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Facebook Readies IPO Filing for As Soon As Next Week

Facebook Inc. could file papers for its initial public offering as early as next week, people familiar with the matter said, as anticipation mounts for what is likely to be one of the biggest debuts for a U.S. company. The deal, seen as defining moment for the latest Web investing boom, could raise as much as $10 billion and value the social network between $75 billion to $100 billion, said people familiar with the matter. A valuation of $75 billion would be below earlier expectations.

The Internet giant is close to picking Morgan Stanley to lead the deal, these people said. Wall Street banks, many of them struggling amid a crimp in trading profits, have been jostling for a leading role in the deal, which could yield them tens of millions of dollars in banker fees, potential new business and bragging rights. A nod for Morgan Stanley would mark a disappointment for rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which a year ago was viewed as having an edge to lead the deal. One person familiar with the matter said that while Morgan Stanley would likely land the coveted "lead-left" spot on an IPO financial filing, Goldman would also likely play a significant role.

Wall Street Journal

Posted by | Fri, Jan 27, 2012 - 06:18 PM | Comments

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Apple Earns $400,000 Per Employee, Still Won't Make iPhones In The U.S.A

It wasn't so long ago, that Apple boasted that its products were made in America. As of today very few are, most of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads, and 59 million other Apple products sold last year are made overseas. In a dinner with Silicon Valley's elite, Barack Obama asked Steven P Jobs "Why can't that work come home? The response was an unambiguous "Those jobs aren't coming back," he said according to a fellow dinner guest. Its interesting to note that Apple who is one of the best-known, and most imitated and admired companies on earth, makes $400,000 per employee, which is more then Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil, or even Google. Essentially it comes down to Apple's conviction that overseas factories and workers in terms of diligence and industrial skills have outpaced their American counterparts, and that "Made in the U.S.A" is not a viable option for most Apple products. Apple currently employs just 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 overseas. The real grunt from there work force is the additional 700,000 contractors that engineer, build and assemble iPads, iPhones, and other Apple products for foreign companies located in Asia and Europe. Jared Bernstein, a former economic adviser to the White House has said "If it's the pinnacle of capitalism, we should be worried". It used to be American companies would once support American workers, even if it wasn't a good financial choice. It seems that those days are long gone with companies like Apple at the forefront, profits and efficiency are now far more important than generosity.

Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.

MSNBC Technology News

Posted by | Fri, Jan 27, 2012 - 04:03 PM | Comments

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President Obama Signs Global Internet Treaty Worse Than SOPA - Meet ACTA

Months before the debate about Internet censorship raged as SOPA and PIPA dominated the concerns of web users, President Obama signed an international treaty that would allow companies in China or any other country in the world to demand ISPs remove web content in the US with no legal oversight whatsoever. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was signed by Obama on October 1 2011, yet is currently the subject of a White House petition demanding Senators be forced to ratify the treaty. The White House has circumvented the necessity to have the treaty confirmed by lawmakers by presenting it an as “executive agreement,” although legal scholars have highlighted the dubious nature of this characterization. You can learn more about ACTA here.

Under the provisions of ACTA, copyright holders will be granted sweeping direct powers to demand ISPs remove material from the Internet on a whim. Whereas ISPs normally are only forced to remove content after a court order, all legal oversight will be abolished, a precedent that will apply globally, rendering the treaty worse in its potential scope for abuse than SOPA or PIPA. A country known for its enforcement of harsh Internet censorship policies like China could demand under the treaty that an ISP in the United States remove content or terminate a website on its server altogether. As we have seen from the enforcement of similar copyright policies in the US, websites are sometimes targeted for no justifiable reason.

Infowars

Posted by | Fri, Jan 27, 2012 - 10:43 AM | Comments

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SteelSeries' Sponsored Teams Begin 2012 eSports Season

SteelSeries sponsored teams Bare beginning the 2012 eSports gaming season and SteelSeries looks pretty happy with their teams. SteelSeries sponsored teams and players currently include: Natus Vincere, SK Gaming, Fnatic, Evil Geniuses, Tyloo, Tom ‘Tsquared’ Taylor, Status Quo, vVv Gaming, Team WinFakt!, Copenhagen Wolves, Team Sypher, eSuba, Team Immunity and Team FeaR. Last year the teams and players sponsored by Steelseries brought in over $2 million in prize money!

“The 2011 eSports season set new standards in competitive gaming with the level of players we saw competing on the mainstages during tournaments, the incredible numbers of spectators at events as well as those who watched live streamed matches, and the prize money,” said Kim Rom, SteelSeries CMO. “Our teams brought home more than $2 million dollars in winnings, a hockey stick growth curve that attests to the rapid growth we’re seeing at a global level. The excitement for eSports is mounting and that proof is in the checks that these players are competing for.”

Legit Forums

Posted by | Fri, Jan 27, 2012 - 10:01 AM | Comments

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Valve Announces Steam Mobile App For iOS & Android Devices

Valve recently announced the beta release of the Steam application for iOS and Android devices. With the Steam app, gamers around the world may chat with Steam friends, browse community groups and user profiles, view screenshots and user-generated content for their favorite games, read the latest gaming news, stay up to date on unbeatable Steam sales, and more. Those who wish to join the beta just need to download the Steam app (free of charge) and log in to their Steam account via the mobile app to express interest in the beta. Gamers will be added to the Closed Beta as the service ramps up.

"The Steam app comes from many direct requests from our customers," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "Seeing which of your friends are online and playing a game, sending quick messages, looking at screenshots for an upcoming game, or catching a sale -- these are all features customers have requested. Mobile is changing way people interact, play games and consume media, and the Steam app is part of our commitment to meet customer demands and expand the service functionality of Steam to make it richer and more accessible for everyone."

Legit Forums

Posted by | Fri, Jan 27, 2012 - 09:50 AM | Comments

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January 27, 2012 News from Around the Web

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler Review @ Tweaknews and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

"To sum it all up, Cooler Master's new Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler has great performance, yet leaves a relatively small acoustic footprint. The included mounting solution is very robust, if a bit fussy to install, and Cooler Master includes an extra pair of fan clips should the user wish to add another fan."

Legit Forums

Posted by | Fri, Jan 27, 2012 - 06:53 AM | Comments

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Google Chromebooks Hit It Big, 27,000 Headed To U.S. Schools

Google's influence continues to grow as they now ready 27,000 Chromebooks for schools in Iowa, Illinois, and South Carolina. Rajen Sheth, Google's leader of Chromebook work for business and education announced the deals at the Florida Educational Technology Conference. With the inclusion of Iowa, Illinois, and South Carolina Google now has Chromebooks in at least one classroom in hundreds of schools spread across 41 states. The Chromebook looks to be a hit for Google and while a few thousand devices may seem minor compared to a global education market, the fact schools want Chromebooks speaks volumes. It seems that in the future we can expect more schools across the United States to embrace the Chromebook as a method to improve learning in the classroom.

