IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 6/28/2013

Thursday, June 27, 2013

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 6/28/2013

TweakTown

NVIDIA unleash the GeForce 320.49 Beta drivers, just in time for the GeForce GTX 760 launch
NVIDIA have released the GeForce 320.49 Beta drivers, which are perfect for the just-released GeForce GTX 760 GPU. The new beta drivers not only include support for NVIDIA's latest mid-range GPU, but they include a bunch of fixes that were reported with previous drivers.

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These fixes include problems with image corruption and artifacting Eve Online: Retribution, Assassin's Creed III, Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. The GeForce 320.49 Beta drivers also include, or add SLI support for a number of titles: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, Natural Selection 2, Trackmania 2: Canyon and GRID 2.
You can download the drivers right here.
There's also a performance boost of up to 20% for GeForce 400/500/600 series GPU's in a bunch of games compared to the GeForce 314.22 WHQL-certified drivers. Here's what you could expect:
GeForce GTX 660:

Up to 20% in Dirt: Showdown

Up to 18% in Tomb Raider

Up to 10% in Metro: Last Light

Up to 10% in Sleeping Dogs

Up to 8% in StarCraft II

Up to 6% in Sniper Elite V2

Up to 6% in Metro 2033

Up to 6% in Far Cry 3

Up to 6% in Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Up to 5% in F1 2012

GeForce GTX 660 SLI:

Up to 17% in Dirt: Showdown

Up to 18% in Tomb Raider

Up to 9% in Metro: Last Light

Up to 9% in Assassin's Creed III

Up to 7% in StarCraft II

Up to 6% in Far Cry 3

Up to 6% in Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Up to 6% in Battlefield 3

Up to 5% in BioShock: Infinite

Up to 5% in F1 2012

SLI Technology

Added SLI profile for Alien Fear

Added SLI profile for Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

Added SLI profile for Dead Island: Riptide

Added SLI profile for Dragon Sword

Added SLI profile for Neverwinter

Added SLI profile for Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Added SLI profile for GRID 2

Added SLI profile for Human Head 2

Added SLI profile for Remember Me

Added SLI profile for The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

Updated SLI profile for Natural Selection 2

Updated SLI profile for Resident Evil 6

Updated SLI profile for Trackmania 2: Canyon

US Senator introduces new bill to control the amount of spying power the NSA has
NSA's PRISM system is reading everything you do, say, or whisper by yourself in a lonely corner - but those powers could soon be dealt a little kryptonite if US Senator Patrick Leahy's new bill is enacted upon.

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Leahy's new bill has been called the "FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act of 2013" that aims to "strengthen privacy protections, accountability and oversight related to domestic surveillance." The bill aims to calm down the PATRIOT Act so that the government is forced to show evidence that a citizen is linked with a foreign group or power before surveillance on the citizen even begins.
I doubt we'll see that, and even if we do and it is enacted upon, how would you know if this is the way they do it? They could continue snooping and you would be none the wiser about it - just like most of the world was until Edward Snowden came onto the scene.

Over one million Americans have downloaded adware-infected Android apps in the last year
Security firm Lookout have a new report which is pretty damning for US-based Android users, where they report that over one million Americans have download adware-infected Android applications, most of them without even knowing so.

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Worse than that, is that 6.5% of free applications on the Google Play Store are infected with adware in some form. Lookout have noted that the most prevalent app-based mobile threat in the world today is adware, as it can take user privacy away and take things like personal information such as e-mail, location data and address lists, all without proper notification and modifying phone settings without users' consent.
Adware is a grey area of the market to explain, as there's no defined set of rules of what adware is exactly. What Lookout did instead, was provide some guidelines that they use to differentiate an innocent ad from an adware one. Lookout classify an app that is infected with adware if it displays advertising that's outside of the normal experience, if it contains unusual indentifiable information, or if it performs unexpected actions as a response to ad clicks.

Windows 8.1 Preview is now available, want to try it out?
Microsoft unveiled Windows 8.1 Preview at their BUILD 2013 conference on Wednesday, where it's free and some people can get their hands on it right now. Microsoft have promised an ISO image of the OS, but for now it's only available through the Windows Store.

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This means the Preview of Windows 8.1 is currently locked down to those running Windows 8 and Windows RT - so not me then. Remember, that this is just a beta - so don't replace your full OS when using it. Maybe partition your hard drive, or use a spare one (if you have one). The Windows 8.1 Preview should be unleashed to all of us in the coming days, and we'll write up a guide on how you can install it in our Tweakipedia section once it goes live in ISO format.

The NSA has been intercepting SSL traffic too, no one is safe from their technological grip
NSA's PRISM system is quite the beast indeed, but now it is being revealed that the US security agency have been intercepting SSL traffic too - which is meant to be a secure link - after all, it stands for secure sockets layer.

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Obviously not, as the US security agency have been using their PRISM system to gather and store huge quantities (see: all) of SSL encrypted data for later cryptanalysis. Netcraft also reports that this huge volume of data is logged so that if an SSL private key later becomes available, they can be decrypted.
There are 'legal' methods of getting these private keys: a court order, social engineering, an attack against the website, or through cryptanalysis. But, it's the NSA - do you really expect them to use legal means to break your encrypted data that they weren't meant to take in the first place? Yeah, I thought so.

RumorTT: Verizon to acquire Canadian provider Wind Mobile for $800 million
Verizon is wanting to extend their control of the wireless market, with the new rumor circling around that they will acquire Canadian wireless provider Wind Mobile.

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Verizon have reportedly offered Wind Mobile a tentative offer of between $600 million and $800 million with the final price being decided once the company completes its due diligence. Verizon aren't stopping there, where they might be whipping out their credit card to acquire rival wireless startup Moilicity.
The Canadian government previously flexed their muscle, denying Teleus's bid to license Mobilicity spectrum. Government officials should okay this deal though, as it will increase competition in the Canadian wireless market.

Windows Phone sees more than 200 million app downloads per month
Microsoft has announced a discount to its Windows Phone developer program. Microsoft is offering developers a discount on the fee normally paid to join the developer program. Instead of the yearly $99 fee, Microsoft is currently offering it for just $19. In the blog post detailing the discount, Microsoft also provided some interesting statistics regarding the Windows Phone platform.

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These numbers are, of course, the good numbers as Microsoft would be unlikely to report the bad numbers. One of the most interesting and often tracked numbers is how many apps the platform has. In the blog post, Microsoft reported that the total number of apps on the Windows Platform is 160,000. Furthermore, Microsoft said that those apps drive 200 million app downloads each month.
For comparison, iOS has surpassed the 50 billion download mark. Windows 8 has around 100,000 apps available in its app store. Windows Phone also experienced the greatest year-over-year increase in marketshare, doubling its market penetration. To read the whole blog post, head over to Microsoft's site.

Google removes all clouds from Earth imagery
Google has processed hundreds of terabytes of Earth imagery to construct a cloud-free version of its satellite imagery used in its Maps and Earth products. The data is also now higher resolution, providing the ability to see the Earth in greater detail. The new imagery comes from NASA's and USGS' Landsat 7 satellite. Due to a hardware failure early in life, this was no easy feat.

