Tech News

• Rovio Entertainment acquires Futuremark Games Studio

  Published: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | By: Dennis

  Here is some interesting news from the Futuremark company.

  March 27, 2012 -- Espoo, Finland -- Rovio Entertainment, creator of the global phenomenon Angry Birds, announced today the acquisition of Futuremark Games Studio, the gaming arm of benchmarking software developer Futuremark.
  
  “They are an incredibly talented and experienced team, and we are thrilled to have them on board,” said Mikael Hed, Rovio Entertainment’s CEO. “Rovio’s success is founded on the excellence of our team, and Futuremark Games Studio is going to be a superb addition.”  Source: Rovio Entertainment
  

   Read the full press release on the Rovio Entertainment website.

  In an email from Futuremark the  CEO, Jukka Mäkinen, claims that only the game studio was purchased and that all of the benchmark IP will remain with Futuremark. 

  He also goes on to say:

  Here at Futuremark, we will renew our focus on creating great benchmarks and performance measurement software for gamers, home users, small businesses and the IT industry. This year will see a new version of 3DMark that, for the first time, will allow a direct comparison of gaming performance across operating systems and form factors, as well as a new version of PCMark for Windows 8. Source: Futuremark
  

  This is some really exciting news which allows a budding game development firm the ability to expand their horizons and develop that next big game title.

  Full ArticleVisit Website

• Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E @ HW-Journal.de

  Published: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | By: Dennis

  I have been looking all over for this heatsink and here it shows up in Germany of all places.  This is a dual tower heatsink that is often compared with the Noctua NH-D14 that we reviewed.

  

  "Das nicht nur Noctua gute Lüfter und Kühler bauen kann, dass bewiesen schon allzu oft andere Hersteller mit ihren Kreationen. Dazu zählt das aus England stammende Urgestein Thermalright, welches schon den einen oder anderen Verkaufsschlager hervorbringen konnte. Mit dem Silver Arrow wurde bereits vor einiger Zeit das aktuelle Spitzenmodell aus dem Hause Thermalright präsentiert. Jenen selben hat der Hersteller als Sandy Bridge-E Edition, kurz „SB-E“ neu aufgelegt."

  Seems like a postive quote describing the hardware, I really have no idea though

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• NL: Review Block - Cases and Coolers 3/27/2012

  Published: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 | By: Dennis

  Here is another episode of Cases and Coolers from the hardware inbox.  Some hardware guys discredit Cases and Coolers as important when in fact they are the easiest bits of gear you can change that make the biggest difference.

  Of course some would argue that video cards are the best bang for your buck which might be true if you have excess money to spend on hardware, in which case you wouldn't be having this discussion.

  Coolers
  - Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler Review @ HCW
  - OC3D: Bequiet Shadow Rock TopFlow Review
  - Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler Review @ NikKTech
  - Cooler Master Hyper 412S @ Hardwareoverclock
  - Noctua NH-D14 Heatsink Review @ Ninjalane
  
  Cases and Chassis
  - Thermaltake V3 BlacX Edition Case Review @ HardwareHeaven
  - Corsair Carbide 300R Case Review @ Madshrimps
  - Silverstone Temjin TJ-04E PC Tower @ Pro-Clockers

  Remember cases and coolers.

  Full ArticleVisit Website

• Tacocopter Delivers Tacos Using Drone Helicopters

  Published: Monday, March 26, 2012 | By: Dennis

  I know a few hobbyist helicopter and quadcopter pilots who would jump at the chance to be involved in this project.  I mean, who wouldn't?

  The Internet is going wild for Tacocopter, perhaps the next great startup out of Silicon Valley, which boasts a business plan that combines four of the most prominent touchstones of modern America: tacos, helicopters, robots and laziness.
  
  Indeed, the concept behind Tacocopter is very simple, and very American: You order tacos on your smartphone and also beam in your GPS location information. Your order -- and your location -- are transmitted to an unmanned drone helicopter (grounded, near the kitchen where the tacos are made), and the tacocopter is then sent out with your food to find you and deliver your tacos to wherever you're standing. 

  Sadly it looks like the government is keeping the tacocopter grounded due to a pesky rule saying that flying robots can't be used for commercial purposes.

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• Welcome to the New Ninjalane

  Published: Saturday, March 24, 2012 | By: Dennis

  It has been over a month in planning but Ninjalane.com is finally running on new hardware.  Normally this wouldn't be something to celebrate but I'm gonna anyway.

  Minus a few bugfixes things should be up and running just as soon as the DNS resolves around the world.

  Full ArticleVisit Website

• What Happens When A 35-Year-Old Man Retakes The SAT?

  Published: Friday, March 23, 2012 | By: Dennis

  Here is another cool story from the Internet. 

