IT News Head Lines (HardOCP) 28/04/2016

NZXT Manta Mini-ITX Enclosure
If you have plans to build a mini-ITX system such as a LAN box, HTPC, or Steam Machine, the crew at PC Perspective recommend giving their review of the NZXT Manta mini-ITX case a look. According to the review it has very high build quality, excellent cooling capacity for mini-ITX and the fans are quiet.

The NZXT Manta is a mini-ITX enclosure that boasts better than average room for components and cooling, and is packaged in a rather unusual, rounded design. There is a reason for the Manta's somewhat bulbous appearance, and it's part of a recent trend in mini-ITX enclosure design; bigger is better. While you might think that mITX is all about fitting components into the smallest enclosure possible, there have been some recent examples of cases which expand the chassis to micro-ATX sizes (or above).

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My God-Awful Year With the Apple Watch
If you know anyone that has an Apple Watch, this guy's story is going to sound awful familiar. The oddest thing I find about the iWatch is that it turns basic things you can do with one hand on a phone into a two-handed operation. It kind of sucks that both hands are occupied just doing basic stuff.


Wearing the Apple Watch for nearly a year did change something in me though, but it's the opposite effect that was probably intended: the Watch's constant low-level notifications made me realize that there's nothing really worth being notified about. Being able to feel every text, email, and whatever else, made me see how useless they mostly were.

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Doctor Ready To Perform First Human Head Transplant
Not that I doubt this doctor's abilities but it scares me to think he got the idea for head transplant surgery "from a Spider-Man comic book." He even has code names for the human head transplant, one is HEAVEN (head anastomosis venture) and the other is Gemini.

His attachment to Spider-Man's Peter Parker, another dweeb, lured him deep into the comic book world of Marvel, with its dose of futuristic medicine. That fateful day, he bought Issue 51 of Marvel Team-Up, in which Dr. Strange boasts to Spider-Man and Iron Man, "I myself have surgically rejoined severed neurolinkages…. The nerve endings have been fused, the healing process begun." This marked Canavero's first encounter with the idea of spinal cord fusion. And he wanted more.

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It's Time For Android and Chrome OS To Merge
What do you guys think about this? It makes a lot of sense and combining resources would be good for all involved. What are the down sides to merging Android and Chrome OS?

The plan has seemingly been in the works for years. Ever since Chrome OS boss Sundar Pinchai replaced Android creator Andy Rubin in 2013 at the helm of the mobile OS, we've been predicting that the two software monoliths would someday collide. Google initially developed both operating systems in parallel, but now that Android is the most widely used operating system in the world (and Chromebook's accounting for less than 3 percent of global PCs), the pressure is on Google to fold Chrome into Android.

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Blizzard Comments On Shutdown Of Unauthorized WoW Server
Here's the response that everyone has been waiting for. Plain and simple, Blizzard had to protect its trademarks and intellectual property. If the company let this server do it, they'd have to let everyone do it. Here's an excerpt from the rather lengthy blog post:

Why not just let Nostalrius continue the way it was? The honest answer is, failure to protect against intellectual property infringement would damage Blizzard's rights. This applies to anything that uses WoW's IP, including unofficial servers. And while we've looked into the possibility – there is not a clear legal path to protect Blizzard's IP and grant an operating license to a pirate server. We explored options for developing classic servers and none could be executed without great difficulty. If we could push a button and all of this would be created, we would. However, there are tremendous operational challenges to integrating classic servers, not to mention the ongoing support of multiple live versions for every aspect of WoW.

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MPAA Says Pirate Sites Will Take Advantage of Set-Top Box Proposals
The Motion Picture Association of America is afraid that pirates are going to build a black market business if the set-top box market in the United States is opened up. Really? Why would crooks need approval from the FCC to make illegal black boxes. They do that now already.

Earlier this year the Federal Communications Commission promised to "tear down anti-competitive barriers" by opening up the set-top box market in the United States and freeing consumers from $20 billion a year in rental charges. The proposals have spooked content owners, not least the MPAA who fear that pirate sites will take the opportunity to build a "black market" business.

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DARPA Ground X-Vehicle Technologies Concept Video
DARPA's Ground X-Vehicle Technology program has given the greenlight to eight organizations to develop new technologies that, according to the article, would make future fighting vehicles more mobile, effective, safe and affordable. I don't want to make fun of the video below but you guys have to watch it. I think we all played that game back in the 80's.



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Cybercriminals Earned $100K Just By Sending A DDoS Threat Email
Raise your hand if you've ever seen a movie or TV show that involves a ransom. Now, in every single on of those movies, how do the bad guys get caught? When it comes time to pick up the money! Seriously, who the hell is handing over money to these people (bitcoin or not)?

A group called the Armada Collective are reaping the rewards of cybercrime by threatening jittery businesses with the idea of a DDoS attack -- without actually doing more than sending an email or two. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, while taking no technical expertise beyond knowing how to flood a website with traffic and causing it to crash, may not be sophisticated -- but can still cause serious damage.

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AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.4.2
AMD has released brand new Crimson Edition 16.4.2 drivers for all you Radeon owners out there. In addition to Crossfire profiles for Elite Dangerous and Need for Speed, these drives add AMD Xconnect™ technology. Here's a list of known issues as weoo as resolved issues:

The Division™ may experience flickering in AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
DOTA2™ toggling between borderless fullscreen and exclusive fullscreen can sometimes cause flickering or corruption when in AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Some DirectX® 9 applications cannot disable AMD Crossfire™ technology mode through Radeon Settings.
GPU clocks on some products may remain in high states after recovering from an application crash.
A small subset of AMD Radeon™ R9 380 users may be experiencing slower than expected fan speeds.
Power efficiency toggle in Radeon Settings is showing up for some unsupported products.
The check for software updates feature in Radeon Settings may not find the latest available update.
Some games may fail to show up in Radeon Settings gaming tab.
The Radeon Settings option may sometimes disappear as a shortcut from the right-click context menu on desktop after a software upgrade.
Steam®VR Performance Test may experience flickering in AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Stuttering or corruption observed while playing Fallout 4™ on some graphics products in AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Corruption in Hitman™ when using AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Stuttering or freezing in some loading scenes while playing Hitman™ using AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Negative scaling seen on Hitman™ when using AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.

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AMD Radeon Pro Duo Announcement
AMD has released the AMD Radeon Pro Duo's full specifications today with photographs. We have covered the AMD Radeon Pro Duo announcement here and have a break down of all the info available to us with our thoughts on the "World's Fastest Graphics Card" thrown in for good measure.


AMD is taking the veil off of the "World's Fastest Graphics Card" today known as the AMD Radeon Pro Duo. This $1,499 video card seems to have a rather different focus. We will share with you all the specifications on and pictures of the AMD Radeon R9 Pro Duo. We will talk about what this dual-Fiji GPU video card may have to offer.

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Google, Ford, Uber Join Coalition To Further Self-Driving Cars
Google, Uber, Ford and others are banding together to form a coalition to promote self-driving cars. I'm not sure if they are going for the whole Justice League or Avengers thing but, at the very least, they should get super secret decoder rings.

Alphabet Inc's Google unit, Ford Motor Co, the ride-sharing service Uber and two other companies said on Tuesday they are forming a coalition to push for federal action to help speed self-driving cars to market. Sweden-based Volvo Cars, which is owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co GEELY.UL, and Uber rival Lyft also are part of the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets. The group said in a statement it will "work with lawmakers, regulators and the public to realize the safety and societal benefits of self-driving vehicles."

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YouTube Is Working On 6 Second 'Bumper' Ads
The idea of a six second "bumper" ad sounds like a good idea. It is shorter than the average 15 - 30 second ads and almost the same length as the wait to "skip" an ad so maybe people will actually watch the whole thing.

