Tech News
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Female Ninjas in Iran: Who Knew
Published: Monday, April 2, 2012 | By: DennisHere is an interesting story, and what is more interesting is that the group is suing Reuters for defamation.
In February, Reuters sent Caren Firouz to photograph an all-women ninjutsu gym in the town of Karaj. His photos (which we also ran) appeared in a slideshow on Reuters' website. Now, Iranian state-run outlet PressTV says that several of those ninjas are suing Reuters for defamation. The Reuters story, according to PressTV, "accused [the women] of being assassins" whom the state is training "to kill any possible foreign invaders." There's no reason to think that these female athletes are actually state-run killers.
I guess it's true, when someone says "Ninja" people really do assume there is someone hiding in the shadows waiting to kill them, regardless if they run a hardware website or simply have a super cool motorcycle.
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Internet Hoax Wrapup
Published: Monday, April 2, 2012 | By: DennisThere were a couple of stories posted last week that actually turned out to be a hoax. The first was the Tacocopter, that totally awesome service that would deliver a taco via GPS. While it would seem that many sites discredited the startup from the beginning I had high hopes and figured they would clean it up in post.
Oh, of course not. Not even close. Tacocopter isn’t a real app or startup. The technical, safety and legal hurdles facing such a taco-delivery system are near insurmountable in today’s environment — as our resident flying drone expert, Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson, was quick to point out when Gadget Lab became just a bit too enthusiastic about the possibility of window-side delivery service. (We’re located on the third floor.) Source Wired
The next internet hoax was the failed attempt to bring down the internet using Operation Blackout, again I held my hopes high so that I could justify my day of yardwork. Sadly I could be seen slaving away trimming trees, cleaning flowerbeds and running a power rake over the yard, and for nothing.
Well at least my yard will look good this year.
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Operation Blackout - What it means to you and how to cope
Published: Friday, March 30, 2012 | By: DennisAs I write this many people are living in fear that the Anonymous threat supported by Operation Blackout will actually succeed. If it does then all DNS traffic on March 31st will cease to function and bring the world to a screeching halt. No more Facebook, No more Twitter, No more online games
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This could be just an empty promise supported by an idle threat that was never intended to succeed. Either way Operation Blackout is a concern and should be addressed. To help you I have compiled a list of The top 17 things you may have to do if Anonymous brings down the Internet. Be sure to check it out.
On a more serious note I have to wonder about their timing. Anyone who has bought a domain name will know it takes a couple days for the domain to populate around the internet. It stands to reason that if the master DNS servers get overloaded the local DNS caches will continue to function for a couple days and likely ride out the attack. Next you have to consider the day they plan to do this, a Saturday?. It is a busy day off for most, a day of leisure. Wouldn't it make more sense to do this on a Monday? Finally, if a hacking group was planning something why bother telling the world about it? Doesn't that water down your threats?
Food for thought
One thing is for sure I'll be doing a few of the things on my list regardless if the Internet is up or not
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HD 7970 Price Cuts? Don’t Count on it @ Hardware Canucks
Published: Thursday, March 29, 2012 | By: DennisThis is kinda sad since I was looking at picking up a HD7970 but had a bit of sticker shock in the process.
When the GTX 680 was released last week at $499, many thought that AMD would trim a few bucks off of the HD 7970. Cuts to its $549 price tag yet haven’t happened and if what we hear is true don’t expect any movement on that front — at least not yet.
Before NVIDIA introduced their Kepler architecture, AMD was in a place of dominance within the GPU market. It was an enviable position and as a result we saw enthusiasts begin a headlong rush towards the HD 7970 and HD 7950. Unfortunately, AMD’s production of these $549 and $449 cards wasn’t able to keep up with demand and availability suffered. The GTX 680 rained on that parade in a big way by consistently beating the HD 7970 in performance benchmarks while retailing for “just” $499.I was listening to the TR podcast not to long ago and Scott kept going on and on about how the GTX 680 isn't really a "high-end" GPU. When you compare the specs I would tend to agree. If that is the case then the price is justified.
Tis a good read, give it a look.
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NL: Review Block - Motherboards and Video Cards - What could go wrong?
Published: Thursday, March 29, 2012 | By: DennisNormally I tend to keep the review blocks rather short and throw the hardware links right into your face but it has been decided that even review blocks need a little love. The following review block features Motherboard and Video Card review links from around the web.
Motherboards
- Funky Kit Review: MSI X79A-GD65 8D Motherboard
- ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard @ Maximum-Tech
- MSI A75MA-G55 Motherboard @ Rbmods
- GIGABYTE X79-UD5 Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks
- ASUS P9X79WS Motherboard @ Bjorn3D
- Gigabyte Z68XP-UD5 @ PureOverclock
- Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5 Intel X79 LGA2011 Motherboard In-Depth Review @ PCSTATS
Video Cards
- Sapphire HD 7850 OC Radeon Review @ TechwareLabs
- GeForce GTX 680 3-way SLI review
- XFX HD7850 Black Edition Review
- XFX R7850 Black Edition Double Dissipation Graphics Card and AMD Anti-Aliasing Analysis Review @ HardwareHeaven
- ASUS GeForce GTX 680 SLI @ techPowerUp
- nVidia GeForce GTX 680 4-way SLI reviewJust look at all that hardware!
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Building the Right Box @ Techgage
Published: Thursday, March 29, 2012 | By: DennisBuilding computers has almost become second nature for me and when putting a system together it really comes down to how does this person want to use their PC. Gaming rigs typically need a good video card whereas general purpose systems can get by with ultra low power processors and integrated graphics.
A lot of effort goes into choosing the right parts for your newest computer, but Senior Editor Brett Thomas thinks the focus can sometimes be a bit off. In this article, he outlines where the best bang for the buck can be spent on your high-performance rig... and believe it or not, it might not be where you think!
Of course not everyone shares my same views and will base their decisions on things like price. yuk
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Rovio Entertainment acquires Futuremark Games Studio
Published: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | By: DennisHere 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 EntertainmentRead 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.
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Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E @ HW-Journal.de
Published: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | By: DennisI 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: DennisHere 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-ClockersRemember cases and coolers.
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Tacocopter Delivers Tacos Using Drone Helicopters
Published: Monday, March 26, 2012 | By: DennisI 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.
