| Asus Announces Semi Passive Strix GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC Graphics Card Posted: 16 Jul 2014 10:33 AM PDT  Work in peace and quiet before jumping into a game
Asus today unveiled its new Strix GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC graphics card, and the first time you install it, you might be inclined to think something's wrong when the fans don't start spinning. Don't fret though, that's by design. Using the company's semi-passive Strix technology, the card's fans will sit there motionless and let the rest of the cooler passively chill the card until thermals reach 65C. That means you can work all day long in silence -- unless your case cooling is atrocious, you're unlikely to reach 65C on the GPU by just typing out TPS reports and surfing the web. Once you fire up a demanding game, however, things are likely to heat up in a hurry, and when they do, the fans will kick on to prevent the card from cooking itself. For games like Counter Strike, if you're playing at 1920x1080, Asus says temps will probably hover around 50C, thus allowing the card to run silent. According to Asus, its cooling solution keeps the card up to 58 percent chillier than a reference cooler and is three times quieter. Using the company's DirectCU II cooling technology, 6mm copper cooling pipes come in direct contact with the GPU for superior heat dissipation. The heatsink area is also 190 percent larger than reference Other specs include a 1,124Mhz base clockspeed, 1,202 boost clockspeed, and 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 5,400MHz (effective) on a 128-bit bus. The Strix GTX 750 Ti OC will be available by the end of July. No word yet on price. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| BlackBerry Jumps on the Virtual Assistant Bandwagon Posted: 16 Jul 2014 10:13 AM PDT  Cortana, Siri, Google Now, meet BlackBerry Assistant
Starting soon, pretty much any smartphone you buy will come with a virtual helper. Microsoft's Windows Phone platform has Cortana, Apple's iOS software has Siri, Google's Android OS has Google Now, and beginning with BlackBerry 10.3, BlackBerry users will have BlackBerry Assistant to boss around and ask for help. BlackBerry Assistant is the Canadian handset maker's equivalent to all the others, and it will act similarly. BlackBerry's Social Media Marking Lead, Donny Halliwell, says BlackBerry Assistant will be voice activated when you need it to be. He also said that it will learn and adapt to your queries the more you interact with it. "If you've had experience with other smartphone-based personal assistants, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how accurate BlackBerry Assistant is at recognizing your requests," Halliwell stated in a blog post announcing the feature update. BlackBerry Assistant will perform most things you'd expect it to, like set reminders, look up information online, read back emails, and so forth. It probably won't be enough to get BlackBerry where it wants to go in the mobile space, but it does address what's become a glaring omission among the various available platforms. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Palit Releases Passively Cooled KalmX Series Graphics Cards Posted: 16 Jul 2014 09:45 AM PDT  Pursuing a noise-free gaming experience
Palit isn't a name you see bounced around too often in the U.S., though if you dig around online, you can find the company's products scattered about. Two of Palit's newest offerings fall under its new KalmX Series of silent graphics cards -- GeForce GTX 750 and GeForce GTX 750 Ti. Both of these Maxwell cards sport Palit's new passive cooler for a 0dB solution (provided there's no electrical noise). The KalmX cooler consists of two nickel plated heat pipes that snake through a "vast volume" of nickel plated fins to keep the GPU and RAM from overheating. There's also a copper base. No external power is required for either card, which is really a testament to Nivida's Maxwell architecture than anything else. The 750 KalmX and 750 Ti KalmX are almost identically spec'd with base and boost clockspeeds of 1,020MHz and 1,185MHz, respectively. However, the 750 features a memory clocksspeed of 2,505 MHz to achieve memory bandwidth of 80.16GB/s, while the 750 Ti's memory runs at 2,750MHz for 88GB/s of bandwidth. There's also a slight difference in TDP -- 60W (750 Ti) versus 55W (750). Palit didn't say when these cards will be available to purchase or for how much. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Intel's Strong Revenue Forecast Sends Stock Price Soaring to 10-Year High Posted: 16 Jul 2014 09:21 AM PDT  The sky isn't falling, after all
Analysts can talk about the post PC era until they're blue in the face, Intel will continue to cash checks either way. Big ones, at that. Intel reported second-quarter revenue of $13.8 billion, up 8 percent for $12.8 billion in the same quarter a year ago. That translates into a $2.8 billion profit for the quarter, which is 40 percent higher than the $2 billion profit it recorded in Q2 2013. "Our second-quarter results showed the strength of our strategy to extend the reach of Intel technology from the data center to PCs to the Internet of Things," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. "With the ramp of our Baytrail SoC family, we have expanded into new segments such as Chrome-based systems, and we are on track to meet our 40 million unit tablet goal. In addition, we hit an important qualification milestone for our upcoming 14nm Broadwell product, and expect the first systems to be on shelves during the holidays." Intel may have been slow to recognize the consumer shift into mobile, but has since been able to gain a strong foothold in the segment. Still, the PC market has been kind to Intel -- the company's PC Client Group recorded revenue of $8.7 billion in Q2, up 9 percent sequentially and 6 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, it's Mobile and Communications Group actually saw its revenue fall 67 percent sequentially to $51 million. Looking ahead, Intel is forecasting $14.4 billion in revenue for Q3 and growth of approximately 5 percent for the full year. Investors reacted positively to the quarterly results and revenue forecast -- Intel's stock price is up 7 percent today at $33.93, which is higher than it's been for the past decade. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| LeapFrog's LeapTV Console Will Get Your Kids Moving to Educational Content Posted: 16 Jul 2014 08:40 AM PDT  An active gaming console for little kids
LeapFrog, the company behind the popular LeapPad for kids, once again has the little ones in mind with its new LeapTV console. Billed as the first educational, active video gaming system, LeapTV was designed from the ground up for kids ages three to eight years old. LeapFrog's grand vision is to change the way kids learn by combining activity and movement with educational curriculum. LeapTV comes with a specially designed game controller that's been molded for small hands and is suitable for limited dexterity. Classic game play is possible in its regular configuration, but with the press of a button, it transforms into a motion controller and LED pointer. There's also a motion controlling camera that puts kids in the game. "It is shocking that less than one percent of the tens of thousands of video game titles are rated appropriate for children under the age of six years. We know that young children want to experience new ways to play through technology earlier than ever, but parents quickly discover that there are very few solutions that are developmentally appropriate or educational for young children," said Dr. Jody Sherman LeVos, director of LeapFrog's Learning Team. "At LeapFrog, we built LeapTV from the ground up to make it the best first video gaming experience for children. From the simple user interface to the innovative controller with a built-in 'hint' button and a world-class Learning Library all designed or approved by our Learning experts, LeapTV gets children's minds and bodies moving while engaging in learning fun." LeapTV offers up access to over 100 game cartridges, game downloads, and videos designed by LeapFrog's team of gaming and learning experts. The console itself has 16GB of built-in memory and Wi-Fi connectivity. LeapFrong says its LeapTV system will be available this holiday shopping season for $150 MSRP; game cartridges will run $30 MSRP. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming Motherboard, Intel Core i5 3470 CPU, and More! Posted: 16 Jul 2014 06:35 AM PDT |
