IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 04/07/2014

Thursday, July 3, 2014

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 04/07/2014

TweakTown

NVIDIA's next-gen Shield rumored to be a 'notebook/tablet'
For those of you waiting for NVIDIA to release its next-gen Shield device, it looks like it might be going through a transformation before we see it. The current Shield is a tablet in a game controller design, which works incredibly well, but the next version might be an entirely new beast.

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According to a filing with the Global Certification Forum for the new Shield's wireless connectivity, and a related tweet on Monday, the new Shield is called a "Notebook/Tablet". This means that NVIDIA could either be straying from its current design, or might toward a detachable, separate tablet that docks into a controller - something I would love to see.

Tech guru Tim Draper wins bitcoin auction, won't say how much he paid
More than 40 bidders were unable to keep Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, from purchasing the entire lot of 30,000 bitcoins auctioned by the US government. Instead of just flooding the market with the bitcoins, Draper has teamed up with bitcoin exchange company Vaurum, and wants to expand cryptocurrency use worldwide.

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"With the help of Vaurum and this newly purchased bitcoin, we expect to be able to create new services that can provide liquidity and confidence to markets that have been hamstrung by weak currencies," Draper said in a statement. "We want to enable people to hold and trade bitcoin to secure themselves against weakening currencies."
The seized bitcoins were valued near $19 million, and Draper won every single lot - but won't say how much he spent to dominate the auction.

Oculus VR begins shipment preparations for Rift DK2 units
Oculus VR promised that it would begin shipping its Rift Developer Kit 2 units in July, something that it has started to do. The Facebook-owned VR startup has said that "The first batch of official DK2s have left the manufacturing facility and are making their way to our distribution centers now".

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This news comes from "cyberality" on Reddit. Oculus VR says that it should see half the units through distribution centers and on their way to eager Rift DK2 owners before the month wraps up. As soon as the shipment has been processed by the distribution center, DK2 owners will receive their tracking numbers.
Something more interesting, is the amount of DK2 units that Oculus VR had pre-orders on. There were over 45,000 DK2 pre-orders, which is a massive number. With this many pre-orders, manufacturing can't quite keep up, so some people wont' get their DK2 units until August. Oculus VR has told its team in China to ramp up production at its factory, something nit will continue to do until every DK2 has their headset. I've pre-ordered one myself, and was one of the first, so you can expect an unboxing video and articles written up on it as soon as it hits my doorstep.

Lindsay Logan is suing Rockstar over a character in Grand Theft Auto V
Lindsay Lohan is known for a life of controversy, but her latest notch in the belt that is becoming her life is that the actress is suing Rockstar Games over a character in Grand Theft Auto V that she claims looks like her.

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Lohan says that the developer created, and used the character without her permission, so now she's suing. Lohan's lawsuit claims that the GTA V character Lacey Jonas is based on her, including her likeness and personal details. The actress filed the lawsuit in Manhattan, which is where Rockstar Games' corporate HQ is located.
I'm sure we'll hear much more on this as the months go by.

UK government blocks 1 out of every 5 websites in censorship uproar
At least one in five websites are blocked in the United Kingdom, with a growing number of legitimate websites getting caught up in the censorship, according to the Open Rights Group.

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The Open Rights Grouped tried to access 100,000 websites with default filter settings - or "normal" filtering with nothing set as a default - and there were almost 20,000 different websites blocked. It's a frustrating system that leaves some websites, such as Sherights.com, a blog focusing on violence against women and LGBT rights, blocked and inaccessible.
"We've been surprised to find the default filtering settings are blocking around a fifth of the Alexa top 100K websites," said Jim Killock, ORG Executive Director, in a statement. "That's a lot more than porn, which accounts for around 4 percent of that list."
British ISPs aren't required to implement the filtering system, but Prime Minister David Cameron believes it should become mandatory.

International ISPs targeting GCHQ because of spying activities
Following former NSA contractor Edward Snowden discussing surveillance activities by the NSA and its British counterpart, the GCHQ, a number of ISPs in the United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, Netherlands, Germany and Zimbabwe are targeting the GCHQ. Specifically, they say the spy agency used "malicious software" to compromise their networks while collecting data.

