| No BS Podcast #183: The Magnificent Marsupials of Austria Posted: 16 Mar 2012 11:08 AM PDT 
Don't call it a dewback! Join Gordon, Nathan, and Maximum PC Art Director Richard Koscher for Episode 183, 183a, or possibly 184 of the No BS Podcast! In this episode: Windows 8! We discuss the Metro interface on the desktop, on tablets, in the phone, and even on the Xbox dashboard. We see what Microsoft is trying to do, but will it work? There's also some talk about the iPad 3, making movies, jumping out of planes with Sony-brand cameras, and Austrian hockey. Which is a thing. Also, we chat about the Steam Box, Kickstarter, the problem with Android tablets, and creativity. Later, Gordon rants about things, and reveals that he's racist against Wookiees. Next episode goes up April 6th! Thanks for stickin' with us! Computer trouble? A secret to share? Opinions? Need advice? Just need to get something off your chest? Email us at maximumpcpodcast@gmail.com or call our 24-hour No BS Podcast hotline at 877.404.1337 x1337--operators are not standing by. |
| Raidmax Unveils New Gundam-Themed Agusta Gaming Chasis Posted: 16 Mar 2012 10:57 AM PDT  If you're a Gundam fan from back in the early '80s Mobile Suit days or more of a newcomer who jumped onto the SEED bandwagon, you'll get a kick out of the new Gundam-themed Agusta case Raidmax showed off yesterday. Not the cartoony type? That's okay -- the ATX and MicroATX-compatible case still looks pretty cool even if you have no concept of the lore behind the Augusta Newtype Lab.
The front of the Agusta sports five tool-less 5.25-inch drive bays with pop-off panels, all of which are covered by the case's "Gundam themed armor-shield," which opens outward like a door. Illuminated fans in front and on top (there are 7 fans total) add to the sci-fi appeal, while you'll find six additional 3.5/2.5-inch bays underneath the main 5.25-inch slots. The panel on the front of the chassis sport USB 3.0, USB 2.0, audio and microphone connections along with fan speed and LED controls. The case clocks in at 21.85x9.21x23.90-inches and 17.7 lbs. 
Raidmax's Gundam Agusta chassis is slated to launch in May for $120. Check out more details on Raidmax's website. |
| MSI, Gigabyte And HIS Introduce Seven New AMD Radeon 7000 Cards Posted: 16 Mar 2012 10:26 AM PDT Another day, another pair of new AMD Radeon HD graphics cards. Didn't we just say that yesterday? In another fine example of how quickly things move in today's age, several companies unleashed a smorgasbord of new AMD Radeon cards today and made our previous statements obsolete. How many cards constitute a smorgasbord? Seven, by our count, and the good news is that most of the new releases are higher-end models. 
Leading the charge is the MSI R7970 Lightning, a new flagship model equipped with MSI's Twin Frozr IV cooling/dust removal tech and Class III military-grade components. The 230W card comes clocked at 1070MHz with 3GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 5.6GHz. MSI tossed in all kinds of tech that it claims makes the card quieter and friendlier to overclocking than ever before. Check out more about it here. 
Gigabyte rolled out a pair of new 7800 cards, meanwhile: the GV-R787OC-2GD and GV-R785OC-2GD. Both are overclocked (to 1.1GHz and 975MHz, respectively) and sport different fan designs from the reference 7800 models. Gigabyte's 7870 card rocks a triple fan Windforce 3x setup with a pair of 8mm heat pipes and something called "Triangle Cool Technology." The 7850, on the other hand, rocks a pair of fans and a pair of heat pipes. Read more details here. 