That's why today we're announcing Bumper ads – a new six-second video format, sold through the AdWords auction on a CPM basis. Bumper ads are ideal for driving incremental reach and frequency, especially on mobile, where "snackable videos" perform well. Given the succinct nature of the format, we've seen Bumper ads work best when combined with a TrueView or Google Preferred campaign.

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Available Tags:Apple , Chrome OS , Android , Chrome , WoW , Server , AMD , Radeon , YouTube , 

IT News Head Lines (HardOCP) 28/04/2016

NZXT Manta Mini-ITX Enclosure
If you have plans to build a mini-ITX system such as a LAN box, HTPC, or Steam Machine, the crew at PC Perspective recommend giving their review of the NZXT Manta mini-ITX case a look. According to the review it has very high build quality, excellent cooling capacity for mini-ITX and the fans are quiet.

The NZXT Manta is a mini-ITX enclosure that boasts better than average room for components and cooling, and is packaged in a rather unusual, rounded design. There is a reason for the Manta's somewhat bulbous appearance, and it's part of a recent trend in mini-ITX enclosure design; bigger is better. While you might think that mITX is all about fitting components into the smallest enclosure possible, there have been some recent examples of cases which expand the chassis to micro-ATX sizes (or above).

Comments

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My God-Awful Year With the Apple Watch
If you know anyone that has an Apple Watch, this guy's story is going to sound awful familiar. The oddest thing I find about the iWatch is that it turns basic things you can do with one hand on a phone into a two-handed operation. It kind of sucks that both hands are occupied just doing basic stuff.


Wearing the Apple Watch for nearly a year did change something in me though, but it's the opposite effect that was probably intended: the Watch's constant low-level notifications made me realize that there's nothing really worth being notified about. Being able to feel every text, email, and whatever else, made me see how useless they mostly were.

Comments

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Doctor Ready To Perform First Human Head Transplant
Not that I doubt this doctor's abilities but it scares me to think he got the idea for head transplant surgery "from a Spider-Man comic book." He even has code names for the human head transplant, one is HEAVEN (head anastomosis venture) and the other is Gemini.

His attachment to Spider-Man's Peter Parker, another dweeb, lured him deep into the comic book world of Marvel, with its dose of futuristic medicine. That fateful day, he bought Issue 51 of Marvel Team-Up, in which Dr. Strange boasts to Spider-Man and Iron Man, "I myself have surgically rejoined severed neurolinkages…. The nerve endings have been fused, the healing process begun." This marked Canavero's first encounter with the idea of spinal cord fusion. And he wanted more.

Comments

Read More ...

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It's Time For Android and Chrome OS To Merge
What do you guys think about this? It makes a lot of sense and combining resources would be good for all involved. What are the down sides to merging Android and Chrome OS?

The plan has seemingly been in the works for years. Ever since Chrome OS boss Sundar Pinchai replaced Android creator Andy Rubin in 2013 at the helm of the mobile OS, we've been predicting that the two software monoliths would someday collide. Google initially developed both operating systems in parallel, but now that Android is the most widely used operating system in the world (and Chromebook's accounting for less than 3 percent of global PCs), the pressure is on Google to fold Chrome into Android.

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Blizzard Comments On Shutdown Of Unauthorized WoW Server
Here's the response that everyone has been waiting for. Plain and simple, Blizzard had to protect its trademarks and intellectual property. If the company let this server do it, they'd have to let everyone do it. Here's an excerpt from the rather lengthy blog post:

Why not just let Nostalrius continue the way it was? The honest answer is, failure to protect against intellectual property infringement would damage Blizzard's rights. This applies to anything that uses WoW's IP, including unofficial servers. And while we've looked into the possibility – there is not a clear legal path to protect Blizzard's IP and grant an operating license to a pirate server. We explored options for developing classic servers and none could be executed without great difficulty. If we could push a button and all of this would be created, we would. However, there are tremendous operational challenges to integrating classic servers, not to mention the ongoing support of multiple live versions for every aspect of WoW.

Comments

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MPAA Says Pirate Sites Will Take Advantage of Set-Top Box Proposals
The Motion Picture Association of America is afraid that pirates are going to build a black market business if the set-top box market in the United States is opened up. Really? Why would crooks need approval from the FCC to make illegal black boxes. They do that now already.

Earlier this year the Federal Communications Commission promised to "tear down anti-competitive barriers" by opening up the set-top box market in the United States and freeing consumers from $20 billion a year in rental charges. The proposals have spooked content owners, not least the MPAA who fear that pirate sites will take the opportunity to build a "black market" business.

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DARPA Ground X-Vehicle Technologies Concept Video
DARPA's Ground X-Vehicle Technology program has given the greenlight to eight organizations to develop new technologies that, according to the article, would make future fighting vehicles more mobile, effective, safe and affordable. I don't want to make fun of the video below but you guys have to watch it. I think we all played that game back in the 80's.



Comments

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Cybercriminals Earned $100K Just By Sending A DDoS Threat Email
Raise your hand if you've ever seen a movie or TV show that involves a ransom. Now, in every single on of those movies, how do the bad guys get caught? When it comes time to pick up the money! Seriously, who the hell is handing over money to these people (bitcoin or not)?

A group called the Armada Collective are reaping the rewards of cybercrime by threatening jittery businesses with the idea of a DDoS attack -- without actually doing more than sending an email or two. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, while taking no technical expertise beyond knowing how to flood a website with traffic and causing it to crash, may not be sophisticated -- but can still cause serious damage.

Comments

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AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.4.2
AMD has released brand new Crimson Edition 16.4.2 drivers for all you Radeon owners out there. In addition to Crossfire profiles for Elite Dangerous and Need for Speed, these drives add AMD Xconnect™ technology. Here's a list of known issues as weoo as resolved issues:

The Division™ may experience flickering in AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
DOTA2™ toggling between borderless fullscreen and exclusive fullscreen can sometimes cause flickering or corruption when in AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Some DirectX® 9 applications cannot disable AMD Crossfire™ technology mode through Radeon Settings.
GPU clocks on some products may remain in high states after recovering from an application crash.
A small subset of AMD Radeon™ R9 380 users may be experiencing slower than expected fan speeds.
Power efficiency toggle in Radeon Settings is showing up for some unsupported products.
The check for software updates feature in Radeon Settings may not find the latest available update.
Some games may fail to show up in Radeon Settings gaming tab.
The Radeon Settings option may sometimes disappear as a shortcut from the right-click context menu on desktop after a software upgrade.
Steam®VR Performance Test may experience flickering in AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Stuttering or corruption observed while playing Fallout 4™ on some graphics products in AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Corruption in Hitman™ when using AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Stuttering or freezing in some loading scenes while playing Hitman™ using AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.
Negative scaling seen on Hitman™ when using AMD Crossfire™ technology mode.

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AMD Radeon Pro Duo Announcement
AMD has released the AMD Radeon Pro Duo's full specifications today with photographs. We have covered the AMD Radeon Pro Duo announcement here and have a break down of all the info available to us with our thoughts on the "World's Fastest Graphics Card" thrown in for good measure.


AMD is taking the veil off of the "World's Fastest Graphics Card" today known as the AMD Radeon Pro Duo. This $1,499 video card seems to have a rather different focus. We will share with you all the specifications on and pictures of the AMD Radeon R9 Pro Duo. We will talk about what this dual-Fiji GPU video card may have to offer.

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Google, Ford, Uber Join Coalition To Further Self-Driving Cars
Google, Uber, Ford and others are banding together to form a coalition to promote self-driving cars. I'm not sure if they are going for the whole Justice League or Avengers thing but, at the very least, they should get super secret decoder rings.

Alphabet Inc's Google unit, Ford Motor Co, the ride-sharing service Uber and two other companies said on Tuesday they are forming a coalition to push for federal action to help speed self-driving cars to market. Sweden-based Volvo Cars, which is owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co GEELY.UL, and Uber rival Lyft also are part of the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets. The group said in a statement it will "work with lawmakers, regulators and the public to realize the safety and societal benefits of self-driving vehicles."

