of a new platform, the PS Vita, Ubisoft decided to give the portable space another crack with the AC series and have come out with mixed results. Liberation is not necessarily a bad game, but there are some areas which can be quite infuriating to play.
Liberation for the first time introduces a female character as the main lead. You play as Aveline, the black daughter of a rich businessman in the 1700's. A result of infidelity, Aveline lives with her step mother and father in New Orleans as one of the wealthy and famous. However, Aveline wants to rid the world of slavery, especially for her people and sets about trying to bring down the tyranny which existed in the time. Set in the 1700's, the game takes place during the same timeline as that of the main console game, and to get the most out of the story, you need to play both.
There are a few major changes for the franchise aside from the fact you now control a woman. The game introduces for the first time personas. Aveline has three; wealthy lady, slave and assassin. Depending on the persona (clothing) you are currently wearing will limit or improve the abilities Aveline has available to her. For example, in the wealthy dress, Aveline cannot climb buildings or walls whilst in the assassin clothing she will draw suspect looks from the guards right away.
This is probably the most interesting change to the franchise because it means you often have to change your clothing to complete tasks. Having to change clothing to complete a task can be a tad tiresome (especially when it's not clear which clothing you should be wearing), but all the same the addition enhances the franchise.
As well as the main city, you will also visit the bayou of New Orleans which gives you the opportunity to partake in tree climbing and jumping. Ripped directly from the console game with Connor you can at will climb trees and often have to when completing assassination tasks. The game controls well and it's very obvious when you can and cannot climb trees. The Bayou has a very Metal Gear Solid 3 feel to it - a large, lush jungle full of crocodiles and other animals that can hurt Aveline. The main difference being that Aveline does not need to eat animals to survive.
The structure of the game takes on that of its console big brothers. The game includes nine sequences to complete which is a little on the short side and you will have this game down in around six to eight hours depending on how good you are at it. There is no difficulty setting so once you finish it, that's it really.
There are a number of side tasks to complete and there is a meta game where you can control a shipping company to gain money, but really in the grand scheme of things, you can ignore these and easily complete the game. One of the interesting elements is that the story you get if you just play the main missions is not the actual story. To get the real ending you need to take out a particular hidden character in each sequence.
[img]2[/img]
One of the biggest bugbears we have with the game is the PS Vita controls. The main controls themselves are fine, but when the developer is trying to shoe horn in the touch mechanics of the game, it just starts to break. For example, the game will at times ask you to put the Vita camera near a bright light. It took us a while to find a light that would give the Vita what it wanted, and there was no indication at all whether we were getting closer or not.
There are also other sections of the game which use the back touchpad such as paddling a canoe. There is nothing wrong with trying to include Vita specific controls, but when they work like they do in Liberation (it's a lucky dip as to whether your motions will be picked up), it would have been best to leave them out.
The environments that the game is set in are impressive for a handheld product. The city of New Orleans is beautifully represented by period buildings and the actual city itself is quite large, but nowhere near what you find in the console games of course. The split of the bayou and the city is an interesting feature with both environments having graphical problems as well as also some impressive sections. Voice acting on the system is impressive especially for a handheld and whilst the soundtrack can become repetitive, it suits the game and setting well.
There is no doubt that Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is the most impressive handheld version of the series yet. Ubisoft has used some of Vita's power well, but also included some utterly frustrating mini games based on the touch and camera features. It is on the short side and that means it's not really suitable as something for a long distance trip, but for short spurts on the way to work, it works almost perfectly.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Asetek's ISAC Eliminates Need for Active Cooling In Harsh Data Center Environments
Asetek today announced that its ISAC (Inside Server Air Conditioning) has been selected by the DoD (Department of Defense) to participate in its TROPEC (Transformative Reductions in Operational Energy Consumption) program. TROPEC is a collaborative Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy (DOE) program that targets game-changing enhanced energy efficiency for critical applications at military forward ISACoperations, such as data centers and communications.
ISAC is the next generation of Asetek's RackCDU data center liquid-cooling product line. Unlike the traditional RackCDU products, which can eliminate 80% of server cooling load in the data center, ISAC eliminates the need for active cooling altogether by removing 100% of server heat through Asetek's proprietary liquid-cooling solution. As a result, ISAC offers significant energy savings and enhanced system reliability in harsh operating environments.
For commercial data centers, ISAC also significantly reduces the infrastructure costs associated with ultra-efficient data centers, eliminating the capital and operating costs associated with computer-room air-conditioning systems. In addition, ISAC makes data center air-quality requirements irrelevant. For TROPEC, this is particularly valuable as it allows server installation in harsh environments such as military forward operating bases or mobile locations like military Humvees.