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Landsat 7's imagery has black stripes in the normal images due to said hardware failure. Google had to combine multiple images in order to remove those black stripes. This same process is essentially how they managed to get a cloudless version of their imagery, even in tropical zones that almost always have some cloud cover.
Google has also focused on bringing the new imagery to zones that hadn't been updated in a while. This means the new imagery focuses on Russia, Indonesia, and central Africa. Google notes that the new image is over 800,000 megapixels. In other words, it would take a piece of paper the size of a city block to print it out at the standard 300dpi.
Head on over to Google Maps and turn on the satellite layer to see the updated imagery.

Sony removed PS4 camera to beat Microsoft on price
According to sources close to Sony, the entertainment giant decided to not bundle the PlayStation 4 camera with every console so they could beat Microsoft's $499 price point. But not only did Sony do this to beat Microsoft on price, they didn't let retail partners know that the price changed. The only information they provided to retail partners was that the PS4 camera would no longer be included with the console.

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This might have been a great move. Not only was Sony able to beat Microsoft on price, but it turns out that people don't like an always-connected camera in their living room. Sony has been able to avoid accusations that the device might be spying on its users.
On the other hand, it will likely cause the PlayStation camera accessory to see less uptake in the market. By not requiring every user to have it, game developers will have to deal with a fragmented landscape where only some gamers have the camera. This means developers are unlikely to make as much use of the camera, which in turn provides less incentive for users to buy a camera. It's the classic chicken and egg scenario.

NVIDIA delays Shield shipping until next month after discovering mechanical issue
NVIDIA has announced that they have delayed the shipping of their upcoming handheld gaming console. Project Shield was originally slated to go on sale tomorrow, but NVIDIA has decided to push that date back to sometime in July due to a mechanical issue. The issue stems from a third-party component supplier who's part isn't quite up to NVIDIA's "exacting standards."

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NVIDIA doesn't have a confirmed shipping date beyond sometime in July, so we'll let you know as soon as NVIDIA releases a firm ship date. NVIDIA has also extended apologies to those who preordered Shield and those who were looking forward to buying the console. NVIDIA believes that the console will be well worth the wait.
It's probably better for the company to wait and perfect the device than release a product that wouldn't garner the reviews and experience that they want.

Instagram CEO: Windows Phone and BlackBerry app not coming 'anytime soon', Google Glass app sometime after that
It looks as though it could still be a long time before Instagram finds its way onto the Windows Phone and BlackBerry platforms. This fact comes courtesy of Instagram's CEO, who noted during an interview that Google Glass is towards the bottom of their list for new platforms. This is because Instagram considers where its users are and where the growth is.

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Shortly after explaining that a Glass app is towards the bottom of their list, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom warned that BlackBerry and Windows Phone apps may not be coming anytime soon. "I'm just saying that in order of priority, the way we evaluate where to expand to is really simply where our users are, and where the growth is," the executive explained. "It took us a very long time to get to Android."
We're actually quite surprised that Instagram hasn't brought an app to the other mobile platforms as of yet. Instagram is owned by Facebook, a massive company that could easily afford to port the application to the other platforms. If you're planning on using Instagram on Google Glass just be warned that it could be a very long time until an app is released for the platform.

Dish no longer wants Clearwire, withdraws offer after Sprint increases their bid
Sprint recently sweetened their offer for Clearwire and it was apparently enough to push Dish away. Dish has announced that they have withdrawn their offer to acquire Clearwire, citing a "change in recommendation" at Clearwire. In plain English, this means that shareholders now prefer Sprint's sweetened offer and are suggesting the board take it instead of Dish's.

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Interestingly enough, Sprint is about to be acquired by Softbank as soon as it clears all of the regulatory hurdles. In other words, Softbank will be acquiring Clearwire and the spectrum that Clearwire owns. It's not clear what Sprint plans to do with Clearwire after the acquisition, though they'll likely make use of the spectrum for faster LTE.

Apple seeds new version of OS X 10.8.5 update to developers
Apple has made an update to OS X 10.8.5 available to developers. Mountain Lion build 12F13 is now available for developers to try out and look for bugs. The new operating system can be downloaded through the Mac Developer Center or through the built-in Mac App Store Software Update functionality.

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The build contains no known issues, but Apple has asked that developers continue to focus on Wi-Fi, Graphics, Wake from Sleep, PDF viewing and Accessibility, and Mobile Device Management during their use. This software is just an update to Mountain Lion, with the OS X 10.9 Mavericks developer previews having been seeded to developers earlier this year.
It's not clear when this update will be made available to the general public, though it should be sooner rather than later if there are no known issues with it. We'll let you know when the actual update becomes available for you to download.

Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, & Skype hit with Prism data protection complaint in EU
Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, and Skype have been hit with a complaint in the European Union over data protection issues in relation to the recently revealed NSA spying program Prism. THe complaint has been brought by the same group that ran the Europe v Facebook campaign. Through this latest complaint, they hope to gain clarification on the laws regarding foreign data passing to US agencies.

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These five companies have been selected specifically because of their corporate structure. Each has a subsidiary in the European Union, which should be required to follow EU data protection rights and policies. The question becomes a bit less straightforward when these companies have US headquarters, possibly making them be required to comply with US laws that are in conflict with EU laws. They have an excellent explanation:

If a European subsidiary sends user data to the American parent company, this is considered an "export" of personal data. Under EU law, an export of data is only allowed if the European subsidiary can ensure an "adequate level or protection" in the foreign country. After the recent disclosures on the "PRISM" program such trust in an "adequate level of protection" by the involved companies can hardly be upheld.
There can in no way be an adequate level of protection if they cooperate with the NSA on the other end of the line. Right now an export of data to the US must be seen as illegal if the involved companies cannot disprove the reports on the PRISM program.

You'll notice that Google and YouTube were not included. This is because they do not feature a subsidiary in the EU. They do, however, have datacenters and Evf believes they can use this to file a similar complaint. We'll be following this complaint closely and let you know as soon as any major breakthroughs happen.

Facebook denies allegations that it handed over user data to Turkish government
Facebook strongly denies allegations that it handed over user data to the Turkish government in relation to the ongoing protests currently taking place in Turkey. Facebook notes that they rarely provide any user data to Turkish law enforcement or government officials, with the only exception being if there appears to be an immediate threat to life or a child.

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Facebook has not provided user data to Turkish authorities in response to government requests relating to the protests. More generally, we reject all government data requests from Turkish authorities and push them to formal legal channels unless it appears that there is an immediate threat to life or a child, which has been the case in only a small fraction of the requests we have received.
We are concerned about legislative proposals that might purport to require Internet companies to provide user information to Turkish law enforcement authorities more frequently. We will be meeting with representatives of the Turkish government when they visit Silicon Valley this week, and we intend to communicate our strong concerns about these proposals directly at that time.

Reports of Facebook providing Turkish officials with user data stemmed from an NPR report that cited a Turkish minister. He claimed that Facebook was "in cooperation with the state" and that Twitter refused to supply user data. Facebook and others are worried about pending litigation that could force them to provide more data to the Turkish government. Some of Turkey's legislators have called for stronger social media use rules in light of the protests.
Should Facebook and Twitter be required to cooperate more with the Turkish government?

Steam introduces Trading Cards, collect and trade these virtual cards to get the whole set
Everyone's favorite gaming company has just introduced virtual Trading Cards. These new cards will be given out for playing Steam games, with half of the set being provided in each game. To collect the other half, you'll have to collect and trade with other gamers like yourself. These cards can then be turned into game badges and tradable Steam community items.

