General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Itty Bitty "Cotton Candy" USB-Sized PC Available For Preorder

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 11:10 AM PST

The battle for itty-bitty computing supremacy is heating up, out of seemingly nowhere. The diminutive Raspberry Pi should be shipping any day now (in fact, its website promises a big announcement on Feb. 29th) and bringing its $35 1080p video capabilities with it. And if that wasn't enough tastily named micro-computing news, FXI announced that its USB key-esque Cotton Candy minicomputer is now available for preorder, too.

A quick refresher: Cotton Candy sports a 1GHz, dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor paired with an ARM Mali-400 GPU. The stick will ship with 1GB of DRAM and supports up to 64GB of storage via a microSD card slot. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi, USB, MicroUSB, HDMI and Bluetooth. Like the Raspberry Pi, its capable of outputting HD graphics via an HDMI connection; both MPEG-4 and H.264 are supported, as are other, unspecified formats. It'll come preloaded with either Android (Gingerbread or Ice Cream Sandwich) or Ubuntu. You choose which after preordering the PC and registering it online.

Just what would you use it for? FXI takes a stab at usage cases in its preorder press release: Its unique architecture will allow the device to serve as an ideal companion to smartphones, tablets, notebook PCs and Macs as well as will add smart capabilities to existing displays, set top boxes and game consoles.

Speaking of registering it online, FXI just launched cstick.com, which will serve as the online home of Cotton Candy. Head over there if you want to preorder the $199 PC (which is expected to ship in March) or check out the Cotton Candy page on FXI's website for more technical details.

Verizon Family Data Plans Launching This Summer-ish

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 10:28 AM PST

Verizon Wireless has never been one to shy away from a dollar or two. (See: the company's aborted attempt to charge online bill payers a $2 "convenience fee.") Don't be too quick to judge the company, though; it looks to be taking a turn for the consumer friendly with new family data plans. Rumors about the plans have been swirling for a while, but now we have some official semi-details about the launch window for the wallet-friendly data packages.

Notice we said "launch window," not "launch date." That's because it isn't going to be a simple flip of the switch migration. "It's important to realize that the day we launch this account billing, everybody won't be migrating to the account billing day one," TechCrunch reports Verizon CFO Fran Shammo as saying at an investor meeting. "This is going to be a long-term migration into where we want to get data plan sharing."

That being said, Shammo says the new family plans should start rolling out in the middle of the year. Verizon hopes to spur 4G adoption with the new packages.

So it may be coming later, but hey, at least it's coming. With the proliferation of Wi-Fi, it's easier than ever to stay off the mobile data networks, which makes Verizon's current $30/mo. per smartphone required data plans, well, suck even harder. My family's two phones typically use less than 1GB of mobile data every month and we're still stuck with a $60 data bill for the separate lines. Halving that will be awesome.

NZXT Intros Cable Starter Kit For Impatient System Builders

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 09:59 AM PST

You might think your brand new mobo, CPU, graphics card and case are fancy, but nothing kicks a custom PC build to the next level like individually braided power cables. Re-sleeving the individual cables on your power connectors can be incredibly time-intensive. Enter NZXT, and their new Premium Cables Starter Kit, which includes four of the most common cables you'll want spruce up. 

As you might have assumed, the Starter Kit includes some of the most common cables around, all of which are 250mm (9.84 inches) long:

  • CB 6V - 6Pin VGA Extension
  • CB 24P - 24Pin Motherboard Extension
  • CB 8P - 8Pin Motherboard Extension
  • CB 8V - 6Pin to 6+2Pin VGA Extension

On top of having all those cables in a single package, the Premium Cables Starter Kit isn't all that expensive, either, at $25. Buying just the 6 Pin VGA extension and the two mobo cables through NZXT costs $25, so this kit basically tosses in the 6+2 Pin VGA extension for free. Not too shabby.

Check out the NZXT site for more details, but these won't be available until March. (Normally, that means tomorrow, but this February has an extra day. Stupid leap years.)

AMD Introduces FX-4170 and FX-6200 Bulldozer CPUs, Cuts Price of FX-8120

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 07:26 AM PST

AMD fans might be looking forward to Piledriver, but the Sunnyvale chip maker isn't quite ready to move on from Bulldozer. On the contrary, AMD today sent out a message announcing two new FX-Series Bulldozer chips -- AMD FX-4170 and FX--6200 -- along with a price cut to its existing FX-8120 processor with eight processing cores clocked at 3.1GHz (4GHz via Turbo Core).

