vr-zone tech news for the geeks jun 2011 issue

June 20th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone

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VR-Zone.com | Stuff for the Geeks!VR-Zone | Stuff for the Geeks is a bi-weekly publicationcovering the latest gadgets and stuff for the geeks.

HP's TouchPad priced, comingJuly 1stSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hp-s-touchpad-priced-coming-

july-1st/12703.html

June 20th, 2011

HP has finally unveiled the official pricing for its first twoTouchPad tablet SKUs and we're looking at 16 and 32GB withWi-Fi for now, although 3G models are set to follow suit.The question that remains unanswered is if HP's webOS willhave enough pull to win over consumers and business usersalike from Apple and the vast array of Android tablets alreadyavailable in the market.

HP has finally unveiled the official pricing for its first twoTouchPad tablet SKUs and we're looking at 16 and 32GB withWi-Fi for now, although 3G models are set to follow suit.The question that remains unanswered is if HP's webOS willhave enough pull to win over consumers and business usersalike from Apple and the vast array of Android tablets alreadyavailable in the market.

What's on offer is a 9.7-inch screen with 1024x768 resolution,a screen size and resolution that many an iPad user shouldbe familiar with. On the inside HP hasn't skimped on thehardware though with a dual-core Qualcomm SnapdragonAPQ8060 SoC clocked at 1.2GHz (3G models would have andequivalent MSM model) paired with a healthy 1GB of RAM.

Other features include 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR (which is a bit surprising considering the SnapdragonSoC supports both Bluetooth 3.0 + HS and Bluetooth 4.0), amicro USB 2.0 port, a headphone socket, Beats Audio brandedspeakers and a front facing camera for video calls, but oddlyenough not one around the back. Of course there are featureslike light sensors, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a digitalcompass built in as well, but the non 3G versions of theTouchPad lacks a built in GPS.

The battery is rated at a healthy 6,300mAh which is about thesame as Apple's iPad. At 740g the TouchPad isn't light; in factit's one of the heaviest ARM tablets out there, albeit only just.HP's webOS main strength is multitasking, something it doesbetter than most other hand held device operating systems,but this alone isn't going to make it a winner. The biggestproblem for HP is going to be the lack of apps for the TouchPadat launch, although most standard apps come pre-installed.

At US$499.99 for the 16GB, HP wants 99 cents more thanApple charges for an iPad and the 32GB follows the sameroute with a price tag of US$599.99. At least it's also roughlythe same you'd expect to have to pay for a Motorola Xoom,but you can pick up Asus' 32GB Eee Pad Transformer for thesame price as HP's 16GB TouchPad. The proof will be in thepudding as they say and HP is really going to have a tough timeconvincing both consumers and business users that its webOSis the way forward.

Intel adds new ULV mobileCPUs to its line upSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/intel-adds-new-ulv-mobile-cpus-to-its-

line-up/12702.html


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June 20th, 2011

This one nearly slipped us by, but Intel launched no less thanfour new ULV mobile CPUs on Sunday, ranging from a mere1.1GHz all the way to 1.8GHz. These are of course all SandyBridge based CPUs and we're looking at two Core i7's, a Core i5and last, but not least, Intel's first ULV Sandy Bridge Celeron.Details of three of the models leaked a month ago, but now weknow how much they'll cost as well.

This one nearly slipped us by, but Intel launched no less thanfour new ULV mobile CPUs on Sunday, ranging from a mere1.1GHz all the way to 1.8GHz. These are of course all SandyBridge based CPUs and we're looking at two Core i7's, a Core i5and last, but not least, Intel's first ULV Sandy Bridge Celeron.Details of three of the models leaked a month ago, but now weknow how much they'll cost as well.

Starting at the bottom we have the dual core Mobile Celeron847 which unsurprisingly is Intel's slowest ULV Sandy Bridgeprocessor at a mere 1.1GHz. Oddly enough it's still a 17W TDPCPU despite having a mere 2MB L3 cache, no Hyper Threadingand no Turbo boost and of course that very low clock speed.It's also worth remembering that Intel's Celeron and PentiumSandy Bridge CPUs have inferior graphics to the Core i models.

Next up we have the Core i5-2557M which is a step up from thecurrent and so far only ULV Core i5, the 2537M. Here we'relooking at a dual core CPU with Hyper Threading clocked at1.7GHz which is a 300MHz jump in speed over the 2537M. Thetop Turbo frequency has also been boosted from 2.3GHz forthe 2537M to 2.7GHz for the 2557M, although the L3 cacheremains the same at 3MB.

The first ULV i7 is the 2637M which end up faster than the2657M, as this is yet another dual core 1.7GHz part. The2637M also beats the 2657M when it comes to Turbo frequencyas the older top of the range ULV part stops at 2.7GHz whereasthe 2637 goes all the way to 2.8GHz.

The final CPU is the Core i7-2677M which is a 1.8GHz partwith a Turbo frequency of 2.9GHz and at full Turbo speed itgets quite close to Intel's entry level 25W LV Core i7-2629Min terms of single core performance, although with a slowergraphics clock.

Pricing is as follows in quantities of 1,000 units, MobileCeleron 847 US$134, Core i5-2557M US$250 (the same as theCore i5-2537M), Core i7-2637M US$289 (the same as the Corei7-2617M) and finally the Core i7-2677 is US$317 (the sameas the Core i7-2657M). Pretty impressive stuff for 17W TDPCPU's, now let's see some nice 11.6 to 12.5-inch notebooks thattake advantage of the new CPUs.

EVGA outs GeForce GT 545 forretail marketSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/evga-outs-geforce-gt-545-for-retail-

market/12701.html

June 20th, 2011

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 545, originally an OEM card, has hitthe retail market thanks to EVGA. The EVGA GeForce GT 545is based on the GF116 GPU and has been paired with 1.5GB ofGDDR3 memory running on a 192-bit bus. 2-way NVIDIA SLIis supported and the card does not require additional power.

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 545, originally an OEM card, has hitthe retail market thanks to EVGA. The EVGA GeForce GT 545is based on the GF116 GPU, which is also the chip poweringthe faster GeForce GTX 550 Ti.

A fully-enabled GF116 has 192 CUDA cores, 32 texture unitsand 24 ROPs. For the GeForce GT 545, some portions ofthe GPU have been disabled, leaving it with 144 CUDA coresand 24 texture units. The number of ROPs and memory busdepends on the memory type used on the GT 545. There are24 ROPs and a 192-bit memory bus if GDDR3 memory is used,and 16 ROPs and a 128-bit memory bus if GDDR5 memory isused.

As for the EVGA card, the company has decided to go with1.5GB of GDDR3 memory, hence its GeForce GT 545 has 24ROPs and a 192-bit memory bus. The graphics core clock andmemory clock are 720MHz and 1800MHz respectively, similarto reference operating frequencies for the GDDR3-equipped


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variant. 2-way NVIDIA SLI is supported and the card does notrequire additional power (connectors).

Patriot introduces G2 SeriesAMD Edition memory kitsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/patriot-introduces-g2-series-amd-

edition-memory-kits/12699.html

June 20th, 2011

Patriot has introduced the new G2 Series, AMD Series Memorykits which are designed for AMD 9-series platforms. Moredetails inside.

The Patriot G2 Series, AMD Edition modules have low profileheatsinks which aid heat dissipation, and yet not obstruct largeCPU coolers.

The G2 Series, AMD Edition memory kits will be available intwo speed flavors of 1333MHz and 1600MHz. There will betwo different capacities, 4GB (2 x 2GB) and 8GB (2 x 4GB) inlow and enhanced CAS latencies to suit the needs of varioususers.

Patriot will provide standard lifetime warranty as well and thekits are expected some time late June.

Research in Motion unveilsBlackBerry Bold 9900 inSingaporeSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/research-in-motion-unveils-blackberry-

bold-9900-in-singapore/12700.html

June 20th, 2011

This evening, Research in Motion unveiled thelatest BlackBerry Bold 9900 in Singapore. The Bold 9900claims to be the thinnest and most powerful BlackBerrysmartphones yet with the renowned Blackberry keyboard,brilliant touchscreen display and the new BlackBerry 7 OS.VR-Zone brings you the coverage.

Gregory Wade, managing director of Research in Motion,Southeast Asia, said that the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 willmake its Asia debut at CommunicAsia 2011, whereby thisyear, the event is held at Marina Bay Sands.Convention.

"The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is our flagship device in the Boldfranchise. It is the ultimate communication, performance andproductivity device and (I sincerely believed) it is the bestBlackBerry built ever. With its premium design and high-end functionality, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 combines theQWERTY keyboard plus a vivid touchscreen; is sleek and themost powerful BlackBerry smartphone yet, featuring the newBlackBerry 7 OS," Wade said.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 quick hands on

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 sports a brushed stainless steelframe and besides the QWERTY keyboard, you can alsonavigate and type messages on the touchscreen display.Overall user experience is quite good, and the device is prettyresponsive.


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On the right, we spotted the 3.5mm audio jack and themicroUSB connector for charging the phone's battery andconnecting to the PC for file transfer.

Here we see the power button on the top of the BlackBerryBold 9900. The rear holds the battery compartment andthe 5-megapixel camera that can capture 720p videos.The BlackBerry Bold 9900 also supports Near-FieldCommunication (NFC) and comes with Orientation Sensor(Accelerometer), Digital Compass (Magnetometer), ProximitySensor.

Pricing and availability information has yet to be releasedthough. But we will let you know once we got the details.

The Daily VR-Zone NewsSummary - 20 June 2011Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/the-daily-vr-zone-news-summary--20-

june-2011/12698.html

June 20th, 2011

In today's news roundup: Analysts are predicting that demandfor USB 3.0 is set to experience a huge spike as a result ofAMD's introductions of new chipsets that integrate supportfor it into the core logic chipset, and that Intel's upcoming IvyBridge platform, when released in 2012, will see support forthe standard reach even higher levels; Word has it that Appleis planning something major for the Thunderbolt interfacewhich will not only change the way users work with theirMacs, but will also help stimulate demand for the interfaceas well; HP has released a new wireless computer mousewhich is reportedly capable of connecting to PCs through aWiFi connection, as opposed to most existing wireless micewhich require the use of additional hardware such as bluetoothdongles; Engineers from Google's Chrome team have claimedthat future versions of the Chrome browser will be capable ofpredicting a user's next link and automatically pre-renderingpages to further reduce loading times; Sony unveils a newvariant of its PlayStation 3 console, the CECH-3000B, whichis said to be both slimmer and less power hungry than itspredecessor, in Japan, and DICE has confirmed that theconsole ports of Battlefield 3 will have their framerates lockedto 30fps in order to "allow a greater degree of graphical detailwhilst enabling the consoles to cope better with vehicles andmultiplayer".

Hardware news

80 Million 3.0 Devices Set to Be Shipped in 2011Description: 2011 should be a much bigger year for thetechnology, especially in mobile PCs, driven by the firstchipsets from AMD that integrate SuperSpeed into the corelogic chipset. Intel is expected to follow with its Ivy Bridgechipset in 2012. This all will lead to sales of USB 3.0-capabledevices to 80 million units.

Is this summer the real debutante ball for Thunderbolt?Description: Thunderbolt, Intel’s new high speed data transfertech, has arrived, but it’s been on the market now sinceFebruary, and we’ve heard a lot of noise, but have yet to see itreally do much in the way of changing how we use our Macs.Signs indicate that this summer could be the time we do seethat happen.

OCZ Vertex 3 240GB Max IOPS Edition SSD Review @ LegitReviewsDescription: We've done quite a few SSD reviews this year andfrankly, some of the drives we test seem like carbon copies ofthe one before save for different branding. Performance tends


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to be relatively equal, at least within the standard deviation ofthe benchmarks used and it's rare for a drive to really standout. The Vertex 3 MI is one of those rare drives that, in a seaof virtual SSD homogeny, distinguishes itself with all aroundperformance perceptively better than any other single SATAIII interfaced drive we've tested to date - except maybe the...

GIGABYTE X58A-OC (Intel X58 Express) MotherboardReviewDescription: Back at CES (during the G1-Killer launch) wewere shown something pretty special; besides the G1 we mean.While Tim Handley was telling us about the virtues of theG1-Killer line-up, he flashed us a picture of a new board thatwas still under development. This was an early image of theX58A-OC. The concept was a streamlined product intendedjust for overclocking and performance. You still get audio andLAN on the board, but for the most part the extras that areon many boards are gone. Of course, with the items removedother pieces have been dropped in to handle the extra voltageand current load from pushing the CPU and multiple GPUsto extremes. Despite the lack of all of the "extra" features, theprice is still $380 from Newegg.com.

Corsair Vengeance 1866 MHz DDR3 Memory @ BenchmarkReviewsDescription: Corsair is a well-known name within the memorymarket and although they have diversified in recent yearstheir main focuses is still memory. Their most recent additionto their arsenal line is the Vengeance which fits in-betweentheir XMS and Dominator lines of RAM. Benchmark Reviewswill be looking at the Corsair Vengeance 1866Mhz 9-10-9-28CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9 kit which is perfect for Sandy Bridgesystems which require memory speeds to be divisible by266.66 MHz in order to run at their rated speeds. Since priceshave for high performance DDR3 have plummeted in therecent years this kit is priced at only $104.99 compared to thecomparable Dominators $169.99 price. Benchmark Reviewswill see if corners were cut to reach this price or if Vengeanceis the frugal enthusiast best friend.

ASUS BC-12B1ST Internal 12X BD-Combo Drive Review @HiTech LegionDescription: The ASUS BC-12B1ST drive can read a Blu-Raydisc and has the ability to burn data onto a DVD media.The ASUS BC-12B1ST BD-Combo drive can reach read speedsof 12X for BD-ROM discs and 16X for DVD-ROM discs. Asfor data burning speed, the ASUS BC-12B1ST BD-Combodrive can burn a DVD+/-R disc up to 16X and store dataon CD-R discs up to 48X. Using ASUS’ E-Green technology,the BC-12B1ST BD-Combo drive conserves energy by closingunused drive applications while the Optical Tuning Strategyemployed by the BC-12B1ST drive when burning results inexcellent error-free burning. Using a SATA interface and beingcompatible with a Windows operating system, makes theASUS BC-12B1ST a great addition to your PC-based hometheater system.

RaidSonic Icy Box IB-NAS6220 HDD Network MediaserverReview @ Real World LabsDescription: The ICY BOX IB-NAS6220 HDD NetworkMediaserver by RaidSonic is the ideal choice for peoplelooking for a cost-effective dual-bay NAS solution without

the advanced functions and extra features found on moreexpensive solutions.

Consumer Electronics and Software News

HP Shipping a Mouse That Connects Using Wi-FiDescription: Wireless mice are pretty handy, but not everyonecan utilize them the same way. Some run off Bluetooth, whichrequires for the computer to have Bluetooth hardware – nota standard part. An alternative is for an external USB donglethat adds a Bluetooth or RF receiver. HP is now selling athird option that uses a Wi-Fi connection, which these days isstandard on laptops, to add a wireless mouse on a Windows7 system without the requirement of Bluetooth or use of anyadditional dongles.

RAZER Chimaera Wireless Gaming Headset Review @MadshrimpsDescription: The RAZER Chimaera Gaming Headset offerswireless connectivity for maximum liberty of movement,features large cups for confortable wear during long gamingsessions, a uni-directional microphone with a flexible micboom and an easy to use charging dock.

Skype rolls out bespoke low-bandwidth client for "hardshiplocations"Description: A bespoke low-bandwidth version of Skype hasnow been rolled out to 90 hardship locations, providingUNHCR employees with both free and low-cost voice andvideo calls over the Internet even when connection quality ispoor. By the end of 2011, the aim is for Skype to be in at least80% of UNHCR hardship locations and available to more than3,000 staff members.

Future Versions of Chrome Will Predict Your Next Link & Pre-Render Pages AutomaticallyDescription: ChromeGoogle engineers are known for doingwhatever it takes to shave precious milliseconds off of pageloads, but it’s pretty rare to see them steal a page from the pastin pursuit of their goal. Upcoming releases of Chrome howeverwill do just that, adding link pre-fetching/pre-rendering to thelatest editions of the company’s flagship browser.

Google's Father's Day Reminder Sparks BacklashDescription: In Buzz-like fashion, Google set off a backlashamong some U.S. Gmail users unhappy to see a "Call dad"reminder automatically show up in their inboxes on Sunday.The search giant meant to use Father's Day as a chance to showoff Gmail's built-in voice calling feature that Google launchedin 2010. Instead it has sparked another embarrassing episodefor Google earning it another social black eye.

Canon brings multi-color Rebel T3 hues to USDescription: After previously limiting the production runs toa handful of countries like Australia and Canada, Canon onMonday brought new colors of the Rebel T3 to the US. TheDSLR now comes not just in conservative black but but alsothe previously seen red hue as well as brown and metallic gray.The palette swap is the first in years for the Rebel after thecompany stopped shipping the camera in silver.

Gaming news

Sony unveils greener, lighter PS3 slim in JapanDescription: Sony's mystery new PS3 model was uncoveredon Monday with a new model in Japan. The CECH-3000B,


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a Japanese version of the CECH-3001B, should be better-behaved than the old model with a 200W power draw insteadof 230W on the current slim PS3. The newer design would belighter, too, at 5.7 pounds instead of the usual 6.6.

Battlefield 3 on Console Will Run At Half PC Frame RateDescription: Over the weekend, DICE confirmed thatBattlefield 3 will run at 30 frames per second on consoles, halfthe framerate of the PC version. The developer claims that thiswill allow a greater degree of graphical detail whilst enablingthe consoles to cope better with vehicles and multiplayer.

Huawei launches MediaPad,world's first 7-inch Android 3.2Honeycomb Dual-Core TabletSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/huawei-launches-mediapad-world-s-

first-7-inch-android-3.2-honeycomb-dual-core-tablet/12697.html

June 20th, 2011

It was just two weeks ago when Chinese networkingand telecommunications equipment company, Huawei,introduced their new range of Android smartphones. Thisafternoon, Huawei had a global launch of their MediaPad,which touts to be the world's first 7-inch dual-core tablet torun Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS.

Victor Xu, chief marketing officer of Huawei, talked about thecompany's position and goal, which is to be the top five leadingvendor in the handset space worldwide by 2015, and leader inmobile broadband device and home device (connected homesolution).

"This year, we are proud to launch the the first Android 3.2operating system for a 7-inch tablet. One important feature isthe high definition display of this device; the MediaPad has arated 217 PPI (pixels per inch) compared to the competitorsin the market to give you a better visual experience. Thetablet can also provide you with the very best entertainment

experience; it can support full high definition (HD) 1080pvideo playback as well as HD HDMI output" Xu explained.

Of course, that is not discounting that the MediaPadis equipped with Qualcomm’s dual-core 1.2GHz processorand supports Huawei Device’s Hi-Space cloud solution andGoogle Android Market. According to Huawei, the companywill have the Wi-Fi and 3G versions, though the offeringwould differ from country to country. No pricing informationis available at press time, though the MediaPad is said to beavailable in Q3 this year.

Huawei MediaPad hands on

The MediaPad has a aluminium uni-body which feels verysturdy, and at 7-inch, it doesn't really feel very heavy. Whilethe tablet claims to incorporate Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS,the one we hands-on was said to be a prototype model runningAndroid 3.1. From what we gathered from Huawei, Android3.2 is said to be optimized for 7-inch tablet devices withimprovement including graphics performance and GoogleMaps functionality.


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At the top of the MediaPad holds the power button and thevolume controls. On the upper left hand corner of the displayis the 1.3-megapixel front camera, designed for video calls.