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The GCHQ said online searches, which it considers "external communications" when routed overseas, don't require a warrant.
"Snowden's revelations have exposed GCHQ's view that independent operators like GreenNet are legitimate targets for Internet surveillance, so we could be unknowingly used to collect data on our users. We say this is unlawful and utterly unacceptable in a democracy," said Cedric Knight, from Dutch-based ISP, GreenNet.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), tasked with hearing complaints about British federal agencies and government surveillance misuse, is currently studying a number of official complaints.

Boston testing Soofa phone-charging solar-powered 'smart benches'
Solar-powered "smart benches" able to recharge your smartphones are being rolled out in Boston by Changing Environments. The benches, called Soofas, include a built-in solar panel and two USB ports, and includes Wi-Fi. The chair was introduced during the White House Maker Faire last week, and could quickly find homes throughout major metropolitan areas.

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Each bench, which can charge two phones at a time, cost $3,000 and is being described as the first step into "Smart Urban Furniture."
"Your cellphone doesn't just make phone calls, why should our benches just be seats?" said Boston Mayor Martin Walsh. "We are fortunate to have talented entrepreneurs and makers in Boston thinking creatively about sustainability and the next generation of amenities for our residents."
The first wave of Soofas will be located in Titus Sparrow Park, the Boston Common, Rose Kennedy Greenway, Babson College, and MIT. Boston residents are welcome to contribute ideas for the future location of one other Soofa.

This router makes your kid complete chores to gain internet access
A new router has appeared on Kickstarter that only allows for internet access once a certain amount of chores have been completed.

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The Kudoso router is aimed primarily at parents trying to regulate their kids' internet access - but it could equally be useful for procrastinating adults too. Kudoso sets a series of tasks that must be finished in order to unlock minutes that can be used online.
"Parents today are faced with a dilemma about how to manage the amount of time their kids spend on the internet and the content they are exposed to," developer Rob Irizarry writes on the Kickstarter page. "Kudoso lets your children earn points that allow them to access the internet sites you approve for blocks of time that you define." Admins decide how much access to each individual website costs, while access to social networks and services like Netflix are also available. At the moment, the Kickstarter has 77 backers and $7,541 of a $50,000, with 23 days to go.

Samsung to quit plasma panel business by the end of 2014
Samsung will be shutting down the last of its plasma panel screen production by the end of this year.

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Although plasma TV sets have been in decline for some time, this will be a serious nail in the coffin for the technology along with Panasonic's exit late last year. According to a statement, Samsung SDI will instead invest cash and resources in the energy and materials sectors, and an overall decline in demand for the sets has been cited as the main contributing factor. The news comes amid rumors that LG, another of the three major players in plasma, is also seeking to exit the business.
"We plan to continue our PDP TV business until the end of this year, due to changes in market demands," a Samsung spokesperson told CNET. "We remain committed to providing consumers with products that meet their needs, and will increase our focus on growth opportunities in UHD TV's and Curved TV's."

Snowden shakes things up, physical data location becoming irrelevant
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden has greatly changed data security after disclosing major surveillance programs targeting U.S. citizens and foreign citizens. This has caused such a shakeup that physical location of data will become irrelevant moving forward, with organizations using a combination of different strategies to stay more secure, according to research firm Gartner.

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Gartner lists the following types of data location: physical location, legal location, political location, and logical location. Companies trying to keep data secure will have to find ways to keep data offshore while ensuring encryption keys and other tools are located elsewhere, for example - critically important with cloud computing becoming more important.
"Business leaders must make the decision and accept the residual risk, balancing different types of risk: ongoing legal uncertainty, fines or public outrage, employee dissatisfaction or losing market share due to a lack of innovation, or overspending on redundant or outdated it," according to Gartner.
None of the data location types solve data residency issues with a simple process, according to Gartner, with organizations forced to adopt a hybrid approach.

Man fined for defacing ex-girlfriend's Facebook page
A man in Ireland has been fined 2,000 euros - or nearly 3,000 US dollars - for defacing his ex-girlfriend's Facebook profile, a landmark case that could set the precedent on the legality of online vandalism.

