| Falcon Northwest Tiki Z Video Walkthrough Posted: 27 Aug 2014 02:24 PM PDT  Nvidia's Titan Z in a console-sized PC case
Small form factor PCs are sexy, especially when you've got sexy specs like Falcon Northwest's Tiki Z. In the video below, Gordon walks you through the Tiki Z's components which include Nvidia's Titan Z. That's right, you've essentially got two Titan Blacks crammed into a PC the size of a console. If that weren't enough, it also has a 600-watt PSU, 4TB HDD, 2 SSDs in RAID 0, an overclocked Devil's Canyon CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a Blu-ray burner. Did we mention that it looks beautiful and is custom-painted? The one drawback? This thing costs $7,500! Watch the video below for more details. |
| The Coolest Google Chrome Shortcuts You Never Knew About Posted: 27 Aug 2014 11:51 AM PDT 
Speed up your browsing experience with these nifty timesavers In a little over five years, Google Chrome has gobbled up roughly 43% of the browser market. Its popularity comes from a snappy user experience, convenient apps, and the plethora of short cuts it provides users. Currently, Chrome offers over 50 shortcuts to make browsing take less effort. We've rounded up 12 of the best Chrome shortcuts that you may not have heard about. Know of any other useful Chrome shortcuts? Let us know in comments below! |
| Google Brings 64-bit Chrome Browser to Stable Channel Posted: 27 Aug 2014 11:33 AM PDT  Goodbye beta, hello stable!
Following successful runs in Google's Dev, Beta, and Canary channels, the 64-bit version of Google's Chrome browser for Windows is now available as a stable release (Chrome 37). That means you can have all the benefits of the 64-bit version without the risks of instability that come from running pre-release software. According to Google, 64-bit Chrome offers a bunch of benefits for speed, stability, and security. "Our measurements have shown that the native 64-bit version of Chrome has improved speed on many of our graphics and media benchmarks. For example, the VP9 codec that's used in High Definition YouTube videos shows a 15 percent improvement in decoding performance," Google stated in a blog post. According to Google, the 64-bit rendering engines are nearly twice as stable as the 32-bit engines when handling typical web content. On top of that, security safeguards such as Partition Alloc are able to "far more effectively defend against vulnerabilities that rely on controlling the memory layout of objects." In other words, 64-bit Chrome is pretty much better than the 32-bit variant in every single way. Be that as it may, the 64-bit version will remain opt-in, Google said. You can download 64-bit Chrome here. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Microsoft's Working a Fix to Alleviate Surface Pro 3 Overheating Issue Posted: 27 Aug 2014 11:13 AM PDT  Some Surface Pro 3 tablets are prone to overheating
A limited number of Surface Pro 3 owners have been reporting issues with their tablets overheating, even when running light tasks or simple sitting at idle. In turn, this has led to the cooling fan ramping up to excessive noise levels. Microsoft is aware of the overheating issue and has promised Surface Pro 3 owners that a fix will be issued "as soon as possible." It's unclear if that means it will come on Patch Tuesday (September 9), before, or after. One user on Microsoft's discussion forum said he went through four Surface Pro 3 models, each with a Core i7 processor, and each one exhibited the overheating issue. According to his post, his Surface Pro 3 is the loudest thing in his office, even when running idle. At full bore, he says the fan noise becomes "ear-piercing" and the heat produced "immensely hot." In a statement to CNET, Microsoft said it's aware of a "very small number of Surface Pro 3 Intel Core i7 devices that are temporarily restarting and incorrectly showing a 'Thermometer Gauge' icon while attempting to boot up." The company said it has an update that will address the issue. At the same time, Microsoft was a bit standoffish about the complaints of excessive heat. "The i7 version of Surface Pro 3 is a first-of-its-kind tablet delivering i7 processing power in a thin and light package. As such, the increased power calls for the fan to spin more regularly and at higher speeds - and for the unit to run slightly warmer. If customers have any questions or concerns, they should contact Microsoft Support," Microsoft said. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Intel Notes Rise in Proportion of Pentium and Celeron Notebook CPUs Posted: 27 Aug 2014 10:01 AM PDT  Low cost laptops are on the rise
One thing Intel won't have any trouble doing in the coming months is moving low-cost laptop CPUs. That's because Microsoft and Intel are making concerted efforts with vendors to sell entry-level notebooks priced from around $200 to $250 in order to fend off the Chromebook push. As a result of this new focus, Intel is seeing a rise in the proportion of entry-level notebook CPUs, particularly its Pentium and Celeron chips. Citing information obtained from supply chain makers in Taiwan, Digitimes says that Intel's shipment proportion of entry-level CPUs has increased from around 50-60 percent in the first half of 2014 to as high as 70 percent currently. In other words, as many as 7 out of every 10 notebook CPUs Intel ships these days is a low-cost Pentium or Celeron part. In particular, Intel is seeing strong sales of its Celeron 2970M, N2930, and N2940 chips, along with Pentium 3558U, N3530, and N3540 parts. It's not just about the push for $200 to $250 laptops -- another reason is that demand for Ultrabooks, 2-in-1 devices, and touchscreen laptops has fallen below expectations. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| HP Recalls 6 Million Laptop Power Cords Due to Fire Hazard Posted: 27 Aug 2014 09:04 AM PDT  Affected AC power cords are prone to overheating
HP this week decided to err on the side of caution and issue a worldwide voluntary recall of around 6 million potentially faulty power cords for select HP and Compaq brand notebooks and mini notebooks. The recall also affects AC power cords provided with docking stations. All of the affected cords, whether bundled with a laptop or with a docking station, were sold from September 2012 through June 2012 for about $500 to $1,500. "HP believes that certain power cords shipped with notebook PC products and AC adapter accessories may pose a risk of fire and burn hazard to customers. We are taking this action as part of our commitment to provide the highest quality of service to our notebook customers," HP said. The recall involves HP's LS-15 AC power cords, though not all power cords with the LS-15 marking are faulty. You can check to see if yours is one of them using HP's online tool. If it is, HP says to stop using it immediately while it sends you a replacement at no cost. 
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there have been 29 reports of power cords overheating and melting or charring, which resulted in two claims of minor burns and 13 claims of minor property damage. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Intel Core i5 4690 Haswell, Crucial MX100 512GB SSD, and More! Posted: 27 Aug 2014 08:32 AM PDT |
| Dropbox Keeps It Simple, Consolidates Pro Plans to a Single $10 Per Month Tier Posted: 27 Aug 2014 08:18 AM PDT  Get 1TB of cloud storage for $10 per month
Dropbox helped popularize the concept of cloud storage, and in effort to remain relevant (and competitive), it's now offering users more storage for less money, and simplifying things to boot. Instead of offering users a choice of 100GB, 200GB, and 500GB of storage priced at $10, $20, and $50 per month, respectively, Dropbox is now touting a single Pro plan with 1TB of storage for $10 per month or $99 per year. That's twice as much storage as the previous top tier plan for half the price, or ten times the storage of the cheapest plan for the same price. However you want to slice it, Dropbox is offering more storage for less money, and is likely to attract a wider audience as a result. In addition to beefing up storage and consolidating its plans into a single offering, Dropbox added some features to its service, such as new sharing controls. You can now issue passwords for shared links, set expirations for shared links, and issue view-only permissions for shared folders. There's also a new remote wipe feature that lets you delete your Dropbox files from a lost or stolen device while keeping them backed up in Dropbox. Current Dropbox Pro users will update to the new plan automatically in the next couple of days. Otherwise, you can sign up at Dropbox's website. Other available plans include Basic (Free, 2GB of storage) and Business ($15 per user). Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