"This is the right device for student learning," said Bryan Weinert, technology coordinator for the Leyden Community High School District in Illinois. "We plan to deploy 3,500 to students next year. Every single student will be issued a Chromebook they can use at school and at home."

CNET News

Posted by | Thu, Jan 26, 2012 - 05:42 PM | Comments

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Rumor: Microsoft's Next Gen XBOX Might Not Play Used Games

It would appear sources close to Kotaku have some dirt on the next gen XBOX. Microsoft apparently intends to incorporate an anti-used game system as part of their new console. How they would go about doing this is not specified as of yet, but one hunch would be a DRM based approach much like Valve's STEAM or EA's Origin. This would tie the games to a specific account and lock users from sharing games with friends or family. Now keep in mind this is a rumor, but I am sure game developers and publishers alike would be extremely happy with this development, after all they would get a larger share of the profit for their work. Now if this turns out to be true I have to wonder what the ramifications will be to the gaming industry as a whole. The changes this would bring could possibly kill companies such as Gamefly and Gamestop who depend on used game sales, and rentals. Then there is the potential anger from consumers who rely on those companies to get their gaming fix. So tell me what are your thoughts on this? Is this a good idea for Microsoft or will it only hurt them in the long run if this was to be implemented?

A push in any way by Microsoft against used games would likely be cheered from publishers sick of seeing retailers like GameStop crow about their revenues from the sale of used games. But it could potentially anger consumers who rely on buying cheaply-sold used games or even pass games to relatives or friends.

Kotaku

Posted by | Thu, Jan 26, 2012 - 02:54 PM | Comments

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AMD Radeon HD 7950 Video Card Reference Design Pictures

OBRovsky Blog has a post up today that claims they have pictures of AMD's Radeon HD 7950 reference design graphics card. Who knows if these images are real or not, but from what we have been told there will be no reference design as AIB's will be releasing custom solutions from the start. I guess we'll have to wait till next week before we find out!

Here is reference card Radeon HD 7950 3GB "built by AMD". Specifications: 800 MHz Core, 5 GHz Memories, different PCB - 99.9 percent non unlockable to HD 7970.

OBRovsky Blog

Posted by | Thu, Jan 26, 2012 - 10:45 AM | Comments

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New NVIDIA CUDA Release Makes It Faster & Easier

NVIDIA today announced a major new update to the companies CUDA parallel computing platform. This new version features three key enhancements that make parallel programing with GPUs easier, more accessible and faster for computational biologists, chemists, physicists, geophysicists, other researchers, and engineers to advance their simulations and research by using GPUs.

The new NVIDIA CUDA parallel computing platform features three key enhancements that make parallel programing with GPUs easier, more accessible and faster. These include:

• Re-designed Visual Profiler with automated performance analysis, providing aneasier path to application acceleration
• New compiler, based on the widely-used LLVM open-source compiler infrastructure, delivering up to 10 percent speed up in application performance
• Hundreds of new imaging and signal processing functions, doubling the size of the NVIDIA Performance Primitives (NPP) library

“The new visual profiler is amazing,” said Joshua Anderson, lead developer of the HOOMD-blue open source molecular dynamics project. “With just a few clicks, it performs an automated performance analysis of your application, highlights likely problem areas, and then provides links to best-practice suggestions on improving them. It makes it quick and easy for virtually all developers to accelerate a broad range of applications.”

Legit Forums

Posted by | Thu, Jan 26, 2012 - 10:38 AM | Comments

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WD Previews Thunderbolt Dual-Drive Storage System at Macworld

Western Digital will demonstrate the ultra-fast data transfer rates of its upcoming My Book Thunderbolt Duo dual-drive storage system at the Macworld/iWorld show. Thunderbolt technology will dramatically improve workflow speed and efficiencies for enthusiasts and professionals dealing with large digital files such as video, audio and still photos. Thunderbolt technology is capable of producing up to 10 gigabits per second of throughput on each of two channels in both directions. Users can experience very fast read/write speeds especially during applications such as video editing, 3D rendering, and other intense graphics projects. To put Thunderbolt's speed into perspective, HD media creators will be able to transfer a standard size full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds, or backup an entire year of continuous music (approx. 8,600 hours of music) in roughly 10 minutes. We saw this demo at CES 2012 and wrote about it here.

"Thunderbolt technology offers the speed needed for creative professionals and enthusiasts who produce, edit, or need quick access to large files, including HD video," said Jody Bradshaw, general manager of WD's consumer storage solutions. "During the demonstration, twin Thunderbolt ports show amazing flexibility while allowing daisy-chaining of up to six My Book Thunderbolt Duo systems or other high performance peripherals for an enhanced workflow process. The combination of storage, backup, and speed could make the My Book Thunderbolt Duo the only drive a creative pro would ever need."

Legit Forums

Posted by | Thu, Jan 26, 2012 - 10:32 AM | Comments

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Darksiders II - Death Eternal Trailer Released

Vigil Games and THQ recently released a new trailer called 'Death Lives' for the upcoming PC game DarkSiders II. It's a brief chronological bio of the supernatural entity known as Death, and it's definitely worth a watch.

Death, a force no mortal can escape may be the world's only hope as the Horseman of the Apocalypse "Death" himself steps in the lead role of Darksiders II. Players will take control of Death and continue where War left off, utilizing Death's completely different style of fighting and narration. Developed by Vigil Games, Darksiders II will be coming to Xbox 360, PC, PS3, and Wii U later in 2012.

Posted by | Thu, Jan 26, 2012 - 10:23 AM | Comments

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Intel to Buy Patents and Next Generation Video Codec Software From RealNetworks

RealNetworks today announced that it has signed an agreement to sell a significant number of its patents and its next generation video codec software to Intel Corporation for a purchase price of $120 million. Under terms of the sale, RealNetworks retains certain rights to continue to use the patents in current and future products. In addition to the sale of the patents and next-generation video codec software, RealNetworks and Intel signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on future support and development of the next-generation video codec software and related products.

"Selling these patents to Intel unlocks some of the substantial and unrealized value of RealNetworks assets," said Thomas Nielsen, RealNetworks President and CEO. "It represents an extraordinary opportunity for us to generate additional capital to boost investments in new businesses and markets while still protecting our existing business. "RealNetworks is pleased Intel has agreed to acquire our next generation video codec software and team," said Nielsen. "Intel has a strong reputation as a technology innovator, and we believe they are well positioned to build on the development work and investment we've made in this area."

