| Intel Rumored to Release Refreshed Haswell Processors in April Posted: 17 Feb 2014 12:14 PM PST  New Haswell processors may arrive a month ahead of schedule
It seems like we hear something new everyday by hanging around the CPU rumor mill. Once again, Intel is at the center of speculation, though instead of talking about delays, rumor has it the Santa Clara chip maker is planning to launch its refreshed Haswell line a month early. That means new Haswell processors could appear as early as next month (April) rather than May as originally planned. News and rumor site Digitimes says it was made aware of Intel's change of plans by do-it-yourself motherboard makers in Taiwan. If this turns out to be true, it would add a bit of credence to an earlier Digitimes report claiming Intel is delaying Broadwell until the fourth quarter so that Haswell has more time to sell. While that may be the case, some vendors are worried that refreshed Haswell processors will make it more difficult to clear out their existing Haswell inventories. It could get even more difficult in May when motherboard makers release mobos built around Intel's 9-series chipset, however the new chipset will support existing Haswell CPUs. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Forbes Falls Prey to Hacker Attack, 1 Million Email Addresses Compromised Posted: 17 Feb 2014 11:41 AM PST  Watch out for a spike in phishing attempts
There must not be anything to watch on cable, hence anyone can think of another reason why hackers are finding themselves so restless these days. In addition to Kickstarter suffering a security breach in recent days, Forbes acknowledged on Facebook that it was targeted in a digital attack in which its publishing platform was compromised, along with the email address of every single registered user. User passwords were also stolen, though they were encrypted. Even still, Forbes is "strongly" encouraging its readers to change their passwords once the sign-on option is made available again. Forbes is also warning readers to be on the lookout for emails that purport to come from the site, as hackers may try to use the list of email addresses in phishing attempts. "We have notified law enforcement. We take this matter very seriously and apologize to the members of our community for this breach," Forbes stated on its Facebook page. The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) is claiming credit for the security breach, saying on Twitter that Forbes "deserved to be embarrassed" because it "has been so unethical." SEA initially tried to sell the stolen data before claiming to have posted the information for free. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| AMD Radeon R9 290X is Still Hard to Find Posted: 17 Feb 2014 09:40 AM PST  Where have all the Radeon R9 290X graphics cards gone?
Back in December of last year, we noticed that AMD's Radeon R9 290X graphics card was hard to find, which we (and the rest of the web) ultimately surmised was due to the virtual coin mining craze. With the rapid rise in value of Bitcoins, miners who were late to the party started looking at Litecoin mining in hopes of making some easy money. Since AMD's cards do a better job at mining these virtual gold nuggets, the 290X became a hot commodity. Fast forward to today and the card is still in short supply, but is mining still to blame? Probably so, though that may not be the only reason the 290X is sold out in most locations. Fudzilla, which noticed the absence of stock in places like Newegg and TigerDirect, surmises that Mantle might also be a reason why these cards fly off of store shelves, even at inflated prices. AMD's Mantle API offers performance gains in Battlefield 4 and will do the same for other supported titles, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that gamers are willing to pay a premium for the 290X versus its MSRP. And obviously miners will shell out an extra $100 or so per card if they think they'll be able to dig up virtual coins for a quick profit. At present, the 290X is completely sold out on Newegg, where prices range from $700 to $800, well above the card's $549 MSRP. One of the few places you can find the card is on Amazon, but only through third-party sellers. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Kickstarter Apologizes for Security Breach, Advises Changing Your Password Posted: 17 Feb 2014 09:12 AM PST  Hackers stole customer data from Kickstarter's database
Kickstarter's rising popularity has apparently made it a target for hackers, some of which recently weaseled their way into the crowdfunding site's database and made off with some sensitive information. Some usernames, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and encrypted passwords were compromised in the data breach, though Kickstarter says no credit card data was accessed. Kickstarter also said that while actual passwords were not revealed, it would be possible for a malicious person with enough computing power to guess and crack an encrypted password, especially if it's a weak or obvious one. In an updated statement, Kickstarter acknowledged that older passwords were uniquely salted and digested with SHA-1 multiple times, while more recent passwords are hashed with bcrypt. "We're incredibly sorry that this happened. We set a very high bar for how we serve our community, and this incident is frustrating and upsetting," Kickstarter stated in a blog post. "We have since improved our security procedures and systems in numerous ways, and we will continue to do so in the weeks and months to come. We are working closely with law enforcement, and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this from happening again." Kickstarter has taken some heat for waiting until Saturday to alert people of the breach even though it was notified by law enforcement officials on Wednesday night. "We immediately closed the breach and notified everyone as soon as we had thoroughly investigated the situation," Kickstarter explained. Regardless, the damage is done and Kickstarter is advising its users to change their passwords, both for their Kickstarter accounts and anywhere else where they might use the same one. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Origin PC Dangles Free 240GB SSD, Assassin's Creed IV, and CoD in Front of Gaming Laptops Posted: 17 Feb 2014 08:41 AM PST  Get free stuff when you order an EON17-S or EON15-S notebook
Consider it a belated Valentine's Day gift, if you will, but starting today, boutique builder Origin PC is offering some free swag when you order an EON17-S or EON15-S gaming laptop. When you configure either laptop, be sure to check the "Jump into the Fast Lane" bullet point at the top of the page (under "Current Special Offers") and you'll receive at no extra charge a 240GB solid state drive, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and Call of Duty: Ghosts. That's a $360 value by Origin PC's math. Pricing starts at $1,490 for an EON15-S, which sports a 15-inch Full HD 1080p display, Intel Core i5 4330M dual-core processor, 4GB of DDR3-1333 memory, 240GB SSD (with the freebie promotion), Nvidia GeForce GTX 770M GPU, 8X DVD burner, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, media card reader, 2.0MP webcam, USB 3.0 ports, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, and a few other goodies. The system also comes with a t-shirt and a recovery USB 3.0 flash drive. For a bigger size laptop, the EON17-S starts at $1,581 and includes a 17.3-inch Full HD 1080p display with all the same hardware. Both systems are configurable. An additional $49, for example, doubles the amount of RAM to 8GB. You can also opt for Windows 8.1 64-bit instead of Windows 7 Home Premium for no additional charge. 
The promotion is available now on Origin PC's website. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit, ASRock Z77 Mobo, and More! Posted: 17 Feb 2014 06:42 AM PST |
| Microsoft Pushing Users To Adopt Windows 8 Over Windows 7 Posted: 16 Feb 2014 11:18 PM PST  Windows 7 support is being phased out
Microsoft has set a firm date of October 31st for final sale of consumer Windows 7 machines, but business machines are another story. The official website has been updated as such to reflect this, with Microsoft noting that October 31, 2014 is the new end-of-sale date for Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate PCs. Home Premium takes the cake when it comes to sales, but now Microsoft is pushing for Windows 8 to take over as reigning champ, per PC World. Last year, Microsoft gave the same date for the halting of sale of all Windows 7 PCs, but then redacted that same announcement. It's standard practice to give a year's notice before pulling the plug on support, and this is projected to be the case with business machines, but it's possible this will change over the course of the year. Are you still using Windows 7 or have you updated? What about any business computers at the office? |