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YouTube Is Working On 6 Second 'Bumper' Ads
The idea of a six second "bumper" ad sounds like a good idea. It is shorter than the average 15 - 30 second ads and almost the same length as the wait to "skip" an ad so maybe people will actually watch the whole thing.

That's why today we're announcing Bumper ads – a new six-second video format, sold through the AdWords auction on a CPM basis. Bumper ads are ideal for driving incremental reach and frequency, especially on mobile, where "snackable videos" perform well. Given the succinct nature of the format, we've seen Bumper ads work best when combined with a TrueView or Google Preferred campaign.

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Available Tags:Apple , Chrome OS , Android , Chrome , WoW , Server , AMD , Radeon , YouTube , 

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 22/04/2016

Creative Sound BlasterX G5 External USB 7.1 Sound Card Review

Introduction

As the summary states, I've often been asked by friends, family, readers, and strangers as to if a sound cards make a substantial or decent difference in your gaming and day to day computer usage. To find out a little bit more about these products for myself and others,...

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AMD releases CodeXL 2.0 as open source through GPUOpen
CodeXL is now part of the GPUOpen initiative. You can find all of CodeXL's source code (barring a few parts that are IP-confidential) on the CodeXL GitHub project. Version 2.0 is also available in pre-built binary form, like previous versions. We believe that by adopting the open-source model and sharing...

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Lian Li announces the DK-04 Desk-type case
Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd, today announces the DK-04 computer desk chassis: the first-ever standing computer desk. This chassis offers hardcore enthusiasts design improvements, better drive mounting, extensive water cooling support, and, most importantly: it stands.

Standing desks aren't just fashionable, they're proven to be beneficial and healthy in multiple ways....

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Chenbro announces 4U high-density storage server chassis
Enterprises are losing an average of $2,500 to $5,600 per minute when their data centers and networks go down, according to recent research reports, from Gartner and Veeam - and the high cost of hardware failures is rising, as the world's insatiable demand for data forces companies to pack more...

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Crucial announces new, high-density DDR4 server memory
Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced the availability of two new offerings in its server memory product portfolio: 32 GB DDR4 VLP RDIMMs and 64 GB DDR4 LRDIMMs. With speeds of 2400 MT/s and engineered to enable higher densities by implementing a dual stack...

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LaCie goes big with Thunderbolt 3 debut
Today at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention, LaCie, the premium brand from Seagate Technology plc, announced the LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3, a professional 12-bay desktop RAID storage unit. With up to 96TB of capacity, the breakthrough performance of Thunderbolt 3 and RAID 5/6, the LaCie 12big helps video professionals...

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HP Unveils the Z1 G3 Workstation All-in-One
HP Inc. today announced a bold evolution and a series of updates to the world's first workstation all-in-one - the new HP Z1 G3 Workstation - combining the simplicity of an All-in-One design with performance typically found in traditional tower workstations.

Built for demanding users, the third generation HP Z1...

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Razer Introduces the ManO'War Wireless Gaming Headsei
Razer, a world leader in connected devices and software for gamers, today announced the release of its new wireless gaming headset for PC, the Razer ManO'War. This latest addition to Razer's audio line offers high-fidelity, gaming-grade audio engineered with multiple wireless antennas, frequency channel scanning for locating the clearest channel...

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GIGABYTE's Thunderbolt 3 Certified Line-up Expands with 4 New BRIX Systems
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and video cards, is pleased to announce the launch of four new models joining the company's extensive list of Intel Thunderbolt 3 certified devices: the BRIX GB-BSi5T-6200, GB-BSi5HT-6200, GB-BSi7T-6500 and GB-BSi7HT-6500.

Featuring the latest Intel 6th generation Core processors, and now...

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Available Tags:Sound Blaster , USB , AMD , server , DDR4 , Thunderbolt , HP , Wireless , Gaming , 

IT News Head Lines (AnandTech) 13/04/2016

SanDisk Extreme 900 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Portable SSD Review
SanDisk launched the Extreme 900 SSD at Computex 2015. The claim to fame was the availability of almost 2TB of flash in a bus-powered enclosure with a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C interface. It was one of the first 2TB-class external drives to arrive in the market. Though the Samsung T3 Portable SSD beat it to our review bench, we finally got SanDisk's review sample last month. Read on for a detailed review of the 1.92TB SanDisk Extreme 900, one of the first USB 3.1 Gen 2 client devices available in the market.

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The SilverStone Strider Platinum 550W PSU Review
Today we are having a look at the “world’s smallest” 80Plus Platinum certified 550W ATX PSU, the SilverStone Strider Platinum. The company boasts that this fully modular, compact PSU is of exceptional quality and can deliver world-class performance, making it ideal for users with constrictive cases.


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Meizu Launches the m3 note

With every year, we tend to see quite a few launches happen in the first two quarters as the cycles in supply chains align for mass production to start around this time. We’ve already seen a number of new products from Huawei, LG, Samsung, and Xiaomi. Meizu is the latest company to join this list with its announcement of the m3 note.

With a 6061 aluminum unibody design, the m3 note draws heavily from the PRO 5. The rear camera is accentuated by a large, black surround with the pill-shaped dual-color LED flash sitting just below. Unlike the PRO 5, however, the camera sits flush with the back. Meizu’s unique T-slot design also carries over from the PRO 5. Instead of the usual plastic antenna strips, Meizu machines slots into the aluminum back, whose polished finish provides a nice contrast to the sandblasted aluminum.

The volume rocker switch sits above the power button inside a groove machined into the right edge, while the SIM and SD card combo slot is on the left edge. A 3.5mm headphone jack is found up top. The downward firing speaker sits next to a centered microUSB port on the bottom.

The m3 note’s 5.5-inch FHD IPS display—which reaches a peak brightness of 450 nits, according to Meizu—sits behind edge-to-edge glass. There’s also an mTouch 2.1 fingerprint sensor below the screen that’s surrounded by a stainless steel accent ring. Overall, the rounded corners, beveled edges, and 2.5D curved cover glass give the m3 note a similar in-hand feel to the iPhone 6s Plus.

Meizu m3 note Specifications
SoC	MediaTek Helio P10 (MT6755) 4 x 1.8GHz Cortex A53 (Performance) 4 x 1.0GHz Cortex A53 (Efficiency) Mali T860MP2
RAM	2/3GB LPDDR3-833
NAND	16/32GB (eMMC 5.1) + microSD
Display	5.5" 1920x1080 IPS LCD
Modem	2G / 3G / 4G LTE Category 6 (Integrated MediaTek WorldMode) Dual SIM DSDS
	Mainland China variant GSM: B2/B3/B8/B5 TD-SCDMA: B34/B39 WCDMA: B1/B2/B5/B8 CDMA: BC0 TDD-LTE: B38/B39/B40/B41 FDD-LTE: B1/B3/B7	International Market variant GSM: B2/B3/B8/B5 WCDMA: B1/B5/B8 TDD-LTE: B40 FDD-LTE: B1/B3/B7
Dimensions	153.8mm x 75.6mm x 8.2mm; 163g
Camera	Rear Facing 13MP f/2.2 PDAF Dual LED Flash
	Front Facing 5MP f/2.0
Battery	4100 mAh (15.79Wh)
Launch OS	Android 5.1 with Flyme 5.1 UI
Connectivity	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 GPS/GNSS, Micro USB 2.0, DLNA
Launch Price (CN)	799/999 RMB (125/155 USD) 2GB/3GB

Inside the aluminum chassis is an octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 SoC. This midrange SoC uses four ARM Cortex-A53 CPUs with a max frequency of 1.8GHz and another four with a max frequency of 1.0GHz in a big.LITTLE arrangement. These frequencies are a little below the P10’s rated frequencies of 2.0GHz and 1.1GHz, respectively. So either Meizu is underclocking the P10 to save power, or it’s using a lower-binned version of the P10.

