IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 02/06/2012

Activision settles lawsuit with Call of Duty creators out of court
It has been confirmed that Activision and Jason West and Vincent Zampella have settled their lawsuit out of court after a brief meeting on Thursday. This settlement brings to an end the two year lawsuit stemming from the termination of their employment. There was a lot of he said she said, but in the end, it seems to boil down to the fact Activision didn't want to pay them royalties.

The settlement terms, as par for the course, were not discussed and are highly secretive. This settlement also settles another lawsuit Activision was involved with. This other lawsuit was over royalties as well. When West and Zampella left, 40 or more developers left shortly after. They too filed a lawsuit saying they didn't get their royalty checks.

"All parties have reached a settlement in the dispute, the terms of which are strictly confidential," said Robert Schwartz, an attorney representing West and Zampella. West was in the courtroom, but only grinned widely as he left. Others in the game industry watched closely as it could produce some new case law that would affect somehow.

"This legal battle between the old employees of Infinity Ward and Activision is the most significant in video game history," said Evan Wilson, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. "It's been a major distraction for senior management at Activision at a time when the industry is going through one of its most difficult periods. It will be good for Activision to be able to move past this."

"Activision's refusal to pay their talent and attempt to blame EA were absurd," EA said in a statement. "This settlement is a vindication of Vince and Jason, and the right of creative artists to collect the rewards due for their hard work." Activision's stock has been suffering as a result of this lawsuit.

Deal of the Day: 9.7" HP TouchPad 32GB Refurb Tablet for $194.99 plus Shipping!
Our Deal of the Day is 9.7" HP TouchPad 32GB Refurb Tablet for $194.99 plus Shipping!

Woot has refurbished HP TouchPad tablets in stock at $194.99 plus $5 shipping. This tablet features a 9.7" XGA (1024 x 768) IPS LED multitouch TFT, dual-core 1.2Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 CPU, 1GB DDR2 SDRAM, Adreno 220 GPU, 32GB storage, 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support, 1.3MP front camera, stereo speakers with Beats Audio, and 6300mAh lithium polymer battery. We've had ours on CM9 nightlies (Android 4.0.4) for awhile, and they're a great value. Good until 6/5/12 or after they run out.

32GB HP FB359UAR#ABA TOUCHPAD REFURB TABLET DEAL

Download of the Day: FinalWire's AIDA64 v2.50
Our Download of the Day is FinalWire's AIDA64 v2.50.

FinalWire have released the latest version of AIDA64, version 2.50. The latest version brings some new features and improvements, such as:

Speech API information
SensorPanel graphs and gauges
Intel 330 and OCZ Vertex 4 SSD support
GPU details for nVIDIA GeForce 600 Series

You can download FinalWire AIDA64 v2.50 here.

Apple's third-gen iPad is close to being released in China
Apple's third-generation iPad is getting closer to arriving in China, with the country's Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center providing a mandatory license for an unnamed 3G-compatible Apple-made device, which is most likely the new iPad.

But, there are still some hurdles. Apple need to reach an agreement with Proview over the ownership of the iPad trademark in China, with negotiations starting up again recently. Apple have reportedly tabled a settlement of $16 million, but is much, much less than the $400 million that Proview is holding out for.

The new iPad is destined to be a China Unicom-exclusive, who is Apple's original operator partner, and LTE will not be featured in China as no network is operational in the country.

Newer Technology Power2U (USB Wall Power) Review

Introduction

I think by now just about every tech person has either heard of or seen pictures of wall power outlets with supplemental USB power. The first images of these products hit the web a couple of years ago and it became very clear from message boards and chat discussions that the concept was going to take off.

What wasn't so clear at the time was the negative aspects of these early USB power plugs. The first designs powered the USB ports all of the time. This slow but significant power draw kept your power meter spinning and as a result your electric bill increased like the national debt fused with an Energizer commercial - it just kept going and going and going.

Newer Technology has come up with a solution and a rather brilliant one at that. They figured out that you could put a micro switch inside the unit and only power the USB ports when you have a device plugged into the USB port.

The Newer Technology Power2U is designed to be an easy to install product that is perfect for the capable DIY person.

Today we'll look at the Power2U and walk you through a difficult install from my own kitchen.
... Read the rest in your browser!

VIA Announces Fanless VIA ARTiGO A1200
VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient computing platforms, today announced the VIA ARTiGO A1200 slim PC kit, featuring a VIA Eden X2 dual core processor. The fanless, ultra-compact VIA ARTiGO A1200 is suitable for a myriad of applications in the home or office, including home server, home automation, hotel management, media streaming, digital signage and surveillance applications.

The latest in the VIA ARTiGO series, the VIA ARTiGO A1200 delivers an ultra-low profile design a mere 3cm high, and utilizes the innovative industrial buckled-blade thermal fin design to dispatch system heat and provide reliable, stable performance in temperatures ranging from 0ºC~45ºC. The VIA ARTiGO A1200 can fit easily into any environment, whether it is behind a monitor or on the wall with a 10 x 10 cm VESA mount or placed alongside other home media devices.

"VIA has long been a leader in driving innovation for low power compact computing, especially with our ARTiGO series," said Epan Wu, Head of the VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "By moving to the Em-ITX form factor we are able to deliver a slim line, fanless system, creating a completely silent computing experience."