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It seems to be the first time posting from someone else's Facebook has been ruled illegal, but an Irish court decided he had violated the Criminal Damage Act, which typically covers private property. He was found guilty of posting a malicious status update by using her phone.
The man was originally faced with and later acquitted of a series of more serious crimes, Engadget reports, but pleaded guilty to the profile defacement. A financial penalty was considered most appropriate, and the judge ruled that the update damaged the good name of the victim, even though it was taken down.

Upstart smartphone maker Xiaomi takes China by storm
Native Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has upped its shipments by almost four times compared to the previous year, potentially putting it on track to sail past big hitters like Lenovo and Samsung.

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For the first half of this year, Xiaomi's handset sales hit 26.1 million - an increase of 271 percent compared to the same time last year. Revenues reached 33 billion yuan, or 5.3 billion US dollars, which is still a hefty increase of 149 percent compared to the previous year. Xiaomi only started selling smartphones in 2011, PCWorld reports, but now has its sights set on large foreign markets like Russia and Brazil.
The company is now ahead of Apple in the Chinese market, making it the third largest vendor for the first quarter of this year. Although it began as a niche, high-end vendor, it's continued to expand at a speedy rate, with an aggressive expansion policy to match. Many of the recent sales were down to the affordable Redmi line, which can be bought new for just 113 US dollars.

Vine adds loop counts to videos to highlight user engagement
Vine is a place where lots of people from around the world upload short looping videos of anything and everything you can think of. In the past, there was no way to know how many people had watched your Vine videos on loop, but that has now changed. Vine has announced that it has added a loop count.

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The number of loops your video has seen is now included on iOS and Android mobile apps and indicate how many times people have looped the video. The loops are counted on videos whether they are viewed on Vine or embedded on the web.
The loop count number updates in real-time as you watch the video. The updated apps also bring with them a redesigned home feed with better edge-to-edge videos and a cleaner view for likes and comments. The activity feed has also been changed.

Apple makes changes to AppleCare support plans
Apple has been offering support plans for a number of its gadgets for a while now called AppleCare. Apple plans to make a big marketing push to get people to adopt the premium AppleCare+ offering for the iPhone and iPad.

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AppleCare+ is a premium plan offering support for two years on top of the standard 90 days of support. AppleCare+ will also cover your device for up to two instances of accidental damage. One of the big changes to AppleCare+ is that users now have longer to buy the protection on their phone.
In the past, you only had 30 days to opt to purchase the protection if you didn't get it at the time of purchase. Moving forward, the plan will bring that purchase window out to 60 days. AppleCare+ for iPhone and iPads is $99. Apple has also now discontinued the older and cheaper AppleCare plan that didn't cover damage from accidents.

Nokia Lumia 635 hits T-Mobile packing LTE and more
Nokia has rolled out a new smartphone called the Lumia 635 with LTE and it has landed in the US on a couple carriers. The 635 is now available for customers to buy on T-Mobile and on Metro PCS for as low as $99. The Lumia 635 is the follow-up to the Lumia 521 smartphone.

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The launch of the smartphone will be in stages starting on July 5 on the Home Shopping Network for T-Mobile Simple Choice Customers out there. The phone will land in stores on July 16 and online on July 9. Pricing will depend on where you buy the phone with MetroPCS selling it for $99 and T-Mobile offering it for $0 down and $7 monthly for 24 months working out to $168.
The Lumia 635 has a 4.5-inch screen with a resolution of 854 x 480 with multi-touch tech. The main camera is a 5MP unit and the device has a Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor. Power comes from an 1830 mAh internal battery.

Consumers only use a few dozen apps per month says new data
If you use a smartphone, you know that on Android and iOS there is an app for just about anything you want to do. You probably have a hoard of apps on your smartphone right now, but how many of those apps do you actually use? New data from Nielsen has been released this week that looks at home many apps people use per week.