The P10 SoC also includes an ARM Mali-T860MP2 GPU. This is ARM’s current midrange GPU, which features two ALUs per core instead of three ALUs per core like the high-end Mali-T880.

The m3 note comes in two different configurations: 2GB RAM / 16GB internal storage and 3GB RAM / 32GB internal storage. Both versions support microSD cards for storage expansion and feature a rather large 4100 mAh battery, which should provide the m3 note and its lower-clocked P10 SoC with excellent battery life.

The 13MP rear camera sits behind a 5-piece lens array with an f/2.2 aperture. It’s unclear who makes the sensor, but it does use PDAF to improve focus speed. There’s no OIS support, which is a feature that has yet to trickle down to this price point. The m3 note records video at up to 1080p30, a limit imposed by the P10 SoC.

The m3 note comes in three different colors: gold/white, silver/white, and gray/black. It will be available in China for 799 and 999 RMB for the 2GB and 3GB models respectively. The m3 note will also be available India, Russia, France, Spain, Brazil, Italy, Russia and several other countries throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Latin America, with exact pricing to be determined.


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EVGA Releases GeForce GTX 950 Low Power Graphics Cards with 75W TDP

EVGA this week unveiled their NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950-based video cards with reduced power consumption. As a result, these new cards do not require auxiliary power connectors and can be powered entirely by a PCIe x16 slots Similar variants have already been announced from companies like ASUS and MSI, but EVGA decided to release a range of such graphics cards as well, including factory-overclocked models.

EVGA’s family of low-power GeForce GTX 950 graphics cards that do not need external power consists of four models, which is a lot by contrast to other manufacturers. The GPUs are based on NVIDIA’s cut-down GM206 graphics die (768 stream processors, 48 texture units, 32 ROPs, 128-bit GDDR5 memory interface) but use EVGA’s custom PCB with 3+1 phase VRM. The GPUs are equipped with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, one or two DVI connectors depending on model, one HDMI 2.0 port and one DisplayPort output.

From the four cards, two of them run at NVIDIA’s reference GPU clock rates of 1025/1190 MHz, while the other two a little bit faster and run the graphics chip at 1076/1253 MHz. In each pair, one has a single DVI-I while the other has DVI-I and DVI-D connectors. All the boards feature 6.6 Gbps GDDR5 memory. As for cooling, they use dual-slot single-fan EVGA ACX 2.0 coolers.

Unfortunately, EVGA does not mark its GeForce GTX 950 boards with reduced power consumption with any easy to recognize label, hence, the only way to distinguish the adapters without PCIe connectors is by referencing the product numbers:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 Graphics Cards Specification Comparison
	EVGA GTX 950	EVGA GTX 950	EVGA GTX 950	EVGA GTX 950	MSI GTX 950	ASUS GTX 950	Ref
Product Name	02G-P4-0952	02G-P4-0956	02G-P4-0954	02G-P5-258	2GD5 OCV2	GTX950-2G	-
CUDA Cores	768
Texture Units	48
ROPs	32
Core Clock	1025 MHz	1076 MHz	1025 MHz	1076 MHz	1076 MHz	1026 MHz	1024 MHz
Boost Clock	1190 MHz	1253 MHz	1190 MHz	1253 MHz	1253 MHz	1190 MHz	1188 MHz
Memory Clock	6.6 Gbps GDDR5
Memory Bus Width	128-bit
VRAM	2 GB
TDP	75 W						90 W
Outputs	DVI-I DP 1.2 HDMI 2.0	DVI-I DP 1.2 HDMI 2.0	DVI-D DVI-I DP 1.2 HDMI 2.0	DVI-D DVI-I DP 1.2 HDMI 2.0	DVI-I DisplayPort 1.2 HDMI 2.0
Architecture	Maxwell 2
GPU	GM206
Transistor Count	2.94 B
Manufacturing Process	TSMC 28nm
Launch Date	Apr '16				Mar '16	Mar '16	Aug '15
Launch Price	unknown						$159

While graphics cards like the GeForce GTX 950 are not used to build high-end gaming PCs, these new PCIe-less models can be purchased to upgrade inexpensive or older PCs which sometimes come without an auxiliary PCIe power connector on the power supply. In addition, a GM206-based adapter is a reasonable choice for an HTPC as the GPU supports hardware-accelerated decoding and encoding of H.265 (HEVC) video, as well as HDCP 2.2 content protection over HDMI 2.0 (which is required for Ultra HD Blu-ray playback).

Since at least three manufacturers of NVIDIA graphics cards already offer GeForce GTX 950 boards without auxiliary PCIe power connectors, it is could be assumed that the GM206-251 GPU (revealed by MSI) has been selected due to reduced power requirements. It is unclear whether NVIDIA picks such GPUs itself and then marks them accordingly, or if there is a new revision of the chip and makers of add-in-cards have to test power requirements themselves through binning.

Right now EVGA does not sell its GeForce GTX 950 low power graphics cards on its website. It is unknown at what price these units will be launched at this time.


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Samsung Begins To Produce DDR4 Memory Using '10nm Class' Process Tech

Samsung Electronics has started to manufacture DDR4 memory using its new '10nm class' production technology. '10nm class', by definition, implies sub-20nm but without fully disclosing the methodology, similar to the first sub-20nm NAND production that used 1x/1y terminology. By using a sub-20 nm fabrication process, this typically helps a company make ICs/DRAM cheaper, faster and more energy efficient, depending on the process complexity. In this case, Samsung continues to use ArF (argon fluoride) immersion lithography tools with quadruple patterning to make its latest memory, which indicates a very high complexity of the new process tech. What is also important is that the new DRAMs feature Samsung’s new memory cell structure.

In the news today, Samsung’s new DDR4 memory chips are produced using 10nm-class manufacturing technology, have 8 Gb capacity, and can operate at 3200 Mbit/s data rate (DDR4-3200). In addition, the new DRAM devices are reported to consume 10 – 20% less power than equivalent DDR4 memory ICs made using a 20 nm fabrication process, based on tests conducted by the memory maker. Finally, Samsung can produce 30% more 8 Gb chips on a single 300 mm wafer thanks to the new manufacturing technology, which will lower their costs once their yields match those of current-gen chips due to having more chips per wafer.

Samsung does not disclose many details about its production process, such as its smallest half-pitch size (which gives actual names to DRAM manufacturing technologies, such as 20 nm or 25 nm). What we do know is that the new tech stacks very narrow cylinder-shaped capacitors on top of transistors, which implies a new DRAM cell structure (4F²?). Manufacturers of memory have historically changed the structures of DRAM cells every five or six years, and each change represents a major technology challenge as the density changes. Samsung says that it has refined the dielectric layer deposition technology and enabled substantial performance improvements, which may mean that the new memory chips can have a higher clock-rate potential than Samsung’s existing DRAMs, or more units will pass the base tests. If this is the case, if we extrapolate, this may open doors to DDR4 memory modules with unprecedented data rates (e.g., higher than DDR4-4400). Nonetheless, use of quadruple patterning significantly increases the complexity of manufacturing, which may somewhat slow down the ramp up of the new memory ICs and cause delays in increased yield refinements.

Samsung claims that later this year it intends to use its 1x nm manufacturing technology to make LPDDR memory with increased capacity, which should help makers of smartphones, tablets and notebooks boost the amount of DRAM inside their devices or reduce pricing.

Use of the sub-20 nm process technology to produce 8 Gb DDR4 chips should make such DRAM ICs cheaper (eventually), which will help PC and server makers to install more memory without increasing prices of their products. At press time, one 8 Gb DDR4 chip costs $4.688, according to DRAMeXchange. By contrast, a 4 Gb DDR4 IC is priced at $1.672. Therefore, using low-capacity chips is still cheaper than using high-capacity DRAM devices. Meanwhile, if you are building servers, you might not have a choice but to utilize 8 Gb chips to create high-end memory modules (i.e., with 128 GB capacities). For that reason, for server manufacturers, Samsung’s new 8 Gb DDR4 chips should be useful.

