VR-Zone Tech News for the Geeks Dec 2011 Issue 4

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December 30th, 2011 Such database entry for each person can grow up to 100 kilobytesinsize,and,sincewegottokeepsuchstuffinmemory for full-speed analysis and modeling, it means roughly 500 GB of main memory, times 2 for space to create alternate models, and we talk about a terabyte RAM machine with as many cores as you can throw at them, since it is highly parallel work.Thatlittle slim 4-CPU terabyte Xeon E5 mainboardfrom yesterday's story comes to mind here... Now, with such system, containing the movement data of all the population and their vehicles, and where they want to go next, we can automatically identify any hot spots in the case of any specific malfunction or shutdown and, in real time, divert the extra resources exactly to these 'hot spots of the moment'. No, it doesn't replace the extra metro lines that, maybe, Singapore should have built much earlier when it was way cheaper to construct - rather than pouring money into Western investment banks or assets - but, anyway, a fast computer for a quick fix, when the problems arise, is always welcome. Windows Phone updates, Tango and Apollo, coming soon Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/windows-phone-updates-tango-and- apollo-coming-soon/14377.html December 30th, 2011 After the launch of Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango operating system in October, the company is already planning for the new update next year. And it seems that details of the new updates have been leaked, codenamed Tango and Apollo. Published by: VR-Zone Windows Phone users can look forward to more features and improvements next year. According to a leaked roadmap (which is accurate as ofOctober), Microsoft has been planning for its upcoming Tango and Apollo updates 2012. The Tango update,targetedinQ22012,issaidtobefocusedondelivering low-cost Windows Phone to go against iPhone and Android phones. However, this could also mean that Tango could be a removable of features that most budget users would probably not require. Apollo, on the other hand, claims to be a major update for smartphones that could include support for LTE, high resolution displays and even dual-core processors. But the Apollo update won't be coming so soon; it is expected to be available in Q4 2012. Intel changes configurable TDP specs of Ultrabook Ivy Bridge processors Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/intel-changes-configurable-tdp-specs- of-ultrabook-ivy-bridge-processors/14376.html December 30th, 2011 Although good news in a way for Intel, it seems that the demand for its Ultrabook specific Ivy Bridge processors have been much higher than Intel initially anticipated and the company has as such had to make some changes to the configurable TDP of said processors. It appears that the company can't meet its earlier targets, at least not if it's going to be able to provide large enough quantities of the CPUs. Although good news in a way for Intel, it seems that the demand for its Ultrabook specific Ivy Bridge processors have been much higher than Intel initially anticipated and the company has as such had to make some changes to the configurable TDP of said processors. It appears that the company can't meet its earlier targets, at least not if it's going to be able to provide large enough quantities of the CPUs. The changes aren't big and the nominal TDP remains at 17W and the same goes for the highest configurable TDP for these chips which stays at 25W. However, the lowest configurable TDP has been increased from 13W to 14W and the same goes for the low frequency mode. In addition the low power mode has increased from 11W to 12.5W. This might seem trivial, but for some notebook makers this could potentially mean a re-design of the cooling system, not exactly a non-trivial change. It's likely that Intel has picked chips that would otherwise have been binned differently, but due to the high demand the company had to bin them as U- series processors. Currently Intel is planning on launching its Ivy Bridge Ultrabook platform sometime in May and the new TDP changes aren't likely to have a huge effect for most of its partnersasthere'sstillplentyoftimetomakeanychangesthat might be needed. 9

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December 30th, 2011 Genesys Logic launches USB 3.0 webcam controller Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/genesys-logic-launches-usb-3.0- webcam-controller/14375.html December 30th, 2011 USB 3.0 adoption might be moving slowly forward in the PC industry, but more and more peripherals are starting to appear in the market and if Taiwanese Genesys has anything to do with it, then we'll all be using USB 3.0 webcams soon enough.ThecompanyhasannounceditsnewGL3620USB3.0 webcam controller and it looking at demoing it at CES in early January. USB 3.0 adoption might be moving slowly forward in the PC industry, but more and more peripherals are starting to appear in the market and if Taiwanese Genesys has anything to do with it, then we'll all be using USB 3.0 webcams soon enough.ThecompanyhasannounceditsnewGL3620USB3.0 webcam controller and it looking at demoing it at CES in early January. We have in fact seen a very early prototype demo but this was using an FPGA instead of the actual finished silicon and to be frank, we weren't impressed. However, Genesys wasn't using the best of sensors for the tech demo and it'll be down to the wecam manufacturers to pick a suitable sensor to show of the capabilities of the GL3620. The chip is capable of delivering uncompressed 1080p video at 30fps, something that shouldn't put too much strain on the USB 3.0 bus. Apparently a key feature is that the GL3620 supports isochronous transfer mode which apparently guarantees the bandwidth between the webcam and the host controller. Thanks to a built-in motion JPEG encoder the GL3620 is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0. The built in HISP or hardware image signal processor as Genesys calls it, allows the GL3620 to turn the raw RGB data into interpolated YUV video and it can also do things like bad pixel correction, image scaling, gamma correction and image quality enhancement among other things. The GL3620 won't go into mass production until the second quarter of next year, but Genesys will be demoing it at CES alongside its GL3520 USB 3.0 hub, its GL3321 USB 3.0 to SATA 3Gbps bridge and its GL3220 USB 3.0 memory card reader, all of which are already available. Ivy Bridge reportedly launching on the 8th of April Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/ivy-bridge-reportedly-launching-on- the-8th-of-april/14374.html 10 Published by: VR-Zone December 30th, 2011 Aswe'vealreadyreported,IntelisabouttolaunchIvyBridgein early April and although we didn't specify a date in our earlier stories,DigitimeshasnowconfirmedtheApril8thlaunchdate that we'd previously heard. This information is apparently coming from Taiwanese PC makers and we'd say it's pretty much spot on, unless Intel makes some last minute changes to the launch schedule. Aswe've already reported ,IntelisabouttolaunchIvyBridgein early April and although we didn't specify a date in our earlier stories,DigitimeshasnowconfirmedtheApril8 th launchdate that we'd previously heard. This information is apparently coming from Taiwanese PC makers and we'd say it's pretty much spot on, unless Intel makes some last minute changes to the launch schedule. Not all CPUs and chipsets will launch on the 8th of April, as somemodelsalongsidewiththebusinesschipsetsareexpected onthe13thofMayaccordingtoDigitimes.Mostofthedesktop CPUs will be available in April, although on the mobile side only the quad core Core i7 models are expected to arrive in April,withallothermodelslaunchingatayetunspecifieddate. It's not entirely clear why Intel is staggering the launch like this, but as we know, Intel is trying to empty its Sandy Bridge inventory and this might very well be part of the reason. One interesting piece of information that Digitimes did provide is thecostofthechipsets,withtheZ77,HM77andUM77coming inatUS$48,followedbytheH77andHM76atUS$43,theZ75 and HM75 at US$40 and finally the business orientated B75 at US$37. The corporate level chipsets start at US$53 with the QS77 followed by Q77 and QM77 at US$48 and the Q75 at US $40. This puts the chipset pricing at a similar level to the 6-series where the Z68 chipsets has a list price of US$48 with the H67 at US$43, the P67 at US$40 and the B65 at US$37. The same goes for the mobile parts where the HM67 is listed at US$48 and HM65 at US$40, although the UM67 is actually a bit pricier at US$50. That said, these are all list prices and may not reflect what the actual motherboard and notebook manufacturers are paying Intel. As expected, Intel launches Cedar Trail-M Atom's Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/as-expected-intel-launches-cedar-trail- m-atom-s/14373.html December 30th, 2011

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December 30th, 2011 We're fairly certain that none of our regular readers are surprised to see the arrival of Intel's Atom N2600 and N2800 Cedar Trail-M based Atom processors today, as we reported aboutitlaunchingattheveryendoftheyearoveramonthago. That said, no products will be available for at least a couple of weeks, although we'd expect that the first Cedar Trail-M netbooks will be shown off at CES. We're fairly certain that none of our regular readers are surprised to see the arrival of Intel's Atom N2600 and N2800 Cedar Trail-M based Atom processors today, as we reported aboutitlaunchingattheveryendoftheyear over a month ago . That said, no products will be available for at least a couple of weeks, although we'd expect that the first Cedar Trail-M netbooks will be shown off at CES. We'vealsocoveredmostofthespecificationsoftheN2600and N2800 Atom processors in the past, but we'll do a brief re- cap here. The N2800 is a 1.86GHz part with its graphics core clocked at 640MHz and it supports DDR3 memory at speeds of up to 1066MHz. The N2600 on the other hand is clocked at 1.6GHz with a 400MHz graphics clock and it only supports slower800MHzDDR3memory.Oneothermajordifferenceis that the N2600 can be cooled passively thanks to its 5W peak Published by: VR-Zone According to Anandtech we can expect to see Cedar Trail-M netbooks with a starting price point of as little as US$199-229 and part of the reason for this is that Intel itself has reduced the price of the Atom processors compared to the previous generation. That said, these machines are likely to be very basic and lack features such as WiDi. Intel's partners are apparently Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba and we've already seen examples of models from Asus and Samsung, despite the latter promising to pull out of the netbook market in 2012. TDP, although Intel is apparently claiming an average power consumption of the processor and the NM10 chipset of under 2W, whereas the N2800 has a TDP of 8W, although average power is meant to be less than 2.7W. As we've already reported , Intel only managed to concoct DX9 drivers for the platform, at least as far as Windows 7 is concerned, but we can apparently still expect a doubling of the 3D graphics performance over the previous generation of Atom processors. Not that this is going to make a huge difference for most netbook users, but at least there should be a decent increase in performance for casual gamers. More interesting then is hardware decode support for H.264 video and support for Intel's WiDi, albeit only at 600p . Still, we'd rather pay a little bit more for an AMD Brazos powered machine, despite not having seen final hardware based on Cedar Trail-M, as AMD is likely to have the upper hand in terms of performance even though Intel has finally 11

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December 30th, 2011 gottenAtomtothekindoflevelwhereitshouldhavebeenfrom the beginning. Intel might have a more power efficient option onoffer,buttheresimplyaretoomanythingsmissingtomake Cedar Trail-M a competitive platform. Samsung and others settle LCD price-fixing case for $553 million Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-and-others-settle-lcd-price- fixing-case-for-553-million/14372.html December 30th, 2011 Samsung and a number of other LCD display makers have settled a price-fixing case for $553 million. The seven firms involved in the settlement include Samsung, Sharp, Chimei Innolux, Hitachi, HannStar, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and Epson Imaging Devices, all of which are accused of conspiring to fix LCD panel prices between the years 1999 and 2006. Over$890millionhasalreadybeenpaidoutbythecompanies to settle previous antitrust cases, but the latest payment is aimed at resolving claims by indirect purchasers and eight US states. "This price-fixing scheme manipulated the playing field for businesses that abide by the rules, and left consumers to pay artificially higher costs for televisions, computers and other electronics," said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Samsung will pay $240 million, Sharp will fork out $115.5 million, and Chimei Innolux will hand over $110.3 million. Smaller payments are demanded of Hitachi, HannStar, ChunghwaandEpson,withthecompaniespaying$39million, $25.7 million, $5.3 million and $2.9 million respectively. A number of state penalties, up to $6 million per company, were also applied. Published by: VR-Zone Other companies accused of price-fixing, including AU Optronics, LG Display and Toshiba, have yet to reach a settlement, but will likely be forced to pay out millions of dollars. Chinese LG Display staff strike over alleged pay racism Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/chinese-lg-display-staff-strike-over- alleged-pay-racism/14371.html December 30th, 2011 StaffatanLGDisplayfactoryinChinahavegoneonstrikeover a dispute relating to alleged racism in the payment of end of year bonuses. StaffatanLGDisplayfactoryinChinahavegoneonstrikeover a dispute relating to alleged racism in the payment of end of year bonuses. Reports suggest that upwards of 8,000 Chinese workers have joined the strike at the Nanjing facility, accusing the South Korean electronics company of paying higher bonuses to Korean staff compared to local Chinese employees. "We and the Nanjing city government are jointly negotiating with workers to smoothly reach an agreement and we expect the problems to be resolved soon," said LG spokesperson Claire Ohm, according to Reuters. "Some of our production has been suspended." This the latest worker dispute in China, where the rising cost of living has prompted numerous protests and demands for higher pay. Universally low salaries is one thing, but alleged favouritism towards certain nationalities will unlikely go over well with staff or customers. Apple iOS and Android tied in Christmas sales Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/apple-ios-and-android-tied-in- christmas-sales/14370.html 12

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December 30th, 2011 December 30th, 2011 Apple iOS and Android devices were popular Christmas gifts throughout the world, with the two rivals virtually tied in the heated battle for holiday sales. Apple iOS and Android devices were popular Christmas gifts throughout the world, with the two rivals virtually tied in the heated battle for holiday sales. There were 12 times more new devices using the mobile iOS devices were up 12.5 times, with a 14 times increase in iPhonesales,butamassive21timesincreaseiniPods,showing that Apple's classic music player still has some life in it. Android's increase was not far behind at 12 times more sales, but Android now leads in more markets than Apple, ruling 14 of the top 20 global markets, which will likely see it become the overall market leader in the months and years to come. AT&T buys Qualcomm wireless spectrum Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/at-t-buys-qualcomm-wireless- spectrum/14369.html Published by: VR-Zone December 30th, 2011 AT&T has completed its acquisition of wireless spectrum from Qualcomm in a deal worth roughly $1.9 billion. The telecommunications company expressed interest in buying the spectrum in December 2010, but was held up by an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Approval was granted last week after AT&T withdrew its controversial bid to buy T-Mobile. The 700 MHz spectrum was previously used by Qualcomm for its FLO TV system, a mobile TV broadcasting technology that flopped and was eventually discontinued. operating systems form Apple and Google over the Christmas weekendcomparedtopreviousweekends,accordingtomobile app analytics firm Localytics. Despite the two platforms being roughly neck and neck, their popularitydifferedgreatlyfromregiontoregion.Forexample, AppledevicessoldbestintheUSandGermany,whileAndroid devices did better in South Korea and Sweden. The spectrum will cover over 300 million people, giving AT&T asignificantboosttoitsLongTermEvolution(LTE)business. This is particularly important given the general lack of spectrum telecommunications providers have been experiencing in recent years, resulting in numerous bidding wars and acquisitions. The continuing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers will ensure that spectrum demand remains strong in years to come. Spire hack allows Siri to run on jailbroken iOS 5 devices Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/spire-hack-allows-siri-to-run-on- jailbroken-ios-5-devices/14368.html December 30th, 2011 SouthKoreawasaparticularlystrongvictoryforAndroid,with a lead of over 80 percent compared to iOS. Sweden and Japan also saw huge gaps between the two, with Android leading by 45 percent and 50 percent respectively. A new hack, called Spire, is said to allow Siri voice assistant to run on almost all jailbroken iPhone or iPad on iOS 5. And the best thing is, that is legal. Siri is one of the popular features of the latest Apple iPhone 4S, and it seems that a fully functioning port of the voice assistant is available on almost all jailbroken iOS 5 devices. 13