This news comes on the heels of recent announcements in the data center arena for Asetek. Most recently, Asetek was selected by the DoD for a major data center retrofit with RackCDU liquid cooling and, prior to that, Cray announced that Asetek's RackCDU would be available in their Xtreme-Cool Supercomputer.
"Cooling is the major barrier for efficiency in the data center industry," said Andre Eriksen, Asetek's CEO. "With RackCDU, we are moving the industry away from their dependence on active cooling. ISAC takes that transition to its logical conclusion by eliminating air-conditioning from the data center completely."
Read More ...
Western Digital Announces WD MyBook AV-TV External Hard Drive
WD, a Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) company, and a world leader in storage solutions for the connected life, today introduced My Book AV-TV, allowing customers to instantly enable their TV recording features to store and playback hundreds of hours of entertainment by simply connecting the My Book AV-TV drive directly to a compatible TV. Additionally, customers watching live TV with the My Book AV-TV connected can press pause and rewind, or fast-forward afterward, to control and enjoy live TV at their convenience.
My Book AV-TV, available in 1 terabyte (TB) and 2 TB capacities, easily connects directly to televisions with built-in recording capability to provide plentiful storage capacity for standard or high-definition entertainment programming. Built with WD GreenPower Technology, the drive inside is engineered for the audio/video market in order to optimize the customer experience with smooth video playback of recorded content. Additionally, the WD GreenPower Technology is engineered to use less power and stay cool even in a hot entertainment center full of electronics.
The drive's super-fast USB 3.0 connection enables multiple HD streaming for simultaneous recording and playback for customers that connect their My Book AV-TV to a dual-tuner television. The simultaneous recording feature allows customers to record their favorite program while watching a different channel at the same time.
Additionally, the sleek and compact design of My Book AV-TV ensures that the drive fits neatly in most entertainment center consoles. It can stand upright or lay horizontally, making it easy to neatly position the drive near the television while maximizing airflow and minimizing heat around the drive.
"With the recent influx of TVs produced with direct recording functionality built-in, millions of global consumers will now be able to reap the benefits of recording and playing back their favorite entertainment at their convenience," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD's branded and CE products. "My Book AV-TV is a hassle-free solution for these consumers to enjoy hundreds of hours of their favorite TV programming through a simple USB connection to the TV."
For more information, visit the
product page.
Read More ...
Unigine Releases Heaven 4.0 GPU Benchmark
UNIGINE Corp. has released a new, enhanced version 4.0 of Heaven Benchmark, the GPU intensive benchmark that gained massive popularity among overclockers and hardware manufacturers for hammering their graphics cards to the limits. This powerful tool can be effectively used to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful conditions, as well as check the cooling system's potential under maximum heat output. It provides completely unbiased results and generates true in-game rendering workloads across all platforms, such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
Heaven Benchmark immerses a user into a magical steampunk world of shiny brass, wood and gears. Nested on flying islands, a tiny village with its cozy, sun-heated cobblestone streets, an elaborately crafted dirigible above the expanse of fluffy clouds, and a majestic dragon on the central square gives a true sense of adventure. An interactive experience with fly-by and walk-through modes allows for exploring all corners of this world powered by the cutting-edge UNIGINE Engine that leverages the most advanced capabilities of graphics APIs and turns this benchmark into a visual masterpiece.
Key Features
- Extreme hardware stability testing
- Accurate results due to 100% GPU-bound benchmarking
- Support for DirectX 9, DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.0
- Multi-platform support for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X
- Comprehensive use of hardware tessellation, with adjustable settings
- Cinematic and interactive fly/walk-through camera modes
- Dynamic sky with volumetric clouds and tweakable day-night cycle
- Real-time global illumination and screen-space ambient occlusion
- Support for multi-monitor configurations and different stereo 3D modes
What's New in Heaven 4.0
- Benchmarking presets for convenient comparison of results
- GPU temperature and clock monitoring
- Drastic improvement of SSDO
- Stars at nighttime
- Improvement of lens flare
- New, improved version of UNIGINE Engine under the hood
- Detection of multiple GPUs
- Anti-aliasing support on Mac OS X
- Enhancement of automation scripts in Pro version
- New Advanced edition (see details below)
- Russian and Chinese localization
Heaven Benchmark comes in three editions: Basic (available for free), Advanced and Pro, each aimed to meet the needs of different users. For more information, visit
this page.
Read More ...
Silicon Power Introduces the All New Slim S50 SSD
Silicon Power, the world's leading provider of memory storage solutions today unveils a new addition of its Slim series 7 mm 2.5" SSD. The Slim S50 features the latest controller technology to provide a brand new experience in excellent performance and cost effectiveness for computer enthusiasts.
To deliver enhanced performance stability, S50 is equipped with an all new controller that is unlike any other solutions in the market. Coupled with the latest firmware and advanced controller circuit design, the S50 enables stable IOPS performance under extended period.
