Left 4 Dead 2 shown off in Source 2 thanks to a leaked presentation
Uh, so this kinda came out of nowhere, but the Source 2 engine has been shown off in a post on NeoGAF by 'CBOAT'. The user posted a screen cap from what appears to be a leaked Valve slideshow.
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Titanfall beta is coming to Xbox One, PC
Vince Zampella, co-founder of Respawn Entertainment, and previously, Infinity Ward, has confirmed on Twitter that there will be a Titanfall beta coming on both the Xbox One and PC.
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Nexus 5 spotted in red, should arrive soon
There are only two colors available in the Nexus 5: black and white, but this is all set to change. There were rumors floating around over the weekend of a red Nexus 5, but there's no confirmation on this just yet.
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Next-gen consoles already maxed out with The Witcher 3
The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 were never super powerful to begin with, but has that power already been tapped out? It would seem so, according to CD Projekt Red CEO, Marcin Iwinski, the studio behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
The reason the developer was able to squeeze the PS4 and Xbox One to their limits, is because the studio stopped working with the Xbox 360 and PS3 over two years ago. Due out later this year, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will hit the PS4, Xbox One and PC.
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Logitech and Steelseries enter price war over iPhone gaming pad
Everyone but manufacturers love a good old-fashioned price war, especially consumers, and today a those interested in a new hand-held gaming pad for their iPhone might want to pay attention. This morning Logitech announced that it has dropped the price of its new PowerShell iPhone game controller from $99.99 to just $69.99.
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Stratasys unveils Object500 Connex Color, a multi-material 3D Printer
Today Stratasys launched what it is calling the worlds first multi-material, multi-color 3D printer that can print in several different materials and colors simultaneously. The new Object 500 Connex 3 3D Printer allows for "virtually unlimited" combinations of rigid, flexible, and color rich printing to be completed all on the same machine at the same time, and will allow engineers and designers to test multi-material prototypes right in the lab almost instantly.
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Apple delivers record Q1 2014 sales, over 51 million iPhones sold
After some major slumps in revenue, Apple is back, bigger than ever for its Q1 2014. Revenue reached $57.6 billion, setting a new quarterly record for the company, with profits reaching a nice $13.1 billion.
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DICE tweaks Battlefield 4 to fix overpowered vehicles
As with Battlefield 3, DICE is tweaking in-game settings to make Battlefield 4 a more well-rounded and enjoyable experience, and today DICE has listed out its latest round of tweaks coming soon in patch form. DICE says that the tweaks are based on user feedback and are designed to make the battlefield a more level and even playing field.
Direct damage inflicted by the attack helicopters gunner's cannon has been increased slightly and the new effect is said to feel more like how it did in Battlefield 3. Additionally the scout chopper's 25mm cannon's splash damage has been reduced as it caused too much damage to the infantry over the 7.62mm mini gun.
Tanks have also taken a hit, with the STAFF shell power being reduced by 25-percent. On the other hand, the M2 SLAM has been reduced in power and is vehicle damage radius is now 3-meters over its previous effective range of 6-meters. MTB LAW Missiles have had its intelligence reduced down some as well. A full copy of the report has been pasted below straight from the Battlefield Blog.
UPCOMING VEHICLE TWEAKS - Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft
UPCOMING VEHICLE TWEAKS - Tanks and Anti-Tank
- Reduced the total amount of missiles carried by the Mobile Anti-Aircraft vehicles from 6 to 4. The total carried missiles were making it impossible for helicopters to use counter measures to avoid the MAA's attacks.
- Reduced the velocity of the MAA's default 20MM CANNON from 1200m/s to 800m/s to match the 30MM CANNON. This reduction reduces the distance projectiles will travel and should prevent situations where the MAA could engage enemy vehicles without leaving its protected home base. The damage of the cannons remains unchanged, and aircraft, especially helicopters, should remain wary of getting too close to a MAA.
- Reduced the physical impact of all Anti-Aircraft missiles to prevent helicopters from flipping uncontrollably when hit. The damage values have not been changed.
- Reduced the cone in which ACTIVE RADAR missiles search for targets, making them require a higher level of skill in predicting where a target will be when the missile is fired. The missiles were previously too easy to aim at long range, making them a guaranteed hit and a clear advantage over the other missile types.
- Increased the direct damage done by the Attack Helicopter's gunner cannon. The gunner will be better able to assist the pilot in taking down vehicle targets with this change.
- Increased the direct hit damage of the Zuni Rockets for Attack Helicopters. The rate of fire of these rockets combined with their smaller magazine pool made them a poor choice over the other two rocket types.
- Reduced the splash damage and maximum splash damage range of the Scout Helicopter 25MM CANNONS. These weapons were too effective against infantry with a higher splash, making them a clear choice over the 7.62 MINIGUNS in all combat situations. The 25MM CANNONS are intended to give the Scout Helicopter some measure of effectiveness against vehicles, at a clear trade off in effectiveness vs. infantry.
- Reduced the "intelligence" of the MBT LAW missiles, requiring the player to aim the missile closer to their target before the smart projectile will activate. Additionally, the MBT LAW now reloads slightly slower. This keeps the MBT LAW in its role of an easy to use, fire and forget weapon available to all Engineers, while also balancing it with the other rocket launchers in favor of skilled AT shots. Finally, a bug where the MBT LAW would pass through an ACTIVE PROTECTION shield has been fixed.
- Fixed an issue where ACTIVE PROTECTION and the MP-APS did not properly stop 12G FRAG rounds.
- Reduced the range where the M2 SLAM will do maximum damage to vehicles from 6M to 3M. Players will now need to be craftier when placing the M2 SLAM in order to get the full damage potential of this ambush anti vehicle weapon. This change is to primarily counter a tactic of placing 3 mines in the same spot to guarantee a kill on any vehicle passing within 6m. The range was deemed to be too large, making the M2 SLAM far superior to the M15 AT MINE.
- Reduced the damage the STAFF shell does to all targets by 25%. This should balance the ease of use of the STAFF shell with its damage potential.
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NSA uses insecure mobile apps to view and collect user information
The National Security Agency (NSA) and British spies use popular mobile games such as Angry Birds to covertly collect information on player location, age, sex and additional personal details, recent documents indicate.
As more personal information is posted and shared online, with users accessing the Internet from PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and a variety of other devices - this is a significant problem that will plague users in the future - because the NSA and other spy agencies aren't going to suddenly stop their invasive activities.
Following months of continued public backlash, President Obama said NSA reform will take place, though critics still don't believe it's enough.
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Samsung reported to be releasing Galaxy Glass as early as September
A new report from the Korean Times is suggesting that we might see Samsung release a direct competitor to Google's Project Glass before the end of the year. The report states that an unnamed Samsung official has confirmed that the company is currently working on a smart glasses product similar to Google Glass, and that it could arrive as early as September of this year pending any delays.
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CJ's back on the block in GTA San Andreas for Windows Phone
Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest franchises in gaming history, and it's latest installment is the most expensive video game ever made. Now GTA fans have even more reason to get excited... if you happen to own a Windows Phone that is. Today Rockstar Games announced that it has released GTA: San Andreas onto the Windows Phone platform.
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Bitcoin executive targeted in Silk Road money laundering scheme
BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem was recently arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, accused of funneling funds for the now defunct Silk Road website. Specifically, Shrem and his accused partner, Robert Faiella, allegedly sold more than $1 million in Bitcoin to Silk Road users, with the funds later used to purchase drugs and other illegal goods.
Shrem also used Silk Road to order marijuana brownie edibles, with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Internal Revenue Service lending a hand in the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
This is a major blow to the Bitcoin community, as Shrem has traveled the world to promote the use of Bitcoins for consumers and businesses alike. As federal investigators continue to look for financial backers and supporters of the Silk Road operation, additional high-profile arrests are possible later down the road.
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Google acquires Deepmind, an AI development company for $400 million
Google has apparently been in a spending mood lately and has been buying up companies that could turn the search giant into one of the largest defense contractors in history. Just a few months ago, we saw Google purchase Boston Dynamics, a company that is responsible for developing the four-legged robotic hell hounds that can run at highway speeds while carrying automated weapons.
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Google Android ended 2013 with a bang, extending market share lead
The Google Android mobile operating system ended 2013 by boosting its market share in key markets spread across the world, according to research group Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Android held a slim lead against iOS, 50.6 percent compared to 43.9 percent held by iOS, in what should be a fun market share battle for 2014.
Moving forward, Android can continue to expand in emerging markets - where Apple and its higher-price devices tend to struggle - while also increasing marketing efforts in the United States, Western Europe, and select mature markets.
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Microsoft now owns the Gears of War franchise, new game is on the way
The Gears of War franchise has a following unlike no other in the console gaming community, and today Microsoft took a big step in making its fans much happier. This morning, Microsoft announced that it has purchased all rights to all existing and future games bearing the Gears of War moniker as well as all entertainment experiences and merchandising rights.
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ESPN still doesn't get it, says protecting pay-TV is top priority
The cord cutting movement is rapidly growing in popularity, and with services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Google Play gaining more market-share every day cable companies and networks are starting to show signs of fear. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, John Skipper, ESPN's President said that protecting his company's pay-TV profits is his number one priority.
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Top 10 TweakTown News Stories from the past week [27 January 2014]
Here are our top 10 news posts from the past week!
- North Korea confirms it has landed a man on the Sun
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- Update 1 for Windows 8.1 could arrive as early as March
- Google is experiencing intermittent outages worldwide
- HIV vaccine could happen thanks to a free, crowdfunded project
- CapTherm about to start selling revolutionary multiphase CPU cooler
- TigerDirect now accepting Bitcoins as payment for goods
- Man removed from movie theater and detained for wearing Google Glass
- OnePlus's Cyanogen-powered smartphone set to arrive by June 2014
- Qualcomm purchases large patent portfolio from HP
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Microsoft SkyDrive is no more, long live OneDrive
During the first half of last year, Microsoft found itself in a bit of hot water when the British Sky Broadcasting Group took Redmond to court over the SkyDrive name. Following the courts ruling, Microsoft agreed to change its cloud service's name to something else. Today, more than six months later, the new name has arrived.
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Business tech company SAP brings high-tech to the Super Bowl
NFL sponsor and tech giant SAP will help bring technology to the Super Bowl experience, providing updated, custom information for football fans. Both companies have provided real-time team and player stats throughout the season, and will be continually improved for future seasons.
SAP and other big-money sports sponsors are getting creative to help boost return-on-investment and company brand exposure. The NFL uses SAP cloud computing software and both companies are in the second year of a multi-year business partnership.
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U.S. Army embraces augmented reality, technology for next-gen testing
The U.S. Army plans to utilize augmented reality technologies in its efforts to better prepare soldiers for training and missions. Companies with developed AR-related solutions that can be used by individual soldiers - or as a team - can respond to the Army Contracting Command's recent Sources Sought notice.
The U.S. military has embraced AR research and development prior to it becoming a more commonly spoken about practice in the consumer market. The Department of Defense (DoD) is working with Innovega on the iOptik augmented reality contact lenses with customized head-up display (HUD).
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Craft store Michaels investigating possible credit card data breach
Arts and crafts store Michaels is the latest to suffer a data breach, with the Secret Service now lending a hand in the follow-up investigation, the store confirmed over the weekend. Suspected cyber criminals have stolen credit and debit card numbers, immediately sharing news of the breach once it was confirmed.