Gallery: Samsung Begins To Produce DDR4 Memory Using 10 nm-Class Process Tech

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3DMark Adds VRMark Preview and an Updated UI

We now have the release of the high end consumer VR headsets behind us. That sets the stage for a (hopefully) steady flow of software to use with the new (and future) headsets. Among the latest announcements is the inevitable release of a benchmark from Futuremark, who has long been a staple in PC gaming benchmarks. Their latest update brings a new VR experience, an updated user interface, and control over benchmark downloads and updates.

FutureMark’s latest release is an interactive preview of VRMark, which is now available for the 3DMark Advanced and Professional editions. In this preview users are allowed to freely explore two test scenes with the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and of course a standard monitor.

Both scenes included take place in an exhibit room of a museum and feature scenes from benchmarks in years past. With this preview of tests to come the first scene is geared toward the minimum level specifications we have seen outlined for both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, with scene two targeting more powerful hardware. No scores are given by either demo, but they both ran smooth on a Titan X running a G-Sync monitor. Though I would have to jump in with a headset to really see how demanding this preview is to run.

To coincide with the release of the VRMark preview, FutureMark is also updating the user interface of 3DMark as a whole. When the 3DMark suite is first started up a new home screen recommends a test based on the configuration of the system. On a deeper level all benchmarks are now downloaded on an individual basis and can be updated independently as well. Which can help avoid large downloads every time there is an update.

Alongside all of this news Ice Storm Extreme and Ice Storm Unlimited are now unlocked in 3DMark Basic Edition. Additionally, SystemInfo has been updated to version 4.43, bringing with it improved hardware detection. FutureMark also states that their next major update will bring us the new Time Spy benchmark which features DirectX 12. For more information about VRMark see Futuremarks VRMark landing page.


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The ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme Review: The Other $500 Option
On the back of our last $500 motherboard review, it was clear that a number of readers were surprised that a mainstream motherboard could cost so much. We took the opportunity to ask ASUS why such a thing exists, especially when a high-end desktop platform combination could cost less. The answer is due to the engineering: an ROG motherboard takes twice as long to design and validate, as well as custom ICs and finding the secret sauce to each platform. ASUS said that they have platforms for any budget, but for the users who want to squeeze every last morsel of performance in a mainstream halo budget, they have a product for that as well. That product is the Maximus VIII Extreme, and this is our review.


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Tyan Introduces 1U POWER8-Based Server for HPC, In-Memory Applications

At this week's OpenPOWER Summit in San Jose, California, Tyan has introduced its new IBM POWER8-based 1U servers designed for high-performance computing (HPC) as well as in-memory applications. The new machines are designed to target niche markets that do not require extreme processing performance, but need a lot of RAM. The new Tyan GT75 expands the range of Tyan’s POWER8-based machines and helps IBM’s POWER8 platform to compete against Intel Xeon in niche markets.

Nowadays over 95% of servers are based on Intel’s Xeon microprocessors, which does not make producers of servers and operators of large datacenters happy because they have one supplier of key components that controls platform development and prices. Three years ago, IBM teamed up with Google, Mellanox, NVIDIA and Tyan to establish the OpenPOWER Foundation to develop servers based on IBM’s processors collaboratively. So far, IBM POWER-based servers have not gained a lot of market share, but it looks like they are starting to gain traction as companies like Tyan are expanding their POWER8 hardware offerings.

The Tyan GT75 machines (just like the Tyan TN71-BP012 servers launched a year ago) are based on one IBM POWER8 Turismo SCM processor with eight or ten cores and can be equipped with up to 1 TB of memory. The systems feature 32 R-DDR3L DIMM slots using four IBM Centaur memory buffer chips (MBCs) and support 32 GB modules, which are considerably more affordable than 64 GB or 128 GB memory sticks.

Comparison of IBM POWER8 Turismo CPUs Compatible with Tyan's SC75 and TN71 Servers
		POWER8 8-Core	POWER8 10-Core	POWER8 12-Core
Core Count		8	10	12
Threads		64	80	96
Frequency (nominal)		2.328 GHz 3.325 GHz	2.095 GHz 2.926 GHz	2.561 GHz
L2 Cache		512 KB per core 2 MB per CPU	512 KB per core 5 MB per CPU	512 KB per core 6 MB per CPU
L3 Cache		8 MB eDRAM per core 64 MB per CPU	8 MB eDRAM per core 80 MB per CPU	8 MB eDRAM per core 96 MB per CPU
DRAM Interface		DDR3L-1600, memory connects to CPUs using the IBM Centaur MBCs
PCI Express		3 × PCIe controllers, 32 lanes
TDP		130W 190W	130W 190W	190W

While the GT75 servers (BSP012G75V4H) feature only one CPU, each IBM POWER8 core can process up to eight hardware threads simultaneously thanks to 16 execution pipelines. The chips also have massive caches (512 KB L2 per core, 8 MB eDRAM L3 per core as well as 16 MB per MBC), which are particularly useful for memory-intensive applications.

Comparison of Tyan GT75 Servers
		BSP012G75V4H-B4C	BSP012G75V4H-Q4T	BSP012G75V4H-Q4F
CPU		IBM POWER8 8-Core 2.328 GHz 130 W/169 W TDP	IBM POWER8 10-Core 2.095 GHz 130 W/169 W TDP	IBM POWER8 10-Core 2.095 GHz 130 W/169 W TDP
Installed RAM		8 × 16 GB R-DDR3L	16 × 16 GB R-DDR3L	32 × 16 GB R-DDR3L
RAM (subsystem)		Up to 1 TB of DDR3L-1333 DRAM, 32 RDIMM modules, four IBM Centaur MBCs
Storage		2 × 512 GB SSDs	2 × 1 TB SSDs	4 × 1 TB SSDs
Tyan Storage Mezzanine		MP012-9235-4I (4-port SATA 6Gb/s IOC w/o RAID stack)
LAN		4 × GbE ports	4 × 10 GbE ports	4 × 10 GbE ports
Tyan LAN Mezzanine		MP012-5719-4C Broadcom 1GbE LAN Mezz Card	MP012-B840-4T Qlogic+Broadcom 10GbE LAN Mezz Card-	MP012-Q840-4F Qlogic 10GbE LAN Mezz Card

The Tyan GT75-BP012, which is a 1U server that is designed for in-memory computing, HPC and virtualization, can be equipped with up to four 3.5” hot-swappable SAS 12G/SATA 6G HDD/SSDs, four network controllers (1 GbE and 10 GbE) as well as a 750 W PSU. The server uses the PLX PEX8748 PCIe switch and one PCIe 3.0 x8 expansion slot. Tyan did not reveal the price of the system, but said that it would be available already in April.

The new 1U machines complement the Tyan TN71-BP012 launched in March, 2015. The TN71 is a 1-way 2U platform for data analytics and applications, it supports 12 3.5” hot-swappable SAS 12G/SATA 6G HDD/SSDs, four 10 GbE network ports as well as two 1200 W PSUs for redundancy reason. This machine supports IBM POWER8 Turismo SCM processor with up to 12 cores and is generally more powerful than the GT75.


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Available Tags:USB , SSD , EVGA , GeForce , GTX , Samsung , DDR4 , ASUS , Other , Server , 

IT News Head Lines (PCSTATS) 13/04/2016

Noctua NH-D9DXi4-3U LGA2011 Xeon Server/Workstation Heatsink Review



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Doogee F7 Pro 10-Core Smartphone Revealed.

