IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 14/05/2014

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 14/05/2014

TweakTown

DDR4 Arrives at the TweakTown Enterprise Test Lab
New DDR4 memory might not be available for a while yet, but the first samples of DDR4 memory have made it to the TweakTown Enterprise test lab today, fresh from the fabrication labs.

"Crucial DDR4 Memory Technology Process data faster. Reduce power expenses. Extend battery life. Double a system's memory capacity as module densities mature. Crucial DDR4 memory technology is up to twice as fast and delivers 50% more bandwidth and 40% more energy efficiency than DDR3 technology when it was introduced. Designed to enable the next generation of enterprise and consumer products, Crucial DDR4 memory works with next generation processors and makes everything you do on a computer or server faster and more efficient than ever before."

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" Servers are constrained by memory bandwidth, capacity, and ever-increasing power costs. With the increased performance and efficiency of Crucial DDR4 server memory, boost bandwidth by up to 50%, and reduce power consumption and the need for cooling. Enable up to twice the installed memory capacity and process data faster."

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In addition to server's, new DDR4 memory will make its way into gaming systems, ultra books, laptops, desktops and workstations.
The sticks we received are 16GB, 288-pin RDIMM's with a speed of 2133MT/s and run at 1.2V with a CAS Latency rated at CL15.
If these numbers stack up in testing we expect LinX runs with close to 150 GFlops and AIDA memory benchmarks in the 135,000 MB/s read/write speed on server platforms.
It still is a bit early for DDR4, but expect to start seeing more news about these memory modules in the near future.

Teenager faces 60 charges related to swatting, false bomb threats
A 16-year-old teenage "swatter" is in trouble and now faces 60 charges for his rude and reckless behavior, charged with crimes such as intent to harm, uttering death threats, mischief to property and public mischief. He also made at least 30 swatting calls against residents in both the United States and Canada.

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Swatting remains a popular tactic typically used to send police and emergency responders to celebrities, though this Canadian teenager solicited Twitter users to recommend potential targets. Additional charges could be filed against the teenager, police confirmed.
"This is a fairly new phenomenon for Ottawa,"said Staff Sgt. Rick Baldwin-Ooms, an Ottawa police authority. "These irresponsible incidents have created real fear in people, put public safety at risk, and disrupted entire communities where these events have occurred."

Microsoft continues to push forward with cloud and mobile efforts
Microsoft continues to try and transition its business into cloud computing and going mobile, hoping additional product announcements and partnerships should help. The Azure ExpressRoute gives users the chance to operate private connections between their Azure network and on-premise environments, along with increased mobility to integrate with Apple iOS and Google Android.

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"Mobility and cloud are the future of business, and the future is now," said Brad Anderson, Microsoft Cloud & Enterprise Division Corporate VP. "Our differentiated cloud innovations, comprehensive mobile productivity solutions and developer tools help all of our customers realize the true potential of the cloud era."
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was largely unable to usher Microsoft into the future, with new CEO Satya Nadella trying to follow a more aggressive roadmap. The software giant will continue to push resellers to drum up interest among end-users, though will remain an uphill battle in increasingly competitive markets.

United Bank of Union customers getting hit by phone phishing scam
Phishing attempts from criminals are again targeting bank members, with United Bank of Union customers falling prey to a continued phone scam. Criminals are using an automatic phone dialing program aimed at both landlines and mobile phones, with a warning message that customer bank cards are no longer functional.

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Criminals behind the scam are somewhat clever, with victims either receiving automated calls - or in-person "support staff" calls - and debit card numbers and PIN numbers would be required. Furthermore, other victims were asked to provide their Social Security numbers to help "verify" personal information.
"Several people fell victim to this fraud and gave up their information to the answering machine," said Mike Elliott, United Bank of Union President, in a statement to local media. "Community Banks do not phone call for customer card numbers, PIN numbers or Social Security Numbers."
A study released earlier in the year found that one-third of phishing attacks are directed towards financial institutions and their customers.