The new Slim S50 provides remarkable performance with the SATA III 6 Gbps interface. Its read and write speeds are twice the speed under the SATA II interface and over four times faster than that of a traditional hard drive. Featuring advanced high speed NAND flash, S50 delivers high data transfer rate up to 530 MB/s in read speed and 200 MB/s in write speed.
SP S50 is more reliable and durable than tradition hard drives. Weighing only 63 grams with a mere 7 mm thickness, the S50 is one of the lightest of its kind and is the ideal solution for users looking to upgrade their ultra slim notebook and desktop. The S50 SSD is available in 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB, and is backed by a three year warranty.
Slim S50 Product Features
- 7mm slim design suitable for Ultrabooks and Ultra-slim notebooks
- SATA III 6 Gbps backwards compatible with SATA II 3 Gbps
- Super-high transfer rate:
- 530 MB/s max. Read speed
- 200MB/s max. Write speed
- Supports TRIM command and Garbage Collection technology
- NCQ and RAID ready
- Sustain IOPS performance over other competing solutions on NTFS file system
- Implemented with ECC technology to guarantee data transmission reliability
- Built-in with SMART monitoring system
- Low power consumption
- Shockproof & Anti-Vibration
- Noiseless operation, no latency delay and no seek error
- 3 year warranty
Slim S50 Product Specifications
- Capacity: 32 GB/64 GB/128 GB/256 GB
- Dimensions: 100 mm x 69.85 mm x 7 mm
- Weight: 63g
- Ultra Slim 7 mm depth
- Vibration Resistance Test: 20G
- Shock Resistance Test: 1500G Max
- Color: Black
Read More ...
Evil Geniuses Joins Team Razer
Razer, one of the world's pioneering supporters of e-Sports, and Evil Geniuses, the Western world's premier professional gaming team, have formed a partnership to reinforce Razer's support of e-Sports globally.
Team Evil Geniuses is one of the longest-running organizations in North American e-Sports, and they house arguably the most prestigious roster of professional gamers in the region. EG makes for a fantastic addition to the elite ranks of Team Razer: From their Dota 2 division, which features fan favorites like DeMoN, Maelk and Fear, to their broad roster of StarCraft 2 talent, including superstars like Jaedong, Stephano and IdrA, to Justin Wong, Ricky Ortiz and their deep Fighting Game line-up, to Snoopeh and their newly-acquired League of Legends team.
"Evil Geniuses is one of the best gaming organizations to have ever existed," said Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. "Their roster reads as a Who's Who of e-Sports and I am looking forward to partnering them in 2013 and beyond. We've always been huge supporters of e-Sports and the community and this partnership with EG will take us even further."
Evil Geniuses teamed- up with fellow Team Razer member Team Liquid to compete in this year's Starcraft 2 Proleague, and are now the first non-Korean-based team to compete in the most prestigious professional league televised globally. Marcus "ThorZaIN" Eklof," Evil Geniuses' Swedish Terran player, who in December became the first non-Korean player to win a Proleague match in more than seven-and-a-half years, was recently awarded Proleague's MVP award in consideration of his outstanding play and positive mentality.
"We are honored to welcome Razer as our official partner for mice, keyboards and mousepads," remarked Evil Geniuses CEO Alexander Garfield. "We have been lucky enough over the years to have received great support from companies that share our passion and enthusiasm for e-Sports, and we are grateful to see Razer join that group. With their support, we'll not only continue to support our players better than any other team in the world, but we'll also be able to introduce a number of great custom products - something we've wanted to offer or fans for a long time."
The Evil Geniuses partnership further solidifies Razer's already-established dominance within e-Sports and reinforces Razer's commitment to the ever-growing e-Sports industry. Look for Evil Geniuses players to be sporting their brand-new Razer gear in upcoming major tournaments, such as IEM Katowice, League of Legends Season 3 and IPL6.
Read More ...
QNAP Launches Turbo NAS Series Featuring XBMC
QNAP, Inc. launches its latest mid level NAS Series, the TS-x69 Pro and TS-x69L Series with XBMC. The TS-x69 Pro and L series are powered by an Intel Atom 2.13 GHz Dual-Core processor with expandable memory up to 3GB. The XBMC Media Center feature allows users to directly connect the NAS through their TV's HDMI port for direct media playback.
Users can now watch their favorite movies, videos, listen to their favorite music, and view their photos directly on their TV. With XBMC, users can also manage their video library, create/manage their own personal music playlists and create their own photo slideshows. "We are very thrilled to bring the exciting, feature loaded XBMC Media Center to QNAP users," said Ivan Hsu, Marketing Sales Director for QNAP.
"XBMC has a very strong, loyal following and their user community is ever growing. The addition of this revolutionary application turns your NAS device into a home multimedia component," he added.