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According to the data, the typical smartphone user interacts with a couple dozen apps per month and that number hasn't grown much in the last few years. Some of the most commonly used apps include Facebook, Google, email apps, maps, and weather apps.
The focus on only a few dozen apps makes it harder for startups to get into the market. Data from Nielsen shows that in the last quarter of 2013 the average smartphone user spent 30 hours and 15 minutes using apps per month. Nielsen says that its data suggests that the lack of growth in usage time indicates an upper limit to how many apps users engage with each month.

Apple rolls out new Mac Pro security lock adapter
It has been a while now since Apple rolled out the cylinder shaped Mac Pro desktop computer. One of the problems that this machine has for people who use them in areas with lots of traffic is that the new Mac Pro has no provision for locking itself to a desk as you can with laptops thanks to the Kensington lock port on many computers.

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With the lack of a Kensington port, many people were left cobbling their own systems together to help prevent theft. Apple has now announced an official accessory for the new Mac Pro that lets users add a Kensington lock to the machine for more security.
The accessory is called the Mac Pro Security Lock Adapter and it sells for $49. The device is a metal bracket that secures the lift-off cover of the Mac Pro to the base of the machine with a security cable. This prevents access to the internals of the machine. The cable can also be locked to the desk to make it harder to steal the machine. The security adapter is available now on the Apple Store.

Synek draft system lets you draw a pint of beer at home
Homes and offices around the world have made specialty single cup coffee machines very popular over the last few years. Those coffee machines can brew you up a cup of your favorite coffee and even have flavors from high-end coffee shops like Starbucks among the selections. Beer drinkers may soon have a similar system for getting a pint of their favorite beer anywhere.

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The system is called the Synek draft system and it will make a personal pint of beer straight from the tap. This isn't exactly like making a single cup of coffee using water from your faucet at home though. This device is designed to let you fill the beer bag from any tap and then place it inside the machine to keep it cold and fizzy.
The company says that the beer inside the machine can remain fresh for months and dispensing a pint from the bag won't affect the freshness of the beer still in the bag. The bags are also designed to be interchangeable so you can get different brews when you need it. The device is legal in all states except Alabama, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Vermont. It is on Kickstarter now seeking $250,000 in funding.

Facebook ICO probe in UK to investigate user experiment legality
A couple days ago, it came to light that Facebook had tweaked the algorithms in the news feeds of hundreds of thousands of users to see if it could affect the mood of the users of its network. In this experiment people were shown either posts that were more negative in nature or posts that were more positive in nature. Facebook says that the experiment proved you could change the mood of a user based on what they read.

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Facebook's experiment was controversial and now the social network is facing a probe from the ICO, Information Commissioners Office, in the UK to see if the experiment violated the law at all. A spokesperson for the ICO has said that it is too early to tell what portion of the law the experiment might have broken.
Facebook was found to have added a clause to its terms and conditions four months after the experiment was conducted that allowed research to be performed on users of the service without their express consent. Facebook maintains that it has permission to experiment from the terms and conditions that people agree to by using the site.

HP may revive VoodooPC to enter gaming notebook market
After nine years, Hewlett-Packard is planning to re-introduce VoodooPC as a gaming notebook lineup as early as this year. Sources have posted two photographs of a HP gaming notebook.

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HP acquired PC maker VoodooPC in 2006, however the company did not continue with its brand name since and the brand name was withdrawn from the market. Now, HP may bring back 'VoodooPC' or 'Voodoo DNA' brands for high-performance notebooks.
It's surprising to see HP is planning to tap into the high-end gaming notebook market. As of now, it seems that HP has made plans to introduce one gaming notebook model as of now. Whether this move will be beneficial for HP or not is something that time will tell. In any case, it's always good to see more choice for high-end gaming notebooks, provided they are priced in a way to compete with other brands, especially with ASUS, GIGABYTE and MSI.

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Sources also point out that this notebook will be using Intel Core i7-4712MQ processor with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 860M. The speakers are on the sides of the keyboard and will be using configurable lighting that can be controlled with the bundled software. Though its unclear if HP plans to introduce more models or is it just one, but its indicated that HP plans to compete with Dell's Alienware gaming notebooks.

Google purchases Songza music service with mood-based playlists
Google has been reaching into its wallet to make some purchases and the latest purchase made by the web giant is of a music startup called Songza. Songza may not be a name you recognize, it is a company that streams music from playlists that are based on your mood.