Diamond Circle launches its own bitcoin ATM debit card
Diamond Circle, a bitcoin monetary ecosystem for the popular cryptocurrency, announced its pending launch of a new debit card. The Diamond Circle bitcoin debit card will only work with its cashless ATM machines, its own point-of-sale (POS) solutions or through the official Diamond Circle online exchange.

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As more businesses try to jump into the bitcoin debit card effort, most others are relying on UnionPay or some other card payment network - so Diamond Circle may run into trouble trying to market its service. However, the company is all about providing safe bitcoin storage in which users have easier access to their cryptocurrency, so we'll have to wait and see how things develop.
There is a growing interest in bitcoin debit cards and ATM machines, such as the Xapo bitcoin debit card, though bitcoin supporters are concerned of possible market fragmentation.

Tour of California riders testing the Shimano CM-1000 sports camera
Several Amgen Tour of California riders are testing the new Shimano CM-1000 sports camera, mounted to bike handlebars and a rear-facing mount located under their bike saddle. The UCI governing body is allowing between six and 10 riders to use the cameras during each stage of the race, with video footage used during NBC Sports nightly coverage of the top cycling stage-race in the United States.

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The Shimano CM-1000 is WI-Fi and ANT+ compatible, so teams would be able to access the video stream live during a race. Meanwhile, the device isn't available to end-users just yet, and should be available in early August with a $300 MSRP.
Riders would be keen to use the cameras on flat stages, though some riders said they do not want added weight for any mountain stages. The Tour of California, which started yesterday with a sprint finish won by Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step's Mark Cavendish, is an important testing opportunity for Shimano and the pro peloton.

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Black+Decker's new Autosense cordless drill ends stripped screw heads
Every DIYer in the world has at one point or another owned a cordless drill. Since their inception, cordless drills have made life much easier, but they have also resulted in many more stripped screw heads and "oversunken" screws. Black+Decker has just released a new cordless drill / driver with some innovative technology designed to prevent both of these forever.

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The new Autosense Drill has been designed to automatically stop when a screw has become flush with the working surface. In the past, the utilization of a clutch system also prevented this, but it relied heavily on the operator knowing the perfect clutch setting for the type of screw and wood that was being used. The new Autosense drill is intuitive and all the user needs to do is select drive mode. This will tell the drill to begin sensing the required torque levels needed and when a rise in torque is sensed, the drill slows down and stops just as the head of the screw reaches the surface of the wood.

In the event that the screw needs to be sunken a little below the surface, the operator can simply pull the trigger again, and the Autosense Drill / Driver will sink the screw further into the wood 1/4 turn at a time. The new Black+Decker Autosense Drill / Driver is set to retail at $80 and will release to the public in Early June. I hope to get my hands-on one before then and will post a full review if I do.

ASRock unveils the Ultra M.2 Socket, fastest in the world
ASRock has just unveiled its new Ultra M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 connection interface that is said to double its transfer speed bandwidth, and blow SATA 3 6GB/s out of the water. The new Ulra M.2 interface is much faster due to a direct connection to the CPU, whereas older M.2 interfaces passed through the chipset before being routed to the CPU. This means that the latency is much lower and faster transfer speeds are the result.

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"The theoretical speed of Ultra M.2 is 32Gb/s, which is 6X faster than PCIe x1 M.2, and 3X faster than PCIe x2 M.2. As for Ultra M.2 vs. normal M.2 comparison, we tested the read speed of Samsung XP941 PCIe x4 M.2 SSD on Ultra M.2 socket and reached 1.16GB/s, 46% faster than PCIe x2 M.2 socket. We also tested a PCIe x2 M.2 SSD on Ultra M.2 socket. Benefited from the direct linkage between Ultra M.2 interface and CPU, the PCIe x2 M.2 SSD read speed on Ultra M.2 socket is 8.8% faster than on normal M.2 socket. As shown in Chart 3, the lower latency of Ultra M.2 design does matter," ASRock said in a release.