"We are concerned there may have been a data security attack on Michaels that may have affected our customers' payment card information and we are taking aggressive action to determine the nature and scope of the issue," said Chuck Rubin, Michaels CEO, in a statement. "While we have not confirmed a compromise to our systems, we believe it is in the best interest of our customers to alert them to this potential issue so they can take steps to protect themselves, for example, by reviewing their payment card account statements for unauthorized charges."
There are a growing number of companies working their way through significant data breaches, which open up customers to possible credit fraud. High-end boutique retailer Neiman Marcus confirmed a data breach impacting 1.1 million customers, while Target is still dealing with fallout from a data breach affecting more than 70 million shoppers. The FBI noted that these type of attacks targeting brick and mortar retail stores will likely only increase in the future, so shoppers need to be vigilant in monitoring bank account statements.
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Amazon, Microsoft duke it out in the cloud market
The battle for cloud computing supremacy recently accelerated to a new level, with Amazon and Microsoft both slashing prices to stay competitive. Amazon should stay the leader in public cloud offerings, but Microsoft's immediate response indicated it's a fight that will continue for the foreseeable future.
Amazon cut prices for the S3 storage prices by 22 percent, while the EBS Standard volume storage and I/O operations saw a price cut up to 50 percent.
In the future, both companies will continue to roll out enhanced features with more competitive pricing, so consumers and business users have more flexibility in choosing a service. Google, IBM, Rackspace, and other established cloud vendors also have cut prices to undercut competitors and force additional sales and marketing efforts from rivals.
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Is the future of the porn industry Google Glass?
Digital media experts who met in Hollywood late last week talked about the future of the porn industry, where movies and clips could be shot on wearable devices, such as Google Glass.
Miles Long, a director and cinematographer, was at XBIZ 360 on a panel to talk about the adult film industry, and whether it should embrace Ultra HD technology. He said: "It was great to have an intellectual conversation about this. I like this more than the tradition-style conventions".
One of the more important discussions held was a demonstration on how adult films could be viewed, and produced on a device like Google Glass. Porn superstar James Deen was on deck, showing how Google Glass can be used to shoot porn from a performer's point of view. I think we're going to see porn push ahead with Glass, and other wearables, as will other markets as they embrace the new point of view shooting style.
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North Korea executes the entire family of shamed general
We saw a slight uptick in traffic to TweakTown when we posted our story about North Korea landing a man on the Sun, but now Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly slayed the entire family of a once powerful North Korean military general.
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Jang Song-thaek was executed last month, at the order of Jong-un, after which NK's Supreme Leader deemed Jang as "worse than a dog" and "human scum" in his announcement of his execution. Now there's a report from Yonhap, who is going off an anonymous source who said: "Extensive executions have been carried out for relatives of Jang Song-thaek. All relatives of Jang have been put to death, including even children".
The relatives executed include Jang's sister Kye-sun, her husband and the ambassador to Cuba, Jon Yong-jin, the ambassador to Malaysia, Jang Yong-chol, who is Jang's nephew, as well as his two sons, according to Yonhap's source. The anonymous source stated that some of the relatives were dragged out of their homes, and shot in front of crowds.
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Apple says it's a 'waste of energy' merging OS X and iOS
Paul Schiller, Apple's Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, talked with MacWorld when the Mac turned 30 just a few days ago, where he had some interesting things to say about the OS X and iOS worlds merging.
Federghi continued: "You don't want to say the Mac became less good at being a Mac because someone tried to turn it into iOS. At the same time, you don't want to feel like iOS was designed by [one] company and Mac was designed by [a different] company, and they're different for reasons of lack of common vision".
So it looks like we shouldn't expect a touch-based Mac anytime soon - at least not with iOS being involved at all.
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LaCie FUEL 1TB Mobile Storage Device Review
The LaCie FUEL carries a rather unique design concept, which reminds me of the old metal FUEL cans, or jerry cans if you will. Internally, the device houses a 2.5" 1TB hard drive, alongside a battery that is said to last a full ten hours. In addition to the storage capacity, the FUEL features the ability to connect to, and broadcast on, the 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n bands. Five users can connect to the device simultaneously, while three can stream HD video from the device at the same time.
Compatibility of the unit extends to iOS 5.1+, Mac OS X 10.6+, Android 2.3, and Kindle Fire. On the Windows side, we have Vista, 7, and 8. The MSRP of the LaCie FUEL is set at $199.99, with a two-year warranty.
While there are many devices on the market that offer the same level of features as the FUEL, LaCie has always taken things to a higher level, and this time around, they have done so with the FUEL. The enclosure of the FUEL has a rugged feel to it that exudes durability, though one does have to question the use of spinning media in a device meant for mobility. What happens if you, or perhaps your children, are streaming media from the drive, and it gets dropped? To test this I launched one of the preloaded videos on my iPad, and set the device up to fall off of my table; about three feet onto a hardwood floor. Much to my surprise, the drive took it without a skip, and there was no interruption in video playback.
Over on the performance side, much of the enjoyment from the LaCie FUEL will come via the Seagate Media app. I must say, after having used many apps from every vendor: this is one of the best, well rounded solutions. While we didn't chart any benchmarks for this review, I can tell you that the internal drive is capable of 110 MB/s read and 105 MB/s write; this gives you plenty of performance for quickly transferring your media to the FUEL while preparing for your next holiday.
The LaCie FUEL carries a MSRP of $199.99, with availability of the unit being quite slim at the moment. However, availability should ramp up as units are shipped to qualifying retailers. The FUEL carries a two-year warranty.
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Top 10 TweakTown Content from the past week [27 January 2014]
Here are our top 10 articles, reviews and guides from the past week!
- Buffalo AirStation WZR1750DHP Dual Band AC1750 Wireless Router Review
- Seagate NAS and WD Red HDD DAS RAID Performance Analysis
- Seiki Digital SE39UY04 39-inch 4K Ultra HD LED Panel Review
- XFX XTR 550-Watt 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply Review
- Mionix Naos 7000 Optical Gaming Mouse Review
- Dispelling the Backblaze HDD Reliability Myth - The Real Story
- Acer Aspire R7 Two-in-One Ultrabook Review
- OCZ Vertex 460 240GB SSD Review
- MyDigitalSSD Pocket Vault External SSD Review
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HP Chromebook 11 with SlimPort Technology Review
Introduction
The styling of the notebook is reminiscent of the older plastic shell MacBooks, but definitely has a Google flair added to it, which is something we will go into more detail about later on in the review.
Specifications, Configurations and Pricing
The Exynos 5 Dual is paired with 2GB of DDR3 RAM, which should allow you to open multiple web pages without too much issue.
Chrome OS is installed upon a tiny 16GB SSD, which makes local storage nearly non-existent. You'll need an external drive to store much of anything, or you'll need to turn to a cloud storage solution. The only issue with a cloud storage solution is the lack of access when without Internet.
It also comes with the usual laptop accoutrements: a VGA webcam, dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and will eventually be available with Verizon LTE connectivity.
The display is an 11.6-inch IPS panel with a 1366x768 display resolution. Google and HP claim a 176-degree viewing angle, but this didn't seem to be the case in my testing and use.
PRICING: You can find the HP Chromebook 11 for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The HP Chromebook 11 retails for $277.01 at Amazon.
United Kingdom: The HP Chromebook 11 retails for 329.99 pounds at Amazon UK.
Canada: The HP Chromebook 11 retails for $428.99 at Amazon Canada.
Germany: The HP Chromebook 11 retails for EUR 299,00 at Amazon DE.
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The Smurfs 2 (2013) Blu-ray Movie Review
Two years later, and Sony returns with their attempt to continue the franchise, with the same talent and the same director: Raja Gosnell, who is most well-known for similarly helming the Scooby Doo CG/ live action hybrids. Unfortunately, it seems Gosnell struggles with the weight of expectation, considering this is now his second sequel, which fails to live up to the standards set by its predecessor.
It's Smurfette's (Katy Perry) birthday, and the Smurf village is diligently working on her surprise party. However, disaster strikes when she is kidnapped by two evil Smurf hybrids, in a plot devised by the dastardly Gargamel (Hank Azaria) to harvest their Smurf essence. Papa Smurf (Jonathan Winters) corrals the help of three Smurfs to rescue her from the human world, but Gargamel has become a famous and powerful celebrity in his own right, making him an even more formidable threat than ever before.
Ignoring the script silliness, and the contrived and one-eyed motivation of Gargamel to destroy the Smurfs, even in the face of his newfound celebrity, sadly, The Smurfs 2 doesn't quite live up to the fun and fancy free nature of the first film. The kids might get through it, but it's not going to become a modern family favorite, that's for sure.
The Smurfs 2 is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression.
Made to shine on Blu-ray, The Smurfs 2 comes with a wonderful richly color palette, and pleasant production design, which give it a natural edge. Live action footage is replete with abundant and subtle fine details, whilst the CG animation of the Smurf characters is quite sublime, with very fine mottled textures, whilst the cascading strands of hair on Smurfette's head are each individually identifiable. Unfortunately, the strong detail on the live action footage makes the relatively unconvincing CG animated cat Azrael stick out quite a bit in comparison.
Overall, it's a really great transfer that truly skates the limits of what Blu-ray technology can provide.
Audio
The Smurfs 2 is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, at 24 bits.
A rather pleasant and effortless sound mix is encoded well on disc, which generally does all the right things, but doesn't frequently call attention to itself needlessly.
The score by Heitor Pereira is whimsical and fitting, but entirely unmemorable. Naturally, the Smurfs theme is sung and hummed throughout.
Sony has gone to a reasonable amount of trouble to craft a solid extras package, and further reasons to take the disc home. Let's take a look at what's here.
First up, we have a range of rather brief Featurettes, which are concerned with different aspects of the production. First is Daddy's Little Girl: The Journey of Smurfette, which looks closer at the Katy Perry voiced character, whose role has been significantly expanded this time around. Next, is a brief exploration of the new characters in The Naughties! The Tale of Hackus and Vexy, whilst the The Puurrfect Companion: Azrael's Tail and Animating Azrael features look at the aforementioned unsuccessful merging of live action and CG animation. The last, Evolution of the Naughties, shows the changing character designs of the naughty, turned nice duo.
Finally, the inclusion of five Deleted Scenes amount to around four minutes of screen time, and don't really add up to anything of consequence, although diehard fans (if they exist) might beg to differ.
The Previews section merely holds a teaser trailer for the first Smurfs film.
PRICING: You can find The Smurfs 2 on Blu-ray for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The Smurfs 2 on Blu-ray retails for $12.75 at Amazon.
United Kingdom: The Smurfs 2 on Blu-ray retails for 13.29 pounds at Amazon UK.
Canada: The Smurfs 2 on Blu-ray retails for $10.00 at Amazon Canada.
Germany: The Smurfs 2 on Blu-ray retails for EUR 14,99 at Amazon DE.
France: The Smurfs 2 on Blu-ray retails for EUR 19,99 at Amazon France.
