IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 30/05/2012

RunCore releases Rocket Air SSD, designed for mid-2011 MacBook Air
Some of the hardware in the Apple MacBook Air is designed specifically for the MacBook Air so that everything would fit inside that tiny chassis. An example of that is the solid state drive which doesn't follow a traditional 2.5-inch form factor. Thankfully there are companies out there like RunCore who will build to such a niche market.

The drive itself is small. According to the RunCore press release it is "almost a half-size of conventional 2.5" SSDs without case." Usually when a device is shrunk down performance and storage capabilities take a hit, but that is not the case here. In this instance, this SSD offers up to 4 times the original storage amount of the MacBook Air.

It manages to have all that storage while performing better. Testing shows that the SSD is capable of over 500MB/s transfer thanks to its SATA III interface. It also offers Tier 1 Toggle Synchronous NAND which adds to its performance. The key features, as RunCore says, are as follows:

Compatible with Late-2011 MacBook Air perfectly

SATA III interface and Tier 1 Toggle Synchronous NAND

Data Encryption: 128-bit AES-compliant

ECC: Up to 55 bits correctable per 512-byte sector (BCH)

Wear Leveling: Enhanced endurance by dynamic/static wear-leveling

Trim supported

Dimension: 108.9(L) x 24(W) x 3.2(T) mm

Deal of the Day: 15.6" HP dv6t Laptop w/Intel i7-3610QM, 8GB RAM for $749.99 Shipped!
Our Deal of the Day is 15.6" HP dv6t Laptop w/Intel i7-3610QM, 8GB RAM for $749.99 Shipped!

HP's new $100 off $999+ STACKABLE coupon code lets you save up to $300 on the best-selling HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition Laptop PC! The HP dv6t has recently been upgraded with the new Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs and the well-performing NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M GPUs. Get it for just $749.99 shipped free! Check out the specs: 3rd Gen Intel Core i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz w/ Turbo to 3.3 GHz), 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M Graphics [HDMI, VGA], 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm), 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive, 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery - Up to 6.0 hours of battery life, 15.6" HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1366x768), Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner, HP TrueVision HD Webcam, 802.11b/g/n WLAN, Standard Keyboard w/ Number Keys, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Get it from HP: HP PAVILION DV6T QUAD LAPTOP PC W/ IVY BRIDGE INTEL I7-3610QM 8GB RAM 1TB HDD BLU-RAY DEAL

Use coupon code: NBW9325 for the $100 off $999+ STACKABLE discount. Expire after 1000 uses or on 06/02/2012.

Download of the Day: Fraps 3.5.3
Our Download of the Day is Fraps 3.5.3.

Fraps is a great tool for not only benchmarking, but frame rate monitoring. It's the perfect overlay for your gaming. The update to version 3.5.3 brings the following changelog:

Fixed micro-stutter in recorded video after temporary framerate drop
Fixed missing video frames in some games after rendering paused
Fixed bug causing error message on startup for some users

You can download Fraps 3.5.3 here.

NVIDIA takes out Best Choice Awards from Computex for GEFORCE GTX 680, Tegra 3
NVIDIA's super-powerful GEFORCE GTX 680 as well as their 4-PLUS-1-sporting Tegra 3 SoC have both taken home Best Choice Awards ahead of Computex in Taipei next week.

The Tegra 3 was part of the Smart Handheld Devices Innovation, with the GTX 680 being part of the IC Components. As NVIDIA walks away with Best Choice Awards, it marks the fourth consecutive year that the company has been awarded.

The mobile industry reflects the effectiveness and efficiency of the Tegra 3 chip, which has given smart devices more power, as well as more battery life thanks to its 4-PLUS-1 design. The same thing goes for the GEFORCE GTX 680, which offers lower temperatures, quieter running operation, and of course, high performance all in a single-GPU package.

Samsung announces that the GALAXY S III will hit 28 markets across Europe and the Middle East today
Samsung have just announced that the GALAXY S III, their latest Exynos 4 Quad-powered smartphone will hit 28 markets across Europe and the Middle East today, arriving in 145 markets worldwide by July.

