IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 08/02/2013

Thursday, February 7, 2013

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 08/02/2013

TweakTown

Grand Theft Auto V pushed back to allow a next-gen console release? I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but I believe we've seen the recent delay of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V so it can be released on next-gen consoles. Yes, that's what I think and I'm sticking with it. I talked about it happening all the way back in April of last year, where I said

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I'd be impressed if Rockstar pushed it back and unleashed next-gen GTA upon us with next-gen consoles, and showed us a ported version for current-gen consoles. Now that, would be very, very cool.

I said this because Grand Theft Auto is one of the, if not the biggest franchise on consoles today. The franchise has grown out of control, and is so big that it is truly a system seller. Why release one of the biggest games ever on current-gen consoles if next-gen consoles are only months away? So you read it here, we think Rockstar and Take-Two are pushing back GTA V to release it on next-gen consoles. What do you think? Would you buy a next-gen console to enjoy GTA V at 1080p @ 60 frames per second? I know I would. What makes this better, is consoles usually launch with no killer apps on day-one, we haven't seen that for a while since the original Halo days on the first Xbox.

Half-Life or Portal film could see J.J. Abrams' help J.J. Abrams already has his finger in a bunch of franchises, Mission Impossible, Star Wars, Star Trek and countless TV shows, but what about gaming? Well, Polygon have the scoop on the director and TV guru reportedly working with Valve, yes - that Valve.

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The news comes from the 2013 DICE Summit, where Abrams announced with co-founder of Valve, Gabe Newell, that they two gods of media were in discussions together about making a video game together. Abrams said "there's an idea we have for a game that we'd like to work with Valve on". Newell adds "We're super excited about that and we also want to talk about making movies, either a Portal movie or a Half-Life movie." At the end of the on-stage talk, Newell said that the DICE lecture was just a public rehash of discussions behind closed doors with Abrams, where he added "what we are actually doing here, we are recapitulating a series of conversations going on." If you thought this was all just a rumor, and nothing would materialize from this, you'd seem to be wrong as Abrams said "it's as real as anything in Hollywood ever gets. Which is that we are really talking to Valve, we are going to be bringing on a writer, we have a lot of very interesting ideas." Now, the biggest problem with seeing a Half-Life movie, is that it would make a lot of fans angry to see a traditional game-to-movie scenario play out. Gordon Freeman is never seen in the movie, as the entire game is played from his point of view - so how could Valve and Abrams do this, without pissing off fans? Two words: Oculus' Rift. Would there be any better application for Oculus' amazing VR headset, Rift? No, no way. Could we see a next-gen game launch (Half-Life 3) along side a movie that would debut at the same time, digitally, through Steam that works with the Oculus Rift VR headset? Imagine watching the movie in a world where you can look around (but not move). It would be the world's first truly 3D movie... just imagine the possibilities Valve have from here with Abrams' help, and their Half-Life franchise.

Twitter updates mobile to emphasize search and discovery Twitter is pushing search and discovery on the mobile platform. In an update today, Twitter announced updates to their Android and iOS apps, along with mobile.twitter.com. The updates "provide a single stream of content in each tab, so you can better find what's most important to you when you're on the go."

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The Discover feed now puts tweets, activity, trends, and account suggestions into a single stream. Search now functions similarly to the Discover feature, meaning that tweets, pictures, and accounts all appear in a single stream. A search button has been added to the iOS app that will allow users to search from anywhere within the app. Finally, links can now be followed with a single click. Previously, clicking a link would first expand the tweet and then require another click to follow the link. Now, a single click will open up the website. The new apps are available in Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Microsoft hints that Surface Pro could be charged via future accessories Microsoft is dropping some pretty serious hints that the Surface Pro could see itself being charged via accessories in the future thanks to an upgraded accessory spine. During the Surface AMA on Reddit, Microsoft dropped hints that the extra contact point could be used to attach accessories with batteries at a future point in time.