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December 30th, 2011 Developed by Chpwn and Ryan Petrich, the new hack known asSpire,allowsSiritorunonjailbrokeniPhone4,iPhone3GS, third-gen iPod touch, fourth-generation iPod touch and first- generation iPad. And it seems like it is legal. The Spire app is free and available to download from the Cydia app store and takes about 100MB of space, and users are advised to connect to a Wi-Fi network when downloading the app. Samsung to debut GALAXY S III at Mobile World Congress 2012? Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-to-debut-galaxy-s-iii-at- mobile-world-congress-2012-/14367.html December 30th, 2011 News of the next-generation GALAXY smartphone is out, and it is likely to be the Samsung GALAXY S III. And the Quad- core phone may be showcased at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next year. architecture. Other specifications include 4.6-inch Super AMOLEDPlustouchscreendisplay(1280x720),supportsLTE network, 12-megapixel rear camera that can capture full high definition 1080p video, and runs Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It was also reported that Samsung is developing 3D capabilities on the smartphone, though there's no details as to what extent will the new phone be equipped with the technology. The company could come up with a separate smartphone, rather than incorporate it to the GALAXY S III, and called it the Samsung GALAXY S 3D. We can only wait Published by: VR-Zone andseewhenMobileWorldCongressarrivedinFebruarynext year. More on Xeon E5: Terabyte of RAM even at midrange? Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/more-on-xeon-e5-terabyte-of-ram- even-at-midrange-/14366.html December 30th, 2011 There will also be a quad-CPU enabled Xeon E5 Socket 2011 version, a quarter later from now. How much memory can it take? How about a terabyte? Two QPI links on Socket 2011 CPUs do enable connecting each processor to TWO other ones, if you accept lesser inter- processorbandwidthcomparedtojustdual-linkpairingoftwo CPUs alone. There will be a separate Xeon E5-4600 series covering that particular market segment, which sits between the high end dual-socket E5-2600 and the enterprise RAS- enhanced even higher end E7 series (those fancy 10-core 30 MB L3 cache Westmere-EX chips and their followons). These are good for uber-rendering workstations with many threads, as well as SMP server jobs where high per-core performance is more important than RAS capability or huge interprocessor bandwidth - E7 series have, after all, four QPI links on each CPU for that purpose. According to Korean media ETNews, the new Samsung smartphone,GALAXYSIII,willbeequippedwithaQuad-core processor; possibly the Samsung's Exynos 4412 processor, a 32nm quad-core chip based on the ARM Cortex A9 Now, since the maximum memory load on each Socket 2011 processor is three DIMMs per channel, or 12 in total, it would allow for 48 DIMMs altogether on a quad processor board, as you can see here on the 'Lizard Head Pass' S4600LH board expected from Intel. A truly lovely platform which, if good liquid cooling system was there, could actually fit into 1U platform! Else, it's 2U, still not bad at all. Now, remember those fancy Samsung - and other vendors' - 32 GB LR-DIMMs at DDR3-1333 speeds and taking just like 5 watts? Well, put 48 of them into this 'little' mobo, and you got...umm...1.5TBRAM,yes.Now,inexpensivelargememory 14

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December 30th, 2011 data mining and analysis ops, not to mention simulations like, for instance, impact of MRT line failure on all the car and bus traffic in Singapore down to every person, vehicle and path - an increasingly more often required app here, it seems - becomeveryreal,especiallywhencoupledwiththecurrentlow memory pricing. And, oh yes, there are 160 PCIe v3 lanes in total on such platform. Now, how about an extender box for an 8 x dual- GPU setup as an accelerator? A eight-set of liquid-cooled OC AMDHD7990dualGPUcardscouldgiveyouupto15TFLOPs of double precision power to assist those Xeons on board... More Wi-Fi mice coming thanks to Wi-Fi Direct Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/more-wi-fi-mice-coming-thanks-to-wi- fi-direct/14365.html December 30th, 2011 We've already seen a few Wi-Fi mice from HP, although these weren't as far as we're aware using Wi-Fi Direct to connect. A company called Ozmo has announced that it has had its OZMO2000 wireless mouse reference design certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance as a Wi-Fi Direct enabled solution onto which its partners can base their own Wi-Fi Direct mice upon. We've already seen a few Wi-Fi mice from HP, although these weren't as far as we're aware using Wi-Fi Direct to connect. A company called Ozmo has announced that it has had its OZMO2000 wireless mouse reference design certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance as a Wi-Fi Direct enabled solution onto which its partners can base their own Wi-Fi Direct mice upon. One feature that stands outs with the Ozmo solution is the fact that the company supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi. The company has also added support for WPA2 and WPS to make pairing easy. Ozmo doesn't actually make any retail products though,butitsOZMO2000chipisreadytoshiptoitspotential partners for implementation into Wi-Fi mice. Interestingly Ozmo claims that its Wi-Fi solution offers two to three times the battery life for the mouse compared to Bluetooth mice and a much higher data rate – up to 24Mbps – if needed. The range should in theory be longer as well, but we can't imagine too many scenarios where you need to be able to use a mouse 200-300m away from a computer. One problem we can see though is that Ozmo charges US$3 perOZMO2000chipeveninfairlylargequantities,something that'slikelytoputoffpotentialpartners,althoughsurprisingly the company issues a press release back in October stating it hadshippedonemillionchipsbackthen.ApparentlyHPisone of Ozmo's partners, alongside with Intel, Logitech and Targus. As such it's likely we'll see a driver upgrade for HP's Wi-Fi mice in the near future with some Wi-Fi Direct support which should hopefully make HP's Wi-Fi mice a bit more reliable, as 15 Published by: VR-Zone we've seen a fair few users reports complaining about the mice disconnecting at random. Source: O zmo MSI launches MultiConnect panel and Voice Genie Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/msi-launches-multiconnect-panel-and- voice-genie/14364.html December 30th, 2011 A couple of new motherboard peripherals have been launched by MSI, one of which we’d say is far more useful than the other.FirstupwehavetheMultiConnectpanelwhichisa5.25- inch drive bay unit that sports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth among its features, with the second one being MSI’s Voice Genie card which allows you to control your PC by yelling at it. A couple of new motherboard peripherals have been launched by MSI, one of which we’d say is far more useful than the other.FirstupwehavetheMultiConnectpanelwhichisa5.25- inch drive bay unit that sports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth among its features, with the second one being MSI’s Voice Genie card which allows you to control your PC by yelling at it. The MultiConnect panel is an interesting spin on things as although it’s a chunky piece of plastic that slots into a spare 5.25-inch drive bay in your case, it not only adds 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity, but also Bluetooth 3.0+HS, a pair of USB 2.0 ports and if you have the right motherboard, an OC Genie II button. For one we’re not quite sure why MSI had to make it so big, as it seems to waste a lot of space. Secondly MSI missed a major trick here, the USB ports are only 2.0, not 3.0 and considering that many chassis out there shipped pre-USB 3.0 this would’ve been a much more useful addition. The Wi-Fi is also limited to 150Mbps and is a simple USB dongle hidden behind the plastic fascia. Admittedly it’s neater to have two dongles inside a drive bay than having a pair of dongles sticking out the back of your PC, but we’re not sold on MSI’s overall implementation.

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December 30th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone At the rear of the card there’s a microphone connector, a pass- through to the mic connector of the onboard audio or sound card and a small, sliding on/off switch. Once installed the Voice Genie allows you to issue voice commands to your PC in either English or “traditional” Chinese, although we’re not quite sure what the latter is in terms of a spoken language. It supports commands even if the system is powered down, so in other words you can now make your PC start without having to touch it. MSI also claims that you can overclock the system, make it start applications and do a wide range of other things by simply issuing voice commands. AsfortheVoiceGenie,well,thisisasmallPCBthatslotsintoa PCI Express x1 slot (or any other PCI Express slot at that), but itdoesn’tactuallyinterfacewiththeslotselectricalconnectors. Instead the Voice Genie card connects to a special pin-header available on a selected few MSI motherboards which include most of MSI’s Z68A models, the Big Bang Marshal and all of MSI’s X79 motherboards. Luckily MSI has added an option to make your own custom voicecommands,butthisislimitedtoamereeightcommands in total. In as much as we think this is an amusing piece of kit andpotentiallysomethingveryusefulforhandicappedpeople, we can’t see it being a huge seller for MSI. We’d also hope that MSIcomestoitssensesandbundlesabettermicrophonethan the one in the pictures of the card, as it looks like a terrible piece of kit. Intel said to be letting Thunderbolt loose in April Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/intel-said-to-be-letting-thunderbolt- loose-in-april/14363.html December 30th, 2011 There's no secret that Intel wasn't going to let Apple keep its Thunderbolt technology as an exclusive forever, but no reports are coming out stating that we can expect Thunderbolt equipped PCs, notebooks and motherboards in April of next year. We've been hearing rumours for a while, but this is the first solid lead on an actual launch date. There's no secret that Intel wasn't going to let Apple keep its Thunderbolt technology as an exclusive forever, but no reports are coming out stating that we can expect Thunderbolt equipped PCs, notebooks and motherboards in April of next year. We've been hearing rumours for a while, but this is the first solid lead on an actual launch date. As we already know, Intel is planning on launching Ivy Bridge around this point in time and it's not a co-incident that the company is also trying to get some Thunderbolt equipped devices out in the market at the same time. Digitimes is reporting that we'll see notebooks from Asus, various devices from Sony and motherboard from Gigabyte with Thunderbolt connectivity. Somewhat erroneously Digitimes is quoting Thunderbolt chip cost of more than US$20 a pop, a price that as far as we're aware only applies to Intel's most expensive Thunderbolt chip know as Light Ridge. This should be replaced at some point next year by Cactus Ridge which should prove to be a fair bit more affordable. Cactus Ridge was meant to be ready in time 16

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December 30th, 2011 for Ivy Bridge, but Intel appears to have run into a few snags and as such it has been delayed until sometime in Q2 of next year. As such notebook manufacturers only has the choice of using Intel's Light Ridge or the version of Eagle Ridge that Apple uses for the MacBook Air, but this chip only has half the Thunderbolt channels of Light Ridge. For some reason Intel has discontinued its standard version of Eagle Ridge already, soonthehostsidethere'slittleotherchoiceforthetimebeing. The good news in terms of growth of Tunderbolt device is that Intel has finally finished off its Port Ridge peripheral chip, an affordable two PCI Express lane solution that draws a mere 0.7W (compared to 2-3.8W for its other Thunderbolt chips) and which will be far more affordable than previous options. This should hopefully see a growth in devices that use Thunderbolt as an interconnect, although we stilldoubt it'll be price competitive with USB 3.0 in many scenarios. There are of course usage cases where Thunderbolt excels compared to USB 3.0, least not for adding desktop expansion cards to a notebook, be it via a notebook docking station or some kind of external enclosure. However, Thunderbolt is not the most affordable route and we doubt there will be the same growth in Thunderbolt peripherals as there have been with USB 3.0 peripherals, as the need for the kind of speeds offered by the interface just isn't there for the majority of computer users, yet. Asus outs the Eee PC 1225B Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-outs-the-eee- pc-1225b/14362.html December 30th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone of memory on board and only left a single DIMM slot for expansion, one of the not so good changes. Youstillget802.11b/g/nWi-Fi,Bluetooth3.0+HS(apparently optional on some models), a crummy 0.3Megapixel webcam, an HDMI port, a D-sub connector, Ethernet, a pair of audio jacks and a card reader. However, Asus has now upgraded at leastsomemodelswithapairofUSB3.0portsandratherthan offering three USB 2.0 ports you know get one to go with the two USB 3.0 ports. Oddly enough Asus is now rating the battery life at 7h instead of 8h, despite offering what appears to be the same 6-cell 56Wh battery pack. The weight has gone down slightly thanks to the smaller display, although this apparently only shaves off a mere 10g if the specs on Asus' website are correct.The Eee PC 1225B is expected to launch in January and it'll be available in either glossy black and white or matte grey, red or silver, although we have a feeling the screen will be glossy either which way. Intel'sAtombasednetbooksmightnotbeoverlypopularthese days and to some degree AMD appears to have something to do with it thanks to the introduction of its Brazos platform. Asus is getting ready to launch a refresh of its 12-inch Brazos poweredEeePC1215Bwithaslightlyupdatedmodelcalledthe 1225B, although the differences are fairly small. Intel'sAtombasednetbooksmightnotbeoverlypopularthese days and to some degree AMD appears to have something to do with it thanks to the introduction of its Brazos platform. Asus is getting ready to launch a refresh of its 12-inch Brazos poweredEeePC1215Bwithaslightlyupdatedmodelcalledthe 1225B, although the differences are fairly small. The Eee PC 1225B comes with a choice of either an E450 or a C60 APU, something latter models of the 1215B also offered. The biggest change is the screen which has been shrunk slightly from 12.1-inches to 11.6-inches, although the resolution has remained the same at 1366x768. Almost everything else has stayed the same, but some minor changes have been done and apparently Asus has fitted 2 or 4GB 17

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Published by: VR-Zone January 3rd, 2012 VR-Zone.com | Stuff for the Geeks! VR-Zone | Stuff for the Geeks is a bi-weekly publication covering the latest gadgets and stuff for the geeks. MSI launches Big Bang- XPower II overclocking motherboard Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/msi-launches-big-bang-xpower-ii- overclocking-motherboard/14419.html MSI has launched its latest motherboard, the Big Bang- XPower II, offering plenty of overclocking goodness for the Intel X79 chipset. MSI has launched its latest motherboard, the Big Bang- XPower II, offering plenty of overclocking goodness for the Intel X79 chipset. The company claims that this board is its most powerful to date, building on the record achievements of the original Big Bang-XPower, supporting Intel's latest second generation i7 processors. It is built with Military Class III components, such as DrMOS II, Super Ferrite Choke, Hi-c CAP and Solid CAP, allowing heavy duty use with an extended lifetime. An enhanced thermal design also ensures that no active cooling is required. Overclocking is the name of the game for this motherboard, with the ability to run 4-way SLI or CrossFire via four PCI Express Gen3 slots. Renowned overclocker Jon “Elmor” Sandström helped MSI bump up the overclocking abilities of the Big Bang-XPower II. The board includes 8 DIMM slots, with support for up 128GB of RAM, significantly more than most people will ever need or use, but helping to make the motherboard that little bit more future-proof. January 3rd, 2012 Other features include Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 7.1 high- definition audio, six USB 3.0 slots, 10 USB 2.0 slots, two Intel SATA 6Gb/s and four 3Gb/s slots with RAID support, two ASMediaSATA6GB/sslots,amulti-BIOSUEFIinterface,and several buttons for easy overclocking and resetting. LG unveils world's largest OLED TV Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/lg-unveils-world-s-largest-oled- tv/14418.html January 3rd, 2012 LGwillunveila55-inchOLEDTVattheConsumerElectronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week, touting it as the largest of its kind and the “future of TV technology”. LGwillunveila55-inchOLEDTVattheConsumerElectronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week, touting it as the largest of its kind and the “future of TV technology”. The TV features a huge organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel that is only 4mm thick and weighs just 7.5kg, utilising the technology used by many smartphones at a much larger scale. With an infinite contrast ratio and speeds that are 1,000 times faster than LCD displays, it looks like OLED technology is definitely the way forward for the TV manufacturing industry. It also comes with LG's 4-Colour Pixels, adding white to the traditional RGB mix, and Colour Refiner, which enhances 1