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The idea isn't completely new. Other games have provided cards or collectibles instead of in-game achievements. These cards a bit more useful than some of the other implementations I've seen. For instance, a complete set of cards can be turned into a game badge. These game badges will also come with XP, helping you level up quicker and earn more rewards for leveling up.
It's a cool idea that I think will work extremely well with the Steam community. If you want to learn more about the new program, you can head over to the page Steam has set up.

Google editions of Galaxy S4 and HTC One are now available for pre-order in the Google Play Store
A few weeks ago, we learned that Samsung would be releasing a stripped-down Nexus-like version of its galaxy S4 which would be called the Google Edition S4. Shortly thereafter, HTC announced that they would be doing the same with their flagship smartphone, the HTC One.

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Today, Google has launched both of the stripped-down android smartphones for preorder in the Google Play Store. Both devices run stock versions of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and will begin shipping to customers on July 9.

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The Google edition of HTC's One retails for $599.99 while Samsung's Galaxy S4 Google Edition retails slightly higher at a price of $649.99. For Android purist, these two phones represent the holy grail of smartphone technology, but they are not just for those who wish for a pure Android experience; they represent a way for more consumers to buy high-end smartphones without a contract and without all the added features that manufactures normally bloat smartphones with.

Motorola logo gets updated to reflect Google ownership, now comes with 100% more colors
Just over a year ago, Google finalize a deal to buy Motorola's Mobility division, and today we're finally seeing Google officially welcoming Motorola into the family. The Motorola logo was updated this afternoon to reflect a more Google-like appearance and inform the whole world that it is a Google owned company.

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The new logo features the original Motorola "M" but it is now surrounded by a circular rainbow of colors similar to the ones used in Google branding. Now that Google has the new logo out-of-the-way, let's hope they can do the same with the crappy phones Motorola has been releasing for years now.
I say that because of the news today surrounding the Motorola X Phone. It appears to be nothing more than another rehash of the Atrix, Photon 4G, and Razr Max. Those of us who were loyal to Motorola were really hoping to see something innovative with the new X phone but it appears that will not be the case.

Square breaks out of its mobile payments shell and opens Etsy-like online market
When Square launched a few years ago, they changed the mobile payments market overnight with their little white plastic device that you to plug in your smartphone or tablet. Now Square is setting its sights on the online marketplace as well and is attempting to compete with Etsy, Amazon, and eBay by launching its own online marketplace called Square Market.

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While the step from a mobile payment gateway to a online marketplace may seem a bit odd to some, this is actually part of Square's push for the company to deliver a product that answers each aspect of online commerce. At the moment, the company has a mobile wallet for consumers, a payment app for businesses, a $300 stand that turns your iPad into a point-of-sale system and it even has a project in the works that will compete with PayPal known as Square Cash.

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"Creating an online marketplace is our next step in making commerce easy for everyone," said Ajit Varma, Square's director of discovery, in a statement. "The idea behind Square Market is to make local businesses accessible to Square users nationwide. Creating a storefront on Square Market is free, and sellers can manage list items, add product photos, manage inventory and create an online profile for their businesses that the company hopes will essentially eliminate the need for sellers to have standalone websites."
The online storefront itself is free, but transactions aren't. Square will take a 2.75 percent cut of revenue off each item sold, which is much less than what Amazon or eBay charges. It is even less than the $0.20 Etsy charges to list an item.

Facebook finally lands an official app on Windows 8, will default searches to Bing
During today's Microsoft Build conference, CEO Steve Ballmer announced that Windows 8 is finally getting an official Facebook app. This announcement comes almost a year after the new Windows operating system was announced.

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Facebook and Microsoft have partnered up to build a native app for the company's flagship operating system, and as a result, Facebook will default searches to Microsoft's Bing search engine. In return, Microsoft will deeply integrate Facebook into Windows 8.
There are also reports coming in that Facebook-owned Instagram will also be getting a Windows 8 app and that tMicrosoft hopes Twitter's Vine will follow suit. Ballmer also announced that Windows 8 will be getting an official version of Flipboard as well as an NFL Fantasy Football App.

BIWIN debuts Half Slim H6201 embedded SSD
BIWIN has just announced a new business class SSD that is aimed at the digital signage market. The new Half Slim H6201is being billed as the perfect SSD for public and outdoor environments because it is scalable, efficient, and provides a low maintenance cost.

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BIWIN says that the "SATA II Half-slim SSD H6201's MTBF of 2,000,000 hours is more than doubled comparing with mechanical hard drives, leading to lower maintenance costs. H6201 is extremely fast with the ability to handle high I/O data throughput such as multiple data streams suitable for graphics and video in a very small package."
The H6201 comes in several levels of density, including 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, which allows for all signage storage needs. The new Half Slim SSD is an ideal solution for deployments where heat, cold, dust, humidity, and even shock and vibration are common.

Good guy Razer is giving their Surround Virtual 7.1 software away for free, asks you to donate to charity if you like it
Razer has just announced a new software package targeted at gamers that will allow them to turn their boring old normal headphones into a 7.1 channel surround beast. Razer Surround, according to the company, goes above and beyond existing multi-channel simulation packages by giving users a calibration system that tunes the effect for individual listeners.

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The software is designed as an add-on for the Razer Synapse 2.0 software package and the company has plans to offer it for sale in 2014 for $19.99, but the company is offering a pretty sweet deal to early adopters. Anyone wishing to purchase Razer Surround before January 1, 2014 will receive an unprecedented 100-percent discount.
Razer simply asked that if you find the software useful that you donate some cash to the Child's Play charity (source #2). The software is compatible with Windows Vista and higher and provides preconfigured calibrations for all razor audio products. Custom configurations can be built to calibrate for third-party headsets and users will need to register for Razer Synapse 2.0, so an online connection is needed.

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"With the individual calibration of Razer Surround, we're setting a new standard in 7.1 virtual surround sound," wrote Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director, of his company's latest release. "We're a big believer of giving back to our fans and the gaming community, and making Razer Surround available free with a donation to Child's Play in 2013 is a testament of our commitment to giving back to current and future gamers of the world."
I love the idea of companies giving away software and asking you to donate money to their favorite charity. This is why the Humble Bundle works so well and why I have bought it every time. I just downloaded my copy of Razer Surround and donated $20 to Child's Play and now challenge you to do the same. For those of you interested in knowing more about Child's Play, I have posted their "About us" information below.
From Child's Play charity:

Since 2003, we've set up and organized Child's Play, a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in our network of over 70 hospitals worldwide. Over the years, you as a community have answered the call and come together to raise millions of dollars.
Child's Play works in two ways. With the help of hospital staff, we set up gift wish lists full of video games, toys, books, and other fun stuff for kids. By clicking on a hospital location on our map, you can view that hospital's wish list and send a gift.
Child's Play also receives cash donations throughout the year. With those cash donations, we purchase new consoles, peripherals, games, and more for hospitals and therapy facilities. These donations allow for children to enjoy age-appropriate entertainment, interact with their peers, friends, and family, and can provide vital distraction from an otherwise generally unpleasant experience.

Sony loves developers, proves it by launching indie game channel for PS Vita
Sony has continued its support of independent game developers by launching a new indie game channel for its PlayStation Vita handheld gaming console. This new channel is the direct result of Sony launching a similar channel on the PlayStation network last month.