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For instance, it offers playlists for taking the day off, an energy boost, and other moods. Google hasn't really said what it has in mind for Songza, but the assumption is that the tech will be used in Google Play to help personalize music.
The tech could also be used in the coming subscription service on YouTube, but no official comments have been made at this point. Some reports indicate that Google paid around $15 million for Songza.

AMD launches quad-core based A10-7800 Kaveri APU
AMD launched its newest FM2+ socket based processor based on 28nm Kaveri architecture 'A10-7800' Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). The latest APU uses four Steamroller cores with TDP rated at 65W.

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Unlike the A10-7700K and A10-7850K, this APU does not feature unlocked cores and therefore you cannot overclock it. The base clock speed is locked at 3.5GHz with TurboCore bumping it up to 3.9 GHz. The APU supports DDR3 memory up to 1866MHz frequency. On the graphic side, it features R7 series GPU core with 720MHz base clock and 512 GCN cores. This will support Mantle API and DirectX 11.2.
According to another report, A10-7800 APU is a part of the second release of AMD Kaveri APUs. A4-7300 and A6-7400K is also available for pre-order. A10-7800 is listed in US retail stores for $150, which sets itself against Core i3 Haswell processor lineups.

US Patent office grants a GPU liquid cooling patent to Asetek
Asetek made an announcement recently that the U.S. Patent and Trademark office has granted the company a patent on its 'thermal interposer liquid cooling system' design for video cards.

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Well before the announcement AMD signed up with Asetek for enabling liquid cooling solutions for its AMD Radeon R9 295X2 GPU with an intention to have lower noise output, lower temperatures and also enhanced cooling in comparison with air cooling counterparts.
The founder and CEO of Asetek said,"As seen in the recently announced AMD Radeon R9 295X2, the graphics cooling market is one that we see as having tremendous growth potential for our desktop business". He continued,"We continue to see increasing interest from GPU and video card manufacturers due to increased power use and demands for lower acoustics. Given this interest, it is possible that the GPU cooling business could rival our CPU cooling business in the coming years."
Asetek adds that the company has been providing its patented sealed all-in-one liquid cooling solutions for video cards for more than ten years. The company also assured that its units are thoroughly tested, and that its certified to operate without any maintenance over 50,000 hours.
Asetek also has patents for closed-loop CPU liquid coolers, and the company used it against many of its competitors. In 2013, Asetek claimed that Coolermaster was infringing two of its patents, specifically 8245764 and 8240362. Swiftech also faced the same issue with Asetek during the same year. In its defense, Swiftech did mention that its CPU cooler did not infringe on any patents. However, to avoid any costly litigation, the brand had no choice but to pull out its well-known H220 and H320 CPU coolers from US retail stores. CoolIT was the first to face the heat from Asetek's patents, but during the time neither companies made any comments about the lawsuit.
Interestingly, I've seen many hardware enthusiasts in the United States placing a group order via their favourite DIY-PC enthusiast tech forums for Swiftech H220 and H320 from Canada.

VAIO branded notebooks makes a comeback in Japan
A few months ago, Sony sold its "VAIO" series notebooks name and dedicated operations to a Japan-based private investment company called Japan Industrial Partners. The investment group re-launched it as a standalone branch with no less than 240 employees.

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Sony was facing losses not just in Japan, but also worldwide. The company was not able to keep up with smartphone and tablet business. Eventually, the multinational brand had to lay off many employees and sell away many of its businesses.
Initially, it was rumoured that Lenovo would be taking over Sony VAIO. Later, the electronics giant sold out its TV business and laid off 5,000 employees during February 2014. In May 2014, Sony VAIO's fate was set, as the company sold it to the investment firm and completed the sale was completed by July 2014. Looking at the time frame, it seems that the investment group didn't want to waste time to cash in on VAIO's brand presence among the consumers. The group also is using the same brand name, though only time will tell if the VAIO brand will maintain or grow its reputation in Japan.
Currently, VAIO Corporation launched two of its notebooks - VAIO Pro and VAIO Fit. According to the specifications, VAIO Pro is a carbon-fiber based ultra-thin notebook whereas the Fit is a consumer class laptop. Judging by its website, it seems that VAIO Corporation will be available online in Japan for now, and not as a worldwide launch.