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January 3rd, 2012 colour consistency across multiple viewing angles to improve hues and tones. LG previously released 15-inch and 31-inch OLED TV models, but those sizes won't satisfy many home entertainment enthusiasts who will want something larger than 40 inches. We can likely expect something in the 60 to 70 inch range within the next year or two, in addition to other sizes between the existing ranges. Price will be an obstacle, however, even with LG's cheaper production method. Barclays cuts Intel and other chipmakers' ratings Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/barclays-cuts-intel-and-other- chipmakers-ratings/14417.html January 3rd, 2012 Investment firm Barclays Capital has downgraded a number of semiconductor companies, including Intel, Freescale, Microchip, Applied Materials and Spansion, as demand is expected to be lower than supply for the first quarter of the year. Investment firm Barclays Capital has downgraded a number of semiconductor companies, including Intel, Freescale, Microchip, Applied Materials and Spansion, as demand is 2 Published by: VR-Zone expected to be lower than supply for the first quarter of the year. The companies saw their ratings cut from 'overweight' to 'equal weight', market lingo for Barclays' belief that these companies are no longer outperforming and are pretty much onneutralterritory,seeingnegligiblegrowthorremainingflat. "Firstquartershouldbethetroughforsemisgiventheongoing inventory correction, coupled with supply chain constraints, duetomutedenddemandvisibility,"saidCJMuse,ananalyst at Barclays, whom Reuters cited as being highly reliable. “Working closely with LG Display, we have a product which not only delivers on all the advantages of OLED over LCD but at a significantly lower cost than what could be achieved using existing OLED manufacturing technologies,” said Havis Kwon, president and CEO of LG Electronics Home Entertainment Company. “OLED is clearly the future of home TV entertainment and LG is very focused on making this exciting technology as easy as possible for consumers to embrace.” Intel cut its fourth quarter forecast last month by $1 billion, blaming the shortage of hard disk drives (HDD) for plummeting demand in the entire PC industry, but Nomura Equity Research claims there is more to Intel's revised financial outlook than the HDD problem. It was not all bad news for chipmakers, however, as Micron, LSI and Cymer were all upgraded from 'equal weight' to 'overweight'. Marketrecoveryisexpectedinthesecondhalfoftheyear,with end of year growth of five percent, followed by six to eight percent growth in 2013. ASUS to launch the second Jay Chou edition laptop N45J Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-to-launch-the-second-jay-chou- edition-laptop-n45j/14416.html January 3rd, 2012

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January 3rd, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone Last year, ASUS announced the Jay Chou Edition N43SL laptop and very soon we would see the second Taiwanese celebrity-endorsednotebookPCinthemarket.Unlikethefirst model with a piano black finish, the new laptop N45J will be white with similar artistic designs printed at the back of the display. The new design is said to be related to his upcoming album. The ASUS N45J will feature a 1600x800 resolution screen, second generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3 processor, 8GB memory, Nvidia GT555M graphics with choice of either 1GB or 2GB VRAM, SSD or hard disk storage options and Bang & Olufsen ICEpower audio technology that is found on the N45SF. Specifications would vary depending on country, although it is likely that this new laptop will be focused for the Asia market. According to sources, the ASUS N45J Jay ChoueditionlaptopisscheduledtolaunchinmidJanuarythis month. No details on the pricing yet. SmartDevices unveils SmartQ Ten2 Plus T13 9.7-inch Android tablet Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/smartdevices-unveils-smartq-ten2- plus-t13-9.7-inch-android-tablet/14415.html January 3rd, 2012 Chinese manufacturer SmartDevices has announced their new Ten2 Plus Android tablet. The tablet sports a 9.7-inch touchscreen, runs Android 2.3 and retails at an unbeatable RMB999 (approximately US$160). 3 It was about six months ago when ASUS announced the Jay Chou edition laptop N43SL, and it looks like the company is planningtolaunchasecondlaptopendorsedbytheTaiwanese celebrity. SmartDevices has recently unveiled their new SmartQ Ten2 Plus T13 Android tablet. The touchscreen is said to be similar to that of the Apple iPad - 9.7-inch capacitive, IPS panel and has a pixel resolution of 1024×768. Internally, the T13 is powered by a 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor with 512MB DDR2 RAM and 8GB built-in Flash memory. It also has a microSD card slot for expansion, and supports up to 32GB. Otherfeaturesinclude802.11b/gWi-Fi,3Gsupport,Bluetooth 2.0+EDRand2-megapixelfrontcamera.Thetabletalsocomes with a 7500mAh Lithium-ion battery and runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread.(Android4.0IceCreamSandwichissaidtobein the works). But the most impressive thing about the SmartQ Ten2PlusT13isitsincrediblepricetag;itissellingatRMB998 (or approximately US$160) which is value for what it offers. Klipsch Mode M40 headphones with active noise-cancelling, lands in Singapore Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/klipsch-mode-m40-headphones-with- active-noise-cancelling-lands-in-singapore/14414.html January 3rd, 2012 Tat Chuan Acoustic, distributor for Klipsch products in Singapore,hasannouncedtheavailabilityoftheKlipschMode M40 headphones. The stylish M40 claims to incorporate active noise-cancelling technology and provides superb quality sound for audiophiles.

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January 3rd, 2012 The Klipsch Mode M40 is said to be the company's first active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones, designed to provide superioraudioperformance.Itclaimstooffer45hoursofANC on a single triple AAA battery, which is almost double the time offered by other ANC headphone models currently in the market, as well as serves as a high-quality stereo headphone if you choose not to put in the batteries. Each of the Mode M40 lightweight ear cups are made of premium leather and a special high-density memory foam for long hours of listening comfort, and has an adjustable headband for secure fit. The M40 comes with two detachable cloth cables, with one of them having a three-button remote and built-in microphone with echo cancellation; users can make clear conversations and control the music on their iPhone, iPad or iPhone devices conveniently. Priced at S$599 (inclusive of GST), the Klipsch Mode M40 is available at all Apple Premium Resellers, and comes with a two-year warranty, AAA battery, microfiber carrying case, airline adaptor and 1/4-inch adaptor. Samsung adds a dash of Wi-Fi to new DualView camera Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-adds-a-dash-of-wi-fi-to-new- dualview-camera/14413.html January 3rd, 2012 Digitalcamerasmightverywellbeonthedecline,especiallyas Smartphones are getting better and better cameras, but that doesn't stop the camera makers from shoving more and more features into cameras. Samsung has announced an updated version of its DualView cameras and its latest model, the DV300F has gained Wi-Fi support for instant uploading of your pictures. Published by: VR-Zone Digitalcamerasmightverywellbeonthedecline,especiallyas Smartphones are getting better and better cameras, but that doesn't stop the camera makers from shoving more and more features into cameras. Samsung has announced an updated version of its DualView cameras and its latest model, the DV300F has gained Wi-Fi support for instant uploading of your pictures. Samsung is so far the only company so slap an LCD display on the front of one of its cameras for self-portraits, a clever enough idea, although we're not sure if it's taken the world by storm. To give consumers easier access to their pictures, Samsung has kitted out the new DV300F with Wi-Fi which in turn allows you to connect the camera directly to the internet and upload your pictures and videos to websites such as Facebook, Picasa and YouTube. You can also email pictures directly as well and luckily the camera appears to have some basic editing options built in. A much neater advantage that the Wi-Fi connectivity brings in our opinion is that Samsung has an auto backup feature which will upload the pictures to cloud storage services, although only Microsoft's SkyDrive and Samsung's own AllShare Play services are mentioned. In either case you would of course need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network, although hopefully a smartphone with a Wi-Fi enabled hotspot would do the job. The camera itself doesn't really stand out as such with a 16Megapixel sensor, 5x optical zoom with a 25mm wide angle lens, but it should be vastly superior to any camera equipped phone we can think of. The DV300F will come in black, silver, navy and red, although Samsung didn't announce any pricing or launch date. HP's Envy Spectre gets teaser video, almost here Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hp-s-envy-spectre-gets-teaser-video- almost-here/14412.html January 3rd, 2012 4

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January 3rd, 2012 Apart from its Folio 13 it appears that HP has a second, somewhat larger Ultrabook coming which may or may not be known as the Envy 14 Spectre. HP has released a short teaser video of something simply called the HP Spectre. Apart from its Folio 13 it appears that HP has a second, somewhat larger Ultrabook coming which may or may not be known as the Envy 14 Spectre. HP has released a short teaser video of something simply called the HP Spectre. So far next to nothing is known about the new notebook, or possibly Ultrabook as it may be and as you can see by yourself from the video below, HP doesn't exactly give away a lot of details. Some details with regards to the bottom design leaked just before Christmas, but even in that case it's not clear if it's of the actual model that will be known as the Spectre or not and by now HP has had the FCC remove even those details. It's clear that the Spectre will be a high-end product and we'd expect something out of the ordinary from HP. The only thing that seems to be agreed upon is that it should be a 14-inch notebook of some kind and that it should arrive soon, maybe even ahead of CES. We'll just have to wait and see what HP manages to conjure up, but it's about time that HP brings out a high-end ultraportable notebook. Intel's partners aren't meant to be showing off any 7- series motherboards for a few days yet, but Chinese Wibtek apparently doesn't care much for Intel's restrictions and has shownoffitsfirstZ77basedmotherboard.Forsomethingfrom a smaller Chinese motherboard maker it's actually not a half bad board, but it's not up there with the Taiwanese board makers in some areas. Published by: VR-Zone Intel's partners aren't meant to be showing off any 7- series motherboards for a few days yet, but Chinese Wibtek apparently doesn't care much for Intel's restrictions and has shownoffitsfirstZ77basedmotherboard.Forsomethingfrom a smaller Chinese motherboard maker it's actually not a half bad board, but it's not up there with the Taiwanese board makers in some areas. The pictures got posted on Expreview and they're not exactly high-resolution, but plenty of details can be seen nonetheless. The board is called the Hacker Z77 and apparently Wibtek has jumped on-board the whole gun heatsink theme, albeit in a little bit more discrete way. The heatsink is meant to be of a “deserteagle”design,althoughitlooksmorelikesomeraygun from a Sci-Fi movie to us. Heatsink design apart, Wibtek has gone for a black on dark brown PCB in terms of slot and PCB colours and everything looks quite well polished. The board has 16 power phases for the CPU, although the CPU socket area is quite crowded due in part to the large heatsink. The slot configuration consists of a pair of x16 slots where the second slot operates in x8 mode, a pair of x1 PCI Express slots and two PCI slots. There's also a half-size mini PCI Express slot located at the rear of the board which will accept a Wi-Fi card or similar. There are no less than 10 SATA ports in total, sixofthemSATA6Gbps(fourviatwoMarvellcontrollers)and four are thus SATA 3Gbps. Wibtek first to show off alleged Z77 motherboard Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/wibtek-first-to-show-off-alleged-z77- motherboard/14411.html January 3rd, 2012 Around the back of the board we find six USB 3.0 ports of whichfourshouldbenativeportstotheZ77chipset,aFireWire port,aGigabitEthernetport,7.1-channelaudiowithopticalS/ PDIF out, an HDMI, DVI and D-sub connector and something else that we didn't manage to identify above the first pair of USB 3.0 ports. The additional USB 3.0 ports appear to be courtesy of a VLI host controller and there are pin headers for whatappearstobefourfrontUSB3.0portsaswellasfourUSB 5

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January 3rd, 2012 2.0 ports and a FireWire port. The board also has power, reset and clear CMOS button located at the front. of-dollars-and-reduce-carbon-emissions-/14409.html January 3rd, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone emissions, only remains to be seen (since there are no reliable data on carbon emissions from datacenters). Enter Asetek. The company known for its legendary VapoChill phase-changesystemandtheLCLC(LowCostLiquidCooling) OEM design that today ships in numerous computers such as HP Z800 workstations or retail products such as Corsair H series, Antec Kuhler and many more is now entering the enterprise segment. In order to satisfy the needs and worries of the datacenter designers the company launched not one but three liquid cooling products. There are markings on the board suggesting SLI and CoressFireX support and with the right CPU the board should support PCI Express 3.0. We should be seeing more 7-series motherboards at CES next week and hopefully we'll see somethingabitmoreexcitingthantheHacker77,eventhough on a whole it's not a terrible board. Hit up the source for a few additional pictures. Can Asetek's Technology Save Billions of Dollars and Reduce Carbon Emissions? Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/can-asetek-s-technology-save-billions- First and foremost, Asetek now offers closed liquid cooling for single 1U rackable server, including cooling for both CPU and the GPU, as demonstrated on Supermicro GPU server. Named Internal Loop Liquid Cooling (ILLC) , Asetek created a compact radiator cooled by eight low profile fans. This design does not require any adjustments to the datacenter, so it can be retrofit into any server environment. Asetek launched their concept of liquid cooling for high density servers to be used in datacenters. The idea of server liquid cooling in datacenters is as old as the datacenter itself, but this time we're approaching the tipping point. Every time we mention liquid cooling in datacenters, there is a string of skepticism about the durability of hardware and alleged danger of leaks. Atthesametime, server hardwareisthecheapestinvestment from the whole datacenter budget sheet, since building a cooling system will eat up 40% of total build cost. Furthermore, largest portion of the monthly power bill will come from running the cooling subsystem. How big is this cost? Well, thanks to air cooling the server CPUs and GPUs, datacenters are now single largest consumer of electricity in the United States, with the situation not being exactly "great" in other countries around the globe. What this does to carbon 6