With 53 titles already, Sony has begun highlighting new releases such as Hotline Miami, Thomas Was Alone, and Limbo. Sony says it has plans in the coming months to showcase highly anticipated Vita-only releases such as Spelunky, Luftrausers, and Hohokm.

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In a blog post Sony said:

At PlayStation, we're proud to support indie development, and our unrestrictive policies make it easier than ever for developers to launch games on PS Vita. We recognize that the unique perspective that indie developers deliver contributes to the success and future of the gaming industry. And we've learned as much from working with talented indie developers over the last several years as (we hope) they have learned from us.

Maingear unleashes liquid-chilled EPIC series of custom PCs that use EKWB water cooling hardware
This morning, MAINGEAR announced the launch of an entirely new series of custom liquid cooled PCs. Knowing that hard-core enthusiast preferred custom liquid cooling over all-in-one solutions, MAINGEAR teamed up with EKWB to create the new EPIC series of custom liquid cooled desktop PCs.

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The EPIC series is comprised of the full-tower Force and mid-sized Rush models that both feature a "BiTurbo" pump design that ensures your system stays cool in the event one pump should fail. Also present are Intel's fourth-generation Core i7 or AMD's FX processors. On the graphics side, the force model can be packed with up to four NVIDIA GTX Titans or four Radeon HD 7970, with the Rush model only featuring a maximum of two GPUs.

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As with all other MAINGEAR offerings, a plethora of memory, storage, fans, lighting, and paint combinations are available. At the moment, no information has been released on pricing or availability, but you can expect the prices to be fairly stout based on the hardware specifications listed above as well as the attention to detail MAINGEAR puts into every PC it builds. On a side note, how sexy is that Corsair 900D in lime green?

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LeakedTT: Motorola X Phone spotted in the wild while being tested on Sprint's LTE network
Motorola's X phone just might be the most anticipated phone of the year; after all, we've been talking about it since before January. We have posted more than half a dozen leaks on the mystified X Phone and it appears that this morning we're getting our first real glimpse of what it will actually look like.

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Mobile device website, Phone Arena, has reportedly received the above photo from a source who is said to be testing the X Phone on Sprint's LTE network. This leak comes hot on the heels of the official FCC documents (source #2) pointing to the phone's application for approval on Sprint's LTE network.
Surprisingly, it appears that the phone might arrive with a 4.7-inch 720p screen which is a really big letdown if true. Hardware-wise we expect a 1.7GHz QUALCOMM Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of system memory. The phone does appear to be running Android 4.2.2 and there is still no official word on a release date or pricing.
Unfortunately, I have been sort of holding out for the X Phone since it was announced. I have been a loyal Motorola phone customer since the early 2000s and currently use a very worn out and glitchy Photon 4G. When Google blasted Motorola for not being innovative enough and producing boring phones, I thought that the X Phone would appear as something new, innovative and awesome. Sadly, it appears that none of that is true and the Motorola X Phone is just another Atrix, Photon, or Razr in the same boring plastic case with the same boring colors.

MSI MPOWER MAX (Intel Z87) Motherboard Review

Introduction

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Another day goes by and we take the time to test out another motherboard based on the latest Z87 chipset form Intel. Today we're looking at an offering from MSI which is under the newer MPOWER name. This isn't the first time we've seen MSI use this name, as late last year we saw the company release the MSI Z77 MPOWER.
The new series brought with it a strong performing motherboard, along with a new look for the company. Impressed with what it was offering, we're looking forward to see what MSI has done with the name on the latest generation Intel chipset. Recently we've seen the company really try to show us something a little different and almost try to rebrand itself.
The new Gaming series brings a feeling of unity between the video card and motherboard segments of MSI as products under both categories are part of the one series. The MPOWER name helps differentiate itself by letting us know that they sit at the top of the pyramid for MSI. We'd really like to see the company bring something like the "Lightning" series of video cards under the same MPOWER name and really create some synergy between both product categories.
The new "POWER" series of boards from MSI currently consists of three Z87 based models. We've got the Z87 XPOWER, along with the Z87 MPOWER and MPOWER MAX, with us today looking at the latter.

Package

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As we flip over the "M" you can see we get some information on the actual motherboard including the Military Class 4 components, which include Hi-c CAP, Dark CAP, SFC and OC PCB. Some of the other major highlights included Enhanced Power including a Dual 8-pin CPU Power Connectors, Enhanced Thermal via a new heatsink designed, Enhanced BIOS including Click BIOS 4 and OC Essentials which include Direct OC, Easy Button 3 and V-Check Points to name just a few of the features. We'll be checking some of these out a little more when we move onto the board itself.

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As we move onto the other side you can see we get our first look at the board. With only part of it being seen via the "M" cut out, though, we don't get the best look. Turning over to the back you can see we've got the main specifications at the bottom, a number of logos in regards to the features that are offered and again some of the main features are highlighted in the overclocking ability, stability and enhanced PWM cooling.

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Moving inside the box you can see we've got an absolute ton of paperwork covering many aspects of the board. You can also see we've got a couple of discs including drivers and utilities and one of the new "G" Series case stickers.

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Moving into the cable side of things you can see we've got six SATA cables along with an eSATA cable and a power cable. Across the bottom you can see the rear I/O panel and a single SLI bridge.

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Other extras include a pair of USB 3.0 and eSATA headers, Wi-Fi / BT card along with two antennas, V-Check point cables and a pair of EZ-Connectors to make hooking up everything that little bit easier. The bundle from the MSI MPOWER MAX really is quite large and one of the largest we've seen so far when it comes to the new Z87 platform.
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The Great SSD Flash Shortage of 2013 - EOL 25nm, the pain and the future

Introduction

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Within hours of visiting Crucial at CES, my phone was ringing off the hook. The people that I consult for wanted to know the inside scoop, 960GB in a $600 SSD with better than acceptable performance for their needs, companies wanted to know why and where - they were ready to place orders. Fast forward six months and they've placed orders, as has everyone else. Micron needed 20nm flash and it needed it fast. One of the biggest buyers, the government and over the past few weeks we found what they need all of this high performance storage for.
This story doesn't start with Micron or in 2013 for that matter. In a move to increase prices, last July Toshiba announced plans to cut NAND flash production by 30%. By September, OCZ Technology warned investors of a lower forecast citing a shortage of NAND chips used to build storage devices. In March 2013, Peter K. Hazen, Director of SSD Marketing, NVM Solutions Group sent a letter to customers with the excerpt below.
Intel remains very committed to our SSD business. As a leading NAND flash memory manufacturer with our IM Flash Technologies partner Micron, our NAND supply continues to grow every quarter and as a result we expect to have twice the SSD output in 2013 as we did in 2012. Through internal and industry forecasts, we originally felt this would be sufficient to meet our customers' demand.
Unfortunately, even 2x supply growth is not sufficient. Even in the first half of this year, we expect to ship more than 2x the units in Q1 and Q2 than the same quarters last year, but it is not enough to meet our aggregate customer demand. We recognize that this can be disruptive to your business and we are working with our customers worldwide to minimize the impact and maximize the output. This will also mean we will not necessarily be doubling output on every product line, but will focus output on the datacenter and professional client product lines to help satisfy demand on products that our customers have designed in, and will reduce the volume on products for segments that are more transactional in nature.
Intel has and will continue to launch new SSD products in 2013 that utilize the smallest, most cost-effective NAND available (20nm), and these products are the key to increasing capacity as we are able to ship more SSDs per wafer than prior generations. Please support the migrations to these new products as well as take advantage of their greater performance and new features, while still maintaining industry-leading quality and endurance.
From that point, things must have gone horribly wrong or amazingly well depending on what side of the fence you're on. Let's take a look at what the NAND flash shortage of 2013 means for manufacturers of consumer SSDs and what it means to you as well.
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card Overclocked

Introduction

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NVIDIA just launched the new GTX 760 in both 2GB and 4GB variants and we had a chance to look at the new 2GB version at launch just yesterday and really found ourselves impressed with what NVIDIA was offering for just $249. As always, the next thing we do once we've taken the time to look at the reference card is see how it goes in the overclocking department.
While we do have retail models on hand that are overclocked out of the box and could possibly overclock higher, it's important to find out what a reference card can do when it comes to overclocking. This means that when we look at specialized versions of the model from companies like MSI, EVGA and Palit, we can see just how they differ to what the reference version offers.
As always, when it comes to any overclocking article, we don't go into any detail on the video card itself. If you want to take a closer look at the card and find out a bit more about the general specifications, we recommend that you read our launch review that we linked to in the first paragraph.
Instead today we just get stuck into the test setup and the overclocking side of things before looking at performance. So, let's get into it.
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Fractal Design Newton R3 800-Watt 80 PLUS Platinum Power Supply Review

Introduction

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If there is one company that you want to keep your eyes on right now, it is most certainly Fractal Design. They have come out of the corner swinging and over the last few years have been delivering quality products left, right and center. Their cases have been a perfect mix of both form and function and none have skimped on quality at all.
Earlier in the year, we took a look at the Integra R2 750W from them and were rather happy with what we saw. As en entry-level power supply, it delivered almost perfectly.
This time around we looking at something on the opposite side of the spectrum. The Newton R3 series is Fractal Design's flagship line of power supplies and offers quite a bit more than the no-frills Integra R2 series. The 800W model on the bench today is modular and nearly silent, along with 80 PLUS Platinum efficiency.
The Newton R3 800W represents what most want out of a quality 700W-900W unit, so you'll definitely want to keep reading if you're in the market for new power supply.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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Fractal Design uses a single 12V rail for the Newton R3 800W power supply. It is rated for 66A or 792W. Both the 3.3V and 5V rails are rated for 20A each with a combined maximum output of 100W. While this isn't the best output we've seen for the minor rails, it should be plenty providing there isn't some heavy overclocking going on. The 5VSB rail is also rated a tad low for an 800W unit and is capable of 2.5A or 12.5W total. Maximum combined output for the unit is 800W.

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The Fractal Design Newton R3 800W almost scores green checks across the board, but misses it by one. The Newton R3 doesn't feature Over Temperature Protection, but does have SCP, OVP, OCP and OPP. The power supply features both native and modular cabling. All cables are either fully sleeved or of the flat ribbon variety. The Newton R3 800W is rated for 100% continuous output at 50C and is certified for 80 PLUS Platinum efficiency.
Fractal Design's Newton R3 has an MSRP of $189. Looking around the web, you won't find it any cheaper than that. Even so, it is still one of the cheapest Platinum rated units on the market near that wattage. Fractal Design backs the Newton R3 800W with a five year warranty.
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Jurassic Park 3D (2013) Blu-ray Review

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I remember fondly attending an invitation only premiere of Jurassic Park in September of 1993, my first screening junket. I was seven years old, but my mum was edgily apprehensive about my attendance, no doubt fearing I would end up a serial killer, or otherwise mentally affected. I was never really a dinosaur kid, but my developing brain told me it was a great film and everyone around me seemed to agree; soon taking out the number one spot on Hollywood's highest grossing motion pictures. 20 years later, Jurassic Park returned to its rightful domain - the big screen, in a remastered 3D conversion by the talented folks at StereoD, the same studio that painstakingly converted James Cameron's Titanic to great effect in 2012.
Eccentric Billionaire John Hammond (David Attenborough) has devised a way to genetically clone dinosaurs, bankrolling a prehistoric preserve on a remote Costa Rican island. Hammond invites a select group consisting of paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sadler (Laura Dern), mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), lawyer Donald Genarro (Martin Ferrero) and his young niece and nephew to preview the unfinished park for their seal of approval. But the resurrection of creatures 65 million years past turns to terror when the parks security system is sabotaged, leaving the visitors to fend for their lives against the inhabitants savagely uprooted from their own timeline.

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With Jurassic Park, Spielberg successfully brought photo-realistic digital characters to the screen for the first time and it's ironic that in a time where audiences have become jaded by the endless possibilities that digital filmmaking allows, Jurassic Park returns as a breath of fresh air, a return to a less complex time.
Despite the huge leaps and bounds in digital technology over the intervening two decades, Jurassic Park still has it. One can see the seams if studied carefully, but for a film of such vintage that was on the bleeding edge of technology, that it holds up so well, is testament to the impressive work of Industrial Light and Magic working in tandem with Stan Winston studios, trail blazers who changed the face of the industry forever.
Video
Jurassic Park 3D is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MVC MPEG-4 compression.
Fans with rightfully high expectations were left a little disappointed by the transfer for the previous Blu-ray release in 2011, what was essentially an off-the-shelf 2K scan created for HDTV broadcasts. For the 3D version, Universal have gone back to the 35mm negative and generated a new 4K scan. What could possibly go wrong? Well, a little bit.
Spielberg personally supervised the new transfer, which includes new color timing that accentuates a golden hue where the film has traditionally had a blue cast. The new transfer is also much smoother, with video noise and grain a thing of the past. Sadly, Universal have gone a step too far with the noise reduction, making the film look a little too waxy and dissolving some finer details.
Sadly, there is no option to view the new transfer in 2D at all. You can opt to watch the film in 2D with the previous Blu-ray included in the pack, but it's still a stale mate. View the film with with improved color timing and a more pleasant, updated visual palate in 3D, or with less noise reduction, but more artificial sharpening from outdated elements in 2D. In a frustrating and unexpected chain of events, an ideal version of Jurassic Park on home video is still conspicuous by its absence.
In regards to the 3D experience, the conversion loses some of its effect on the small screen, but it's still a fun alternate way to view the classic. Sequences such as the Raptors in the kitchen, along with other climactic beats like the T-Rex Jeep attack and vent shaft escape take on an even more thrilling element. The artisans at StereoD have made 3D a cohesive and natural progression of the adventure at the heart of Jurassic Park.

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Audio
Jurassic Park 3D is presented in DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 at 24 bits.
Jurassic Park has long been a darling of home theatre aficionadas, the poster child that introduced the DTS system to theatres and single handedly moved millions in hi-fi equipment with the laserdisc and DVD iterations.
In modern terms however, the film was sounding a little long in the tooth (pun intended), which encouraged sound designer Gary Rydstrom to prepare a new and updated 7.1 audio mix to nip and tuck a few issues and create an even more impressive surround experience. This is not to be confused with the 7.1 mix created for the initial Blu-ray release, which was not without its critics and assembled without the input of Rydstrom.
In short, this is simply the best that the film has ever sounded. Dialogue is clear and audible. The front sound stage supports its fair share of the effects, be it the subtleties of the Costa Rica jungle or the ferocious snare of the T-Rex. Low frequency effects have been slightly boosted, providing more nuanced feedback and tighter performance to the numerous sequences that call for it.
John William's classic score fares well, a great presentation for one of the most memorable fanfares in cinema history.

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Extras
For the 3D release, Universal have rustled up one new additional feature, which accounts for very little in the scheme of things, however they have also included the previously released 2D Blu-ray release, which houses the rest of the additional features.
The World Of Jurassic Park 3D is a nine minute featurette which features new interviews with Steven Spielberg who attempt (rather unnecessarily) to justify the 3D conversion, including some brief tech talk from the whiz kids at StereoD.
Then we have the three part Return to Jurassic Park documentary, which accounts for an hour of footage. Principal actors Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum contribute newly recorded (circa 2011) interviews, along with Steven Spielberg. With the retrospectively of two decades, the legacy of the film can truly be appreciated and much of the documentary deals with the films once pioneering CG effects.
Under the heading of Archival Featurettes can be found The Making of Jurassic Park which originally featured on the laserdisc release in 1994 and still has a lot of intrinsic worth as a nice vintage look at the film. Hosted by James Earl Jones - although having no other relationship with the film, this runs at nearly 50 minutes. The Original Feature on the Making of the film is a fluffy EPK short and somewhat pointless at just 5 minutes. Steven Spielberg Directs Jurassic Park is another short piece featuring numerous shots of Spielberg gesticulating furiously on set with some commentary on his no-nonsense shooting methods.
Early Pre-Production Meetings consists of rough camcorder footage of Spielberg chairing a conference discussing the possible creation of the films effects with key personnel. The video quality is basic and the sound worse, but it's a fascinating fly on the wall reveal. Location Scouting at under two minutes doesn't reveal much, but looks at the filming locations, in particular the Kauai set. The next two featurettes give a hint at the abandoned efforts to animate the dinosaurs with go-motion animation - Raptors in the Kitchen and T-Rex Attacks. Despite ultimately utilizing CG, Spielberg turned to Phil Tippet to create video animatics of key sequences. Watch out for the wisely excised Velociraptor tongue flicks. The aptly named ILM and Jurassic Park: Before and After Visual Effects looks at the original background plates before the CG dinosaurs were dropped in. Foley Artists takes a look at the oft ignored but critical production unit that makes all the cool sounds we take for granted.
Finally, we have two promotional pieces; the original Theatrical Trailer and Telltale's Jurassic Park: Making the Game.

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After Earth (2013) Cinema Review

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It would be easy to dismiss After Earth as a nepotistic star vehicle for Will Smith's spawn, directed by the once powerful M. Night Shyamalan, whose career has nosedived into self-parody, his star making project The Sixth Sense an anomaly in an otherwise meritless career. But After Earth has some solid entertainment value and although it's not always reinforced, it well and overcomes the baked-in cynicism and has won over at least one reviewer.

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In an undefined 'near future', a cataclysm befalls Earth and the inhabitants flee to the distant planet Nova Prime. The Ranger Corps, an elite squad of Prime's protectors are dispatched on a mission to a nearby system, joined by General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) on his final mission along with his son, Kitai (Jaden Smith), who has been freshly denied entry to the corps. En route, the ship is damaged by a volley of asteroids, crash landing on the closest planet - an abandoned Earth, killing all with the exception of Cypher, Kitai, and an enemy combatant; a large and highly dangerous alien life form named Ursa.
Unfortunately, the ships distress beacon is inoperable, Cypher's legs are broken and is fast losing blood and the only hope for their survival; obtaining the distress beacon from the tail end of the ship some hundred kilometers away is a mission that is against the odds. With depleting oxygen supplies, Kita must battle the environmental threats that have evolved in man's absence, all the while evading the alien creature Ursa in order to save his own life, along with that of his father.

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I'll let you in on a dirty little secret. Many reviewers, myself included, are less than holier than thou. I know - you're shocked! As we become more jaded and cynical, we can become guilty of entering the cinema with pre-conceived notions that require winning over. Admittedly, it's hard not to - we follow movies from conception to delivery and are privy to behind the scenes battles and word from industry spies and early looks through promotional materials. Some production noises are so strong it can lead to the still birth of the product. With this in mind, many reviewers pre-judged After Earth too harshly. After one too many disasters, director M. Night Shyamalan is a liability, rather than an asset to the movie poster and there's always been suspicion of Will Smith's progeny.

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The genuine surprise is that both Shyamalan and Smith bring their 'A' game. Smith certainly isn't a new star; he's cut his teeth with leading roles in remakes of The Karate Kid and The Day The Earth Stood Still, but with such a huge role in terms of screen time, the film would clearly live or die by the strength of his performance. And here he's rather good indeed. Whilst he hasn't yet developed the charisma which has been crucial to his father's success, he more than makes up for it in raw energy and believability.

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After Earth is certainly not an instant contemporary sci-fi classic by any stretch, but it is a competent and sometimes exciting feature which displays ample visual flair which aids in papering over some bumps in the script department and helps to solidify the dominance of the Smith family for some time to come. Whether it can rehabilitate Shyamalan's career however remains to be seen.

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ASUS Launches GeForce GTX 760 DirectCU Graphics Card Lineup
ASUS today announced the GeForce GTX 760 DirectCU II, GTX 760 DirectCU II OC, and GTX 760 DirectCU Mini graphics cards, based on the latest 28nm NVIDIA GPU technology. They use 1152 CUDA cores, and have 2GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit memory interface. Exclusive DirectCU coolers ensure up to 20% lower temperatures and twice quieter operation compared to a reference GTX 760. The DirectCU Mini design has been created especially for small form factor PCs and other situations where gamers have to consider interior chassis spacing while demanding fully-fledged performance. It uses the CoolTech fan for wider heat dissipation and lower in-case temperatures.

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All cards feature exclusive Super Alloy Power components to enhance high load endurance and extend graphics card lifespan. They also use Direct Power architecture to increase stability, lower impedance and power delivery latency, and reduce PCB heat levels. For user-friendly overclocking, the GPU Tweak utility enables intuitive adjustment of graphics card settings.
ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DirectCU II OC: adding to the sweet spot range
Powering the latest DirectX 11 PC gaming, the GeForce GTX 760 DirectCU II OC offers customers excellent value. It runs 1072MHz maximum boost on the core and for video memory uses 2GB of 6008MHz GDDR5.
The exclusive DirectCU II cooler has direct GPU-contact copper heatpipes to speed up heat removal, and maintains up to 20% cooler performance than reference. Its dual 80mm fans have been carefully tested to ensure minimized noise, running up to twice quieter than reference requirements. The fans are also dust-proof to reduce debris accumulation. They retain peak performance over a longer lifespan than generic fans.
The card employs exclusive Direct Power architecture, which widens power delivery to offer greater graphics card stability and improved performance with diminished power latency and impedance. The PCB also operates at lower temperatures thanks to better heat spreading, with power routed through more channels than on traditional graphics card designs.
Super Alloy Power components include solid state capacitors, concrete-core chokes, and MOSFETs that use durable materials to easily withstand high temperatures and heavy compute loads. They extend average graphics card longevity by 2.5 times compared to reference.
The ASUS-exclusive GPU Tweak utility brings customers a unified and intuitive control center for overclocking and other tuning needs. Users can set up performance profiles for favorite games, change GPU and memory speeds, regulate fan operation, and define power consumption and heat thresholds.
ASUS GeForce GTX 760 DirectCU Mini: first small form factor GTX 760
Custom ASUS engineering brings the latest NVIDIA GPU technology to small form factor gaming PCs. The new card follows the successful ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini, ensuring unabridged performance in a space-saving design. At only 17cm x 12cm x 4cm, the GeForce GTX 760 DirectCU Mini can easily fit even very crowded cases, and presents an optimal choice for mini-ITX discrete graphics. The core runs 1072MHz, with 6008MHz 2GB GDDR5.
Its DirectCU shroud uses a vapor chamber thermal design with flattened heatpipes for faster and more even heat dissipation. The proprietary CoolTech fan combines axial and flower-type blower operation, ensuring wider multi-directional airflow and lessened noise emissions.
Direct Power, Super Alloy Power, and GPU Tweak are included with the GeForce GTX 760 DirectCU Mini, giving customers the full complement of ASUS-exclusive features.