Opening the rear compartment revealed the SIM card andmicroSD memory card slots. On the right side (close to therearcompartment) are the power, mini HDMI and microUSBconnectors.

BIOSTAR to release AMD APUmotherboardsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/biostar-to-release-amd-apu-

motherboards/12696.html

June 20th, 2011

BIOSTAR will be releasing new AMD motherboards based onthe A75 chipset in July to coincide with the official worldwidelaunch of the Llano APU. More details inside.

BIOSTAR TA75A+

BIOSTAR TA75M

BI OSTAR TA75M+


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BIOSTAR will be releasing three motherboards based on theAMD A75 chipset, namely the TA75A+, TA75M and TA75M+.

The BIOSTAR TA75A+ is basically an ATX motherboardwhereas the TA75M and TA75M+ are microATX formfactor motherboards. The BIOSTAR TA75A+ will feature theupcoming FM1 processor socket, four DDR3 memory slots,two PCI Express x16 expansion slots allowing CrossFire, andsix SATA3 ports. It also has USB 3.0, 7.1-channel surroundsound and Blu-ray audio output.

See the full press release here.

HP Pre 3 shows off SkypeintegrationSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hp-pre-3-shows-off-skype-

integration/12695.html

June 20th, 2011

Some time back, rumour had it that HP was planning to launchits Pre 3, webOS-powered smartphone with version 2.2 of theoperating system instead of the newer 2.3.1, and that supportfor Skype will be fully integrated into said operating system,thus negating the need to install a separate, standalone app ifa user wanted to engage in some VoIP telephony. As it turnsout, those rumours were right on the money this time. Readon for more information.

It is often said that the rumour mill is not the most crediblesource to go mining for information, but there are always rareinstances where data obtained from such sources can turn outto be right on the money, and this particular case appearsto be a shining example of one of those "rare instances".Apparently, the rumour that HP's upcoming Pre 3 smartphonewill be powered by version 2.2 of the webOS operating andthat Skype will be fully integrated into the aforementionedoperating system has been proven to be true, and a Germanblog known as webOS Blog claims to have in its possessiona bunch of screenshot that should be enough to put all otherclaims to the contrary to rest.

According to the webOS blog, the integration of Skype intowebOS 2.2 has been done in such a way that users are ableto set the Pre 3 to allow the routing of all internationalcalls through Skype and its VoIP protocol, which would beextremely convenient if they intend to make use of Skype astheir main means of making phone calls. Alternatively, thePre 3 also allows users to configure webOS in such a way thatthe operating system will automatically prompt them to selectbetween Skype and the carrier's telephony services for everyphone call, as shown in the screenshot below:


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In addition, webOS Blog also claims that users do not haveto import their contact lists over from Skype, as the HPPre 3 supports the making of Skype calls directly from thesmartphone's contact list. This essentially eliminates anyremaining need to have a discreet Skpye app installed on thePre 3.

Unfortunately, webOS Blog was not able to provide anyspecific dates for the HP Pre 3's release, although most sourcesclaim that HP is still sticking to its plans for a mid to late Julyrelease for Germany and the US. Here's hoping that it will nottake too long before the Pre 3 starts showing up for sale as partof a bundle from one of our own local telcos.

More hidden features inWindows 8 revealedSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/more-hidden-features-in-windows-8-

revealed/12694.html

June 20th, 2011

We may still be months away from the RTM release ofWindows 8, but that has not stopped developers and curioushackers from getting their hands dirty with the various leakedbuilds of Microsoft's upcoming operating system in the hopesof turning up new, unheard-of features that might eventuallydebut in its final release. And from the looks of it, it seems thatMicrosoft has indeed hidden quite a few surprises in Windows8 which may very well challenge most people's perception ofwhat an operating system should be.


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There may still be a long time before the finalized build ofWindows 8 will ever see the light of day outside of Microsoft'slabs, but as it is always the case with unreleased software,one can always count on the large number of curious usersand enterprising hackers to start pouring over leaked buildsof Microsoft's upcoming operating system in a bid to findout more about various features which Microsoft has yet toannounce publicly. After all, when one has an operating systemas ubiquitous as that of Windows, it really goes without sayingthat any major release will be the subject of intense scrutinyand interest, especially when it has the potential to completelychange the way things are usually done in Windows.

As it turns out, some enthuasiasts have managed to get holdof a leaked copy of a new Windows 8 build, Build 7989, andhas since proceeded to reverse-engineer certain system filesin leaked build; this has resulted in some rather interestingresults that seemingly hint at a variety of unannouncedfeatures which Microsoft may have in store for Windows 8. Forexample, one particular code dump suggests that Microsoftmay be looking to follow in Apple's footsteps by offering itsown App Store for Windows 8, ostensibly to make it easierfor users to download popular software applications. However,the code also seems to suggest that Microsoft has got biggerplans in mind for the App Store, as there are referencesto what appears to be the capability to license and 'unlock'various features in the operating system through it, as shownin the image below. This discovery has led to speculationthat Microsoft may decide to do away with the various SKUsintroduced for Vista and Windows 7, opting instead to ship asingle, bare-bones image with most of the features disabledby default, thus allowing users to purchase and unlock thefeatures of their choice as and when needed.

Additional code dumps have also unearthed information oftwo unannounced features that appear to be in line withMicrosoft's aims of putting Windows 8 on a wider variety ofdevices instead of limiting itself to desktop and notebook PCs.The first such feature concerns geo-location, which supposedlyallows Microsoft to track a Windows 8-powered machine's

location, although how Microsoft intends to implement itwithout running afoul of privacy issues remains to be seen.

Last but definitely not least, the code dumps also seemsto suggest that Windows 8 may come with built-in SMScapabilities. Once again, this makes perfect sense, consideringhow Microsoft has been attempting to pitch its Windowsoperating system as being suitable for use on non-PC devices,such as tablets. And with most tablets already being 3G-capable (and are thus able to accept SIM cards), it might notbe too much of a stretch to speculate that Windows 8 may evenfeature built-in calling capabilities to complement its SMSfunctionality.

Of course, there are bound to be more surprises in storefor consumers as Windows 8 passes through each stage ofthe development process, and suffice to say the features wehave described today are probably nothing more than theproverbial iceberg's tip. Still, considering how much Microsofthas managed to achieve at this point of time, we cannot helpbut feel that the company might just be able to outdo itselfwhen Windows 8 is finally released for retail.

Mitsubishi releases new 23-inch, 120Hz widescreen IPSmonitorSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/mitsubishi-releases-new-23-

inch-120hz-widescreen-ips-monitor/12693.html

June 20th, 2011

Need a new monitor with an extremely high refresh rate?If so, look no further than Mitsubishi for such needs; theJapanese company has just announced the release of a new23-inch monitor in Japan that boasts an IPS display panelcapable of supporting full HD resolutions and a refresh rate of120Hz, among other features. Read on to find out more aboutMitsubishi's new monitor...

IPS panels? Who needs them, considering how they usuallytend to suffer from much slower pixel response times which


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usually results in ghosting when used for various tasks suchas gaming or video playback? Well, tell that to people whorequire near-perfect colour accuracy, image quality and anextremely wide viewing angle on their displays, which havebeen widely accepted as some of the needs that can only besolved by IPS monitors. And leave it to Mitsubishi to provideconsumers with yet another choice in the market for high-endIPS monitors with the introduction of its new RDT233WX-Zwidescreen monitor, as shown below.

At first glance, the RDT233WX-Z looks just like any othertypical LCD monitor available for sale on the market today,except that its hardware specifications are anything buttypical. According to Mitsubishi, the matte IPS panel usedin the assembly of the 23-inch RDT233WX-Z monitor is notonly capable of displaying content at full HD resolutions (1920x 1080), but also delivering extremely high refresh rates ofup to 120Hz. Mitsubishi also claims that the RDT233WX-Zalso comes built-in support for what it calls its Giga ClearEngine II technology, which is supposedly capable enhancingvideo playback by delivering crisp and high quality images. Inaddition, Mitsubishi has also confirmed that the RDT233WX-Z supports PinP or Picture in Picture technology, and boasts avariety of video input ports such as having two HDMI ports, aDVI port, a VGA port and even the old Japan-only D5 port.

Unfortunately, it would seem that Mitsubishi has no plansrelease the RDT233WX-Z for sale outside of its domesticmarket, so chances of having the monitor appearing for salein a country that is not explicitly spelt "Japan" are next tozero. Still, if you happen to have a wad of cash to burn and aJapanese friend who is willing to help you ship the monitorover to your residence, the RDT233WX-Z can be yours for54,800 yen (approx US$683) once it is officially introducedinto the Japanese market on June 29 this year.

Quick Look: Kingston HyperXPlug n Play DDR3-1866SODIMMSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/quick-look-kingston-hyperx-plug-n-

play-ddr3-1866-sodimm/12623.html

June 20th, 2011

We received an interesting set of notebook memory in the mailrecently. Kingston claims these HyperX Plug n Play moduleswill run at DDR3-1866 speed right out the box, so we decidedto take them for a quick test drive...

Kingston recently sent us a pair of HyperX notebookmemory modules rated for a whopping DDR3-1866. What'smore, Kingston says these "Plug n Play" memory modulesshould automatically run at DDR3-1866 when installed in acompatible platform. How is this possible, you ask.

At the start of this year, JEDEC updated the DDR3specification to officially support DDR3-1866 and DDR3-2133speeds. This raises the speed ceiling for SPD profiles (SerialPresence Detect), which are used by a system to automaticallydetermine and select the maximum speed supported by boththe memory modules and the platform.

As enthusiasts would know, when using modules rated aboveJEDEC's official speeds, memory speed and timings have tobe set manually to fully exploit the module's capabilities.Alternatively, XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) can also beused if both the motherboard and memory support it. Butchanging memory settings is usually impossible on notebooks,which renders the updated JEDEC specification of greatersignificance there than on the desktop.

This is where Kingston's HyperX Plug n Play DDR3-1866SODIMM comes in to take advantage of the new speed ceiling.


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Kingston sells the HyperX Plug n Play SODIMM modules in4GB and 8GB kits. DDR3-1866 as well as slower DDR3-1600parts are available. In the table below you'll see that the slowerparts are actually rated for tighter timings at DDR3-1600.

Part Number Capacity Rated Timings8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866

CL11-11-11 @1.5VDDR3-1600CL10-10-10 @1.5V

DDR3-1333CL8-8-8 @1.5V

4GB (2 x 2GB)8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600

CL9-9-9 @1.5VDDR3-1333CL8-8-8 @1.5V

DDR3-1066CL6-6-6 @1.5V

4GB (2 x 2GB)Click on a part number to view its datasheet.

We received the DDR3-1866 8GB kit. In typical HyperXfashion, Kingston has decided to prettify the moduleswith heatspreaders. Being very thin, they shouldn't causeany compatibility issues unlike the notoriously oversizedheatspreaders found on some HyperX desktop modules.

Installation

We first installed these modules in a ASUS N82JV, whichuses a previous-generation (Arrandale) Intel Core i7-620Mprocessor and a Intel HM55 chipset. Disappointingly, thenotebook decided to run the HyperX modules at the sameDDR3-1333 speed as the default modules, albeit at muchtigher timings.

Next stop was a Fujitsu Lifebook NH751 using the latest mobileSandy Bridge platform. At this point we were feeling somewhatpessimistic since both Intel and Fujitsu list support for onlyDDR3-1333. To our surprise, the modules worked exactly asadvertised.

There's even a DDR3-2133 SPD profile, but the timings for thatare so loose there's really no point.

Let's find out how much of a performance advantage thesemodules will give us over standard DDR3-1333 modules of thesame capacity.

Benchmarks

The Fujitsu Lifebook NH751 has the following specifications:


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Processor Intel Corei7-2630QM

Chipset Intel HM65Memory Samsung

DDR3-13332 x 4GB (9-9-9-24)

Kingston HyperXPlug n PlayDDR3-1866 2 x4GB (11-11-11-32)

Graphics Intel HD Graphics3000 / NvidiaGeForce GT 525M1GB (Optimus)

Storage 500GB 7200rpmOperating System Microsoft Windows

7 Home PremiumSP1 64-bit

The performance increase so far is marginal, which is hardlysurprising since we've encountered the same results ondesktop Sandy Bridge.


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Likewise, gaming performance shows hardly any gains whenusing the faster DDR3-1866 modules. We had been hoping fora bigger increase when using Intel HD Graphics since it sharessystem memory.

Conclusion

Kingston's HyperX Plug n Play notebook modules don'tprovide any noticeable performance advantages in return fortheir considerable asking price. There are far more cost-effective ways to improve your notebook's performance, suchas replacing that slow 5400rpm drive with a speedy solid statedrive.

Furthermore, these modules only worked for us on a recentSandy Bridge notebook, and even then we can't guaranteethat they work on all Sandy Bridge notebooks since Inteldoesn't appear to support such high memory speeds officially.If Kingston were to provide a notebook compatibility list (a tallorder, we know) or even a CPU/chipset compatibility list, wewould at least feel somewhat safer when spending this muchon memory.

Kingston HyperX Plug n Play DDR3-1866 SODIMM

Pros ConsPlug and play in compatiblenotebooks

Minimal performance gains

Twice the price of thecheapest memoryNot be compatible with somenotebooks, especially olderonesRetail Price: US$148*

*Price based on an average of online stores. We were unableto find this item on sale in Singapore.

LulzSec promises "retribution"against hackers responsiblefor attacking SEGASource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/lulzsec-promises-retribution-against-

hackers-responsible-for-attacking-sega/12692.html

June 20th, 2011

Now this has got to be an interesting twist to SEGA's recentwoes of having the personal information of its subscriberscompromised after a successful attack by hackers on itsdatabase. Apparently, the well-known hacker group known asLulzSec has not only made an announcement to distance itselffrom the attack; the group has even put up a notice claimingthat it wants to help SEGA by threatening to retaliate againstthose who were responsible for forcing the company's serviceoffline. Looks like vigilantism is still alive and well in thevirtual world after all.

So you have read the news about SEGA being the latestvictim in a string of cyber attacks that have seen many hugecorporations being forced to take their servers offline in a bidto perform damage control and prevent hackers from furthercompromising any more personal information. However, inthis case, SEGA can probably thank its lucky stars that it didnot suffer the same kind of damage and data loss that some ofits fellow victims have faced; while the company did not denythat it did lose a huge chunk of personal information as a resultof a successful attack on one of its databases, it has also assuredusers that the most important piece of information, which is


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the credit card details of its subscriber base, was still safelysecure in its servers.

According to a report posted by ZDnet, SEGA has confirmedthat the attack has resulted in its SEGA Pass service beingforced offline, and that the information that had been stolenas a result of the attack consists of personal information suchas names, dates of birth, email addresses and passwords thatthat subscribers typically use to access the service, althoughit was quick to point out that the damage is not as severe asmost people may have imagined it to be. For example, thecompany has revealed that the stolen passwords stored in itsdatabase were encrypted and not stored in plain text; as such,hackers or individuals in possession of those passwords willhave their work cut out of them in the form of decryptingthe information in order to obtain a subscriber's originalpassphrase. And even then, SEGA is clearly taking no chances,having taken additional measures to prevent unauthorisedaccess by resetting the passwords for all its subscribers, sothe possibility of having someone successfully gaining accessto SEGA Pass with a stolen password is decidedly slim. Moreimportantly, SEGA also revealed that the server used to storeits subscribers' credit card information is in the custody ofan external service provider, and was therefore safe from theattack.

However, it would seem at least one prominent hacker groupdoes not condone such actions, and has gone out of its way tooffer SEGA its assistance in finding and exacting vengeance onthose hackers who perpetuated the attack. Indeed, a quick lookat LulzSec's twitter page reveals that the hacker group doesmean business this time round:

By the way, just for the record, a total of 1.3 million accountswere compromised in the recent attack against SEGA'sdatabase. Now that is definitely food for thought.

M1 claims to be first to launchSouth East Asia's LTE networkSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/m1-claims-to-be-first-to-launch-south-

east-asia-s-lte-network/12691.html

June 20th, 2011

Singapore telco operator, M1, has announced the launch oftheir Long Term Evolution (LTE) based network, which claimsto be the first in South East Asia region. However, the coverageat launch will only be limited within the financial districtthough the company said that it will be expanded nationwideby Q1 next year.

Today, M1 has announced the launch of its Long TermEvolution (LTE) based Next Generation Mobile Network on 21June 2011 - which claims to be the first in South East Asia. M1’sdual band LTE network, operating on both the 1.8 GHz and 2.6GHz frequency bands, will have an initial theoretical downlinkspeed of 75 Mbps and uplink speed of 37.5 Mbps. By end 2012,the theoretical downlink and uplink speeds will be upgradedto 150 Mbps and 75 Mbps respectively.

At launch, the LTE network covers areas within the financialdistrict which include Marina Bay, Suntec, Shenton Way andother areas (shown in above pic). Coverage is progressivelyexpanding and is scheduled to be nationwide by the firstquarter of 2012.

The launch will involve customers from M1’s enterprisesector. These customers will be able to access M1’s NextGeneration Mobile Network service via USB modems onexisting mobile broadband plans at S$59.40 (with GST) permonth. An expanded range of LTE devices, including tabletsand smartphones, are expected to be available later this year.

BlackBerry PlayBook:officially available inSingapore on 23 JuneSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/blackberry-playbook-officially-

available-in-singapore-on-23-june/12690.html


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June 20th, 2011

It was only slightly over a week when Research inMotion announced the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBookin Singapore, though pricing and availability detailsweren't made known then. Today, the company said that theBlackBerry PlayBook tablet will be availabile in Singaporefrom 23 June.

Research In Motion (RIM) today announced that theBlackBerry PlayBook tablet will be available in Singaporeon23 June 2011 from SingTel, M1, and Starhub, as well as somenation-wide retail stores. The BlackBerry PlayBook will comein three Wi-Fi models, featuring 16GB, 32 GB or 64 GB ofmemory storage. Starting today, customers can place ordersfor the BlackBerry PlayBook. Customers can preorder onlineat http://sg.blackberry.com/playbook/wheretobuy .

The BlackBerry PlayBook features an ultra-portable designand claims to deliver superb performance, uncompromisedweb browsing with support for Adobe Flash Player, truemultitasking, high definition (HD) multimedia, advancedsecurity features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and arobust development environment.

Three versions of the PlayBook will be available in Singaporeat the recommended retail price (RRP) of:

16GB: S$668 (incl. GST)32GB: S$798 (incl. GST)64GB: S$928 (incl. GST)

BlackBerry PlayBook specifications:- 7-inch 1024x600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen

- Ultra-portable at 425g and measures 130mm x 194mm x10mm

- 1GHz dual-core processor

- BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetricmultiprocessing

- MP3, AAC and WMA audio playback

- Support for high resolution video playback (H.264, MPEG4,WMV)

- 1080p HDMI output

- Dual 1080p HD cameras for video conferencing and videocapture (3MP front and 5MP rear)

- 1GB RAM memory

- Up to 64 GB internal storage (16, 32 and 64 GB models)

- GPS, Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), 6-Axis MotionSensor (Gyroscope), Digital Compass (Magnetometer)

- Stereo speakers and stereo microphones

- Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity

- Bluetooth 2.1+EDR support

LG finally rolls out Optimus3D with world's first Tri-DualarchitectureSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/lg-finally-rolls-out-optimus-3d-with-

world-s-first-tri-dual-architecture/12689.html

June 20th, 2011

Korean manufacturer LG has finally launched their highly-anticipated Optimus 3D smaartphone which features glass-free 3D display and claims to incorporate world's first Tri-Dualarchitecture. It will be available in Europe first and later otherparts of the world in the next several weeks.