VIA ARTiGO A1200
The ultra thin 24.3cm x 12.4cm x 3.0cm VIA ARTiGO A1200 is powered by a 1.0GHz VIA Eden X2 dual core processor for a fanless power efficient system with support for up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM. Combined with the highly integrated all-in-one VIA VX900 media system processor (MSP), the VIA ARTiGO A1200 provides playback of the most demanding HD video formats, including MPEG-2, DivX, WMV9, VC1 and H.264 for a breathtaking viewing experience at screen resolutions up to 1080p.

The unique dual-sided I/O coastline interface includes one HDMI and one VGA display port, two high-speed GigaLAN Ethernet ports, four USB 2.0 ports, one CFast socket, two audio jacks (Mic-in and Line-out), 12V DC-in power and an optional USB 3.0 host port.

For more information about the VIA ARTiGO A1200 please visit:
http://www.viaembedded.com/en/products/minipcs/productDetail.jsp?productLine=4&id=1850&tabs=1

ViewSonic's New Ice Cream Sandwich ViewPad® E100 Tablet
ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of computing, consumer electronics and communications solutions, today announced the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich ViewPad® E100, designed to deliver premium tablet features with the latest Android version. Boasting a super portable design and pricing that will appeal to the most cost-conscious customers, this new ViewPad combines quality, features and value, making advanced tablet technology more accessible than ever.

"The ViewPad E100 delivers a mobile tablet experience at an irresistible price point. By pairing our display expertise with the latest Android operating system and mobile technology, we are able to offer our customers a seamless experience for on the go productivity and entertainment," said Michael Holstein, vice president of business development, ViewSonic.

ViewSonic's new ViewPad E100 is designed to complement today's mobile lifestyle. The tablet features a capacitive multi-touch screen with a 1Ghz processor, 4GB storage and a 1.3 MP front camera for video conferencing. ViewPad E100 also offers complete connectivity for sharing content with the HDMI output, Mini USB port, and Micro SD slot for memory expansion of up to 32GB, along with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n support and Bluetooth®.

The ViewPad E100 offers an incredibly thin design with an expansive 9.7" screen. The tablet features a SuperClear IPS 1,024x768 high-resolution panel and wide viewing angle. The display is perfect for applications ranging from e-reading and web surfing to multimedia and document editing.

The ViewPad E100 is ready to go right out of the box with premium pre-installed apps including Kindle for Android e-reader and the Amazon Appstore for Android, plus 1Mobile Market, Dropbox cloud storage, WildTangent games service, TuneIn Radio, Swype keyboard, and more. ViewSonic's exclusive ViewScene 3D interface adds even more options for customization and organization, as users can easily personalize their home screen panels, apps, widgets and files for one-touch access to their favorite apps and at-a-glance real-time data.

ViewSonic's E100 tablet is now available for an ESP of $299. For further information on ViewSonic and its products, visit ViewSonic.com or follow ViewSonic on the Company blog, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Agility 4 SSDs Deliver an Excellent Combination of SATA 6Gbps Speed, I/O Performance, and Endurance for Value-Conscious Consumers
OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today unveiled its new Agility 4 SSD series that delivers an ideal balance of 6Gbps SATA III interface speed, exceptional input/output operations per second (IOPS) performance, and enterprise-grade endurance and reliability all in a value-oriented SSD. Utilizing OCZ's cutting-edge Indilinx Everest 2 controller platform (first introduced in the flagship Vertex 4 SSD series), Agility 4 SSDs offer a cost-effective alternative to other SATA III SSD solutions in the market making them ideal for mainstream entertainment, gaming, and mobile storage applications.

Powered by its Everest 2 controller platform, the Agility 4 excels in real-world compressible and incompressible workload performance. The series consistently delivers transfer rates of up to 400MB/s, and up to 85,000 random write IOPS.

In comparison to first generation Everest controller platform, the transactional performance of Everest 2 doubled under typical use case scenarios. Leveraging an industry-leading feature-set, the Agility 4 SSD series offers superior endurance and reliability without the need for internal data compression (that typically leads to decreased performance of ubiquitous files types). The dual core controller architecture also includes an advanced error correction code (ECC) engine, dynamic wear-leveling, auto encryption, and Indilinx Ndurance 2.0 technology that addresses and overcomes specific shortcomings of NAND flash memory to extend flash life well beyond the manufacturer's rated program and erase cycle specifications.

"For mainstream storage applications, there is no product better suited in the industry than our Agility 4 SSDs, providing the ultimate in access speed, application performance, endurance and reliability, at price points that most cost-conscious users will find appealing," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "As mobile users and applications continue to grow, adding to the deluge of data being generated on a daily basis, our Agility 4 SSD series provide great IOPS performance at a reasonable price enabling the user experience to be heightened especially for video streaming, music, photos, gaming, and online transaction processing (OLTP)."

With the incredible responsiveness and reliability benefits that OCZ SSDs offer over traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), the Agility 4 is ideal for mobile and desktop users seeking exceptional speed and endurance at an exceptional cost per gigabyte. Available in a boot-drive sized 64GB model, up to 512GB capacity for mass storage, Agility 4 SSD solutions are backed by a 3-year warranty and will be available through OCZ's global channel.

For more information on the Agility 4 Series, please visit our product page here.

Available Tags:Activision , HP , Tablet , Download , iPad , VIA , VIA , SATA ,

Saturday, June 2, 2012

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 02/06/2012

Introduction

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