Microsoft rumored to be buying Minecraft developer for $2 billion
An interesting rumor is emerging, that Microsoft will acquire Mojang, the developer behind the super-successful Minecraft. The Wall Street Journal is behind the report, which gives it some weight, which says that a "person familiar with the matter" has noted that the deal is worth over $2 billion.
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Intel continues push towards smartphones, tablets, mobility
Intel continues to develop and manufacture hardware for mobile devices, as Dell and other OEMs show their CPU partner support. In addition to its blossoming plans for increased tablet market saturation, the company also has its sights set on the lucrative smartphone market.
Just a few years ago, Intel was fully dedicated to notebooks, PCs and servers - but a continuing migration to mobile devices shook the company up - and Intel fights for market share in a competitive market. However, Intel didn't want to miss the boat long-term, and invested in expanding mobile research and development. It will still be an uphill battle to compete with ARM, but Intel is grinding away to close the gap.
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HGST reveals its 10TB HDD using Shingled Magnetic Recording technology
IFA 2014 is currently underway in San Francisco, with HGST showing off its newest member in its HelioSeal family, the new Enterprise-class SMR-based 10TB HDD. Yes, you read that right - ten terabytes of storage in a single drive.
Thanks to this method, we have a massively increased density up to 10TB, but writing to the middle of the disk isn't possible without overwriting two shingled tracks simultaneously. PC Perspective explains this as "CD-RW writing, but for hard disks". These new drives will be a better buy than tape-based archiving methods, especially with storage now hitting 10TB per drive.
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ISIS affiliate group sends death threats to Twitter employees
A Twitter account reportedly used by the Al Nusra Al Maqdisia (The Supporters of Jerusalem), a group that has pledged its loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), recently issued death threats against Twitter employees in the United States. The @dawlamoon account was quickly suspended, but not after urging "lone wolf attacks" targeting Twitter employees at the company's San Francisco headquarters.
It's unknown if Twitter is boosting security at its headquarters, but the federal government is aware of the tweets.
Some of the tweets included messages such as:
"The time has arrived to respond to Twitter's management by directly attacking their employees and physically assassinating them! Those who will carry this out are the sleeper cells of death."
"Every Twitter employee in San Francisco in the United States should bear in mind and watch over himself because on his doorstep there might be a lone wolf assassin waiting."
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Salesforce warns customers of CRM-stealing malware targeting users
Salesforce, a company specializing in enterprise CRM, warned that its customers are being targeted with the Dyreza malware designed to steal data and credentials. Specifically, Dyreza was known to target financial institutions, and aims for larger companies. Salesforce was careful to ensure its customers that this isn't a security vulnerability within its platform.
To counter this threat, Salesforce urged customers to deploy IP range restrictions from corporate networks and VPNs only - along with using two-factor authentication to ensure only approved users are accessing CRM databases. As more information is stored - and accessible - in the cloud, security concerns such as this incident can make it even more difficult for businesses to keep data secure.
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PlayStation 4 sales slowed in August, still beat the Xbox One
The Microsoft Xbox One and Nintendo Wii U game platforms saw sales bumps in August, but still couldn't compete against the Sony PlayStation 4 in the United States, analysts recently noted. The Xbox One saw a 14 percent month-over-month boost to account for 150,000 units sold, while the Wii U saw tremendous growth of 11 percent year-over-year up to 65,000. Although the PS4 had a 14 percent month-over-month drop, the console still racked up 175,000 units sold in the same timeframe.
Although the Wii U and Xbox One both saw boosted sales figures in August, it must be troubling that neither platform can still compete on the sales chart against the PS4. Since the PS4 and Xbox One were released in November 2013, it has been domination by Sony's console - and despite a price cut and more console/game bundles, this will continue to be a slugfest.
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PayPal's Braintree opens up bitcoin payments, shaking things up more
Ebay announced that Braintree, a former competitor of PayPal and current subsidiary, will begin accepting bitcoins sometime in the next few months. There won't be direct bitcoin integration via PayPal or the Ebay marketplace, as Ebay reportedly was able to answer regulatory questions and other issues that had to be addressed.
Braintree customers include Uber and Airbnb, and will be able to accept bitcoins if they choose to opt in. It's a curious move that could lead to bitcoin integration within PayPal and eBay in the future, depending how things with Braintree go.
Retailers are seeing greater consumer interest related to bitcoins, and want to provide another way to submit payments.
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U.S. Army reportedly preparing cyber branch to help counter threats
The U.S. Army has steadily improved its Army Cyber Command abilities, and needs to double the amount of cyber-related positions in the next two years. Each cyber team is about the same size of a traditional platoon, with combat missions slightly larger. The teams consist of enlisted soldiers, NCOs, warrant officers, officers and Army civilian employees.
It's difficult to accurately determine what foreign militaries are doing to staff their cyber-related positions - but with select countries using their military to help launch cyberattacks - this is a major initiative for the U.S. military. As weapon systems are increasingly connected to systems that open up the possibility of cyberattacks, the military's cyber teams will be responsible for ensuring they aren't accessed by foreign enemies.
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Apple teases 'one more thing', announces the Watch
For over a year, rumors have circulated about Apple's iWatch, but now we know the official deal: it's the Watch. No 'i', just Watch. Tim Cook has just unveiled it, with Watch featuring a square display with curved edges, and much more.
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Apple Pay, an 'entirely new payment process' powered by NFC
Something that was expected from Apple today was an NFC-powered payment system, with the company unveiling Pay. Pay is an "entirely new payment process" that leverages NFC technology, which stores payment information in the iPhone itself.
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Apple formally introduces iOS 8 for the new iPhone 6
What's a new iPhone without a new operating system? That's right, iOS 8 has been formally unveiled with the new iPhones, with a bunch of new features.
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Apple bakes 'great new cameras' into the new iPhones
The iPhone has always featured an above-average camera, with the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus featuring "great new cameras". Both of the new iPhones feature an 8-megapixel rear-facing iSight camera, with True Tone flash, 1.5 micron pixels, and f/2.2 aperture.
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iPhone 6 features Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Wi-Fi calling and more
With the new iPhone being unveiled, we're finding out the detailed technical side of things - with one of the big improvements being on the networking side of the iPhone 6. Apple has provided LTE 150Mbps, and Wi-Fi 802.11ac, which should keep fast users very happy.
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Apple's new iPhone 6 powered by the 64-bit capable A8 processor
The new iPhone was just announced, with two models being unveiled in Cupertino today: the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Both of Apple's new smartphones are using the company's new A8 processor, which is a 64-bit capable chip.
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Apple unveils its new iPhone: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
Apple has just revealed its next generation iPhone, announcing two models: the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Both of the new iPhones feature a 'Retina HD' display' and much stronger build quality, with an anodized aluminum backing. The iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch display, with the iPhone 6 Plus cranking it up to 5.5 inches.
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Cybercriminals stealing Apple ID credentials from users via phishing
Following all of the attention Apple's iCloud service has received since a 4chan member posted stolen nude photos of celebrities, cybercriminals are now launching another wave of Apple ID phishing attacks. Apple has improved iCloud security, along with allowing users to see when their accounts have been accessed, but customers will have to stay on their toes to avoid being phished.
"It is possible that the timing of the [phishing] campaign is not a coincidence and the controllers of the botnet are attempting to exploit public fears about the security of Apple IDs to lure people into surrendering their credentials," Symantec researchers recently noted.
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Weekly Giveaway: Win a Biostar J1800NH2 Motherboard (Global Entry!)
We have teamed up with Biostar who is giving away three of its latest motherboards.
This week three lucky winners get the chance to win a new Biostar J1800NH2 motherboard. The highlights of this motherboard are its embedded dual-core Celeron processor, fanless operation for quiet computing, and low-power consumption.
The Intel® Celeron J1800(1M Cache, up to 2.58 GHz) is a dual-core processor. Although both parts are clocked the same, at 2.41 GHz, the J1800 also incorporates Burst Technology, that can boost operating frequency up to 2.58 GHz. The maximum GPU frequency was also increased on the J1800 to 792 MHz, while the base GPU speed stayed at 688 MHz. The rest of the specs have not changed.It supports DDR3L-1333 memory and fit into 10 Watt thermal envelope.
SmartSpeedLAN
SmartSpeedLAN is a free software application which monitors and manages your PC's network behavior. With user-friendly GUI, it allows you to select and prioritize different types of network traffic, including gaming, media streaming, communications or web surfing.You can also set any specific applications, choosing to prioritize or block accordingly. SmartSpeedLAN can feature automatic management options that use adaptive networking intelligence to ensure that you are getting the best online experience possible.
Rules and Conditions
Step 1 - Like TweakTown's Facebook Fan Page at http://www.Facebook.com/TweakTown. Your like will be confirmed.
Step 2 - Like Biostar's Facebook Fan Page at http://www.Facebook.com/BiostarHQ. Your like will be confirmed.
Step 3 - Like this News Post on TweakTown!
Step 4 - Like and Share this post at Facebook!
Step 5 - Make any comment on the same post at Facebook!
Step 6 - Sit back and hope you are a winner - good luck!
Disclaimer
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to TweakTown and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for selecting and contacting a winner.
- Giveaway runs from September 9, 2014 until September 16, 2014 at 10:00pm GMT +8:00 - no entries will be taken into consideration after that time.
- If you are a winner, you will be asked to provide your full name, address and telephone number for shipping via Facebook message. These details will only be provided to the company participating in this giveaway. If you do not claim your prize within two weeks, it is forfeited.
- For this weekly prize, anyone in the world can enter. You don't pay the shipping charges, but you are responsible for any taxes.
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Dell deploys SanDisk DAS Cache Software into new Dell PowerEdge Server
SanDisk and Dell are announcing the integration of the SanDisk DAS Cache software into the next generation Dell PowerEdge Servers. SSDs feature extreme performance specs, but unfortunately they continue to carry a price premium over hard disk storage. One of the challenges has been to find an easy method to marry the capacity of hard disk drives with the speed of SSDs. SanDisk DAS Cache software boosts hard drive performance by accelerating frequently used data in an SSD cache layer.
There are several different approaches to SSD-based caching techniques from a number of players. Many involve hardware-based implementations that typically execute the caching algorithms and functionality on a RAID card connected to both the HDD's and SSDs. This can limit choice and also can bring about vendor lock-in concerns.
SanDisk's DAS Cache solution runs on minimally-intrusive software with very little computational overhead. The software resides in the host operating system. This provides nearly unlimited flexibility in configurations, and customers can use SSDs from any vendor, as well as any type of disk-based DAS solution. The use of a wide range of flash solutions, from standard 2.5" SSDs to PCIe application accelerators, allows administrators to configure up to a whopping 16TB of flash in a single server. Users can also utilize various types of redundancy approaches on the underlying flash, such as mirroring, that extends the amount of managed flash up to 32TB per server. The host system and user manage flash redundancy, which allows for numerous configuration to support high-availability environments.
Up to four individual cache pools can be configured for different application requirements. The software provides radical acceleration for a multitude of applications, such as VDI and OLTP. Ease of integration and management is always an important consideration, and the DAS Cache software provides a friendly GUI interface for management of the caching system.
The key capabilities and benefits of the SanDisk DAS Cache software include:
� Ensuring data integrity with write-back caching technology, SanDisk DAS Cache accelerates writes as well as reads;
� Allows a choice of either write-back and/or write-through caching modes for optimal performance and flexibility - even within the same server;
� Scalable up to 16TB of cache capacity per server to support large data sets;
� Flexibility allows up to four separate cache "pools" on a single server to enable different levels of quality of service (QoS);
� Data protection through hardware or software RAID for SSDs;
� Cache persistence on server restart for ease of administration;
� Support for a broad range of operating systems and hypervisors including Microsoft Windows Hyper-v and Linux.
The net results is workload performance gains in the area of 5x to 11x, depending upon the workload. Dells use of this type of caching solution as an OEM-integrated solution on their servers sends the message that flash is here to stay, and finding the best method of combining the speed of SSDs and the capacity of HDD's just got easier.
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Intel's new 'Haswell EP' Xeon CPUs support up to 36 logical cores
Intel's new 'Haswell EP' based Xeon processors are some serious workhorses, packing an insane 18 cores - for a total of 36 logical cores when Hyper-Threading is taken into consideration. This is the new Xeon E5-2600 v3.
Just in case you didn't see, William has posted up an article covering this total beast of a new CPU from Intel.
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Watch a video ad on Spotify Free, get ad-free music for 30 minutes
Spotify is continuing to climb up the music streaming mountain, announcing that it is diving into the video business, offering up video advertising products for its over 30 million free users.
Spotify is able to do this with some big sponsors jumping on-board, such as Coca-Cola, Ford, McDonalds, NBC Universal pictures, Target and Wells Fargo. The music streaming outfit is aiming at a specific group of its users, something the company calls its "highly engaged" audience, users who spend an average of 146 minutes per day, or more, listening across multiple devices. The ads will be pushed into six markets for Q4 2014: Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, the US and the UK. Spotify will roll it out globally sometime in 2015.
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AU Optronics teases new AHVA-based 144Hz display panels
While NVIDIA and ASUS have the gaming display market wrapped up with the ROG Swift PG278Q, AU Optronics has announced a new slew of display panels that are based on its AHVA (Advanced Hyper Viewing-Angle) panel technology. This technology is said to be similar to LG's IPS technology, but cranks the refresh rate up to 144Hz.
AU Optronics is part of the BenQ group, so we should see this new panel baked into BenQ's range of gaming monitors in the near future.
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GIGABYTE Z97X Gaming G1 Black Edition - Circuit and Overclocking Guide
Introduction
The model name itself is a mouthful, and if there was a competition to name boards with more features with longer names, the GA-Z97X Gaming G1 WIFI/Black Edition would win and take home a trophy. GIGABYTE also tossed things up by using red colors on their Z97 series instead of their G1 green, and they do it tastefully, while incorporating some of their designs from their GPU division.
With the departure from green and the traditional naming scheme, the GA-Z97X Gaming G1 WIFI/Black Edition brings about a new area of GIGABYTE gaming boards, with the GA-Z97X Gaming G1 WIFI/Black Edition leading the way.
Let's dive in now and take a close-up look at this motherboard and all that it entails.
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Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G 1050W 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply Review
Introduction
The Toughpower DPS G series from Thermaltake is their second iteration of digital power supplies. The first was only available in a select few wattages, but the new series covers a much broader range of outputs, and as such, it should appeal to quite a few more who are interested in a digital unit. Thermaltake is offering the Toughpower DPS G in wattages ranging from 450W all the way up to 1050W. If that doesn't cover most of the PC market, I don't know what does.
For those wondering what the differences are over the DPS G series compared to the DPS series, it is relatively simple. Thermaltake has changed manufacturers between the two. The original units were manufactured by Sirtec and the new ones are made by CWT. In our experience, we have seen better overall quality from CWT-made units. This is apparent in many ways, ranging from components used to how well everything is soldered together. Let's start by taking a look at the specifications to see what all the 1050W DPS G has to offer.
Specifications, Availability and Pricing
Thermaltake lists the Toughpower DPS G 1050W with an MSRP of $209.99. This is very competitively priced unit considering the technology that comes along with it. The only unit that provides the same features and is digital at this time is the Corsair HX1050 which has an MSRP of $10 more than the Thermaltake unit. Thermaltake backs the Toughpower DPS G 1050W with their industry leading seven year warranty.
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Corsair Force Series LX 512GB SSD Review
Introduction
The reason why Silicon Motion went from an unknown to full on assault of my desk space is pretty easy. Like SandForce, SMI creates a controller, reference design and firmware. If you follow the SSD groups on LinkedIn, then you already know that an SSD firmware engineer can write his own ticket right now (China, India, Taiwan and Silicon Valley are looking for you with open checkbooks!). By taking on a large portion of the responsibility and the initial cost, smaller companies can quickly become SSD manufacturers.
This is the second drive from the Force Series LX product family we've tested. The Force Series LX 256GB review can be seen here.
Specifications, Pricing and Availability
The Force LX supports DEVSLP for long battery life in notebooks and low power consumption in desktops. The drives also use a 7mm z-height for use in newer Ultrabook designs that require very thin housings.
All three models have a three-year warranty from Corsair. Corsair doesn't ship an accessory package with the Force Series LX, but owners do have access to Corsair's SSD Toolbox software free of charge.
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Available Tags:Microsoft , Intel , HDD , Twitter , Xbox , Apple , iPhone 6 , iOS , iPhone , iPhone 6 , iPhone 6 , iPhone 6 , via , Dell , Dell , Server , Xeon , GIGABYTE , Gaming , Thermaltake , SSD ,
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