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ADATA DashDrive HD650 External HDD Review
Today, we will be looking over the latest external HDD to come from ADATA: the DashDrive Durable HD650. The HD650 comes in both 500GB, and 1TB capacities, with each being powered via USB 3.0. Color options include black and red models, with each featuring an anti-shock casing, and access to ADATA software solutions, including HDDtoGo and OStoGo. At the time of writing, pricing of the ADATA DashDrive HD650 is listed at $59.99 for the 500GB model, and $79.99 for 1TB. Both drives carry a three-year warranty.
While still being rather stylish, the HD650 from ADATA offers three layers of protection for your data on the go. On the exterior, we have silicon rubber protecting an underlying layer of scratch resistant acrylic, and a third layer of silicon wrapped around the drive, as we saw in the review images.
Performance of the drive was chart leading for all external HDDs we have tested. Furthermore, the pricing of the drive netted it the top spot in our price to performance charts as well. All of this, plus the drive's three-year warranty, makes it one of the best on the market at this time. This is one drive you should definitely look at if you're in the market for external storage.
At the time of writing, pricing of the 500GB ADATA HD650 is set at $59.99, with an included three-year warranty.
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Xigmatek Vector P700 700-Watt 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply Review
Introduction
The new Vector P700 from Xigmatek feels a little different though, and I'm intrigued by just looking at pictures of the unit. It has a little bit of extra flair in the design, and it really pops. It will most certainly stand out in the case as something more than just a power supply.
It also has their Reverse Thrust Fan Technology, which allows the fan to run backwards to help clear some dust. Add in the high efficiency of the unit, and there is more than enough to grab my attention. None of this is worth a darn if it isn't able to keep your system up and running though, so let's check it out and see what it has to offer all the way around.
Specifications, Availability and Pricing
At the time of writing, Xigmatek has an MSRP of $189.99 on the Vector P700. This places the power supply towards the upper end of the price spectrum. I searched high and low, and short of a few being sold on EBay, it seems that the Vector P700 just isn't possible to find for sale in the USA. If you can find one for purchase, Xigmatek will back it with a three-year warranty.
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Dispelling the Backblaze HDD Reliability Myth - The Real Story
Introduction
Companies have a funny tendency to do just about anything for publicity. Being a storage writer requires staying up to date on the news, and in the normal course of my week, I watch companies clamor for attention daily. Attempts range from the mundane to the hilarious, and sometimes even questionable. Some will do anything to separate themselves from the thunderous cacophony of the thousand other companies screaming for attention.Personally, I'm happy I'm not the one tasked with promoting companies or their products. I can see that there must be somewhat of an addictive property to nailing it though, as we observed from the splash of Backblaze headlines in the last few weeks.
Backblaze has had their name emblazoned on the front page of every tech website this week with the results of their HDD reliability blog post. Backblaze's blog is a running anthology of their company, and their efforts to provide users with unlimited online backup for a scant $5 a month. The very fact that you read that sentence makes this all worthwhile for Backblaze - they just got their message out.
This latest post is a result of their initial blog entries covering how long HDDs last, and the follow-up that enterprise HDD's are less reliable than consumer drives. Needless to say, there are holes in the methodology big enough to drive a truck through. However, the headlines led to questions from the public about more detailed drive failure rates, and Backblaze complied with the latest post, "Which Hard Drive Should I Buy?".
Reading their blog posts during the HDD crisis in 2011 is enthralling, they really do go to any length to continue operation in a cost-efficient manner. Unfortunately, that doesn't fall in line with determining the winners or losers of HDD reliability. To add insult to injury, most tech websites have picked this story up and proclaimed the results as a definitive guide to drive reliability.
The Backblaze results have been tallied and placed in nice charts, and winners proclaimed. Hitachi and Western Digital appear to be the winners, and Seagate comes in a distant third. However, in this case, even the winners are losers. Let's fire up the truck and drive through the holes in this test, and explain exactly why the results shouldn't affect anyone's purchasing decision.
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MyDigitalSSD Pocket Vault External SSD Review
MyDigitalSSD is a leader in this market, offering high performance flash storage solutions, without the price tag or mark-up of bigger brand names. Their latest line of products includes the one we are looking at today: the Pocket Vault. The Pocket Vault is available in capacities ranging from 64GB to 1TB; featuring read speeds of 240 MB/s, with write speeds at 170 MB/s. Compatibility of the drive extends from latest Windows operating systems to Mac OS X, and Linux. Warranty of the drive is listed at one year.
Coming in at just over the size of a standard USB flash drive, the Pocket Vault offers additional durability through the use of its aluminum exterior. In my time with the drive, I really felt the Pocket Vault was put together quite well; in fact, while doing my normal image routine, it took me a few minutes to remove the cover for internal images.
Performance of the drive was ample, and met marketing specifications on both fronts, with read performance exceeding. Price to performance of the drive, as seen in our charts, was second only to the ADATA SE720 120GB drive. However, it offers 256GB capacity, far under the price of traditional USB 3.0 flash drives of equal capacity.
At the time of writing, pricing of the Pocket Vault ranges from $59.99 for the 64GB model, to $169.99 for the 256GB capacity tested here today. You can also go big, and grab yourself the 1TB Pocket Vault for $649.99. All of these are available at mydigitaldiscount.com, and feature a one-year warranty.
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Buffalo AirStation WZR1750DHP Dual Band AC1750 Wireless Router Review
Introduction
The biggest differentiator between 802.11n and 802.11ac is that 802.11ac is a 5 GHz only technology, which has subsequently added another band: the 80 MHz band. Beam forming has also been added to the list of mandatory technologies used in 802.11ac, whereas with 802.11n, the technology was an option very few manufacturers used in their products.
The wireless router we have in-house comes from Buffalo Technology: the WZR-1750DHP. The 1750DHP is as the model suggests; it is capable of 1300mbps on the 5 GHz band, and 450mbps on the 2.4 GHz band.
Features encompassed with the Buffalo include NVIDIA Gamestream certification, along with Symantec Norton security controls. You can also change the device from an access point to a wireless bridge, with the flip of a switch on the back of the unit.
Pricing and Availability
As of this writing, the Buffalo Technology WZR-1750DHP carries a price of $134.99 with high availability; the warranty on this wireless router is set at three years.... Read the rest in your browser!
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XFX XTR 550-Watt 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply Review
Introduction
The new XTR series is available in three wattages; 550W, 650W, and 750W. Today we are taking a look at the 550W model. The series features 80 PLUS Gold efficiency, and fully modular cabling. On top of that, XFX has incorporated their hybrid fan technology, which allows the user to select whether the fan is always-on, or doesn't kick on until a preset temperature or load is reached. XFX doesn't compromise on their quality no matter what, and judging by the outside of the box, the XTR 550W is no exception; even despite the low price tag on this unit. However, looks can be deceiving, so let's rip into this thing and find out what it is made of.
Specifications, Availability and Pricing
The XFX XTR 550W power supply has an MSRP of $89.99 at the time of writing. This is a great price, and it puts the unit in the low to mid price section of 500W-600W units. There might be others available that promise better efficiency, but you will hard pressed to find one that is comparable, and fully modular, in that price range. Price hunting won't do you much good, as it the XTR isn't widely available right now, but XFX is working on that. NCIX will save you a few bucks at of the time of writing this article, as they have it $10 off. Once that expires, it won't matter where you get it from, and XFX will back it with a five-year warranty.
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OCZ Vertex 460 240GB SSD Review
Introduction
The Samsung 840 EVO is outselling every other SSD on the market, in some countries Samsung accounts for 50% or more of all consumer SSDs sold. In order to compete, OCZ needs to get back to the OCZ of old, where the company offers the best value and the best performance in the same product.
Is it going to be easy? Not really, but OCZ is now in the best position it has ever been in. Just a couple months ago, the company circled the wagons and its outlook appeared very grim. With Toshiba bankrolling not only the money, but also the flash, OCZ is now a fab company with Samsung, Intel, Micron, SanDisk and SK Hynix.
The first product to come from the Toshiba takeover is another Vertex branded product, the 460. OCZ used the Barefoot 3 M10 controller and paired it with Toshiba's 19nm Toggle flash. The end result is a drive that performs very close to the flagship Vector 150, but has a Samsung 840 EVO level price.
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Acer Aspire R7 Two-in-One Ultrabook Review
Introduction
The Acer Aspire R7 that we have in the lab today diverges from the norm, and features a slightly radical design that makes most people take a second look. Is this radical design too radical for you to get used to, or does the design really help out the two-in-one system? Find out as we continue our review.
Specifications, Configurations and Pricing
The i5-3337U is coupled with 6GB of DDR3 RAM, which is more than I would have expected on a system of this budget and performance level. 6GB should ensure a smooth-running system, even with multiple programs and web browser tabs open.
Graphics are provided by Intel's very own HD4000 GPU, a fairly capable graphics chipset that is able to provide enough graphics horsepower for most applications. Though gamers would definitely want to look elsewhere, the HD4000 GPU is capable of playing some games at low settings and resolutions.
Windows 8 is installed upon a 500GB hard drive that is coupled with a 24GB caching SSD; this allows the R7 to meet Intel's strict boot-up speed requirements, in order to be considered an Ultrabook. Acer has managed to cut costs by going with the much cheaper HDD. Unfortunately, this affects performance in a negative way.
Packaging
You can check out the Acer Aspire R7 packaging in the unboxing video below.
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Seiki Digital SE39UY04 39-inch 4K Ultra HD LED Panel Review
Introduction & A Closer Look
Seiki Digital came out of nowhere with incredibly priced 4K (or Ultra HD) TVs. We have the 39-inch model, which retails for under $700; this is just, hands down, game changing.Sony, Samsung, and the rest of the usual suspects charge thousands more for similar offerings, but are their panels really worth that much more money? This is a question I can't truly answer without Samsung or Sony sending me a 4K TV to test; however, from what I've tested here in my labs, the answer is a resounding yes, for more than one reason. We'll get into that later in the review; for now, we'll take a look around the Seiki Digital monitor to see what we're working with.
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Mionix Naos 7000 Optical Gaming Mouse Review
Introduction
This is what brings us together today. Mionix has taken the Naos 8200, and reworked things slightly, both inside and out. Internally, there are a couple of obvious changes like the PCB color, and the type of sensor used. Externally, the design has been somewhat streamlined, and this newest release lacks the DPI LEDs that are on the left of the Naos 8200.
Mionix has kept all of the best parts that made us like the Naos 8200 originally, things like comfort, the software, fully customizable LED coloration, and top end components, to give users a pleasurable time when using these Naos mice.
Today, we are getting in depth and personal with the Naos 7000 from Mionix. As we mentioned, the main advantage here is that movement is now tracked with a different Avago sensor, and as the name alludes to, there is up to 7000 DPI selectable for use. I say we just dig right in, and see if the new Naos 7000 is all that the 8200 was, and if there is any real discernible differences between the two.
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Seagate NAS and WD Red HDD DAS RAID Performance Analysis
Introduction
Surprisingly, we receive many requests about which drives will work best in a Direct Attach Storage (DAS) usage model. NAS HDDs are also commonly used for value-oriented DAS usage models, in arrays from one to five drives. The primary focus has always been the use of NAS drives in NAS units, but in reality, they can serve a dual purpose. Pairing these small RAID arrays with the latest RAID controllers provides significant advantages over NAS deployment models. We have conducted full product evaluations of both the WD Red, and the Seagate NAS unit. Our consumer storage editor, Chris Ramseyer, also examined the performance of NAS RAID arrays.