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"At launch we talked about the 'accessory spine' and hinted at future peripherals that can click in and do more," says a Surface spokesperson. "Those connectors look like can carry more current than the pogo pins, don't they?" A further post in the AMA says that an external battery accessory would "require extending the design of the accessory spine to include some way to transfer higher current between the peripheral and the main battery. Which we did..." As you can see, it's pretty clear that Microsoft is planning accessories that would charge the Surface Pro. Whether these will take the form of a thicker keyboard with an integrated battery or simply an extra battery, only time will tell. Until then, you can rest assured that the Surface Pro will support accessories like these. Microsoft has, however, ruled out the possibility of them releasing one of these accessories. They say that "we don't have a dock in the plans."

Raspberry Pi to get $25 camera module The Raspberry Pi Foundation has confirmed that they will be making a camera available for the pint-sized PC. The Raspberry Pi camera will come in at $25, which is the same price as the cheaper Model A Raspberry Pi that is available in Europe. The camera looks to be a 5-megapixel piece and will be capable of recording HD videos.

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Not much else is known about the camera module, other than it the picture above is what the final product will look like. The Raspberry Pi Foundation says that it can take "pretty good" pictures right now, but the driver needs to be tweaked a bit and the product won't be released until it can take pictures that are "bleedin' marvelous."

Apple announces they have sold 25 billion songs via iTunes Store Apple is taking today to celebrate the fact that they have sold 25 billion songs via the iTunes Store. In an announcement today, Apple said that they have officially reached 25 billion songs sold. The 25 billionth song to be sold was "Monkey Drums" by Chase Buch. The purchaser, a man from Germany, will be getting an iTunes gift card with about $13,500 on it.

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"We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. Just how do song purchases relate to the App Store? The App Store has seen about 40 million downloads since it opened in 2008. The iTunes Store, which opened in 2003, garnered one billion purchases in just over two years and 10 billion purchases in about six years.

Disney confirms at least two Star Wars spinoffs coming While some hard-core Star Wars fans might be upset by Disney's announcement, others will certainly be pleased. Disney has confirmed that there will be at least two spinoffs that focus on individual Star Wars characters. These movies will be in addition to the upcoming episodes, the first of which--Episode VII--will be directed by J.J. Abrams.

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Lucasfilm is officially announcing new spinoff films that will expand the mythos and depths of the Star Wars universe in previously unexplored ways. One of the standalone films will be written by Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter of The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and co-writer of Return of the Jedi while the other will be penned by Simon Kinberg, writer of Sherlock Holmes and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The movies will be separate from the upcoming Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, on which Kasdan and Kinberg are also consulting, and are expected to be released sometime after Episode VII. Each standalone film will focus on a specific character, and two spinoff films are currently confirmed.

Basically, Disney is trying to make as much money as possible from their $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm. Nothing has been said about which characters these spinoffs will focus on, though rumors suggest that Yoda or Jabba the Hutt could be the potential stars. If you're a Star Wars fan, how do you feel about Disney's spinoff plans?

Lenovo says ThinkPad Helix will ship in early March The ThinkPad Helix was said to be delayed until March or April according to a Facebook post by a company rep. The post added that an announcement would be made soon. Today, Lenovo has made that announcement, saying that the Helix will be coming in early March.

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This delay isn't nearly as bad as it could have been. The device was originally slated to ship in late February, so an early March launch isn't too bad. The Helix is one of the new convertible Ultrabooks that seem to have become popular overnight. The screen of the Helix detaches from the keyboard base and can be used as a tablet. The Helix offers performance components as options including a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. The starting price of this 11.6-inch touchscreen machine is $1,499.

LeakedTT: Google developing high-res Chromebook in-house? A video was leaked today that seems to indicate that Google is working on a Chromebook completely in-house. The new Chromebook would best the other currently available systems in terms of resolution as the screen is reportedly a 2,560x1,700 touchscreen panel.

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In the video seen here, you can see some fairly high production value meaning that it likely wasn't done by some amateur. The Chromebook in question is reportedly named "Pixel," though Developer Francois Beaufort says that it is called Google Link. He goes on to claim that it is being developed and tested at Google right now. At the end of the video, it says that it was designed by Google, down to the last pixel. This lends credence to the notion that the device is being developed completely in-house. We'll have to wait to see if this thing is real, but I'd be inclined to say it is from the video. What are your thoughts on the device?