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January 3rd, 2012 If you are designing a new datacenter or remodeling the old one, Rack CDU (RCDU, Coolant Distribution Unit) is a multistagesystemwhicheitherconnectshigh-performance1U and 2U servers with the delivery of fresh coolant to be chilled by the rack itself, or by using additional blade chassis system called Sealed Server Liquid Cooling (SSLC). The Sealed Server Liquid Cooling blade chassis fits 10 blades with quad-socket motherboards. Since liquid cooling is much more efficient than air, you can forget about the common 95W Published by: VR-Zone All of this solutions mean only one thing - death to the power consumer of the datacenter, CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioning). Liquid cooling significantly reduces the current need for heavy investing in the cooling infrastructure, leavingroomforsignificantcomputingdensityimprovements. When it comes to redundancy, it is interesting to know that liquid cooling actually continues to work even if fans fail (most common situation for server technicians). Back to 2003, I started to experiment with liquid cooling for the first time, using components from German Innovatek AG. One of things that I forgot was to switch two 120mm fans on, so the system worked for three months (throughout the whole summer) without the active exchange of heat. Yet, Pentium 4 2.4@3.3GHz and two liquid cooled Gainward GeForce FX 5900 boards operated at 60C without hassle. Once this "genius" figured the fans were off, the temperature dropped to 32C for the CPU and 42C for the GPUs. You all remember the temperatures on those parts if they were air cooled. If you're a computer enthusiast, and run liquid cooling for as long as you can remember - today is the day to celebrate - since you were right. Liquid cooling is better than air, and now enterprise management can select best performing cooling solutions for the datacenter. Asus Eee Pad 7-inch tablet expected at CES Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-eee-pad-7-inch-tablet-expected- at-ces/14410.html January 3rd, 2012 TDP limitation for the Blade CPUs and go with fully fledged 130W, 150W TDP processors in the same space, increasing the computing power density by up to 58.7%, as calculated by Asetek. Back at CES last year, Asus showed off a device called the Eee Pad MeMo which later got a 3D suffix tucked onto its name at Computex, however the device itself never made a retail appearance. Now rumour has it that Asus will be launching it, or rather a pair of reworked versions of it at CES. Back at CES last year, Asus showed off a device called the Eee Pad MeMo which later got a 3D suffix tucked onto its name at Computex, however the device itself never made a retail appearance. Now rumour has it that Asus will be launching it, or rather a pair of reworked versions of it at CES. Notebook Italia has not only managed to dig out some brief specifications, but also a picture of what is said to possibly be the new device. We're still looking at a 7-inch display and we can apparently expect a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. The source claims that there will be a 3D and a non 3D version of what might still be known as the Eee Pad MeMo. 7

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January 3rd, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone something of a track record when it comes to Asus leaks and their authenticity. It's not long to wait, so we'll just have to see what happens next week. WebOS developers say HP TouchPad was doomed from start Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/webos-developers-say-hp-touchpad- was-doomed-from-start/14408.html January 3rd, 2012 Developers who worked on WebOS have revealed that HP's rival to Apple's iPad, the TouchPad, was doomed from the start, thanks to a number of design flaws. Developers who worked on WebOS have revealed that HP's rival to Apple's iPad, the TouchPad, was doomed from the start, thanks to a number of design flaws. Paul Mercer, the former senior director of software at Palm, which HP acquired for $1.2 billion in 2010, said that his companywasaheadofitstimeandjustwasnotabletoachieve the ambitious outcome it aimed for with the mobile operating system. According to Mercer, who previously worked on a number of Apple products, one of the fatal mistakes of WebOS was its reliance on the open-source software engine WebKit, which ultimately slowed down apps, making it less appealing to opt for WebOS over faster rivals like iOS and Android. An unnamed former member of the WebOS app development team said the main problem was not WebOS itself, but a leadership and engineering failure to secure outside programmers to develop apps for it. The processors is rumoured to be a 1.2GHz Qualcomm chip anditshouldbepairedwith16to64GBofflashmemory.Other features include Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, although this is hardly surprising. Apparently we can look forward to a 7-inch Transformertabletaswell(ofwhichthepicturecouldbeof),at least if we're to believe Notebook Italia, although the site has Another issue was the numerous shortcuts taken over the nine month development period it took to give life to WebOS, including leaving app development kits until the last minute, whichwerethenoverhauledtwice,whichmeantprogrammers hadtorelearnhowtomakeappsfortheplatformseveraltimes. Other problems included a lack of staff to appropriately deal with such a large-scale project, with particular difficulties finding programmers who really understood WebKit. This shortage led to a situation where the initial launch was achieved, but updates and bug fixes could not be developed at a quick enough pace. When HP bought Palm many of the core team left, leaving the company with an even bigger manpower problem on its hands. Given these blunders with the software it is no surprise that the TouchPad failed to compete with Apple and Google based products. Mercer said that as long as WebOS depends on WebKit it will continue to linger far behind its rivals. Google's Chrome browser to overtake Internet Explorer this year Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-s-chrome-browser-to-overtake- internet-explorer-this-year/14407.html January 3rd, 2012 Google's Chrome web browser will overtake Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) this year, becoming the most used browser across the world, according to figures by StatCounter. 8

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January 3rd, 2012 Google's Chrome web browser will overtake Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) this year, becoming the most used browser across the world, according to figures by StatCounter. Currently Chrome has a market share of 27 percent, putting it in second place behind IE, which still rules a healthy 38 percent of the industry. By June or July of 2012, however, Chrome is expected to outgrow Microsoft's former glory. This will be particularly bad considering the year Chrome launched in, 2008, saw IE dominate the market with a 70 percent market share. Mozilla'sFirefox,whichwasoncethemostpopularalternative to IE, has dropped more than five percent since last year to 25.27 percent, putting it in third place behind Chrome. The remaining web browsers are significantly behind the others, with Safari gaining a small increase from 4.79 percent tooversixpercent,andOperacominginfifthplacewithnearly two percent. Thefiguresshowhowquicklyandeasilythemarketcanchange when new competition enters, especially if the established companies fail to adapt and push out better products. AMD Radeon HD 7970 Tri-Fire Results Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-radeon-hd-7970-tri-fire- results/14406.html January 3rd, 2012 We are still missing one card for quadfire (Kim Jong-un aides probably hijacked the package for his Christmas present), but till then, here are some 3-way Crossfire results... Test Setup: As the software voltage tool we used for our 1.26GHz core overclock yesterday didn't work with multiple cards, we clocked all the cards to 1100Mhz on the core and 1500Mhz on 9 Published by: VR-Zone thememory.WealsoflashedtheR4E'slatest0001bios,which has further PCIe 3.0 signal tweaks for the HD7970. Results: 3DMark 11 v1.03 Performance Preset (single card scores P9532) 3DMark 11 v1.03 Extreme Preset (single card scores X3219)

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January 3rd, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone Computemark (single card scores 6951) Unigine Heaven 2.5 (single card scores 78.3fps) Battlefield 3 (DX11) 1080p Ultra Preset Going Hunting Single Player Level Fraps Runthrough Verdict: With such stellar performance already on 3 cards, we really can't wait for our 4th card to arrive and extended voltage options to be available for multiple cards! A quick check on our power meter showed around 900W power usage while in Battlefield 3 (quite the GPU waller) - which again outclasses previous generation cards. AMD have really shut the door on its competitiors this time... AMD Postpones Radeon HD 7950 Until February Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-postpones-radeon-hd-7950-until- february/14404.html 10

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January 3rd, 2012 January 3rd, 2012 When AMD pushed the introduction of the Radeon HD 7970 from January 9, 2012 to December 22, 2011, the only that actually launched were the reviews by selected press. Now, AMD is making sure the same thing does not happen with 7950. By all standards, the introduction of Southern Islands GPU architecture is proving to be a success: the first card, Radeon HD 7970 launched on December 22, 2011 with the worldwide availability coming next week (on the original launch date: January 9, 2012). However, while the Radeon HD 7970 is delighting us with the performance achieved and fantastic overclocks on air (we cannot wait to see the water-blocks and LN2 cooling results), this was the first paper launch in ages. For reasons unknown, AMDintroducedthepartwithoutactualhardwareavailability. Knowing that this came from the company that openly criticizeditscompetitorsinthepastfordoingso,wewondered is AMD planning another paper launch in the form of value part, the Radeon HD 7950. Not anymore: according to an e-mail from AMD , the company is making sure that Radeon HD 7950 launches on the same date as the retail availability, which is 1st week of February. That's right, no 7950 coming on January 9, 2012. In a way, this is an appropriate delay as well since NVIDIA is widely expected to introduce its GK104, its first part based on 28nm Kepler architecture in the last week of January or in early February. From the looks of it, even though we're still going through the hangover of New Years' party, 2012 is looking even more exciting on the GPU front. It looks like 28nm process from TSMC is nothing short of brilliant. Quick Look: Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/quick-look-sound-blaster-recon3d- fatal1ty-professional/14401.html January 3rd, 2012 Almost three months ago back in September of 2011, Creative announced their Sound Core3D™ "quad core" chipset, and it has since featured in their latest gaming focused sound cards and headsets as well as on motherboards like the ASRock X79 Extreme9. We got the Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional PCIe sound card in our labs today to see if it pleases the audiophilles or the hardcore gamer groups. Published by: VR-Zone Front of Box - one of the nicer boxes around Back of Box - Jonathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel's face only appears once here and his endorsement message. We also noticed an alarming lack of any technical specs like DAC/ADC SNR rating or sample rate/resolution - which even Taiwanese motherboard makers are eager to boast about on their Realtek based implementations. Quick Start leaflet and Driver CD Beamforming Microphone Array 11

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January 3rd, 2012 TheCard-Metalhousingwithaplasticwindow.UsesaPCIex1 interface, which is good as legacy PCI slots are almost extinct Hackers to build satellites to combat internet censorship Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hackers-to-build-satellites-to-combat- internet-censorship/14405.html January 3rd, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone Hackers are working on sending their own satellites into orbit aroundtheEarthaspartofanefforttocombattherisingthreat ofinternetcensorship,andarealsoplanningtoputanamateur astronaut on the moon. Hackers are working on sending their own satellites into orbit aroundtheEarthaspartofanefforttocombattherisingthreat of internet censorship. The Hackerspace Global Grid was revealed at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin. The proposals include developing and launching satellites in addition to a grid of ground stations for tracking them. The idea is to have the ground stations built by individuals or small groups, dividing the cost and control. "The first goal is an uncensorable internet in space. Let's take the internet out of the control of terrestrial entities," said hacktivistNickFarr,whoputoutacallforcontributionstothe project in August. The major obstacle to this endeavour is funding. Hobbyists have previously managed to get small satellites into orbit, but they are usually unreliable and difficult to track, which would be no good for the internet. Other obstacles include the technical difficulties of low-orbit versus geostationary satellites and the potential for governments to interfere with and disable satellites. Colour coded outputs for 5.1 audio, 600ohm amped headphone jack and TOSLINK Optical In/Out ports Three prototype ground stations are being planned for the first half of 2012. The group also hopes to give away working models at the next Chaos Communication Congress, with the aim to keep ground station costs around €100, making it affordable for many people to participate in this space project. The hackers suggested they would even like to put an amateur astronaut on the moon within the next 23 years, though how feasible this is remains in question, particularly given the technical andmonetary barriers, as wellas the potential safety threat. 12

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January 3rd, 2012 The idea of making space open to more than just government agencies is an interesting and welcome thought, however, and could pave the way to some of humanity's greatest triumphs and discoveries. Haswell graphics expectations: A quantum leap or just another small step forward? Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/haswell-graphics-expectations-a- quantum-leap-or-just-another-small-step-forward-/14399.html January 3rd, 2012 AstheIvyBridgeprocessorsfromIntelcomesoutfourmonths from now, its graphics, with reportedly double the Sandy BridgeGPUperformance,wouldhaveanimpactonentrylevel discrete GPUs. Will Haswell continue with the same major performance jump, or just some moderate improvements? By now, we know that Ivy Bridge graphics, integrated in the CPU, will be quite a refresh compared to the current Sandy Bridgecapabilities.Theperformance,DX11compatibility,and high resolution multi-display capability should satisfy most mainstream users' needs, somewhat reducing the entry-level discrete GPU market at that point. A year later, in early 2013, the next generation Haswell platform should see the light of the day, again first in the mainstream PC and mobile arena. Haswell will again include grapghics enhancements, but how far are those likely to go? HerewesharesomeinsightsonthegraphicssideofIntel'snext major X86 PC microarchitecture revision. Published by: VR-Zone The 'Generation 7.5' graphics core in Haswell is, as the naming convention hints, a 'point upgrade' of the seventh generation Ivy Bridge graphics engine. Up to 20 execution units, each 128 bits wide, are to be supported, and these are supposedly enhanced with a new GPU compute architecture. The other major additions include a new internal GPU cache, hierarchical Z, as well as improved encode & decode pipelines for more hardware formats. Averyinterestingproductivityenhancementistheprocessor's ability to simultaneously manage external display connection both by its own integrated graphics and the external PCIe GPU over up to two displays, avoiding the need for external switching hardware. How about the performance? It seems that the initial performance expectations aren't that high - compared to each matching Ivy Bridge graphics level, we're talking of maybe 20% average performance improvement. Two possible explanations come to mind, one being that Intel team is happy enough with the Ivy Bridge graphics speed-up, and focuses instead on features and power saving in Haswell (remember the power-focus on Haswell from their IDF keynote?), while the other one is that the actual speed-up is to be way higher, especially in the high-graphics GT3 version, and that future driver improvements should help as well. We'll look more into the possible additional features and capabilities expected from Haswell generation graphics over time,howeverwealsohavetokeepinmindthatgraphicsisone capability where AMD has very strong credentials, including integrating it on the CPU. If, say, Llano graphics is roughly 2x that of Sandy Bridge (i.e. similar performance as Ivy Bridge), yet Haswell is another 20% or 70%, depending on the version, that would roughly match the performance of AMD 'Trinity' graphics, which is, however, due much earlier - at about the same time as the Ivy Bridge itself. On the other hand, AMD is unlikely to have a Fusion integration with a Bulldozer follow-on on the high end desktop yet by early 2013, so the only competition that would beat Haswell at the time in the GPU department is another mainstream follow-on to 'Trinity', maybe in 20 nm GloFo process? AMD Radeon HD 7970 Voltage Mod - 1.26GHz flying on air Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-radeon-hd-7970-voltage- mod--1.26ghz-flying-on-air/14398.html January 3rd, 2012 One week ago, Santa Claus brought us the red themed AMD Radeon HD 7970, which practically smoked previous generation cards and showed great overclocking headroom. 13

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January 3rd, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone Test Setup: For our first feature in 2012, we sacrificed our holiday weekend to bring you an exclusive look at some benchmark results achieved with a slight voltage bump and core clocks raised to nearly 1.26GHz. Stay tuned also for our record breaking 4-way Crossfire tests which should be done this upcoming week! Update: "Lousy" Furmark Results (settings: http://imgur.com/WAuyP) spotted by sharp eyed viewers - even on the other benchies and BF3 (which walls the CPU to 99%), didn't see the temps go above the magical 66 degrees (toasty Singapore ambient), measured by onboard i2c sensor and ma fingers. If you recall our Radeon HD 7970 reference board review not toolongago,wegotourcardtooverclockto1125MHzcoreand 1500Mhz memory, limited by a bios controlled clock ceiling and lack of voltage mod tools. Things changed on this New Year's weekend though... With core voltage bumped from 1.15v to 1.25v using publicly available software and a special bios (9th Jan reveal), we got the core clock speed up to 1267MHz At 100% fan speed and overvolted, the GPU temps were still only a lukewarm 66 degrees celcius - which implies that the reference cooling solution could probably handle a lot more voltage Update 2/1/12: These were the latest Furmark 1.9.2 Xtreme burn-in settings used ( http://imgur.com/WAuyP ) - different card but same settings. Even on the other benchies and BF3 (which walls the CPU to 99%), didn't see the temps go above the magical 66 degrees (toasty Singapore ambient), measured by onboard i2c sensor and ma fingers. 3DMark 11 1.03 Performance Preset (stock is P8227) 14