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ASRock says that for now, the new Ultra M.2 interface will only be available on the new ASRock Z97 Extreme 6 motherboard which features other high-end features such as; ASRock Super Alloy technology, 12 Phase Power Design, Purity Sound 2, Dual LAN, SATA Express interface, and ASRock Cloud.

DIABLO III: Ultimate Evil Edition will arrive on consoles in August
This morning Blizzard announced the console launch date of its Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition title. The game will launch on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles later this year on August 19th, and is expected to retail in the $60 price range for next-gen consoles and $40 price range for the older consoles.

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"The Ultimate Evil Edition brings Reaper of Souls to console gamers for the first time, and wraps all of the content, features, and updates we've released for Diablo III into one epic package," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "Whether you're a veteran of the crusade against the forces of evil on PC or are just stepping foot into Sanctuary for the first time, there's never been a better time to experience Diablo III from the comfort of your couch."

EA lists games affected by Gamespy's shutdown, no alternate solution
As stated previously, GameSpy will be shutting down its operations, leaving many games' multiplayer support in the dark. While some publishers have presented alternate solutions, EA has listed the games that will be affected by GameSpy, and may use it as a reason to retire certain popular games.

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While EA did provide the list of games that will be affected, which includes 24 PC titles, it isn't clear whether it already has a plan for an alternate solution. "Since GameSpy's announcement, our teams have been working to evaluate options to keep services up and running," posted on the EA blog. "Unfortunately, due to technical challenges and concerns about the player experience, we do not have a solution at this time. Online services for EA games on the GameSpy platform will be closed down at the end of June."
Regardless, EA acknowledged that there is a concern that the old fan favourites game will not have multiplayer support. They said ,"We know some of these games are still fan favorites, including Battlefield 2, Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Command & Conquer games. We are still investigating community-supported options to preserve online functionality for these titles, such as multiplayer. Significant technical hurdles remain, and at this time we don't have anything to announce."
There are some games from EA that has third party solution. Battlefront 2, Command & Conquer 3 and Battlefield 1942's multiplayer is supported by GameRanger. What's strange is that EA didn't present any solution for games such as Crysis, Crysis 2 and even for Neverwinter nights 1 and 2.
The list of PC games that will be affected by Gamespy's shutdown are as follows:

Battlefield 1942 for PC and Mac (including The Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WW2 expansions)
Battlefield 2 for PC (including Special Forces expansion)
Battlefield 2142 for PC and Mac (including Northern Strike expansion)
Battlefield Vietnam for PC
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for PC and Mac (including Kane's Wrath expansion)
Command & Conquer: Generals for PC and Mac (including Zero Hour expansion)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PC and Mac
Crysis 2 for PC
Crysis for PC
Crysis Wars for PC
EA Sports 06 for PC
F1 2002 for PC
Global Operations for PC
James Bond: Nightfire for PC
Master of Orion III for PC
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for PC and Mac (including Breakthrough and Spearhead expansions)
NASCAR Sim Racing for PC
NASCAR Thunder 2003 for PC
NASCAR Thunder 2004 for PC
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 for PC
Neverwinter Nights 2 for PC and Mac
Neverwinter Nights for PC, Mac and Linux (including Hordes of the Underdark and Shadows of Undrentide expansions)
Star Wars: Battlefront for PC and PlayStation 2
Star Wars: Battlefront II for PC and PlayStation 2

LG released new teaser video for its Android Wear-based G Watch
LG has just released a new video teaser that showcases its upcoming G Watch, a smartwatch based on the new Android Wear distro from Google. Unlike Motorola's round Moto 360, the LG G Watch is built around a square design, making it appear like all of the smartwatches we have seen so far. This is where I feel that LG missed the mark, and think that Motorola's Moto 360 will fair far better in adoption.

