| AMD President and CEO Rory Read Steps Down, Dr. Lisa Su Replaces Him Posted: 08 Oct 2014 06:46 PM PDT 
A highly qualified replacement steps up to the plate In an unexpected turn of events, AMD's president and CEO Rory Read has stepped down with Dr. Lisa Su replacing him. The company released a press release stating that Read, as part of the AMD's transition plan, will maintain an advisory role with the company till the end of 2014 to help Dr. Su in her new role as president and CEO. "I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to lead AMD during this important time of transformation, said AMD's new president and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. "Our world-class technology assets combined with the incredible talent and passion of the AMD team provide us with a unique opportunity to shape the future of computing. I look forward to expanding on the strong foundation we have built under Rory's leadership as we develop industry-leading technologies and products for a diverse set of markets to drive sustainable and profitable growth." According to AMD chairman of the board of directors Bruce Claflin, the transition of leadership was planned as a joint effort between Read and the board. Claflin went on to say that Dr. Su's "expertise and proven leadership" makes her the ideal person to lead the GPU manufacturer and thanked Read for his accomplishments and contributions to the company. Over the last three years under Read's leadership, AMD was able to return to non-GAAP profitability, reduce operating expenditures by 30 percent since 2012, and maintain a cash reserve of around $1 billion. Dr. Su has only been with AMD since 2012 where her current position, prior to the promotion, was chief operating officer. Before that, she worked at Freescale Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, and IBM. She has a doctorate degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has published 40 technical articles. What do you think about Read's departure and Dr. Lisa Su replacing him? Is this a good move by AMD? Sound off in the comments below! Follow Sean on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Enermax Thormax GT Full Tower Case Swallows E-ATX Motherboards Posted: 08 Oct 2014 01:57 PM PDT  Giant sized armor for big and burly system builds
Planning a massive system build loaded to the gills with large components and high end parts? You'll need a case that's capable of housing all those parts, and if you're in the market for one, Enermax hopes you'll check out its new Thormax GT full tower enclosure. The Thormax GT is large and in charge with support for E-ATX motherboards, graphics cards up to 490mm in length, and 240mm and 360mm depth liquid coolers. You can fit up to four dual-slot graphics cards inside the Thormax GT, two of which can be up to 490mm in length as previously mentioned; the other two must be 360mm or less and requires removing the HDD cage. The case also houses various drive spaces -- four 5.25-inch bays with screwless latch designs, five 2.5-inch/3.5-inch HDD trays, and an additional 2.5-inch drive behind the motherboard tray. Enermax says the design of the Thromax GT allows the installation of two extended length liquid coolers with 60mm high clearance. You can install a 360mm liquid cooler under the roof and a 240mm at the bottom. It also comes pre-installed with dual 18cm Enermax Vegas blue LED fans with an additional six 12/14cm fan slots for more airflow. The top I/O panel is one of the more robust out there. It has two USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, 4-level fan RPM controller with LED speed indicators, headphone and microphone ports, and of course power and reset buttons. Other features include 360-degree rotatable feet, a sturdy handle for carrying the case, and a foldable and movable magnetic headset holder. No word yet on how much the Thormax GT costs or when it will be available. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Unboxing (Video) Posted: 08 Oct 2014 12:26 PM PDT Check out Zotac's extremely fancy GeForce GTX 970 Tom's back again with another video, since being on camera he has become drunk with power. This time, he's showing off Zotac's shiny AMP! Extreme Editon of the GTX 970, with boosted clock speeds, big cooling, and even a carbon fiber-esque backplate. This card uses Nvidia's new "Maxwell" architecture, which improves power efficiency and performance, in addition to adding features like Voxel Global Illumination and Multi-Frame Sampled Anti-Aliasing. You can read all about that in our review of the GTX 980, which is the 970's big brother (as its numbering probably indicated). 