T-Mobile Lumia 710 won't be getting update to Windows Phone 7.8 For an unknown reason, T-Mobile has decided to skip upgrading the Lumia 710 to the latest Windows Phone 7.8. In the United States, T-Mobile is the only carrier with the Lumia 710 device. Apparently, T-Mobile doesn't feel the upgrade to Windows Phone 7.8 provides a better experience for their customers.

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At this time, the Nokia Lumia 710 will not receive the Windows Phone 7.8 software update. T-Mobile is committed to enhancing customers' experience with our devices, including providing upgrades to the latest operating systems, and T-Mobile aims to deliver software upgrades when it will provide a better experience for our customers. We'll share additional information on upgrades for the Nokia Lumia 710 when they are available.

Windows Phone 7.8 has already started rolling out to other Nokia devices, including Lumia 710's that are unlocked or on other carriers. It is possible to manually upgrade your T-Mobile Lumia 710 to the Windows Phone 7.8 operating system by using this hack posted on XDA-Dev forums, though this is at your own risk.

iOS 6.1.1 beta 1 released to devs, will it patch the Evasi0n jailbreak? Apple has just released the iOS 6.1.1 beta 1 build to developers. The thought on my mind, and likely many others, is whether or not it patches the exploits used by the recently released Evasi0n jailbreak tool. We'll have to wait just a bit for the developers to dive into the operating system, but I have a feeling they haven't pushed out patches quite yet.

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If you're a developer, you can download the latest iOS 6.1.1 beta 1 build from the Dev Center. The new version of iOS brings with it improvements to the mapping of Japan. Pronunciation of roads, optimization of routes, and other tweaks have been included in the new beta build. If you have access to the beta, it's not recommended to upgrade a jailbroken device as 6.1.1 could break the jailbreak. For everyone else, the release of this beta means iOS 6.1.1 isn't too far off in the distant future.

Google adds 38 more ski resorts to Google Maps If you like snowboarding down the slopes like I do, Google has you covered. Today, they have added an additional 38 ski resorts with detailed trail maps to Google Maps. The newly added resort maps include important details such as the difficulty level of the runs.

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Ski resort maps were originally added into the Maps product back in November 2012. At that time, Google added about 90 ski resorts into its Maps product. The update today brings that number up by about 40 percent and mainly focuses on US-based ski resorts, though a few Canadian mountains were thrown in for good measure. The maps depict trails as either green, blue, or black lines. The colors correspond to the traditional colors associated with the different difficulties of runs. The all-important lifts are depicted as dotted red lines. The new list of ski resorts can be found on Google's Blog post.

US Federal Reserve confirms hackers stole data from their systems Officials from the United States Federal Reserve have confirmed that hackers stole information from its servers. The information, which was released by Anonymous, was gleaned from a security vulnerability in a website vendor product. The hole has since been patched and never gave access to any critical data.

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The information apparently came from a contact database that was kept in case of a natural disaster. A breach of the Federal Reserve servers will certainly shine a spotlight on the agency and cause the public's trust in the Federal Reserve to decline. Furthermore, this should cause the public to question security measures of other top agencies. The Federal Reserve has actually been compromised before this occasion. Back in 2010, Malaysian hacker Lin Mun Poo hacked into the US Reserve and stole data with the intent to use it to steal money.

RumorTT: New Apple Mac Pro coming this spring, possibly at Worldwide Developers Conference Apple hasn't upgraded the Mac Pro in a significant way since 2010. The case is still the original aluminum design that the Intel Mac Pro launched with back in 2006. Many professional users have felt a bit left out since Apple normally updates their systems yearly. These lack of updates have even sparked rumors that Apple is planning to discontinue the Mac Pro line of systems.

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However, Tim Cook has continued to say that a new Mac Pro will be coming later this year. Apple is unable to continue selling the current version of the Mac Pro in Europe as it doesn't meet new regulatory standards for safety. One French retailer has said that Apple pointed them towards a spring launch of a new Mac Pro design. Spring will officially end on June 20, meaning Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, which runs June 11-15, is within that time frame. If a new Mac Pro is to be launched this spring, the Worldwide Developers Conference is the most likely suspect for when and where it will be launched. Of course, this is just a rumor, so take it with a grain of salt. However, we do feel that this rumor has a bit of merit as Apple would likely want to get a Mac Pro back into the European market.