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January 3rd, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone Unigine Heaven 2.5 (stock is 69.6fps) ComputeMark (stock is 5920 marks) 3DMark 11 1.03 Extreme Preset (stock is X2764) The28nmprocessandnewGCNarchitecturehavereallydone wonders for the performance and frequency headroom (VR- Zone Legend Shamino has achieved way better - 1.7GHz+ on LN2 ). Considering that the the temperatures were still in the 60s on full load, we simply can't wait for the software controlled voltage ceiling (currently 1.25v on the software we used) to be raised to push our clocks higher!. If you have a 7970 and good soldering skills, visit Shamino's Lair at kingpincooling forums for his guide on the HD 7970 measuring points and hardware vmods. STAY TUNED FOR OUR POTENTIALLY RECORD BREAKING HD7970 4-WAY CROSSFIRE FEATURE THIS UPCOMING WEEK! Collins Dictionary now available online Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/collins-dictionary-now-available- online/14396.html January 3rd, 2012 Famous English dictionary by Collins is now avaliable online. The new beta website is designed to facilitate your referencingneeds.Updatesareonthewaytoexpandtherange of definitions and translated languages. Collins English Dictionary is the first dictionary to publish their contents online. Previously available with a major publisher, the beta website allows user to search for words to match some 120,000 entries available for free, including a list of possible leads for misspelled words. It supports 15

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January 3rd, 2012 translations to French, German and Spanish, available via the tabs above the entry field. With an expanding range of the word definitions, the online dictionary will be adding another 100,000 entries by March, along with translations to 35 different languages. For a year and a half, the Scotland- based team had been preparing the online publication. Head of digital at HarperCollins, Alex Brown, said: “We’ve brought togetherthewebdesigners’creativitywithourownexperience of language and how it’s used to create a really nice, user friendly but sharply designed website.” Sapphire Readies HD 7970 with 1335 MHz GPU Clock Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sapphire-readies-hd-7970-with-1335- mhz-gpu-clock/14397.html January 3rd, 2012 WetendtobeskepticalaboutAMDorNVIDIAclaimingstellar overclocking capabilities of their upcoming GPUs, but this time, it seems AMD wasn't playing the same old PR games. Sapphireisreadyinganon-referencedesignHD7970graphics cardthat boasts of 1335 MHz GPU clockspeed. Out of the box! You read that right, 1335 MHz GPU core clock speed, out of the box! A leaked company document belonging to AMD's biggestadd-inboard(AIB)partner,Sapphire,discloseddetails such as clock-speeds, of pretty much every non-reference design Radeon HD 7970 graphics card that company has, in the works. These include Sapphire's using brand markers - Atomic, Toxic, FLEX, Vapor, and Dual-Fan. The cards that caught our eyes are "Atomic RX" and "Atomic WC". Published by: VR-Zone Both "Atomic RX" and "Atomic WC" have the same exact clock speeds - 1335 MHz core, 5735 MHz (1433 MHz actual) memory. The "Atomic RX" could be an air-cooled model, while the "Atomic WC" could be a liquid-cooled one. Sapphire will most likely use a closed-loop, pre-fitted water-cooling solution. Other variants include Toxic 3G, with 1125 MHz core, 5600 MHz (1400 MHz actual) memory; FLEX 6G, with a flexible display output configuration of six mini-DisplayPort connectors, AMD reference clock speeds of 925/5500 MHz (core/memoryeffective),butwithawhopping6GBofmemory on board; VaporX 3G with 1010/5500 MHz (core/memory effective),Dual-Fan3G,withacost-effectivedouble-fancooler and AMD reference speeds; and "Da Original", which is the vanilla card that sticks completely to AMD reference board design. Boy, are we excited. Intel to offer seventh mobile 7- series chipset Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/intel-to-offer-seventh-mobile-7-series- chipset/14395.html January 3rd, 2012 16

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January 3rd, 2012 Quite unexpectedly we got our hands on details of a seventh mobile chipset for Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processors, a model that has us wondering what Intel is playing at. The chipset appears to be another budget model, yet it offers some additional features compared to chipsets with higher model numbers. Quite unexpectedly we got our hands on details of a seventh mobile chipset for Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processors, a model that has us wondering what Intel is playing at. The chipset appears to be another budget model, yet it offers some additional features compared to chipsets with higher model numbers. The chipset in question is the HM70 and it appears to be something of a request from OEMs as it's something of a mix between the UM77 and the HM75. For starters it only has four lanes of PCI Express 2.0, the same as the UM77 chipset, yet it has support for two USB 3.0 ports, a feature lacking entirely from the HM75. That said, it still only has half the USB 3.0 ports of the other 7-series chipsets. Intel has also cut the total number of USB 2.0 ports down to a mere six, again the same as the UM77 chipset. As we move down the feature list we find that the HM70 only sports four SATA ports of which only one is SATA 6Gbps, once more mimicking the UM77. However, there's no support for RAID or Smart Response, something it shares with the HM75 and HM76. Almost other features are present though with the exception of Anti-Theft technology and the ones intended for corporate and business notebooks. We're not sure why Intel would do a chipset without support for its Anti-Theft technology as this seems rather backwards. Whatwedon'tknowifpackagesizeorcost,butwe'dguessthat we're looking at pricing similar to the HM75, so somewhere around the US$40 mark. A very peculiar addition indeed, but a chipset we have a feeling we'll be seeing in a lot more notebooks than the HM75, despite its omissions as we have a feeling that USB 3.0 will be a more appealing selling point Published by: VR-Zone for the notebook makers than Anti-Theft technology and additional SATA ports and PCI Express lanes. Elpida samples 4Gbit Wide IO Mobile RAM Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/elpida-samples-4gbit-wide-io-mobile- ram/14394.html January 3rd, 2012 2012 is so far looking like it'll be a great year for mobile devices with plenty of quad core ARM implementations arriving, higher resolution screens expected, faster flash storage memory at ever increasing capacities and now, super- fast, low power memory, at least if Elpida has anything to do with it. The company has announced that it has started to ship samples of its new Wide IO Mobile RAM as well as its Mobile DDR3 RAM in 4Gbit capacities. 2012 is so far looking like it'll be a great year for mobile devices with plenty of quad core ARM implementations arriving, higher resolution screens expected, faster flash storage memory at ever increasing capacities and now, super- fast, low power memory, at least if Elpida has anything to do with it. The company has announced that it has started to ship samples of its new Wide IO Mobile RAM as well as its Mobile DDR3 RAM in 4Gbit capacities. Let's start with the Mobile DDR3 or LPDDR3 as it's also known as (not to be confused with Low Voltage DDR3) which is the next generation of "standard" DRAM to be used in mobile devices and it's a simple evolution from LPDDR2. We're looking at a doubling in the data rate from 800MHz to 1600MHz, or from 3.2GB/s to 6.4GB/s if you prefer. LPDDR3 still uses a fairly narrow 32-bit bus and it will be available in sizes of 512, 1024 and 2048MB down the line, although initial sample shipments will be 512MB. LPDDR3 can of course be configured in dual-channel which effectively doubles the bandwidth and this is something we'd expect to see in some high-end tablets where PCB space restrictions aren't as much of a concern as they are in smartphones. So what about Wide IO Mobile RAM? Well, as the name suggests it has a much wider bus than regular DRAM, in fact its 512-bit wide, that's 16 times wider than that of LPDDR3 in single channel mode. However, the operating speed is a mere 200MHz,butthankstothewideinterfacedatatransferspeeds still hit 12.8GB/s. Elpida claims that the vastly lower clock speed of Wide IO Mobile RAM allows for up to a 50 percent power saving compared to today's LPDDR2. Just as with its LPDDR3, we'll see capacities of 512, 1024 and 2048MB, but with initial shipments being limited to 512MB modules. The interesting thing here will be once clock speeds increase, as even fairly minor increases in the speed of Wide IO Mobile RAM (they really need to come up with a catchier name though) should result in big performance improvements. Hopefully we'll see a widespread adoption of Wide IO Mobile RAM, but it's not clear how easy it is to add support for it for 17

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January 3rd, 2012 the SoC manufacturers, but it's clear that it would require a different memory interface than what is widely used today. Lenovo gives us a sneak peek of its upcoming IdeaPad S110 Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/lenovo-gives-us-a-sneak-peek-of-its- upcoming-ideapad-s110/14393.html January 3rd, 2012 If a teaser video posted by Lenovo on YouTube is anything to go by, Lenovo should be one of the first companies to launch a Cedar Trail-M netbook, although Lenovo seems to have ditched the term netbook in favour of "mini notebook". The IdeaPad S110 should feature the new Atom N2600 processor as well as a few other additions that most netbooks don't have. If a teaser video posted by Lenovo on YouTube is anything to go by, Lenovo should be one of the first companies to launch a Cedar Trail-M netbook, although Lenovo seems to have ditched the term netbook in favour of "mini notebook". The IdeaPad S110 should feature the new Atom N2600 processor as well as a few other additions that most netbooks don't have. The video gives away the fact that the IdeaPad S110 will come inachoiceofred,blue,whiteorblack.Ithasa10.1-inchscreen, but this is apparently an HD resolution screen, although by this we presume Lenovo means 1366x768 at the most. It also comes with an optional 720p webcam, USB 3.0 connectivity, Wi-Fi and optional 3G connectivity. A few other features were also dug out thanks to some helpful online retailers that have already listed the IdeaPad S110 for sale and as such we know we can expect 1GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive as standard. A bit sting in our opinion especially considering how cheap RAM is these days, but typicalforanetbook.LenovoalsoclaimsthattheIdeaPadS110 weighs in at 1.15kg and measures in at 16mm thick/thin and that it comes with "long battery life for extended use" without going into any details. We managed to dig up some official pricing and at least in Canada the list price excluding tax is CAD$299.99 (S$382) whichisn'tterrible,butoneshouldtakeintoconsiderationthat Intel is offering its Cedar Trail Atom processors at a much more affordable price than the previous generation with an Atom N2600 having an Intel list price of a mere US$42 which should be compared to US$86 for either of the Atom N550 or N570,aUS$46pricedifferencethatwouldbedirectlyreflected in the price of the actual device. Asus to launch Atom D2500 mini-ITX motherboard Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-to-launch-atom-d2500-mini-itx- motherboard/14392.html 18 Published by: VR-Zone January 3rd, 2012 We've managed to dig out a few details of an upcoming mini- ITX motherboard from Asus featuring Intel's Atom D2500 processor and although this isn't the most exciting platform in the world, Asus has created something a little bit different. In fact,anyonelookingatbuildingahomeserverwithsomefancy features might just want to consider this board. We've managed to dig out a few details of an upcoming mini- ITX motherboard from Asus featuring Intel's Atom D2500 processor and although this isn't the most exciting platform in the world, Asus has created something a little bit different. In fact,anyonelookingatbuildingahomeserverwithsomefancy features might just want to consider this board. The model name is D25NM10-I/CSM and it's quite different from the boards we've seen from ASRock, as Asus is targeting quite a different market segment. In reality this ought to be an industrial PC motherboard judging by the fact that it has an LVDSconnector,fiveserialports(ofwhichtwoareRS422/485 compatible)andevenapinheaderforaparallelport.However, AsushasalsoincludedaPCIExpressx1andaminiPCIExpress expansion slot, a DVI port and a pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports making this an interesting solution for a home server. Other features include an on-board DC-DC converter, 5.1- channel audio, a pair of SATA ports, a total of eight USB 2.0 ports (four via two headers), a PS/2 port, a D-sub connector and a pin header for S/PDIF out. Sadly we don't have a picture of the board, but we can imagine it being a fairly cramped board considering the amount of features Asus has squeezed in. Intel has finally allowed for up to 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 RAM to be supported by its Atom processors and this further makes this a decent little server board. The CPU is passively cooled and with an external power adapter there's no noise from the PSU either. The only limitationasfarasaserverisconcernedisthetwoSATAports, butatleastaPCIExpressRAIDcardcouldbeconnectedtothe PCI Express slot if need be. The question is how much Asus is planning on charging for this board, as we have a feeling it'll be quite expensive due to all the industrial PC features, but we might be wrong here. No word on when it'll be available, but we'd expect it to arrive shortly.

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Published by: VR-Zone January 5th, 2012 VR-Zone.com | Stuff for the Geeks! VR-Zone | Stuff for the Geeks is a bi-weekly publication covering the latest gadgets and stuff for the geeks. SATA-IO announces DevSleep for reduced power draw of SATA devices Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sata-io-announces-devsleep-for- reduced-power-draw-of-sata-devices/14451.html January 5th, 2012 We seem to be living in the age of power frugality when it comes to mobile computing devices and although this is by no meansabadthinginmostcases,we'restartingtowonderifthe technology companies aren't looking in the wrong direction sometimes. Now the SATA-IO is the latest organization to join with a new power saving feature called DevSleep which is meant to help reduce the power of SATA devices. We seem to be living in the age of power frugality when it comes to mobile computing devices and although this is by no meansabadthinginmostcases,we'restartingtowonderifthe technology companies aren't looking in the wrong direction sometimes. Now the SATA-IO is the latest organization to join with a new power saving feature called DevSleep which is meant to help reduce the power of SATA devices. According to Microsoft and Intel the two most power hungry devices in a notebook is the hard drive and the display and it's clearthattheSATA-IOistryingtoaddressthefirstoneofthese twocategories.WhatDevSleepenablesistheabilityforaSATA devicesuchasanSSDorharddrivetomoreorlesspoweritself off entirely when not in use. This is quite different from the various slumber modes currently available for SATA devices. One problem with DevSleep is that new device and host controllers would need to be made that supports DevSleep, as the PHY and other parts of the storage device would be completely powered off when the device is in DevSleep mode. In DevSleep mode a SATA device is meant to draw less than 5mW, yet have a response time of less than 20ms. This is a lot quicker than resuming a notebook from standby and should equate to a similar power draw. A SATA device today would draw in the region of 50-100mW in its lowest slumber mode, yetstilltake10mstorespond,sothetrade-offhereisverysmall in terms of what the user would notice in terms of delay, yet big in terms of power saved. An added bonus is that the host controller PHY would also be powereddown,savingfurtherpower.Theproblemhereisthat it wouldn't work with today's SATA controller, as a DevSleep side-band signal would be needed to allow the host and device to communicate as to when to go to sleep and when to wake up. As such it's not likely that we'll see DevSleep support in anySATAdevicesthisyear,althoughtheinformationprovided by the SATA-IO doesn't really explain what is needed to add the extra side-band signalling, so it's entirely possible that this is a very minor addition that could easily be implemented in current SATA hardware. Google drops Intel in favour of ARM for Google TV Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-drops-intel-in-favour-of-arm- for-google-tv/14450.html January 5th, 2012 In a surprise to no-one move, Google or rather Marvell has come clean on the fact that Google TV will be moving away from Intel and onto ARM. The first new Google TV boxes should be based on the Marvell Armada 1500 HD media SoC and should make a debut at CES next week. In a surprise to no-one move, Google or rather Marvell has come clean on the fact that Google TV will be moving away from Intel and onto ARM. The first new Google TV boxes should be based on the Marvell Armada 1500 HD media SoC and should make a debut at CES next week. The Armada 1500 (also known as the 88DE3100) is a brand new SoC from Marvell and an up to date version of the older Armada 1000, a chip that found its way into some Blu-ray playersamongotherthings.TheArmada1500sportsacustom PJ4B dual core ARM v6/7 processor designed by Marvell which is said to be Cortex-A9 compatible. Marvell claims 2.61 DMIPS per MHz per core, somewhat faster than the 2.5 DMIPS for a standard Cortex-A9 implementation. According to the spec sheet, each core is clocked at 1.2GHz which gives us a performance of just over 6200 DMIPS. Marvell has also included Neon support and support for Intel WMMX in the Armada 1500. Marvellhasalsoaddeda3DgraphicscoretotheArmada1500, althoughthisisnotanin-housedesign,asMarvellhaslicensed the GC1000 from Vivante. According to Anandtech this is an OpenGL-ES 1.1/2.0 port with a core clock of 750MHz, but 1