TechPowerUp is reporting that HIS has launched no less than four new Radeon 7900 cards; a pair of 7970s and a pair of 7950s. The 7950s use HIS' IceQ iTurbo cooling system, while the 7970s use the IceQ X² cooling solution. The HIS HD 7970 IceQ X² and HIS HD 7950 IceQ both use stock speeds, while the HIS HD IceQ X² Turbo and HIS HD 7950 IceQ Turbo provide bumps to core/memory and core speeds, respectively. TechPowerUp has more details about the cooling systems for both the 7970 models and the 7950 models. HIS card image credit: TechPowerUp.com |
| This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Posted: 16 Mar 2012 09:44 AM PDT 
As well as the new iPad review, we've also got a whole host of other reviews awaiting your perusal on TechRadar. We've checked out several new Intel Ultrabooks including Dell's XPS 13 and the Samsung Series 5 as well as the thin-and-light but officially not an Ultrabook Samsung Series 9. And then there's the Panasonic DMP-BDT220 Blu-ray player among plenty of other cool kit. Check out the full list below. Dell XPS 13 review There's only so cheap you can go with a thin and light chassis, Intel Core i7 under the hood, 4GB of memory and a 128/256GB SSD. Dell hasn't managed to make the XPS 13 as cheap as some competing Ultrabooks but this shouldn't be a message of doom and gloom - we think Dell will manage to bring prices down. And despite the price, we think the XPS 13 is the most desirable Ultrabook we've yet seen. And, because of its corporate-friendly features we think it'll become a fixture in many boardrooms. But it's far from being just good for business. It's an excellent choice for anyone wanting a highly powered, highly portable machine. We've just found our next PC. How about you? New iPad review We think Apple's new iPad is magnificent. It's definitely the best iPad ever, with a brilliant new pin-sharp Retina display and more powerful graphics the stand-out new features. A consequence of these upgrades is that it's slightly thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, but if you want one of those, Apple is leaving the 16GB Wi-Fi model on the market. Let's face it, though, you don't want one of those. You want one of the new ones, especially as the new iPad is only a little more expensive and offers a visual experience you have to see to believe. Apple's MO is evolution rather than revolution, so owners of older models need not worry - there's plenty of life in them yet. But for anyone else looking for a new play thing, this is it. Philips Fidelio L1 review Designed for use in the home as well as on the move, Philips is hoping the new Fidelio L1s will strike a chord with that rare beast: the iPod owner who really cares about sound quality. A lot of the music we put through the L1 cans sounded absolutely stunning. Acoustic tracks sound first class across the board. The A-minor twang of a guitar, the snap of a snare drum, the wail of a Roger Waters – it's all as sonically pure as any other headphones we've tested in recent times. But for as many tracks as we could find that made the L1s sound like the best headphones in the world, there were as many that brought them back down into the realms of normality due to a lack of punch at the low-end. Samsung Series 9 review The Samsung Series 9 900X3B is a fantastic-looking laptop that doesn't sacrifice usability like many ultra-portable laptops. Yes, there's a lack of power here, battery life is uninspiring and the price is colossal. Those things usually equate to a bad review, but the Series 9 commands a certain respect. The engineering and vision that's gone into making something beautiful and unique goes beyond benchmark scores and gripes over price. We made excuses for the original Apple MacBook Air, which wasn't usable as a main machine. Panasonic DMP-BDT220 review While the DBP-BDT220 has a seductively low price, it's by no means a budget proposition. Panasonic has produced a high-performance Blu-ray player that doesn't disgrace itself when partnered with equipment from higher up the food chain. Other reviews Blu-ray players Panasonic DMP-BDT220 review Cameras Hands on: Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN lens review Hands on: Nikon D4 review review CCTV D-Link Home Network Camera DCS-942L review Compact cameras Canon IXUS 125 HS review Hybrids Fuji X-Pro1 review Laptops Samsung Series 5 Ultra review Printers HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275 review Speakers Fidelio SoundRing DS3800W review Storage Seagate GoFlex Desk 4TB review Televisions Samsung UE55ES8000 review TV accessories Datacolor Spyder4 Express review |
| Hackers Publish Exploit Code for 'Wormable' RDP Hole; MAPP Leak Suspected Posted: 16 Mar 2012 08:13 AM PDT  On Tuesday, Microsoft issued a patch to plug a critical hole in Windows' Remote Desktop Protocol. Fearing the possibility of an exploit being developed in the "next 30 days," the company "strongly" advised the immediate deployment of this patch in a blog post detailing the said RDP vulnerability (CVE-2012-0002). Well, it seems that Microsoft was right about the vulnerability being highly attractive to hackers.