LG has recently launched the long-awaited LG Optimus3D, a smartphone that features second generation dualcore technology and advanced “Tri-Dual” architecture. TheOptimus 3D was first unveiled at Mobile World Congress(MWC) in Barcelona in February, and claims to offer a full 3Dexperience -- recording, viewing, sharing.


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With its Tri-Dual configuration – dual-core, dual-channel anddual-memory; it offers improved performance when multi-tasking, enjoying a movie or playing graphics-intensive games.Users can also record and immediately view content in 3Dwithout the need for special glasses.

Peak Efficiency and Performance Powered by Unique Tri-DualConfiguration

Unlike other smartphones, the Optimus 3D has a dual-channelconfiguration, data transfers take place simultaneouslybetween the dual-core and dual-memory, resulting innoticeably faster performance. As a result, the LG Optimus3D maximizes run-time efficiency leading to noticeablysmoother, faster, and longer multi-tasking, browsing, gamingand multimedia enjoyment than ever before.

Full 3D Experience: 3D Recording-Viewing-Sharing

3D recording, viewing and sharing is faster and moreconvenient in the Optimus 3D and can be enjoyed withoutcumbersome glasses. LG’s latest smartphone enables ownersto capture high quality 3D content with 3D video stabilizationtechnology and real-time misalignment correction algorithmwhich automatically corrects for shake during recording.The smartphone also offers wide viewing angle whichmakes watching videos and movies more convenient andcomfortable.

The 4.3-inch WVGA display offers bright and flicker-freeimages in HD, up to 1080p in 2D and up to 720p in 3D.Special software allows for real-time conversion of 2D photoand video content into 3D. Free software for converting 2Dgames will be available for download during the third quarterthis year, letting users enjoy a variety of multimedia contentin 3D. Captured 3D content can be shared to 3D TVs viaa HDMI connection and the phone can also send contentto any DLNA certified device. In addition, users can uploadand stream 3D content on YouTube’s dedicated 3D channel(www.youtube.com/3D).

The LG Optimus 3D also incorporates the world’s first 3Daugmented reality (AR) browser in collaboration with ARpioneer Wikitude. The browser will be available through anapp downloadable from LGWorld (www.lgworld.com). TheOptimus 3D will be available in Europe first, and then in morethan 60 markets around the world over the next several weeks.

Sony Ericsson Androidsmartphones to use NXP'sNFC solutionsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sony-ericsson-android-smartphones-

to-use-nxp-s-nfc-solutions/12688.html

June 20th, 2011

Sony Ericsson has announced that it has selected NXPSemiconductors N.V.'s Near Field Communication (NFC)technology to be incorporated in their Android smartphones,offering users enhanced mobile entertainment experiences.Details inside.

Today, NXP Semiconductors N.V. announced thatits near field communication (NFC) technology hasbeen selected by Sony Ericsson for inclusion inits Android-based smartphones. Sony Ericsson willuse NFC to enhance consumers’ mobile experiences,creating a portfolio of smartphones that enable mobiletransactions. Using simple touch gestures, users can makepurchases or connect to a point of sale (POS) terminal,ticketing terminal or location-based promotional tag simplyand securely with their NFC-enabled smartphones.

NXP provides complete embedded, secure NFC solutions andrecently announced that its NFC software is open sourceon the Android platform and enables the Google Walletapplication. Sony Ericsson intends to use the NXP PN65NFC solution in their Android-based smartphones, whichincludes the NFC radio controller, the embedded secureelement and NFC software. The embedded secure elementenables NFC to be used for mobile transactions. The PN65 usesadvanced cryptography to offer the highest level of securityfor transactions, with the technology already being extensivelyused in contactless banking cards, e-passports, e-ID cards andsecure access systems.

PC SHOW 2011 Lucky DrawResults Released - WinnersNot So Random After All?Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/pc-show-2011-lucky-draw-results-

released--winners-not-so-random-after-all-/12687.html


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June 20th, 2011

During the recent PC SHOW 2011, every $50 spent entitledthe shopper to a lucky draw ticket. A few of our sharped eyedVRForum members spotted a few anomalies in the LuckyDraw Results released yesterday - some of the winning ticketnumbers chosen were in series, the implication being thatsome "winners" could have got multiple prizes. Is this a case ofa careless drawing process, divine intervention, or somethingmore sinister?

Lucky Draw Results with the anomalies highlighted in yellow:

As most productive shoppers in the PC SHOW would spendhundreds to thousands of dollars on their IT gadgets, they willbe holding on to multiple tickets numbered in series.

A look again at the Lucky Draw Prizes and Processes:

The Prizes

Prizes on display


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Redemption of Tickets

Coupon Drop-off

VR-Zone won't be drawing any conclusions without firstgetting the organizer's side of the story.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below or thisforum thread!

Be Quiet Straight Power E8400W PSU reviewSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/be-quiet-straight-power-e8-400w-psu-

review/12686.html

June 20th, 2011

Be-Quiet is a company based in Germany which for the pastfew years has been creating computer related products forenthusiasts. It was only a few weeks ago that we reviewedone of their high performance, modular power supplies, theStraight Power E8-CM 680W unit. Today we are going to putto the test the weakest and simplest product of the StraightPower line, the Straight Power E8 400W unit.

Be-Quiet is a company based in Germany which for the pastfew years has been creating computer related products forenthusiasts. It was only a few weeks ago that we reviewedone of their high performance, modular power supplies, theStraight Power E8-CM 680W unit. Today we are going to putto the test the weakest and simplest product of the StraightPower line, the Straight Power E8 400W unit.

Manufacturer features and specifications

• Extremely quiet running

• Very high efficiency (80PLUS Bronze)

• Very reliable and stable operation by 3x12V rails

Continuous power (W) 400Peak power 500 ms (W) 450Form factor ATX 12V ATX12V Version 2.3Form factor EPS 12VModular cable managementSpecial technology DC/DCVoltage (Vac) 100 - 240Frequency (Hz) 50 - 60Input current (A) 8-4PFC, active YesPF Power factor at 100% load 0.99Compliant to Intel C6 mode YesPower consumption instandby (W)

<0.3

Average life time (h / 25°C) 100.000Operating temperature (°C) 0-40°C

Sony Ericsson going dual corewith Xperia duoSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sony-ericsson-going-dual-core-with-

xperia-duo/12685.html

June 20th, 2011

Dual core smartphones are starting to gain more and moretraction and so far we've seen devices from pretty much allof Google's Android partners with one major exception beingSony Ericsson. Well, it seems like the company is getting closeto announcing the Xperia duo which is expected to be thecompany's first dual core smartphone and a picture of whatis believed to be the upcoming handset has now made anappearance on the web.

Dual core smartphones are starting to gain more and moretraction and so far we've seen devices from pretty much allof Google's Android partners with one major exception beingSony Ericsson. Well, it seems like the company is getting closeto announcing the Xperia duo which is expected to be thecompany's first dual core smartphone and a picture of whatis believed to be the upcoming handset has now made anappearance on the web.

Beyond having a as yet unknown dual core CPU the Xperia duois expected to sport a larger screen, a 4.5-inch unit has beensuggested and judging by the picture it reaches almost fromedge to edge of the handset. Can we hope for a qHD 960x540display, or is this trying to push our luck too far?


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The processor is likely to once again be from Qualcomm andit's very possible that it'll be the MSM8260, but once again,this is purely based on speculation and Sony Ericsson's currentmodels. That said, we would go out on a limb here and saythat Sony Ericsson might be eyeing ST-Ericsson's NovathorU9500, but the problem here would be the different graphicssolution used, something we're not sure if Sony Ericsson wouldtake a chance on.

If the picture of the handset is the real deal, then we canexpect a front facing camera on the Xperia duo (if that reallyis the name of the final handset), something the Xperia arcis missing. Otherwise the design of the handset is similar tothe Xperia arc, albeit a lot less angular as all the corners arenow rounded. Hopefully it won't take too long until we find outwhat Sony Ericsson is up to, as the company desperately needsa dual core handset to keep up with the competition, at leastas far as headline features are concerned.



June 20th, 2011

In today's news roundup: Rambus has announced thedevelopment of a fast power-on, low-power clockingtechnology that boasts 5Gb/s+ data transfer speeds withminimal power consumption; AMD Graphics CTO EricDemers has revealed some interesting facts about thecompany's next graphics processor architecture, claiming thatit will serve as the foundation for all future AMD GPUs overthe next few years; Acer has given its Predator line of gamingPCs a makeover with the new Predator G5910 series, whichtrades in the funky orange case for a matte black body that issupposedly meant to "evoke power and performance" and "ahigh-tech futuristic mood"; Word has it that Google is keen onbringing out a "Nexus 3" smartphone to the market, and thatthe device will feature a dual-core processor and is expected tobe bundled with version 4.0 of the Android operating system,aka Ice Cream Sandwich; John Carmack has outlined thedirection he'd like to take the Quake series in the future, andthat is a remote possibility of id Software abandoning theStrogg-based storyline of Quake 2 and Quake 4, and The firstconsole-based action from Battlefield 3 appeared last eveningon Jimmy Fallon's late night show.

Hardware news

ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe mITX Motherboard @ BenchmarkReviewsDescription: By now we have all heard of the media capabilitiesof the Intel H67 Chipset. With so much going for it in thisaspect, it seems like an H67 motherboard would be greatas a starting point for the perfect Home Theatre PC. ASUShas decided to take this idea to the next level with theASUS P8H67-I Deluxe mini-ITX motherboard. In this article,Benchmark Reviews will break down all the special featuresASUS has included in the P8H67-I Deluxe motherboard to seeif it is ready to provide a comprehensive solution for the HTPCenthusiast.

Mushkin Enhanced Joule 700 Watt Power Supply ReviewDescription: This time around we have another power supplyfrom Mushkin ready to go through our load tests. Last monthwe took a look at the Mushkin Enhanced Joule 800W powersupply. Now we have the Joule 700W on the bench for testing.Being that the unit is from the same series and manufacturer,you would expect almost identical builds and results. Rightoff the delivery truck we could tell a big difference in designbetween the 700W and 800W models. It was quite apparentthat the Joule 700W didn't have nearly as extensive cooling onthe inside. We also noticed that while the 800W model holdsan 80Plus Silver rating, the smaller 700W model only managesto hold an 80Plus Bronze rating.

Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 Ultimate Edition 1GB DDR5 DX 11Video Card Review @Hi Tech LegionDescription: One of those products is the Sapphire RadeonHD 6670 Ultimate Edition. The 6670 Ultimate includes twospecial features that differ from a traditional 6670. Thosebeing the "Ultimate" passive cooling, and a key to Dirt 3.


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Under the hood the 6670 Ultimate is no different from a stockversion. The core clock speed is set at 800MHz while thememory speed is set at 1000Mhz. Onboard is 1 GB of DDR5memory. The 6670 comes with 480 stream processors and a40 nm chip. The interface includes a single HDMI, DisplayPort, and Dual-Link DVI input. All of the usual 6000 seriesfeatures apply such as DX 11, Eyefinity, OpenGL 4.1, UVD3,and AMD App acceleration.

Chillblast Fusion Impact 3D Review @ XSReviews.co.ukDescription: Chillblast may not be as well renowned – oras infamous – as Overclockers or Scan, but they’ve beenaround the block enough to know the game and they’rewell established as a solid, affordable gaming system builder.Today we take a look at another of their setups, this one thatprovides the full 3D experience: monitor, glasses and GPU. It’sgot a Sandybridge i5 CPU too.

Rambus Develops Clocking Technology for Power Reductionin High-Speed Interfaces.Description: Rambus, a designer of various memory andinterface technologies, has announced the development of afast power-on, low-power clocking technology that can enablea whole new class of memory devices. The new technologyenables 5Gb/s+ data transfer speeds with minimal powerconsumption.

AMD's Demers reveals details of next GPU architectureDescription: At the Fusion Developer Summit here inBellevue, Washington this morning, AMD Graphics CTOEric Demers made some interesting revelations about hiscompany's next graphics processor architecture. While hedidn't talk about specific products, he did say this new coredesign will materialize inside all future AMD products withGPUs in them over the next few years.


A.C.Ryan PlayOn!HD2 Media-Player Review (German)Description: (Machine translation) The A.C.Ryan PlayOn!HD2 Media-Player arrived Technic3D. Store thousands ofphoto, music and video files on the internal Hard Drive. ThePlayon!HD2 brings again your music, video and photo libraryto life with unsurpassed audio and visual quality? We willcheck the new Features on the HD2 Player.

Sony Teases New Tablets With a Mysterious New VideoDescription: Sony wants you to know that it’s about to launchtwo tablets – the Sony S1, and the Sony S2 – but it doesn’twant to reveal much about them, promoting them instead witha visual feast that gives little info, but is amazing to watch. Thevideo is actually the first episode of a 5-episode story dubbed“Two will”, featuring Sony’s tablets; we can expect the nextfour installments soon. Back in early May 2011, Sony released afar more straightforward teaser video for its upcoming tablets,showing us at least a little of what they can do.

RAIDON GT5630-SB3 USB 3.0 4 Bay Desktop Data BackupStorage Solution Review @ Real World LabsDescription: With 4 easy swap HDD tray modules for up toa massive 12TB of storage capacity and both eSATA and USB3.0 connectivity for blazing fast transfer speeds the GT5630-SB3 USB 3.0 4 Bay Desktop Data Backup Storage Solution byRAIDON is the ideal unit to house your backups and/or mediacollection.

Report: Dual-core Nexus 3 Specs LeakedDescription: According to BGR sources, what’s believed to bethe next Nexus phone will feature a next-generation dual-core 1.2GHz or 1.5GHz CPU (likely an OMAP 4460 or anultra low-power 28nm Krait-based Snapdragon); 1GB of RAM;1080p HD video capture and playback; a 1-megapixel front-facing camera; and a rear-facing camera with an “advanced5-megapixel sensor delivering class-leading image quality inaddition to superior low-light performance.” All of this will runon Ice Cream Sandwich, aka Android 4.0.

Acer Gives Predator Desktop a Makeover, Inside and OutDescription: Acer's attention-seeking Predator desktop serieshas been known for its over-the-top chassis design that somefind totally bad ass, and many others feel is gaudy, to put itnicely (and ugly, if we're being blunt). The new Predator G5910series trades in the funky orange case for a matte black bodythat Acer says is supposed to "evoke power and performance,while the angles and grooves on the front add a high-techfuturistic mood."

Chrome Nearly Replaced Firefox as Ubuntu's Default BrowserDescription: Chrome adoption has also been on a rapid risein recent versions, doubling its market share in some regionsfrom just one year ago. The upstart browser is raising evenmore eyebrows now that Chromebooks are hitting the market,and when you combine these three factors -- performance,consumer interest, and Shuttleworth's personal endorsement-- it's really no surprise that Firefox was nearly unseated as thedefault browser in Ubuntu 11.04.

Gaming news

Carmack outlines vision for a new QuakeDescription: John Carmack has outlined the direction he'd liketo take the Quake series in the future, explaining to Eurogamerthat there are factions within id Software that want to abandonthe Strogg-based storyline of Quake 2 and Quake 4.

Sega Europe opens its third UK code shop; studio already atwork on a "next gen" action adventure.Description: Sega Europe has announced the formationof a new boutique studio based in the UK's WestMidlands, set up to focus its resources "exclusively fornext generation platforms." The forward-looking studio hasan unnamed "unique action adventure experience" projectalready underway, due for release late next year.

Battlefield 3 console footage unveiled on latest FallonDescription: As promised, the first console-based action fromBattlefield 3 appeared last evening on Jimmy Fallon's latenight show, teasing a scene we've watched play out a dozenor so times now on the PC version. Despite the grumblingsof many long-time PC Battlefield gamers -- not to mentionour own doubts -- BF3 running on PlayStation 3 looks prettywonderful.

Corsair Vengeance 1600MHzCL9 8GB DDR3 Kit ReviewSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/corsair-vengeance-1600mhz-cl9-8gb-

ddr3-kit-review/11921.html


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June 20th, 2011

While nearly every single memory kit introduced thesedays appears 'designed for the second-generation Intel Coreplatform', this Corsair Vengeance dual-channel memory kit isdesigned to work on both Intel or AMD DDR3 platforms.

A rather eye-catching image adorns the front of the packagingwith a pair of Vengeance memory seated on an ASUSRepublic of Gamers (ROG) motherboard. According toCorsair, Vengeance kits are designed with overclockers inmind and the memory chips used are specifically selected tomeet their needs.

A universal product code (UPC) label is affixed at the bottomleft corner, and there are two small cut-outs which arepositioned where the product labels on the two memory sticksare.

Before we proceed further, here is a quick run through of theVengeance kit's specifications:

Type 240-pin DDR3Capacity 8GB (2 x 4GB)Speed PC3-12800 (1600MHz)Latency CL9-9-9-24Voltage 1.5VRegistered / Unbuffered UnbufferedError checking Non-ECCWarranty Lifetime

Gigabyte readying no lessthan 12 AMD Llano compatiblemotherboardsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/gigabyte-readying-no-less-than-12-

amd-llano-compatible-motherboards/12683.html

June 20th, 2011

We're about two weeks from the desktop AMD Llano CPUlaunch which is meant to take place on the 30th of thismonth and although we've already seen plenty of boards atComputex, Gigabyte has now kindly provided some additionaldetails of its Llano plans. Gigabyte's German branch posted awhole bunch of information about Gigabyte's upcoming Llanomotherboards on Facebook and according to it we can expect12 new boards with the A75 and A55 chipsets.

We're about two weeks from the desktop AMD Llano CPU

launch which is meant to take place on the 30th of thismonth and although we've already seen plenty of boards atComputex, Gigabyte has now kindly provided some additionaldetails of its Llano plans. Gigabyte's German branch posted awhole bunch of information about Gigabyte's upcoming Llanomotherboards on Facebook and according to it we can expect12 new boards with the A75 and A55 chipsets.

However, it seems like Gigabyte is starting to divide upits products into different sub-categories and although wecan understand that the rising price in raw materials havesomething to do with it, it's getting a little bit confusing forconsumers. It's not as if Gigabyte is trying to hide the factthat its new Llano boards will fit in to the Ultra Durable 3,Ultra Durable 2 and Ultra Durable 1 sub-categories, but a lotof people wouldn't know what the difference is.

There are only three Ultra Durable 3 boards, namely theA75-UD4H, the A75M-UD2H (mATX) and the A75N-USB3(mini ITX). Of course, if you're an avid VR-Zone reader, you'llalready know that we've seen the first two boards, just aheadof Computex, but judging by the slides, a few things have beenchanged on the A75-UD4H, but more on that a little bit later.


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The Ultra Durable 2 boards include the A75-D3H, A75-DS3P, A75M-D2H (mATX) and A55-DS3P. We don't knowmuch about these models beyond the A75-D3H which waspreviewed by Hexus.net, also just before Computex. Theobvious difference between the A75-D3H and the A75-UD4Hbesides having slightly less copper in the PCB layers includethe loss of two of the four front USB 3.0 ports, but there are stillfour ports around the back, no FireWire and no DisplayPortconnectors, a slightly more basic PWM design and finally oneof the x1 PCI Express slots was changed for a PCI slot.

The Ultra Durable 1 boards consist of the A75M-S2V (mATX),A55-S3P, A55M-S2HP (mATX), A55M-S2H (mATX) andA55M-S2V (mATX). Sadly we can't offer much in terms ofdetails of any of these boards and the only thing we reallyknow is that they're using regular solid capacitors rather thanJapanese made capacitors, a concern for overclockers butunlikely to be an issue for your average consumer.

