| Asus Mum as Netgear Sues Company for Falsifying Wi-Fi Router Test Results to the FCC Posted: 15 Aug 2013 03:46 PM PDT  Did Asus bamboozle the FCC?
Netgear is making some pretty serious accusations against rival Asus in regards to two of the company's wireless routers, the RT-N65U and RT-AC66U. According to a complaint filed with the FCC and subsequent lawsuit, Netgear says the aforementioned routers that sit on store shelves and are available to purchase online emit higher wireless signals than what the FCC allows. Netgear further alleges that Asus conspired with QuieTek Corporation, an independent testing laboratory, to submit false test results to the FCC to ensure certification as part of a grand plan to eliminate Asus' competitors from the wireless market. We reached out to Asus for comment but have not heard back. That means we only have Netgear's side of the story, and there's plenty to tell. Netgear claims it voiced its concerns to Asus earlier in the year but didn't like the response it got, especially after its own tests revealed that Asus' routers failed a number of tests required for FCC certification. If Netgear's allegations are true, it means the routers in question could interfere with other electronic devices and potentially pose a safety hazard. The FCC won't take kindly to that, nor would it be happy that it was duped, if that's in fact the outcome. On the other hand, if the FCC finds that Asus is in the clear, Netgear could be hit with a countersuit. 
Since all this went down, Asus issued a new set of firmware that lowers output levels and deleted all previous versions from their website. Netgear believes Asus is trying to cover its tracks. David Henry, Vice President of Product Management for Netgear's Retail Business Unit, provided the following statement to Maximum PC: After Netgear filed its formal complaint and lawsuit against Asus in July 2013, the company released a new firmware update for both routers mentioned in the lawsuit. Typically, when Asus releases updated firmware they continue to provide access to previous versions, but Asus has deleted all of its old firmware from their website for each product. One month ago they had seven firmware versions available for each product and today only one (RT-N65U) or two (RT-AC66U) is available. People can draw their own conclusions about what that means, but we find it very suspicious that they would do that. Netgear's lawsuit against Asus accuses the company of all kinds of tomfoolery, including false advertising, unfair competition, violating the Sherman Act, and other monkey business translated into legal speak. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| AMD Unveils New Never Settle Bundle Posted: 15 Aug 2013 03:42 PM PDT 
New bundle will let gamers choose which games they want AMD has announced the Never Settle Forever gaming bundle, which adds the one thing we've always wanted to the program — choice. In the past gamers bought a Radeon card and got a bundle of free games regardless of whether or not they already owned them, so this time around buying a Radeon card will let you redeem the game of your choice from predetermined pools, and you can even hold onto the tickets and redeem them for future, unannounced titles as well. The three tiers included are bronze (which is if you purchase a 7700-series cards), silver (for 7800-series cards), and gold( for 7900-series cards). Bronze tier gets you one game of your choosing, while silver snags you two, and gold gets you three. Titles included in AMD's Bronze tier include Sleeping Dogs, Far Cry 3, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dirt 3, and Dirt Showdown. Silver Tier has the aforementioned titles, but also includes DMC: Devil May Cry, and Hitman Absolution. The last tier, gold, has every game mentioned, plus Saints Row IV which they recently announced today via Twitter and Tomb Raider. The new system works by giving gamers a redemption portal from which they can use their AMD-provided reward codes. The redemption codes will be good until December 31st, 2013. 
Interestingly enough, looking at a photo from AMD's Never Settle Forever press packet, we saw a page that showed Dishonored, Syndicate, and Crysis 3. Could these games also be added to AMD's giveaway lineup in the future? |
| Lenovo's Smartphone and Tablet Sales Surpassed PCs for First Time in Second Quarter Posted: 15 Aug 2013 01:25 PM PDT  Life is good for Lenovo
What a year it's been for Lenovo. In the second quarter, two independent market research firms -- International Data Corporation (IDC) and Gartner -- crowned Lenovo king of PCs in terms of shipments, and the company continues to find ways to flip a profit in what it considers a "tough" market. Lenovo's revenue for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2013 was $8.8 billion, a 10 percent jump compared to a year ago, while earnings jumped 23 percent year-over-year to $174 million. It wasn't all because of traditional PC sales, though. Lenovo started expanding its reach into mobile as part of its transformation into a "PC Plus" company. It was a smart move on Lenovo's part, as it saw combined sales of smartphones and tablets surpass PCs for the first time ever during the quarter, the company said. "In a tough PC market, Lenovo became the clear No. 1 for the first time and continues to improve profitability. Our strong performance in PC is fueled by balanced growth, through our consistent execution of the right strategy," said Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO, Lenovo." While driving profitable growth in our core PC business, we are rapidly transforming our company into a PC Plus company. The PC Plus market requires fast, efficient innovation as it moves quickly from premium products to mainstream ones and from mature market domination to emerging market hyper growth. This kind of market plays to Lenovo's proven strengths. Lenovo is now better positioned than our competition to take advantage of these clear trends." 