LG is branding its G Watch as a premium wearable that will come in either black or gold trim, with an all metal case, and waterproof design. The company also touts the device's lightweight design, and claims that it is "ready for anything with a single charge." No information was given on when the device might actually launch, but we do know that it will arrive before the Q3 2014 is over.

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TweakTown Web Poll Results - Did EA kill Battlefield?
Our latest poll had over 14,000 people who answered, "Did EA kill the Battlefield franchise with the terrible BF4 issues?"

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We ran this poll for a long time, as we were really interested to see your opinion on the subject. However, the results were quite mixed and hence, inconclusive.
31% of TweakTown readers believe that Battlefield is doomed due to the past and still present issues with BF4. On the other side of the fence, 20% of TweakTown do not believe that it's doomed and that it will live on strong.
Almost half of TweakTown readers are not sure, but they think that EA needs to improve its game.
For the actual numbers, go here. In our latest poll, we want to know... "Facebook's acquisition of Oculus VR will..." Let us know! Go here to vote!

LeakedTT: Motorola's Moto E gets outed in newly surfaced images
Later this week, Motorola will release its first smartphone since being acquired by Lenovo earlier this year. The long rumored Motorola Moto E will launch tomorrow and is expected to be a very affordable addition to the Moto line of economical android devices, and today we got a glimpse of exactly what it will look like.

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Thanks to @evleaks, we can see that the Moto E continues the Moto line's look and feel with the pastel colors, soft touch feel, and decent specifications. The Moto E is expected to feature a 4.3-inch HD display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor from Qualcomm, and 1GB of RAM. Android 4.4 will be onboard and a 5MP rear camera will handle all of the imaging duties. Rumors suggest that the Moto E will make it into Motorola's Moto Maker app which will allow customers to customize the look and feel of their new device before ordering it. Stay tuned to TweakTown for full coverage on Motorola's launch event scheduled for tomorrow.

$8 million unmanned research submersible lost near New Zealand
Over the weekend, a very expensive and important research submersible was lost off the coast of New Zealand. The research vessel was unmanned and was owned by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The sub is called the Nereus and a portion of it is believed to have imploded.
The sub was working at a depth of 6.2 miles under the surface of the ocean. At that dept, the pressure on the outside of the submersible was 16000 pounds per square inch. The sub was built-in 2008 and was 30 days into a 40-day expedition of a deep ocean trench. The researchers controlling the sub lost contact with it eight hours into a planned nine-hour dive in the deepest part of the trench.
"It's clearly a significant loss, and it's a great disappointment to the scientists working on the ship, but it just shows how dangerous working at that kind of depth is," WHOI Director of Research Laurence Madin said Saturday in a phone interview. "It's possible we may never know what the cause was, but we will advance the technology and continue exploring."

Google Glass sold at Player's Championship golf tournament in Florida
Google is making a big play in wearables with the Glass headset. Despite wanting the device to take off, Google isn't offering the headset for sale at all times. Google recently decided to offer Glass to golfers at a tournament in Florida.

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The tournament is the Player's Championship where presumably the people participating in the event have the extra cash around to plunk down $1500 on a gadget like Glass on a whim. Google bundled the Glass with a free mini-camera at the event that clamps onto the golf club.
Sales reportedly went better than Google expected. However, there is no word on just how many units Google sold. It doesn't appear that the booth was large, consisting of a sign and a tablet with some Glass units sitting on it.

Top 10 TweakTown News Stories from the past week [12 May 2014]
Here are our top 10 news posts from the past week!

LG unveils three new G Pad tablets launching this week
LG has announced three new tablets that will be launching at a trade show in Europe that is happening May 13-16. The new tablets fall into the G Pad range and include the G Pad 7.0, G Pad 8.0, and G Pad 10.1. The G Pad 7.0 is designed to be held in one hand and is the smallest tablet in the line.