So what about the changes to the A75-UD4H? Well, not muchhas changed since we saw an early board at the back-end ofMay, but the red ports at the back have been replaced byyellow ones. What we didn't know back then as well was thatGigabyte has kitted out the board with a dual-link DVI portand claims that this is a world's first. The benefit of this is thatyou can either drive a display with a resolution higher than1920x1200/2048x1152 or and possibly more importantly in

this case, a 3D display. What some of you might not know isthat 3D displays require either an HDMI 1.4a port or a dual-link DVI port as you're sending twice as much information tothe screen compared to a non 3D display.

The board also supports AMD's Radeon Dual Graphics aswell as CrossFire. This means that you could get an APU tostart with, then add a graphics card for a performance boostand then a second graphics card to take things even further.Gigabyte claims a 3DMark Vantage P score of about 4,000points for AMD's A8-3850 APU for this board using 4GB ofDDR3-1866MHz memory, although this can be boosted to5,600 3DMarks by overclocking the APU. Adding a RadeonHD 6670 graphics card boosts the score to 10,173 points whichseem like pretty decent performance for what should be anaffordable combination, even though the APU is the top of theline model. Gigabyte is suggesting that this combination offersa US$40-60 saving compared to getting a similar performinggraphics card.

The final slide we decided to include here shows theperformance difference that can be expected by combiningone of AMD's desktop APU's with a discrete graphics cardand although it's a smaller performance boost on the high-end, it's a pretty impressive performance boost on the low-end, especially considering that AMD's A4 APU is apparentlyoutperforming its own Radeon HD 6450 graphics card in


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3DMark Vantage. Hit the source link for a few more slides,although you do need a Facebook account to see them.

Sony launches MusicUnlimited app for AndroidSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sony-launches-music-unlimited-app-

for-android/12680.html

June 20th, 2011

Need another music streaming service for your Android-powered smartphone? If so, look no further than Sony todeliver on such needs with a new app that gives users accessto its Music Unlimited digital music cloud service, where theycan listen to Internet radio stations and stream their favouritesongs onto any Android-powered smartphones. And from thelooks of it, Sony's offering might just have what it takes toone-up the competition in the race to provide the best musicstreaming service consumers are looking for.

With cloud computing being the biggest buzzword in dataprocessing and accessibility today, it really should not besurprising to see many companies start jumping onto thebandwagon in a bid to offer consumers their own take of whata cloud server should be, especially when said consumers areslowly but surely starting to see the potential benefits of havingtheir data readily accessible, regardless of their location. Andleave to to Sony to offer Android users with yet anothercloud based music service, Music Unlimited, that boasts a fewunique features not found on other competing online musicstreaming services currently offered by the competition.

Officially launched by Sony yesterday, the Music Unlimitedapp allows users of Android-powered smartphones to gainaccess to its digital cloud-based music streaming service,which was previously available for variety of Sony-brandeddevices such as its PlayStation 3 video game console, Internet-capable television sets and Blu-ray players. At the time thisarticle is published the app is already available on the AndroidMarket and can be downloaded at no cost, although users willneed to foot monthly subscription fees if they intend to makeuse of the Music Unlimited streaming service.

According to Sony, the Music Unlimited app comes with afeature that allows it to scan a user's music library and allowthem to stream the same songs to any compatible Android-powered smartphone from its huge database of songs withouthaving to upload the same tracks online to its server first.Apparently, Sony can offer such a feature simply because itowns the rights to millions of popular songs due to its statusas one of the biggest record companies in the world. To many,this feature will undoubtedly come across as a huge time saver,considering how most average users have music collectionswhich stretches into gigabytes territory, and having to uploadsuch large collections manually to a cloud is an act that cantake hours, or even days.

In addition, Sony also claims that users who sign up for itsPremium plan will score unlimited access to the entire catalogof songs available in its database; this means that users canstream and listen to songs which they do not own directly ontothe Android-powered handsets. In contrast, Apple's iCloudstreaming service limits users to streaming songs thatr theyalready own, and that puts it at a huge disadvantage when onecompares the huge selection of tracks that Sony immediatelyhas at its disposal.

Unfortunately, it seems that not all countries will befortunate enough to be blessed with access to Sony'sMusic Unlimited streaming service for Android-poweredsmartphones. Apparently, the service is only available inEurope, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, andSony has made no announcements as to whether it intendsto introduce the service to other countries, if at all. But moreimportantly, with Sony still reeling from the aftermath ofhaving both its PlayStation Network and Music Unlimitedservices forced offline as a result of hackers managingto compromise the company's servers, whether millions ofAndroid users are willing to take a leap of faith and entrustthe company with data pertaining to their music libraries onceagain remain to be seen.


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Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific unveilsSTYLISTIC Q550 slate PC inSingaporeSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/fujitsu-pc-asia-pacific-unveils-stylistic-

q550-slate-pc-in-singapore/12679.html

June 20th, 2011

Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific today launched their new STYLISTICQ550 slate PC that is designed for business professionals. It ispowered by 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 processor, runs MicrosoftWindows 7 operating system and comes with an optionalstylus pen for writing and drawing. The STYLISTIC Q550 isscheduled to be available next month.

Ivan Ong, associate director, South East Asia Operations,Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific said that the company introduced thenew STYLISTIC Q550 to meet the most stringent businessrequirements.

"The STYLISTIC Q550 is an accumulation of twenty years ofFujitsu's tablet PC engineering expertise that offers featuresand capabilities that allow mobile workforce to be moreproductive anywhere, anytime. The slate PC can also integrateperfectly into existing IT infrastructure such that it can bedeployed as easily as a notebook PC, offering a full suite ofsecurity features like the fingerprint sensor, smart card reader,full disk encryption and TPM (Trusted Platform Module)" Ongsaid.

Matthew Hardman, Windows Client Business Group Lead ofMicrosoft Singapore, was also at the event and talked about theslate devices for Windows 7 are designed to meet enterpriseend user needs; they are optimized for online and offlinedata storage, support content creation and consumption andsupport variety of devices and peripherals.

Edmund Lim, product marketing manager, Fujitsu PC AsiaPacific, did a product demonstration on the features of theFujitsu STYLISTIC Q550. According to Lim, the non-3Gversion of the STYLISTIC Q550 will be available in early Julyin Asia Pacific (including Singapore), while the 3G modelwill be available end July. For Singapore, only selected storeswill be selling the Q550 althought for consumers, it wouldbe the model with the stylus pen. The suggested retail pricefor the STYLISTIC Q550 is S$1,788 (price varies according tocustomized specifications) and comes in Blue or Black.


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The STYLISTIC Q550 features a 10.1-inch IPS WXGA anti-glare touchscreen display that boasts 400nits brightness and500:1 contrast ratio. On its sides, you will find the USB,HDMI out, HDA out, port replicator, as well as power buttonand wireless switch.

At the rear are the 1.3-megapixel camera, fingerprint sensorand SDHC card slot. The Q550 comes with either 2- or 4-cellLithium-ion battery that claims to offer a battery life of 4.5hours and 9 hours respectively.

Fujitsu has also a wide range of accessories for use with theSTYLISTIC Q550 including a nylon folio case, cradle, USBoptical mouse, Bluetooth keyboard and external USB SuperMulti Writer.

Microsoft rejects WebGL oversecurity concernsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/microsoft-rejects-webgl-over-security-

concerns/12678.html

June 20th, 2011

Say what you want about Microsoft, but it is clear that theRedmond software giant is taking a very strong stance onsecurity recently, especially after its experience in dealing withthe security disasters that were Windows XP and InternetExplorer 6. In fact, so uncompromising is the company's standthat Microsift has decided to reject the open WebGL in favor


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of its own Direct3D technology for accelerating 3D graphics onbrowsers, in spite of it having voiced broad support for HTML5and new web-based standards. Read on to find out more...

When Microsoft officially released Internet Explorer 9 for themasses, there was much excitement over what appeared tobe a new web browser from a company which, at the time,appeared to have finally seen the light with regards to openweb standards. Indeed, at the time of its launch, InternetExplorer 9 was known to be the most standards-compliantbrowser ever released from Microsoft, and many are expectingthat the upcoming Internet Explorer 10 is set to carry onthe trend of what seems to be Microsoft's genuine efforts toembrace such standards.

However, it is also clear that the Redmond giant is still planingto draw a fine line between open standards and security, andis always more than ready to drop the former in favor ofproprietary solutions if it does not match up to the company'sown Security Development Lifecycle requirements. And oneprominent aspect of HTML5 which has been unceremoniouslygiven the boot from Microsoft is that of WebGL, which is asoftware library based on OpenGL ES 2.0 and designed toprovide an API for the rendering of 3D graphics on a webbrowser via HTML5's canvas element.

According to a recent post made on Microsoft's TechNet blogs,the engineering team over at Microsoft's Security ResponseCenter (MSRC) made the decision not to endorse WebGLover three critical security flaws which it considers to be"harmful". The first flaw pointed out by the MSRC's teamcenters around the fact that WebGL's very nature allows theAPI to expose too much low-level information about a systemand its accompanying hardware to the Internet, up to a pointwhere even Microsoft describes it to be "overly permissive".The posting also goes on to claim that Microsoft expects thelarge amount of information exposed in WebGL to result inthe authoring of customized bugs "that exist only on certainplatforms or with certain video cards, potentially facilitatingtargeted attacks".

The second flaw, as contended by Microsoft, is that WebGLis too dependent on third-party code in order to ensure thatusers are able to enjoy a proper web experience. In addition,Microsoft has also singled out video card drivers as one ofthe weakest links in WebGL security, claiming that some ofthe vulnerabilities in the standard "will not always manifestin the WebGL API itself", and that "the problems may existin the various OEM and system components delivered byIHV". The post also goes on to explain how most video cardmanufacturers tend to adopt a yearly update schedule for theirhardware drivers, a practice which Microsoft has criticizedas bring incompatible with "the needs of a security updateprocess". And it seems that Microsoft may be right on this one,considering how Mozilla itself had to blacklist a large numberof hardware configurations due to driver issues, even when

running off Microsoft's own restricted Direct2D and Direct3DAPIs. To further complicate matters, a recent study hasconfirmed that none of the current WebGL implementationsin browsers today conform to the standards set forth by theKhronos group, which is a clear sign of just how immature thestandard really is.

Last but not least, Microsoft claims that the reliance oninsecure and buggy display drivers for use in WebGL will opendoors to "problematic system denial-of-service scenarios",due to the fact that "modern operating systems and graphicsinfrastructure were never designed to fully defend againstattacker-supplied shaders and geometry". The Redmond giantfurther believes that this will allow rogue websites "to freeze orreboot systems at will", which may have the potential to bringdown "critical infrastructure".

With that said and done, it looks like Microsoft's stand onWebGL is as definitive as it can get. Until most major browserdevelopers can agree on a universal implementation of WebGLthat conforms to the Khronos group's specifications andgraphics card manufacturers start ensuring that their driversdo not end up opening more holes in an operating system forhostile websites to attack from, WebGL is not going to get itselfany love from the likes of Microsoft.

Kingston HyperX SO-DIMMRams Certified for Intel XMPSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/kingston-hyperx-so-dimm-rams-

certified-for-intel-xmp/12676.html

June 20th, 2011

Kingston's 2133MHz HyperX SO-DIMM memory module isnow Intel XMP-compatible. It is one of the fastestnotebook memory modules in the market. More details inside.

The Kingston HyperX 2133MHz 4GB SO-DIMM memory kit(Kingston part #: KHX2133C9S3K2/4GX) has been tested


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with the ASRock HD65-MXM motherboard which wasinstalled with Intel Core i7 2920XM processor. In the tests,the Kingston HyperX rams ran at the rated frequency of2133MHz with 9-11-9-27 timings at 1.5V. Kingston will alsoprovide a lifetime warranty and free technical support forconsumers who purchase the HyperX memory. Enthusiastsusing laptops will be delighted to have this.

Kinect's Windows SDK BetaReleasedSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/kinect-s-windows-sdk-beta-

released/12675.html

June 20th, 2011

Kinect for Xbox 360 had been released for some time already.How does Kinect for PC sound? Microsoft has released theofficial Windows SDK Beta for Kinect. More details inside.

The Kinect for Windows SDK Beta is basically a programmingtoolkit that will allow users to access the Kinect deviceeasily. With some creativity and knowledge in programming,users can create applications which utilise the Kinect devicein Windows 7. Some of the SDK features include rawsensor streams, skeletal tracking, advanced audio capabilities,sample code and documentation. However, a point to note:this SDK is for non-commercial purposes only. A commercialversion will be available later.

System RequirementsHardware Xbox 360 Kinect

Computer with dual-core,2.66GHz processorWindows 7 compatiblegraphics card that supportsDirectX 9.0c2GB Ram

Software Windows 7Visual Studio 2010 ExpressMicrosoft .NET Framework4.0For more information regarding Kinect for Windows SDKBeta: Microsoft

Download Kinect for Windows SDK Beta: Microsoft

Nintendo Wii U to use AMDRadeon GraphicsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/nintendo-wii-u-to-use-amd-radeon-

graphics/12667.html

June 20th, 2011

The Wii U shown during this year's E3 is rumored to be usingthe AMD's previous generation graphics card. The Wii U willbe available in 2012. More details inside.

Nintendo Wii U is said to be using an AMD Radeon HD 4000series graphics card. The GPU is based on a RV770 core whichis capable of DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.0. GPUs used inXbox 360 and PS3 can only handle up to DirectX 9 and haveShader Model 3.0. The Wii U is about 26.7cm long, 17.3cmwide and 4.6cm thick and will come with a media bay to loadin Wii optical discs. It cannot support DVD or Blu-ray discthough. The Nintendo Wii U is scheduled to launch in 2012.

Battlefield 3: Physical WarfarePack and Back to KarkandExpansion dates announcedSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/battlefield-3-physical-warfare-pack-

and-back-to-karkand-expansion-dates-announced/12674.html


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June 20th, 2011

DICE, developers of the Battlefield series of FPS games, haveposted on their blog today to clarify that that the Battlefield3 Physical Warfare Pack, initially announced as an exclusivepre-order weapons upgrade DLC, will be unlocked for free toall Battlefield 3 players after the title release on 25th October2011 later this year. Relieved Battlefield fans should now see itas a "reward for pre-ordering" and not a "punishment for notpre-ordering". The much hyped Back to Karkand expansion(remake of 4 BF2 goldies maps - Strike at Karkand, Gulf ofOman, Sharqi Peninsula and Wake Island) will also be releasedsome time after the BF3 base game, developed by the sameteam that did BFBC2: Vietnam.

DICE, developers of the Battlefield series of FPS games, haveposted on their blog today to clarify that that the Battlefield3 Physical Warfare Pack, initially announced as an exclusivepre-order weapons upgrade DLC, will be unlocked for free toall Battlefield 3 players after the title release on 25th October2011 later this year. Relieved Battlefield fans should now see itas a "reward for pre-ordering" and not a "punishment for notpre-ordering".

Panasonic announces AndroidToughbook tabletSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/panasonic-announces-android-

toughbook-tablet/12673.html

June 20th, 2011

If you're one of those users that always end up in situationswhere your devices break, then you're most likely familiarwith Panasonic's range of Toughbook notebooks. Panasonichas announced that it's going to launch a Toughbook Androidtablet that should arrive sometime in the fourth quarter of thisyear.

If you're one of those users that always end up in situationswhere your devices break, then you're most likely familiarwith Panasonic's range of Toughbook notebooks. Panasonichas announced that it's going to launch a Toughbook Androidtablet that should arrive sometime in the fourth quarter of thisyear.

The so far unnamed tablet, simply going by Toughbook tabletat the moment will be shown of InfoComm in Florida whichkicks off today. It's not intended as a consumer tablet, butinstead this should be the first corporate Android tablet.Panasonic didn't reveal much in terms of specifications, butconsidering that the tablet will have a 10.1-inch screen withXGA resolution (1024x768) we might be looking at anGingerbread free tablet.

What little is given away in the press release tells us that thetablet will come with a stylus, but it's not clear if we're lookingat a resistive touch screen or some other kind of technology.The good news is that the tablet will have a matte screen, so itshould be easy to read.

Beyond the screen, the only other specifications listed includefull-shift (read 8h) battery life, integrated GPS, 3G and/or 4Gconnectivity and “professional-grade” accessories. The pictureof the tablet also suggests that it will be possible to store severaluser profiles on it, as it has a dedicated user button beyond themenu, home, back and power buttons.

Most of us won't need a Toughbook level ruggedized tablet,but it's good to know that the option is out there and hopefullywe'll see a few other manufacturers follow suite with somemore consumer oriented models that can take a knock or twoand still survive. Expect to pay silly money for the Toughbooktablet, but we can imagine that there are quite a few companiesout there that can't wait to get their hands on one.

MSI readying second mATXZ68 boardSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/msi-readying-second-matx-z68-

board/12672.html


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June 20th, 2011

So far MSI has announced surprisingly few Intel Z68 basedmotherboards and if you swing by MSI's website you'll noticethat there are a mere three models listed. A fourth model andMSI's second mATX Z68 board is on the way though, althoughwe don't quite follow MSI's reasoning on where this modelends up in MSI's range of boards.

So far MSI has announced surprisingly few Intel Z68 basedmotherboards and if you swing by MSI's website you'll noticethat there are a mere three models listed. A fourth model andMSI's second mATX Z68 board is on the way though, althoughwe don't quite follow MSI's reasoning on where this modelends up in MSI's range of boards.

The upcoming model is called the Z68MA-G45 and the G in thesecond half of the model name signifies that this is a gamingboard. The current mATX model is the Z68MA-ED55 wherethe E tells you that it's part of MSI's Extreme series of boardsand as such should be a higher-end model than the Z68MA-G45, but this isn't quite the whole truth in this case.

You see, the Z68MA-ED55 sports a pair of x16 PCI Expressslots, but the board lacks support for CrossFire and SLI, asthe secondary slot only offers four lanes worth of bandwidth.A surprising move on a high-end model like this and what'seven more surprising is that the upcoming Z68MA-G45 offerssupport for both CrossFire and SLI. The basic layout of the twoboards is near identical, with two x16 PCI Express slots andtwo x1 PCI Express slots, but the Z68MA-G45 is equipped withthe all-important switches which enables the two slots to workin dual x8 mode, or at least it is if you want to use two graphicscards.

The Z68MA-G45 should end up cheaper than the Z68MA-ED55 as well, as the missing D in the model name signifiesDrMOS, something that isn't present on the Z68MA-G45. Theboard has a fairly basic 4+1 PWM design whereas the Z68MA-ED55 sports DrMOS, SFC chokes and tantalum capacitors, allof which are expensive components and none of which arepresent on the Z68MA-G45. That said, we're not looking at afeature stripped board beyond this as pretty much everythingyou'd want it still there.

As this is a mATX board it only has the standard four SATA3Gbps and two SATA 6Gbps ports from the Intel chipset. Whatstruck us as rather unusual when we first saw the picturesof the board were the angled pin-headers along the bottomedge, as they're all at 90 degree angle. The reason behind thisappears to be so that you can fit a dual-slot graphics cardeasier, but you'd of course need a case with five slots at theback for this to work.

There appear to be three pin-headers for a total of six USB 2.0ports, but things like the front audio, S/PDIF in and the chassisconnectors are all also at an angle. Oddly enough MSI hasalso included pin-headers for a serial and a parallel port, justabove the power connector. The board sports a really simpleheatsink, although the one in our pictures might not be thefinal one.