AMD to launch its R9 280 and R9 280X GPU with 'Tonga' core next month
According to a report, AMD is all set to use its mid-end 'Tonga' GPU cores on its existing cards, Radeon R9 280 and R9 280X GPUs. The upcoming core will be replacing the existing Tahiti Pro core that used on these cards coming August.

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Once the existing two models use the newer core, they will no longer be re-branded versions of AMD Radeon HD 7950 and HD 7970 GPUs. The pricing of the newer cards is not known yet, however the R9 280 retails for $299.
It's still not confirmed if this new core will be based on 20nm fabrication process, though its assumed that it will more efficient than its predecessor. Its unclear if there would be a performance in comparison with the existing R9 280 and 280X cards. It is speculated that the newer cards will use have 2GB GDDR5, though it should be noted that the current variants are with 3GB GDDR5.

LG G Flex Curved Screen Smartphone Review

Introduction

When I first began hearing about the LG G Flex, I was quite excited to see what the world of a curved display would bring to smartphones. The South Korean giant was the first on the market with a smartphone that featured a curved display, but that on its own can't sell a smartphone in this market.
LG is quite the player right now, making the Nexus line of smartphones for Google, as well as its impressive G series of smartphones. The last LG smartphone I reviewed was the G2, something I awarded 90%. The G2 was a great smartphone, and still is, so I'm expecting a lot from the G Flex.

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One thing you need to keep in mind with the G Flex, is that even with the word "Flex" in its name, it's by no means a phone that magically flexes to and fro. I don't understand LG's thinking here, I would've preferred G Curve or something, as it would make more sense. Sure, it is flexible, but only by a tiny amount, and it is not something you would actually use in the real-world.
Anyway, let's dive into the specifications of the G Flex.

Specifications

We'll start off with the elephant in the room, the 6-inch HD curved POLED display. While it may be big, and curved, it has a massive downside in its low resolution of just 1280x720. This provides us with a pixel density of 245 PPI.
Moving along to the internals specifications, we have Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 processor - a 2.26GHz quad-core processor. We have 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera backed up by a 2.1-megapixel selfie snapper, and a huge 3,500mAh battery.
Connectivity wise, LG has you covered with 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Miracast, and Bluetooth 4.0. As for its operating system, we of course have Android on-board, with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, which is a little disappointing in the world filled with KitKat-powered devices.
All of this arrives into your hands for around $540 right now on Amazon, something we'll talk about later on in the review.
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Intel 4790K Devil's Canyon S-spec SR219 CPU Overclocking Report

Introduction

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To coincide with Computex 2014, Intel launched three new unlocked processors based on the Haswell architecture. The processors are the Core i7-4790K, the model we're testing today, the Core i5-4690K, and a special edition dual-core Pentium model to celebrate Intel's 20th anniversary of the Pentium processor.
The Core i7 4790Ks we're testing today came with a marketing nickname, Devil's Canyon. The processor was designed specifically for overclocking and features a 4.4GHz TurboBoost speed, HyperThreading, as well as knobs to adjust everything from cache speeds to BCLK dividers.

Specifications

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With a base clock speed of 4GHz that increases to a maximum turbo frequency of 4.4GHz at stock settings, the 4790K is Intel's flagship enthusiast processor. The 4790K will work with existing Z87 motherboards with a BIOS update, and is compatible out of the box with all Z97 motherboards. The 4790K is Intel's highest clocked quad-core CPU, yet it still boasts features such as integrated graphics and an exceptional dual-channel memory controller.

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Two major differences set the Devil's Canyon CPUs apart from the original Haswell K-SKUs: updated thermal interface material (TIM) and extra capacitors on the CPU package. While the boost in CPU speed means that the 4790K has a TDP 4W higher than the 4770K, the upgraded TIM should prove to deal with this situation.