The newly minted FX-4170 processor is a quad-core part clocked at 4.2GHz (4.3GHz via Turbo Core). It has 4MB of L2 cache, a 125W TDP, and a northbridge clockspeed of 2.2GHz. The FX-4170 is AMD's top-clocked quad-core chip.

On the six-core front, the new sherrif in town is AMD's FX-6200, a hexacore part that runs at 3.8GHz (4.1GHz via Turbo Core). It has 6MB of L2 cache and the same TDP as the FX-4170 (125W). AMD didn't list its northbridge speed, which will probably be 2.2GHz.

Lastly, AMD is cutting the price of its FX-8120 and FX-6100 processors. The FX-8120 has been reduced from $199 to $185, and the FX-6100 from $149 to $145. No word on how much the new processors will cost.

Worth the Wait: Overclockers Push Ivy Bridge Chip Past 7GHz

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 07:02 AM PST

Conflicting reports about Intel's Ivy Bridge launch and a full or partial delay are casting a cloud over the Santa Clara chip maker's successor to Sandy Bridge, but regardless of when it comes out, there's plenty of reason to be excited. For one, Ivy Bridge is being built on a 22nm manufacturing process using 3D transistors, which boils down to more performance and lower power consumption than today's 32nm Sandy Bridge parts. It adds a new graphics subsystem, natively supports SuperSpeed USB 3.0, and introduces other improvements. But the real reason to get excited is because of the potential overclocking headroom.

Power hungry enthusiasts managed to push Intel's flagship Core i7 3770K processor to 7.063GHz, representing a 100 percent overclock over the chip's stock clockspeed of 3.5GHz, according to Bright Side of News. It took some serious cooling -- dry ice -- to get past 7GHz, but the mere fact that enthusiasts were able to double the clockspeed is a good sign for Ivy Bridge.

According to the CPU-Z Hall of Fame, the world frequency record belongs to Andre Yang and an AMD FX processor he overclocked to 8.585GHz using an Asus Crosshair V Formula motherboard and 2GB of Corsair memory. The highest frequency for an Intel Core i7/i5/i3 CPU is 7.307GHz (Core i5 655K).

Image Credit: Lenzfire

OCZ Adds 1000W Model to Fatal1ty Power Supply Line

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 06:28 AM PST

Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel has been a busy sponsor this week, first with his pseudonym being used on a new high-end X79 motherboard from ASRock, and now on a new high-wattage modular power supply for OCZ, which announced today the addition of a 1000W PSU to its Fatal1ty line of modular units targeted at gamers and enthusiasts. It's the third PSU in OCZ's Fatal1ty line and the only one of the three that's 80 Plus Gold certified.

The new 1000W model features a single +12V rail design combined with "premium components," such as 100 percent Japanese 105C capacitors. It has a temperature and load controlled 140mm double ball-bearing fan with red LEDs, regulated electrical noise and ripple, individually sleeved modular cables, and delivers up to 90 percent efficiency at typical loads.

"We are thrilled to partner up once again with Fatal1ty to build the ultimate PSU designed specifically for hard-core gamers," commented Steve Lee, Senior Vice President of Power Management at OCZ Technology. "The new 1000W Fatal1ty PSU delivers exceptional performance for dual GPU platforms, enhanced reliability with premium components, excellent efficiency and robust features, including a large yet ultra quiet fan and high-end individually sleeved cables. All of these add up to a premium PSU that gamers can be confident in to power through the most intense gaming and enthusiast environments."

The Fatal1ty 1000W is backed by a 5-year warranty. No word price or availability, though as a point of reference, OCZ's Fatal1ty 750W model sells for around $100 street (or less after mail-in-rebate).

Image Credit: OCZ

Corning Begins Shipping Gorilla Glass 2 to 'Key Device Makers'

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 06:17 AM PST

Shipments of the next generation of Gorilla Glass are now underway, New York-based Corning announced Monday. This announcement comes more than a month after the launch of Gorilla Glass 2 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Hit the jump for more.

"Corning's new glass composition, Gorilla Glass 2, enables slimmer and sleeker devices, brighter images, and greater touch sensitivity, providing an ideal solution for the newest, most sophisticated smartphones, tablets, and personal computers," said David R. Velasquez, global director, Marketing and Commercial Operations, Corning Gorilla Glass.