Around the back we find a PS/2 port, six USB 2.0 ports, twoUSB 3.0 ports (MSI is still using Renesas chips), a GigabitEthernet port, 7.1-channel audio and a D-sub, DVI and HDMIport. The only things missing here compared to the Z68MA-ED55 are a FireWire port and an optical S/PDIF of which onlythe latter might be an issue for some users.

The board should arrive shortly and it comes with LucidLogix's Virtu software. Sadly we don't know what it'll cost,but judging by how many features MSI dropped, we'd bet thiswill be a pretty affordable board. At least this is one of onlya handful of mATX Z68 board in the market and looking atthe specs alone, this could turn out to be a fairly successfulmodel for MSI. Just one thing MSI, when you have to startputting "Top Quality & Stability" on your boxes to convince


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your potential customers that you have a great product, thensomething has gone a little bit wrong.


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VR-Zone.com | Stuff for the Geeks!VR-Zone | Stuff for the Geeks is a bi-weekly publicationcovering the latest gadgets and stuff for the geeks.

Logitech announces new M185wireless mouse capable of 12-month battery lifeSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/logitech-announces-new-m185-

wireless-mouse-capable-of-12-month-battery-life/12778.html

June 28th, 2011

Wireless mice. Don't we all love them for the luxury to useour mice in any way we see fit without having to deal withthe pesky cable that always seems to restrict one's freedom ofmovement while working at the PC? Well, leave it to Logitechto makethe experience of using a wireless mouse even betterby introducing a new wireless mouse that is reportedly capableof lasting for up to 12 months on a single battery charge. Readon to find out more about Logitech's new wireless mouse...

There is no denying that wireless mice are like a godsend forthose who simply cannot stand the idea of having to deal with apesky cable that isseemingly designed with the sole purpose ofgetting in the way of one's working or gaming needs. However,it is also true that one of the biggest peeves most owners havewith wireless input devices is that they seem to be capableof going through batteries at very fast rates, a trait which isdefinitely not going to endear it to the busy PC user who cannotafford to deal with any form of downtime at all.

Fortunately, it seems that Logitech has come up with a solutionto address this need, and it comes in the form of its M185wireless mouse.

According to Logitech, the Logitech Wireless Mouse M185 iscapable of providing up to a full year of uptime without theneed for any battery replacements during the aforementionedperiod, and sports both an On/Off switch and smart sleepmode to help users gain the most out of the device's batteryuptime. Also present on the M185 wireless mouse is a "helpfulindicator light", which the company claims is designed to help"eliminate low-power surprises".

In addition, Logitech claims that the M185 is capable oflightning-fast data transmission and precise tracking, featureswhich it attributes to the use of its Advanced Optical Trackingtechnology and nano-receiver. Last but not least, Logitechhas also confirmed that the M185 wireless mouse comes withbuilt-in support for "advanced 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity",which is reportedly capable of delivering "a dependableconnection with virtually no delays or dropouts".

The Logitech Wireless Mouse M185 is currently available forsale at all Logitech authorised resellers (including Challenger)in three different colours (Blue, Red and Swift Grey) at thesuggested retail price of S$19.90.

Seagate announcesavailability of new GoFlexUltra-portable external harddisk...in pinkSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/seagate-announces-availability-of-new-

goflex-ultra-portable-external-hard-disk...in-pink/12777.html

June 28th, 2011

With external storage devices such as portable hard disks nowbeing neccessities for keeping one's data portable, it wouldmake sense that users will crave products which allow them toshow off their individuality in a sea of similar-looking devices.And as far as Seagate is concerned, the best way to fulfill sucha need will be to deck out its products with bright colours that


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are reportedly capable of "perking up dull days" and givingone "a fashionable reason to be tech-savvy", like what it hasdone with its new GoFlex Ultra-portable external hard disk,which is now available in...pink. Yep.

We all know that portable hard disks are but one of theessential tools that any PC user needs to ensure that they canalways access their data in the event that there is no Internetconnection available for doing so via online means. However,the fact that most OEMs only offer a limitted variety of coloursfor their external hard disks does not do much to help aconsumer satisfy his or her need for individuality, althoughit seems that Seagate is about to remedy that situation withthe introduction of a new addition to its GoFlex Ultra-portablehard disk, which, unlike most of the competition, is availablein a bright pink hue.

Looks aside, there is little else to distinguish the new, limitededition, pink-coloured Seagate GoFlex Ultra-portable from its'normal edition' counterparts, at least where performance isconcerned. Stashed away under that bright pink body is a500GB hard disk which, according to Seagate, allows for easyand fast storage, backup and access to one's photos, moviesand music. More importantly, Seagate claims that the deviceis slim enough to be slipped into any IT bag without issues,so portability is definitely not going to be a problem. Last butdefinitely not least, the GoFlex Ultra-portable external harddisk makes use of the superspeed USB3.0 interface which iscapable of data transmission speeds of up to 5 Gbits/s, whichis 10 times faster than what you can get with a typical USB 2.0device.

If that has gotten you interested in being the proud new ownerof a pink GoFlex Ultra-portable external hard disk, it can bepurchased from Challenger stores at the price of S$109.

Google wants to know whatyou love with new serviceSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-wants-to-know-what-you-love-

with-new-service/12776.html

June 28th, 2011

Everybody knows that Google wants to help users make themost out of their time spent on utilizing its search engine toget to the information they need in the shortest amount oftime possible, but it seems that the search giant may haveoutdone itself this time. Apparently, the company is in themidst of trying out a new service which is supposedly capableof allowing consumers to retrieve a wide range of results in

a single page through a single query. And it even has aninteresting name to boot, too.

Even though most people make use of Google's onlinesearching services on a daily basis, we often find ourselvesbeing completely unaware about any plans the search giantmay have that could potentially assist users in further reducingthe time needed to sort through the huge number of resultsthat usually get returned every time a query is made. However,it seems that Google is fully aware that its services could usea little more work, for we have received word from variousonline sources that the company is reportedly trying outa certain new service that is capable of doing just that, whiletrying to appear a little more personal in the process. Ofcourse, to get the most out of this service, you will probablyhave to let Google know what you love:

Jokes aside, Google's new search service, which is known as"What do you love?", is seemingly designed around the ideathat the typical user is most likely to utilize simple, one-wordqueries for their searching needs, and that sorting throughvarious text links that claims to contain the informationsought after is not the most efficient of ways to get quickanswers. And from the looks of it, What do you love? aimsto tackle that problem by compiling its search results fromits various services such as text links, image search, trends,videos, books and even email services, into a single page whichis then presented to the user, such as the one we received whenour curiosity got the better of us:

Looks great, does it not? Well, as nice as the presentationmay seem, it is also clear that What do you love? comes withsome flaw, chief of which is the fact that the service doesnot really seem to like it when users request for specific ordetailed queries. Rather, it seems that the best way to obtainresults from What do you love? is to keep your search stringas simple and broad as possible, and this brings us back tothe point we described earlier, where users are most likelyto input one-word queries for their searching needs. Eventhen, it seems that certain one-word queries can be narrow


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enough to confuse the service; our example above had Googlecomplaining about how "Android" is not simple enough for itto turn up any information under the "Buy" panel.

Still, we cannot help but admit that this is an interestingeffort by Google to make online searching more convenient: byleveraging all its existing services to provide the best possibleresults in a single page, users can potentially spend more timeactually working with the relevant information as opposedto having to sieve through the likes of thousands of possibleresults through seperate Google services. To top it off, theresults page is also remarkably well-designed, which makesbrowsing through the results a snap.

Last but not least, we were rather tickled to see Google utilizea heart as the button for the search field. Don't worry Google,we love you too.

Sandy Bridge-powered ENVY14 Beats Edition notebookshows up in AmazonSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sandy-bridge-powered-envy-14-beats-

edition-notebook-shows-up-in-amazon/12775.html

June 28th, 2011

HP's ENVY 14 Beats Edition notebook may be well-knownamong audiphones and notebook users as one such devicewhich boasts some serious enphasis on how notebook audiocan and should be, but the fact that HP has yet to refresh thenotebook with some love in the form of Intel's latest processorsmay probably turn some people off from the purchase. Untiltoday, that is: apparently, there is a certain ENVY 14 BeatsEdition notebook that is currently up for sale at Amazon whichis powered by Intel's Sandy Bridge platform.

Now that Intel's mobile Sandy Bridge platform for hasbeen out on the market long enough for people to considerit "mainstream", it would make sense that most OEMswould have already refreshed their notebook lineup with theaforementioned platform. After all, it is important to ensurethat their products are more than capable of meeting theirconsumers' needs and demands.

That being said, HP's premium ENVY 14 Beats Editionnotebook was starting to appear like the odd player out due tothe fact that the notebook has yet to receive any Sandy Bridgelove from the company, in spite of it being positioned as a high-end product that boasts both exceptional audio quality and

performance. However, it seems that this is about to changetoday, if a certain notebook which is currently available for saleon Amazon is supposed to mean anything.

While Amazon did not explicitely specify the processor's modelnumber, it did not take long for us to determine that thehardware used in this particular notebook is not part of thestandard configuration that is currently being offered by HP.Indeed, a quick look at HP's product page reveals that thereare only three processors available for consumers to choosefrom in the ENVY 14 Beats edition: an i3-370M, an i7-720QMand i7-740QM. Yep, no i5 in the list there.

More importantly, Amazon's mention of a 2.3GHz i5 processorwas the final piece of the puzzle to give away the game that theparticular ENVY 14 Beats Edition notebook which it currentlyhas for sale is one that is powered by Intel's Sandy Bridgeplatform. For one, there is no Arrandale-based mobile i5processor which is shipped with a clock speed of 2.3GHz, but acertain Sandy Bridge-based chip known as the i5-2410M does.


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With all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place, it does notrequire much for one to deduce that HP must have silentlyupdated its ENVY 14 Beats Edition notebook to bring itsperformance up to par with the competition. Still, one has gotto wonder why this particular configuration has yet to makeitself known in HP's very own product page...

EVGA Releases FrostbiteThermal GreaseSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/evga-releases-frostbite-thermal-

grease/12774.html

June 28th, 2011

EVGA follows up after the release of Superclock CPU Coolerby introducing its very own Frostbite Thermal Grease. Moredetails inside.

The EVGA Frostbite Thermal Grease is claimed to have highheat conductivity for maximum thermal transfer. It is alsodesigned for easy application. Furthermore, it was tested byrenowned overclocker, Vince "K|ngp|n" Lucido. The FrostbiteThermal Grease has over 30% silver content and a thermalconductivity of 6.5W/M. The thermal grease will come in 2grams syringe.

See the specifications from the EVGA website.



June 28th, 2011

In today's news roundup: Intel has released some details aboutits upcoming Haswell microarchitecture, while claiming thatits upcoming chips that are based off this architecture willfeature new instruction sets that will see it being capable ofaccelerating a greater variety of "applications and workloads";Elpida Memory Inc. has just announced a new memorymodule which boasts a four-layer PCB that is reportedly"only 0.8mm thick, is based on PoP (Package on Package)technology and consists of 4 low power DDR2 chips that eachhas a capacity of 2Gb, thus giving the module a total capacity of1GB"; Jabra has announced today that they will be launchingtwo new Bluetooth headsets - the EASYCAL, which is designedfor users who have no experience in dealing with such devices,and the CRUISER2 in-car speaker phone for users who preferto hear their telephone conversions through a proper speaker;Word has it that Nokia is planning to update its smartphonelineup with at least three more Symbian Anna-based devices,and they will come in the form of the Nokia N5, Nokia N6 andNokia N7; Our sister site SGCafe has just published a review onthe Xbox 360 version of Ubisoft's recently-published rhythmicaction game, Child of Eden, and Bethesda has announced thatthe first downloadable content pack for the Brink video gamewill be made available for free to players for a limited time asa form of gift to players who have had to deal with the severelag found in game's multiplayer mode prior to the flaw beingfixed in a recent patch.

Hardware news

Cooler Master Storm Enforcer Mid-Tower Case Review @Bigbruin.comDescription: Cooler Master has always made a goodimpression with their cases, and the Storm Enforcer mid-tower case continues this tradition. Some of the things thatwould-be buyers might be most pleased to see include tool-lessdrive installation, water cooling grommets, support for longvideo cards, good cable management features, and support forsolid state drives.


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OCZ Agility 3 240 GByte Review @ ocaholicDescription: With the Agility 3, OCZ has a Solid State Drive inits portfolio which is based on the latest SandForce SF-2200series SSD processor. The drive also features SATA-III supportand OCZ claims that the drive can reach throughput rates ofmore than 500 MByte. Also for the IOPS the manufacturerpromises sky-high numbers. When writing 4 KByte blocks thedrive should be able to hit a whopoing 85'000 IOPS. With theAgility 3 OCZ uses asynchronous NAND Flash and we're reallycurious if one can spot this from benchmark results.

Crucial m4 128GB SATA 6G Solid State Drive ReviewDescription: Last year Crucial was the only major SSDmanufacturer to offer a SATA III (6Gb) SSD, the RealSSDC300. When the C300 was first launched you only had twooptions to get the most out of the drive; use an expensive RAIDcontroller capable of SATA 6G speeds or use a motherboardwith a Marvell SATA 6G controller. Looking back, the MarvellSATA 6G chip was terrible and plagued with several problemsat launch. Over time the SATA bridge chip became better,but even after several updates the X58 / Marvell combinationstill can't deliver the same performance as a native chipsetsolution.

MSI R6850 Cyclone PE / OC Graphics Card Review @OCIA.netDescription: Discrete computer graphics are one of thetoughest markets to keep current with. New graphics cores arereleased on a pretty frequent basis from both ATI and NVIDIAand with naming schemes that change nearly as often, it canbe difficult to determine where each card stands in relation toothers in the same price range. Today we will be taking a lookat the MSI R6850 PE / OC graphics card, a mid-range GPUthat was launched at the end of last year. Codenamed Barts,this GPU is built on a 40nm process with support for DirectX11 & Open GL 4.0. Other notable features include HDMI 1.4a& DisplayPort 1.2 support as well as AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology and CrossfireX support.

AMD Radeon HD6850 & HD6950 CrossFire Performance @BmRDescription: To run today's PC games at high resolutions withall the settings maxed out you need a high end video Card, ortwo mid/high end video cards in CrossFire/SLI. The best thingabout CrossFire/SLI is that you don't need to buy both cardsat once, meaning you can spread out the cost of a system build,or simply wait until prices drop before you make your secondpurchase. Dual video card scaling has come a long way sinceits conception, in the early days Crossfire performance wasn'talways what it was made out to be. However, our setups shownear 90% scaling in most of our tests, this is great news forus budget enthusiasts out there as not all of us can afford tofork out $600 up front for the latest highest end equipment.In this article Benchmark Reviews will provide you with ourperformance and cost analysis of a HD6850 CrossFire setupand a HD6950 CrossFire setup.

ASUS RoG Matrix GTX 580 Platinum 1.5GB DX11 Video CardReview @Hi Tech LegionDescription: The ASUS Matrix GTX580 Platinum is part ofthe Republic of Gamers line, designed for enthusiasts andhardcore overclockers. The ASUS Matrix GTX580 Platinumis outfitted with a custom cooling solution and equipped

with a 19-phase Super Alloy Power technology. Similar toRoG motherboards, the ASUS Matrix GTX 580 Platinum hasonboard voltage readout and volt-modding features as wellas LED load indicators for the voltage adjustment and GPUload. In case an overclock is unstable, a handy “safe mode”BIOS reset switch can be found at the back that will restore theMatrix GTX 580 Platinum to its factory settings

Intel Haswell on Track for Release in 2013, Will Sport NewInstructions to Boost Wide Range of AppsDescription: Intel Corp. earlier this month published thefirst details about its next-generation micro-architecture code-named Haswell. The forthcoming chips will feature newinstructions that accelerate a wide number of applications andworkloads.

Elpida does 4 layer DRAMDescription: The Japanese memory manufacturer ElpidaMemory Inc. (TYO:6665) has just announced a newinteresting mobile memory module. The module is a 4 layermodule that is only 0.8mm thick. It is based on PoP (Packageon Package) technology and consists of 4 low power DDR2chips that each has a capacity of 2Gb, thus giving the modulea total capacity of 1GB.


New VAIO L Series All-in-One desktop PC with 3D displayfrom SonyDescription: Sony's new VAIO L Series All-in-One desktopwith 3D touchscreen display benefits from a full 1080p highdefinition 24-inch LED backlit multi-touch screen, packs asecond generation Quad Core Intel Core i7-2720QM processorrunning at 2.2 GHz supported by 8GB of DDR3 systemmemory and is provided with 1TB of 7200RPM HDD storage.There's dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M graphics with1GB of video memory, S-FORCE 3D Front Surround Soundtechnology, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0 and a 1280 x1024 resolution HD webcam which includes an Exmor CMOSimage sensor and face tracking technology.

A better Xbox Live to help Microsoft Windows Phone 7Description: With the third major mobile platform up forgrabs, Microsoft continues to improve its Windows Phone 7platform, which has seen a lukewarm response so far againstApple’s iOS and Google’s Android systems. Microsoft is bettingon something it has and rivals don’t however: a thrivingXbox Live game community that boasts 35 million memberswho average 60 hours per month each on the service. In theupcoming Mango software update, Microsoft is expanding andimproving the Xbox Live gaming integration in an effort toattract more consumers to its mobile handset platform.

HTC EVO 3D Coming to Europe in JulyDescription: One of the most powerful Android-basedsmartphones around, the HTC EVO 3D, is coming to Europethis July, HTC has announced. The HTC EVO 3D runs Android2.3 (Gingerbread) and packs some mighty hardware: a 1.2 GHzdual-core Snapdragon processor, 1 GB of RAM memory, anda 1.3-megapixel front camera for video chats as well as dual 5-megapixel cameras for capturing 3D images and videos.

Arctic Sound P531 5.1 Surround Headset Review @ Real WorldLabs


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Description: Although the overall finish of the P531 SurroundHeadset by Arctic Sound is certainly not on par with the rest ofthe unit still it combines a very good in-game surround soundalong with a somewhat attractive price tag.

Slim ASUS Eee PC X101 to hit shelves next monthDescription: That super thin Eee PC X101 that we manhandledback at Computex is just about ready to make its retail debut.Starting in July you'll be able to pick up one of these MeeGo-running crimson clamshells for $199 or, if you're a fan ofdesktop apps, Windows 7 versions (X101H) starting at $310.Inside the base model you'll find a 1.33GHz, single-core AtomN435, a six-cell battery, and a small SSD (probably of the 16GBvariety). Unfortunately, the two most important details -- canit cut a cake and will it blend -- remain unanswered.

Jabra Announces CRUISER2 And EASYCALL BluetoothHeadsetsDescription: Jabra has announced today that they will belaunching two new Bluetooth headsets, and will both beavailable exclusively at AT&T stores. Their first offering willbe the EASYCALL Bluetooth headset, which they claim wasdesigned for users who have not previously used Bluetoothheadsets before. The EASYCALL headset features the abilityfor two devices to be paired with the headset, so if you had aphone for work, and another for your private life, you will beable to receive calls from either devices on the headset. This isdefinitely more convenient than having to pair the headset upwith another device when you want to use it.

Nokia N5 with Symbian Anna leaks, N6 and N7 on the wayDescription: Nokia is planning one of its first more entry-levelSymbian Anna phones. A new leak Monday has shown the N5using a now relatively small touchscreen and a five-megapixelcamera but with a current and even possibly newer interface.The OS seen by GSMArena now has a very MeeGo-like app gridthat's likely to help keep consistency between all of the non-Windows phone platforms.