Today's launch is the company's largest single device push ever, with the July extension pushing the number of carriers offering the phone to a very tidy 296 across the world, which will include U.S.-based carriers.

The smartphone has already been immensely popular, with Amazon Germany seeing it become their biggest selling smartphone before it was even released, and Samsung have speculated that they've secured more than 9 million pre-orders. Considering the GALAXY S II saw 20 million shipped in 10 months, the S III is already half way in terms of beating its predecessor.

The phone is also the official smartphone of the 2012 Olympic Games, as well as being a partner of VISA. Athletes competing in the London games will get the phone given to them, as well as have the ability to use it to make NFC-based payments across the UK's capital city.

Are you going to get one? I will hopefully have my hands on one next week!

Gainward GEFORCE GTX 680 2GB Phantom Video Card Review

Introduction

Like a couple of NVIDIA only partners it's been a while since we've seen anything from Gainward and that's mainly due to the simple fact that NVIDIA partners haven't really had anything new to show off for the past few months. That is of course until we saw the release of the new GEFORCE 600 series video cards.

While at launch Gainward was ready with its reference design card, a few weeks after they had the Phantom model ready - a series that we've liked on their mid and high-end video cards since it launched. Today, though, we see the series get its fastest model yet, the GTX 680.

GTX 680 is a GPU we've loved since its launch - it has offered us incredible performance and the price tag NVIDIA launched the model at was super competitive. There's only ever been one issue the whole time. Stock has been quite pitiful since its launch on the market and it's not looking much better at the moment as you head on over to Newegg and see every model is out of stock.

Of course there are a few things we need to do before we get into the performance side of things. First thing we'll do is check out the package to see what Gainward has done before we move onto the video card itself.

Once we've done that we'll go over the specifications of this overclocked model from Gainward before we quickly cover our testbed and talk about some of the other video cards that will be in our graphs here today. Then it's onto the performance side of things before we wrap everything up. First things first, though, let's see what's going on with the package and bundle here today on Gainward's new GTX 680 2GB Phantom.

Package

Looking through the box we get a good idea of some of the main features including a factory overclock, 6-phase PWM and DrMOS. The two features that are most highlighted, though, come in terms of the cooler.

You can see that a large part of the focus is on the new Phantom cooler which is said to operate quieter than the reference cooler, while also helping make the video card run cooler. We'll find out how much truth there is to this a little later on when we get to testing the noise and temperature.

As for the bundle it's in fairly typical Gainward fashion that we don't see a lot going on. We've got a manual and driver CD alongside a DVI to VGA connector, HDMI to DVI connector and dual 6-pin PCIe to 8-pin PCIe power connector. Overall there is nothing all that exciting, but it includes everything you'll need to get the video card up and running.
... Read the rest in your browser!

HTC Canada Announces the Release of Much Awaited Ice Cream Sandwich Update for Two Smartphones in Conjunction with Bell Canada, Reports Ontario Based Market Research Co
All users of HTC Canada Smartphones would very soon receive the Ice Cream Sandwich update for their handsets, according to Internet Market Services. The Ontario based market survey and research company have also reported that the update has just been made available with Bell Canada for the handsets Sensation 4G and Raider 4G LTE. Internet Marketing Services is well known as a leading market research company that keeps the consumers updated regarding the latest developments pertaining to different popular products. The handset users receiving this Android 4.0 update would be able to enjoy tons of new features on their existing handsets.

According to the report, HTC Canada would soon introduce this update for most of their handsets excepting HTC's Android Tablets like Honeycomb, Jetstream, Eco View 4G, and Flyer. The update would also be missed by the users of HTC's budget handsets like Salsa, ChaCha, Explorer, WildfireS, etc. Internet Marketing Services reveals that the Ice Cream Sandwich update will provide new features including an excellent typeface named Roboto. Flexible stock widgets in Ice Cream Sandwich can be resized, and the app drawer has dedicated space for them. With this update, the users would now be able to take screenshots simply by holding the volume and power button.

