IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 07/05/2013

Galaxy S4 ad takes another swipe at the iPhone
Samsung's latest ad for the Galaxy S4 aimed at the American market is here, taking some swipes at Apple's iPhone. The ad centers around a high-school graduation party by the pool, where the graduates are using Galaxy S4 smartphones.

Their parents, the 'oldies' are using iPhones, while the youngsters show off their cool features on the Galaxy S4. These features include the ability to swipe your hand in front of your S4 to answer the call, or use your S4 to turn on and control your compatible TV. They also touch phones together to transfer photos, all making the iPhone look like it's stuck in 2007.

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Xbox 360 disc changer made from Lego, controlled by a smartphone
Someone has a little too much time on their hands, but has made something unbelievable cool - a disc changer for the Xbox 360 made from Lego. Yes, Lego. The Changer uses 3 x NXT's and is controlled through Bluetooth.

The Changer is made from 3 NXT's, 7 NXT servos, an RC motor, a light sensor, two color sensors and around 3000 parts. The claws of The Changer are operated with a pneumatic system with the disc selected by the user sending The Changer a message between 1 and 32 as The Changer holds 32 discs. The average change time for discs sits at around 42 seconds.

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US citizens' phone calls, and all electronic data is captured and recorded by the FBI, accessible by the government
Tim Clemente, a former FBI counterterrorism agent claims that there is a 'Person of Interest'-type surveillance network used by the US government to monitors their citizens. Clemente talked about this when he appeared on CNN Wednesday night.

The discussion turned to the Boston Marathon attack, and past telephone calls with Katherine Russell and her deceased husband, suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The former FBI agent said those conversations would be available to investigators. Clemente discussed the issue in an exchange, below, with host Erin Burnett:

BURNETT: ' Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It's not a voice mail. It's just a conversation. There's no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them?'
CLEMENTE: 'No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It's not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.'
BURNETT: 'So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible.'
CLEMENTE: 'No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.'

What is worse, is Clemente added that "all digital communications in the past" are recorded and saved, saying that no digital communication is secure.
I've always been in the camp that all data is recorded, absolutely everything right down to your Google searches.

RumorTT: Next-gen Xbox will charge $15 per month for optional subscription
We're counting down the days until Microsoft's reveal of the next-generation Xbox, but there are going to be a slew of rumors and talk between now and then. The latest piece is from Windows SuperSite reporter, Paul Thurrott.

Thurrott said last week that a subsidized next-gen Xbox would be priced at $299 and carry a $10 monthly fee - this is incorrect. Thurrott has taken to Twitter to say that his source suggests the cheaper console would feature a $15 per month fee. The Verge reporter Tom Warren, corroborated the rumor, tweeting "yup" and noted that the subscription "includes family" as well.

RumorTT: LG working on the next Nexus smartphone
If the rumors are correct, it looks like Google have chosen LG once again to make their upcoming next-generation Nexus smartphone. The Korea Times' sources have said that Google founder Larry Page met with LG CEO Koo Bon-joon recently, discussing ways to improve their relationship.

The same sources to The Korea Times said that the two companies are already working on a Nexus successor, adding that LG may be looking for ways to work with Google on future smart televisions and wearable computing, such as Google Glass. We should find out more in just a few weeks time at Google I/O.

Microsoft wants to fill Walmart's with cheap Lumia smartphones
Windows Phone isn't doing too well against iOS and Android, we all know that, but Microsoft is obviously working on a plan to push Windows Phone into more consumers' hands.

This plan, according to AllThingsD, is to sell the super-cheap Nokia Lumia 521 in huge numbers at Walmart. Selling them in large numbers will require a cheap price, so how does $150 off contract sound? Considering the iPhone and Galaxy S4 both sell for around $200 or so, on a two-year contract, the Lumia 521 at $150 outright would be quite a steal.
The Lumia 521 features a 4-inch 800x480-pixel display, dual-core 1GHz processor and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera.

Noctua NH-U12S CPU Cooler Review

Introduction

I remember back when CPU cooling didn't have to rely upon a huge mass of fins that overtake the motherboard. There was a time when you could buy very efficient coolers. Ones that were just a single tower design, came with a single fan, wouldn't run over the memory, cause issues with expansion slots, nor did they make it near impossible to get to the motherboard screws and the 8-pin plug. When that was all going on, Noctua was one of the leaders in performance, but as we all know, they were one of the only ones to be able to handle the task at hand, while still being silent.
As many companies went the way of the dual tower design after Noctua brought the idea forth, and as others were making them larger and larger to take on big fans, it seems Noctua is sort of over that concept. Sort of proving that is the fact that they had another dual tower design at Computex last year, but there has been no news on that design, but rather a resurgence to improve on what made Noctua coolers so awesome to begin with.
It seems that with the release of their two newest coolers, the single tower with a single fan is back in action. On top of the basics that I was shown almost six years ago now, what sold me on and impressed me about Noctua in the first place, it seems they have taken some ideas and improved upon them to deliver an even better and more user-friendly product.
Today we are going to be looking at the NH-U12S from Noctua in-depth to see what this 120mm fan cooled tower has to offer. We expect the same high-end, professional grade coolers that Noctua has been pumping out for years. Today though, I would like to show how these coolers not only evolved in efficiency, but also some of the new techniques for mounting, new packaging to protect everything inside, while also covering all the basics like thermal results and the audible levels of the fans.
From what I have seen, these newly released coolers do rather well, and are definitely another notch in the belt for Noctua of silent cooling that just works, and in my opinion, harks back to the days of old, and make me remember why I got into this job in the first place.
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Available Tags:Galaxy , iPhone , Xbox , smartphone , LG , Microsoft , CPU Cooler , CPU ,

Monday, May 6, 2013

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 07/05/2013

Introduction

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