Gaming news

Child of Eden Review – Xbox 360Description: Child of Eden is a rhythmic based shooter game.It combines the best of shooters and music to formulate byfar one of the best rhythm games I’ve played so far. You havethe choice of either using the controller OR Kinect. For mind-blowing results, I reccomend the Kinect.

New AKB48 Game Puts You Dating in GuamDescription: Last year, AKB48 fans were thrilled with therelease of a AKB48 fan by Namco Bandai for the PlayStationPortable (PSP); they will be thrilled again. Namco Bandai hasconfirmed the sequel and will be titled “AKB1/48: I fell in lovein Guam”

Brink to Offer its DLC Free for Two WeeksDescription: Brink has faced an uphill battle since release.Regardless of how you feel about its merits as a game, onlineplay -- a major attraction for a shooter like Brink -- has facedserious issues with lag. A patch was released last month tofix them and another is on the way that will further addressthose problems, improve bot AI, and tweak weapon balance.As a gift to players, Bethesda has announced that the first

downloadable content pack will be made available for free toplayers for a limited time.

MySpace to axe a third ofits staff, imminent shutdownpredicted by manySource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/myspace-to-axe-a-third-of-its-staff-

imminent-shutdown-predicted-by-many/12773.html

June 28th, 2011

Looks like things are definitely not going well for what wasformerly the world's most popular online social networkingservice. According to information that has been leaked outfrom inside sources, the company is currently planning to axeover a third of its workforce over the coming days, and thatspeculations of an imminent shutdown of the once-popularonline social networking service now runs rampant amongmany. Read on to find out more.

Facebook may be the de facto online social networking serviceto make use of today for keeping in touch with friends andacquaintances from all over the world , but there are manywho will probably hold fond memories for older services whichonce held the honor of being the most popular such serviceavailable for users until they were soundly dethroned by thelikes of Facebook. And apparently, life after getting dethronedfrom such a position has not been the most rosy for one suchservice: MySpace.

According to a report published by TechCrunch, an insidesource has seemingly confirmed that the company has plansto commence yet another massive round of layoffs by as earlyas tomorrow, with almost 150 members of its 400-strongworkforce being expected to lose their jobs. And if that is notbad enough, word has it that yet another 150 more staff willalso be laid off, but will be put on a "transition plan" in whichthey will be allowed to continue working at MySpace for a fewweeks with pay while they make use of the 'borrowed time'to search for employment options at other companies. Thiseffectively reduces MySpace's entire workforce to no morethan a mere 100 employees.


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Last but definitely not least, TechCrunch also reports thatthe troubled online social networking service, which was onceconsidered the poster child for such services until the bubblepopped, is preparing itself for a sale to another company, anact that is expected to take place this Friday. Although noinformation has been leaked out as to which company willbe MySpace's new owner, rumour has it that Activision isthe most likely candidate to purchase MySpace, and that theprice MySpace's new owners are going to pay for the servicewill not come close to the US$100 million pricetag that NewsCorporation has slapped on it.

That being said, many people will probably rememberMySpace fondly for a variety of reasons, even if it does notdeserve to come to such an end. As ZDNet's Zack Whittakerputs it, MySpace was the service which allowed "for dial-up connected kids to express ourselves in a truly beautiful,hedonistic and open way".

Google's next phone to becalled Nexus Prime?Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-s-next-phone-to-be-called-

nexus-prime-/12772.html

June 28th, 2011

Well, look at what the rumour mill has chruned out today.Apparently, sources who privy to Google's plans for its nextNexus-branded smartphone are claiming that the search gianthas apparently decided on a name for the new device, and thatit will feature a "next-generation" system-on-a-chip or SoCthat will reportedly be clocked at decently high speeds, alongwith various other features. Read on to find out more.

With Google having already launched two Nexus-brandedphones, both of which would later go on to become hugesuccesses on the retail market, it would make sense thatthe search giant will be keen to solidify its position in thesmartphone industry by releasing yet another device to ensurethat its Nexus brand remains well-remembered by consumers.After all, there is no better way to keep one's customerssatisfied by pampering (or rather, tempting) them with newerproducts that promise to deliver significant improvementsover its predecessors.

That being said, it seems that Google's upcoming Nexusphone will be capable of delivering on that promise, if therumors surrounding the device's hardware specifications areto be believed. According to a report posted by Boy GeniusReport or BRG, the new phone will reportedly be dubbed theNexus Prime (apparently, the staff over at Google are fansof Transformers), and that it will be shipped with a "vanilla"firmware of Ice Cream Sandwich that is free of any form ofcarrier or OEM customizations.

However, the real draw of the "Nexus Prime" has got to bethe hadware that goes into the device; BGR claims that thesmartphone will feature a "Super AMOLED HD" display thatboasts a native resolution of 720p, which is almost guaranteedto be supplied by the likes of Samsung, and that it will beTexas Instruments' TI OMAP 4460 system-on-a-chip, whichfeatures a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked at1.5GHz and a 384MHz PowerVR SGX540 GPU, that providesthe handset's processing power.

Last but not least, BGR's report claims that Google may beplanning to expand its Nexus product line by working witha variety of OEMs and carriers to provide a Nexus-brandedproduct that is exclusive to each company, and that all theseproducts may be slated for a launch "at around the same time".In other words, this means that consumers will potentiallyhave access to a wide range of Nexus smartphones from thelikes of OEMs such as HTC, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericssonthrough various carriers "at practically the same time" on topof the "original" Nexus Prime to choose from for their nextsmartphone purchase. Now that has to be the best example ofhow choice is always a good thing, no?

ASRock Launches AMD A75Chipset Based MotherboardsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asrock-launches-amd-a75-chipset-

based-motherboards/12764.html

June 28th, 2011

ASRock launches the latest AMD A75 chipset basedmotherboards which will be available in five different models.Each model will cater for the different needs of variousconsumers. More details inside.


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ASRock will be offering five different A75 chipset basedmotherboards, A75 Extreme6, A75 Pro4, A75 Pro4-M, A75Mand A75M-HVS. The A75 motherboards will feature the latestAMD Llano APUs as well as FM1 socket processors. The latest32nm AMD APU will feature the AMD Radeon HD65XX/HD64XX which will deliver DX11 graphics and other featuressuch as AMD Steady video, which allows correction of blurryonline video to a clearer one.

The high end ASRock A75 motherboard, A75 Extreme6 willhave three PCIe 2.0 x16 slots which allow up to 3-wayCrossFireX. A75 motherboards will also support USB 3.0and SATA 3, along with a bundled THX TruStudio packageallowing great audio experience.

MSI Introduces AMD A75Chipset Based MotherboardSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/msi-introduces-amd-a75-chipset-

based-motherboard/12771.html

June 28th, 2011

MSI has introduced their latest AMD A75 chipset basedmotherboard with MilitaryClass II components, the MSIA75MA-G55. More details inside.

MSI's new A75MA-G55 motherboard is equipped with MilitaryClass II components which are said to be certified by the USDepartment of Defense. Such components offer the highestquality and stability to end users which will supposedly allowbetter overclocking, optimal power consumption, as well asincreasing the lifespan of motherboards. The MSI A75 basedmotherboard feaures USB 3.0, SATA 3 interface as well asClick BIOS and i-Charger.

Click BIOS allows one to manipulate the BIOS with the mouse,and supports the booting of hard disk drivers over 2.2TB.i-Charger allows user to freely recharge their Apple iPadanytime after the software is installed and activated. Packedwith integrated graphics, it offers DirectX 11 support, Full HDBlu-ray playback and AMD Steady Video. Last but not least,the MSI A75MA-G55 comes in the mATX form factor, whichwill be a hit amongst HTPC lovers.


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The Making of the Crysis 2DirectX 11 Ultra UpgradeSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/the-making-of-the-crysis-2-directx-11-

ultra-upgrade/12770.html

June 28th, 2011

Crytek has published a rather informative "Making of the DX11Ultra Upgrade for Crysis 2" document on MyCrysis aboutthe graphical improvements and performance optimizationsinvolved in the upgrade. Read more to see them... Also, staytuned on VR-Zone for our comprehensive benchmarks, videosand image quality screenshot comparisons for NVIDIA andAMD Discreet GPUs, APUs and IGPs later today!

AMD plans to phase out itsAM3 Phenom II's ASAPSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-plans-to-phase-out-its-am3-

phenom-ii-s-asap/12769.html

June 28th, 2011

We've already seen plans to AMD to phase out its firstgeneration of both APU's and AM3+ CPU's fairly quickly infavour for some kind of improved models. But what about itscurrent socket AM3 CPU's? Well, it looks like the company isplanning to phase them out even quicker.

We've already seen plans to AMD to phase out its firstgeneration of both APU's and AM3+ CPU's fairly quickly infavour for some kind of improved models. But what about itscurrent socket AM3 CPU's? Well, it looks like the company isplanning to phase them out even quicker.

The Phenom II's are the first ones to go as AMD is expecting tohave phased them out entirely by Q3, although this might havebeen shifted by a quarter by now, since as you can see, AMDexpected to have both the A-series and the new FX-series outin the market at Q2, while they're only just making that datefor the A-series.

That said it's fairly certain we can expect the Phenom II's to begone by Q4 this year and the Athlon II's are following the samedestiny, although they might still be around early next year insmall quantities if there's still demand for them.

By Q1 next year, unless of course AMD decided to delay itsplans by a quarter, all we're left with is the E-series at the entry-level, the A-series as AMD's main product and the FX-seriesbeing AMD's enthusiast platform having what AMD seems toexpect, a similar share with the E-series of its total shipments.

The current E-series of APUs will also be phased out withthe single core E-240 being the first to go in Q4, having beenreplaced by the dual core E-300 model in Q3. The E-350will hang around until Q1 2012, although it's more powerfulsibling, the E-450 should launch in Q3 as well and it's goingto be the really interesting part to watch as although it's only50MHz faster it will feature an improved graphics core andsupport for faster DDR3 1333MHz memory.


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On a side note, only AMD's A-series of APU's will support Blu-ray 3D playback, so if you're planning on building an HTPCbased on the E-series, think again if you want to watch Blu-ray3D content. This includes the socket FM1 E2-3200 as well, butoverall it's a minor consideration for most consumers.

Most FM1 motherboards getpriced, in EuropeSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/most-fm1-motherboards-get-priced-in-

europe/12767.html

June 28th, 2011

Thursday is the official launch of AMD's desktop Llanoplatform, but it seems like the motherboard partners andonline retailers are in a hurry, as most boards have alreadyappeared online for sale, at least in some parts of the world.We've managed to dig up some pricing of boards from ASRock,Asus, Gigabyte and MSI, all on sale in Europe, but most likelyin other parts of the world as well.

Thursday is the official launch of AMD's desktop Llanoplatform, but it seems like the motherboard partners andonline retailers are in a hurry, as most boards have alreadyappeared online for sale, at least in some parts of the world.We've managed to dig up some pricing of boards from ASRock,Asus, Gigabyte and MSI, all on sale in Europe, but most likelyin other parts of the world as well.

We won't be giving you all the specs of the different modelshere, we're going to stick with model name and price in Euroand S$ and we've put it all in a simple to read table. Do notethat we found prices for the last two models from ASRock andAsus, but they were too far out of line with the other models,so we didn't include them.

What's somewhat surprising is that the only two APU's thatwill be available at launch as far as we're aware, the A6-3650and the A8-3850 cost about the same as the high-end A75chipset motherboards with the A6-3650 currently listed foraround €108 (S$192) and the A8-3850 for around €130 (S$230). That said, with a basic board costing very reasonablemoney, who's complaining as even the really stripped downASRock A75M-HVS has both USB 3.0 and HDMI connectivity,although it doesn't have much else, but this is still good enoughfor a lot of people.

This is also why we believe AMD will have a good chance withits Fusion platform, despite a lot of naysayers out there. True,AMD is not going to be able to compete with Intel on raw CPUperformance, but we're looking at a vastly cheaper platformwith superior graphics performance. The biggest problem forAMD is to get this message out to consumers while not runninginto any roadblocks placed in its way by a certain competitorthat has been known to do such things in the past. As always,time will be the judge when it comes to how successful or notAMD will be this time around, but for the general mainstreammarket, AMD does at least in theory have a winner on itshands.

Crysis 2: World's First DirectX11 Video, Benchmarks &ScreenshotsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/crysis-2-world-s-first-directx-11-video-

benchmarks--screenshots/12763.html

June 28th, 2011


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The long-awaited DirectX 11 update to Crysis 2 has finallyarrived. Look inside for benchmarks, videos and screenshotsgalore to see Crysis 2 in its full glory! Don't forget to check backtomorrow for further updates, including benchmarks of AMDcards and CPU scaling! (Now with 1080p video! - link)

Crysis 2 was released three months back to somedisappointment. Despite a generally warm reception on thegameplay front, Crysis 2 was neither the eye-candy fest nor thegraphics card torture test some were hoping for. If you recall,Crysis was the definitive real-world torture test back in its day.For quite some time after its release, even the most powerfulsystems struggled to run Crysis at maximum detail.

Crysis 2's lack of graphical oomph was mainly due to missingDirectX 11 support at launch, which meant that Crysis 2could not take advantage of the latest technologies such astessellation. Fortunately, Crytek promised to add DirectX 11support in a future patch, and, three months later, it has madegood on its promise.

Trust us when we say that Crysis 2 looks darn good withDirectX 11. In fact, it might just be reason enough to play theCrysis 2 single-player campaign all over again. See for yourselfin the video below:

To get DirectX 11 working on your copy of Crysis 2, you'll firstlyneed the 1.9 patch. After that, grab the DirectX 11 patch (64-bitWindows required). If you want to stress your graphics cardeven further, don't forget to download the High-Res TexturePatch. In total you'll need three files for the maximum eye-candy possible:

• 1.9 Patch

• DirectX 11 Patch (requires 64-bit Windows)

• High-Res Texture Patch (optional)

Hit MyCrysis for all the above files.

Of course, you're also going to need a souped up system to runat maximum settings. We benchmarked Crysis 2 with a systemcomprising a Intel Core i7-965 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 580.

With DirectX 11, it looks like Crysis 2 can finally assume itsrightful place as the new Crysis. Check out the next page forsome image quality comparisons.

ASUS Eee Pad TransformerReview: Android tablet thatoffers no deceptionSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-eee-pad-transformer-review-

android-tablet-that-offers-no-deception/12655.html

June 28th, 2011

When it comes to the term "Transformer", most users wouldassociate it with either the electrical device that transfersenergy from one circuit to another, or the popular cartoonand movie. And if you have followed the news, it lookslike ASUS has named their new Android tablet device theEee Pad Transformer. So, how good and how different isthis tablet as compared to the competition? Find out inside.


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Tablets are gaining popularity and it is not surprising to seemany manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon with theirtablet devices, whereby most are based on the Google Androidoperating system, while some are on the Microsoft Windows 7OS. Renowned Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS is also gettinginto the market with their latest Eee Pad Transformer. The10.1-inch Eee Pad Transformer is powered by Nvidia Tegra 2dual-core processor and runs the new Android 3.1 Honeycomboperating system. Our review unit came with Android 3.0, butan update was available whereby it was updated to 3.1 throughthe air.

But it isn't only the tablet's solid feel, stylish design andspecifications that makes the Eee Pad Transformer stands outfrom the rest. Apparently, ASUS has forged a unique keyboarddocking station that turns the tablet into a mobile contentcreation device.

Before we move on, here's a summary of the Eee PadTransformer specifications:-

ASUS Eee Pad TransformerCPU Nvidia Tegra 2 (dual-core)Memory 1GBScreen 10.1-inch IPS scratch-

resistant glassDisplay Resolution 1280x800Storage 16GB/32GB + Unlimited

ASUS WebStorageWireless 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 +

EDRCamera 1.2MP front, 5MP autofocus

rearSensor G-sensor, light sensor,

gyroscope, E-compass, GPSInterface 2-in-1 audio jack

(headphone/mic), microSD card reader, mini

HDMI, Battery 9.5 hrs / 16 hrs with dockPlatform Android 3.1 HoneycombDimensions 270 x 180 x 13mmWeight 680g

Twitter shoots down rumoursthat it intends to charge for itsservices in JapanSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/twitter-shoots-down-rumours-that-it-

intends-to-charge-for-its-services-in-japan/12761.html

June 28th, 2011

Rumours may be a good source of information at times, butthere can also be cases whereby certain rumours may benothing more than hoaxes with the potential to adversely affectthe reputation of individual people or even huge companies.And in this case, the unfortunate victim of a recent rumour isnone other than Twitter, who is currently finding itself at themiddle of a little controversy over claims that it intends to startcharging Japanese users for its services.

Would you pay to use Twitter's services? Well, as outlandishas it might sound, that was the question which many Japanesetwitters found themselves asking after word broke out thatthe company was seemingly in the midst of planning tocharge its Japanese user base for the right to utilize itsservices. And apparently, this rumour had gathered so muchmomentum that the company had to step in and issue anofficial announcement that any claims of Twitter intending tolevy some sort of fees for the right to utilize its services arenothing more than a hoax, and should not be believed.

According to an article published by ITMedia, "information"of Twitter's supposed plans to start charging its Japaneseuser base first broke out when users stumbled upon a well-crafted story in Uncyclopedia. Apparently, the article allegedthat Twitter's CEO was upset at the fact that Japanese Twitterusers were consuming so much bandwidth that the "fail whale"error screen was becoming a common occurrence in the Landof the Rising Sun, and that the situation was made much worseby the recent earthquake that leveled much of Northern Japan.

The Uncyclopedia article also goes on to claim that Twitter'sCEO did not take very kindly to how Japanese users wereusing Twitter as a tool for various tasks such as marketingand sharing information about local celebrities in the wake ofthe natural disaster, even going as far as to claim that Twitterhas been reduced to a "stupid discovery machine" (machinetranslation). And apparently, the company's response to suchalleged dissatisfaction with its user base was to start chargingusers for Twitter's services to prevent consumer abuse, withthe most recent update to the Uncyclopedia article seemingly"confirming" the fact that Twitter will commence operationsas a pay-to-use service come July, where consumers will becharged at various rates, depending on the number of tweetsthey send out.


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Needless to say, this piece of "news" was not well received bythe Japanese, although the good news is that Twitter has sincestepped in to squash the "news" as being nothing more thana hoax, and that Twitter's services will remain free-to-use forall Japanese. Then again, this just goes to show how powerfulunsubstantiated rumors can be, even if they originate fromsources that have been known to be extremely unreliable. Afterall, whoever gets their news from a site like Uncyclopedia?

ECS Makes A75 MotherboardsOfficial; ATX & micro-ATXmodels detailedSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/ecs-makes-a75-motherboards-official-

atx--micro-atx-models-detailed/12762.html

June 28th, 2011

Details of A75 motherboards have been leaking worse thanDeepwater Horizon, but today motherboard makers havefinally gone official. ECS has lined up three motherboards foruse with A-series desktop APUs. Specifications and picturesafter the break.

With just days to go before desktop Llano's official release, ECShas announced its A75 motherboard lineup. Currently, thereare two micro-ATX boards and a single ATX model.

We previously previewed the A75F-A, which belongs to theenthusiast-oriented Black Deluxe series. The A75F-M hassimilar features but only has one PCIe x16 slot. The A75F-M2will be the cheapest model, possessing only two DIMM slotsand 6-channel audio.