The new update also has serious enhancements for the camera including time lapse modes, panorama, face detection, better autofocus, image stabilization, and instant upload facility to Google+. The report from Internet Marketing Services has informed that the users of the two specified HTC Canada handset users can download the file from the settings section of their handsets. The announcement of this update is certainly great news for users of HTC handsets in Canada as the Ice Cream Sandwich update is all set to revolutionize the user experience for the Android users.

Hardware-Assisted DRM on the Samsung GALAXY S III Smartphone Secured by Discretix
Discretix, the leading global provider of field proven content protection solutions, today announced that its hardware-assisted DRM is being used to secure HD video services on the recently announced Samsung GALAXY S III smartphone.

To deliver robust content protection for the GALAXY S III, the Discretix' hardware-assisted solutions are fully integrating with the ARM® TrustZone security framework. The solutions utilize the Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) and Secure OSs of the mobile application processors.

Discretix' DRM solutions enable the devices to securely access HD VoD and live TV services such as Samsung's Media Hub. The solutions embody proficiency in all elements of the ARM® TrustZone® ecosystem and more than a decade of hands-on experience with a variety of mobile platforms, operating systems and robustness requirements.

"Discretix is pleased to have been selected to provide content protection solutions for Samsung GALAXY S III", said Coby Sella, CEO of Discretix. "Built on top of the newest processors and most advanced security technologies, our products are at the technology forefront of the world's leading Android devices".

Tt eSPORTS Unveils the KNUCKER Pro-Gaming Keyboard
Tt eSPORTS, the leading e-Sports brand in gaming products and event organizer, is announcing the latest keyboard creation KNUCKER. Collaborated and co-designed by Tt eSPORTS Team Tt Apollos pro-player Hermes, KNUCKER pro-gaming keyboard is unique in its unprecedented key-switch design. Installing Tt-Plunger switch technology, developed by Tt eSPORTS' Key-switch Product Development workshop, KNUCKER is bringing the ultimate key response experience simulating to mechanical switch, but with extreme ease and comfort.

Design Concept of KNUCKER pro-gaming keyboard
The design concept came from Team Tt Apollos' Hermes and his specific demands in easing the key-press strength during the competition. KNUCKER was co-created and went through phases of testing and evaluation by the members of Team Tt Apollos, and the KNUCKER demonstrated the obvious differences when Hermes delivered an All-Star performance in game Kart Rider since the beginning of 2012.

KNUCKER Features
KNUCKER pro-gaming keyboard is installed with the plunger-switch that simulates mechanical switch feedback, but with extra elasticity and comfort.

The KNUCKER is also designed with the S4Key-Function to accelerate gamer's need in rotating the command repeat rate in 4 modes: 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x. This feature derives from the common gaming behavior also known as the Repeat-Rate Rotating Movement, or R3M in short. This behavior motivates the initial creation of KNUCKER, and to apply in gaming environment, the keyboard acts as a gaming solution to allow gamers such as Team Tt Apollos' Hermes to switch the mode rapidly.

Each key cap of KNUCKER is meticulously designed by Tt eSPORTS' Industial Painting Workshop crews to select the most durable yet visually vibrant Electric Cyan silk-print technique, applying on the KNUCKER and the silk-printed keys immediately attracts attention.

8 replaceable red caps are provided for gamers' visual convenience, spotting the most-used keys: W, A, S, D, and the direction keys. Battle Dragon logo has been well-recognized as a representation of Tt eSPORTS by the e-Sports community. KNUCKER gaming keyboard designs F12 key as the Battle Dragon key, locating at the center of keyboard's palm rest, seemingly floating between you and KNUCKER.

