Tech News
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The state of DDR4 @ ExtremeTech
Published: Thursday, February 23, 2012 | By: DennisLooking back you'll notice that the adoption rates for system memory are rather slow and really driven more by price than anything else. However that was when chipsets handled system memory interfaces and it was up to the motherboard makers to determine how many modules would be supported and what interface would be used.
Now that processors control the memory to make a jump from DDR3 to DDR4 would require a new processor package and likely a new socket type. This isn't something you push on the retail consumer unless there were real benefits to be seen.
Samsung announced a year ago that it had developed the first 2GB DDR4 modules using a 30nm process technology, achieving with them transfer rates of 2.133Gbps at 1.2 volts. Three months later, Hynix came up with its own DDR4-2400 modules operating at the same voltage.
Given that DDR3 is still being explored any radical change in memory architecture would likely hit the ultra high-end segments first, namely Servers and Workstations (assuming people use them anymore).
Personally I'm rather excited to see what DDR4 brings to the table.
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Google to sell Android-based heads-up display glasses
Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 | By: GarrettIf you ever wanted your glasses to more than just allow you to read or reduce the glare of the sun, sources from inside Google have shared that glasses with heads up displays maybe be available this year.
What's more, the Times says that none other than Sergey Brin is a "key leader" on the project, with another being Google engineer Steve Lee, the creator of Latitude. Notably, Bilton also says that Google sees the project as an "experiment that anyone will be able to join," and that the company is not currently thinking about potential business models for the glasses, which could suggest that they may be more of a small-scale hobby than part of a major push into consumer hardware.
As much as it would be cool to have glasses like this, we are still having issues with people texting and driving. But it would make Google Maps a lot more interesting.
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Microsoft Office to Become Available on Apple's iPad? Don't Believe the Hype
Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 | By: GarrettIn an official statement from Microsoft, Microsoft Office is not going to be available for the iPad anytime soon.
A Microsoft spokesperson told the New York Times: "The Daily story is based on inaccurate rumors and speculation. We have no further comment." She added that an image with The Daily's article depicting an Office product for iPad was "… not Microsoft's software," she said.
I would like to think that if Microsoft was going to release Office, that they would go ahead and release it on Windows Phone 7 first before release it on other mobile OSes.
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New GeForce R295 Drivers! - Time to speed up Skyrim
Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 | By: DennisIf you are playing the latest hot PC games like Diablo III, Mass Effect 3, or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you will definitely want to upgrade to the latest GeForce R295 drivers, posting today. These drivers come packed with GeForce-exclusive performance and quality enhancements and are now Microsoft WHQL-certified.
GeForce R295 highlights include:- Game-changing performance boost of up to 45% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, “the fastest selling title in Steam’s history”
- Over 90% SLI scaling in Mass Effect 3.
- GeForce-exclusive quality enhancements with ambient occlusion support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Diablo III, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
- New 3D Vision and SLI profiles for over 50 titles.
- New PhysX software for the best experience in top PhysX titles like Alice: Madness Returns and Batman: Arkham City.
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Hackers Can Track Your Cellphone Without Your Knowledge
Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 | By: GarrettResearchers have discovered that hackers can easily use the data between GSM towers and your phone to get your rough location.
The tracking of a user happens via data packets that are typically sent to a phone to help a cell tower to locate a phone and allocate the appropriate resources to support a call. Such packets are also sent to tell the phone that someone is calling it. The researchers found that they could force cell towers to send the data and hang up, before the recipient's phone rings. However, by then, the location data is already available. Apparently, there is no need for support from a cellular provider and open source software running on "commodity" platforms will give hackers or anyone else who wants to track cell phone user location access to exploit the vulnerability.
I always had the understand that getting a cell phone would come with a risk of people, companies, and the government knowing my location. However, I am not sure if I want hackers to be on that list of people who know.
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Microsoft: Google Bypasses Privacy Settings in Internet Explorer, Too
Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 | By: GarrettMicrosoft is now also claiming that Google is bypassing certain privacy setting in Internet Explorer like it has with Safari.
In a blog post written by Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Internet Explorer, the software giant alleges that Google is using similar methods — though the actual bypass mechanism is different — to get around default privacy protections in Internet Explorer and track IE users with cookies.
Privacy is something that companies like to pay attention to when it works to their advantage. I would rather the companies focus on getting this issue resolved than turning it into a smear campaign.
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In-Win XFrame Limited Edition Review @ HardwareLOOK
Published: Friday, February 17, 2012 | By: DennisI was able to get a really good look at this test bench at CES 2012 and was quite impressed with the overall build qualtiy and layout of the features. Sadly I was told the bench would be in limited supply and likely restricted to 50 - 100 units due to them being hand built.
The In-Win XFrame is a brand new concept and view on what the classic open frame chassis should look like. The In-Win XFrame is far superior and super-exceeds current open frame chassis to date. The XFrame offers extreme amount of freedom and space between cable routing areas and innovates device installation procedures. The XFrame is a very interesting piece of kit.
It will be neat to see how they sell on the open market or if anyone really needs /or/ wants an open air test bench style case anymore.
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GameRevive.com Offers a New Option for Selling Video Games
Published: Friday, February 17, 2012 | By: GarrettIf you want to trade in your games and don't want leave the house, GameRevive might be what you are looking for.
Gamers visiting GameRevive (http://www.GameRevive.com) can enter their games into the website and receive an instant price quote. They can also print free shipping labels to send their games to the GameRevive warehouse in Beaverton, OR. Once the company receives and inspects the games, payment is issued within one business day. Payment is made in the form of a mailed check or a PayPal electronic deposit.
Like any trade in, you aren't going to get as much money as you expect but the convenience of doing it online might make it worth your time.
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Maingear Debuts New Thermal Interface Material: Meet the T1000
Published: Friday, February 17, 2012 | By: GarrettSpeading thermal paste correctly is critical in keeping your CPU cool but ensuring a thin evenly spead application can be difficult. Maingear offers different solution:
Today, Maingear has launched what they claim is a genuine advance over existing thermal pastes. The Epic T1000 kit uses a PCMA (phase change metal alloy) as an interface material between CPU and heatsink. Unlike a standard paste, which is (hopefully) applied with a razor or other straight-edge, Maingear's T1000 is a transparent wafer at room temperature that one lays over the CPU before attaching a heatsink.
The higher cost and the fact that you need to have a new waffer each time you change cpus and/or heatsinks might make hardware enthusiast shy away from it.
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AMD HD7770 1Ghz GPU Lauch Day
Published: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 | By: DennisYou may have seen some reports about how hardware sites started getting performance enhancing pills in the mail and while Valentines day was just "yesterday" you might think it was a nice gesture but really it was a marketing stunt from AMD to promote the HD7770 and HD7750.
Here are some reviews from around the inbox. Look for our preview article of the Gigabyte solution a little later today.
- OC3D: AMD HD7770 Review
- Funky Kit Review: HIS Radeon HD 7750 iCooler
- HIS Radeon HD 7750 Graphics Card Review @ HardwareHeaven
- MSI Radeon HD 7770 OC edition review
- AMD Radeon HD 7770 and 7750 Video Card Reviews @ Legit Reviews
- Sapphire Radeon 7770 OC @ PureOverclock
- AMD Radeon HD 7770 and 7750 GPU Reviews @ HotHardware
- Sapphire HD 7770 Overclock Edition @ LanOC Reviews
- AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition
- AMD Radeon HD 7770 & HD 7750 Review @ Hardware Canucks
- VTX3D HD7770 1GHZ Edition Crossfire Review
- PowerColor Radeon HD 7770 1 GB @ techPowerUp