ZOTAC Announces its GeForce GTX 760 Series
ZOTAC International, a global innovator and manufacturer of graphics cards, mainboards, mini-PCs and accessories, today reveals the new GeForce GTX 760 series graphics cards - the gamers' choice for next gen gaming. The new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 760 and GTX 760 AMP! Edition enable gamers to enjoy the best image quality without sacrificing performance.

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"PC games have always pushed the boundaries of visual realism and with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 760 series, we can deliver more of the eye candy and smooth frame rates gamers crave while maintaining high quality game settings," says Carsten Berger, senior director, ZOTAC International.

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The standard ZOTAC GeForce GTX 760 graphics card ships with a modest GPU overclock for heightened performance while the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 760 AMP! Edition elevates the engine and memory clock to new extremes for best-in-class gaming performance.

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The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 760 series is ready for the next advancement in PC gaming with NVIDIA ShadowPlay that debuts later this summer. NVIDIA ShadowPlay technology harnesses the hardware-accelerated video transcoding technology in the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 760 to record the last 20-minutes of gameplay to share or show off epic game matches to friends without affecting gaming performance.
It's time to play with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 760 series.

Origin PC Offers GeForce GTX 760 Option on all its Gaming Desktops
ORIGIN PC announced the availability of the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 graphics card to their award-winning GENESIS, MILLENNIUM and CHRONOS desktops. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 is a new powerful graphics card that gives you faster, smoother and quieter performance in than its predecessor. Featuring innovative technologies like NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 for max clock speeds, PhysX and TXAA for great graphics, the GeForce GTX 760 takes hyper-realistic gameplay to a whole new level inside your next ORIGIN PC system! Plus, instantly access the latest game-ready drivers automatically-the day a game launches-and optimize settings with one click using GeForce Experience.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 Features:

1152 NVIDIA CUDA Cores
2GB of GDDR5 Graphics Memory
ORIGIN PC Professional GPU Overclocking
Supercharged NVIDIA PhysX and NVIDIA TXAA for realistic gameplay experiences

Palit Announces the GeForce GTX 760 JetStream Graphics Card
Palit Microsystems Ltd, the leading graphics card manufacturer, has unleashed the GeForce GTX 760 graphics card. A powerful graphics card that gives you the fast, smooth, quiet gaming you're looking for in all your favorite titles. It taps into the powerful Kepler architecture to deliver faster, smoother, richer gaming. It's more than state-of-the-art technology and features. It's truly game-changing performance.
Following with Palit JetStream- that introduces innovative custom cooling and optimized overclocked capabilities to deliver the ultimate gaming experience, now continuing to represent the exciting new series is the Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream, which offers incredible factory overclocked performance, low noise emission, as well as a powerful cooling design for efficient heat dissipation. GTX 760 offers all the 700-family performance features, plus next-gen technology innovations, engineering, and features that let you crank up settings and resolutions in today's most graphics-intensive games.

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8% Overclocking Performance
When it comes to overclocked performance, the Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream is integrated with DrMOS, which is a suite of optimized multi-chip power stage modules designed to offer high current circuitry, low noise levels and low heat emission. And the optimized design that ensures stable voltage supply, it's no wonder the Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream is capable of transforming your PC into a visual powerhouse!
10C Cooler, 5dB Quieter
Worthy of its JetStream moniker, the Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream comes equipped with two 90mm fans that are strategically placed to draw heat away from the PCB. All dual TurboFan Blade fans are designed to generate powerful air stream and air pressure. Though the JetStream series offers a powerful cooling system, it by no means generates a large amount of noise. In fact, the Palit GeForce GTX 760 JetStream is 10C cooler and 5dB quieter when compared to reference cards.

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Not only the GeForce GTX 760 JetStream, Palit also provides another custom design GeForce GTX 760 with new thermal cooler. Adopted with DrMOS and its new thermal design, which can ensure the extreme overclocking performance and stability. Palit GeForce GTX 760 offers gamers additional outstanding options to experience groundbreaking gaming performance.
To optimize the revolutionary features of GeForce Series, Palit has revealed the enhanced "ThunderMaster" overclocking tool that fully utilizes NVIDIA GPU Boost technology for intelligent monitoring of clock speed, ensuring that the GPU runs safely at its peak and the game is at its highest frame rate. It also offers new levels of customization, including GPU Temperature Target and Frame Rate Target control. Palit ThunderMaster allows you to drag the performance to its maximum score!

Gainward GeForce GTX 760 Series Launched
As the leading brand in enthusiastic graphics market, Gainward proudly presents the next member of GTX 700 graphics - GTX 760 series. Gainward GeForce GTX 760 series is powered by the latest generation of breakthrough NVIDIA Kepler. GeForce GTX 760 is the new weapon of choice for gamers-a powerful graphics card that gives you the fast, smooth, quiet gaming you're looking for in all your favorite titles. It's packed with next-generation features like NVIDIA GeForce Experience and GPU Boost 2.0 that let you crank up the settings in today's most graphics-intensive games. The Gainward GTX 760 Series is lead by Gainward GTX 760 Phantom - factory over-clocked for those 1152 cores at 1137 Mhz boost clock (1072 Mhz base clock) and 2048MB GDDR5 memory at 3100Mhz - 3.2% higher than default speed, provides more memory bandwidth. Gainward GeForce GTX 760 Phantom illustrates exceptional gaming performance per Watt, in DirectX 11 gaming performance, it surpasses up to 60 % than the AMD HD 7970 board and 48% higher in DirectX 11 benchmark.

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The new Phantom cooler for Gainward GeForce GTX 760 is brand-new design with "removable fan" - each fan body can be removed to clean if necessary. Furthermore, four heat pipes soldered by copper base help the GTX 760 Phantom dissipating the heat away from GPU easily and staying at very low acoustic level. The "EXPERTool" utility provides hardcore OCer the ways to trick the board for extremely over-clocking beyond the factory over-clocked speed.
Gainward GeForce GTX 760 2GB is also available for customers who have different requirement. The Gainward GTX 760 series improves on past generations to deliver significantly improved thermal performance by:
RPM-balancing filters for stable fan speeds and whisper-quiet acoustics. With the advanced thermal control, Gainward GTX 760 series can be low-power operation for a cooler-running PC.