Facebook debuts video channel for developers Facebook wants to support its developer base so users have more reason to stay on the site and come back often. Developers create the apps, such as Zynga's Farmville, that help create user interaction and retention. The longer you stay on Facebook's site, the more ads they are able to serve you.

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Facebook says that Developers Live will come with content for everyone, including:

Mobile developers will learn how to go deeper and grow their apps with Facebook
Game developers will learn how to build better games across web and mobile
Websites and publishers will learn how to use Facebook to drive traffic

The first Developers Live will feature Doug Purdy. He will be discussing "the top 3 things every mobile developer needs to know in 2013." It appears that registration is needed for the events as Facebook reminds you to "be sure to register for the event." You can find more information and the videos at Facebook's Developers Live site.

SpaceTT: Comet ISON comes into view in new NASA mage, could prove to be largest comet ever seen If you are anything closely related to a science geek, space nerd, casual star gazer or hard core astronomer, you have most likely heard of Comet ISON. NASA has just released awesome video of the comet streaking through space. ISON could prove to be the largest comet the Earth has seen in recorded history later this fall.

Later this year, Comet ISON will make a close pass to Earth and as it approaches the sun, its tail will glow as well as grow. Many leading authorities believe that ISON will be the largest comet ever witnessed from Earth's surface. At its peak it could be brighter than the full moon, and its tail could stretch the width of 96 full moons. Chances are high that ISON might even be bright enough to be visible during the daytime, which is virtually unheard of. I for one have set aside several days in November and December to photograph and observe the great comet, which is believed to have originated in the Oort Cloud and has an orbit of several hundred thousand years.

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Comet ISON was discovered 14 months before this perihelion passage - its closest point to the sun - while still distant and faint, by Russians astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok, who detected it using a 15.7-inch reflecting telescope at the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON), which is located near Kislovodsk, at the northern foot of the Caucasus range in Russia.

Apple job posting indicates that Siri may be on her way to Mac devices A job posting popped up on Apple's website recently that alludes to Siri coming to Mac devices. The position is labeled "Siri UI Engineer" and calls for someone with experience with Unix, with a concentration in OS X.

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The position must have filled quickly as the posting has been removed, but luckily it was spotted by both TechCrunch and Apple Insider. We believe that the new position would bring Siri to Mac devices as it only listed OS X development experience, and not iOS which is the only OS which Siri currently runs on. Rumors about Siri on OS X have been abundant in recent months, and dictation software has been included in Apple's desktop OS since Mountain Lion. Other sections in the listing described close collaboration with app designers, which could mean that Siri on OS X could have expansive integration with applications as well.

RumorTT: Samsung Galaxy S IV smartphone launch date set for March 15th The rumor mill seems to be in good working order this week, and the latest gossip to float past our ears that we will most likely be seeing Samsung's next-generation Galaxy smartphone as early as March 15th. Previously we were lead to believe that the headset would not make an appearance until March 22nd.

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If the rumors are true, Samsung's new flagship smartphone will arrive just around a year after its predecessor, the Galaxy S III, which is still recording massive sales figures. The Galaxy S IV will roll out to Europe and Asia in April, and will see US shelves between May and June. The Galaxy S IV is thought to be equipped with a 4.99-inch Super AMOLED full HD display, a 1.8GHz eight-core Exynos 5 Octa processor and a 13-megapixel rear camera. The device is also expected to include 2GB of RAM, NFC, 4G LTE, a microSD slot, wireless charging capabilities and Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.

Apple's iBookstore gets new Breakout Books section to help promote self-published authors In the past, self-publishing a book involved a massive investment by the author, but with recent digital trends, self-publishing has never been easier or cheaper. Apple appears to have taken note and has launched a new "Breakout Books" feature in its iBookstore to help promote those who self-publish.

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"Find the next reading sensation with this hand-picked collection of books from emerging talents," Apple says in its new section. "All are independently published and have earned high ratings from customers like you."

This new section is Apple's plan to increase the profile of more talented yet largely unknown authors who have had a hard time getting published the traditional way, while at the same time earning them some income on their digital versions. At the moment, the new section is only available in the US, but there are plans by Apple to expand it in the future.

Vine adds 17+ age rating to video sharing app after major porn infusion Vine, the Twitter-owned short video sharing app, has updated its user age rating to 17+ after a major increase in porn sharing on the service. The change first made appearance in the 1.0.5 update and forces users to confirm that they are 17 years or older.

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The app also added frequent/intense sexual content or nudity, infrequent drugs, alcohol, tobacco, horror/fear themes, profanity/crude humor and realistic violence, to its list of user warnings. Last month, the service began censoring searches in an attempt to weed out the pornographic material from even showing up. These changes come on the heels of a porn video being featured on Vine as an "Editor's Pick" which got the app pulled from the Apple App Store's featured section. Despite the controversy, Vine has proven to be massively popular on iOS with many analyst relating the app to the likes of "Instagram, but for videos."

Blackberry's QWERTY Q10 smartphone will not see a US launch until at least May The BlackBerry Z10 has being delayed for US launch until mid-March, due to carrier testing, and now it looks like the QWERTY keyboard sporting Q10 will be delayed even further. We knew the Q10 would come sometime after the Z10, but not this late.

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In an interview with the AP, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said that we can expect to see the Q10 make its entrance sometime between 8-10 weeks after the US Z10 launch. All of the delays are being blamed on US carrier's overly thorough testing standards. Heins also said that the international sales numbers for the Z10 were above and beyond expectations. He did not disclose any actual figures, but he said that "a substantial number of users" had already migrated from their existing platforms to BlackBerry 10.

RumorTT: New Xbox will require an always-on internet connection to prevent used games from being played Gaming console companies have been trying to figure out how to curb the use of used games for decades now, and Microsoft may have just figured it out. Edge Magazine is reporting that the new Xbox set to release later this year will require an "always-on" internet connection.

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Edge is claiming that second hand games most likely will not be playable as the new games will require an activation code similar to what is used on PC games today. They will be stored on 50GB Blu-ray disc and it is expected that the activation code will lock that disc to the owners Xbox. If this new game activation system is true, then it will deal a devastating blow to the used game market and stores like Game Stop, whose major source of revenue is buying and selling used games. How do you feel about this? Is the ability to play used games, or being able to share games with your friends a big deal? Let us know in the comments.

Shock: Windows Phone overtakes BlackBerry as America's third biggest mobile OS in Q4 2012 Now that RIM has evolved into just being called BlackBerry, we have some interesting news just days after - Microsoft's Windows Phone platform expanded to see more mobile OS market share in the US in Q4 2012.

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The data comes from Strategy Analytics, but there's a very big point to push here - Microsoft had released Windows Phone 8 late last year, while RIM (now BlackBerry) at the time were still working on BlackBerry 10, which was only released in the last couple of days. The more interesting thing will be to see how things go in the next quarter, where BlackBerry will either sink or swim.

RumorTT: Nokia set to launch their 41-megapixel Lumia smartphone in the US this summer Nokia are reportedly ready to bake their 41-megapixel PureView technology into their Lumia-branded range of smartphones. The Finnish company were rumored to be working on a new smartphone which was code-named EOS, featuring an improved design and upgraded PureView camera.

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This EOS device was said to be released later this year, but with sources talking to The Guardian, they confirmed that the smartphone is indeed coming, and will touchdown in the US this summer. Nokia have, of course, declined to comment "on market rumors or speculation".

RIAA copyright takedown requests for Google hit new highs, nearly 10 million Google's Transparency Report now includes takedown requests, where we see the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) requesting nearly 10 million URLs to be taken off the Internet.

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The exact number of URLs requested to be removed sits at 9,986,936, with their most request request just days ago on February 1. The offending sites? Well, the top five domains are downloads.nl, mp3s.pl, filestube.com, mp3searchy.com and weblagu.com. The top copyright owners represented are the RIAA member companies, requesting virtually all of the near-10 million, with 9,979,021 URL takedown requests, with the RIAA requesting just 7,915 be taken dwon. Google were seeing close to 800,000 takedown requests per week from the RIAA August-October of 2012 timeframe, but it looks to have died down to around 250,000 takedown requests as we reached November.

MyDigitalSSD BP4 2.5-inch 240GB SSD Review

Introduction

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The MyDigitalSSD BP3 and its Phison S8 controller was the sleeper SSD product of 2012. The BP3 was a very fast mainstream drive with a price that blended into the budget SSD class. BP3 used a Phison S8 controller, a controller that was a break out product for Phison, blowing the capacitors off every other Phison controller before it. Phison has made further refinements to the controller to increase performance, mainly in the random area, the one place where this series needed improvement. The MyDigitalSSD BP4 uses the newly refined S8 controller and pairs it with the newest in NAND flash technology. Toshiba released 19nm Toggle 2 NAND last year and a few products took advantage of the technology. The most well-known product was Plextor's M5 Pro, but BP3 used it as well. The new version, version B, doubles the page size to 16K. This increases sequential performance and the new Toggle 2 version B also costs less than the first 19nm. Lower prices and new cutting edge technology, it sounds like something My Digital would latch on to and bring to market before anyone else. The BP4 2.5" drives are here in the lab, but not listed at Amazon just yet. My Digital does have the BP4 mSATA drives listed and we'll take a look at those next week. For now, let's check out what could be a nice price to performance vs. capacity leader. ... Read the rest in your browser!

PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 850-Watt 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply Review

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Introduction

Post CES, we always find ourselves drooling over a ton of products that may or may not ever see the light of day. Of those that will make it to the market, we are often tantalized with prototypes that will be six months or more from seeing the retail market. PC Power & Cooling gave us something this year that we were told we would see very shortly. They have a refresh of their Silencer Mk III series that will provide some updates for power users. This time around, they are introducing two new units. The two power supplies are capable of 750W and 850W, which will take care of the needs for most with up to dual GPU systems. These round out the Silencer Mk III series rather well as there are now six different wattages available from 400W to 1200W. The unit we are taking a look at today is Silencer Mk III 850W. On the surface it appears to be a simplistic, semi-modular 850W unit coming to an already very crowded market segment so hopefully it will stand out a bit from the rest.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

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The Silencer Mk III 850W power supply provides 12V power via a single rail design rated for 70A or 840W. Both of the minor rails are rated for 24A each with a combined maximum output of 120W for the 3.3V and 5V rails. This left us scratching our heads a little bit as even the Silencer Mk III 600W had stronger minor rails, but it should still be plenty of power. The 5VSB rail is rated for 3A or 15W. Maximum combined output for the Silencer Mk III 850W is 850W.

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As with the rest of the Silencer Mk III series, the new 850W model is packed full of features, except for Over Temperature Protection. We think that this would be something of a standard for a legendary name such as PC Power & Cooling, but it apparently isn't. The power supply features both native and modular cables. All cables are fully sleeved or of the flat ribbon variety. Finally, the power supply is rated for 80 PLUS Gold efficiency and 100% continuous output at 50C. This PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 850W power supply has an MSRP of $169.99. This is exactly what you'll find the power supply listed for on Newegg plus $5.99 shipping, and the cheapest you'll find it anywhere on the web at the time of writing this article. PC Power & Cooling backs the new Silencer Mk III 850W by a seven year warranty. ... Read the rest in your browser!

Silicon Power Introduces the All New Slim S50 SSD Silicon Power, the world's leading provider of memory storage solutions today unveils a new addition of its Slim series 7 mm 2.5" SSD. The Slim S50 features the latest controller technology to provide a brand new experience in excellent performance and cost effectiveness for computer enthusiasts. To deliver enhanced performance stability, S50 is equipped with an all new controller that is unlike any other solutions in the market. Coupled with the latest firmware and advanced controller circuit design, the S50 enables stable IOPS performance under extended period.