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January 5th, 2012 the details are fairly thin with regards to how this GPU core compares to that seen in other Cortex-A9 SoC's. Marvell has of course also included its own Qdeo post processing engine withsupportsper-pixel3Dnoisereductionandde-interlacing, scaling and a wide range of other post processing features. Other hardware features include support for 32-bit DDR3 800MHz memory, support for various types of Flash memory, HDMI 1.4 support, SATA 3.0 (we're not sure if Marvell refers to 3Gbps or 6Gbps here), 10/100Mbit Ethernet, SDIO, USB 2.0 connectivity and interestingly support for digital video input. In the latter case it seems like Marvell is hoping for its Armada 1500 to end up in some TVs and as such it would need to have HDMI inputs, although it will be interesting to see if anyone will create a device that will allow for recording from the digital input. Marvell has also included support for a ton of codecs in its VMeta video engine and it can decode two streams at once. It handles just about every format out there including High ProfileH.264,VC-1Advancedprofile,DivX-HD,VP6/8inHD, Real Video 9/10 up to 1080p and a bunch of other formats. We should point out that there's support for Blu-ray 3D video, although we don't expect this to be a feature of any new Google TV products, but it should as such also handle 3D TV broadcasts. On the audio side of things the Armada 1500 will handle multi-channel Dolby and DTS up to 7.1-channels. Beyond Google TV, Marvell is also claiming support for Android and various Linux operating systems. The planned implementations are as we've mentioned Google TV, smart TVs, set top boxes of various kinds, Blu-ray players and all kindsofmediaplayers.Marvellappearstohaveawellfeatured solution here, albeit maybe not quite as flexible as an x86 setup,butvastlycheaper.Marvell'sowndemosystemthatyou can see pictured above might not look that impressive, but remember that this isn't what Google's partners' products will looklike.TimewilltellofGoogleTV2.0willbeasuccessornot, but if the price can be brought down to something much more reasonable than the first generation hardware and if Google canputtogetherslightlybettersoftware,thenweseenoreason bar that of Google being shut out by the content providers that the new Google TV boxes shouldn't be a success. Swedish file-sharing group recognised as a religion Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/swedish-file-sharing-group-recognised- as-a-religion/14449.html January 5th, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone A file-sharing organisation has gained official recognition in Sweden as a religion, an unusual move that could have repercussions on the debate about the illegal downloading of files. A file-sharing organisation has gained official recognition in Sweden as a religion, an unusual move that could have repercussions on the debate about the illegal downloading of files. The Church of Kopimism considers “kopyacting”, or file- sharing, to be a religious service, despite most people seeing it as little more than a digital act. Kopimism gained recognition as a religion just before Christmas after applying three times to the Swedish government agency Kammarkollegiet. Not only is file-sharing considered its central sacrament, the CTRL+C and CTRL +V shortcuts for copying and pasting are viewed as sacred symbols. The group is run by Isak Gerson, a 19-year-old student of philosophy, who is now the spiritual leader of Kopimi, the people who follow the tenets of this new religion, which does not explicitly support illegal file-sharing, but the general free exchange of information. There are likely millions of unknowing adherents of Kopimism throughout the world. While this might sound like something akin to the idea of the Jedi religion, it could have a monumental effect on the legality of various laws against illegal file-sharing, as internet cuts and website blocks could be seen as religious persecution, a violation of a fundamental human right. File-sharing remains one of the big debates of modern society, with widespread opposition to various proposed laws that many see as internet censorship. Political groups like the Pirate Party have formed in recent years, and now advocates of file-sharing can add the divine to their list of supporters. 2

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January 5th, 2012 Apple hires Adobe executive for iAd position Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/apple-hires-adobe-executive-for-iad- position/14447.html January 5th, 2012 Reports suggest that Apple has hired Todd Teresi, an Adobe executive, for its iAd advertising platform, an ironic move considering the companies' past rivalry. Reports suggest that Apple has hired Todd Teresi, an Adobe executive, for its iAd advertising platform, an ironic move considering the companies' past rivalry. Teresi previously held the role of vice-president of Adobe's media solutions group and is now working as vice-president of iAd, despite the lack of a formal announcement of the employment shift. The position opened up after the founder of Quattro Wireless, the firm Apple acquired and turned into iAd, stepped down, suggesting all was not well in Apple's mobile advertising division. The move is particularly interesting given strained relations between the two companies after Steve Jobs dismissed Flash as outdated and insecure. Apple launched iAd in 2010 in an attempt to monopolise on thepotentialadrevenuethatcouldbemadefromthebooming smartphone and tablet sectors, an area that Google has been quitesuccessfulin.SomebelieveiAdhasfailedtoachievewhat Apple set out to do, however, with criticisms over its high cost and limited exposure. “ChargingpremiumpricesandreachingonlyAppledevicesisa muchhardersell,”saidEMarketanalystNoahElkin,according to Bloomberg. “That has been a huge stumbling block.” This might explain why Apple brought Teresi on board, as he has extensive experience in the media and advertising sector, working for both Adobe's digital publishing business and Yahoo's publishing sales. Whether or not he can turn iAd into the number one mobile advertising business remains to be seen. 3 Published by: VR-Zone AMD Radeon HD 7970 Quad CrossfireX: The Stock Air Cooling Champion Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-radeon-hd-7970-quad-crossfirex- the-stock-air-cooling-champion/14444.html January 5th, 2012 Armed with only our fists, we slayed the murderous fire breathing dragon and rescued the princess (actually the last HD 7970 to complete our 4-way quadfire feature). This time, we have also included 5760x1080 Eyefinity tests in Battlefield 3 and DiRT3, complete with videos! Test Setup: This time we've upgraded our CPU cooling to a XSPC RX360 kit and clocked it higher at 4.8GHz (LinX 4gb 10 runs stable). Unfortunately we still couldn't get any of the available overclocking tools to set voltages or core clocks beyond 1125MHz on simultaneously all 4 cards without running into BSODs or weird artifacts, so we were forced to use the restrictive AMD Overdrive to run our cards @ 1100/1500MHz

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January 5th, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone The Tests: 3DMark 11 v1.03 Extreme Preset 3DMark 11 v1.03 Performance Preset ( http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2480813 ) 4 Preset 3DMark Vantage Performance ( http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3788612 ) Unigine Heaven Benchmark ( hwbot.org Submission ) ( http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2480832 ) LuxMark OpenCL Benchmark Tool (single card scores 19238)

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January 5th, 2012 Lenovo announces ThinkPad Hybrid laptop and business ultrabook Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/lenovo-announces-thinkpad-hybrid- laptop-and-business-ultrabook/14446.html January 5th, 2012 Lenovo has announced its first ThinkPad Hybrid laptop and first business ultrabook, combining portability with enterprise-class features and power-saving options. Lenovo has announced its first ThinkPad Hybrid laptop and first business ultrabook. The 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Hybrid features many improvements over its predecessor, the X1, such as double the CPU speed and quadruple the GPU performance. One of the more interesting elements of the X1 Hybrid is its instant media mode, which doubles the battery life to 10 hours and effectively gives the laptop some PC functionality, explaining the 'Hybrid' name. This mode, which can be accessed instantly by clicking an icon on the homescreen, utilises a Qualcomm dual-core processor, up to 16GB of RAM, and a custom Linux-based operating system. The battery can also be charged up to 80 percent in half an hour. The X1 Hybrid comes with some business features like encrypted hard drives, remote management support, and a fingerprint reader, in addition to having everything required for voice and video conferencing. Published by: VR-Zone The 14-inch ThinkPad T430u offers the portability of an ultrabook with a number of useful business features, such as Intel's Small Business Advantage productivity and security tools.UserscanchoosefromavarietyofIntelCoreprocessors, IntelintegratedorNvidiagraphics,andanSSDorHDD.Italso has a fast boot and resume feature and a battery life of up to six hours. The X1 Hybrid will be available in the second quarter for around $1,599, while the T430u will come out in the third quarter for roughly $849. Broadcom launches its first 802.11ac Gigabit 5G WiFi chips Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/broadcom-launches-its-first-802.11ac- gigabit-5g-wifi-chips/14445.html January 5th, 2012 It's already been five years since 802.11n arrived, although back then in its draft standard and things have progressed slowly since then, although some 450Mbps hardware started to show up last year. This year looks set to be the launch for the 802.11ac standard, also known as 5G WiFi which promises Gigabitspeeds,bettercoverage,improvedreliabilityandlower power usage and Broadcom looks set to be one of the first chip makers for the new standard. It's already been five years since 802.11n arrived, although back then in its draft standard and things have progressed slowly since then, although some 450Mbps hardware started to show up last year. This year looks set to be the launch for the 802.11ac standard, also known as 5G WiFi which promises Gigabitspeeds,bettercoverage,improvedreliabilityandlower 5

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January 5th, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone 802.11ac also supports twice as many MIMO spatial streams as 802.11n (8 vs. 4), an increase of the QAM (Quadrature amplitude modulation) count from 64 to 256 and it will support multi-user MIMO which allows for further increased performance depending on the configuration of the transmitting and receiving end. Not all devices will support Gigabit speed, as smaller devices are likely to end up much slower than that due to the inability to fit enough antennas. This is one of the downsides of 802.11ac, as to reach really high speeds, at least two, preferably three or four antennas need to be used, although eight antenna configurations are also planned. Broadcom has announced four new chipsets starting with the BCM43516 which is intended for PCs and other consumer electronicsdevices.It'sasinglechipsolutionthatoffersspeeds of up to 433Mbps using 80MHz channel width, dual-band support with current Wi-Fi networks and a USB 2.0 interface. We'd say Broadcom is pushing it a bit here, as USB 2.0 has a theoretical peak bandwidth of 480Mbps and although we wouldn't expect to see wireless speeds of 433Mbps, there isn't much life left in the old USB 2.0 standard when it comes to new high-speed wireless technologies. power usage and Broadcom looks set to be one of the first chip makers for the new standard. We've already written about the 802.11ac standard , although that was nearly a year ago and things seem to have progressed quicker than originally anticipated. To do a quick recap and catch-up 802.11ac will operate on the 5GHz band, although originally it was said to operate at 6GHz and below, although nospecificfrequencywasgiven.Bynowit'sclearthat802.11ac will be using the same 5GHz band as 802.11a/n, although with some significant differences. For starters 802.11ac will use 80 and 160MHz channel width compared to a maximum of 40MHz for 802.11n. NextupwehavetheBCM4352andBCM43526whichsupports two streams and speeds of up to 867Mbps. The feature set is the same here, although the BCM4352 has a PCI Express 2.0 interface, while the BCM43526 gets to make do with USB 2.0 and clearly will never reach its advertised speeds due to the USB 2.0 bottle neck. That said, it's possible that the BCM43526 will still perform better than the BCM43516 in some environments thanks to its dual antenna configuration. The BCM43526 is intended for use in PCs, TVs and other A/V products according to Broadcom, while the BCM4352 is intendedforPCs,accesspoints,routersandinternetgateways. The fourth and final product is the BCM4360 which supports three streams and speeds of up to 1.3Gbps. Interestingly it's still only using 80MHz per channel, so it appears that we'll have to wait for 160MHz per channel to make an appearance either from one of Broadcom's competitors, or at a later point in time. The BCM4360 uses a PCI Express 2.0 interface and is intended for use in PCs, access points, routers and gateways. Broadcom will be demoing partner products at CES and judging by the quotes in Broadcom's press release we can expect products from Asus, Belkin, Buffalo, D-Link, Huawei, Lenovo, Motorola, Netgear, Ubee and ZTE that supports 802.11ac. As to how many will actually use Broadcom's solutions is a different matter, but it looks like wireless networkingissettogetasignificantspeedboostthisyear,even if wired Ethernet isn't likely to be disappearing any time soon. More Cedar Trail Atom's on the way Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/more-cedar-trail-atom-s-on-the- way/14443.html January 5th, 2012 6

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January 5th, 2012 Intel has only just gotten its Cedar Trail-M processors out of the door, but the company is already planning new, slightly faster models in the mobile space, as well as a new desktop part. Intel has kindly leaked all the details of the three upcomingmodelsinaspecsheetthatrecentlygotupdatedand if you were considering getting a new netbook, it might very well be worth holding off a little bit if you can wait. Intel has only just gotten its Cedar Trail-M processors out of the door, but the company is already planning new, slightly faster models in the mobile space, as well as a new desktop part. Intel has kindly leaked all the details of the three upcomingmodelsinaspecsheetthatrecentlygotupdatedand if you were considering getting a new netbook, it might very well be worth holding off a little bit if you can wait. The three new models are the D2550, N2650 and N2850. The desktop focused D2550 is clocked at the same 1.86GHz as the D2500, but Intel bumped the GPU clock speed from 400 to 640MHz giving the D2550 the same GPU spec as the D2700. The increased GPU clock means that the D2550 will support Blu-ray playback, something the D2500 doesn't. The overall TDP hasn't increased for the D2550, although according to Intel's spec sheet, the idle TDP is up, albeit a mere 0.02W. As for the mobile parts, the N2650 has been given a fairly nominal speed bump of 100MHz, something that increased the TDP by 0.1W compared to the N2600. We should point out that the N26x0 parts only supports 2GB of memory and as such only a single DIMM, a move by Intel that we don't quite understand. The N2850 got bumped 140MHz, again a very small performance increase and as with the N2650 the TDP increased by 0.1W, although in this case over the N2800. Interestingly Intel is listing the average power draw as 0.11W lessthantheN2800despitethehigherclockspeed.Bothofthe newNmodelsalsosupportsDDR3L,somethingwe'renotsure if the first two models do and the spec sheet isn't clear here as itmentionstherefreshedSKUwhichwepresumeistheN2650 and N2850. Published by: VR-Zone Intel Prepares for Ivy Bridge: EOLs 25 Desktop Processors Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/intel-prepares-for-ivy-bridge-eols-25- desktop-processors/14439.html January 5th, 2012 The company is getting ready to unleash the 22nm Ivy Bridge processors to the world by choosing to kill a lot of 32nm processors which currently make the desktop mix. In order to prepare for the launch, the company announced the discontinuation (EOL, End of Life product status) for 25 various desktop models based on LGA1155, LGA1156 and LGA1366 sockets. All of the EOL'ed models are based of 32nm Westmere and Sandy Bridge architectures: As you can see, this is a thorough cleanup of all sockets, with LGA1156 and LGA1366 essentially being terminated (i7 970, 980, 980X were all EOL’ed during 2011), simplifying the lineup to only feature the LGA1155 and LGA2011 sockets. Arctic Comes Out with a new High-Performance Cooler for Radeon HD 7970 Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/arctic-comes-out-with-a-new-high- performance-cooler-for-radeon-hd-7970/14438.html 7