Pricing and Availability

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The 4790K is priced at $340 at most online retailers; however, we purchased our CPUs from two local Microcenters, which have in-store specials as low as $280. The 4690K retails for $240, and the special edition dual-core Pentium edition (G3258) retails at $75.
The boxed 4790K carries the basic Intel CPU cooler, a warranty manual with sticker, and a free trial of McAfee LiveSafe. The standard warranty on the 4790K is 3 years. However, if you are worried about overclocking causing damage not covered under Intel's standard warranty, you can purchase Intel's Performance Tuning Protection Plan (PTPP), which covers any damage from overclocking. The Intel Performance Tuning Protection Plan offers extra protection at the low cost of $25; as long as you purchase the PTPP within one year of the purchase of the processor, Intel will replace your CPU one time due to damage caused by overclocking.
PRICING: You can find the Intel i7-4790K 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 Intel i7-4790K retails for $329.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The Intel i7-4790K retails for CDN$446.01 at Amazon Canada.
Australia: The Intel i7-4790K retails for $470.99 AUD at Mighty Ape Australia.
New Zealand: The Intel i7-4790K retails for $499.99 NZD at Mighty Ape NZ.
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iXsystems FreeNAS Mini 4-Bay NAS Review

Introduction

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It's not very often that a piece of hardware comes along that intimidates me. For a very long time, I've been a Windows user almost exclusively, and the operating system designed for everyday users tends to dumb down the user, in this case me. In Windows, everything has a wizard--even complicated tasks--so when you take the simple walkthrough menus away, you are left with panic...until you research to remember things from long ago.
iXsystems took over the FreeNAS project in 2009, but the company dates back to 1996 when it started as Telnet Systems. FreeNAS has the widest adoption of all open source storage centric operating systems, and it is a very powerful operating system when placed in capable hands. The software's big claim to fame is the ZFS file system that has been built upon over several years. Considered one of the most secure file systems ever created, ZFS has a strong focus on data integrity. Over the years, bells and whistles were added--the kitchen sink was added somewhere along the line, too. The file system quickly gained new popularity with the introduction of solid state drives (SSDs) for use as a data cache to increase system performance. Technology like deduplication also gained new popularity in all flash arrays since the advanced compression now makes it feasible for companies to use all flash while retaining data sets with more bits than the flash can natively hold.
Using the advanced features requires considerable processing power, and the demands on the CPU and system RAM can quickly escalate. I think this is why we don't see ZFS or FreeNAS used by the big three Taiwan NAS system providers.
For the most part, FreeNAS has been a DIY market product, but that is about to change now that iXsystems has stepped up to build off-the-shelf products with a full support staff and provide warranty support on the hardware.

Hardware Specifications and Pricing

Modern NAS servers have moved beyond data storage through a wire network. In order to get the most out of a NAS, you need to look at the extra I/O hardware and the mountain of potential software features.

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We were able to find five models from iXsystems with the FreeNAS Mini product name. Systems come with 16TB, 12TB, 8TB, 4TB, or without storage drives. The new FreeNAS Mini uses an Intel Avoton 8-core SoC processor and pairs the system with 16GB of ECC DRAM. Hardware wise, this is a massive increase in processing power from the off-the-shelf NAS products we normally test, including even some of the larger rackmount systems. To put this into perspective, over the last twelve months, an average NAS on our test bench used an Intel Atom dual-core processor with HyperThreading and shipped with 2-4GB of system DRAM.

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The entry price starts out at $995 for a diskless system and ramps up to $1,895 for a 16TB (4 x 4TB) FreeNAS Mini. There are a few steps along the way as well, so iXsystems has a few stopgaps; it's not all or nothing on the capacity side. Our sample system shipped with four Western Digital RE 2TB 7,200 RPM drives and two SanDisk SSDs. Users can speak with iXsystems directly about customization, request a quote from the website, or purchase preconfigured systems directly from Amazon.
The FreeNAS Mini also has several other nice features that complement the powerful processor. Dual gigabit Ethernet ports deliver data to and from the NAS, but the system also comes with an IMPI management port with iKVM capability. Three USB ports--two on the front and one on the back--allow for some expansion as well.
PRICING: You can find the iXsystems FreeNas Mini (8TB) 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 iXsystems FreeNas Mini (8TB) retails for $1,495.00 at Amazon.
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Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler Revisited in 2014