Legit Forums

Posted by | Thu, Jan 26, 2012 - 10:19 AM | Comments

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January 26, 2012 News from Around the Web

OCZ Agility 3 2.5" SSD @ DreamWare Computers and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

"Over the last year I've had the opportunity to review both ends of OCZ's solid state drive lineup. I've tested the entry level Onyx drive and a couple drives from the high end Vertex series. These drives were at opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to performance - so what lies between? OCZ has a number of 'mainstream' solid state drives on the market - these are drives with a healthy balance of price to performance. One series of mainstream drives is the Agility 3. The Agility 3 is middle of the line for OCZ's SATAIII lineup - it offers performance that's a step down from the Vertex 3 reviewed late last year, but a price that will keep some money in your pocket."

Legit Forums

Posted by | Thu, Jan 26, 2012 - 07:31 AM | Comments

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XFX Graphics Card Warranty Gets Revision, Double Lifetime Warranty Axed

XFX an industry leader in graphics cards and power supplies has revised their warranty. XFX will be transitioning to a two-year limited warranty on all AMD Radeon HD 7000 series graphics cards. The new standard two-year limited warranty is according to XFX more inline with the industry standard and will allow them to simplify there operational requirements. The XFX Radeon HD 7000 series Double Dissipation models however will have an option to extend the warranty as those are their products geared towards top-tiered enthusiasts. Now for those of you running older XFX graphics cards the warranty is also only two-years, however XFX will honor double lifetime warranties on all Radeon HD 6000, 5000, and 4000 series models if they were registered within 30 days of purchase.

Most importantly, all XFX Radeon HD 6000, 5000, and 4000 series models also offer the two-year limited warranty as standard, and will continue to be supported by the optional Double Lifetime Limited Warranty (with registration within 30 days of purchase). Restrictions and limitations may apply and specific details are available on our website.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2012 - 06:19 PM | Comments

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NVIDIA Unimpressed By AMD's GCN Architecture

NVIDIA, who has yet to release a video card this year, has issued some fighting words in an interview with Nordic Hardware. NVIDIA has stated "Honestly, we expected more from our competitor’s new architecture,". This would potentially mean that AMD's Radeon HD 7900 performance isn't where NVIDIA expected it to be, and that NVIDIA's new architecture could be far more powerful. It seems this stems from NVIDIA's impression that AMD's GCN architecture would be faster then it turned out to be. At this point all we can do is take this with a grain of salt, as without a product to compare it's simply mind games for now.

Even if this is hardly the optimum for NVIDIA they said they were positively surprised by AMD's launch - for its own account. A high up representative revealed that NVIDIA before the launch had a likely performance estimate of Radeon HD 7900, an estimate that it has been preparing to beat.

Nordic Hardware

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2012 - 01:48 PM | Comments

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AMD Releases Catalyst 12.1 and 12.2 Preview Video Card Drivers

AMD released a pair of video card drivers today that should be of interest to our AMD Radeon HD video card users. For starters AMD has released Catalyst 12.1 WHQL certified graphics drivers. These drivers have a lengthy list of fixes and can be downloaded here. For those that are a little more daring AMD also released Catalyst 12.2 Preview drivers that includes all of the features found in AMD Catalyst 12.1 drivers, plus additional fixes. You can download Catalyst 12.2 Preview drivers from here. You can see the fixes that are included in the Catalyst 12.2 Preview drivers for Windows 7 in the bullet list below. Please note that the 12.2 preview does not support the AMD Radeon HD 7900 series for some reason.

AMD Catalyst 12.2 Preview Driver Fixes For Windows 7 Users:

• Call of Duty IV no longer displays random corruption when in DirectX 9 more and the Edge Detect filter is enabled.
• A black screen is no longer occasionally displayed when running Portal 2 in 3D mode.
• All 3d Anti Aliasing settings are now correctly listed in the Vision Control Center.
• Morphological filtering settings are now correctly listed in the Vision Control Center.
• Civilization V no longer experiences random crashes when run in DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 modes.
• Enabling the ‘Edge Detect’ filter in Resident Evil 5 or Just Cause 2 no longer generates a random application crash.
• Battlefield 3 no longer hangs when MSAA is enabled.
• Saints Row III no longer experiences random hangs.
• Rage no longer experiences intermittent hangs when Crossfire is enabled
• Dragon Age 2 textures no longer flicker when run in DirectX 9 mode in Crossfire configurations with vsync enabled.
• Crysis Warhead and Battlefield Bad Company 2 no longer experience random crashes when Crossfire is enabled.
• Texture flickering is no longer experienced when playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 in DirectX 11 mode.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2012 - 01:47 PM | Comments

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Blizzcon 2012 Cancelled, Shall Return in 2013

Blizzard has announced that Blizzcon their massive annual convention will not happen this year. In lieu of this Blizzard has said that they desire to focus on finishing their current projects, which include Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, Heart of the Swarm, and of course Project Titan there next big MMO. While this news might sadden fans whom were anticipating Blizzcon its not the end of the world. Blizzard will be spending there time doing something far better, crafting fantastic games and content for their eager fans the world over.

In the light of the success of the massive Starcraft 2 pro finals at Blizzcon 2011, Blizzard announce that they will be staging the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, described as “a major global eSports event featuring some of the best pro-gaming competition in the world.” It’ll host StarCraft 2 and WoW Arena World Championship tournaments in Asia later this year.

PCGAMER

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2012 - 01:15 PM | Comments

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AMD Posts Loss After Write-Downs - Expects More Decline This Quarter

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) recently announced revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011 of $1.69 billion, net loss of $177 million, or $0.24 per share, and operating income of $71 million. The shows little growth in the fourth quarter and swung to a net loss, reflecting write-downs tied to a former manufacturing unit and problems that included supply shortages on some chips. To make matters worse AMD expects revenue to decrease eight percent, plus or minus three percent, sequentially for the first quarter of 2012.

“AMD shipped more than 30 million APU’s in 2011, resulting in record annual notebook revenue,” said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. “The unmatched combination of computing and graphics capabilities in our low-power ‘Brazos’ platform has made it our fastest ramping platform ever, paving the way for continued growth in key segments and geographies. Our server business has re-gained momentum, delivering two consecutive quarters of strong sequential growth. We continued optimizing our financial model in 2011, consistently delivering operating income and creating the foundation for sustained success. We begin 2012 clear on our priorities and opportunities. We are building an AMD that consistently delivers on its commitments.”

Legit Forums

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2012 - 08:45 AM | Comments

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January 25, 2012 News from Around the Web

71 CPU Roundup @ iXBT Labs and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

"The year 2011 has ended, so it's high time to sum up the results and see the general picture. If you're looking to upgrade, we hope this will make choosing a processor easier."

Legit Forums

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2012 - 07:41 AM | Comments

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Hewlett-Packard Gets Civil Penalty Of $425,000 For Failure To Report Defective Battery Packs

Hewlett-Packard (HP) the largest computer system manufacturer in the world has run into a bit of trouble. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) alleges that HP knowingly failed to report that certain lithium-ion battery packs contained a defect or created a potentially unreasonable risk of serious injury and or death. These defective battery packs were used in HP notebook computers, and sold as accessories as well as spare parts for various HP models. The CPSC staff has said that by September 2007 HP was already aware of 22 incidents associated with the lithium-ion battery packs with two such incidents resulting in injuries with one of them ending in a hospital visit. On July 25th 2008 when HP did finally notify the CPSC the Commission was aware of 31 incidents involving the defective lithium-ion battery packs. HP and the CPSC did end up finally announcing a recall of around 32,000 lithium-ion battery packs in October 2008 nearly a year after the issue was discovered. Federal Law mandates that manufacturers must report to the CPSC within 24 hours of obtaining information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product happens to contain a potential defect. This would mean that Hewlett-Packard had failed to follow Federal Laws and regulations. Hewlett-Packard has agreed to pay a $425,000 civil penalty, but in doing so they still deny the CPSC staff's allegations that the lithium-ion battery packs were a risk to consumers.

The settlement resolves staff allegations that HP knowingly failed to report immediately to CPSC, as required by federal law, that certain lithium-ion battery packs contained a defect or created an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death. The lithium-ion battery packs can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers. The packs were shipped with new HP Notebook computers, sold as accessories or provided as spare parts for various HP models.

United States Consumer Product Safety Commission

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2012 - 04:50 PM | Comments

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Google Announces Privacy Settings Change - You Can't Opt Out!

Google said Tuesday it will require users to allow the company to follow their activities across e-mail, search, YouTube and other services, a radical shift in strategy that is expected to invite greater scrutiny of its privacy and competitive practices. The information will enable Google to develop a fuller picture of how people use its growing empire of Web sites. Consumers will have no choice but to accept the The policy will take effect March 1 and will also impact Android mobile phone users, who are required to log in to Google accounts when they activate their phones. This doesn't exactly sound like a good thing to us, but we understand that Google is doing it for advertising reasons.

Google’s changes are appeared squarely aimed at Apple and Facebook, which have been successful in keeping people in their ecosystem of products. Google, which makes money by selling ads tailored to its users, is hoping to do the same by offering a Web experience tailored to personal tastes. “If you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services,” Alma Whitten, Google’s director of privacy, product and engineering wrote in a blog post. “In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience,” she said.

Washington Post

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2012 - 04:17 PM | Comments

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Cooler Master Announces NotePal D-Lite Laptop Cooler For Under $10

Cooler Master today announced a new member of the NotePal Series of laptop coolers, the NotePal D-Lite cooler. The NotePal D-Lite keeps laptops up to 15” cool and quiet with its large 140mm fan and is suited for office settings. It features an ergonomic design that supports better viewing / typing angles for longer, more comfortable, sessions. NotePal D-Lite comes is considered a low budget laptop cooler with an MSRP of just $9.99. Expect to see the very affordable NotePal D-Lite on store shelves in select regions soon.

Users will immediately notice that the NotePal D-Lite is built from sturdy, yet lightweight, materials that make it easy to travel with and store when not in use. Laptops come with precious few USB ports. Knowing this, Cooler Master Engineers included a USB pass-through connector that will power the NotePal D-Lite and provide access for another USB device.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2012 - 04:04 PM | Comments

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Bethesda Releases Skyrim 1.4 Beta Patch, Available Now On Steam

As was promised by Bethesda a beta 1.4 patch for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is available on Steam for anyone who wishes to try it. The beta patch offers fixes for a large number of bugs and crashes, but the big news is the performance and memory optimizations. (Check the patch notes for a full list of details.) Now I for one am extremely impressed with the performance gains this patch brings to the table, with some users seeing massive gains in framerate. It should be noted however that if you wish to use the beta patch that backing up all your saved games should be a top priority, after all better safe then sorry.

Step by Step Skyrim Beta 1.4 Patch Installation.

• Log into Steam.
• Click on Steam in the Upper Menu.
• Select Settings.
• Under Account tab, go to Beta Participation section and select change.
• Drop down menu will appear, Select Skyrim Beta.
• Select OK
• Steam should now restart. After Steam restarts, Skyrim will update to the Beta 1.4 patch.

Shack News

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2012 - 10:22 AM | Comments

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Sony Launches New Walkman B170 MP3 Player

At first glance we thought Sony was announces a USB Flash drive, but the company recently announced the Sony Walkman B Series MP3 player. This music player weighs in at just 28g and is obviously small and light enough to take anywhere thanks to its 88.8 x 22.5 x 15mm dimensions. Available in 2GB and 4GB capacities, the Sony Walkman B170 certainly isn’t for those who that like to cart their entire music library around, but rather someone that wants to have a few of their favorite songs or for kids. Pricing details for the Sony B170 were not revealed, but the company did say it would be released in mid-February.

When you’re in a hurry, 3 minutes charging time gives enough battery power for 90 minutes listening. Fully charged, Walkman B Series lets you listen non-stop for 18 hours – plenty for the longest commute or an overnight break. You won’t want to keep other people in the dark about your favourite MP3 player. Walkman B Series features a chunky clip that attaches to a belt, bag strap or clothing to show off your style.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2012 - 10:18 AM | Comments

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COUGAR Evolution BO Gaming Case Now Available

COUGAR recently announced the Evolution BO, the top-model from the companies new gaming series. This Super Midi-Tower enclosure is unique as it features a orange and black color scheme that is different than pretty much any case on the market today. The Evolution BO measures 223 (W) x 523 (D) x 514 (H) mm, and has an I/O panel with two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, a built-in fan controller, six external 5.25-inch bays (with tool-free mounting systems), four internal 3.5-inch trays, eight PCI slots, one 120 mm Vortex HDB fan installed at the rear (up to six more fans can be installed), and two pre-drilled holes for watercooling tubing (found at the back). The COUGAR evolution BO will be available from February 2012 with a suggested retail price of of 99 €. You can see more pictures of this case in our forums.

Gamers and enthusiasts are given the possibility to use 4-way SLI or CrossFire configurations. Accordingly, the extensive cooling system of the COUGAR Evolution BO, in addition an installed COUGAR VORTEX HDB 120mm fan in the back provides for up to six additional slots for fans. This is an excellent case, graphics card and hard drive cooling is ensured. The installation of the drives is tool-and screw less and thus allows an easy handling during system construction. The housing also has a number of cable glands, which ensures easy access to components. Additionally thus provided for an optimal air flow.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2012 - 10:00 AM | Comments

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Antec Launches Three Hundred Two Gaming Enclosure For $80

Antec announced the Three Hundred Two enclosure this morning, which happens to be the latest addition to their Gaming Series. This sleek, black chassis is designed to handle today’s and tomorrow’s high-performance systems that are custom built for gamers from the inside-out. The Three Hundred Two is available now with an MSRP of $79.95.

The Three Hundred Two is built for maximum cooling thanks to its perforated front bezel, included dual TwoCool fans, and four optional fans, including a 120 mm CPU exhaust fan behind the motherboard, to ensure gamers can play beyond the long hours of the night The Three Hundred Two utilizes eight expansion slots for up to three 12.5” (318 mm) graphics cards for compatibility with the largest GPUs. This enclosure has removable, washable PSU and front intake air filters, along with a cable management system that features four strategically placed holes and 3 cm of space behind the motherboard tray. It’s even easier for builders to start using their new PC right away thanks to the Three Hundred Two’s three 5.25” and five 3.5” tool-less drive bays.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2012 - 09:36 AM | Comments

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January 24, 2012 News from Around the Web

Gigabyte X79 UD3 Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

In this review we will be looking at the Gigabyte X79 UD3 motherboard based on the Intel X79 chipset and supporting the new LGA2011 Sandy Bridge E processor. Gigabyte is offering three X79 motherboards in the Ultra Durable lineup starting with the UD3.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2012 - 08:33 AM | Comments

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Call of Duty ELITE Trailer: Join Up, Soldier With Rob Riggle

A new trailer has been released to hopefully sway gamers into subscribing for Call of Duty Elite Premium, the only way to get ‘Modern Warfare 3′ maps as they release. Starting tomorrow, the Call of Duty Elite 'season' begins with the first of four planned packs of DLC. Activision seems to believe that The Daily Show's Rob Riggle (a former serviceman himself) is the guy to sell it to us and we have to admit he was pretty funny in the trailer. Check it out below.

Lt. Colonel Rob Riggle drops a little truth: Call of Duty is about kicking ass. And Call of Duty ELITE is about kicking even more ass. Join up at http://www.callofduty.com/elite and get Modern Warfare 3 content first on your console. First two maps available Jan. 24th for Call of Duty ELITE Premium members.

Youtube

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2012 - 07:46 PM | Comments

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Western Digital Earnings Fall Due To Thailand Flood

Shares of disk drive maker Western Digital (WDC) are up sharply this afteroon as the company reported fiscal Q2 revenue ahead of consensus and said that the company had made “significant additional progress” in its effort to restore drive manufacturing in Thailand, where massive floods devastated the electronics supply chain in the latter half of last year. The company reported a fiscal second-quarter profit of $145 million, or 61 cents a share, on revenue of $2 billion. During the same period a year ago, the hard-disk drive maker earned $225 million, or 96 cents a share, on $2.48 billion in sales. Western Digital earnings fell nearly 36%, but Western Digital would have earned $358 million, or $1.51 a share if the flooding didn't take place.

Western Digital Corp.today reported revenue of $2.0 billion, hard-drive unit shipments of 28.5 million and net income of $145 million, or $0.61 per share, for its second fiscal quarter ended Dec. 30, 2011. Excluding charges and expenses related to the Thailand flooding and the planned acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST), non-GAAP net income was $358 million, or $1.51 per share. During the quarter, the company incurred charges and expenses of $199 million related to the flooding and expenses of $14 million associated with the planned acquisition of HGST. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported revenue of $2.5 billion, net income of $225 million, or $0.96 per share, and shipped 52.2 million hard drives.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2012 - 04:07 PM | Comments

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Global Challenge Kiev Most Successful eSports Event in History

The Electronic Sports League (ESL) juse sent over an e-mail letting us know that the Intel Extreme Masters season 2011/12 is well underway. The first event took place on January 19 - 22, 2012 at the Cyber Sport Arena in Kiev, Ukraine, and was done with three game titles: Counter-Strike 1.6, StarCraft 2 and League of Legends. The best players from Europe, Asia and America competed for the slots in the upcoming World Championship event and their share of $93,000 event prize money, a piece of $643,000 total prize purse of the league in the 2011/12 season. The grand final of the Intel Extreme Masters, the World Championship, will take place in March at CeBIT 2012 in Hanover, Germany.

The Global Challenge Kiev was broadcasted live by ESL TV, the ESL's web TV service, and reached 247,000 concurrent viewers making it thus the most successful event in the eSports history. The audience gathered in front of the screens around the world could enjoy the tournament via 13 ESL TV streams shoutcasted live in five languages (English, German, French, Russian and Polish). With the number of visitors attending live events and the number of viewers on the streams Intel Extreme Masters is now the leading international eSports league in the world.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2012 - 03:14 PM | Comments

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OCZ Releases Enhanced IOPS Firmware for Octane Series SSDs

OCZ Technology today announced the release of new enhanced IOPS firmware (v1.13) for the Octane SATA 3.0 Series SSDs. The random write performance has been significantly improved, in some capacities over double that of the previous specifications, for users looking to push their SSD performance to new heights.

When compared to the previous revision, random write IOPS performance doubles across nearly all capacities when tested in Iometer 2008:

OCZ strives to offer the fastest, highest performing solutions on the market and continues to support customers by offering firmware innovations to their storage investments. The new enhanced IOPS firmware will begin shipping in the next batch of drives to resellers, and the upgrade file will be made available to existing customers via the company's website.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2012 - 02:52 PM | Comments

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Kingmax Announces DDR3 2200MHz Quad Channel Memory Kits

KINGMAX announced a quad channel DDR3 2200MHz overclocking memory module kit as the companies first new product of 2012. This quad channel memory kit is obviously for Intel X79 motherboards and is available in clock rates of 1333 MHz, 1600MHz, 2000MHz and 2200MHz. The 2200MHz memory kit has CL10 timings while the rest feature tighter CL9 timings. The kits are available now in capacities of 4GB, 8GB and 16GB.

The new series of DDR3 quad channel overclocking module from KINGMAX is designed for optimizing the maximum performance on X79 related motherboard. The main clock rate of this series is set as 1333 MHz, but it is also available in 1600MHz, 2000MHz and 2200MHz. Intel X79 is an upgrade from the previous X58 series, thus building on the X79 platform means KINGMAX’s DDR3 quad channel overclocking module offers even better performance and system stability. Moreover, this series of modules unleashes the top performance of Intel Core™ i7-3930K processor and takes gamers, overclocking enthusiasts and digital content producers to a never –before level of experience.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2012 - 12:51 PM | Comments

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EK Water Blocks Slaps A Water Block On The AMD Radeon HD 7970

EK Water Blocks has posted up a installation video guide on how to install their custom water cooling block for the AMD Radeon HD 7970 video card that is worth taking a look if you are interested in that sort of thing. on their Facebook page. The part number on the full coverage waterblock is EK-FC7970. In other news EK has already started working on a new Full Cover water block for ASUS latest HD 7970 DirectCU II series graphics card. The ASUS HD7970 DirectCU II Top edition water block will be ready at the end of February or early March. You can check out this impressive card by ASUS here.

Youtube

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2012 - 09:10 AM | Comments

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January 23, 2011 News from Around the Web

Enermax Fulmo GT Big Tower Chassis Review @ TweakTown and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

"It seems Enermax has really picked up the pace the past year and is delivering quite the assortment of products in getting ready for this year. Not too long ago we took a look at the ED-T60 CPU cooler with its T.B. Vegas fan and multiple lighting schemes which made this cooler attractive and customizable to your own preference. Then we sort of stepped out of the box and went into peripherals with the Briskie wireless keyboard and mouse. From what I thought was essentially a PSU and cooler maker, the Briskie made me look at Enermax with much wider eyes as I took the blinders off to see what they actually have to offer. Now, we again step outside the "norm" and get a chance to look at what Enermax is now bringing forth in chassis design. This new chassis takes cues from other chassis we have seen already, but still has enough of its own accents to make this new chassis a case that will have no issue standing taller than most of its competition. The "big tower" as Enermax labels it, should really be called a huge tower chassis. In the design quest for this chassis, the main idea was to allow any motherboard up to and including HPTX, or the form factor made specifically for the SR-2 from EVGA, and with the SR-3 in the works, even if you missed out on the original, you now have a chassis worthy of housing its predecessor."

Legit Forums

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2012 - 07:58 AM | Comments

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Happy Chinese New Year 2012 - Year of the Dragon

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade. The start of the celebration begins on January 23rd, 2011 and it's that date right now over in China! We'd like to wish all of our readers a Happy Chinese New Year. This means that many tech companies over in China and Taiwan will be closed for the holiday. Enjoy the time off!

The first day of the 2012 Chinese New Year is on January 23, 2012 in China's time zone. This day is a new moon day, and is the first day of the first Chinese lunar month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar system. The exact new moon time is at 15:40 on 23-Jan-12 in China's time zone. The Year 2012 is the 4709th Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C., therefore China will enter the 4709th year on January 23, 2012. 2012 is the year of Dragon. Some people say 2012 is a Black Dragon or Water Dragon year. This is because the Stem-Branch Calendar is connected to the Five Element theory.

CNN

Posted by | Sun, Jan 22, 2012 - 06:08 PM | Comments

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Arctic Vs AMD Over "Fusion" Brand Name

Arctic (Arctic Cooling) a Swiss based company known world over for there cooling products has decided to sue AMD over the "Fusion" brand name. Arctic originally acquired the "Fusion" brand name from Boot Up International Ltd, and has since been using the "Fusion" name on its PSU (power supply) products. Arctic is as of now gathering evidence in order to take AMD to court over this so called trademark infringement. It should be noted Arctic's "Fusion" trademark is only valid in Europe, which is still a very large market for AMD. It does seems odd however that Arctic would take AMD to court over the "Fusion" brand name. AMD does not use "Fusion" on any of its products, instead its only used in company slogans and internally as a reference to its APU architecture. Even so Arctic has sent letters to 18 dealers and distributors located in Germany, France and Austria to halt sales of all AMD "Fusion" notebooks, PCs, motherboards, and CPUs. It will be interesting to see how this case between Arctic and AMD proceeds.

In a letter to 18 dealers and distributors in Germany, France and Austria Arctic therefore called for the immediate cessation of sales of all AMD Fusion notebooks, PCs, motherboards, and chips. Specifically mentioned in the letter from the Arctic following CPUs / APUs: A-8 3870K, A-8, 3850, A-8, 3820, A-8, 3800, 3670K-A6, A6-3650, A-8, 3620, A6-3600, A6 -3500, A4 3420 A4 3400 A4-3300, E2-3200, E2-3000M, 3300M-A4, A4-3305M, 3320M-A4, A4-3310MX, 3330MX A4, A6-3400, A6-3410MX , 3420m A6, A6-3430MX, 3500M-A8, A8-3510MX, 3520M-A8, A8-3530MX, 3550MX A8-, Z-01, C-30, C-50, C-60, E 240, E 300, E 350, E 450, G-Series T24L, T30L G-Series, G Series T48L, T40R G-Series, G Series T40E, T40N G-Series, G Series T44R, T48N G-Series , G-Series T52R, T56N G-Series.

heise online

Posted by | Sat, Jan 21, 2012 - 03:41 PM | Comments

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TPU Releases GPU-Z v0.5.8

A new version of GPU-Z is out! Grab it here. GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU in case you haven't used the utility before! This version improves the support for the AMD Radeon HD 7970 Graphics card voltage monitoring and real-time clock monitoring. Here is a screen shot of GPU-Z v0.5.8 running on our AMD A8-3500M APU with AMD Radeon HD 6620G Graphics.

Revision History 0.5.8

• Added explanation about PCI-Express power savings and 3D render test to accurately measure bus config under load
• Added function to display ASIC quality for Fermi and Southern Islands. (Located in the GPU-Z system menu)
• Fixed crash on older ATI cards
• Added voltage monitoring for HD 7970
• Improved real-time clock monitoring for HD 7970
• Fixed OpenCL detection for AMD Antilles, Whistler, Seymour, Blackcomb
• Improved default clock reading for AMD HD 7970 and Fusion
• Added support for AMD FirePro V7900, HD 6930, HD 7690M, HD 6410D
• Fixed Intel Sandy Bridge IGP to be DirectX 10.1, 32 nm
• Added support for NVIDIA Tesla C2075, GeForce GT 630M

Legit Forums

Posted by | Sat, Jan 21, 2012 - 10:21 AM | Comments

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Interactive HD 3D City Map App Coming To Mobile Devices

If you travel often or just get lost all the time you need to check out what UpNext is doing. The company has developed an app with an interactive touch interface that provides a virtual reality with rich visual detail in maps like we have never seen before. Featuring over 50 3D cities including 22 enhanced 3D cities with rich building and road detail. This is some really cool technolgoy and we hope that they keep including cities!

The most advanced real-time 3d map for mobile encourages you to explore your city like never before. UpNext 3d Cities offers tappable buildings, detailed venue information, reviews, fun personalization options, and up-to-date subway lines. All of this is achieved in a super-smooth, slick experience.

Youtube

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 02:46 PM | Comments

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AMD Vishera CPUs w/ Piledriver Architecture Brings 10 Cores & Quad Channel Memory

AMD's "Zambezi" FX processor family may have been a let down due to all the hype that "Bulldozer" had, but AMD fans may have hope. AMD's upcoming "Piledriver" architecture, codenamed "Vishera" for the desktop segment, is said to support 10 CPU cores in 5 modules and much better performance. New information has come forth from an internal Software Optimization Guide for AMD's 15h family that recently leaked out. CPU World acquired the Software Optimization Guide, that has detailed information on the Piledriver architecture, namely "Vishera" (high-performance desktop), "Terramar" (high-density server), and "Sepang" (small-medium business server). Interestingly enough, the three are not the first CPUs to be based on Piledriver, AMD's APU chips codenamed "Trinity" which will release later this year will in fact be the first Piledriver based processor or APU in this case. This is based on the fact that Trinity's instruction sets bare a striking resemblance to Vishera, Terramar, and Sepang. The most interesting chip for our readers is Vishera, which will feature a Quad Channel DDR3 memory controller much like Intel's Sandybridge-E CPUs. The rumored IPC improvements of Piledriver over Bulldozer were expected, but the addition of a Quad Channel memory controller was not.

Microprocessors with model 1xh will have up to 2 modules, or 4 cores, and will lack L3 cache. These characteristics match upcoming Trinity core, that will be utilized by mobile AMD chips. Model 1xh CPUs will also have enhanced IOMMU, or IOMMU v2, that will improve access of I/O devices to system memory, and will add such features as direct access to user I/O space, and interrupt remapping and filtering.

CPU World

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 02:25 PM | Comments

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Could SOPA Be Dead? Lamar Smith Pulls Bill

Well, this was a bit unexpected. It is being reported that Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.” This is a huge win for those that don't want their internet freedoms infringed upon, but with politicians who knows what will end up happening. This is likely the result of a massive outpouring of opposition against the bill in recent days, with some even calling it unconstitutional. Protests on the Internet raised awareness, with Twitter clocking in some 3.9M Tweets about it in one day this week. We hope that Lamar Smith decides to postpone SOPA 'indefinitely' and that this will be the last that we have to write about it!

‎

“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) told Reuters. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

Mashable

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 01:17 PM | Comments

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ASUS AMD Radeon HD 7970 DirectCu II Graphics Card Surfaces

ASUS' new premium DirectCu II graphics card based on AMD's Radeon HD 7970 has been spotted. The new GPU's design focuses on a custom triple slot cooler paired with a custom-designed PCB. The size of the cooling solution allows ASUS to put one of the three expansion slot brackets to good use by providing additional display connectivity options. The PCB on the other hand is designed with heavy overclocking in mind, using a 10+1+1 ASUS Digi+ VRM that draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The cooler is based on a common metal heatsink that spans the length of the graphics card, and makes contact with the VRM and memory components. The DirectCu II heatsink sits above the common metal heatsink and cools the GPU by conveying heat through six heat-pipes to an aluminum fin-stack. The DirectCu II cooler is topped off with two 100mm fans and a back-plate for support. The ASUS DirectCu II AMD Radeon HD 7970 will come clocked at 1000 MHz core (vs 925 MHz reference), and 1400 MHz memory (vs 1375 MHz reference). At this time there is currently no information on pricing or availability of the ASUS DirectCu II Radeon HD 7970.

ASUS DirectCu II AMD Radeon HD 7970

• Triple-Slot Dual-Fan Cooler
• 1000 MHz Core Clock
• 1400 MHz Memory Clock
• 10+1+1 ASUS Digi+ VRM
• Software Voltage Tuning

techPowerUp

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 12:42 PM | Comments

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Intel Reports Record Year - $54 Billion in Annual Revenue

Intel recently reported full-year revenue of $54 billion, operating income of $17.5 billion, net income of $12.9 billion and EPS of $2.39 -- all records. The company generated approximately $21 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $4.1 billion and used $14.1 billion to repurchase 642 million shares of stock. For the fourth quarter, Intel posted revenue of $13.9 billion, operating income of $4.6 billion, net income of $3.4 billion and EPS of 64 cents. The company generated approximately $6.6 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion and used $4.1 billion to repurchase 174 million shares of stock. In other Intel news, the company also made some management changes today. Notable changes are the promotion of Brian Krzanich to chief operating officer and Dadi Perlmutter being promoted to chief product officer. You can read more about the management changes here.

“2011 was an exceptional year for Intel,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “With outstanding execution the company performed superbly, growing revenue by more than $10 billion and eclipsing all annual revenue and earnings records. With a tremendous product and technology pipeline for 2012, we’re excited about the global growth opportunities presented by Ultrabook systems, the data center, security and the introduction of Intel-powered smartphones and tablets.”

Legit Forums

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 12:29 PM | Comments

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AMD Releases 8.921.2 RC11 Drivers For Radeon HD 7900 Series

AMD has released new drivers for those that are lucky enough to own an AMD Radeon HD 7970 video card! These drivers feature a large number of performance improvements and bug fixes, so if you own a Radeon HD 7970 graphics card be sure to update. Since the AMD Radeon HD 7900 series uses the new Graphics Core Next architecture we are sure that AMD will be releasing a number of performance enhancing drivers in the months to come as they learn how to get the most from this new GPU design. Our gut tells us that a large driver update will drop in March/April just before NVIDIA gets ready to release their new Kepler GPUs with a refined core architecture. You can download the new AMD 8.921.2 RC11 drivers directly from AMD here.

Performance highlights of the 8.921.2 RC11 AMD Radeon HD 7900 driver:

• 8% (up to) performance improvement in Aliens vs. Predator
• 15% (up to) performance improvement in Battleforge with Anti-Aliasing enabled
• 3% (up to) performance improvement in Battlefield 3
• 3% (up to) performance improvement in Crysis 2
• 6% (up to) performance improvement in Crysis Warhead
• 10% (up to) performance improvement in F1 2010
• 5% (up to) performance improvement in Unigine with Anti-Aliasing enabled
• 250% (up to) performance improvement in TessMark (OpenGL) when set to “insane” levels

Throughout 2012, AMD Catalyst will be a play key role in the life of the AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series; it will deliver continuous performance enhancements and new feature support for the new architecture found in the AMD Radeon HD 7900 family. The AMD software development team has already identified a number of opportunities to improve the already amazing AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series.

Legit Forums

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 10:32 AM | Comments

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Capcom's Resident Evil 6 Trailer Released - Game Coming November 20th

Capcom has confirmed a new console and PC game title from their flagship Resident Evil series will debut this November. Resident Evil 6 will launch Nov. 20 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a PC version to debut soon after. The latest installment brings two fan-favorite characters together for the first time: Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 4 and Chris Redfield from 2009's Resident Evil 5. You can check out the game trailer that was released this week below.

It has been ten years since the incident at Raccoon City and the President of the United States has decided to reveal the truth behind what took place. Raccoon City survivor and personal friend of the President, Leon S. Kennedy, arrives to find the President transformed beyond recognition by a bioterrorist attack. Leon is forced to make the hardest decision he has ever made. At the same, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance Member, Chris Redfield arrives in China, itself under threat of a bioterrorist attack.

Youtube

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 09:09 AM | Comments

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Foxconn Chairman Calls His 1 Million Employees Animals

Apple has recently been pushing the image that they are not sourcing components from Chinese sweatshops. While Apple has been pushing this PR stance for a number of weeks now it appears that has all been destroyed thanks to one of their main contract companies - Foxconn. Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou told his senior managers that Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and “as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache.” Hon Hai is the parent company of Foxconn, which makes iPhones and iPads for Apple. Gou added that he would “like to learn from the director of the Taipei Zoo, Chin Shih-chien, as to how animals should be managed”. Many of our readers might recall in 2010-2011 that Foxconn was often talked about here on Legit Reviews for all the suicides that were taking place at their factories. Human rights organisations have criticised the company for their poor work practices, employee safety and alleged management negligence. Just last week, 300 Foxconn workers threatened to commit suicide in Foxconn’s Wuhan plant over wages and working conditions, and were eventually coaxed down by the mayor of Wuhan after two days. I'm not sure how our readers feel, but Foxconn appears to be a mess and this comment by the chairman was way out of line.

“Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache,” said Terry Gou, chairman of Taiwan’s Hon Hai, the parent company of Foxconn.

ZDNet

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 09:01 AM | Comments

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NVIDIA Kepler GK-104 GPU Specifications Leaked - Should AMD Worry?

We just ran across news that a site in China called inpai.com.cn has leaked what they are believe are the final specifications of NVIDIA’s upcoming Kepler based GK-104 GPU. This is big news for NVIDIA fans as it will be the companies first 28nm GPU and features a number of architecture changes. According to the site, the NVIDIA GK-104 GPU is going to feature 2GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit memory bus with a TDP of 225W. If memory serves me correctly current ratings on common cards are 170W on the GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 244W on the GeForce GTX 580. The site goes on to say that the GK-104 is a direct replacement to the GF-114 (the GPU used on the GeForce GTX 560 Ti) and will be released first. From what we are hearing NVIDIA plans on releasing the very first Kepler based GPUs in April 2012. During CES 2012 we sat down with NVIDIA and they wouldn't talk about Kepler on the record, but off the record that they expected to see more from the AMD Radeon HD 7970. From our face-to-face conversation with NVIDIA we walked away with the feeling that they were underwhelmed by what they saw and that Kepler would be able to easily leap frog the Radeon HD 7900 series. Time will obviously tell if this is the truth, but if the GK-104 is faster than the AMD Radeon HD 7970 the folks over at AMD better get back to work. You can read a broken chinglish translation of some of the source site below.

NVIDIA 28nm process technology based on Kepler architecture GK104 graphics core, will be equipped with 256bit bit wide, 2GB memory capacity, and is expected to show the core of the graphics used GK104 will have a 225 watt TDP. The GK104 graphics core will replace the existing fleet of GF114 graphics core, and have the challenge of the new AMD HD7950 HD7970 imperial class card or even the strength, I believe it is the N meal they want to see.

InsideHW

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 08:35 AM | Comments

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January 20, 2012 News from Around the Web

Cooler Master Hyper 412 PWM CPU Cooler @ Hi Tech Legion and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

"The Cooler Master Hyper 412 PWM takes the idea of direct contact a step further by using what they term “C.D.C.” Heat Pipes. “C.D.C.” in the Cooler Master Hyper 412 PWM stands for “Continuous Direct Contact”, and refers to four reshaped heat pipes which allow them to be placed with no gaps between. The heat pipes transform to a half circle in the contact area, and laid side by side allow for a smooth, even coverage on the CPU’s hot spots, all with direct heat pipe contact. In addition, the Hyper 412 PWM offers airflow refinements using a 120mm fan with variable speeds from 600-2000rpm controlled by PWM, and is dual fan capable with hardware for the second fan included."

Legit Forums

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 07:19 AM | Comments

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AMD Radeon 7950 Video Card Clock Speeds Leaked

Rumor has it that the AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics card will be launching at the end of the month and now specific details are starting to be found online. Rumor sites are reporting that the AMD Radeon HD 7950 uses the same PCB and GPU core (Tahiti) as the Radeon HD 7970, but some things are disabled in the core and the clock speeds are lower. No big shocker there! The GPU core clock speed of the Radeon HD 7950 will be 800 MHz with the memory running at 1250 MHz. In case you forgot, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 has the GPU core clock set to 925 MHz and the memory at 1375 MHz. DonanimHaber is reporting that the Radeon HD 7950 will be roughly $100-150 less expensive than the Radeon HD 7970, so expect these cards to be right around $400 at launch

925MHz GPU and 5500MHz memory clock speeds, who served as the Radeon HD 7970 Radeon HD 7950'de different model speeds up to 800MHz and 5000MHz, respectively, are defined as. Of course, we give details of the model, as well as Sapphire's Radeon HD 7950 OC Radeon HD 7970'e producers working on a frequency close to that at this point is also expected to offer the cards for the AMD Radeon HD 7950 is a design limitation, not going any great effect. 7950'nin Radeon, Radeon HD 7970, compared with $ 150 more than 100 low-cost memory capacity is expected to begin with.

DonanımHaber

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 06:12 AM | Comments

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Spire Introduces Three BlackDragon Power Supplies Before New Year

Spire Corporation announced three new non-modular ATX power supplies this morning that range from 400 Watts to 600 Watts in a new series called BlackDragon that are aimed at the PC enthusiast and PC gamer. These power supplies are being released just before the Chinese new year and range in price from $75 to $95. They are said to be equipped with high-quality components that will deliver power under the most demanding circumstances.

Spire BlackDragon Power Supply Features:

• ATX Ver.2.3 Specification Compliant
• Black Sleeved cables and black EZ-Connectors
• EMI Shielded VGA/HDD Power Connectors
• Supports the newest Intel & AMD based systems
• Cool-Blue LED 120mm Auto PMW silent DC fan
• Completely silent 10.0 dBA under 250W up to 45C / 113F
• High Efficiency (86%) up to 30% less power consumption
• Compliant with ErP Lot 6 2010: 5Vsb AC input < 1W maximum draw at standby & off mode
• I/O/OVP/OLP and SCP Short Circuit- Overload- Over Power- & current-Protection

Legit Forums

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2012 - 06:02 AM | Comments

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