The Noctua NH-D9DXi4-3U is a mid-sized heatsink designed specifically for lower noise cooling of Intel Xeon processors in 3U height computer/server chassis. It's compact stature makes it ideal for rack mounted computers in a recording studio, video editing suite, operations control center, office environment or anywhere... [PCSTATS]


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Sennheiser Momentum On-Ear Headphones Review
The Doogee F7 Pro is officially the world’s first deca-core smartphone. Mated with 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage, this is arguably the world’s most powerful smartphone.
... [PCSTATS]


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AMD's upcoming Bristol Ridge patform
From the elegant packaging, to the exquisite style, to the sublime performance, the Momentum On-Ear manages to execute just about everything to precision. Far too often you have products that look great, but their performance doesn't match their looks. With the Sennheiser Momentum On-Ear headphones, it's performance is just as dazzling as how won... [PCSTATS]


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Becoming A Data Ninja With Microsoft SQL Server 2016.
AMD's Bristol Ridge platform is almost here and we go deep with a look at its initial updated APUs, their performance and the mountains of potential it brings to the table.
... [PCSTATS]


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20 of the Worst PC Setups – March 2016
On the 8th of April, 2016, Microsoft Malaysia officially launched the new Microsoft SQL Server 2016 to support the transition to a data-centric world. Four key figures from Microsoft and the Multimedia Development Corporation came together to address the expansion of data science, and how SQL Server 2016 will help companies achieve their goals fast... [PCSTATS]


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Action Camera Giveaway Contest
"I’m sure at some point you’ve had a bad PC setup. Maybe moving into a new place, waiting for a new desk to arrive or you just ran out of room. I can remember my horrible PC setups from when I was living at the dorms in college. If you have ever ventured over to the Shitty Battlestations sub-reddit you will find a lot of horrible PC setups. We will... [PCSTATS]


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The Performance Of Ubuntu Software Running On Windows 10
"We're celebrating over 13-years in service to you our loyal readers by giving away the 1080p Amkov AMK5000S WiFi HD Action Camera! Contest is open to residents of Canada (no QC) and USA. Good luck to all!"
... [PCSTATS]


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Mushkin TRIACTOR 480GB SSD Review
"At the end of March was the surprising news about Microsoft
bringing Bash and Ubuntu's user-space to Windows 10 via a new "Linux
subsystem" for natively dealing with Linux ELF binaries atop Windows.
Since last week the latest Windows Insider update now ships with said
support for being able to run Bash and other Ubuntu user-space programs ... [PCSTATS]


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Noctua NH-L9x65 Low Profile Heatsink Review
If you're after one of the most affordable 480GB SSDs in the market today that doesn't do half bad in terms of performance and durability the TRIACTOR by Mushkin could be your best bet.
... [PCSTATS]


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Tesoro Excalibur V2 Review

"Noctua's low profile NH-L9x65 heatsink stands just 64mm tall and has a very compact footprint of only 95x95mm. The NH-L9x65 is designed to cool some fairly intensive Intel sockets, along with the full spectrum of AMD processors and APUs. Compact CPU... [PCSTATS]


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Synology DiskStation DS416j Network Attached Storage Review
With the Excalibur V2, Tesoro offers a gaming keyboard with mechanical switches and standard layout. As with all other high-end gaming keyobards these days also this one features a backlight and there are different macro modes. Apart from that Tesoro chose to use very solid plastic for this keyboard, which adds a lot to the stability and the overal... [PCSTATS]


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Cooler Master V Series 650 W
Every year we come across devices that offer numerous features on top of the traditional file sharing. A lot NAS (Network Attached Storage) manufacturers push more and more in to their devices as far as applications and features go and let’s face it, all of these features come with the price. You do get what you pay for but what …

... [PCSTATS]


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Sapphire Radeon R9 Fury X
The Cooler Master V650 is a high-grade PSU with ultra compact dimensions and a fully modular cabling design. It uses nothing but Japanese caps and a quality fan, and CM backs it with a pretty long warranty. The only downside so far looks to be its price.
... [PCSTATS]


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OCZ Trion 150 480GB Solid State Drive Review
HardwareOverclock.com has just posted another review. Last week we have taken a look at the Sapphire Radeon R9 Fury X. In this review you can find the performance and overclocking analysis with the actually driver and Trixx tool.



... [PCSTATS]


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Nanoxia CoolForce 2 Midi Tower
Better write speed, better pricing: Is the OCZ Trion 150 a
worthy successor to the Trion 100?... [PCSTATS]


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Synology RT1900ac High Speed Wirless AC
HardwareOverclock.com has just posted another review. Last week we have taken a look at the Nanoxia CoolForce 2 Midi Tower. The CoolForce 2 offers many practical features, such as the Nanoxia AirCover and Nanoxia ModuWand (modular Wall). A special highlight are the pre-installed Rigid LED bars behind the front panel, which light up in typical Nanox... [PCSTATS]


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ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE601KL) Phablet Review
You read the headline correctly – this is not a review of a Synology NAS, but instead a wireless router. If this sounds unusual to you, you are not alone. Synology is a Network-Attached Storage (NAS) company, or at least it used to be, as it's now taking all its networking expertise and jumping into the router market. Plainly named, the Synology RT... [PCSTATS]


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Swann Xtreem Gravity Pursuit Video Drone Review
The 6" ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE601KL) is the phablet version of the ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE550KL) smartphone. It is more than just a larger device though, with a more powerful processor, more memory, a better display and more!
... [PCSTATS]


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Fnatic Gear Rush Backlit Gaming Mechanical Keyboard Review
One of the biggest and quickly rising trends we have seen in the past couple of years, especially at the Consumer Electronic Show, has been ‘Drone-This’ and ‘Drone-That’. Even this past holiday season may have brought you your own four-prop, remote-controlled, 1080p capturing, flying machine. Today, Technology X has the privilege of reviewing the S... [PCSTATS]


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Case Mod Friday: Mad Scientist
Fnatic, one of the biggest and longest operating competitive gaming organizations in Europe and famous amongst gamers around the world, has entered the hardware business with Fnatic Gear. The acquisition of gaming peripheral company Func has given Fnatic access to a team and process to develop products for professional gamers who demand responsiven... [PCSTATS]


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test of mechanical keyboards
Welcome to another Case Mod Friday showcase! This week we have Oz Modz's "Mad Scientist" build. Here is what he had to say about it, "I really wanted to build a PC that has multiple looks and that has a lot going on with liquid, air and temperature changes. I have used a thermal reactive paint internally that when warm reveals a whole new level of ... [PCSTATS]


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Gelid Antarctica Ultra-Quiet Tower CPU Cooler Review
To lead us gently into that good weekend, Hardware.Info has a big round-up test of mechanical keyboards for you.

Once the province of demanding typists, these are now the bait of a great many hardware companies to lure that most delicious of all target audiences, the PC gamer.



We examined 16 of the current offerings, from 11 different b... [PCSTATS]


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AZIO MGK 1 RGB Mechanical Keyboard Review
Gelid are one of the most legendary cooling companies in the world and while you may not think of them first when you’re looking at a new CPU cooler, they’re the top choice for many system builders, enthusiast overclockers, and all of us here at eTeknix for our test benches, when it comes to Thermalpaste. Gelid GC-Extreme has been a popular choice ... [PCSTATS]


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OCZ Trion 150 480GB Solid State Drive
Minimalist, backlit, and comes with a wrist rest? Let us see
how the AZIO MGK 1 RGB fares.
... [PCSTATS]


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Deepcool Genome Chassis Review
Back in January at CES OCZ introduced their Trion 150 solid state drive and now the drives are finally making it to market. OCZ’s Trion line of solid state drives are aimed at consumers who are looking for an affordable solution to upgrade their hard drives in their PC or laptop. The Trion 150 is of course the successor to the Trion 100, which we t... [PCSTATS]


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Far Cry: Primal PC game analysis
The Deepcool Genome is an ATX case supplied with a 360mm liquid cooling system that is already installed.