Pricing and Availability
The TS-x69 Pro and L series come in 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 bay models with prices ranging from $479 for the 2-bay models to $1,099 for the 8 bay models.
Read More ...
ZOTAC Refreshes ZBOX nano XS with AMD Radeon HD 7340 Graphics
ZOTAC International, a global innovator and leading manufacturer of graphics cards, mainboards and mini-PCs, today refreshes the extra small ZBOX nano XS series. The refreshed ZOTAC ZBOX nano XS with AMD Radeon HD 7340 graphics maintains the pocket-sized form factor while delivering an extra injection of performance.
"ZOTAC is pleased to deliver AMD's latest Brazos 2.0 platform in our tiny ZBOX nano XS chassis. The latest update brings greater performance while reducing power consumption from the previous generation," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.
The ZOTAC ZBOX nano XS with AMD Radeon HD 7340 graphics is available as a barebones or with 2 GB of DDR3 memory and a 64 GB SSD (PLUS). Users are free to install their preferred operating system on the ZOTAC ZBOX nano XS with AMD Radeon HD 7340 graphics - the system is Windows 8, 7 and OpenELEC ready.
General details
- ZOTAC Refreshes ZBOX nano XS series
- New AMD Radeon HD 7340 graphics processor
- AMD E2-1800 APU
Dual-core (1.7 GHz)
PLUS models available with preinstalled memory and hard drive
- 2 GB DDR3
- 64 GB mSATA SSD
- HDMI output
- 802.11n Wi-Fi (USB)
- High-amperage USB charging capable (yellow ports)
- Bundled MCE-compatible remote w/ USB IR receiver
- Bundled VESA75/100 mount
ZBOX nano XS with AMD Radeon HD 7340 Graphics Specifications:
Read More ...
AMD Names Bernd Lienhard as Corporate VP and General Manager, Client Business
AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today that Bernd Lienhard, 48, has joined the company as corporate vice president and general manager of its Client Business Unit, reporting to Dr. Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager, Global Business Units. In his role, Lienhard will apply his 22 years of experience in the semiconductor industry to lead AMD's client business as it expands its product lineup to include differentiated system-on-chip (SoC) solutions targeted at high-growth mobility and traditional client markets.
"A pivotal part of AMD's ability to win in high-growth markets is having the right leadership team in place with a diversity of semiconductor industry knowledge. Bernd's track record and experience translating business strategy into operational execution across large teams makes him the ideal leader for our client business," said Dr. Su. "Bernd's deep background of growth across a wide range of markets will accelerate our client business as we bring our strongest-ever line-up of APUs and first SoCs to market in 2013 and continue our expansion into ultraportable and ultra low-power form factors."
Lienhard steps into his new role at an important time for AMD, as the company prepares to accelerate its business in 2013 by executing the delivery and launch of a new set of powerful product offerings. Upcoming products include the newly introduced and currently shipping "Richland" Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), as well as AMD's first true SoC APUs, codenamed "Temash" and "Kabini," which will be the industry's first quad-core x86 SoCs. Both APUs are scheduled to ship to customers in the first half of 2013.
Lienhard was most recently vice president and general manager of Freescale Semiconductor's Networking Processor Division, with global responsibility for product management, engineering and operations. Prior to this role, he served as vice president and general manager of the company's Multimedia Applications Division, a division responsible for providing ARM application processors to the automotive, consumer and industrial markets.
Before Freescale, Lienhard held a variety of leadership positions at Conexant Systems, Infineon Technologies, Siemens Semiconductor, and Siemens Defense.
Lienhard earned a Diplom-Ingenieur degree in electrical engineering from Fachhochschule in Munich, Germany.
Read More ...
Dell Enters into Agreement to Be Acquired by Michael Dell and Silver Lake
Dell Inc. today announced it has signed a definitive merger agreement under which Michael Dell, Dell's Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, in partnership with global technology investment firm Silver Lake, will acquire Dell.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dell stockholders will receive $13.65 in cash for each share of Dell common stock they hold, in a transaction valued at approximately $24.4 billion. The price represents a premium of 25 percent over Dell's closing share price of $10.88 on Jan. 11, 2013, the last trading day before rumors of a possible going-private transaction were first published; a premium of approximately 35 percent over Dell's enterprise value as of Jan. 11, 2013; and a premium of approximately 37 percent over the average closing share price during the previous 90 calendar days ending Jan. 11, 2013. The buyers will acquire for cash all of the outstanding shares of Dell not held by Mr. Dell and certain other members of management.
The Dell Board of Directors acting on the recommendation of a special committee of independent directors unanimously approved a merger agreement under which Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners will acquire Dell and take the company private subject to a number of conditions, including a vote of the unaffiliated stockholders. Mr. Dell recused himself from all Board discussions and from the Board vote regarding the transaction.