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The new Slim S50 provides remarkable performance with the SATA III 6 Gbps interface. Its read and write speeds are twice the speed under the SATA II interface and over four times faster than that of a traditional hard drive. Featuring advanced high speed NAND flash, S50 delivers high data transfer rate up to 530 MB/s in read speed and 200 MB/s in write speed. SP S50 is more reliable and durable than tradition hard drives. Weighing only 63 grams with a mere 7 mm thickness, the S50 is one of the lightest of its kind and is the ideal solution for users looking to upgrade their ultra slim notebook and desktop. The S50 SSD is available in 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB, and is backed by a three year warranty. Slim S50 Product Features

7mm slim design suitable for Ultrabooks and Ultra-slim notebooks

SATA III 6 Gbps backwards compatible with SATA II 3 Gbps

Super-high transfer rate:

530 MB/s max. Read speed

200MB/s max. Write speed

Supports TRIM command and Garbage Collection technology

NCQ and RAID ready

Sustain IOPS performance over other competing solutions on NTFS file system

Implemented with ECC technology to guarantee data transmission reliability

Built-in with SMART monitoring system

Low power consumption

Shockproof & Anti-Vibration

Noiseless operation, no latency delay and no seek error

3 year warranty

Slim S50 Product Specifications

Capacity: 32 GB/64 GB/128 GB/256 GB

Dimensions: 100 mm x 69.85 mm x 7 mm

Weight: 63g

Ultra Slim 7 mm depth

Vibration Resistance Test: 20G

Shock Resistance Test: 1500G Max

Color: Black

Evil Geniuses Joins Team Razer Razer, one of the world's pioneering supporters of e-Sports, and Evil Geniuses, the Western world's premier professional gaming team, have formed a partnership to reinforce Razer's support of e-Sports globally. Team Evil Geniuses is one of the longest-running organizations in North American e-Sports, and they house arguably the most prestigious roster of professional gamers in the region. EG makes for a fantastic addition to the elite ranks of Team Razer: From their Dota 2 division, which features fan favorites like DeMoN, Maelk and Fear, to their broad roster of StarCraft 2 talent, including superstars like Jaedong, Stephano and IdrA, to Justin Wong, Ricky Ortiz and their deep Fighting Game line-up, to Snoopeh and their newly-acquired League of Legends team.

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"Evil Geniuses is one of the best gaming organizations to have ever existed," said Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. "Their roster reads as a Who's Who of e-Sports and I am looking forward to partnering them in 2013 and beyond. We've always been huge supporters of e-Sports and the community and this partnership with EG will take us even further." Evil Geniuses teamed- up with fellow Team Razer member Team Liquid to compete in this year's Starcraft 2 Proleague, and are now the first non-Korean-based team to compete in the most prestigious professional league televised globally. Marcus "ThorZaIN" Eklof," Evil Geniuses' Swedish Terran player, who in December became the first non-Korean player to win a Proleague match in more than seven-and-a-half years, was recently awarded Proleague's MVP award in consideration of his outstanding play and positive mentality. "We are honored to welcome Razer as our official partner for mice, keyboards and mousepads," remarked Evil Geniuses CEO Alexander Garfield. "We have been lucky enough over the years to have received great support from companies that share our passion and enthusiasm for e-Sports, and we are grateful to see Razer join that group. With their support, we'll not only continue to support our players better than any other team in the world, but we'll also be able to introduce a number of great custom products - something we've wanted to offer or fans for a long time." The Evil Geniuses partnership further solidifies Razer's already-established dominance within e-Sports and reinforces Razer's commitment to the ever-growing e-Sports industry. Look for Evil Geniuses players to be sporting their brand-new Razer gear in upcoming major tournaments, such as IEM Katowice, League of Legends Season 3 and IPL6.

QNAP Launches Turbo NAS Series Featuring XBMC QNAP, Inc. launches its latest mid level NAS Series, the TS-x69 Pro and TS-x69L Series with XBMC. The TS-x69 Pro and L series are powered by an Intel Atom 2.13 GHz Dual-Core processor with expandable memory up to 3GB. The XBMC Media Center feature allows users to directly connect the NAS through their TV's HDMI port for direct media playback. Users can now watch their favorite movies, videos, listen to their favorite music, and view their photos directly on their TV. With XBMC, users can also manage their video library, create/manage their own personal music playlists and create their own photo slideshows. "We are very thrilled to bring the exciting, feature loaded XBMC Media Center to QNAP users," said Ivan Hsu, Marketing Sales Director for QNAP.

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"XBMC has a very strong, loyal following and their user community is ever growing. The addition of this revolutionary application turns your NAS device into a home multimedia component," he added. Pricing and Availability The TS-x69 Pro and L series come in 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 bay models with prices ranging from $479 for the 2-bay models to $1,099 for the 8 bay models.

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