For more information please visit http://www.ttesports.com/

For KNUCKER pro-gaming keyboard: http://www.ttesports.com/products/product.aspx?s=33

PNY Launches Transformer USB Flash Drive
PNY Technologies, Inc., a worldwide leader in USB flash drives and a leading manufacture in memory products, today announced the new PNY Transformer USB Flash Drive. This new product exhibits amazing engineering with the famous hook design made famous by the PNY Hook Attache and can rotate 180 degrees and transform to change its form factor, hence giving itself the name "Transformer Attache".

PNY's new Transformer Attache drive comes in high quality stainless steel with a polished and lustrous finish that gives it a professional look and also durable design. Unlike common plastic USB flash drives, the Transformer can easily handle rough use due to its resistance to wear and damage. It bears a corrugated, three dimensional line decor that exudes robustness as well as style.

The hook design lets you attach it to various items such as lanyards, belts, bags, and key chains, among other things. The hook can turn 90 degrees on either side, thus altering the form factor and allowing flexibility of attachment. The innovative housing gives it protection against the dust, and other elements of nature and it is even water resistant. Thanks to the capless design, you don't have to worry about losing the cap.

Weighing just 8.78g, the Transformer is considerably compact at 4.5 mm (H) x 13.9 mm (W) x 47.7 mm (L), thus making it very easy to slip it into your pocket and take it with you. Although compact, it comes in capacities ranging from 4GB to 32GB. You can therefore carry all your pictures, documents, movies, and music on this tiny drive. With a USB 2.0 interface, files can be transferred at up to 10MB/s to the drive and copied back at up to 32 MB/s. The drive works with all recent versions of Windows and Mac OS 10.3 and above. PNY provides a 5-year warranty on the Transformer from the date of purchase.

Product Specifications

Storage Capacities: 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB
Dimensions: 4.5 mm (H) x 13.9 mm (W) x 47.7 mm (L)
Weight: 8.78 g
Interface: USB 2.0
Performance: 4GB/8GB: up to 8MB/sec write, 24MB/sec read
16GB/32GB: up to 10MB/sec write, 32MB/sec read

Learn more about PNY's latest fun to use flash drive here.

LG Display Develops World's First 5" Full HD LCD Panel
LG Display, a leading manufacturer of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display, introduced today a 5" Full HD LCD panel for smartphones - the highest resolution mobile panel to date. Allowing smartphone users to view Full HD content in the same quality as on TVs and monitors, LG Display and its new panel significantly advances the cloud computing experience widely considered the next major internet trend.

LG Display's 5" Full HD LCD panel is a step forward past existing mobile display technology. The LCD panel based on AH-IPS (Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching) technology features 440ppi and 1920x1080 resolution, providing for the first time Full HDTV quality on a smartphone. With 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, the panel is also 0.5 inches larger, 2.2 times denser in pixels, and 1.3 times more advanced in ppi than the preceding 4.5" panel at 329ppi and 1280x720.

"As smartphones become increasingly valued for how well they do multimedia and with the rapid growth of LTE enabling faster large file transfers, our new 5" Full HD LCD panel is certain to prove a significant asset to the mobile market," said Sang-Deok Yeo, CTO and Executive Vice President of LG Display. "With the world's highest resolution smartphone display, LG Display continues to remain a step ahead in developing the most innovative in display technology products."

The display solution of choice for smart devices, LG Display's AH-IPS is the technology behind the new Full HD LCD display. With the high density of AH-IPS, the naked eye is unable to distinguish between individual pixels. AH-IPS panels also express the original color of images highly precisely, and feature a wide viewing angle as well as stable display image and rapid response speed when touched. Finally, with its brighter light transmission and lower power consumption, AH-IPS is ideal for use in outdoor settings.

The 5" Full HD LCD panel from LG Display is expected to be released during the second half of this year, and will be on exhibit for the first time at SID 2012 Display Week in Boston starting June 4.

Available Tags:MacBook , HP , Download , NVIDIA , GEFORCE , GTX , Samsung , GALAXY , HTC , Smartphone , Keyboard , USB , LG ,

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 30/05/2012

Introduction

Package

No comments: