IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 4/25/2015

Acer announces 34-inch 21:9 ultra-wide monitor with NVIDIA's G-Sync
Acer has just unveiled its new XR341CKA, which is a 34-inch curved 21:9 ultra-wide monitor with NVIDIA's G-Sync technology. It's the world's first curved monitor to feature NVIDIA's G-Sync technology, too.

The new 34-inch monitor features a resolution of 3440x1440, and should be quite the sight with its IPS panel and 178-degree viewing angles. We have 100% of the sRGB color gamut covered, which will have photographers and video editors checking their wallets. Display input wise, Acer has provided the XR341CKA with DisplayPort, HMDI and a buit-in USB 3.0 hub for the ultimate in convenience.

Acer is pricing the XR341CKA at $1299, and will have it launch in September in the US.


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Marvel announces partnership with Telltale for a brand new game
Telltale has been busy of late with their popular The Walking Dead games, but during a special event held in San Francisco, the studio announced it had teamed up with Marvel Games, with a new game expected for 2017.

The studio said: "Announced this evening in San Francisco, we're excited to reveal an all-new partnership with the incredible team at Marvel Entertainment. We'll be teaming up on the development of an upcoming Telltale game series project set to premiere in 2017!"


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reTXT Labs launches ultra secure, simple to use mobile messaging app
reTXT Labs recently launched reTXT, a secure and private mobile messaging app, so users have more control of text messages. The messaging service uses end-to-end encryption to help make sure outsiders are not likely to be able to snoop on messages. It's a unique offering for consumers, as most of the security-focused messaging services are designed more for the corporate world.

reTXT users can edit sent messages, delete sent messages, clarify any misunderstood messages, name group message threats, and opt in or out of group messages. In addition, it's even easier to send photo and video messages or use a device's microphone to send voice messages, the company noted.

"The tools we provide make texting and messaging easier for the person who communicates privately with family, friends and colleagues every single day," said Kevin Wooten, co-founder and CEO of reTXT Labs.

"Consumers have overwhelmingly chosen text messaging as the preferred choice for mobile communications, yet they actually have little control over their messages thanks to autocorrecting tools and the lack of ability to easily fix errors leading to miscommunication. reTXT's editing features put users in control of their text conversations, while end-to-end encryption makes messaging truly secure for the first time."

A 60-day free trial is available for Google Android and Apple iOS users - and a one-year subscription is just 99 cents.


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FireEye: Becoming even harder to identify and track cybercriminals
Cybercriminals, largely motivated by breaching networks to steal money and collect personal information, are becoming more difficult to identify, according to a leading cybersecurity expert.

"In 2010, when responding to breaches, almost every time we'd look at the evidence and we kinda knew who [the hackers] were," said Kevin Mandia, president of FireEye, in a statement published by Re/Code. "Right now we're starting to get more groups that we're labeling unknown. We have like 400 of them."

There is increased focus on cybersecurity, but trying to accurately identify and track threat actors - while preventing them from breaching networks - is an extremely complex issue. Unfortunately, companies must realize that they are likely to suffer a data breach at some point, and should focus more on breach crisis to ensure they can bounce back as quickly as possible.

Mandia also offered advice to company executives regarding staying secure: make sure email responses are short, with important conversations transferred from company servers to their own servers connected to an Apple iPad - as the "target surface" is still relatively small.


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First 'Mad Max' PS4 gameplay footage released
In just a few short weeks, the much anticipated sequel to 'Mad Max'; 'Fury Road' will hit screens worldwide, with a flurry of pre-release trailers commanding much attention. Strangely, the long in production video game from Avalanche Studios has been much quieter. But now Warner Bros. Games has released the first trailer of in-game footage, and it looks highly encouraging - especially for a license tie-in.

Officially announced at E3 2013, the 'Mad Max' game was originally announced for Windows, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One before being delayed when the theatrical release of 'Fury Road' was announced last year, but now, the previous generation console versions have been abandoned.

Bizarrely, despite the long gestation, the game still won't make the May theatrical release date, but will instead drop in September when the Blu-ray and DVD version of the film is released.