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The G Pad 8.0 has an 8-inch screen and is a mid-size unit aimed at multimedia and multitasking. The last of the three tablets is the G Pad 10.1 and it promises long battery life for multimedia viewing. All of the tablets will include QPair 2.0 and Knock Code tech.
That QPair technology allows the tablets to be paired to Android smartphones via Bluetooth and to respond to calls and messages from the tablet. Knock Code allows the tablet to be unlocked by knocking on the screen.
"Customers tell us that they want a wider range of devices that offer sizable screens without compromising portability," said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of the LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "Unlike smartphones, tablets are not one size fits all. So we designed the G Pad Series for a diverse target audience, some who prioritize portability while others want the best multimedia experience possible. G Pad delivers on all counts."

Microsoft rumored to launch new Surface Pro 3 on May 20
A rumor is making the rounds that Microsoft is set to launch a new version of the Surface Pro tablet on May 20. While the rumor about a new tablet is making the rounds, the latest version of the Surface Pro 2 packing LTE connectivity has finally landed in the UK.

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The Surface 2 with LTE isn't exactly cheap in the UK with a price of £539. It's unclear exactly what sort of specs the Surface Pro 3 might pack at this time. The device is expected to put some powerful hardware into a tablet likely with the latest Intel processors and 2K screen resolution.
The rumors also believe that there could be a new Surface mini tablet as well that will be offered as a more affordable alternative to the Pro and RT versions of the tablet that are already on the market. Cheaper tablets are where the big growth is in many parts of the world so this move would make sense for Microsoft.

Parrot Bebop drone supports Oculus Rift VR headset and Skycontroller
Parrot has made some very cool flying drones in the past that are controlled via a smartphone. The company has rolled out its latest drone that is called the Bebop and it is crammed with cool technology. The drone has a HD camera, built-in GPS, image stabilizers, and is compatible with the Oculus Rift.

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Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that was purchased by Facebook. The camera on the drone has 14MP resolution and uses a fisheye lens. Video from the camera can be viewed in real-time on a smartphone or tablet used to control the drone via an iOS or Android app. An optional Skycontroller is also available.
That controller has extended range antennas to extend the Wi-Fi range to 1.2 miles. Power for the quad rotors of the drone comes from an internal battery that is only good for 12 minutes of flight time. The integrated GPS allows the drone to hover in place when the pilot isn't on the controls. The Oculus Rift headset can be used to position the camera on the drone. Pricing on the drone hasn't been revealed yet, but it will launch in Q4 2014.

Samsung Tizen smartphone is coming to Russia and India
Samsung is one of the most popular Android smartphone makers on the planet with some incredibly popular devices like the Galaxy S5 and others. Samsung wants to reduce some of its dependence on Google and the Android operating system and to do that it has developed its own OS called Tizen. The first product from Samsung to run that operating system was the Gear 2 smartwatch.

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Samsung was planning to launch a smartphone in the past with the OS, but backed away from those plans before it launched. Samsung is now again planning to launch a smartphone that runs the Tizen OS. However, this device won't be coming to the US according to reports. The Samsung Tizen smartphone will be bound for Russia and India to start.
The launch for the smartphone will be timed to coincide with a developers conference for Tizen backers in early June taking place in San Francisco. Samsung has said that Tizen will come to TVs as well, but there is no timeframe for the TV rollout. Samsung is betting that average mobile phone users in places like Russia and India don't have a mobile OS preference and will go for Tizen devices.

Mozilla still plans to offer sponsored tiles on Firefox new-tab page
Some reports around the web have been claiming that Mozilla has backed away from its plans to offer sponsored tiles on its new-tab page of the Firefox browser. However, a new report has surfaced that claims Mozilla isn't killing its plan to offer sponsored tiles, but will roll those sponsored tiles out more slowly than anticipated.