Model Chipset SupportedCPU

SpecificationFormFactor

A75F-A(BlackDeluxe)

AMDHudson D3

AMD A-series APU

4xDDR3,4xUSB 3.0,5xSATA6.0Gb/s,1xeSATA6.0Gb/s,1xPCIex16,HDMI/DVI/D-Sub8-Ch HDAudio withS/PDIF

ATX

A75F-M 4xDDR3,4xUSB 3.0,6xSATA6.0Gb/s,1xPCIex16,HDMI/DVI/D-Sub, 8-ChHD Audio

Micro-ATX


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with S/PDIF

A75F-M2 2xDDR3,4xUSB 3.0,6xSATA6.0 Gb/s,1PCIex16,HDMI/DVI(Optional)/D-Sub,6-Ch HDAudio

In addition to the standard A75 repertoire of SATA 6Gbpsand USB 3.0, ECS is also advertising their unique applicationswhich include EZ Charger, eDLU, eBLU and MIB III.

See the full press release below:

ECS Presents A75 Series, the Latest AMD Fusion TM

APU Platform to Color Your Vision.

Taipei, Taiwan, June, 2011 – Elitegroup ComputerSystems (ECS) introduces the latest AMD basedmotherboard series – ECS Black Deluxe A75F-A,and ECS mainstream series A75F-M and A75F-M2motherboards. ECS A75 series motherboards poweredby AMD Hudson D3 chipset support the latest AMD Aseries APU.

One More Black Deluxe Member, A75F-A

As one of the ECS Black Deluxe series, ECS A75F-A has passed 50? burn test, presenting high qualityand unbelievable durability. ECS Black Deluxe A75F-A also equips with complete expansion slots from PCI

Express 2nd generation x16, x4 to PCI 1st generationfor users to enlarge the power of yours computerswith every possibility. To match the amazing graphicspower of APU, ECS A75F-A has full video outputoptions: HDMI/DVI/D-Sub with optical audio outputfor you to enjoy the ultimate entertainment moment.

The High Speed Transportation Era

ECS Black Deluxe A75F-A, A75F-M and A75F-M2all support the latest AMD A series APU with AMDHudson D3 chipset and AMD FM-1 socket. With nativeUSB 3.0 and SATA 6.0Gb/s powered by AMD HudsonD3 chipset, ECS A75 series represents the officialarrival of new age of high transportation speed, andthat USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0Gb/s have also officiallybecome the basic equipment for every computer.

The Latest AMD Fusion TM A Series APU Platform

Supporting the latest AMD FusionTM A series APUmeans that ECS A75 series has great graphics abilityto support DirectX 11, UVD 3 and all provide at leasttwo outputs of HDMI and D-Sub(VGA). ECS A75 seriesmotherboards all supply ECS unique applications: EZCharger/eDLU/eBLU/MIB III for users to experiencethe convenient using environment. Last but not least,all A75 series motherboards have anti-static (ESD)protect, ensure the durability of your computerto keep your motherboard safe from electrostaticdamage.

About ECS

The Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) hasbeen a pioneer in designing and manufacturingcomputer motherboards since 1987. Today, themotherboard maker also designs and manufacturesdesktop PCs, notebooks, servers, motherboards, videocards, wireless solutions and handheld devices fordistributors worldwide. Headquartered in Taiwanwith operations in North America, Europe and China,Korea and Japan, ECS also has ISO 9001 and ISO14001 certified manufacturing facilities in China.

For more information, please visit ECS atwww.ecs.com.tw

Asus unveils a pair of AMDA75 Llano motherboardsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-unveils-a-pair-of-amd-a75-llano-

motherboards/12759.html

June 28th, 2011

Not to be one upped by the competition, Asus has alsoannounced some of its AMD A75 motherboards for AMD'supcoming Llano APUs which are launching later this week.Both of Asus' first models are full-size ATX boards and they'requite similar, but the boards aren't without differences. Clickon through to check out some high-res pictures of the twoboards and for the full specs.

Not to be one upped by the competition, Asus has alsoannounced some of its AMD A75 motherboards for AMD's


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upcoming Llano APUs which are launching later this week.Both of Asus' first models are full-size ATX boards and they'requite similar, but the boards aren't without differences. Clickon through to check out some high-res pictures of the twoboards and for the full specs.

Let's start with the model names, the more basic model of thetwo and by basic we merely mean that it's the less feature richof the two, we have the F1A75-V PRO and this is followed bythe slightly feature richer F1A75-V EVO. The main differencebetween the boards is the slot layout; in fact it appears to bethe only difference between the two models.

The F1A75-V PRO features a pair of x16 PCI Express slot,although the second slot only has four lanes worth ofbandwidth, two x1 PCI Express slots and three PCI slots. Onthe other hand the F1A75-V EVO packs three x16 PCI Expressslots where the first slot is a x16 slot that operates in dual x8mode together with the second slot, while the third slot is nowa x4 slot. The board also has two x1 PCI Express slots and twoPCI slots.

Common features include seven SATA ports, six from the A75chipset and one from an ASMedia SATA 6Gbps controller, apin-header for two front USB 3.0 ports (from the chipset), four

headers for eight USB 2.0 ports and one header for a serialport. Both boards also have two additional 4-pin fan headers,a one regular 3-pin one and of course switches and buttons forAsus' EPU, TPU and MemOK features.

The rear I/O is full to the brim with ports as well which consistsof a PS/2 port, four USB 3.0 ports (two via an ASMediacontroller and two via the chipset), two USB 2.0 ports, aneSATA port, Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1-channel audio with opticalS/PDIF out and all four display interfaces, D-Sub, DVI, HDMIand DisplayPort. Both boards also feature an 8-phase PWMdesign and a very flat and long heatpipe that connects thechipset heatsink to the MOSFET heatsink.

Overall we're looking at a pair of competent desktop boardshere, but we have a feeling that many DIY:ers are waiting formATX and mini-ITX boards to appear before taking the jumpto the new Fusion platform from AMD. No word on pricing asyet, but with the launch taking place on Thursday this week, itwon't be long until we'll find out.


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Facebook Has Reached 750Million UsersSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/facebook-has-reached-750-million-

users/12760.html

June 28th, 2011

Just months before, Facebook reached their 500 million usersmilestone. However, the social network doesn’t stop there andstill piled on having more users. According to a source close tothe company, Facebook’s user count has just passed the 750million mark though the company has not come out to confirmthe figure. Probably it is holding until it reaches the 1 billionuser point before it makes another official announcement.

Despite the increase in numbers, Facebook faces some signsof troubles, particularly in countries where Facebook wasadopted quickly. The site "Inside Facebook" reported thatthe company has lost approximately 6 million users in theU.S. and about 1.5 million users in Canada during themonth of May this year. The report said that the socialnetwork is still growing in members throughout the world,but not in established markets like the U.S., Canada, U.K.and Russia. The gains are reportedly coming from countrieslike Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil and Mexico, whereFacebook was introduced later.

Samsung to update Galaxy S IIwith faster hardware?Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-to-update-galaxy-s-ii-with-

faster-hardware-/12758.html

June 28th, 2011

With Apple's iPhone 5 expected to be headed for a Septemberlaunch this year, it should be of little surprise that competingOEMs will be attempting to raise the stakes by ensuringthat their products are ready to take on Apple's offeringswhen the big day arrives. And based on information we havebeen receiving from various online outlets, it seems thatSamsung's plan to go up against Apple will be centered aroundperformance, as word has it that the Korean electronics giantis planning to refresh its new Galaxy S II smartphone withfaster, more porwerful processors come August or Septemberthis year.

Well, that certainly did not take very long. While Samsung'sGalaxy S II smartphone may have been launched for retailonly recently, it is clear that the Korean electronics giant is notabout to bide its time and wait for the competition to catch upto it anytime soon. And based on what the rumor mill has beenchurning out, it seems that Samsung is already planning to

refresh the Galaxy S II with faster and more powerful hardwareto ensure that the smartphone remains well-equipped to takeon the needs of smartphone users.

According to a blog post made on the SamsungHub website,sources who are familiar with Samsung's plans claim that theKorean electronics giant is preparing to furnish the new GalaxyS II smartphones with a more powerful 1.4GHz processor (thecurrent S II's processor currently tops out at a clock speed of1.2GHz). In addition, the post goes on to claim that it is quitelikely that the newer Galaxy S II's RAM will remain unchangedat 1GB, although the smartphone will be given a more updatedfirmware in the form of version 2.3.4 of the Android operatingsystem, as opposed to the current S II, which is preloaded withv2.3.3.

That being said, there is some dispute as to whetherthe new phone will retain the "Galaxy" branding thatmost consumers have come to know and appreciate asfar as Samsung's premium smartphones are concerned.Apparently, the sources believe that Samsung'w new phone,which will compete with the iPhone 5 upon the latter's release,could either reuse the "Galaxy" and "S II" branding, or ditchboth in favor of a yet-unannounced name.

Furthermore, SamsungHub's source, which goes by the nameof SamFirmware is also claiming that the new 1.4GHzprocessor which will used in the phone is most likely tobe Samsung's very own upgraded Exynos system-on-a-chip(SoC), although we will not be surprised if Samsung puts inorders for other chips of similar performance to meet thehigh demand for its devices. After all, this is precisely whatthe company has done with the current Galaxy S II, whichis known to be powered by both its own Exynos SoC andNVIDIA's Tegra 2 SoC.

Mitsubishi announces newHDTV with built-in Blu-ray andhard disk recorderSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/mitsubishi-announces-new-hdtv-with-

built-in-blu-ray-and-hard-disk-recorder/12757.html


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June 28th, 2011

While some people may prefer to build up every aspect of theirhome theatre setup with individual, standalone components inorder exercise as much control over the hardware as possible,there will always be others who prefer the convenience ofhaving everything baked into a single device so that the initialsetup is nothing short of a breeze. And leave it to Mitsubishito take the concept of an all-in-one system which consists ofa HDTV that comes with various bells and whistles, such as abuilt-in Blu-ray and hard disk recorder, among others. Readon to find out more.

For most people, the act of building up one's very ownhome theatre setup out of various individual components issomething which many will aspire to do at least once in theirlife, except that the high cost involved in doing so, especiallywhere time and real estate is concerned, can be high enough todeter all but the more enthusiastic consumers. However, if youare the kind of consumer who is willing to pay good money fora more convenient solution, chances are you will have muchto love about Mitsubishi's new LCD television, which is clearlydesigned to cater to the needs of such audiences.

According to the official press release issued by Mitsubishi, theREAL LCD-22BLR500 is an all-in-one package which consistsof a 22-inch HD television set that comes bundled with avariety of other appliances built into the device. Indeed, thereal biggest of the REAL LCD-22BLR500's package comesfrom the fact that Mitsubishi has managed to cram in not onlya digital TV tuner, but a Blu-ray recorder that features a 500GBhard disk and boasts support for AVCREC.

In addition, Mitsubishi claims that the REAL LCD-22BLR500also comes bundled with support for a variety of standardfeatures most people will expect to see on HDTVs, such asthe inclusion of an Ethernet port for online connectivity,along with a built-in SD card reader and a USB port formedia playback via external storage devices. This essentiallymeans that users of the REAL LCD-22BLR500 are unlikelyto require the purchase of any additional peripherals to set

up a functional home theatre setup (save for the addition ofsurround speakers) right out-of-the-box.

Unfortunately, Mitsubishi has not released any information asto whether it will be releasing the REAL LCD-22BLR500 forsale outside of its own domestic Japanese market. That beingsaid, if that is not going to deter you from importing one oversomehow, you might be interested to know that the device willbe made available for retail on July 21 at the price of 100,000yen (approx US$1,238).

Transdroid torrent managergets shown the door fromAndroid MarketSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/transdroid-torrent-manager-gets-

shown-the-door-from-android-market/12756.html

June 28th, 2011

Google may be known for taking a very laid-back attitudeover apps that are submitted for download on its AndroidMarket app repository, but it seems that there are lines whicheven the search giant are loathe to cross, especially whencopyright infringement is involved. And it seems that thevictim of Google's tough stance on copyright infringement isthe Transdroid torrent manager, which was recently shown thedoor from the Android Market after having occupied a spotthere for two years.

Torrent management apps have always been able to occupya spot in Google's Android Market app repository withoutgetting harassed over claims of copyright infringement,simply because of their very nature as tools which serveto facilitate peer-to-peer sharing of digital content via theBitTorrent protocol, and were never designed with theintention to serve as tools in carrying out acts of copyrightinfringement. However, it seems that the status quo mightsoon be changed, for word has it that Google has just droppeda very popular torrent management app by the name ofTransdroid from the Android Market over claims of "violationsin the content policies of publishing in the Android Market".

According to developer Erik Kok, Transdroid was issued anotice by Google some time last week, where he was informedthat Google would be taking down both the free and paidversion of Transdroid over the app's failure to conform to the


18

search giant's Developer Content Policy. However, Googledid not make any mention of the specific policy the appis in violation of, instead merely asking that Transdroid'sdevelopers "review the Content Policies and Business andProgram Policies before creating or uploading additionalapplications".

Considering how Transdroid was already present on theAndroid Market for two years before it was officially shown thedoor last week, speculations are rife as to why Google wouldopt to take action against Transdroid only now and not when itwas first published for download on the Android Market. Somepeople, along with the popular torrent news website knownas TorrentFreak, are suggesting that Transdroid's developersmade a grave mistake by uploading screenshots of the appbeing used to download copyrighted material, a move whichGoogle would clearly interpret as one which suggests thatTransdroid facilitates copyright infringement. To back itsclaim, TorrentFreak has pointed out that torrent managementapps have always been able to reside in the Android Marketwithout any form of harassment for the longest time, and evenCydia for iOS takes a very strong stance on content that maybe perceived as helping to promote the act of infringing oncopyrighted material.

That being said, there is still some good news for fans ofTransdroid: apparently, Kok will be putting up the sourcecode for the app up for download on the Trandroid homepage, while those who are looking for the standalone APK forinstallation will be provided with a link to the Google Codesite, where the APK currently resides. Last but not least, Kokhas also confirmed that he will be happy to work with Googleto produce a version of Transdroid which will conform to theAndroid Market's policies, so do keep hitting up the Market tocheck for its availability if you strongly believe in downloadingapps only from Android's official app repositories.

LG rolls out Easy Homeservice for senior smartphoneusers in KoreaSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/lg-rolls-out-easy-home-service-for-

senior-smartphone-users-in-korea/12755.html

June 28th, 2011

For most people, the act of getting used to how a smartphoneworks and feels is usually as easy as taking candy froma baby; unfortunately, the same cannot be said for olderpeople who are likely to experience a great deal of difficultywith the smaller font and unfamiliar icons that are nowconsidered mainstream on a smartphone. And this is whereLG steps in to assist those older folks with their migrationto today's technology with the use of its Easy Home service.Read on to find out more about LG's Easy Home service forsmartphones...

For most of us, getting used to the way a smartphone issupposed to be operated is usually a walk in the park; after all,most smartphones boast a near universal style when it comesto presenting the user interface, and the fact that our eyesighthas not started failing yet means that we can easily makeout even the smallest-sized fonts without having to squint toomuch.

However, for most senior citizens and first-time smartphoneusers who have grown accustomed to the way things weredone back in the days of feature phones, those 'features' arevery real obstacles which are actively preventing them fromhopping onto the smartphone bandwagon and enjoying thebenefits brought about by the rapid advancement of mobilephone technology. And this is where LG comes in with its newEasy Home software service, which is aimed at making lifegood for consumers who are affected by the aforementionedissues.


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According to the official press release posted on LG's homepage, the new Easy Home service, when installed into acompatible LG smartphone, will assist users in the UIdepartment by providing users with a more simplified layoutfor the Home screen. In addition, LG claims that Easy Homewill also increase the size of the icons used in the smartphone'sUI by 50% more, while font sizes will be also be upscaled by asmuch as 30% to ensure that users with poor eyesight can seethe text on the device without much difficulty.

In addition to the size tweaks, LG has also confirmed thatEasy Home will redesign the icons used in the Home screenand app drawer so that they resemble their feature phonecounterparts instead, ostensibly to help new users quicklyacquaint themselves with the smartphone equivalents of theirfavorite features, as can be seen from the image above.

Easy Home is currently available for both the LG Optimus2X (SU660) and LG Optimus Black (KU9900) smartphones,although LG claims that there are plans to bring the serviceover to the recently-launched LG Optimus Big (LU6800) aswell. In addition, the company has revealed that it has plansto "expand the program", so it is possible that future LG-branded smartphones may also gain access to the service.Unfortunately, Easy Home is currently a Korea-only service,and LG has not commented on whether there will ever a globalversion of the service for consumers residing in other parts ofthe world. Oh well.

Nokia Windows Phone 7 "SeaRay" LeakedSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/nokia-windows-phone-7-sea-ray-

leaked/12754.html

June 28th, 2011

Nokia unveiled the N9, the company's first MeeGo device, atthe Nokia Connection in Singapore last week. And not longafter, the Finnish company's internal presentation was leaked,including a Windows Phone 7 smartphone codenamed "SeaRay".

Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop had recently unveiled the devicecodenamed "Sea Ray" at an internal event. The Sea Ray is asmartphone based on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, though itresembles the N9 which was showcased at Nokia Connectionlast week, and also at the company's booth in CommunicAsia2011 in Singapore. There are some differences though - thephysical camera button isn't available on the N9, but for theWindows Phone 7 Sea Ray, it is placed on the right hand sideof the phone. It will also feature the same 8-megapixel camerawith Carl Zeiss lens as well as 1GHz processor with 512 MBRAM. According to some of the leaked images, the rear of thephone looks similar to the N9 apart from the placement of thedual LED flash. Needless to say, the Sea Ray is running thelatest Windows Phone 7.5, which is more commonly known asthe Mango update.


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Performance preview ofGigabyte's A75M-UD2H andAMD A8-3850 APUSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/performance-preview-of-gigabyte-s-

a75m-ud2h-and-amd-a8-3850-apu/12753.html

June 28th, 2011

Although we can't publish any actual benchmarks as yet, whatwe have for you is a quick preview of Gigabyte's upcomingA75M-UD2H motherboard alongside AMD's A8-3850 APUrunning Crysis 2 with a bit of a twist, or two. Click on throughfor a short video and some details on how to overclock an APU.

Although we can't publish any actual benchmarks as yet, whatwe have for you is a quick preview of Gigabyte's upcomingA75M-UD2H motherboard alongside AMD's A8-3850 APUrunning Crysis 2 with a bit of a twist, or two. Click on throughfor a short video and some details on how to overclock an APU.

In all fairness, we didn't do the overclocking, but we'll let youguess who did it, but if you have a look at the video you'll seeCrysis 2 running on AMD's A8-8350 APU at 30-40fps. The runis only using the built in Radeon HD 6550D GPU, althoughneither is running at stock speed. To the story goes that wesaw the setup hitting 60fps, but the system wasn't 100 percentstable with the air cooler used and as such we weren't able tograb any video of this.

The CPU core of the A8-3850 was overclocked from 2.9GHz to3.38GHz in this specific case running on a 22.5x multiplier ata 150MHz bus while being feed 1.48V. Note that the CPU wasstill going faster The IGP was overclocked from 600MHz to900MHz at stock Voltage. In all fairness some rather extremememory was fitted in the system which consisted of a pairof G.Skill modules running at 2,400MHz CL9-11-9-27, butkeep in mind that these were 1600MHz CL6 modules thatwere overclocked. Finally a 64GB Kingston SSD and a ZalmanCNPS11X Extreme CPU cooler rounded off the system.