Both NAS HDD's we are testing today have been geared specifically to provide acceptable performance in NAS units, but that will not always equate directly to the unbridled performance brought on by utilizing a standard RAID card in a DAS environment. There are higher-priced enterprise-class HDDs from both manufacturers (the WD SE, and the Enterprise Capacity (ES.3)), but many users find that the lower price point of NAS HDD's provide a more attractive solution. In many cases, the price difference can range from 30-50% when comparing entry-level enterprise HDDs with NAS units that can perform the same function.
When paired with a NAS unit, there are significant bottlenecks constraining the performance of the drives; namely the speed of the Ethernet connection. While Ethernet keeps speeds below 105 MB/s, the performance of these HDDs in a DAS environment can differ significantly.
Many users of DAS RAID arrays are typically professionals in video and audio editing, and those who require high-performance workstations. We also see this type of usage model bleed over to the SMB and SOHO space, where more powerful full-blown servers are utilized to provide enhanced functionality and security that isn't always available in a NAS unit. One notable weakness of many NAS units is the performance reduction when utilizing encryption. RAID controllers and server operating systems go a long way to mitigate that performance hit, while simultaneously providing enhanced management functionalities.
Using a RAID controller also provides enhanced RAID sets, and the mobility to move the array from computer to computer. RAID controllers also typically provide faster RAID rebuild times, and better performance when in a degraded state. While the advantages of utilizing a DAS solution are clear, the performance difference is not always as pronounced. Let's take a closer look.
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Top 10 TweakTown Content from the past week [20 January 2014]
Here are our top 10 articles, reviews and guides from the past week!
- HP Z1 All-in-One Workstation PC Review
- Corsair CS650M 650-Watt 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply Review
- Mionix Avior 7000 Optical Gaming Mouse Review
- Unboxing the Punchtec Ord Bot Hadron 3D Printer
- Cooler Master Glacer 240L AIO Liquid CPU Cooler Review
- GamerStorm Gabriel Low-Profile CPU Cooler Review
- LUXA2 PL1 2800mAh Leather Power Bank Portable Charger Review
- Walking with Dinosaurs: The Movie (2014) Cinema Review
- Linksys LGS124 24 Port Gigabit Switch Review
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We're the Millers (2013) Blu-ray Movie Review
David Clark (Jason Sudeikis), an affirmed bachelor and small time pot dealer, has a problem. As penance for becoming involved in a local skirmish between his neighbor Kenny (Will Poulter), a homeless girl Casey (Emma Roberts), and a knife-wielding gang, Clark is robbed of his product and takings, putting him on a collision course with the exuberant, yet crazed drug lord: Brad Gurlinger (Ed Helms). Clark is offered a chance at redemption if he can travel across the border to Mexico, and return with a "smidge of marijuana." However, he has precious little time to secure some help from the girl next door (Jennifer Aniston), and therefore a believable alibi, in order to get back to the United States safely with the illegal haul. Naturally, that's just the start of his troubles.
In a year that's brought us some hilariously unfunny 'comedies' (I'm looking at you Hangover Part III), We're the Millers is a breath of fresh air. I'm sure that it will continue to find a new lease on life in the home entertainment circuit.
We're the Millers is presented in the aspect ratio of 2.40:1, encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression.
Lensed digitally on Arri Alexa equipment, it's certainly no surprise that the film looks frequently terrific, punching above its weight and relatively thin budget, to scrub up quite great on Blu-ray. Colors are striking and punchy, with nicely contrasting blacks, and a superfine level of detail. It might seem a little odd to be masked off at the wider 2.40:1 aspect, but who am I to question the cinematographer's choice in this matter?
Really, there's very little to complain about, and much to be pleased with.
Audio
We're the Millers is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, at 24 bits.
Again, I'm not sure that even the most demanding of Blu-ray fans would expect to receive a world class audio mix here - which is a good thing, because it's not here, nor does the subject matter really call for it. It is, however, a nicely intimate track, which ever so occasionally extends from its self-imposed boundaries, with an appropriate level of ambience that doesn't call attention to itself.
The dialogue heavy track does all that is asked of it; no more, no less. There are no technical issues to speak of, dialogue is kept in sync as expected, and the rears are sometimes engaged to provide some conservative directionality.
Unsurprisingly, the subwoofer is rather restrained, but does offer up a small amount of low-end grunt when applicable.
Whilst hardly a huge swag, in the U.S., Warner Bros. has assembled a reasonably solid collection of extras, which serve to extend the fun nature of the film. Let's dive in.
First up, we have four featurettes. The first (and longest at 17 minutes in total), Stories from the Road, was probably produced for an in-movie experience, but jettisoned along the way. They provide some relatively quick nuggets of information. Somewhat meatier is the Millers Unleashed Outtakes Overload feature (8 minutes), which aren't outtakes per se, but illustrate the more improvised humor by the cast, which gives the film its edge of genuineness. Livin' It Up With Brad (4 mins) spends a bit more time with Ed Helms (who I must admit wasn't that fond of), whilst When Paranoia Sets In (3 mins) portrays the film, tongue in check, as a front for pot smuggling across the U.S..
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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2012) Cinema Review
Following the trend set by The Lord of the Rings trilogy, we return to the tried and true strategy of unveiling a new entry at the conclusion of the year. So, how does The Desolation of Smaug compare to its somewhat maligned predecessor? Read on, dear reader!
New friendships are forged, including with the Bard (John Bell), and even a romance begins to blossom. But, a new and extremely powerful force reveals itself to the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen); a force which will bend Middle Earth to its evil will.
Still, the dragon Smaug picks up some of the slack. Smaug is voiced impeccably by Benedit Cumberbatch, whose Hollywood stock continues to rise with rapid ascent. Smaug is an interesting character that might lack subtlety, but more than makes up for it in sheer impressiveness and threat. The inclusion of the Elven warrior Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), a new character that never existed in the original Tolkien story, might upset some of the purists; however, her inclusion does serve to provide some much needed cross-sex appeal.
Unlike the drawn-out run time of the its predecessor's theatrical release (a lumbering and indulgent cut which had more in common with the more expansive DVD extended cuts for hardcore fans), The Desolation of Smaug thankfully runs for a comparatively breezier 161 minutes; some 20 minutes shorter than the last film. As such, it's pretty clear that Peter Jackson has worked hard to rectify some of the complaints leveled at An Unwanted Journey; certainly admitting as such in conjunction with the lambasted high frame rate presentation. This cut feels much more restrained, easier to digest, and far less forced; furthermore, it's coupled with a story that is much meatier and filled with significantly more action, which should make it a lot more palatable to mass audiences - myself included.
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Cooler Master Glacer 240L AIO Liquid CPU Cooler Review
Introduction
The issue with the H220 kit was that it may have possibly infringed on a patent or two, and another AIO company took offense to this revolutionary way of thinking about AIOs. Even though there is no way that this company would ever develop a kit such as this, since they are still stuck in the same tiny tubing, mixed-metal loops, that they have been relabeling for the past five or six years. That isn't to say that they have not made improvements to the head units, but the whole rest of their kits are still based on the same tubing diameter, same high FPI aluminum radiator, and they try to win you over with flashy lights, or killer software. It is just a shame they could not all just get along, and due to the pressure, Swiftech had to remove the H220 from the U.S. market.
This is where we introduce Cooler Master into the mix. They had seen what was going on when Swiftech released the H220, and they must have been impressed, since right around the same time that one variation was being pulled from the market, there was news everywhere of Cooler Master's new Glacer 240L.
This is the cooler that we are finally getting a chance to look at today. Only one change, the head unit (and the bulk of the lawsuit), are now different, and any remains of the Swiftech name has been removed. Even CM fans cool the radiator now. For those who missed out on the H220, the time to get the Glacer 240L kit from Cooler Master is now.
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Linksys LGS124 24 Port Gigabit Switch Review
Introduction
Back in March of last year, Belkin announced it had completed the acquisition of Linksys from Cisco systems. After rebooting the product lines, Belkin has now introduced the latest 24 port unmanaged switch under the Linksys brand: the LGS124.
The LGS124 features 24 Auto-sense Gigabit ports, with a full 48Gbps non-blocking switch fabric. Additionally, the switch is capable of power saving features that shut down LAN ports that are not in use. The switch also features an 8K MAC address table and QoS prioritization via 802.1p, and DSCP.
As of this writing, the Linksys LGS124 carries a MSRP of $199.99, and a limited lifetime warranty.
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3D Printer Tips and Tricks for Better Quality Results: Part 1
Unless you shell out several thousand for a "prosumer" model desktop 3D printer, you will face limitations with most relatively cheap desktop 3D printers. Some of the biggest challenges are overhangs, bridges, and very small layers that are printed in quick succession. Below, you can see a failed bridging attempt that can be easily corrected by adding a fan.
The mount I selected is capable of fitting a 40mm fan, and unfortunately it appears that particular size is quite hard to come by in my area, but I did manage to find one inside of an old DVD player I had laying around. With my newly found fan in hand, I queued up the mount for printing, and let my Lulzbot begin building its upgrade.
With the print now finished, I decided to bolt up the fan to the extruder, so I could begin extending the wires to the RAMPS 1.4 control board. Connecting a fan to a RAMPS board is quick and easy, as it has a dedicated pin for fan control. Some of the other high-end control boards also feature a dedicated pin for extruder fan output.
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GIGABYTE Z87X-OC Force (Intel Z87) Motherboard Review
Introduction
Along with AMD though, we saw NVIDIA release a new high-end model in the form of the GTX 780 Ti, to compete against the AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB. Along with all of this, there's talk of more models coming from NVIDIA in the coming months, as each side continues to stay relevant in the extremely intensive video card arena.
While there's been a ton of movement in the video card side of things, the motherboard side of things hasn't exactly stood still. With video cards getting such a major focus, we've fallen a bit behind on the motherboard front. We're about to start playing catch up today though, and we're starting off with the very sexy looking GIGABYTE Z87X-OC Force.
So, with that all said and done, let's take the time to see just what is being offered from GIGABYTE as far as the package is concerned.
Package
Other big features include OC Touch, Dual BIOS, and the ability to switch between them with ease. You can see we've also got support for both 4-Way SLI and CrossFire, alongside the OC Brace, which we'll take a closer look at in a second.
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Toshiba Q Series Pro 256GB RAID 0 SSD Report
Introduction
When you make the flash, you bin the flash, and when you bin the flash, you save the best for your own products, and sell the rest. When you have access to the best performing flash, you can make the best performing SSD's. Toshiba is in this enviable position. Toshiba can make SSD's that feature the very best binned flash, and still produce those drives for less cost than any fabless SSD manufacturer.
It's all about the flash. NAND accounts for 85% of the cost of manufacturing an SSD. While controllers are important, aren't responsible for all of the performance of the SSD. The NAND plays a very vital part. NAND is like the blood in a heart, while the controller is like the heart itself. If the blood is bad, it doesn't matter how good the heart works, the outcome will still be unfavorable. Typically, LBA mapping tables are kept in DRAM to speed up performance of the SSD's internal functions. The Q Series Pro doesn't use DRAM, likely because the NAND is fast enough to provide the performance on its own. This is the first time I've seen a retail SSD with a DRAM-less design, other than SandForce.