"Since we launched Gorilla Glass 2 just last month at CES, we've qualified the glass with more than half of our current customers, and have shipped our first orders to customers who plan to start production and release product in the first quarter this year."

The company says that it has "qualified the glass" with half of its existing customers and already shipped the first orders. According to The Verge, Corning expects the first products featuring Gorilla Glass 2 to reach consumers sometime in April or May.

The first-generation of Corning's damage-resistant cover glass, which is sometimes wrongly believed to have been developed in the 1960s, has found its way into over "600 product models, spanning over 600 million units worldwide."

Google to Dish Out $1 Million for Chrome Browser Exploits

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 06:08 AM PST

One million dollars. That's how much Dr. Evil initially wanted for a stolen nuclear warhead, and it's the same amount Google plans to dole out through various rewards at the CanSecWest security conference to participants who discover full and partial Chrome exploits, as well as bugs in programs than can be a threat to Chrome. The $1 million fund is something Google is doing on its own, as the sultan of search has chosen to withdraw its participation from CanSecWest's annual Pwn2Own contest.

"Originally, our plan was to sponsor as part of this year's Pwn2Own competition. Unfortunately, we decided to withdraw our sponsorship when we discovered that contestants are permitted to enter Pwn2Own without having to reveal full exploits (or even all of the bugs used!) to vendors," Google explained in a blog post. "Full exploits have been handed over in previous years, but it's an explicit non-requirement in this year's contest, and that's worrisome."

Google said it will pay $60,000 for the discovery of full Chrome exploits (Chrome/Win 7 local OS user account persistence using only bugs in Chrome itself), $40,000 for partial Chrome exploits (Chrome/Win 7 local OS user account persistence using at least one bug in Chrome itself, plus other bugs. For example, a WebKit bug combined with a Windows sandbox bug), and $20,000 as a consolation reward for bugs in Flash, Windows, and elsewhere that present a threat to the Chrome browser.

"We will issue multiple rewards per category, up to the $1 million limit, on a first-come-first-served basis," Google said.

Reward winners will also receive a Chromebook for their efforts.

Secunia PSI 3.0 Beta Now Available, Brings Automatic Patching of Third-Party Apps

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 05:59 AM PST

While it can often be difficult to get two people to agree on something on this pale blue dot of ours, there is probably little doubt that outdated third-party software poses a considerable security risk. The best way to mitigate this risk is by always ensuring that you're running the latest version of such third-party apps. But we all know it's easier said than done. This is where Secunia's Personal Software Inspector (PSI) tool comes in. Hit the jump for more.

Personal Software Inspector is a nifty little utility that helps you identify out-of-date third-party apps. Secunia on Monday launched a new version of PSI in beta form. The Secunia PSI 3.0 Beta packs a new feature dubbed the Secunia Package System (SPS), which automatically downloads and installs updates and security patches on your behalf. It also has a "dramatically simplified" interface. You can download it here.

"The Secunia PSI 3.0 will significantly reduce the number of programs that users need to update manually to stay secure," the company said in a press release. "It automatically detects insecure programs - from all software vendors, not just those from Microsoft - that need updating. The Secunia PSI then downloads the required security updates and installs them without any effort from the user, making it much easier to maintain a secure PC. In addition to providing extended automatic security updates, the new version offers a redesigned interface to make it dramatically simpler and extremely intuitive to use."

HP Reportedly Working on Windows 8 Tablets Using Intel, ARM Chips

Posted: 28 Feb 2012 05:23 AM PST

At an earnings call last week, Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman seemed confident of her company's holiday prospects, saying "we're going to be well-positioned for [the] holiday [season] on Windows 8 x86." She hinted at an entire lineup of Windows 8 products from HP making it to the market in the fourth quarter. Although there is still a fairly long way to go for the holidays, the rumor mill has already started churning out stories about HP's Windows 8 devices.

A CNET report citing unnamed sources claims that HP is readying two Windows 8 tablets and one hybrid. While one of the tablets is said to be based on an ARM-based Qualcomm processor, the other tablet and the hybrid are both rumored to have a Clover Trail Atom processor. Further, the Intel-based tablet is said to be aimed at corporate customers.

Had HP's costly webOS experiment worked, it would have effectively knocked an HP-branded Windows on ARM tablet out of the realms of possibility. But we all know how that one went, don't we?
Posted by Shri Krishna

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