A Special Committee was formed after Mr. Dell first approached Dell's Board of Directors in August 2012 with an interest in taking the company private. Led by Lead Director Alex Mandl, the Special Committee retained independent financial and legal advisors J.P. Morgan and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP to advise the Special Committee with respect to its consideration of strategic alternatives, the acquisition proposal and the subsequent negotiation of the merger agreement.
The Special Committee also engaged a leading management consulting firm to conduct an independent analysis, including a review of strategic alternatives for Dell and opportunities for the company as a public entity, and thereafter engaged Evercore Partners.
The merger agreement provides for a so-called "go-shop" period, during which the Special Committee - with the assistance of Evercore Partners - will actively solicit, receive, evaluate and potentially enter into negotiations with parties that offer alternative proposals. The initial go-shop period is 45 days. Following that period, the Special Committee will be permitted to continue discussions and enter into or recommend a transaction with any person or group that submitted a qualifying proposal during the 45-day period. A successful competing bidder who makes a qualifying proposal during the initial go-shop period would bear a $180 million (less than 1 percent) termination fee. For a competing bidder who did not qualify during the initial go-shop period, the termination fee would be $450 million.
Mr. Mandl, lead director of Dell's Board of Directors, said: "The Special Committee and its advisors conducted a disciplined and independent process intended to ensure the best outcome for shareholders. Importantly, the go-shop process provides a real opportunity to determine if there are alternatives superior to the present offer from Mr. Dell and Silver Lake."
Mr. Dell said: "I believe this transaction will open an exciting new chapter for Dell, our customers and team members. We can deliver immediate value to stockholders, while we continue the execution of our long-term strategy and focus on delivering best-in-class solutions to our customers as a private enterprise. Dell has made solid progress executing this strategy over the past four years, but we recognize that it will still take more time, investment and patience, and I believe our efforts will be better supported by partnering with Silver Lake in our shared vision. I am committed to this journey and I have put a substantial amount of my own capital at risk together with Silver Lake, a world-class investor with an outstanding reputation. We are committed to delivering an unmatched customer experience and excited to pursue the path ahead."
"Michael Dell is a true visionary and one of the preeminent leaders of the global technology industry," said Egon Durban, a Silver Lake Managing Partner. "Silver Lake is looking forward to partnering with him, the talented management team at Dell and the investor group to innovate, invest in long-term growth initiatives and accelerate the company's transformation strategy to become an integrated and diversified global IT solutions provider."
Following completion of the transaction, Mr. Dell, who owns approximately 14 percent of Dell's common shares, will continue to lead the company as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and will maintain a significant equity investment in Dell by contributing his shares of Dell to the new company, as well as making a substantial additional cash investment. Dell will continue to be headquartered in Round Rock, Texas.
The transaction will be financed through a combination of cash and equity contributed by Mr. Dell, cash funded by investment funds affiliated with Silver Lake, cash invested by MSD Capital, L.P., a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, rollover of existing debt, as well as debt financing that has been committed by BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets (in alphabetical order), and cash on hand. There is no financing condition.
The transaction is subject to other customary conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals, in addition to the Dell stockholder approvals described above. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the second quarter of Dell's FY2014.
For further information regarding all terms and conditions contained in the definitive merger agreement, please see Dell's Current Report on Form 8-K, which will be filed in connection with this transaction.
J.P. Morgan and Evercore Partners are acting as financial advisors and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is acting as legal advisor to the Special Committee of Dell's Board of Directors. Goldman, Sachs & Co. is acting as financial advisor and Hogan Lovells US LLP is acting as legal advisor to Dell. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is acting as legal advisor to Mr. Dell. BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets (in alphabetical order) are acting as financial advisors to Silver Lake, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as legal advisor to Silver Lake.
Read More ...
Huntkey Debuts FX Series of Power Supplies
Huntkey Enterprise Group, a global professional power supply provider, debuted its latest FX Series of power supplies, including an FX500SE power supply, which is 80Plus Platinum certified, and an FX620M power supply, which is 80Plus Bronze certified.
The FX Series of power supplies are fully compliant with 80Plus Platinum (FX500SE) and Bronze (FX620M) efficiency requirements. It features powerful 12V output delivery (up to 90% power available on +12V rail) for extreme gamers only, enough to power up most high end VGAs and CPUs at greatly quiet operations. It is specially designed for hardcore gamers who desire extremely high efficiency and powerful gaming products.
The FX500SE power supply is certified by 80Plus Platinum, rated at 500 W. Its efficiency is up to 92% at typical load. The FX500SE uses a 12 cm fan, which is smartly started or stopped when a change in temperature is detected, in order to optimize the cooling system and minimize noise.
Japan-made bulk capacitors and solid state capacitors are used for extreme environments. The power supply also features excellent voltage regulation, +12V voltage regulation being about +/-1%.