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Apparently, some of the comments that Mozilla VP Jonathan Nightingale made were seen as a retreat by some, but all he really said was that the roll out would continue slowly. Many users of the Firefox browser were unhappy at the thought of having sponsored tiles on the new-tab page.
Nightingale promises that the browser's new-tab page won't turn "into a mess of logos sold to the highest bidder; without user control, without user benefit." The upside is that Firefox usually allows you to decide if you have to open to that new-tab page or another website. Some users may not have to see these sponsored tiles.

First US Microsoft Innovation center to open in Miami
Microsoft has announced that it will open its first Microsoft Innovation Center in the US in Miami Florida. The announcement came on Friday during the start of Techweek Miami 2014. The facility will be state of the art and have all sorts of technology, tools, and services aimed at startups, governments, students, faculty, and the greater Miami community.

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Microsoft's goal with the facility is to foster innovation, collaboration, and economic growth. Microsoft is working with Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami, Venture Hive, and other groups in the development and design of the facility. Once complete the Innovation Center will be used to host technology training sessions and workshops to help citizens in the area learn more about technology.
Microsoft says that the facility will also be used to help IT workers hone skills and give entrepreneurs, startups, and governments access to networking opportunities and talent for job opportunities. Microsoft has over 100 Innovation Centers around the world with locations in places like Singapore, Uganda, and Greece. This is the first location in the US.

Mario Kart 8 pushes the Wii U capabilities "to their limits"
Mario Kart 8 isn't far away now, but we're hearing from the Director of the game, Kosuke Yabuki, who said that Mario Kart 8 is pushing the "Wii U's capabilities to their limits".

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Yabuki continued: "Our aim was to create a game that used HD graphics and played at a smooth 60fps. We pushed Wii U's capabilities to their limits to achieve this. [But] I think it still has a lot of potential left, and I suspect there are more ways to make use of its capabilities that we haven't even imagined".

There's a MacGyver game coming out on May 21st for iOS and Android
There might be some of your reading this who might not even know who MacGyver is, but for those of you that do, you'll be surprised to hear that there's a MacGyver game coming out for iOS and Android.

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MacGyver: Deadly Descent hits iOS and Android devices on May 21, developed by Fairplay Media. The game sees: "Mac return to his roots as a young problem solver". The game is set in a "modern environment" where a virus has infected a "top secret" laboratory. You're pitted as the hero that has to save the day using your smarts, most likely a paperclip and some chewing gum.
MacGyver's creator, Lee David Zlotoff was involved in development, where he said: "We're excited to be able to bring MacGyver up to date and into the mobile games market. Games are the perfect way for Mac to start new adventures with both the existing fans and an entirely new global audience as well. I'm looking forward to working with the team at Fairplay and seeing Mac back in action. What's more, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the game will go to support The MacGyver Foundation".

Rapoo E2700 Wireless Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard Review

Final Thoughts

We were pretty sure that trying to disassemble this keyboard for the sake of a few images may very well have damaged it for further use, so we played it safe and left it intact. That is something to keep in mind if you tend to be clumsy and will potentially spill a beverage in this board, since it may prove to be challenging to clean.
Outside of that small aspect, it is really hard to fault this design. Although, Bluetooth is definitely the way to go, so not only can just certain devices benefit from this keyboard, but so could a phone, a tablet, or anything you come in range of really. While this is not a keyboard we would sit and type a review out on, it is ideal for instant messaging, home theater usage, or for anyone on the go who has the desire for a compact keyboard that functions as it is designed to do.
We also like that this device is plug in and play for the most part, and as we think back to our initial usage, we did notice that when the keyboard was very close to the receiver, we did need a line of site to eliminate lag. We also found that using this dongle in any sort of hub may very well induce lag to your inputs. The further away we got from the dongle the better the reception actually seemed to be. We were even able to use it from fifteen feet away without issue, but further than that, we could not see the inputs to verify how far away it could actually go.
Keep in mind, small pointy fingers are going to have a much easier time with the E2700 than we did with fatter fingers, but if you do have larger fingers, after a couple of days your fingers will figure out how to associate to using tiny shift keys, or just using these near half inch square key caps in general. We also like that this E2700 comes with a sleep feature, so even if you forget to turn the switch off, after about five minutes the keyboard goes dead, and just hitting enter seemed to bring the keyboard back to life and ready for input.
Rapoo has definitely impressed us with this keyboard, and for the low pricing offered for this E2700 Wireless Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard, if you are in need of such a device, there is no way to go wrong buying one.
PRICING: You can find the RAPOO E2700 WIRELESS MULTIMEDIA TOUCHPAD KEYBOARD (WHITE) 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 RAPOO E2700 WIRELESS MULTIMEDIA TOUCHPAD KEYBOARD (WHITE) retails for $34.99 at Amazon, and the RAPOO E2700 WIRELESS MULTIMEDIA TOUCHPAD KEYBOARD (BLACK) retails for $44.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The RAPOO E2700 WIRELESS MULTIMEDIA TOUCHPAD KEYBOARD (BLACK) retails for CDN$44.99 at Amazon Canada.