The integrated nature of Genome speeds up the process of your PC build however that is only part of the story as the helix liquid reservoir is clearly visible at the front of the case and helps Genome stand out from the crowd of ATX cases on... [PCSTATS]


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NASA ISS Resupply Mission Tour Shows Swamp Works Tech
”Is it worth entering the land of Oros and fighting for the survival of the Wenja? I believe it is. Far Cry Primal is a good game, with some weaknesses and good strengths. One thing I want to say is that it feels more like Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon than either Far Cry 3 or Far Cry 4. It is more like a specialized take on the franchise, than a full ent... [PCSTATS]


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AMD announces availability of seventh-generation A-series processors
HotHardware had the incredible opportunity to be invited down to Cape Canaveral to witness a rocket launch that is carrying both supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station (ISS). In our initial write-up, we talked a bit about the experiments carried aboard Cygnus, took a look inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and g... [PCSTATS]


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ASUS Radeon R9 Fury STRIX Graphics Card Review
With Manta, NZXT offers its first mini-ITX case designed for high-end systems. Since this is a rather large mini-ITX case, the Manta is capable of accommodating numerous fans and even up to three radiators. Apart from that the build quality looks decent as well and there are even good cable management options.
... [PCSTATS]


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Corsair's M65 Pro RGB gaming mouse
The GeForce GTX 980 graphics card may still offer the best bang for your buck but the Radeon R9 Fury STRIX by ASUS is by no means a less impressive choice.
... [PCSTATS]


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Gigabyte BRIX S BSi7H-6500 Ultra Compact PC Kit Review
We review Corsair's M65 Pro RGB gaming mouse optimized for FPS titles, if the big red dedicated "Sniper" button on the side didn't give it away! It features eight programmable buttons, a 12k DPI optical sensor and adjustable center of gravity through weights to allow users to better tweak the mouse for their style of play, and it's even got customi... [PCSTATS]


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GIGABYTE Z170MX-Gaming 5 Review
Today we have Gigabyte BRIX S Ultra Compact PC Kit in the hot seat. This isn't the Gigabyte BRIX S BXi5H-5200 Ultra Compact PC Kit that we reviewed last year, but rather the Gigabyte BRIX S BSi7H-6500 Ultra Compact PC Kit. This is one of the many revamped Gigabyte BRIX models that debuted at CES 2016! Gigabyte updated the exterior to have an arguab... [PCSTATS]


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ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Extreme
Today we’re to look at what GIGABYTE has to offer in the Z170MX-Gaming 5. This condensed motherboard shares some key similarities with its larger siblings which make use of the ATX form factor. Throughout there is an eye-catching design which carries with it a strong feature-set, with extra emphasis on audio performance.

... [PCSTATS]


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Pascal graphics card to launch at Computex 2016
The Asus Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Extreme motherboard is the latest in Asus' flagship line of enthusiast-class motherboards for gamers. It’s a top-end premium solution with a dizzying array of tuning options to supercharge your next build and tweak overall performance in games and lots of other applications.

The Asus Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Extreme i... [PCSTATS]


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MSI Z170A Gaming PRO CARBON Review
Retailing just under £110, MSI’s Z170A SLI Plus is targeting Skylake users with an eye on SLI support for their graphics subsystem. With the Z170A SLI Plus motherboard’s use of an Intel NIC and largely black colour scheme, MSI is aiming to perk the interest of mainstream users who may not want the Killer NIC and flashy aesthetics of the company’s G... [PCSTATS]


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U of T Sounds of Science: Music, Technology, Medicine
We check out the MSI Z170A Gaming PRO CARBON Gaming PRO Series motherboard. Armed with a decent price of €150,- this motherboard has refined looks, an RGB LED lighting system and next to that, this is Z170 meaning it is fast, feature rich and tweakable as well.

... [PCSTATS]


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HIS R7 250 Twin Fan 2GB D5 LP Video Card Review
This is neat; U of T will showcase (some for the first time) the latest discoveries in music medicine, technology, therapy, and clinical applications. The event on May 3 will show audiences about music's healing abilities and what happens to our bodies through certain music notes.

"For the very first time a live audience will witness how musi... [PCSTATS]


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Available Tags:Xeon , Smartphone , Microsoft , SQL , Server , Ubuntu , Windows , SSD , Cooler Master , Sapphire , Radeon , OCZ , ASUS , Gaming , Keyboard , CPU Cooler , CPU , NASA , AMD , Gigabyte , GIGABYTE , MSI , HIS , 

IT News Head Lines (TechSpot) 29/02/2016

Weekend Open Forum: Which PC case do you use?

One of the very first premium aftermarket computer cases I acquired was a Lian Li PC-60. In the 15 or so years since, I've had the opportunity to work with probably a hundred or more cases of varying shapes, sizes, building materials and price points including my current chassis, the...





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Can you outwit Google's new photo-identifying neural network?

Google has unveiled a new neural network called PlaNet that's capable of determining the location an image was captured.





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Apple's new 4-inch iPhone will likely ditch the '5' and arrive as the iPhone SE

Apple is widely expected to release a smaller 4-inch iPhone as early as next month. It is believed that the handset, often dubbed the iPhone 5se, will essentially be a clone of the iPhone 5s Apple released in 2013 but with modern (faster) internal hardware.





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'Super Russian Roulette' is a modern party game for the NES

The idea of creating a new game for a console that's well over 30 years old may seem ludicrous to some but electrical engineer Andrew Reitano is proof that it certainly can be done. His game, Super Russian Roulette for the Nintendo Entertainment System, has already blown past its funding...





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Lasers may be able to propel spacecraft to Mars at a significant fraction of the speed of light

NASA late last year outlined a three-phase plan to send astronauts to Mars. The ambitious undertaking, much of which involves ongoing space research and developing methods to harvest resources from Mars to sustain human life, is on schedule to unfold over the next several years.





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These are the most liked / least liked tech CEOs

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be experiencing pushback in some regions as he tries to connect the rest of the world to the Internet but in the US, he's still garnering plenty of "likes."





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New trademark filing suggests that full Alan Wake sequel could be on its way

2010 survival horror game Alan Wake was one of those titles that people seemed to either love or hate (I personally loved it). If you fall into the former camp, then here’s some potentially good news: Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind the games, has filed a trademark application for ‘Alan...





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Mercedes-Benz replaces robots with humans on its assembly lines

There are many articles that warn of the inevitable loss of jobs as robots become increasingly advanced and replace humans in certain industries. One of the most publicized of these is the car manufacturing sector, where machines have been making humans redundant for many years. But Mercedes-Benz, it seems, is...





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Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and others unite to support Apple in its court case against the DoJ

Rivalry between massive technology firms can be pretty extreme at times, with many of them launching lawsuits against each other on a regular basis, so it’s rare for big companies to show support for their competitors. But nothing has united the tech community quite like Apple’s battle with the Department...





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Netflix is introducing data saving, second screen, and HDR features this year

If you have a limited data plan for your smartphone and find you can’t always binge-watch Netflix shows when you’re out and about, the video streaming site has some good news for you – an update to the Netflix mobile app later this year will give users more control over...





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Facebook's Canvas brings full-screen interactive ads to its mobile platform

Facebook has just launched a new feature that will allow advertisers to display full-screen ads on the social media site’s mobile platform. It’s not as bad as it sounds, though; users have to click on an advertisement for it to take up the entire screen.





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TechSpot Best of MWC 2016: Smartphones, VR and more

It’s been a busy week as more than 90,000 people stormed Barcelona to catch the latest mobile announcements and innovations. This year’s Mobile World Congress brought us new smartphones, hybrid mobile devices, more VR hype as well as wearables and IoT gear. Lets take a look at the highlights of...