Features:
- 80Plus Platinum certified - up to 92% efficiency at typical load
- Complies with Intel ATX 12V V2.31 & EPS 12V V2.92
- Full range input voltage 90~264V
- Active PFC (PF>0.99)
- ErP Lot 6 Ready! The standby mode consumes less than 1W when +5VSB is less than 0.1A
- Japan-made bulk capacitors and solid state capacitors
- LLC resonance circuit with DC-DC converter module
- Dynamic smart fan
- Excellent voltage regulation
- Powerful +12V output delivery
- Multiple protections: OVP, UVP, OPP, OTP & SCP
The FX620M power supply is certified by 80Plus Bronze, rated at 620W. Its efficiency is up to 87% at typical load.
The power supply also features excellent voltage regulation, +12V voltage regulation being about +/-1%, and Japan-made bulk capacitors. The FX620M power supply adopts a hybrid module cable management design in order to make your case tidy and improve the airflow inside the case.
The power supply also uses a 14cm intelligent-thermal fan, whose speed is adjusted based on the environment temperature, and therefore provides the best silent performance.
Features:
- 80Plus Bronze certified - up to 87% efficiency at typical load
- Complies with Intel ATX 12V V2.31 & EPS 12V V2.92
- Full range input voltage 90~264V
- Active PFC (PF>0.99)
- Japan-made bulk capacitors for extreme environment
- Hybrid module cable management
- 140 mm intelligent-thermal fan
- Excellent voltage regulation
- Powerful +12V output delivery
- Multiple protections: OVP, UVP, OPP, OTP & SCP
The Huntkey FX Series of power supplies will be available in PICO, Tran Anh , Hoanlong and Sang Tao in Vietnam, Vatan in Turkey, shop.ww.kz, Logycom shop and Pulser shop in Kazakhstan, DNS shop in Russia, Massmart in South Africa and other leading computer resellers all over the world.
Read More ...
Thecus Launches N16000PRO and N12000PRO NAS
Since Thecus has entered the enterprise level NAS market with the N12000 and the N16000; they proved that the reliability and stability already found within its existing line of NAS could be tailor made to service heavy storage and heavy demand businesses. And to better serve the needs of the diverse enterprise users, the N12000V and N16000V followed which offered a choice between more value and more power. As the technology evolves quickly, Thecus is now proud to announce its new large business solution, the N12000PRO and N16000PRO.
"Thecus is dedicated to serve enterprise level needs with the best technology available," said Florence, CEO and General Manager of Thecus Technology. "Paired with powerful Intel processors and functions which provide advanced security features, our customers can rest assured that their data is being managed by professional hands."
Better processors for better performance
The new PRO series of 12 and 16-bay NAS comes with the fastest Intel technology ever seen at Thecus. The N16000PRO and the N12000PRO are equipped with the Xeon E3-1275 processor that runs at 3.4 GHz. The quad-core processors are matched by 8GB of DDR3 RAM on both devices to make sure that the biggest commands fly through without an itch. And to make sure the full power of the processors is used, a 10GbE network card can be added to the available PCIe slot and link aggregation can be used to make sure your network doesn't slow you down.
Store big with Volume Expansion and Daisy Chaining
Brought on by the ThecusOS 5.0, users can now dynamically stack their NAS units for more capacities in a single volume; simply designate your N16000PRO or N12000PRO as a stack master and implement a 10GbE switch to connect additional target devices. Scalability is the key notion when it boils down to volume expansion. In fact, an amazing eight target devices can be intertwined for a massive volume of multi TB capacity when utilizing 10GbE switch.
Daisy-chaining is the most innovative function to expand storage volume while keeping cost down. Up to four D16000 DAS can be added to your N16000PRO and N12000PRO for an additional 64 bays of storage. As a result, IT enterprises or consumers who utilize large amounts of storage can obtain massive expansion and save cost. Another perk about daisy-chaining is that transfer speeds are fast! Thanks to the SAS cables that are put-to-use to daisy-chain the DAS to the NAS. If paired with volume expansion, daisy-chain can help large businesses expand their storage capacity to up to 2.5 PB!
10GBASE-T High Availability (HA)
The N12000PRO and N16000PRO both run on ThecusOSTM 5.0 which supports one of the most important features within the storage industry, High Availability. In short, HA allows users to replicate the data on an active NAS to another standby NAS via 10GbE synchronization. The importance of HA is quickly noticeable, whether there is data corruption or if the active NAS has any HDD problems or downtime, the standby server keeps all vital data saved and is available at all time to take over the active NAS' responsibilities.
Total backup solution
Also supported by the N16000PRO and the N12000PRO is the total backup solution, Data Guard. This backup solution is the ultimate feature as it provides both local and remote backup under one roof. Currently, data is backed up across RAID volumes, external USB drives, and eSATA. In addition, Data Guard uses innovative technology to sync data across the network to other NAS, take advantage of real-time remote replication to keep your data safe. More importantly, Thecus Data Guard is the total backup solution which makes managing NAS user-friendly and convenient.
Additionally, to cover enterprises backup needs, Thecus joined hands with Acronis and gives five free registered copies of their Backup & Recovery 10 Server for Windows. Acronis offers a wide range of critical features which includes scheduling and hot backups with password protection, advanced compression functionality to help save space, incremental backups to save time and FTP/SFTP remote backup. Windows Server users now have a seamless, practical and secure system disaster recovery solution with the features offer by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Server for Windows (OEM).
Antivirus solution
In a multiple users environment, it is easy to spread a virus or malware through the data stored on the NAS. Adding an antivirus to the already comprehensive software bundle will provide the necessary software protection by scanning the files on your NAS and defending it against possible threats. McAfee is the world's largest dedicated security technology company and shares Thecus' spirit of dedication and quality. By establishing a strong partnership with them, Thecus allow users the benefit of McAfee's powerful software on their NAS entirely for free.
Conclusion
The N16000PRO and the N12000PRO from Thecus are designed to meet the needs of large businesses with large amount of data and who expect professional performance out of their NAS. With unified storage, the users will have the ability to plug their NAS to an iSCSI network, and at the same time, use your Thecus NAS as an IP Storage pool for both protocols. This way, the NAS can be compatible with any existing or future architecture. Now with faster processors, the N16000PRO and the N12000PRO will deliver quicker response time and handle multitasking with even better ease than before. The N16000PRO and the N12000PRO are a statement that Thecus promises to always provide professional level NAS for all.
For more information, visit the product pages of
N12000PRO, and
N16000PRO.
Read More ...
Cooler Master Announces CM Force 500 Case
The CM Force 500 is the first of the all new Cooler Master case series: CM Force. These black, classy and affordable cases will be hitting Europe soon and the CM Force 500 will be the first. Even though the price lies at a very decent €39.99 this case offers a lot of the latest features.
Every modern PC needs decent cooling to handle the components that keep getting hotter and hotter. The CM Force 500 will have you covered for this demand with a possibility to install up to 6 fans, of which 2x 120mm can be installed in the front. Even more impressive is the fact that this case gives a lot of freedom to add water cooling. It support one 240mm and one 120mm radiator or you have the option to install 3 120mm radiators. This case is ready for everything you throw at it.
This case offers brilliant cooling options for a reason: It offers room for a lot of high end hardware. The CM Force 500 can fit virtually any VGA card on the market; even the monstrous HD7990 does not pose any kind of problem. Next to that you also have the possibility to mount the PSU at the top of the case, a feature that is sought after more and more in modern cases to make sure virtually every PSU can be fitted into this case. Of course there is also plenty of space for getting the cable mess out of view to give this case the clean look it deserves.
The CM Force 500 will be available in Europe by the middle of February (this may vary per region) for a recommended price of 39.99 euros.
Read More ...
Logitech Introduces Award-Winning Ultrathin Keyboard Design for the iPad mini
NEWARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) today introduced the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard mini, a slim protective keyboard cover designed to enhance the iPad mini experience. The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard mini helps you make the most of everything you do on your iPad mini - from enjoying apps, movies and photos to giving you a comfortable typing experience - while keeping your tablet's thin, light and sleek style.
"
We are excited to bring the award-winning Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover design - recognized across the industry as the best mobile keyboard for iPad - to the iPad mini," said Alexis Richard, director of brand development for tablet accessories. "Think of it as the other half of your iPad mini. Its clever seven-inch design fits perfectly with the iPad mini while offering full-size keys for easy typing, saving your screen space for content."
Attaching securely with the click of powerful integrated magnets, the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard mini has a slim aluminum cover that matches the iPad mini and brings durable protection to it with minimal weight. When you're ready to use it, flip the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard mini around to reveal its built-in Bluetooth EasyType keyboard, offering a traditional typing layout in a small seven-inch form factor, plus iPad mini function shortcut keys for the commands you use most often, such as copy and paste. It also doubles as a hands-free view stand so you can use your iPad mini without having to hold it.
The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard mini has an instant On/Off feature, which means your iPad mini automatically wakes up when you open the cover and switches to standby when you close it. The keyboard itself has a three-month battery life (based on usage of two hours per day) so you can spend more time exploring your new tablet and less time worrying about your keyboard losing power.
Pricing and Availability
The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard mini is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in February 2013, for a suggested retail price of $79.99. For more information please visit
http://www.logitech.com or our blog.
Read More ...
RunCore Announces it as First "BiTMICRO OnBoard"� OEM Partner
Fremont, CA. USA - January 21, 2013 - As one of the largest manufacturer and supplier in the field of solid state drives, RunCore announced that it has become the first OEM partner to join their recently announced BiTMICRO OnBoardâ„¢ Program. It opened a new era of cooperation between RunCore and BiTMICRO. BiTMICRO is a pioneer in high performance, flash-based solid state disks (SSDs), and storage management technologies.
This partnership gives RunCore license to offer solid state drive products with BiTMICRO's revolutionary Talino Architecture. RunCore will use the Talino Architecture to drive RunCore's Kylin III MAX PCIe solid state products for enterprise applications.
"
It is extremely important for both company to professionally develop a product for Enterprise market," said Jack Wu, CEO of RunCore. "
BiTMICRO has developed a high performance and highly scalable SSD controller architecture. We are combining this architecture with RunCore's wafer packaging technology, firmware and hardware design optimization and capability to manufacture and deliver the next generation of SSDs for our enterprise customers."
Limuel Yap, VP of Strategic Technology Development at RunCore, reiterated the importance of the Talino Architecture technology. "The competition in enterprise application streamed down to performance and reliability at a competitive price per gigabyte," Yap said. "When we looked at various technology partners that could meet those needs, BiTMICRO was the only company we could find that delivered the performance, reliability, and scalability that the enterprise market demands."
"
Runcore is a key partner for BiTMICRO," said Zophar Sante, VP of Marketing & Sales at BiTMICRO. "
Their Kylin III MAX PCIe has the BiTMICRO Talino SSD controller architecture at its core. There are many other players in the enterprise SSD and SSA (Solid State Accelerator) market, but I think the combination of our BiTMICRO Talino Architecture and RunCore technology and manufacturing efficiency will be impossible to ignore. "
BiTMICRO's Talino Architecture features their Talino SSD controller, which can achieve up to 400,000 random IOPS at 4KB, and ISIPâ„¢ ASIC flash expander, which allows them to scale up capacity and performance. The Talino Architecture powers BiTMICRO's recently announced maxIO line of enterprise
solid state drives.
RunCore's expertise is especially strong in the enterprise and industrial sectors, where reliability, speed and energy efficiency of utmost importance. With the RunCore's Kylin III MAX PCIe solid state products implementation, RunCore delivers an ideal solution for applications such as datacenter, web hosting, workstation, cloud computing, Bank and Financial Establishments.
Read More ...
X-IO Storage Becomes Integral Part of Microsoft Technology Center Architecture
Colorado Springs, CO, February 4, 2013 - Storage industry innovator X-IO Technologies today announced that it has been named as a hardware partner for the worldwide network of Microsoft Technology Centers (MTCs). This partnership will allow enterprise customers to test X-IO's ISE intelligent storage elements as part of the high-performance MTC architecture, ultimately facilitating clear technical documentation about the crucial role played by storage in data center performance.
"
X-IO is a strong addition to our Alliances Program, providing a unique storage solution that helps users get the most out of their Microsoft deployments," said Chuck McCann, Worldwide MTC Alliances Program Director, Microsoft. "
Its ISE solutions have performed very impressively with Microsoft software to date, and we look forward to further testing in our technology centers."
MTCs are collaborative environments that provide Microsoft customers with access to innovative technologies and world-class expertise, enabling them to envision, design, and deploy solutions to meet their exact needs. The MTC Alliances program comprises industry leaders in hardware, software and services who provide their resources to these environments. By working together to create and drive joint initiatives and offerings, the MTCs and their partners provide customers with the newest and most cutting edge products and services during an MTC engagement.
"
X-IO is delighted to expand our already robust working relationship with Microsoft," said Rick Nelson, VP, X-IO. "
This program will clearly demonstrate how X-IO's cost effective, high performance storage plays a critical role in getting the most out of Microsoft's modern operating system, server and productivity software."
Read More ...
Available Tags:
Google ,
Motorola ,
MacBook ,
CEO ,
iPad ,
NVIDIA ,
HP ,
Android ,
tablet ,
iPhone 5 ,
iPhone ,
Apple ,
Galaxy ,
Microsoft ,
ASUS ,
router ,
HTC ,
smartphone ,
Opera ,
Radeon ,
everything ,
his ,
Mac ,
SSD ,
Blu-ray ,
Kingston ,
Sound Blaster ,
SSD ,
SSD ,
ASRock ,
TweakTown ,
Blu-ray ,
Cooler Master ,
CPU Cooler ,
CPU ,
Gaming ,
SSD ,
Toshiba ,
SSD ,
Xbox ,
Western Digital ,
GPU ,
SSD ,
ZOTAC ,
AMD ,
Radeon ,
AMD ,
Dell ,
Dell ,
Cooler Master ,
Logitech ,
Keyboard ,
No comments:
Post a Comment