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The implement of the DrMOS is to ensure Gainward GTX 760 series could handle high current with low energy loss. Furthermore, it generates less heat under heavy loading operation so the board can keep cool while over-clocking.
Gainward GeForce GTX 760 series is not only a powerful, feature-rich card but also low power and reasonable price. With Gainward superior hardware design, users will experience blockbuster games with superlative gaming thrills and enjoy the great C/P value.

Introducing the EVGA GeForce GTX 760 and EVGA ACX Cooler
The EVGA GeForce GTX 760 is the new weapon of choice for gamers - a powerful graphics card that gives you the fast, smooth, quiet gaming you're looking for in all your favorite titles. This series will also use EVGA's award winning cooler; the EVGA ACX Cooler. This double ball bearing design redefines traditional enthusiast coolers. Starting with a 40% increase in heatsink volume, the EVGA ACX is more efficient at dissipating heat, allowing for 15% lower GPU temperatures.

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EVGA also spent time to ensure that even the fan blades were of the highest quality; with a 700% increase in strength, and 25% lower weight when compared to competitors dual fan designs. This makes the fans 20% more efficient by requiring lower power levels. Of course, EVGA is also using double ball bearing fans which offer a 12 year lifespan; this is 4X longer when compared to competitors.

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Key Features:

NVIDIA SMX Engine - The new Kepler SMX streaming multiprocessor is twice as efficient as the prior generation and the new geometry engine draws triangles twice as fast. The result is world class performance and the highest image quality in an elegant and power efficient graphics card.

NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 - Dynamically maximizes clock speeds to push performance to new levels and bring out the best in every game. Boost 2.0 allows complete control over Temperature Target and Power Target, allowing a new way to customize your overclock. Also, with the new EVGA Precision X, you can increase the voltage for maximum over clock!

NVIDIA FXAA - Anti-aliasing smoothes out jagged edges but can be demanding on framerates. FXAA is a new antialiasing technology that produces beautiful smooth lines with minimal performance impact. And with Kepler based GPUs, you'll be able to enable FXAA in hundreds of game titles through the NVIDIA Control Panel.

NVIDIA TXAA - An in-game option that combines MSAA, temporal filtering, and post processing for even higher visual fidelity. Get the image quality of 8X MSAA with the performance hit of only 2X MSAA. This means a smoother gaming experience without the loss in FPS normally associated with this level of eye candy.

NVIDIA Adaptive Vertical Sync - Nothing is more distracting than framerate stuttering and screen tearing. The first tends to occur when framerates are low, the second when framerates are high. Adaptive V-Sync is a smarter way to render frames. At high framerates, V-sync is enabled to eliminate tearing, at low frame rates, it's disabled to minimize stuttering. It gets rid of distractions so you can get on with gaming.

Frame Rate Target - Set a target Frame Rate with EVGA Precision X and your card will automatically adjust the power/performance to meet that target. This feature delivers the ultimate in efficient gaming.

NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround - Imagine expanding your gaming real estate across three displays in full HD 3D for a completely immersive gaming experience. With the EVGA GeForce GTX 760, you can also use award-winning NVIDIA 3D Vision technology to build the world's first multi-display 3D gaming experience on your PC. Additionally, the GeForce GTX 760 supports an accessory display for the ultimate gaming experience!

PCI Express 3.0 - Offers double the bandwidth of PCI Express 2.0, for the highest data transfer speeds to allow for maximum performance in bandwidth-hungry games and 3D applications. The GTX 760 is still backwards compatible with all existing PCI Express motherboards.

Pixel Clock Control - Use EVGA Precision X to "overclock" your refresh rate. With the latest EVGA Precision X, you can now increase your pixel clock! This allows for increased refresh rates on select monitors, meaning smoother gameplay and reduced screen tearing

Learn more about the EVGA GeForce GTX 760 here.

Scythe Mugen 4 CPU Cooler Generally Available
Japanese cooling expert Scythe, known for its excellent cooling solutions and PC accessories, is hereby introducing the successor of the very popular Mugen 3 CPU cooler. Mugen 4 brings a brand new tower-style fin structure design, an optimized heatsink as well as a greatly improved and simplified mounting mechanism.

Scythe engineers improved the Mugen 3 design with special focus on more compact heatsink dimensions combined with better performance, in order to elevate the Mugen to the next level. Outcome is a high-end CPU cooler with the compact dimensions of 130 x 88 x 156,45 mm (W x H x D) and the weight of 625 grams, allowing the Mugen 4 to be installed in virtually every computer. Although the heatsink size and weight have been reduced, the performance could be further boosted compared to the predecessor. This was achieved thanks to the newly developed T-M.A.P.S. (Three-dimensional Multiple Airflow Pass-Through Structure) fin structure, which increases the airflow inside the cooling heatsink, allowing immensely improved performance.

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In the process of improving the performance, Scythe Glide Stream case fan series played an important role. Supplied 120 mm model is supporting the PWM standard, allowing the fan speed to be adjusted individually according to the CPU temperature by the motherboard. Thanks to this, a very wide fan speed range from 400 to 1.400 RPM with airflow between 20,7 and 79 CFM (35,16 to 134,2 mÂ³/h) can be utilized. Low noise level between 5,3 and 28,0 dBA make the Glide Stream case fan even more suited for the new Mugen 4, allowing it to be more even more silent than the predecessor. Users, seeking even higher performance are able to use the second fan clip set, which is supplied, to attach a second fan and create a "push-pull" configuration.

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Feedback from users and media has been utilized, when improving the mounting mechanism. Mugen 4 is first to come with the newly developed "Hyper Precision Mounting System" (H.P.M.S.). Hence makes the mounting procedure much easier and faster than before. Compatibility to the AMD sockets AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1 and FM2 as well as the Intel sockets LGA 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011 is assured. In addition, new socket LGA 1150 (Intel ?Haswell") is fully supported. All required mounting clips and screws are supplied with the Scythe Mugen 4, including one wrench, a multi-lingual manual and quality thermal grease.
Scythe Mugen 4 is available on the market as of this week. Suggested MSRP is 36,00 EUR (excl. Taxes). For more information, visit the product page.

EK Working on New Water Blocks for ASUS (ROG) Hardware
EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is preparing a a new line of blocks for the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX based ASUS DirectCU II series graphics cards and ASUS Republic of Gamers Z87 LGA-1150 motherboards:

ASUS Republic of Gamers Motherboards:
ASUS Maximus VI Extreme
ASUS Maximus VI Formula
ASUS Maximus VI Hero
ASUS Maximus VI Gene
ASUS Maximus VI Impact

Graphics cards:

ASUS GTX780-DC2-3GD5 GeForce GTX 780 3GB GDDR

EK Water Blocks will release the water cooling solution for ASUS Maximus VI Hero and Maximus VI Gene motherboards first (ETA July 22nd) with the other motherboards to follow as they appear on the market.
Full-cover water block for ASUS GTX780-DC2 DirectCU II series graphics cards, which will actively cool the GPU, memory IC as well as VRM, is already in the works and will most likely be released around the same date as the motherboard water blocks.
ASUS GTX770-DC2-2GD5 DirectCU II series graphics card is already supported by our existing EK-FC680 GTX DCII series water blocks. Nevertheless EK Water Blocks will be releasing a new variant of the water block featuring FC Terminal (like the ones used on EK-FC Titan SE & EK-FC770 GTX water blocks) in the upcoming month.

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