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January 5th, 2012 January 5th, 2012 As the retail launch of Radeon HD 7970 approaches (January 9, 2012), the ecosystem is forming around the product: liquid and air cooling solutions. As the retail launch of Radeon HD 7970 approaches (January 9, 2012), the ecosystem is forming around the product: while we already saw waterblocks from Slovenian EK and German Aqua Computer, Far East is waking up with the high- performance air cooling: this time around, news are coming from Hong Kong. Arctic launched Accelero Xtreme 7970, a high-performance cooler featuring a combination of copper base, six copper heatpipes (6mm diameter), 84 aluminum fins and three 92mm fans that operate from 900 to 2000 rpm, depending on the mode selected. The copper base features a MX-4 thermal compound, so you don’t need to look for additional high- performance TIM (Thermal Interface Material). True, the potential show stopper is massive weight of the heatsink - at 653 grams or almost 1.5 pounds this triple-slot heatsink definitely requires to be mounted inside the case. If you’re interested in getting a 3 rd party cooling for your precious new 7970, this beast comes to market just before Chinese New Year (shipping as of week starting January 30) forapricejustbelowUSD100mark-$97.95intheUS,€73.83 in European Union and 126 SGD in Singapore. Published by: VR-Zone MSI announces new powerful GT685 gaming laptop Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/msi-announces-new-powerful-gt685- gaming-laptop/14442.html January 5th, 2012 MSI has announced their new ultimate gaming laptop, the GT685, which features the second generation Intel Core i7 quad processor, 32GB DDR3 memory, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M, the world's fastest discrete graphics card in a laptop. This latest MSI gaming laptop features top-of-the-line hardware,includingNvidiaGeForceGTX580M,whichclaims to be the most powerful discrete graphics card in a laptop that provides superb display performance. The graphics card boasts 384 more CUDAs than the previous generation, giving it 256-bit memory bandwdith and 2GB GDDR5 VRAM. This translatestoseamlessexperiencewithcrispandcleargraphics and more detailed 3D images, and you can enjoy serious gaming without worrying that your laptop can’t keep up. Powered by second generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processor with support of Intel Turbo Boost 2.0, the GT685 offerssuperbcomputingperformance.Ontopofthat,itcomes equipped with four DDR3 memory slots to give a total of 32GB memory, as well as RAID 0 accelerated dual hard drive architecture that can increase hard drive read speeds by 70%. Other features include Dynaudio sound technology for faithful stereo reproduction, THX TruStudio Pro technology that provides cinematic-quality audio, and full high definition 16:9 widescreen display. The MSI GT685 also comes with an HDMI port for your to output your videos on any large-screen LCD televisions. HP unveils new consumer PCs, including Omni27, the company's first 27-inch all-in- one PC Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hp-unveils-new-consumer-pcs- including-omni27-the-company-s-first-27-inch-all-in-one-pc/14440.html 8

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January 5th, 2012 Published by: VR-Zone HP Omni 27 all-in-one PC HP has announced their new line-up of consumer PCs, as well as notebook docking monitor with enhanced design, performance and convenience for consumers and professionals. The HP Omni 27 all-in-one PC is designed specifically for users who want stylish design, simplicity and performance. It has a brilliant 27-inch high-definition flat panel display with edge-to-edge glass and can tilt up to 25-degree to suit users' viewing preference. The all-in-one claims to be the company's first non-touch PC to feature HP’s Magic Canvas software, which allows the desktop to expand horizontally and accommodate photos, videos as well as applications. With convenient features such as HP LinkUp Technology, userscaneasilyaccessandeditcontentfromanotebookPCon the Omni 27 ’s large display with little hassles. The HP Omni 27 offers multi-core processors, advanced high definition (HD) graphics and up to 2TB of storage, and standard features including Beats Audio, Blu-Ray disc drive and optional TV tuner. The HP Omni 27 All-in-One PCs are expected to retail in APJ at a starting price of approximately US$1,199. 9 January 5th, 2012 Just few days into 2012, HP has recently announced their new line of consumer PCs and a notebook docking monitor that offer stylish design and superb performance. Among the products is the HP Omni27, which is the company's first 27- inch all-in-one PC. HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9 The HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9 is the company’s most powerful Pavilion PC to date, with futuristic design and superb performance for users who enjoy content creation and immersivegaming.Ithasanarmorplatingthatextendsacross the top and front of the bezel and attention-grabbing lighting inred,whichmakestheHPEPhoenixstandoutamongtoday’s desktop PCs. The HPE Phoenix has room for up to 16GB of DDR3 memory and three internal hard drives, as well as optional liquid cooling system to draw heat away from high-performance processors. It also comes equipped with high-end discrete graphics cards that can support multiple displays, while delivering amazing video performance and picture quality. Gamers can enjoy RIFT Digital Collector’s Edition, the latest massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) from Trion. With every purchase of HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix, users can download and enjoy free access to RIFT for sixty days, and following that a monthly subscription of around US$15 for continuous access to the game. The HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9 PCs are expected to be available from end January 2012 in APJ at a starting price of approximately US$1,599.

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January 5th, 2012 HP Compaq L2311c The HP Compaq L2311c 23-inch Notebook Docking Monitor is targeted at mobile professionals who wants a desktop experience via an easy connection with a USB cable to their notebook PC with a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port. The Notebook Docking Monitor sports a full high-definition (HD) LED backlit LCD display and features HP Smart AC Technology thatpowersandchargesHPnotebookPCswhilealsodetecting and regulating the capacity of the electrical current. It also features a built-in 720p HD webcam and is equipped with HP MyRoom business edition software and Cyberlink YouCam, a productive webcam tool that eases communication with co-workers and clients in any location. The HP Compaq L2311c is expected to be available in APJ at a starting price of approximately US$319. The availability date will be announced at a later stage. The HP LV1911 and LV2011 are the latest LED backlit LCD monitors that claim to provide business performance at budget-friendly prices. The monitors come in attractive, slim form factors, and consumes lesser power compared to CCFL panel monitors. The HP LV1911 and LV2011 have a 18.5- and 19.5-inchrespectively,offerVGAinputs,3,000,000:1dynamic contrast ratios and 5ms response times. Both monitors are expected to be available in APJ at a starting price of approximately US$125 and US$135, respectively. Availability date for all HP products will be announced later. AMD releases OEM Radeon HD 7670 Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-releases-oem-radeon- hd-7670/14441.html January 5th, 2012 AMD has quietly announced the second desktop product in its Radeon HD 7000 range - HD 7670 for OEMs. There's nothing new about the 7670 OEM however - it is simply a rebranded HD 6670. AMD has quietly announced the second desktop product in its Radeon HD 7000 range - HD 7670 for OEMs. There's nothing new about the 7670 OEM however - it is simply a rebranded HD 6670. The specifications and performance are identical to HD 6670. Both are based on Turks XT, featuring 480 VLIW-5 SP, 24 TMU and 8 ROPs running at 800 MHz. Upto 1GB GDDR5 at 4 GHz is mated to a 128-bit interface. HD 6670 held the distinction of being the fastest graphics card not requiring an addition PCIe connector (i.e. it draws all its power from the PCIe slot) which is what made it popular with OEMs. The HD 7670 powers HP's upcoming Phoenix products and is likely to show up in a few OEM desktops around CES 2012 time. Published by: VR-Zone Of course this rebrand was expected considering previous reports and HD 7000M announcements . In addition OEM versions of HD 7500, 7400 and 7300 are all expected to be rebrands, while HD 7700 up will feature GCN 28nm GPUs. Of course, the gap between HD 7600 and HD 7700 will be disproportionate, and might create a gap in AMD's Radeon HD 7000 line-up. Judging by NVIDIA's strategy wih GeForce 600M it is likely NVIDIA will also follow a similar strategy - rebrands for entry-level to mainstream GeForce 600M products. For now, the HD 7670 remains an OEM only product. However, it may eventually make it to the retail market - as HD 6700 did. Nakamichi introduces cube- sized "My Mini Plus" for music on the go Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/nakamichi-introduces-cube-sized-my- mini-plus-for-music-on-the-go/14437.html January 5th, 2012 Small, portable speakers looked to be the in-thing these days. Japanese audio company Nakamichi has launched "My Mini Plus", a new range of stylish looking mini speakers with built- in radio in Singapore. Renowned Japanese high fidelity audio company, Nakamichi, has launched a collection of stylish mini speakers with radio for music lovers on the go. The cube-sized speaker, which measures 5cm on every side and weighs 139g, claims to offer exceptional audio quality. The Nakamichi "My Mini Plus" fits easily into your bag, charges via a USB connection to your PC or laptop and on full charge, it can provide up to five hours of non-stop music playback. The speaker can also play music from microSD card and it has built-in FM radio function for youtolistentoyourfavoritechannel.Availableineightcolors- LightPink,Fuchsia,Purple,Red,Blue,Black,LimeGreen,and Silver; The "My Mini Plus" by Nakamichi will be available at CK Tang, Technobay level 3, epi lifestyle, and other premium 10

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January 5th, 2012 Nakamichi authorized reseller stores from mid January 2012 at S$69.90 (inclusive of GST) Nokia plans to launch Lumia 900 at CES 2012 Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/nokia-plans-to-launch-lumia-900-at- ces-2012/14436.html January 5th, 2012 TheNokiaLumia900AcewasrecentlyspottedonNokiaPulse website which has the capacitive touch buttons that are placed closer to the edge, compared to the Lumia 800. It was also reported that the Finnish company would be launching the phone at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in Las Vegas next week. Accordingtosources,NokiawillbeannouncingthenewLumia 900Ace(codenamedEloko)atthe2012ConsumerElectronics Show (CES) next week. Weighing 160g, the phone is said to be equipped with a 1.4GHz processor, 512MB memory and 8-megapixel rear camera. The Lumia 900 will feature a 4.3- inch WVGA Nokia ClearBlack AMOLED display, which is slightly bigger than the 3.7-inch of the Lumia 800, although the resolution is the same as its older sibling. It will also come with 1830mAh battery, and runs Windows Phone 7.5 Mango operating system. No word on the pricing or availability yet, thoughallcouldberevealedatCESnextweek.Thecompanyis also expected to announce a mid-range device, the Lumia 719. Intel WiDi to get cheaper, better and maybe inside TVs Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/intel-widi-to-get-cheaper-better-and- Published by: VR-Zone January 5th, 2012 It's hard not to get a bit frustrated with Intel and its many proprietary technologies, although at least a few things seems tobechangingslowlybutsurelywhenitcomestoWiDi,Intel's video streaming technology over Wi-Fi. We've managed to dig upafairbitofnewsastowhattoexpectin2012fromWiDiand somethingsarebeingimprovedwhileothersremainthesame. It's hard not to get a bit frustrated with Intel and its many proprietary technologies, although at least a few things seems tobechangingslowlybutsurelywhenitcomestoWiDi,Intel's video streaming technology over Wi-Fi. We've managed to dig upafairbitofnewsastowhattoexpectin2012fromWiDiand somethingsarebeingimprovedwhileothersremainthesame. For starters Intel has decided to take advantage of Wi-Fi Directforthediscover,pairingandconnectpartofWiDiwhich should make it easier for its partners that built the receivers. Intel will also be supporting Wi-Fi Display, but only for basic features. If you want to be able to play back 1080p video, especially copy protected content, then you need full-on WiDi support on the receiving end. This year Intel is also adding support for 3D video and 24fps video such as certain Blu-ray discs.Itwillalsobepossibletosetupanextendeddisplayover WiDi, something that could actually be quite handy in certain situations. One interesting thing is that Intel is planning on offering WiDi support on desktops, a feature we can see at least a few people wanting. That said, if you were hoping for WiDi support in the upcoming Windows 8 tablets, then it looks like you're out of luck, as this isn't likely to happen this year at least. Beyond the small adapters you've had to connect to your TV so far to get WiDi support, Intel is apparently hoping to get its technology into TVs, game consoles, Blu-ray players (really?) and various other devices of which some will simply be able to have a piece of software loaded to enable WiDi support. We're still not sold on Intel's WiDi technology, mostly because so few notebooks in the grand scheme of things are sold with Intel Wi-Fi cards that support WiDi and this is one of the biggest failings of the technology. We fully understand Intel's argument here, but many notebook vendors would simply not put Intel Wi-Fi cards in their notebooks due to the cost difference compared to the many other options available to them. Still, if more Wi-Fi enabled devices will start to support WiDithere'sachancethatthingswillchange,butwe'rehoping for a more open standard to take over what Intel has started. maybe-inside-tvs/14435.html Roku goes tiny with its upcoming Streaming Stick Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/roku-goes-tiny-with-its-upcoming- streaming-stick/14434.html 11

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January 5th, 2012 January 5th, 2012 It's really a shame that Roku's products are only available in the US due to the technicalities of streaming content over the internet, something the traditional TV companies obviously are very much against even though they are allowing for it to a degree. The company has come up with a simple and elegant solution that would turn any TV into a smart TV, without the need of a clunky box. It's really a shame that Roku's products are only available in the US due to the technicalities of streaming content over the internet, something the traditional TV companies obviously are very much against even though they are allowing for it to a degree. The company has come up with a simple and elegant solution that would turn any TV into a smart TV, without the need of a clunky box. The device in question is called the Roku Streaming Stick which is said to be about the size of a USB flash drive, yet it packs so much more inside. Roku hasn't gone into too muchwithregardstothespecifichardware,buttheStreaming Stick will feature an SoC, memory and Wi-Fi as well as some software of course. However, unlike a USB flash drive the Streaming Stick sports an HDMI port, or rather an MHL port. If you remember, MHL or Mobile High-definition Link is a combo port that offers HDMI and USB in one. Stick into a TV with one of these ports and you've got all the functionality of a Roku box without having to find space for the box itself. The only problem we see with this is how you actually control the Streaming Stick unless it's done over Wi- Fi or some other wireless technology, as it would be hidden behind the TV and as such an IR remote wouldn't work. Published by: VR-Zone Roku is expecting the Streaming Stick to retail for somewhere betweenUS$50-100(S$65-130)whenitarriveslaterthisyear, although Roku is also hoping to bundle it with some TVs. One problem Roku has though is the small install base of MHL equipped TV's, but it shouldn't be too hard to make some kind of power adapter. We can see a lot of companies coming up with their own versions of this, as if the technology can be compacted down to this size, why would you want a larger box sitting around next to your TV? Broadcom announces smart TV chips Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/broadcom-announces-smart-tv- chips/14433.html January 5th, 2012 In the case of TV's it appears that this port is a standard size HDMI port judging by the pictures from Roku and not a micro USB port as it is on smartphones. Plonk the Roku Streaming Just ahead of CES, Broadcom has announced four new solutions related to Smart TVs which will be displayed at the show.Someofthechipsareintendedforintegrationinsidethe TV unit while others are destined for media streamers or what Broadcom calls Over-the-Top media players. Just ahead of CES, Broadcom has announced four new solutions related to Smart TVs which will be displayed at the show.Someofthechipsareintendedforintegrationinsidethe TV unit while others are destined for media streamers or what Broadcom calls Over-the-Top media players. It would seem that smart TV is not a sexy word any more as Broadcom is using the term hybrid TV instead, although for what it's worth, it's pretty much the same thing. What is 12