That's some pretty impressive stuff, but with better coolingAMD's APUs can be pushed even faster. Do keep in mindthat the video wasn't recorded under ideal conditions and asmentioned above, it can perform even better. However, we'veleft out one little mention; while the APU was running Crysis2 it was also running Linpack (LinX 0.6.4) on two of the CPUcores so in fact you're looking at only half of the CPU poweravailable for the game to play and this is why the four cores arenearly maxed out during the demo run in the video.

So ok, Crysis 2 was “only” running in 1280x800 resolution, buthow often have you seen an IGP that can play the latest gametitles at a playable frame rate? AMD isn't going to beat Intel interms of CPU performance with Llano, but the entire packageis very impressive and we can see this becoming a huge hit withthe mainstream consumer, as they get a more than capableCPU core paired with an IGP that will actually allow them topretty much everything they'd want to, at an affordable pricelevel. Marketed right, AMD could easily take over the entry-level and mainstream market space from Intel, but we'll haveto wait and see some real benchmarks before we draw any finalconclusions.

CommunicAsia /BroadcastAsia 2011: BoothBabes and ExhibitorsSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/communicasia-broadcastasia-2011-

booth-babes-and-exhibitors/12710.html

June 28th, 2011

Today, we visited CommunicAsia 2011 with various indistriesshowcasing their products and technologies. However, It isno surprise that with every trade show or event, there is acertain warmth in the midst of cold hardware. And they are thebooth babes and exhibitors of CommunicAsia 2011. They carrya lovely smile to to the attendees and visitors, bringing up themood of the event.

CommunicAsia 2011 is held for the first time in MarinaBay Sands which begins on June 21 - 24 and will feature acomprehensive range of technologies from backhaul network,systems integration to software and applications to the endusers.


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In this article however, we look at the lovely booth babes andsweet-smiling exhibitors that brings a certain warmth to theevent.

"we are hiring!" - Dinglicom

whoa! Chinese zither performance


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2 sweet lookng ladies from Sumitomo Electric Industries

Smile !

ir.deta booth babes welcoming you to their hospitality suite


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ntt docomo. lovely red

ntt docomo again...

a showcase of ntt docomo services

3 ladies in black from Atrium

not booth babes but hardworking guides of CommunicAsia2011



June 28th, 2011

In today's news roundup: TechSpot has shortlisted a totalof six sub-US$200 gaming PC cases which it claims arecapable of capturing the attention of most gamers whohave a slightly tighter budget where their PC's hardware isconcerned; Seagate has officially launched its new MomentusThin line of mechanical hard disks for tablets, which it


24

claims are the world's first ultra-thin hard disks to boast amaximum height of 7mm; BAPCo's woes do not appear tobe disappearing anytime soon, considering how it has justsuffered yet another setback in the form of NVIDIA andVIA Technologies Inc announcing their resognation from theconsortium, citing conerns about SYSmark2012's outdatedmethod for measuring performance as the main cause; Telstrahas reportedly confirmed that the Gingerbread update for theold HTC Desire smartphone is a go, but that it will come at theprice of losing the popular Sense UI that has been a distinctivefeature available on all HTC-branded smartphones; Word hasit that the reported Diablo 3 "external beta" will be revealedto the public on the first of August this year, and Yet anothertrailer of Black Rock Shooter: The Game has been releasedonline, with this one showing off the gameplay aspects of thetitle.

Hardware news

Arctic Accelero Xtreme Plus II @ MadshrimpsDescription: Arctic , previously known as Arctic Cooling hasa long reputation in creating silent yet very powerfull coolingcomponents. This all at an afforcable price. Most known arethe versatile GPU coolers. Versatile as most models can beused on a wide range of reference PCBs. This being it ATI/AMD or Nvidia based. Today we received their brand newrevised version of the Accelero Extreme Plus. Well you guessedit this slightly revamped version is called the Plus II. Victim ofthe day is our hot GTX480 Fermi card. Easily reaching over80°C in gaming and close to meltdown when being torturedwith Furmark

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX Motherboard Review @ LegitReviewsDescription: ASUS has a long history of great performingmotherboards. Hopefully the ASUS Sabertooth 990FXmotherboard will continue that history. The ASUS Sabertoothis the first ASUS AM3+ motherboard to come across theLegit Reviews test bench. Featuring support for the up andcoming "Bulldozer" Octo-core processors as well as manyother features it looks like it will be a great motherboard! Arethe looks going to be deceiving? Read on to find out!

ASUS EAH5550 Review @ ocaholicDescription: With the EAH5550 ASUS has AMD's low endproduct in its portfolio that comes with PCB layout madeby ASUS themselves. This card is based on the RV870architecture which has been fully reworked for the entrylevel market. Never the less we're curious how this thing willperform in our benchmark parcours. For a small teaser: thiscard proves quite decent and overclocking was a lot of fun.

Intel 510 Series 250GB SSD Review on Technic3D (German)Description: The Intel 510 Series SSD 250GB arrivedTechnic3D. Available in 120GB and 250GB configurations.Results in extreme performance with up to 500 MB/ssequential read and 315 MB/s sequential write speeds? Wewill check this and more against the SSDs from Corsair, OCZ,Western Digital and G.Skill.

ASUS MATRIX GeForce GTX 580 1536MB Platinum OC’edVideo Card ReviewDescription: Over the last few months we've seen MSI do somewonderful things to the GTX 580, releasing the model into its

Lightning series and then during Computex re-releasing theGTX 580 in 3GB form also under the Lightning series; butin this case it was the Lightning Xtreme Edition. Someoneelse has done something with the GTX 580, but I can't reallyremember who; it's probably got something to do with thefact we haven't seen it. Anyway, the latest company to go allout with the model is ASUS with it getting the ROG MATRIXtreatment. Imagine a facial with an electric sander to makeeverything smooth. It's big, it's fat, it's got lots of extra buttonsand it looks powerful. Today we intend to find out if it performsas good as it looks, because oh does it looks good.

Gaming Case Roundup: Six Sub-$200 ChoicesDescription: With dozens of affordable, well-equippeddesktop cases begging for your cash, it can be a nightmareto find the right one for your needs. Hoping to simplify yourbuilding experience, we've assembled a shortlist of six uniquesub-$200 enthusiast chassis that deserve your attention.Included in our roundup is BitFenix's flagship ColossusVenom Edition, and their new budget Shinobi mid-tower. TheCooler Master Storm Enforcer and the highly acclaimed HAFX making an appearance in Nvidia-green. Rounding up thereview is Lian Li's LanCool PC-K63 chassis and Thermaltake'sChaser MK-1.

Seagate Announces Hard Drives For TabletsDescription: Seagate officially launched its new MomentusThin line of HDDs in conjunction with the introduction of theupcoming ARCHOS 80 G9 8-inch tablet and the ARCHOS 101G9 10.1-inch tablet, both of which will feature a MomentusThin drive. The company is promoting the new HDD lineas the "world's first" ultra-thin 2.5-inch hard drives for ultraportables including tablets and slim laptops.


Sandberg StreetBlaster Stereo Headset Review @ Real WorldLabsDescription: Thanks to its massive 57mm speaker drivers theaudio clarity and bass levels of the Sandberg StreetBlasterStereo Headset easily make it one of the best entry to mid-endmusic oriented headsets we have ever used.

Nvidia, Via Technologies Confirm Quitting BAPCo.Description: Nvidia Corp. and Via Technologies confirmed onThursday that they had quit BAPCo (Business ApplicationsPerformance Corp.) due to disagreements over the scoringsystem of SYSmark2012 which does not take graphics card'srole into account while measuring performance in applicationsthat are considered by many as outdated.

Acer Iconia A500 - Honeycomb on a BudgetDescription: Next in our series of Honeycomb tablet reviewsis the Acer Iconia Tab A500. The A500 was the secondHoneycomb tablet to go on sale, and is one of four onthe market at present, all of which are very similar. Theyshare basic specs—10.1” 1280x800 displays, NVIDIA’s Tegra2 underhood, 1GB LPDDR2 RAM, 16-64GB onboard NAND,front and rear facing cameras with HD video capture, basicwireless connectivity options, and stock versions of Android3.0/3.1 Honeycomb (albeit with different preloaded softwarepackages). The hardware similarities makes things like designand price that much more important, and the latter is whereAcer seemed to have an edge.


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Samsung seems confused about ChromebookDescription: Having seen a bit of guff on Chromebooks before,we had to admit that two blokes wearing suits did not seemto fit the description of what one would look like. Neitherdid it fit the somewhat vague description in the release.Apparently the Chromebook is powered by an "Intel DualCore". It is not clear if this was a Yonah, Allendale, Merom-2M,Wolfdale-3M, Penryn-3M or something more modern whichwas not discontinued in 2010. We know they are supposed tobe dumb terminals, but surely Chromebooks are not going tobe that dumb.

Nokia's Android flirtations revealedDescription: We don't know if this device is "superconfidential" or not, but we've just come across yet anotherNokia N9 lookalike with a non-MeeGo operating system onboard. Well, it looks that way, anyhow. There's no way to verifythat the Android homescreen we see above is a legitimateGingerbread installation and not a mere screenshot (theresolution looks all wrong, for one thing), but the source ofthis image is the same Chinese fellow that posted a picture ofNokia's Windows Phone prototype, the Sea Ray, way back inMay, so we're inclined to believe he's got an inside line on thesethings. Additionally, the undersized Android UI elements onthe screen actually encourage us to believe that this is indeed aNokia testing device -- if we were going to fake something likethis, we'd use a regular screen grab for our tomfoolery -- andStephen Elop has openly admitted that Nokia spent a couple ofwild seconds contemplating a switch to Android. Well, folks,here's what that alternate future might have looked like.

Skullcandy Unveils Retro Looking Vandal iPhone SpeakerDockDescription: For those unfamiliar with Skullcandy, they’rea company that produces skate/punk styled headphones,usually with pretty loud graphics and colors, fitting the wholeskate/punk look if that’s what you’re aiming for. In their latestoffering, the Vandal iPhone speaker dock, it looks like thecompany may have decided that just this once, to step awayfrom the whole skater/punk image, and if only for just thisparticular product.

Telstra: HTC Desire will lose Sense to get Android 2.3Description: The planned upgrade to Android 2.3 for theHTC Desire has been an "on again/off-again" story. Now theGingerbread update appears to be back on again, as Australianwireless carrier Telstra has scheduled the software update forthe Desire in August.

Gaming news

Diablo 3 Beta Details Arriving Soon?Description: There's talk that details surrounding the reportedDiablo 3 "external beta" will be revealed to the public onAugust 1st. The news arrives after Blizzard quietly distributedan invitation to a special Diablo 3 press event at their campusin Irvine, California just days prior on July 27.

Black Rock Shooter: The Game In-game TrailerDescription: Looks like Black Rock Shooter: The Game isgearing up much hype in Japan, Imageepoch has anothertrailer which contains some gameplay and vocals. The game isheaded for a August 25 release this year.

Team Fortress 2 Is Now FREE To Play

Description: One of the greatest PC games ever has gonefree. Team Fortress 2 is now available on Steam at zero pricebeginning today. The F2P announcement comes as part of the“Über Update” released today, it is the largest content packdelivered to TF2 since it shipped in 2007

Hackers successfully unlockAtrix 4G's bootloader, thanksto MotorolaSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hackers-successfully-unlock-atrix-4g-s-

bootloader-thanks-to-motorola/12750.html

June 28th, 2011

Most people will be fully aware that Motorola used to adopt an"anti-hacker" strategy for its Android-powered smartphonesby securing them with various tamperproof mechanisms,such as locking the bootloader and futher restricting accessto it by implementing the dreaded eFuse system. However,Motorola fans, expecially users of the new Atrix smartphone,will probably be gratified to know that things appear to bechanging for the better, thanks to a chance discovery madeby the hacker community about the company's upcomingGingerbread update for the device.

Ever since the fiasco over its use of eFuse technology inits smartphones to prevent users from installing their owncustom firmware made headlines for the wrong reasons,Motorola has been adopting a friendlier approach with regardsto the notion of having consumers unlocking their devicesand performing all kinds of modiciations to it, and the latestinformation seems to confirm the fact. Apparently, somehackers were able to get their hands on a leaked build of anupcoming Gingerbread update for the recently-launched Atrixsmartphone, and have used some of the information in it toproduce a working patch that essentially unlocks the device'sbootloader.


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Yes, this is an actual screenshot of the unlocking sequence

That being said, you must probably be wondering why we saidthat the hackers' efforts were possible with Motorola's help.Well, the answer is quite simple; apparently, the leaked buildwhich the hacker community managed to get its hands onactually contains a code within the firmware which unlocksthe Atrix's bootloader upon installation. That is right; inother words, Motorola had already planned to carry out itspromise to the hacker community by unlocking the Atrix'sbootloader with the upcoming Gingerbread update for thedevice, and that the hacker community did not really createthe bootloader unlock instructions from scratch. Rather, theyutilized the code to create their own unlocker patch whichallows impatient users who cannot afford to wait for the officialupdate to unlock their Atrix right now and start installing theircustom formware of choice.

Of course, with the act of using unauthorized tools to unlocka handset's bootloader being one that is of dubious legality,we will not be posting any links or instructions on how userscan obtain and use the unofficial patch to unlock their Atrix.Last but not leasr, if you do decide to go ahead with the riskeither way, let's just say that VR-Zone cannot, and will not beresponsible for any unexpected mishaps that may occur in theunlocking process. You have been warned.

Fujitsu Lifebook NH751gaming notebook reviewSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/fujitsu-lifebook-nh751-gaming-

notebook-review/12555.html

June 28th, 2011

Fujitsu may be one of the more popular brands for notebookPCs here, and while their products usually span the entiregamut of possible hardware configurations ranging fromentry-level machines to mainstream-grade notebooks, it doesnot change the fact that the company has never releaseda high-performance, gaming-grade notebook for sale in

Singapore. That is all set to change though, now that Fujitsuhas officially released its 17-inch Lifebook NH751 gaming andmultimedia entertainment notebook for sale locally. But willit be able to perform well enough to handle the demands oftoday's 3D games and high-quality multimedia content? Readon to find out...

As it stands, there appears to be two approaches availablefor OEMs who seek to build a notebook that is designedspecifically to cater to the needs of gamers. Apparently, theycould go for portability by offering a smaller-sized notebookwhich features a more conventional display size and "bulk" upthe chassis so as to provide enough ventilation to ensure thatthe components do not overheat, or throw all notions of sizeout of the window by offering huge notebooks that have displaysizes larger than 16 inches and leave any ventilation issuesto the sheer amount of real estate present in the notebook'sinterior to handle.

Needless to say, there are no prizes for guessing which categoryFujitsu's new Lifebook NH751 falls into. However, with theNH751 being the company's first gaming notebook to bemade commercially available in Singapore, it would standthat consumers are likely to have high expectations of it,considering how gaming and entertainment notebooks areusually considered to be creme de la creme where performanceis concerned. So how does Fujitsu's NH751 notebook fair whenput under the blade? We shall see.

Fujitsu Lifebook NH751Specifications Processor Intel Core i7-2630QM

processor clocked at 2GHz(2.9GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MBCache)

Chipset Intel Sandy Bridge HM65Chipset

Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GeForceGT525M with NVIDIAOptimus switchable graphicstechnology

Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium(x64 version)


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Display 17.3-inch LED-backlitdisplay supporting full HDresolutions (1920 x 1080)

Memory 8GB DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 4GBSODIMM)

Hard Disk capacity 640GB SATA hard disk Weight Approx. 3.7kg

Google to integrate internettelephony features intoChrome?Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-to-integrate-internet-telephony-

features-into-chrome-/12741.html

June 28th, 2011

With Skype's internet telephony solution being the mostpopular one available to consumers by far, it would makeperfect sense that Microsoft would have attempted to acquirethe company and its interlectual property in order to integrateits functionality into is software offerings. However, it seemsthat Google is also keen to integrate Skype-like features intoits very own Chrome browser, and from the looks of it, thecompany appears to be in a position where it can potentiallydeliver a very compelling alternative to what Skype has beenoffering users for the longest time.

As far as Internet telephony and video conferencing areconcerned, there is probably only one company that is capableof offering a decent solution that appeals to both consumersand enterprises, and it comes in the form of Skype's softwareproduct, which bears the same name as the the companywhich created it. However, it seems that Google has beenharboring plans to create a Skype-like competitor for sometime already, and that the recent acquisition of the companyby Microsoft has been the catalyst that has led to the searchgiant unveiling its plans of integrating some form support foronline telephony into its Chrome web browser via its WebRTCproject, as revealed in a recent posting made on the Chromiumdevelopers mailing list:

Now, you might probably be scratching your head in confusionas to what this "WebRTC" thingamajig is all about, and whyGoogle wants to integrate its functionality into Chrome. Well,based on what we were able to find out, WebRTC is, accordingto the project's home page, a means on enabling real-time

communication functionality on web browsers via a set of"simple JavaScript APIs" and HTML5, and that future releasesof WebRTC will allow developers to write their own real-timecommunication applications for use in browsers. The conceptbehind WebRTC is also rather simple: when implemented,WebRTC will allow users to make and recieve both audio andvideo calls from within the browser itself, as opposed to howusers currently have to rely on external applications such asSkype to achieve such functionality.

Of course, an observant person would probably point out thatGoogle already allows users to engage in Internet telephony onweb browsers already via its GMail and Google Talk services.That is true, but the real draw of WebRTC stems from thefact that it, when integrated into a web browser, could "openthe door for all kinds of new chat services and apps". Andconsidering how the WebRTC project's home page claims thatsupport for the new API is expected to make its way in Firefoxand Opera soon, both of which are extremely popular webbrowsers in their own right, it might seem that WebRTC is ina good position to provide some serious competition to bothMicrosoft and Skype in the area of Internet telephony services.

Team Fortress 2: Meet theMedic and Free to Play(Forever)Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/team-fortress-2-meet-the-medic-and-

free-to-play-forever-/12749.html

June 28th, 2011

Valve, developers and publishers of acclaimed game franchises(like Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Counter-Strike),announced today that after four years and over 200 updates,Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is now Free To Play (F2P) for both PC& Mac players via Steam. Valve have also released "Meet theMedic," the latest in its series of TF2 animated shorts.

Hopefully this generous move by Valve will trigger a tsunamithrough the gaming industry and compel the likes of Activisionand EA to release their golden oldies like Call of Duty 4 :Modern Warfare and Battlefield 2 in similar fashion. After all,today's games ain't made like the way they used to anymore- this writer blames frankinstein cutscene laden console portsand rushed release cycles +}+}

Best Buy announces MusicCloud; store your favouritesongs and playlists onlineSource: http://vr-zone.com/articles/best-buy-announces-music-cloud-

store-your-favourite-songs-and-playlists-online/12747.html


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June 28th, 2011

Apple has recently announced their iCloud service for usersto store data such as music files while Google has their MusicBeta, and Amazon, the Cloud Player. And now, Best Buyhas launched their new Music Cloud, which allow users tostore their songs and playlists online.

Music is surely in the air (well, literally). With companieslike Apple, Amazon, Google and Sony announcing their cloudservice for music, Best Buy has also introduced their newMusic Cloud service for users to upload their songs andplaylists online and stream the content through a line ofAndroid, BlackBerry and iOS devices.

According to reports, the service is currently linked toApple iTunes; the Music Cloud will automatically grab thesongs from your playlists. However, if you do not use iTunes,you are out of luck. The Best Buy" Music Club" is available inthe Apple App Store free of charge. There is also a premiumoption for users at US$3.99 per month.

The Best Buy Music Cloud service is currently in beta andthrough invitation-only. However, you can sign up at theirwebsite to get your invite.

vr-zone tech news for the geeks jun 2011 issue

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