Introduction, Specifications and Pricing

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For quite some time now, there have been many comments on our cooler reviews from users wanting to know just how well the NH-D14 would do today. This could be basic trolling, but there is the possibility they own a NH-D14 and want to know if they should upgrade, or even the possibility people believe there is no better cooler than the originator to dual-tower cooling. No matter the reasoning behind all of the comments, we got together with Noctua and asked for another D-14 to run through the testing we showcase today, so we can put all the questions about this cooler to rest.
Close to five years ago we tested this cooler, and in that day we were using the TEC system in a hotbox, which was more of the industry standard for that time, as many manufacturers were using similar methods to design and test their coolers. Even while the rankings of coolers stay very similar, that system was built to mimic the Q6700. Today we use more real-world testing, and allow the system to run in a much cooler ambient temperature. We have even found that audio testing offers lower results now, without the noise echoing and bouncing around inside of that hotbox. These are all things that could slightly alter a user's perspective of a cooler, and now we can put the NH-D14 on a level playing field so that the charts offered in this article will reveal the truth about where the NH-D14 stands in today's market.
This also will not be a full blown review of the cooler, as we did that once already, and that review can be found here. What we are going to show today is, of course, the Noctua NH-D14, but we will also be showing off changes that were made, side by side, with the NH-D15 as well. We will be providing full thermal and noise level charts, but there will not be an award. With a revisit, we plan to cover all the aspects of what made the NH-D14 so good back then. We will also explore why so many users are interested in how well it can hang with all the other coolers we have tested to see if it really is time for an upgrade, or if the D-14 has stood the test of time, and is still the champion today that everyone touted it as so many years ago.

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We added the chart as just a refresher so that readers are fully aware of what the NH-D14 has to offer. If you would like to read the complete rundown of how it is assembled, and what it is constructed of, again, please see our link back to the original review.
We took a look around to see if the Noctua NH-D14 is still widely available, and even after almost five years of being on the market, we can see its relevance hasn't faded in today's market. The NH-D14 is ready to be purchased from just about every location we could think of. Originally, most retailers were asking near to $90 U.S. dollars for this cooler; however, we found that both versions, the original NH-D14 and the LGA2011 edition of the cooler, can be found for just under $75 U.S. these days. This information is just to put things into a better perspective for those who don't already own this cooler. Those that do own it have likely had many great years of CPU cooling, and just want to know if it is time to move on from this beast of a cooler; or they may just want to gather bragging rights to how well their cooler does, even after five years of advancements and improvements made in the CPU cooling game.
PRICING: You can find the NOCTUA NH-D14 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 NOCTUA NH-D14 retails for $74.95 at Amazon,and the NOCTUA NH-D15 retails for $104.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The NOCTUA NH-D14 retails for CDN$89.98 at Amazon Canada.
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PNY SandForce based Optima SSD - The Switch Side Discussed

Introduction

TweakTown image pny_sandforce_based_optima_ssd_the_switch_side_discussed

If you missed the original blog post that started the PNY bait and switch controversy, you can read it here. After I published my rant on the topic, the article went viral, at least as viral as a computer hardware blog can go. Several media outlets picked up the story, calls for boycotts broke out on Reddit, and PR spinners spun well into the night.
The short version of the story is as follows. PNY sent a few SSD reviewers Optima 240GB SSDs to review. The initial advertising to us in an email stated these used the new SMI, short for Silicon Motion, controller. To my knowledge, the first wave of reviews went only to those who already worked with SMI in the past. It's a very small group. We liked the original PNY Optima with a Silicon Motion controller for its performance and very low price. We liked it so much that we gave it an award. That award logo made it into advertising (shown above). That's where a typical review story ends, but not this time.
We received an email from a reader that purchased a PNY Optima 240GB but found a SandForce controller in the drive, not a Silicon Motion controller. The timing is important here in my opinion; this occurred roughly one month after our review went online.
The title of this editorial is PNY SandForce Based Optima - The Switch Side. The original Optima with a Silicon Motion controller was The Bait.
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