A DRAM-less design is where Toshiba is "breaking all the rules," so to speak. The thing about a DRAM-less design is that without DRAM, synthetic benches don't get smoothed out, and write performance seems choppy and inconsistent. However, this choppy performance doesn't really manifest itself until we load the drive up with data.
The Q Series Pro's performance with data on the drive is a perfect example of why FOB (Fresh out of Box) testing (testing without data on the drive) can never accurately depict a drive's actual performance. I mention this because some reviews I've read from sites that review utilizing FOB testing have totally missed the mark when they reviewed the Q Series Pro. If you don't test with data on the drive, then you won't see the choppy write performance that manifests itself on certain synthetic based tests like ATTO, CDM, and Anvil's. More importantly though: FOB testing will not show you that the Q series Pro is one of the fastest SSD's ever made. If you just FOB test, you would think the Q series Pro is just an average, or below average SSD; you wouldn't even know what you had in your hand.
We try our best to mimic a consumer implementation by testing our drive/array as our OS volume, or "C" drive, and filling the drive/array to 75% of its capacity with random 4K data. As we work our way through today's review, we will be able to show you firsthand why testing a drive with data on it is so important. The Q Series Pro has even managed to contradict some of our own preconceived notions about an SSD's performance indicators.
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Mario Party: Island Tour Nintendo 3DS Review
Mario Party: Island Tour for 3DS tasks you with either playing against the computer or a bunch of friends (via download play, discussed further into this review), in a board game style mode. On the surface, this sounds like a very simplistic game, but Nintendo has thrown a few spanners into the works to keep the game fresh and different. For example, with one of the boards, the aim is to collect as many stars as you can throughout the course of the game, instead of getting to the end first.
The mini games are actually quite enjoyable to play, and well thought out. There are mini games where you need to freeze frame a cinema roll, a game where you have to knock each other off of a deck in the clouds, and another game where you have to lead Goombas to a flag, and keep as many intact as possible. This is certainly not where you will see a lack of variety, and it will take many playthroughs before you have seen the entire arsenal of mini games on offer. However, a few of the mini games are not explained well in the tutorials, and others ask you to tilt the device. Depending on how much you like doing that in public, it may be a deal breaker if you regularly play your 3DS on the go.
However, the game is not without its problems. First of all, multiplayer is only supported on the local devices, so if you want to play online, you are out of luck. This is kind of a big down side to the game, but on the plus side, the game does allow download play. Only one player requires the game cart (or digital download) to be installed, and the game can be temporarily downloaded to other devices during play, using the Wi-Fi connectivity. This is actually a smart move, and comes as a surprise.
We wouldn't have been surprised to see a game required per system, but this is a very smart move, and one that makes the game even more appealing for those with lots of friends with 3DS systems.
This somewhat flows into our other problem with the game, and that is the boards. In general the boards are good, and the redesign for the smaller system (and shorter time frame you generally have to play it on a commute) is well done, but there are some boards present in the game that cannot be played without other human players.
For a portable game, this is quite a pointless thing to do, and when you can blow through the other boards in about two and a half to three hours of gameplay, it can easily leave you with nothing else to do. The secondary game modes really come into play with this, and keep the game from suffering even more from these decisions made by the developers.
Visually, the game stacks up pretty well, and has translated the bigger console game down to the small system almost perfectly. The game runs without frame rate drops despite there often being quite a bit of action going on, and the character visuals are also well done. There is quite a variety to the environments on offer; although, many of the boards only contain one theme, which is a bit disappointing when compared to the bigger brother consoles. Sound effects and music are typically Nintendo, with the characters muttering their trademark 'woohoos' and etc., and the music is fairly upbeat and catchy.
Mario Party: Island Tour isn't a top 3DS game, and it really does require friends with systems to play properly, but if you have that and a few spare hours, you may just find something to like.
PRICING: You can find Mario Party: Island Tour for 3DS for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: Mario Party: Island Tour for 3DS retails for $33.61 at Amazon.
United Kingdom: Mario Party: Island Tour for 3DS retails for 29.95 pounds at Amazon UK.
Canada: Mario Party: Island Tour for 3DS retails for $29.99 at Amazon Canada.
Germany: Mario Party: Island Tour for 3DS retails for EUR 35,63 at Amazon DE.
France: Mario Party: Island Tour for 3DS retails for EUR 30,25 at Amazon France.
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The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Nintendo 3DS Review
If Nintendo had gotten this wrong, it could have soured our memories of the original game, but thankfully for Nintendo, it has not only reminded us of that famous SNES game, but it has also built the reputation even further.
Although not a direct sequel, or remake, A Link Between Worlds borrows a lot from its predecessor, including the story, angle of the visuals, and the enemies on offer. This is part of the nostalgia overload that hits you as soon as the game begins (assuming you have played the previous title). Every so often whilst playing A Link Between Worlds, you will remember a section from the original game (such as the lost woods), and smile as you come across it in the new game. The feeling of knowing the developers have put that in specifically for that purpose is great, and the little grin is for the fact you have picked up on the crazy level of fan service Nintendo has included.
However, once you move past the nostalgia overload, then obviously it comes down to the core gameplay, which also shines. Funnily enough, the core gameplay is also an area where you will start to feel like this really is a very well made update to the original game. Link is still viewed from overhead, and you still 'swipe' with the sword in quick succession to take out enemies. A Link Between Worlds is still a game that relies on timing when dealing with enemies, and also moving Link around in a quick manner to avoid the attacks. If you play A Link to the Past, and then play A Link Between Worlds, in terms of the feeling of playing as Link, there really is not much difference at all.
However, there have been some changes that take advantage of the 3DS system quite well. First of all, there are numerous dungeons present, but after the first few they can be tackled in any order, which is a nice change to the usual Zelda formula. Each dungeon does need a particular weapon to complete, but in A Link Between Worlds, the game does not feature these weapons inside the dungeon; instead you rent them from a new character called Ravio.
This is where the key gameplay changes can be found; this new ability also forms a lot of the puzzles that are present in the dungeons. After a short time in the game, Link can blend into the wall like a painting, and walk along it. This can assist with crossing gaps, as well as moving outside through a barred window. It does take a little time to remember that this ability is available when solving puzzles, but most of the time the puzzles can be solved fairly quickly. The dungeons do offer quite a challenge, but the bonus is that you can tackle them in any order.
The dungeons are also completely different to that which was featured in A Link to the Past. Basically, this is because there are some items that have been included in the Zelda franchise for the first time, but also because of Link's ability to walk into the walls. Another change is that instead of having a limited number of ammo (with the bow for example), the game now contains a meter which depletes and recharges over time. This may sound like it's turned the game onto easy mode, but in reality, A Link Between Worlds still offers a fairly decent challenge. There is even a harder mode known as Hero mode, which is unlocked when you finish the game for the first time.
The game uses the 3D capabilities of the system well, and it is a lot easier to finish some of the dungeons with the 3D Enabled on, due to the way the game uses height. For those playing on the 2DS, this is disappointing; however, it is by no means unplayable in only 2D. It also helps that the game is absolutely stunning to look at in 3D. There is no doubt that Nintendo is starting to get to grips with the 3D graphics, and is producing some amazing visuals on the machine.
On the visual side of things, as previously mentioned, the 3D effect has been implemented stunningly well, but aside from that, the rest of the visuals are also impressive. Young Link running about the place with his sword really does look like a 'HD' version of A Link to the Past, and the replication of the land and enemies from the SNES game is incredibly authentic. The most impressive aspect of the visuals is the frame rate, and the fact that it really does never drop. The game remains rock solid, even with many enemies on screen, and this really enhances the immersion you can feel when playing it. It also gives you nothing to blame but yourself when Link dies.
Although the game does not feature a specific multiplayer, it does use the StreetPass functionality of the 3DS device. When you come across another person playing Zelda who has StreetPass enabled, a shadow link will appear in your game world. Once you track him down, you can fight him one-on-one to try and gain a large amount of rupees. It's not true multiplayer, but it is an interesting addition to the game all the same.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds could have gone horribly wrong for Nintendo. It could have led to a tarnished history of the franchise, and left a stain on one of the most loved Zelda games around (and in many ways the game that brought the franchise to the forefront back in the day). However, the risk has paid off, and A Link Between Worlds is probably the best 3DS game released so far. It's a stunning tribute to its older sibling, but changes enough to keep it interesting. If Nintendo releases more 'remakes' in using this mould, then the future may just be bright for the company after all.
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HighPoint Unveils RAID 5 and RAID 6 Thunderbolt Storage Solution
HighPoint Technologies, a pioneering force in the storage industry for the past 18 years, unveils its latest Thunderbolt Storage Solution, the NA762TB. HighPoint's NA762TB is a full-featured storage powerhouse backed by industry proven hardware-RAID technology, and delivers the uncompromised performance, superior reliability, and effortless every-day usability demanded by today's leading media professionals.
RAID Management Made Simple
The NA762TB's intuitive, easy to master management suite takes the complexity and tediousness out of hardware RAID storage. The web-based interface and user friendly controls make creating, maintaining and recovering RAID configurations a snap - for veterans and RAID first-timers alike.
Stylish, Compact & Whisper-Quiet Enclosure
The NA762TB was designed to merge seamlessly with your work environment, and operate as unobtrusively as possible. Despite supporting up to 8 full-size SAS/SATA drives, the stylish compact, aluminum storage tower requires a minimal amount of work space. The whisper-quiet, professional grade cooling fans and power supply provide a safe, secure environment for your storage devices, and keep temperatures in check even during the most I/O intensive, high-stress workloads.
Simplified Cabling Solution
Adding high-performance hardware RAID storage to your workstation or server has never been easier. The NA762TB is compatible with any Thunderbolt capable computing platform, and delivers multi-terabyte of high-performance, hardware RAID storage from a single cable connection!
8 Removable Disk Modules Supports Any 3.5" SAS or SATA Drive
Why settle for pre-built storage configurations? Unlike conventional Thunderbolt storage solutions, the NA762TB imposes no restrictions on hard disk model, speed or capacity, and allows you to tailor storage configurations that to meet the exact requirements of your applications. The eight removable disk modules accept any industry-standard 3.5" SAS or SATA hard disk; from 5400, 7200 up to 15000 RPM spindle speeds, and are ready for any future capacity upgrades.
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Logitech Unveils Breakthrough Group Video Conferencing Solution
Logitech today introduced a breakthrough video conferencing solution. While a typical video conferencing setup can cost $7,000 or far more, the Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e - at under $1,000 - is a powerful yet affordable video conferencing solution that can turn any small or midsize conference room into a video-enabled collaboration room. Optimized for workgroups of six to 10 people, the Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e is an all-in-one solution with 1080p HD video, enterprise-quality audio and the ability to easily connect to a laptop or thin client to give workers the productivity benefits of crystal-clear, face-to-face communication.
"The way enterprises collaborate is rapidly changing," said Andrew W. Davis, senior partner and co-founder at Wainhouse Research. "These changes include a shift in user preferences toward personal, software-based solutions and consumer devices (BYOD). Many IT teams are responding by providing video-enabled solutions for use in smaller meeting rooms and workspaces - and not replicating the dedicated video solutions traditionally found in the large, executive boardrooms. Logitech's newest ConferenceCam addresses this shift with features that maintain the familiar software-based experience at a price that is affordable for any size company."
The ConferenceCam CC3000e features a 90-degree field of view with 10x lossless zoom, a Carl Zeiss-certified glass lens and remote-controlled 260-degree pan, making viewing closeups and whiteboard details very clear. Additional touches include noise and echo cancellation, omni-directional stereo or mono sound with 20-foot diameter range, plug-and-play ability to work with any software client and a Kensington Security slot to help deter theft.
The Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e can easily connect to a Mac, PC, tablet or smartphone - using USB for Mac and PCs, and Bluetooth or Near Field Communication (NFC) connectivity for smartphone or tablet audio streaming. It is also optimized for Microsoft Lync, Cisco Jabber and WebEx compatible, Skype certified, integrated with Vidyo and works with LifeSize UVC ClearSea. The Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e includes a speakerphone, camera, optional wall mount and remote control that connect through a single hub with up to 32 feet of cable, allowing the camera and speakerphone to operate separately if desired.
Pricing and Availability
The Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e is expected to be available worldwide in January 2014 for a suggested price of $999.99 in the U.S.
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Kingston Presents "Flying Horse Limited Edition" USB Drive
To celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year, also known as the Year of the Horse in 2014, Kingston, the independent world leader in memory products, today introduces the unique "Flying Horse Limited Edition" USB drive as the latest addition to Kingston DataTraveler Chinese Zodiac USB drive lineup. As a symbol of vitality, the horse represents strength and beauty. This limited edition USB drive is designed to show these traits and will be a special New Year's gift to welcome the year of 2014.
With a capacity of 16GB, the USB drive is made by sturdy rubber materials and supports many operating systems such as Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista (SP1, SP2), Windows XP (SP1, SP2, SP3), Windows 2000 (SP4), Mac OS (v. 10.3.x +), and Linux (v. 2.6.x +). Furthermore, it comes with a 5-year warranty and free technical assistance.
Kingston Flying Horse Limited Edition Features & Specifications:
- Dimensions: 43.7 x 32 x 41.4mm
- Compliant: USB 2.0
- Capacity: 16GB
- OS Compatibility: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista (SP1, SP2), Windows XP (SP1, SP2, SP3), Windows 2000 (SP4), Mac OS (v. 10.3.x +), Linux (v. 2.6.x +)
- Part Number: DTCNY14/16GB
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Func Debuts the HS-260 Gaming Headset
Func is excited to announce that the Func HS-260 Gaming Headset is now available for through selected resellers.
Technical Specifications
- Driver: 50 mm, tuned and paired
- Acoustic construction: Closed
- Frequency response: 20-20 000 Hz
- Impedance: 32 Ω
- Cable length: 3m
- Connection: 2 x 3.5 mm
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GIGABYTE Launches BRIX Gaming Mini PC Barebone
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the launch of its latest addition to the GIGABYTE BRIX series of ultra compact PC kits, the GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming. Packing an AMD A8-5557M APU together with an AMD Radeon R9 M275X discrete graphics processor, the GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming has gaming performance that belies its compact size.
The BRIX Gaming compact PC kit is literally small enough to sit in the palm of your hand (measuring a mere 59.6 mm x 128 mm x 115.4 mm) and features a high-performance AMD A8-5557M APU plus a dedicated AMD Radeon R9 M275X graphics processor. The BRIX Gaming includes support for both mSATA SSD and standard 2.5" SATA hard drive installation - ideal for storing the latest 3D gaming titles while enjoying a fast and responsive OS install on SSD. The GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming features both Mini DisplayPort and HDMI ports on the rear panel, enabling support for simultaneous dual display connectivity.
The BRIX Gaming takes the performance you would expect of a full tower gaming PC, in a compact form factor that is much more suited for the living room. Gaming enthusiasts traveling to LAN events, parties and contests and will also enjoy having a gaming rig with incredible portability.
AMD Radeon R9 M275X
Accompanied by 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, the AMD Radeon R9 M275X is a discrete graphics processor that offers superb 3D gaming and GPU-accelerated application performance. The AMD R9 M275X supports the latest graphics acceleration technologies including Microsoft DX11.1, Shader Model 5.0, OpenGL 4.1. The AMD R9 M275X also supports the latest OpenCL 1.1 standard providing GPU-accelerated performance in general purpose applications.
By employing a discrete, fully programmable GPU, the BRIX Gaming is ideal for tackling processor-intensive media editing and encoding applications. Today's GPU accelerated applications leverage the multi-core design of the GPU to greatly improve overall processing performance - this makes the BRIX Gaming well suited to creative professionals using media editing and encoding applications.
A Flexible, Compact DIY PC Kit
The BRIX Gaming is sold as a DIY PC kit, shipping with a Wi-Fi Mini PCIe module pre-installed, requiring only SO-DIMM system memory and a choice of either, or both mSATA SSD or standard 2.5" hard drives. The BRIX Gaming maintains the DIY PC ethos, giving users the flexibility to independently choose preferred operating system, integrated storage and system memory configurations.
USB 3.0 and Network Connectivity:
The GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming integrates four USB 3.0 ports (two front, two rear), ensuring ample connectivity for peripherals, storage devices and more. In addition to including a Gigabit Ethernet port, the GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming also includes a Mini PCIe module offering IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and the latest Bluetooth 4.0, providing connectivity for low power Bluetooth devices and peripherals, as well as allowing users to easily connect their mobile devices.
VESA Support:
Bundled with a VESA bracket, the BRIX Gaming can easily be mounted behind a monitor or HDTV making it discreetly hidden from view. This offers a simple and elegant way to turn any VESA-compliant display or TV into a full-featured PC or digital signage unit.
For more information about the GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming please go to: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4930#ov
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Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [27 January 2014]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!
- StarTech Releases a Thunderbolt Laptop Docking Station
- SAPPHIRE Announces the Radeon R9 290X/290 Tri-X Graphics Cards
- Mushkin Introduces New Atom USB 3.0 Flash Drive
- Patriot Unveils New FUEL Active Portable Batteries to Power Up Outdoor Enthusiasts
- SanDisk Announces Release of the ULLtraDIMM SSD
- MSI Radeon R7 260 1GD5 OC Now Available
- HighPoint Rolls Out Auto-Compiling #Linux Drivers for its #HBAs
- EK Unveils the Indigo XS Ultra-Performance Engineered Thermal Interface
- AMD Reports 2013 Fourth Quarter and Annual Results
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PNY Launches Two Custom-Cooled GeForce GTX 780 Ti Cards
PNY Technologies, a leading manufacturer and supplier of upgrade, graphics and storage solutions, has launched the GeForce GTX 780 Ti OC and GeForce GTX 780 Ti Custom.
The GeForce GTX 780 Ti OC and GeForce GTX 780 Ti Custom come with a 3 year guarantee and are available from PNY's usual network of retailers at £629.99 and £614.99 respectively.
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Sharkoon Vaya II Cases Now Available
In 2011, Sharkoon introduced an ATX case at a competitive price with the Vaya model. Now, with the Vaya II Midi ATX PC case, the manufacturer presents the revised successor to the popular case. Like its predecessor, the Vaya II offers various features at a fair price-performance ratio. The new version, with the dimensions of 470 x 205 x 437 mm (L x W x H), is available in the colors black and gunmetal (Value Version). The interior has a black finish. Thanks to the provided side panels, the Vaya II offers more room for easy installation of tower coolers with a maximum height of up to 16.5 cm.
End customers will find the Sharkoon Vaya II available for the suggested retail price of 28.99 euros in authorized retailers. The Value Version has a suggested retail price of 34.99 euros.
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SMART Modular Unveils XR-DIMM Small Form Factor DDR3 Module
SMART Modular Technologies, Inc., a leading independent designer, manufacturer and supplier of value added subsystems including memory modules, flash memory cards and other solid state storage products, today announced its new XR-DIMM small form factor DDR3 module, specifically designed for ruggedized single board computing (SBC) applications requiring high reliability, density and performance attributes.
The 240-pin module conforms to standards established by the Small Form Factor Special Interest Group (SFF-SIG) to provide a perfect-fit solution for telecom, networking and industrial computing applications. SMART's DDR3-1600 XR-DIMM is offered in 2 GB, 4 GB and 8 GB densities with ECC. Other options offered include low power and industrial temperature operation.
"The XR-DIMM's higher 240-pin connector offers more power and ground signals for higher reliability, and, improved signal integrity versus a standard 204-pin SO-DIMM," says Mike Rubino, Vice President of Engineering at SMART Modular. "In addition, the board-to-board connector offers improved ruggedization compared to standard gold plated SO-DIMMs."
The XR-DIMM is just part of a wide family of DDR3 small form factor module solutions that SMART supports. SMART will be showcasing its new XR-DIMM along with its entire line of memory solutions at the Embedded World Exhibition & Conference in Nuremburg, Germany starting on February 25, 2014 in Hall 4, Stand 4-360.
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EK Unveils the Indigo XS Ultra-Performance Engineered Thermal Interface
EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana-based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce the latest latest generation Engineered Thermal Interface (ETI) for Intel Core LGA-115x processors.
Key feature/benefits:
- Bulk thermal conductivity 4-6X higher than best grease/paste TIMs
- Compatible with all Intel 1150/1155/1156 CPUs, including Haswell
- Optimized for watercooled systems
- Highest thermal performance of any TIM, including Indigo Xtreme!
- Fully sealed structure - no mess or migration
- Most consistent performance - applies the correct amount of alloy every time
- Gallium-free
- Laser-cut precision
- Fully compatible with copper and aluminum surfaces
- Peel-and-stick application
- Easy clean up - just peel to remove
- two (2) EK-TIM Indigo XS applicators
- one (1) Indigo Xtreme Thermal Surface Cleaner
- one (1) pair of powder-free nitrile gloves
- cleanroom-grade dry wiper cloths
- installation manual
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AMD Reports 2013 Fourth Quarter and Annual Results
AMD today announced revenue for the fourth quarter of 2013 of $1.59 billion, operating income of $135 million and net income of $89 million, or $0.12 per share. The company reported non-GAAP operating income of $91 million and non-GAAP net income of $45 million, or $0.06 per share.
"Strong execution of our strategic transformation plan drove significant revenue growth and improved profitability in the fourth quarter," said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. "The continued ramp of our semi-custom SoCs and leadership graphics products resulted in a 38 percent revenue increase from the year ago quarter. Our focus in 2014 is to deliver revenue growth and profitability for the full year by leveraging our differentiated IP to drive success in our targeted new markets and core businesses."
Quarterly Financial Summary
- Gross margin was 35 percent in Q4 2013.
- Gross margin decreased 1 percentage point sequentially. Q4 2013 gross margin included a $7 million benefit from the sale of inventory previously reserved in Q3 2012 as compared to a similar benefit of $19 million in Q3 2013.
- Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balance, including long-term marketable securities, was $1.2 billion at the end of the quarter, in line with expectations.
- Computing Solutions segment revenue decreased 9 percent sequentially and 13 percent year-over-year. The sequential and year-over-year declines were primarily due to decreased chipset and notebook unit shipments.
- Operating loss was $7 million, compared with operating income of $22 million in Q3 2013, primarily due to lower revenue and higher bonus expense. Operating loss for Q4 2012 was $323 million.
- Microprocessor Average Selling Price (ASP) increased sequentially and year-over-year.