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South Korea constantly battling North Korea in growing cyber war
The South Korean government believes they have found evidence that shows North Korea is behind cyberattacks aimed at its financial sector and nuclear operators. The malicious code was designed to delete files from infected PCs, which prevented banking customers from transferring money online or withdraw money in-person.

"The malicious codes used in the attack were same in composition and working methods as 'Kimsuky' codes known to be used by North Korea," according to the South Korean prosecutor's office, and noted by CNN. In addition, some IP addresses were traced back to Shenyang, China, which is along the border between China and North Korea - with North Korea reportedly relying on China's more established Internet infrastructure to launch attacks.

North Korea's growing cyber ability tends to be focused on South Korea, with financial institutions, nuclear power operators, and private sector companies all targeted in the past.


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NPD: US smartphone sales among consumers making less than $30K doubles
The consumer mobile market is transitioning towards smartphones, with sales to consumers making less than $30,000 per year increasing by more than 50 percent, according to The NPD Group.

Mobile phone sales increased 28 percent year-over-year, while smartphones sales increased 35 percent during the same time period - with Apple and Samsung accounting for two out of every three devices sold.

"The smartphone market continues to undergo radical changes, even as it approaches maturity in the U.S.," said Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis at NPD. "As older and less affluent buyers enter the market, the industry is increasingly offering pricing and service plans that match the needs of these demographics."

As smartphone saturation matures, manufacturers are trying to get powerful devices into the hands of first-time smartphone owners. Phone makers and wireless carriers are trying to make it more affordable for customers as the competitive landscape changes.


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Get The ZeroLemon 20000mAh Dual USB Battery Pack For 50% Off

An external battery than can fuel an iPhone seven times over...with nothing more than the power of the sun? We're sold. And you will be too-the ZeroLemon SolarJuice 20000mAh Battery is going for $49.99 at TweakTown Deals.

Solar-powered, shockproof, and rain-resistant, this portable battery is perfect for fans of the great outdoors, whether you're on a day hike or just waiting in a really long line for brunch. The dual output lets you quickly charge two iOS or Android devices at the same time wherever you are. Not outside? It comes with a MicroUSB cable so you can charge it at home.

A deal this good won't last long-get the ZeroLemon SolarJuice 20000mAh Battery for 50% off at TweakTown Deals now.


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Logitech reports best earnings in seven years thanks to sales growth
As according to the latest press release, Logitech has reportedly exceeded its fiscal year 2015 expectations with a 28 percent growth in sales in the category of gaming, tablet and other accessories.

Logitech's GAAP operating income was rated at $141 million with its GAAP earnings per share equaling $0.81 compared to $0.46 last year. This massive growth marks its best earnings per share rating since the 2008 fiscal year.

When asked about future development plans, president and CEO Bracken Darrell stated "we will accelerate our transformation of Logitech into a simpler, faster, growing company. We will focus on our growing Retail Strategic business."


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Wrestling is coming to the PC - WWE 2K15
Browsing the Whirlpool forums we came across a post by user GeoffBRO! exclaiming that WWE will finally be coming to the PC platform in the next few days.

Bundled on Steam with 10% off and a free DLC, the game opens in approximately five days time and will set you back $49.49.

Sporting multiple language options, it also has to be said that this is one new game the you certainly don't need a beastly PC for - recommending users invest in an NVIDIA GTX 570 and Intel Core i5-3550 @ 3.30 GHz to ensure smooth game play. For most PC enthusiasts this should be no issue as these kind of specifications were common for many in 2011.


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London to host $50,000 CS:GO tournament - Gfinity
Invites have started surfacing for the Gfinity $50,000 CS:GO tournament, to be held inside their London arena on May 15-17.

The first team to be announced is Australia's Vox Eminor, looking to improve their international tournament results with the inclusion of Yaman 'Yam' Ergenekon and will be one of two teams from the land down under to make the trip over to Europe in the same month - being Team Immunity heading to a DreamHack BYOPC qualifier.

Gfinity will be releasing more competing teams over the next few days for its Masters tournament.

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Patriot launches M.2-based Ignite Series SSDs with 560MB/sec reads
Patriot has just announced its new Ignite M2 SSDs, based on the super-small M.2 next-generation form factor (NGFF) standard. The new Patriot Ignite M2 measures in at just 22m wide, and 80mm long.

As for its speeds, we have up to 560MB/sec sequential reads and 320MB/sec writes, with 4KB random read and write speeds of 90/70K IOPS. Patriot's VP of Engineering, Les Henry, explains: "We are happy to announce the Ignite M2 addition to our family of SSD products. With the Ignite M2, Patriot now offers a full range of SSDs, from 2.5" SATA 3, to mSATA and now M.2. The Ignite M2 drives are the perfect storage solution for those looking to build/upgrade their small form factor PCs".

Patriot's new Ignite M2 SSDs come in 240GB and 480GB sizes, with the Phison S10 controller and SATA 6Gbps standard. The 240GB model has an MSRP of $109.99 while the 480GB costs $209.99, with both models available through Fry's Electronics, Amazon, and Newegg.


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Facebook's latest data: 1.44 billion people using Facebook each month
During Facebook's Q1 2015 earnings report, the social network has said that there are now over 1.44 billion people using Facebook each month, which is up 13% year-over-year. From those 1.44 billion users, 1.25 billion of them were on mobile, which is a bigger increase of 24% year-over-year.

Facebook has 936 million daily active users, and 798 million mobile daily active users (an increase of 17% and 31% year-over-year, respectively). This is something worth noting: around 65% of Facebook's users are using the social network daily, with 64% of those on mobile using it every single day. The numbers are continuing to grow, where if we compare the mobile-only monthly active users from Q1 2013 (just two years ago now) where it was at 189 million, compared to 581 million in Q1 2015.

Other noteworthy numbers: there are 800 million people on WhatsApp per month, 700 million on Groups per month, 600 million people using Messenger each month, and 300 million people using Instagram per month. Insane numbers, which are joined by 45 billion messages sent daily, 4 billion videos viewed per day, 650 million people connected to sports Page of some kind, and there are now over two million advertisers using Facebook.


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Patriot FUEL iON Magnetic 2100mAh Battery Pack Review

Introduction

Yes, another accessory in the Patriot Memory FUEL iON series; we'll be covering the magnetic 2100 mAh battery pack today. If you've read any of our other reviews, you will have noticed that I'm personally a huge fan of this series as a whole, offering you a brilliant alternative charging solution providing you have a supported phone model.

As with every other accessory we review, there's a few criteria and questions that this product will have to fulfil and answer - what does this product provide that the traditional products do not and is it set at a reasonable price point? We've touched on in all of these reviews that the Patriot Fuel iON series has some awesome ideas and implementation, but the price has been just a little too much.

Specifications

Featuring a 2100 mAh internal battery and the ability to charge compatible devices through the power of magnetic charging, you can expect 99.5% efficiency when compared to regular cable charging. However, if you're looking to lend a hand to a friend, there is also a singular USB output port located on the side of the device.

Thanks to the magnetic connection, this cable will be able to charge your phone at any angle within a 360 degree spectrum, as long as a connection is continued, matching the service offered by every other accessory in this range. You charge this product through magnetic charging, meaning all other accessories that are compatible with your phone will suit this product just fine.

The discharge rate of this device is limited to 1.0A, meaning it's twice as fast as your general USB port, but falls short when compared with a wall-charger or many other portable battery packs.

Pricing & Availability

Setting you back $49.99 with free shipping from Amazon, this product is undeniably useful, but once again a bit pricey.

What's in the box?

The extremely simple package consists of a charging cable, quick-start manual, and the battery itself.

The included USB cable is of adequate length and not quite as thick as the rest of the offerings, meaning you can route it easily and bends in the architecture due to being folded up don't matter as much.

PRICING: You can find the Patriot FUEL iON 2100mAh Magnetic Power Bank 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 Patriot FUEL iON 2100mAh Magnetic Power Bank retails for $45.34 at Amazon.

Australia: Find other tech and computer products like this over at PLE Computer's website.

Canada: The Patriot FUEL iON 2100mAh Magnetic Power Bank retails for CDN$58.90 at Amazon Canada.
... Read the rest in your browser!



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Endless possibilities...Introducing the Fractal Define S!
The Fractal Design Define S lends the appearance, sound dampening technology, and support for a wide variety of components from the widely popular Define Series, while introducing a new, innovative internal layout. The Define S case is packed with intelligently designed enthusiast-oriented features delivering a silent case with powerful and expansive air and liquid cooling support, presented in a stunning Scandinavian inspired construction.

The modernized internal layout of the Define S omits the optical drive bays, instead focusing on a clear straight airflow path and uncompromising water cooling support.

The Define S case reaches the highest level of silent computing through strategically placed dense sound-absorbing material, multiple ModuVent fan vent covers and finely tuned Dynamic Series fans.

Key Features

• Optimally designed for silent computing, while not compromising on airflow and cooling capabilities
• Innovative internal layout, providing a perfectly straight airflow path to the CPU heat sink for air cooling set ups or extensive radiator mounting possibilities for water cooling set ups
• Extensive water cooling support for a case of this size; housing radiators up to 420mm in the top and 360mm in the front
• Including smart reservoir brackets; featuring drill-free reservoir mounting on the front of the motherboard tray and pre-drilled pump mounting holes on the bottom panel
• Equipped with ModuVent fan slot covers providing the option of additional cooling or maximum sound absorption
• Including two Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 140mm fans developed for superlative airflow while still maintaining low noise levels
• Maintaining a dust-free interior with dust filters that cover the front and bottom air intakes
• Introducing newly designed hard drive trays placed vertically behind the front partition of the motherboard tray; Three sturdy steel trays with vibration-dampening grommets allowing for installation of one 3.5" or 2.5" drive on each tray, without disrupting the airflow or interfering with the radiator mounting possibilities
• An additional 2 dedicated steel SSD trays cleanly placed behind the motherboard tray
• Long motherboard tray extending to the front panel contributing to an extremely clean build, hiding both hard drives and cables
• Define S model is also available with a large window on the side panel

For more product details and image gallery, visit the Define S product page!

*Availability of Define S starting June 2015

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BIOSTAR brings out the Small but Powerful Hi-Fi B85S1 Motherboard
The newest motherboard based on Intel B85 single chip architecture by BIOSTAR is ready to work hard, play hard and fit in. The Hi-Fi B85S1 supports Intel's 4th generation Core i7 and Core i5 processors in the 1150 package and is value designed in a Micro-ATX form factor with 2 channel DDR3 slots for 16GB, enough to handle any modern computing requirements and be usable in small or tight spaces.

BIOSTAR's Hi-Fi B85S1 delivers a business-rich option at a value price compared to the other companies. The Hi-Fi B85S1 features BIOSTAR innovative Hi-Fi technology, a built-in powerful headphone amplifier and Super LAN Surge Protection which enhances Ethernet protections. Being an Intel B85 chipset based system, it comes with features like Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST), for faster system boot and shorter application load time, and Intel® Small Business Advantage (Intel® SBA), which delivers business-centric security protection, such as after-hours virus scans and data backup, and blocks recognition of unwanted USB drives and Intel's Smart Connect Technology.

The BIOSTAR Hi-Fi B85S1 also perfectly fills entertainment needs with support for Direct3D 11.1 and HDMI. It has Blu-ray audio and provides a higher audio output of 24 bit/ 192KHz rather than 16 bit/48KHz from typical motherboards. In addition, the Hi-Fi B85S1 is the first to embed the "Double Hi-Fi" integrated AMP which allows users to enjoy the same high quality of sound; whether the sound source output is set to the front or rear of the PC, both out puts produce extra high quality sound.

The Hi-Fi B85S1 boasts 100% solid capacitors and Super Durable Ferrite Chokes bringing you the benefits of higher current capacity, lower energy loss and better power stability.

The Hi-Fi B85S1 is Windows 8 ready, and supports BIO-Remote2 and BIOS Online Update features for easy management as well as Charger Booster function for fast charging of cell-phones.

MSRP for the Hi-Fi B85S1 is US$59.

Find out more at: http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=794

View BIOSTAR Latest Video at:

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Available Tags:Acer , PS4 , smartphone , USB , Logitech , Facebook ,