  What happens when a 35 year old takes the SAT "again".  I was lucky enough to avoid taking the SAT since the college I was planning to attend accepted ACT scores and the ACT was suppsed to be "easier".  Looking back I'm not sure if I would have scored better or worse, in fact all I was concerned with at the time was making the minimum for the school and high enough to qualify for financial aid.

  There are many shitty things about being a grownup. You have to make money. You have to do taxes. You have to show up for your bail hearings. It's all really fucking annoying. But one of the few upsides of being an adult is that you NEVER have to take the SAT again. You never have to worry about it. You don't have to give a shit what'll happen if have to pee during the test. You don't have to look at another analogy ever again. It's not bad tradeoff for all the other piddling crap you have to deal with. I know I was happy with the arrangement.

  The article is very colorful and pokes fun at some of the questions.  Make sure you read the comments on the reading comp question, they are to die for.

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• Facebook: Don't reveal your password to snooping employers

  Published: Friday, March 23, 2012 | By: Dennis

  This is a pretty good article talking about the dos and donts of sharing your Facebook profile password just to get a job.  The gist of the article is "Just say no" it works for drugs and will also work for this.

  "As a user, you shouldn't be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job," Facebook said in its post. "And as the friend of a user, you shouldn't have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don't know and didn't intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job. That's why we've made it a violation of Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to share or solicit a Facebook password."

  Here is something to consider.  Fake Facebook accounts.  we create junk email accounts to collect spam when you have to sign up for something, why not create a fake Facebook account that you can share with employeers? Yes, creating a fake account likely won't fly unless you plan for this well in advance of your interview but why not give it a shot.

  Or you can stick to your moral guns and "just say no" the truth of the matter is if the employeer is resorting to checking Facebook accounts as a process of elimination its not going to be a place you want to work for anyway.

  Full ArticleVisit Website

• Uncorking KELPER - practical guide for beginners.@ KPC

  Published: Friday, March 23, 2012 | By: Dennis

  Who best to describe how to modify your GTX 680 than the guys who hit 1900Mhz core clock on the very same card.

  Be careful, this mod is not for the faint of heart.

  From my brief experience kepler does not need crazy voltage and current to run fast  clockspeeds, we were able to hit 1350-1400MHz on aircooling with just VID mod to 1.3V on GPU. So I will describe modification of onboard power first, and then we will have some talk about external power module, on my example EVGA EPOWER 8-phase or 10-phase retail boards.

  You can be assured that when the custom PCBs hit the market they undoubtedly integrate many of the same mods featured in this overclocking demonstration.  Check out the article for more details and LOTS of pics.

  Full ArticleVisit Website

• Nvidia GTX680 Kepler GPU Launch Day - The new gaming king?

  Published: Thursday, March 22, 2012 | By: Dennis

  March seems to be the time to launch new Nvidia GPUs, it happened two years ago with the GTX 480 and again in 2011 with the GTX 590.  Today we are faced with another windy spring March release of the most powerful and efficient GPU ever built.
  
  Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 Video Card Preview @ Ninjalane
  
  GTX 680 News and Reviews
  - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Preview @ Techgage
  - NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M: Kepler Goes Mobile with Acer
  - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Review: Kepler Debuts @ HotHardware
  - Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 @ PureOverclock
  - OC3D: nVidia GTX680 Review
  - Nvidia GeForce GTX 680: Kepler (GK104) @ Bjorn3D
  - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (Kepler) Graphics Card Launch Review @ HardwareHeaven
  - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
  - Nvidia GTX 680 - Kepler @ LanOC Reviews
  - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB graphics card
  - Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680 graphics processor reviewed
  - NVIDIA GTX 680 2GB Reviews @ Hardware Canucks
  - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Kepler 2 GB @ techPowerUp
  - GeForce GTX 680 review

  I actually felt joy and excitement when GTX 580 hit the market since it seemed like the right card for the time but I kept asking myself.  What is next for Nvidia? and will 512 CUDA cores be enough?  The answer is clear, it is never enough.

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• Gigabyte Assassin 2 @ LanOC Reviews

  Published: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 | By: Dennis

  When it comes to great motherboards that are designed to be fast gaming powerhouses you have look at the G1 Killer line from Gigabyte.  These boards feature a military theme and replace the sound and network PHY chips with high quality replacements from Creative and Killer that not only offload valuable CPU cycles but also make your games faster.

  

  It seems almost like it was yesterday when I took a close look at Gigabytes Assassin, flagship motherboard on the X58 chipset. Here we are less than a year later with a new chipset and socket available. That means it’s time once again to take a look at Gigabyte’s flagship gaming motherboard, the Assassin 2 X79. With a lower price point, smaller form factor, and all of the features of the original we loved the Assassin 2 should be a great board. Of course we won’t know that for sure until we dig in a little farther, so let’s jump in! 

  X79 is the new performance king when it comes to workstation class hardware and does a pretty good job at playing games too.

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