Lenovo's an underdog in the handheld mobile market, which is currently dominated by Samsung and Apple. However, counting Lenovo out of the race would be a mistake when you consider the success it's been able to achieve in a slumping PC market, seemingly defying the odds quarter after quarter. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| The Washington Post Says Syrian Electronic Army is Responsible for Website Hack Posted: 15 Aug 2013 10:17 AM PDT  Syrian Electronic Army continues its hacking rampage
The latest news outlet to fall victim to hack attacks by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) is The Washington Post, which earlier today posted a short message confirming a security breach that redirected readers of certain stories to the SEA's website. The Washington Post didn't say which specific stories were affected by the breach, adding that it's working to resolve the issue. Since then, more information has been made available. In a separate article, The Washington Post divulged a few more details about the SEA and its shenanigans, noting that earlier this week the Twitter account of one of its journalists was compromised as part of a larger attacked aimed at social media management group SocialFlow. Later on, there was another attack on content recommendation service Outbrain that caused some of The Washington Post's stories to redirect to the SEA homepage. So, what's going on? According to The Washington Post, the SEA is a band of hackers who support embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The group was formed in April 2011 during the rise of anti-regime protests in Syria. Apparently the SEA must not like how things are being reported, though The Washington Post hasn't been the only target. According to Bloomberg, the SEA has also hacked the Financial Times and ITV, the latter of which is the biggest commercial TV station in the U.K. "The group targets both dissidents within Syria and 'sympathizers' outside the country. But that 'sympathizer' label appears to be applied to anyone who talks about the Syrian conflict in almost any context without expressly endorsing the Assad regime," The Washington Post reports. Image Credit: Flickr (dionhinchchliffe) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Meet the Razer Tartarus, a Membrane Gaming Keypad with 25 Programmable Keys Posted: 15 Aug 2013 08:31 AM PDT  The successor to the Razer Nostromo
You don't see a ton of gaming keypad releases, at least not at the same clip of full-size gaming keyboards. If you're a fan of such devices, you'll be delighted to learn that Razer just launched a successor to its Nostromo keypad with improved ergonomics and more features. It's the Razer Tartarus, a membrane gaming keypad heavily focused on comfort and customization options. There are 25 fully programmable keys to play with, including an eight-way directional thumb pad. According to Razer, the thumb pad allows gamers to move with more precision, and it can also act as a modifier key, effectively multiplying the keyset count by eight for a total of 128 different command options. "The Razer Tartarus places an infinite amount of control into a single hand—literally—affording immense flexibility, power and an ultimately free other hand, which is a deadly competitive advantage," says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. "For serious gamers, this keypad can make the difference between victory and defeat." 
Gamers can program macros of unlimited length and store them in an endless array of game profiles. The Tartarus also provides users with instantaneous switching between eight key maps, full anti-ghosting, an adjustable wrist-pad, and backlit keys for gaming in the dark. The Razer Tartarus is available now for $80 MSRP. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB DDR3-1866 RAM, Asus Z87 Deluxe Mobo, and More! Posted: 15 Aug 2013 06:27 AM PDT |
| Cooler Master Announces SF17 Laptop Cooler for Gamers Posted: 15 Aug 2013 06:07 AM PDT  Designed especially for gaming laptops
Laptop coolers aren't hard to find. They're littered all over the place, both online and in brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy, but the majority of them are fairly basic and intended for general purpose notebooks. Not all, however, as evidenced by Cooler Master's new SF17, the latest addition to its Strike Force Series of laptop coolers and gaming hubs. Specially designed for gamers, the SF17 has a strengthened mesh that can withstand big and heavy laptops up to 19 inches. A single 180mm adjustable turbine fan provides active cooling for the laptop. According to Cooler Master, it's "engineered to provide unprecedented airflow" to keep laptops running at optimal temperatures, though the company didn't go into any real detail regarding its fan design. 
There's an LED lighting strip, four different height adjustment options, a rubber handle, built-in 4-port USB 2.0 hub, fan speed dial, and grooved sides to help route cables. The CM Storm SF17 is available now from Amazon for $56. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Announces Inaugural Pop-Up Store Event Posted: 15 Aug 2013 12:30 AM PDT 
Its first ever pop-up store will open in California on Friday Electronics online retailer Newegg has enjoyed a great deal of success since its inception in 2001 and, along with other e-tailers, has made life increasingly difficult for brick-and-mortar stores. And like other e-tailers, it has benefited from "showrooming", a practice in which the buyer visits a brick-and-mortar store to physically evaluate products only to buy them online at a better price. So it is no surprise that it is getting ready to open its maiden pop-up store, where prospective buyers will be able to pop in and "showroom" everything from ultrabooks to digital cameras. "Showrooming is a reality today, so this back-to-school season, we wanted to give our customers a chance to interact with some of our most popular products in person in a traditional in-store environment," said Soren Mills, chief marketing officer at Newegg, in a press release. The pop-up store will be operational for three days between August 16 and 18 in The Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks, California and will feature more than 70 products, including "Intel-inspired Ultrabooks, 4th generation Intel Core i7 laptops, Sony VAIO laptops, tablets, digital cameras and wireless speakers, Samsung tablets and solid-state drives, WD hard drives and personal cloud storage devices, and many more." In a bid to drive footfalls, the company will offer limited-time deals and promotions to all those who visit the pop-up store. For instance, the first 100 customers to visit the store on each day will receive one free gift each. "Newegg's pop-up store will be open on August 16-17 from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. PDT and on August 18 from 11a.m. – 7 p.m. PDT at 350 West Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360. All purchases made during the store event will be delivered via free next-day shipping by Newegg's regional shipping partner OnTrac," the company announced earlier this week. Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