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Top 10 TweakTown Content from the past week [12 May 2014]
Here are our top 10 articles, reviews and guides from the past week!

Transcend SSD340 256GB SSD Review

Introduction

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Hot on the heels of a PNY Optima review, we have another low-cost SSD that promises to provide SSD performance without traditional SSD prices. Early SSDs suffered on two fronts: high failure rates and high prices. As with any new technology, time eliminates both of these issues. SSDs are now widely considered more reliable than the technology they replaced, and prices have shrunk to very low levels.
Almost as long as we've had performance SSDs, we've had lower tier mainstream models too. Most of these products shipped with lower quality flash but with the same high performance controller found on the flagship offerings. Some of the products were actually pretty good, but a very large number of them were cringingly bad.
Over time, the industry determined that using lower quality flash is the wrong way to approach the mainstream market. Micron's L85A flash also made the decision much easier to swallow. L85A, known by many as 20nm 128Gb die flash, is now very cheap and plentiful, so third-party SSD manufacturers can take on flash manufacturers in the mainstream SSD market.
Transcend isn't new to SSDs or low cost models designed for broad adoption. The SSD720 we reviewed last year was a solid offering and at times competed for the lowest priced mainstream SSD at Newegg. Transcend is back with a new mainstream SSD, this time using a JMicron controller but one that we've tested and liked in the past.

Specifications, Pricing and Availability

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Transcend built three capacity sizes for the US market: 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. A part number exists for a 32GB SDD 340 but we haven't seen it for sale online and suspect it's for emerging markets or embedded applications.
We didn't find any performance information on Transcend's website on the product page or in the datasheet. Newegg's page for the SSD340 256GB, the capacity we're reviewing today, states sequential read performance at 520 MB/s, sequential write speed at 290 MB/s, random reads at 69,000 IOPS, and random write IOPS at 68,000. All but the sequential write speed are higher than the PNY Optima we reviewed just two weeks ago and really liked.
A big reason why we liked the Optima so much has to do with the price, and the Transcend SSD340 comes very close to the same price point. The 256GB model we're testing today costs just $139.99. The 128GB model comes in at $69.99 and the 64GB drive at $57.74.
The Transcend SSD340 ships with a three-year warranty, desktop adapter bracket, screws for securing your drive, a quick installation guide, and a warranty card. Transcend now offers an SSD Toolbox-like software called SSD Scope. SSD Scope includes a disk-cloning feature so that you can easily clone the data from your existing drive to your Transcend SSD. The software is free to Transcend SSD owners, but you must download the software from the website; it doesn't ship with the Transcend drives.
PRICING: You can find the Transcend SSD340 SSD (2565GB) 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 Transcend SSD340 SSD (2565GB) retails for $118.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The Transcend SSD340 SSD (2565GB) retails for CDN$176.51 at Amazon Canada.
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