- Graphics and Visual Solutions segment revenue increased 29 percent sequentially and 165 percent year-over-year primarily driven by our semi-custom SoCs.
- Operating income was $121 million compared with $79 million in Q3 2013 and $22 million in Q4 2012, primarily due to increased revenue from our semi-custom SoCs.
- GPU ASP increased sequentially and year-over-year.
- Microsoft and Sony launched their next-generation gaming and entertainment consoles powered by semi-custom AMD APUs. Combined, the two consoles sold more than seven million units in less than two months.
- AMD began shipping the next-generation AMD A-series desktop APU codenamed "Kaveri," ushering in the next level of graphics, compute and efficiency for desktops, notebooks, embedded systems and servers. "Kaveri" is the first APU to include Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) features, AMD TrueAudio technology and support for AMD's Mantle API.
- AMD announced low-power APU offerings for 2014 with the addition of "Beema" and ultra-low power "Mullins" mobile APUs to its roadmap. Raising the performance bar across fanless tablets, 2-in-1s and ultrathin notebooks, the new APUs deliver more than 2x the performance-per-watt of the previous generation(2)(3). AMD showcased the innovative features and potential of both "Beema" and "Mullins" at CES 2014 with the company's award-winning Discovery Project PC gaming and productivity tablet, as well as the "Nano PC," a full-featured Windows 8 PC reference design the size of a smartphone.
- AMD launched a new family of mobile discrete GPU products. The AMD Radeon R9, R7, and R5 M200 Series mobile GPUs are powered by the award-winning Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture and bolstered by the Mantle API. Dell, Lenovo, MSI, and Clevo have announced notebooks featuring the new GPUs.
- AMD FirePro professional graphics continued to gain momentum, with Apple launching its new Mac Pro, featuring dual AMD FirePro professional graphics solutions (GPUs.) AMD also announced the new AMD FirePro S10000 12 GB Edition graphics card, the industry's first "supercomputing" server graphics card with 12 GB memory, specifically designed for big data, high-performance heterogeneous compute workloads for single precision and double precision performance.
- AMD was awarded a multi-year research project associated with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Extreme-Scale Computing Research and Development Program, known as "DesignForward." The "DesignForward" award supports the research of the interconnect architectures and technologies needed to support the data transfer capabilities in extreme-scale computing environments.
AMD's outlook statements are based on current expectations. The following statements are forward-looking, and actual results could differ materially depending on market conditions and the factors set forth under "Cautionary Statement" below.
For the first quarter of 2014, AMD expects revenue to decrease 16 percent, plus or minus 3 percent, sequentially.
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Intel Unveils New Education Tablet and Classmate PC
Intel Corporation unveiled innovative education-focused reference devices for the 21st century interactive learning environment today at Bett 2014. The new Intel Education Tablet and the Intel classmate PC are part of Intel Education Solutions, which includes devices, software, content, services and teacher professional development that work together to transform learning and teaching for student success.
"Education leaders everywhere are passionate about driving student achievement and encouraging lifelong learning," said John Galvin, vice president of the Sales and Marketing Group at Intel and general manager of the World Ahead Program. "At Intel, we believe the right technology can be transformative. That's why we are focused on designing tools that bring learning to life, helping to make students more engaged. The result is a future where people have the skills they need for opportunity and growth."
The Intel Atom processor Z2520 clocks in at 1.2 GHz and supports Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, allowing four simultaneous application threads that further enhances the overall efficiency of the Atom cores. The integrated platform also includes an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator engine with a graphics core supporting rich 3-D visuals, life-like gaming and smooth, full 1080p hardware-accelerated video encode and decode at 30 frames-per-second, all useful in a 21st century learning environment.
The 10-inch Intel classmate PC is based on the Intel Celeron processor N2806 and runs Windows 8.1. A Windows 7 version and a Linux version based on Intel Celeron processor N2805 will be introduced later this year. The touch screen-optional device features a rotatable camera to promote content creation.
The HP Classmate Notebook PC is the first global commercial product based on the new classmate PC reference design and is expected to be available this month in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and later this spring in the Asia-Pacific region.
"The HP Classmate Notebook helps deliver access to instructional tools, learning apps and education content to students and teachers around the world," said Gus Schmedlen, vice president, PPS Education, HP. "Combined with professional development and HP's national education technology planning resources, the HP Classmate can help drive meaningful learning, social and economic outcomes."
The new Intel Education Tablet and classmate PC are designed with features such as a snap-on magnification tool and a temperature sensor probe that plugs into the device's audio jack. These features allow students to view microscopic and macroscopic images and measure and analyze environmental data, bringing science to life and giving students the freedom to explore scientific concepts anywhere, not just in the science lab.
Intel Education Solutions for the Classroom
The new Intel Education Tablet and classmate PC are powerful learning tools that are part of the flexible, holistic Intel Education Solutions, including a range of devices from tablets to laptops to 2 in 1s, software, content, services and professional development for teachers to help engage students in learning and enhance student achievement. The Intel Education Software suite includes applications to engage students with tools that encourage inquiry across the curriculum and promote deeper engagement with content such as the Kno app (now part of Intel Education), which offers students and teachers access to a global digital content library of more than 225,000 educational titles.
Intel believes technology can empower educators, leaders and school technology professionals to better prepare students for a lifetime of success. Based on more than a decade of real-world collaboration, implementation and research, Intel Education Solutions are designed to help educators inspire students, to support schools in achieving educational excellence, and to enable better manageability by administrators. Intel's proven education solutions have helped more than 10 million teachers improve education for hundreds of millions of students in 100 countries.
Intel's full suite of education solutions are on display in Intel's stand at Bett 2014 (B358). The stand features a virtual classroom where real teachers will be teaching real class lessons based on Intel curricula.
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Toshiba Completes Acquisition of OCZ SSD Assets, Launches New Subsidiary
Toshiba Corporation, a global technology leader and manufacturer of NAND flash memory, today announced that the Company has finalized the purchase of substantially all assets of OCZ Technology Group, making it a wholly owned subsidiary and Toshiba Group Company. Effective immediately, the Group company will operate independently as OCZ Storage Solutions, a leading provider of high-performance solid state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems.
"The acquisition of OCZ further expands our solid-state storage capabilities and represents Toshiba's commitment to this high-growth area," said Mr. Seiichi Mori, Vice President of Toshiba's Semiconductor and Storage Company and Corporate Vice President of Toshiba. "Our goal is to offer a leading edge portfolio of solid state solutions to address the storage challenges faced by both client and enterprise customers, and the acquisition of OCZ is an ideal addition to our team in realizing this strategy."
"We are very excited to be part of the Toshiba family where we will continue to develop new and unique solid-state storage technologies that position the new entity as a market leader," said Ralph Schmitt, CEO for OCZ Storage Solutions. "With Toshiba's financial strength and portfolio of leading-edge NAND flash memory, OCZ is now in a advantageous position as one of the few companies in the SSD industry with advanced controller IP and NAND flash supply under one global organization, which in turn will help enable more robust and competitive solid-state solutions going forward while expanding our market presence in the rapidly growing SSD market."
As a Toshiba Group Company, OCZ Storage Solutions will continue to maintain its established worldwide sales channels. The new Company's headquarters will remain in San Jose, California, with strategic design centers located in Irvine (California), Tel Aviv (Israel), and Abingdon (UK).
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AMD Debuts New 12- and 16-Core Opteron 6300 Series Processors
AMD today announced the immediate availability of its new 12- and 16-core AMD Opteron 6300 Series server processors, code named "Warsaw." Designed for enterprise workloads, the new AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors feature the "Piledriver" core and are fully socket and software compatible with the existing AMD Opteron 6300 Series. The power efficiency and cost effectiveness of the new products are ideal for the AMD Open 3.0 Open Compute Platform - the industry's most cost effective Open Compute platform.
The new AMD Opteron 6338P and 6370P processors are available today through Penguin and Avnet system integrators and have been qualified for servers from Sugon and Supermicro at a starting price of $377 and $598, respectively. More information can be found on AMD's website.
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Patriot Unveils New FUEL Active Portable Batteries to Power Up Outdoor Enthusiasts
FREMONT, CALIF., USA - January 21th, 2014 - Patriot, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash, storage, and mobile accessories today unveils its new FUEL Active battery brand to power up outdoor enthusiasts. Building on the award winning FUEL+ mobile battery ecosystem, Patriot specifically developed the FUEL Active series to be the best and most reliable portable power solutions for gadget loving outdoor adventurists everywhere.
FUEL Active 6000
The FUEL Active 6000mAh offers a powerful two output design, with one dedicated 2.5A port and one integrated micro USB charge cable that provides 1A of current. With FUEL Active performance matters - the dedicated 2.5A port offers faster charging when compared to competing brands that only offer 2.1A. For protection against the elements, the FUEL Active 6000 comes in a sturdy plastic housing with integrated dust caps covering the connectors.
FUEL Active 2000
Built in a high impact element-resistant housing, the FUEL Active 2000mAh provides a powerful and efficient battery and LED flashlight to keep devices powered up while camping, hiking, boating or just on-the-go in the city. The FUEL Active 2000 is available in 4 different colors and is extremely light weight for excellent portability.
"With the growing number of new applications that provide support for a multitude of outdoor activities, keeping devices powered up while off the grid is more important than ever," said Mike Chang, Product Manager at Patriot. "With this in mind, we've engineered the FUEL Active batteries to be a durable and efficient power support to make sure outdoor adventurists keep their devices powered up and ready to conquer anything nature throws at them."
FUEL Active batteries are perfect for use with devices like tablets, smartphones, GPS units, cameras and come with built in protection against overcharge, under discharge, over-current, over voltage, and short circuit. FUEL Active batteries also come with built-in flashlights providing powerful lighting tools that achieve truly stunning performance for their size. FUEL Active includes a Micro USB to USB cable and comes pre-charged and ready right out of the box.
FUEL Active at a Glance
FUEL Active 6000
- Battery designed for the outdoor enthusiasts: Battery designed for outdoor enthusiasts
- Charges devices up-to 3 to 4 times on a single charge
- Built in bright 3-stage LED flashlight
- 2 port charging: 1A and 2.5A output for faster charging
- Integrated USB cable, just plug and go
- Built in protection: Safeguard from over charge, under discharge, over current, over temperature, and short circuit
- Ideal for large tablets, smartphones, cameras, GPS units and other USB powered devices
- Rechargeable battery crafted with aluminum casing. Designed for outdoor enthusiasts: perfect for hiking, camping, and traveling
- Provides up-to 1 full charge of the average smartphone
- Built in bright LED flashlight
- Built in protection: Safeguard from over charge, under discharge, over current, over temperature, and short circuit
- Ideal for smartphones, cameras, GPS units and other USB powered devices
The FUEL Active 2000 and FUEL Active 6000 are now shipping and will be available for an MSRP of $19.99 and $69.99.
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MSI Radeon R7 260 1GD5 OC Now Available
As of today MSI's new R7 260 1GD5 OC is available for everyone desiring an entry into the world of 4K resolution gaming and next-level of integrated audio. Equipped with a large 10cm fan this little powerhouse will remain cool while allowing anywhere from 1 to 6 displays to be connected to the card. This offers excellent flexibility for anyone looking for more versatility whether it's extra horsepower for graphics or to allow higher resolutions to be connected to their PC. Furthermore, like the high end R9 290 and R9 290X, the R7 260 is also equipped with AMD TrueAudio which reduces CPU loads up to 14% compared to rendering sound with the on-board audio chip.