The AMP! Extreme Edition is very fancy and cost $410 (up from the GTX 970's normal $330 asking-price) . Zotac isn't generally known for high-perfomance variants. MSI has "Lightning," ASUS has "Republic of Gamers," and Sapphire has "Vapor-X," to name a few. After checking out this card, we wonder if Zotac will get an enthusiast spotlight of its own. Check out our video for the details on this guy. . |
| HTC Delays Smartwatch Launch, Seeks Purpose in Wrist Wearables Category Posted: 08 Oct 2014 08:57 AM PDT  "There's not a strong reason to wear one every day." - HTC on smartwatches
Handset maker HTC will launch at least one new product later today during a planned press event, but whatever the company has on tap, it won't include a smartwatch. After originally planning a wearable device in this time frame, HTC's smartwatch "ended up just not being ready," the company said. That doesn't mean HTC is suddenly disinterested in smartwatches, but it does want to make sure that when it enters the category, it will be a worthwhile experience. "We've seen a lot of general purpose wearables come to market," HTC America's boss Jason Mackenzie told Recode. "There's not a strong reason to wear one every day. When we come to market with our product we want to make sure the product has a strong point of view and there is a really compelling reason to strap it to on your wrist." Ironically enough, the emergence of mobile phones and in particular smartphones helped to diminish the prevalence of wrist watches, as people can simply whip out their handsets if they want to know the time. Within the last year or so, smartphone makers have turned their attention to smartwatches in hopes that synching capabilities and other technologies might revive the wrist watch category. Should HTC come out with a smartwatch, there's a good chance it will be based on Google's Android Wear platform, which is a special version of Android designed specifically for wearables. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Breakup Rumor: Symantec May Be Next Company to Split into Two Posted: 08 Oct 2014 08:35 AM PDT  Breaking up is the trendy thing to do in tech
We don't know if it's something in the Starbucks lattes in Silicon Valley or what, but all of a sudden companies are either announcing breakups or exploring whether or not to spin-off a division. Auction site eBay recently announced that it plans to give Paypal a set of wings and let it fly solo, and then Hewlett-Packard decided that it too was ready for a split (between its PC and printer businesses). Now there's talk that Symantec is considering a breakup as well. According to a Bloomberg report, the Mountain View firm is in "advanced talks" to separate its security and data storage business into individual companies. While Symantec has no comment on the matter, an announcement could be just weeks away. Symantec is looking for a spark after seeing its revenue drop during its last fiscal year, and the projections for this year don't look any better. The disappointing numbers cost Symantec's former CEO Steve Bennett his job this part March, who was the second chief to be shown the door in the past two years. Last month, Symantec appointed Michael Brown as its interim CEO, and it's said that he's in favor of a breakup. Should a split occur, it could be just the first step of more changes to come. As separate entities, Symantec's security and data storage businesses could each become attractive acquisition opportunities for the right buyer. Image Credit: Flickr (Kazuhisa OTSUBO) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Twitter Sues U.S. Justice Department Over Transparency Rules Posted: 08 Oct 2014 08:01 AM PDT  Twitter wants permission to publish its full transparency report
Under the current rules set forth by the U.S. government, Twitter is prohibited from reporting on the scope of surveillance of its users. That includes revealing how many national security letters and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court orders the microblogging service has received, regardless of whether the number is zero or much higher. In seeking to lift such restrictions, Twitter filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department with the U.S. District Court of Northern California. Twitter wants the restrictions on its ability to speak about government surveillance to be deemed unconstitutional under the First Amendment so that it can proceed to publish its full transparency report. "We've tried to achieve the level of transparency our users deserve without litigation, but to no avail. In April, we provided a draft Transparency Report addendum to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a report which we hoped would provide meaningful transparency for our users. After many months of discussions, we were unable to convince them to allow us to publish even a redacted version of the report," Twitter stated in a blog post. In the lawsuit (PDF), Twitter points to agreements reached by other Internet companies such as Google and Microsoft that allows them to disclose the number of orders they received, however they can only be shared in broad ranges. Image Credit: Flickr (Howard Lake) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Neutron Mini PC Fits in Your Palm, Sports Haswell Hardware Inside Posted: 08 Oct 2014 05:27 AM PDT  A toddler sized PC with big boy aspirations
A longtime reader of Maximum PC discovered his passion for building computers from reading our magazine, and now several years later, he's on Kickstarter trying to raise funds for Neutron. What is Neutron, exactly? Neutron is a NUC-like mini PC that's designed to offer the same performance as found in desktop towers, but in a form factor that can literally fit in the palm of your hand. Should Ariane Nazemi and his company Atom Computer raise the desired funds ($30,000), there will be two versions of Neutron -- the standard model and a Pro SKU. The regular Neutron will come with a Haswell-based Intel Core i3 processor, Intel HD 4400 Graphics, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 256GB mSATA SSD, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, four USB 3.0 ports, LAN port, mini HDMI and mini Displayport output, Intel HD audio, IR receiver, and Windows 8.1 The Neutron Pro sports a similar configuration, but with an Intel Core i5 processor (also based on Haswell), Intel Iris 5000 Graphics, and twice the amount of RAM (16GB DDR3) and storage (480GB mSATA SSD). We're a little more intrigued with the Pro version due to the beefier onboard graphics and higher end configuration, though neither one is going to replace a dedicated gaming desktop. However, based on the spec sheets, either system looks capable of being a daily driver, even for some content creation chores like Photoshop. In addition to what's on the inside, part of Neutron's appeal is its external design. Neutron's chassis is made of transparent acrylic in a variety of neon color options. To learn more, check out Neutron's Kickstarter page. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Intel Core i7 5930K Haswell-E, Asus GTX 750 Ti Graphics Card, and More! Posted: 08 Oct 2014 04:51 AM PDT |