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YouTube enhances blurring tool capabilities for content creators

YouTube launched a tool in 2012 that allowed uploaders to blur the faces of people in their videos. The Google-owned video sharing service described it as a first step in providing visual anonymity tools and today, they've taken the next step.





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Capcom: Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6 are heading to next-gen consoles this year

Fans of the Resident Evil franchise have something to cheer about today as Capcom announced that three popular Resident Evil games are heading to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One later this year.





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Google's European problems continue as France demands $1.7 billion in back taxes

Google seems to be having some trouble with Europe’s tax laws. Last month, it was reported that Italian police suspect the company has evaded 227 million euros ($247.5 million) in taxes between 2009 and 2013. Now, French authorities have demanded that the tech giant pays 1.6 billion euros ($1.7 billion)...





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Ace the MCSA Windows Server 2012 & Cisco Network Associate Ceritifcations

Save hundreds on comprehensive, professional training in these two highly regarded IT certifications, now at the TechSpot Store.





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'Fallout 4' Survival Mode detailed on Reddit

Fallout 4 developer Bethesda Game Studios revealed on Twitter earlier this month that it was completely overhauling the game's Survival mode. The developer specifically mentioned changes in the categories of food, sleep, diseases and danger but didn't elaborate any further.





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Huawei partners with optics specialist Leica to 'reinvent' smartphone photography

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei and German camera and lens specialist Leica have announced a strategic partnership which they promise will reinvent smartphone photography.





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Your next smartphone may include 256GB of storage courtesy of Samsung

Samsung on Thursday announced that it is now mass-producing 256GB embedded memory chips for mobile devices.





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HTC's official teaser suggests that the One M10 will be unveiled soon

With the LG G5 and Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge grabbing the spotlight at Mobile World Congress, it’s understandable why HTC didn’t want to show off its new flagship device at the event. Instead, the Taiwanese company unveiled several low- to mid-range Desires at MWC. But now, HTC has...





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Google reportedly partners with Vizio to integrate Chromecast-like features into new TVs

Google's Chromecast was one of the surprise hits of 2013. The innovative device inspired a smattering of "me-too" HDMI streaming sticks but its affordable price point of just $35 has led to sustained sales and popularity among both tech enthusiasts and mainstream consumers.





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Microsoft introduces more Windows 10 lock screen ads, but removing them is easy

Microsoft may have allowed users of its popular operating systems to upgrade to Windows 10 for free last year, but the company hasn’t hidden the fact that it will use various methods to monetize the platform. In April 2015, the Redmond firm revealed that one way it would do this...





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Germany approves the use of government-developed malware to monitor suspects

The German government has taken the controversial decision to allow intelligence agencies to use malware for the purpose of monitoring people under suspicion.





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OnePlus 3 smartphone to arrive by June

OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has revealed that the Chinese handset maker will release its next flagship smartphone by the end of the second quarter of this year.





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ISIS hackers threaten Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey in new video

It’s said that no terrorist organization utilizes the internet to recruit members and spread its propaganda as effectively as ISIS, especially when it comes to social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. But the sites’ continued fight against Islamic State has led to a group of ISIS-affiliated hackers releasing a video...





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TechSpot Best of MWC 2016

It's been a busy week as more than 90,000 people stormed Barcelona to catch the latest mobile announcements and innovations. This year's Mobile World Congress brought us new smartphones, hybrid mobile devices, more VR hype as well as wearables and IoT gear. Lets take a look at the highlights of the three-day event.





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Viber 5.8.0
Free calls, text and picture sharing with anyone, anywhere.

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Wunderlist 3.4.2
Say hello to Wunderlist, your-all-new-easy-to-use to-do-list.

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Surf Anonymous Free 2.5.1.6
Surf Anonymous Free is an advanced and reliable software for Internet users who want to ensure that their sessions and all online activities are secure and private.

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Chromium 50.0.2661.0
Chromium is an open-source browser project that aims to build a safer, faster, and more stable way for all users to experience the web.

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Mozilla Firefox 45.0 Beta 10
Experience cutting edge features but with more stability.

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CloneDVD Mobile 1.2.0.1
Convert movies to Sony PSP, Apple iPod Video, iAudio X5, Creative Labs ZEN Vision, etc. format

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Slimjet 8.0.1.0
Slimjet is a fast, smart and powerful web browser based on the Blink engine. It is built on top of the Chromium open source project, on which Google chrome is also based.

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ProgTV Android 2.12.5
ProgTV - the simple but convenient and universal software for watching TV and listening to radio channels over Internet or local network.

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Opera Beta 36.0.2130.21
Download Opera today to get the fastest and most powerful web browser available and make the most of your time online.

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Smultron for Mac 8.2.5
Open-source text editor written in Cocoa for Mac OS X Panther with many of the features that you might need.

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GeForce Experience Beta 2.11.1.2
The GeForce Experience Beta will give gamers early access to new features ahead of general public release.

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Monosnap 3.3.0
Make screenshots. Draw on it. Shoot video and share your files. It's fast, easy and free.

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Sweet Home 3D 5.2
Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design application that helps you draw the plan of your house, arrange furniture on it and visit the results in 3D.

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Bandizip 5.12
Bandizip is 100% free Archiver for home and office.

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Process Hacker 2.38
A free, powerful, multi-purpose tool that helps you monitor system resources, debug software and detect malware.

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JetClean 1.5.0.129
With a single click, JetClean gives you that fresh, new PC feeling again! Lightweight and easy to use, JetClean removes system junk files and improves your PC performance.

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BurnAware Free 8.9
BurnAware allows you to easily perform the most common disc burning operations.

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SRWare Iron 48.0.2560.0
Iron is designed to be an alternative to Chrome and other Chromium based browsers with emphasis on privacy and security.

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Kindle for Mac 1.15.0
Read Kindle Books on Your Computer.

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Calibre 2.52.0
Calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books.

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iSpy 6.5.2.0
iSpy uses your webcams and microphones to detect and record movement or sound and provides security, surveillance, monitoring and alerting services.

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Dr.Web LinkChecker
Dr.Web LinkCheckers is a free plug-in that allows you to scan web pages and files downloaded from the Internet. Install the plug-in for your browser, and enjoy virus-free web surfing.

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Mozilla Firefox for Linux 45.0 Beta 10
Experience the newest innovations in a stable environment.

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Image for Windows 2.99
Win32-based backup and restore utility that creates a snapshot of an entire partition.

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MeinPlatz 4.88
MeinPlatz "My-Place" offers an easy and fast way to scan the hard disk for lost disk space.

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ChrisPC Free VideoTube Downloader 8.35
ChrisPC Free YouTube Downloader Converter is a powerful software with converter capabilities that allows you to download and store locally videos from your favorite online video websites.

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Vole Windows Expedition 3.40.60221
Vole Expedition is a scene reproduce resource manager. A easier and more graceful way to manage your documents.

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Anvil Studio 2016.02.04
With this free version, you can create an unlimited number of MIDI tracks, and two one-minute audio tracks.

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PhoneClean 4.0.5
Number 1 freeware made to free up space on your iPhone, iPad & iPod touch.

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McAfee AVERT Stinger 12.1.0.1927
Stinger is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing with an infected system.

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Intel HD Graphic Driver for N Series 15.40.1.4256 for Windows 10
This driver adds support for the new Microsoft Windows 10 operating system for N Series Intel Pentium and Intel Celeron Processors with Intel HD Graphics.

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Realtek 10/100M Fast Ethernet PCI Express Driver 10.007
Realtek PCIe 10/100M Fast Ethernet Network Driver.

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AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.2 Hotfix Update
This hotfix solves both performance and heat issues some users are reporting in regards to GPU fan speeds after installing the Crimson drivers.

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Linksys WRE54G Wireless-G Range Expander Setup Wizard
A WRE54G expands your network coverage into hard-to-reach areas. The installation of range expander saves wiring cost since this is doesn’t require an Ethernet cable after the successful installation.

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