Chinese hackers are said to have already published proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code for the RDP hole. But there seems to be something even more troubling here than the exploit code itself. It's feared that the hackers who published the code on a Chinese language forum might have had access to data from MAPP ( Microsoft Active Protections Program), which provides vulnerability information to security software partners prior to Microsoft's monthly installment of security updates "so partners can build enhanced customer protections." Luigi Auriemma, the security researcher who first discovered the vulnerability, has alleged that the Chinese PoC is the "exact one" he provided to TippingPoint ZDI (Zero Day Initiative). He suspects a leak at either ZDI or Microsoft. "The packet I gave to ZDI wasn't just a simple fuzzed packet. I modified at some points to make it unique," Auriemma told ZDNet in an interview. If it's indeed a MAPP leak than Microsoft has a huge problem on its hands. This is what Microsoft's site says about MAPP: "You will receive advance vulnerability information for those vulnerabilities to be addressed in Microsoft's regularly scheduled monthly security update releases. This information package will provide documents that outline our information on the vulnerability. These documents outline the steps used to reproduce the vulnerability as well as the steps used to detect the issue." "At times, Microsoft might also provide a proof-of-concept or repro tool that further illuminates the issue and helps with additional protection enhancement. Providing this information enables software security providers to provide timely and enhanced protections for our mutual customers." In a less sinister development, Gun.io (pronounced gun-yo), a platform allowing independent and open source developers to hire each other, has announced a cash reward for anyone who comes up with "a working exploit for CVE-2012-0002 (the new RDP hole) as a Metasploit module." Interestingly, it's not a fixed reward but sort of a crowd-funded bounty where anyone can add to the overall amount as long as they reside in the States. However, the amount currently on offer is still fairly modest at a shade under $1,500. In an email interview with Kerbs on Security, Gun.io's 23-year-old founder Rich Jones revealed that this is the first time in the six-month-old site's history that there's a bounty for a software exploit. He also revealed that most of the money for this particular project has been pledged by Metasploit creator HD Moore, who currently functions as the CSO of vulnerability management company Rapid 7. |
| No New Xbox Announcement at E3, Microsoft Says Posted: 16 Mar 2012 07:40 AM PDT  After months of speculation, leaked reports, rumors, and anticipation that Microsoft might announce a new Xbox console at E3, the powers that be saw fit to temporarily depart from its longstanding policy of staying tight-lipped when it comes to unannounced products to put the kibosh on hopes we'd get our first glimpse of the Xbox 720, or the 'new Xbox,' to borrow a page from Apple.
"While we appreciate all the interest in our long-range plans for the future, we can confirm that there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email making the rounds. "For us, 2012 is all about Xbox 360-and it's the best year ever for Xbox 360." One of the more recent rumors related to Microsoft's next generation console was that it would skip an optical drive altogether in favor of built-in storage and a media card slot, a controversial decision that may or may not be on the table. Either way, we won't find out at E3, and it will be at least 2013 before we see another console from Microsoft. "The [Xbox 360] is coming off its biggest year ever-a year in which Xbox outsold all other consoles worldwide," Microsoft continued. "Xbox 360 didn't just outsell other consoles, it also outsold all other TV-connected devices like DVD players, as well as digital media receivers and home theater systems. And in our seventh year, we sold more consoles than in any other year-defying convention." Are you bummed that there won't be a new Xbox announcement at E3, or are you content with your current hardware? |
| Amazon Appstore for Android Celebrates First Birthday with a Week of Discounts Posted: 16 Mar 2012 07:05 AM PDT  App stores grow up quick, don't they? Amazon's Appstore for Android launched a year ago on March 22, 2011, and in the seven days leading up to its first birthday, popular paid apps will be sold at deep discounts, starting with Plants vs. Zombies, an addicting tower defense game everyone has either already played or at least heard of. If you fall into the latter category, now is your chance to see what all the fuss is about, as it's available for $0.99, 67 percent below it's normal selling price of $2.99.