The MSI HD 7790 graphics card is fitted with an extra large 10 cm fan, dual heat pipes and an expanded heat sink that doubles the air flow compared to conventional fan products while simultaneously transferring the excess heat from the GPU to the heat sink fins to quickly reduce the core temperature. When combined with Afterburner's advanced fan RPM control, the fan can be set to run at different speeds for different GPU temperature settings, giving the gamer full control over the graphics card.
The MSI R7 260 1GD5 OC supports core voltage adjustment technology and can be overclocked by up to 32.4% using the popular Afterburner overclocking utility. The core frequency can even reach up to 1.35GHz with just air-cooling. Enthusiasts can also use the Afterburner APP on their Android / iOS handheld devices to monitor and overclock their graphics cards. Other Afterburner features include 5 configuration settings, Predator audio-video capture, and Kombustor burn-in testing to help enthusiasts optimize their graphics performance.
Technical specifications
- Name: R7 260 1GD5 OC
- GPU: AMD Radeon R7 260
- GPU Clock speed: 768 ~ 1050 MHz
- Memory Size / Speed: 1024 MB GDDR5 / 6000 MHz
- Outputs: DisplayPort / HDMI / DL-DVI-I / DL-DVI-D
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SanDisk Announces Release of the ULLtraDIMM SSD
SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today announced that its ULLtraDIMM Solid State Drive (SSD), the industry's first enterprise-class, ultra-low latency, memory channel storage solution, is now shipping for qualification with select enterprise servers. The addition of flash technology on the DRAM memory channel expands the growing penetration of flash storage technology in enterprise data centers, and complements SanDisk's existing flash-based server hardware and software storage solutions.
"The SanDisk ULLtraDIMM SSD was designed to expand the reach of ultra-low latency flash storage throughout the data center and scale to meet the requirements of any enterprise application, no matter how bandwidth or capacity intensive," said John Scaramuzzo, senior vice president and general manager, Enterprise Storage Solutions at SanDisk. "The ULLtraDIMM SSD's linear performance scalability and innovative DIMM form factor allow organizations to deploy flash as their application requirements change, without requiring significant infrastructure investment."
SanDisk's ULLtraDIMM SSD will be used by IBM under the eXFlash DIMM brand name. IBM recently announced that the eXFlash DIMM is an option for its System x3850 and x3950 X6 servers providing up to 12.8 TB of flash capacity. IBM tested the solution under a variety of enterprise workloads and end-user scenarios. These early benchmarks showed that the eXFlash DIMM SSD achieved 5-10 microsecond write latency-the lowest in the industry.
Gartner indicates "that the advent of big data use cases is just one dynamic compounding the challenges of managing data growth, and organizations face massive volumes of information and new content types that require variable storage, security, protection and access methods." This data growth coupled with end-users' demand for instant access to information is spurring the need for a revolution in how chief information officers (CIOs) leverage storage to manage requirements while reducing total cost of ownership (TCO).
For more information about SanDisk's ULLtraDIMM SSD, which was developed in partnership with Diablo Technologies, please visit http://www.sandisk.com/enterprise..
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HighPoint Rolls Out Auto-Compiling #Linux Drivers for its #HBAs
HighPoint Technologies, a pioneering force in the storage industry for the past 18 years, is launching a series of innovative Linux Driver package for its popular 6Gb/s SATA and AS value RAID HBA Series. For well over a decade, HighPoint has actively supported Linux distributions, continuously seeking to develop new and better solutions for Linux-based storage applications. We have long understood how the complications associated with Software RAID controllers while performing kernel upgrades have pushed customers towards high-price Hardware RAID controllers.
Auto-Compiling Linux Drivers: A Novel Solution for a Lingering Problem
Software-RAID or Hardware-Assisted HBA customers are no doubt familiar with the complexity and tediousness of driver compilation. Whenever a kernel is updated or a new system built, an administrator must download driver source and manually compile a new device driver to correspond with the Linux distribution's changes.
Our engineers have crafted a novel solution; specialized software packages analyze the host system to identify the RAID controller and kernel version, and automatically compile a driver for seamless integration.
Once exclusive to full Hardware RAID configurations, Value Series customers can now experience seamless, painless hardware installation.
Automatically Generates Drivers to Match the your system's Kernel
HighPoint's Auto-Compiling Linux Driver packages build device drivers using our conventional open source downloads, but do not require user intervention. The innovative scripting first checks the RocketRAID controller's ID, then cross-references the active kernel version to see if matches existing driver code. If a mismatch is detected, the Auto-Compiling Linux driver will automatically trigger a script that will compile a driver to match the host system kernel for seamless controller integration.
Availability
HighPoint's Auto-Compilation Linux Driver packages will be released publically during the first quarter of 2014, for RocketRAID 6Gb/s SATA and SATA Value RAID HBA's, and will be available for download from each HBA models' Storage Configuration pages. Customers can contact HighPoint Sales or Support directly, and request copies of the Drivers and corresponding product documentation.
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Top 10 TweakTown Press Releases from the past week [20 January 2014]
Here are our top 10 posted press releases from the past week!
- GX Gaming DeathTaker, Imperator Pro, and GX-Speed White Edition Now Available
- StarTech Releases a Thunderbolt Laptop Docking Station
- Synology Launches the RackStation RS3614xs+ NAS Server
- Toshiba Launches HK3R Enterprise Read Intensive SSD with SATA Interface
- Lian Li Releases the PC-V358 M-ATX Chassis in North America
- Micron and Rambus Sign License Agreement
- SAPPHIRE Announces the Radeon R9 290X/290 Tri-X Graphics Cards
- NETGEAR Announces New Generation of ProSAFE Gigabit Plus Switches
- ASUS ROG Announces Poseidon GTX 780 Graphics Card
- Mushkin Introduces New Atom USB 3.0 Flash Drive
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Thermaltake releases innovational full-tower PC case - Core V71
Taipei, Taiwan - January 17, 2014 - Thermaltake, being an industry leader in computer chassis, thermal solutions, and power supply units today officially releasing new full-tower PC case - Thermaltake Core V71; the new of its kind concept for more versatility and adaptability to any configuration. The Core V71 full-tower E-ATX case gives PC enthusiast flexible installation and keeps the system cool. Users can modify for superior liquid cooling or superb airflow through seamless operation. This new chassis is the ultimate powerhouse suitable for any type of PC enthusiast - no matter liquid cooling or extreme airflow.
Engineered with the subtle curves, bold textures and clean lines, among many award winning case designs from Thermaltake, the Core V71 keeps it to include enthusiast level features while keeping the design simple. The massive mesh design maintains a constant stream of fresh air inside the case
while keeping the hot air out. With integration of fan controller and LED indicator, which offering a perfect complement outside of the chassis.
A highly customizable 5.25" & 3.5" drive bay feature enables users to freely interchange the 3.5" hard-drive cages to suit one's need and removing the 5.25" & 3.5" drive bays to gain maximum interior space for advance cooling performance or liquid system build.
Tool-free Installation
Supreme Air Cooling System
Core V71 is build with it fundamental airflow optimized design. Standard equipped with triple 200mm LED fans and a 140mm fan. It is the first in market that has the ability to house 4x 200mm fans along with three more 120mm fans by achieving unrivalled airflow in your chassis.
Extensive Liquid Cooling Support
Core V71 pushes the envelope and utilize high-end water cooling solution that feature with either front 360/top 420mm, or front 420mm/top 360mm, along with rear 120mm and bottom 120/240mm radiators support for extreme performance.
For more details on the Thermaltake Core V71 information please visit: http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002231
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Intel Reports Fourth-Quarter Revenue of $13.8 Billion
Intel Corporation today reported full-year revenue of $52.7 billion, operating income of $12.3 billion, net income of $9.6 billion and EPS of $1.89. The company generated approximately $20.9 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $4.5 billion, and used $2.1 billion to repurchase 94 million shares of stock.
"We had a solid fourth quarter with signs of stabilization in the PC segment and financial growth from a year ago," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. "We've built a strong foundation for our business by bringing innovation to the market more quickly across a wide range of computing platforms. For example, at CES, we demonstrated multiple devices that weren't on our roadmap six months ago."
Full-Year 2013 Key Financial Information and Business Unit Trends
- PC Client Group revenue of $33.0 billion, down 4 percent from 2012.
- Data Center Group revenue of $11.2 billion, up 7 percent from 2012.
- Other Intel architecture operating segments revenue of $4.1 billion, down 7 percent from 2012.
- PC Client Group revenue of $8.6 billion, up 2 percent sequentially and flat year-over-year.
- Data Center Group revenue of $3.0 billion, up 3 percent sequentially and up 8 percent year-over-year.
- Other Intel architecture operating segments revenue of $1.1 billion, up 4 percent sequentially and up 9 percent year-over-year.
- Gross margin of 62.0 percent, 1 percentage point above the midpoint of the company's prior expectation of 61 percent.
- R&D plus MG&A spending of $4.8 billion, slightly above the company's prior expectation of approximately $4.7 billion.
- Tax rate of 26 percent versus the company's prior expectation of 25 percent.
Intel's Business Outlook does not include the potential impact of any business combinations, asset acquisitions, divestitures or other investments that may be completed after January 16.
Full-Year 2014
- Revenue: approximately flat.
- Gross margin percentage: 60 percent, plus or minus a few percentage points.
- R&D plus MG&A spending: approximately $18.6 billion.
- Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles: approximately $300 million.
- Depreciation: approximately $7.4 billion.
- Tax rate: approximately 27 percent.
- Full-year capital spending: $11.0 billion, plus or minus $500 million.
- Revenue: $12.8 billion, plus or minus $500 million.
- Gross margin percentage: 59 percent, plus or minus a couple of percentage points.
- R&D plus MG&A spending: approximately $4.8 billion.
- Restructuring and asset impairment charges: approximately $200 million.
- Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles: approximately $70 million.
- Impact of equity investments and interest and other: approximately $25 million.
- Depreciation: approximately $1.7 billion.
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Tt eSPORTS Unveils Updated SAPHIRA Gaming Mouse
Tt eSPORTS, the leading expert in professional e-Sports gaming peripherals, is releasing a refresh to their original SAPHIRA gaming mouse; This time in colors of Combat White, Blazing Red, and Metallic Yellow. The coating of the mouse body on SAPHIRA Combat White, Blazing Red, and Metallic Yellow is a glossy surface one, different from the matte finish of the original SAPHIRA. Recognizing that gamers' preferences are diverse, users who prefer a different color or a glossy surface mouse body can now rejoice with the 3 new additions to the SAPHIRA gaming mouse line up.
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EK Introduces NVIDIA Quadro K6000 Water Block
EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana-based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce the EK-FCQK6000 - a full-cover water cooling solution for or NVIDIA Quadro K6000 series professional CAD/CAM graphics card.
Base is made of C110 grade electrolytic copper while the top is made of laser cut stainless steel metal plate. This water blocks lines-up with EK-FCQK5000 as well as EK-FCTK20. Moreover it features a slim design therefore up to four EK-FCQ6000 water blocks can be used in a single ATX form factor motherboard. The product is available in a single variant:
- EK-FCQK6000 - 121,95€
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