Other discounts will follow and will include titles such as Fruit Ninja, Wolfram Alpha, Splashtop Remote Desktop, Dr. Seuss's The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, TuneIn Radio Pro, Tetris, Pac-Man, The Lost City, Monopoly, AccuWeather Platinum, Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals, and more. Tomorrow Amazon will announce two app deals, on day three it will announce three app deals, and so on. "Customers have used the Amazon Appstore to test drive and buy millions of apps and games for their Kindle Fire and other Android devices in the first year alone," said Aaron Rubenson, director of Amazon Appstore for Android. "To thank customers for shopping with us, we worked closely with our developers to offer special discounts on some of the most popular apps all week long." Amazon's Appstore for Android now has over 31,000 apps, fairly modest compared to Google Play and Apple's App Store, but it's growing fast. At launch, there were only 4,000 apps, which means Amazon has grown its Appstore eight-fold in the past 12 months. In case you're wondering, Cut the Rope ranks as Amazon's top paid app over the the past year, and Angry Birds Free tops the list of free apps. Birthday Hat Image Courtesy of DailyClipArt.net |
| Elder Scroll News: Skyrim 1.5 Patch Emphasizes Kill Shots; MMO Coming in May Posted: 16 Mar 2012 06:20 AM PDT  By now you've have had plenty of time to log significant hours into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and may have even finished the main quest, but you've probably only scratched the surface of all there is to do. In case you were starting to lose motivation, Bethesda is working on a patch that, among other things, makes it much more satisfying to kill enemies.
Our sister site PC Gamer is hosting a trailer for the new patch and has the full skinny on what new features it brings to the table, including new cinematic kill cameras for projectile weapons and spells, and new kill moves and animations for melee weapons. There's also a whole bunch of bug fixes. In other Skyrim news, Tom's Guide claims ZeniMax Online Studios and Bethesda are working an Elder Scrolls MMO. Elder Scrolls Online will debut in May of next year and take place a full millennium before Skyrim, most likely during the 'Second Era,' which is hundreds of years before any of the Elder Scrolls games. Tom's Guide says you'll be able to choose one of three playable factions, each represented by a different animal. They include a lion, a dragon, and a bird of prey. |
| New iPad Launches, Lands on iFixIt's Operating Table Posted: 16 Mar 2012 05:56 AM PDT  It doesn't matter if you've been living under a rock or have taken refuge in a cave far removed from civilization, chances are you probably still knew today is the day Apple's new iPad goes on sale. Love or hate all things Apple, the Cupertino company is a master at marketing and creating frenzied product launches. But we're not here to stroke Apple's marketing genius, we want to give you a heads up that iFixIt has torn into the new iPad, laying bare all of the internal components.
Externally, the new iPad looks nearly identical to the iPad 2, albeit it's slightly thicker and heavier. The big change is the Retina Display with its 2048x1536 screen resolution, which works out to over 3 million pixels. An A5X processor with a quad-core graphics engine pushes all those pixels and is supposedly four times faster than Nvidia's Tegra 3 chip. There's also an upgraded 5MP rear-facing camera, and of course the much ballyhooed 4G LTE support that's now baked into the new iPad. As for tearing it down and doing your own in-home repairs, the device earned a miserable 2/10 'Repairability Score' from iFixIt teardown analysis. "Just like its predecessor, the new iPad is very difficult to disassemble," iFixIt notes in its teardown worklog. "Adhesive secures the glass to the case, making common repairs and battery replacement difficult." iFixIt also noted "gobs, gobs, and gobs of adhesive" through the entire design and said that foam sticky tape adhering the LCD ups the odds that you'll crack or shatter the screen when taking it apart. Not surprising for an Apple device, which are notoriously hard to work on, and iFixIt has found it so frustrating to service iPad devices that it decided to retroactively downgrade the iPad 2's Repairability Score to 2/10 as well, a first in iFixIt history. You can follow the teardown here. |
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