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January 5th, 2012 common between all three of the new SoC's from Broadcom is support for Broadcom's own Web 2.0 application framework, AdobeAIR,QtandAndroid.Thisshouldallowforsomevaried implementations from the device makers at least. The most basic SoC is called the BCM7219 and as with its higher-end siblings this is a 40nm chip (yes, SoC's are getting smaller and smaller too), although it lacks any really cool features.Thatsaid,it'llhandle1080pHDvideo,bothdecoding and encoding which means that we should hopefully be seeing more devices capable of recording HD video in the future. Moving up a step we have the BCM7220 which gains OpenGL ES 2.0 support for 3D UI's and maybe even some casual gaming. The third and final model is the BCM7221 which supports 3D TV MVC (Multiview Video Coding) which means that it can handle 3D TV broadcasts/streams. It can also be set up to support video conferencing if the TV has a built in camera. The three chips have been designed to support a wide range of other technologies such as DLNA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Display, NFC, HomePlug and bog standard Ethernet. Apparently Netgear is one of the first companies that are ready to get on board as soon as the new chips hit mass production as the company is already working with Broadcom. As for other partners we'll just have to wait until CES, although half of the time you wouldn't know what chip is inside these type of devices anyhow. OCZ announces mSATA SSD for Ultrabook hard drive caching Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/ocz-announces-msata-ssd-for- ultrabook-hard-drive-caching/14432.html January 5th, 2012 has been trying to work its way into the OEM market space for some time. Now the company has announced a new mSATA SSD under its Deneva 2 brand that the company is targeting towards Ultrabooks for some Intel Smart Response caching action. Being in the retail SSD market isn't a money maker and OCZ has been trying to work its way into the OEM market space for some time. Now the company has announced a new mSATA SSD under its Deneva 2 brand that the company is targeting towards Ultrabooks for some Intel Smart Response caching action. The mSATA version of the Deneva 2 (OCZ is already offering standard 2.5-inch SATA drives in the Deneva 2 series) is available in 30 or 60GB and OCZ claims that the drives have been optimized for Intel's Smart Response technology. It's 13 Published by: VR-Zone pretty clear from the small sizes of the SSDs that they weren't intended as a main storage option. TheDeneva2drivessportsaSandForce2141or2181controller (OCZ'swebsitelistsbothoptions)andareassuchSATA3Gbps drives. The max read speed is rated at up to 280MB/s with the write speed following closely behind at up to 260MB/s. OCZ apparently has a 120GB model as well as the company is also targetingtheDeneva2seriesforembeddedapplicationsinthe enterprise, industrial and automotive industry. We've already seen Asus utilize mSATA SSDs from Adata, althoughtheseweren'tintendedforcaching,butareinfactthe main SSD of Asus' Ultrabooks. We're still not convinced that Intel's Smart Response technology is the way forward though, especially as SSDs continue to come down in price whereas at the same time pricing for hard drives are likely to remain quite high for much of this year. So far SSDs seem favourable in Ultrabooks, but as prices come down, we'd expect to see moreharddriveequippedmodelsandmaybethisiswhenSSD caching will come into play. Samsung secures approval for Chinese Flash memory plant Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-secures-approval-for-chinese- flash-memory-plant/14431.html January 5th, 2012 Samsung has been granted permission to build a Flash memory chip plant in China worth in the region of 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) as the smartphone and tablet computer markets continue to boom. Samsung has been granted permission to build a Flash memory chip plant in China worth in the region of 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) as the smartphone and tablet computer markets continue to boom. Being in the retail SSD market isn't a money maker and OCZ The Korean electronics giant announced the plan early last month ,butwasforcedtoseekapprovalfromtheSouthKorean government, which regulates foreign investment. The go- ahead was given this week on the provision that Samsung set up a committee to prevent potential leaks of its technology. Thelocationofthefactoryhasyettobedecided.Itwillproduce NAND chips using 20nm processing technology and will serve the growing Chinese market, which many see as a lucrative region for smartphone and tablet sales.

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January 5th, 2012 SamsungdominatestheNANDFlashmarketwitha40percent share, with many of the major players in the industry, such as Apple, relying on it for memory chips. Mass production at the Chinese factory is expected to begin in late 2013, with plans to produce 100,000 wafers every month. Google buys more IBM patents Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-buys-more-ibm- patents/14430.html January 5th, 2012 Google has bought another 187 patents and 36 patent applications from IBM in efforts to remain ahead of rivals like Apple in the bitter legal wars engulfing the industry. Published by: VR-Zone It is not yet clear how much Google paid for these, but we can likely expect it to be hundreds of millions of dollars. The move might also signal plans to buy further patent stashes from other companies, and perhaps more from IBM, throughout 2012. Google previously bought over 1,000 patents from IBM last year and a huge portfolio of around 25,000 patents in an acquisition deal with Motorola Mobility worth $12.5 billion. The company is still awaiting final approval from regulators before that acquisition can go ahead. Google's patent spending spree is largely seen as an effort to protect its interests, which have been threatened by a number of lawsuits taken by Apple against its partners, such as HTC and Samsung. Google is quickly putting itself in a position where it cannot be sued for technology it uses or can at least counter-sue or offer a trade with some of its valuable collection. Official Launch of VR-Zone Chinese Edition - Attractive prizes to be won! Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/official-launch-of-vr-zone-chinese- edition--attractive-prizes-to-be-won-/14429.html January 5th, 2012 Google has bought another 187 patents and 36 patent applications from IBM in efforts to remain ahead of rivals like Apple in the bitter legal wars engulfing the industry. VR-Zone is excited to announce the launch of our official chinese edition @ http://chinese.vr-zone.com. To mark this watershed moment, we will be giving away to some lucky readers an ECS X79 motherboard, Corsair power supply and SteelSeries products! The patents include several related to social networks, such as asystemforusingsemanticnetworksandamethodtoidentify commoninterestsbetweenusersofacommunicationnetwork. Thisisparticularlyinteresting,asitmeansGoogleispreparing newthingsforitssocialnetworkGoogle+,whichlaunchedlast year and became a viable alternative to Facebook. There are also patents related to web applications and mobile technology, areas that Google has had major success in with its Chrome web browser and Android operating system. VR-Zoneisexcitedtoannouncethelaunchourofficialchinese edition@ http://chinese.vr-zone.com ,whichwillhaveitsown 14

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January 5th, 2012 editorial team (headed by industry veteran Chris Low) to produce quality original content and translate selected pieces from our main site. Based in Taiwan where most of the groundbreaking tech stories and product launches are at, the team aspires to serve the rapidly growing North Asian market, and provide exclusive stories for our international readers. Samsung announces launch of new smartphones and tablets in Singapore Published by: VR-Zone The Samsung GALAXY Nexus was announced in October to be the world's first smartphone to run Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Equipped with a 1.2GHz processor, the phone features a 4.65-inch high definition Super AMOLED display and comes with various new innovations including Face Unlock, photo taking with zero shutter lag as well as Near Field Communication (NFC). However, for those who are eagerly waiting for the Samsung GALAXY Nexus will have to wait a while longer. The company said that Android smartphone is expected to be available in February next month. Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-announces-launch-of-new- smartphones-and-tablets-in-singapore/14425.html January 5th, 2012 On the first week of 2012, Samsung has announced their new lineup of smartphone and tablets which include the GALAXY Nexus, Omnia W, GALAXY W, GALAXY Tab 7.0 Plus and GALAXY Tab 7.7. While the GALAXY Nexus touts itself as the world's first smartphone with Android 4.0, this new Samsung GALAXY Tab 7.7 claims to be the world's first tablet to feature the Super AMOLED Plus display. The tablet is extremely slim and portable, measuring 7.89mm in thickness and weighing 335g. It is powered by 1.4GHz processor with 1GB RAM and 16GB storage. If that's not enough, the GALAXY Tab 7.7 has a microSD card slot for expansion. The tablet runs Google Android 3.2 Honeycomb and has a 5,100mAh battery that can provide up to 10 hours of video playback. Like the GALAXY Nexus, the Samsung GALAXY Nexus will be available in February. 15

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Published by: VR-Zone January 5th, 2012 Samsung releases audiophile- grade dock speakers Audiophiles will be glad to know that Korean company Samsung is offering a new speaker dock, the DA-E750, with a hybrid vacuum tube amplifier technology that will interface with both iOS devices and GALAXY S smartphones while charging their batteries. For those not certain of audiophile jargons,avacuumtubeamplificationsystemisusuallypresent only in premium audio systems, which is said to produce one of the richest sound and has the best audio representation in clarity, despite the technology’s age. Sangchul Lee, senior vice president, Samsung Electronics says “As the leader in home entertainment, we wanted to create products that are unique, highly-functionalandbeautifullydesigned,yetofferthecrystal clear, rich sound that consumers can enjoy, regardless of the portable device they store their music on.” The 2.1-channel SiriusXM unveils Lynx, Android portable satellite radio Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/siriusxm-unveils-lynx-android- portable-satellite-radio/14424.html January 5th, 2012 Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-releases-audiophile-grade- dock-speakers/14426.html January 5th, 2012 We have seen smartphones and tablet devices running Google Android mobile operating system. And apparently SiriusXM has recently introduced their new Android portable satellite radio called Lynx. An audiophile-worthy speaker dock for iOS devices and GALAXY S smartphones will be joining the ranks of Samsung products soon. The Samsung DA-E750 may sport a hybrid vacuum tube system akin to high-end audio equipment, but will it make the cut amongst audiophiles? The SiriusXM Lynx claims to do everything you want it to - you can use it as satellite radio in the car or at home, or turn it into a portable player via a 3.5mm audio or Bluetooth headphone. It supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity and canrecordupto200hoursofyourfavoritemusic.With"Show Finder" electronic programming guide, you can access the complete list of what’s on over the next seven days by channel, with the ability to set reminder alerts when favorite shows are beingbroadcast.TheSiriusXMLynxwillbeavailablesoonand priced at US$250. Fuji's mirrorless camera leaks again ahead of next week's unveiling Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/fuji-s-mirrorless-camera-leaks-again- ahead-of-next-week-s-unveiling/14423.html January 5th, 2012 speaker supports analog (composite) and USB inputs, as well as wireless and Bluetooth audio playback, while thumping away with its built-in 100-watt subwoofer. More details may be released at the upcoming Consumer Electronic Show. We've already seen what was meant to be some picture of an unfinished version of Fuju's upcoming mirrorless digital camera and now additional pictures have appeared, including a full-on frontal shot of the camera. There are still a lot of things that aren't known about the camera, but one thing is certain, Fuji is really digging retro styling on its high-end cameras. We've already seen what was meant to be some picture of an unfinished version of Fuju's upcoming mirrorless digital 16

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January 5th, 2012 camera and now additional pictures have appeared, including a full-on frontal shot of the camera. There are still a lot of things that aren't known about the camera, but one thing is certain, Fuji is really digging retro styling on its high-end cameras. The camera which is expected to be called the X1 or LX10 should be officially unveiled next week at the PMA show which takes place at the same time as CES, although it won't actually be launched until sometime in February according to Photorumours. The camera looks set to be something quite special,atleastaslongasyoudon'tmindtheretrorangefinder styling. In the single picture of the camera we can see the 35mm f/1.4 lens which was rumoured, something which should please many a photographer. Fuji has included a viewfinder as we reported previously, although this is apparently not a hybrid viewfinder as seen on the X100. We're also curious about the inclusion of what appears to be an LED light which might be intended for when you're shooting video with the camera. We could be wrong, but the picture seems to suggest that there is a pair of built-in microphones for stereo audio on each side of the LED. There's also what appears to be an auto focus light just below the viewfinder. We'll have to wait a few more days to see what the official word is. Update: The picture above is apparently not the real deal, but rather a mockup of what the camera might look like. Photorumorshasablurrypicturefromanoddangleofthereal deal. Tranquil launches 4cm thin media center PC Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/tranquil-launches-4cm-thin-media- center-pc/14422.html January 5th, 2012 Intel'sslim-ITXmotherboardincentiveappearstohavespilled overintoothermarketsthantheall-in-onesthatInteltargeted the standard for initially. Tranquil PC, a UK company that specializesinlow-noisemediacentersandhomemediaservers has taken advantage of the form factor in its new 4cm thin MMC-12 system. Published by: VR-Zone Intel'sslim-ITXmotherboardincentiveappearstohavespilled overintoothermarketsthantheall-in-onesthatInteltargeted the standard for initially. Tranquil PC, a UK company that specializesinlow-noisemediacentersandhomemediaservers has taken advantage of the form factor in its new 4cm thin MMC-12 system. The system specifications aren't what we'd call mind blowing, but the MMC-12 should be more than capable at doing its job. The motherboard in question is Intel's own DH61AG and as the name implies this is based on the Intel H61 chipset. In terms of connectivity you'll find a pair of USB 2.0 ports (both high current), two USB 3.0 ports, an eSATA port, a Gigabit Ethernet jack, a pair of audio jacks, a DVI port and an HDMI port. Oddly enough there's no S/PDIF connector on the board which spoils things a little bit when it comes to media center usage. To the board, Tranquil has added a 35W Core i3-2100T processor which is a 2.5GHz part, a single 4GB SO-DIMM and an 80GB mSATA SSD which we presume is also an Intel made product. The system also sports a slot loaded DVD drive and there's space for one internal 2.5-inch drive for a largerinternaldrivetocomplimenttheSSD.Theentiresystem is powered by an external power adapter and it's passively cooled, so this is a true zero noise system, despite its low profile. The downside you ask? Well, Tranquil wants a fairly steep £649 (S$1,300) for the MMC-12, a steep price for what in reality is a very basic PC, but in this case you're paying for the custom chassis which you won't find elsewhere. Asus promises Android 4.0 for Transformer Prime from next week Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-promises-android-4.0-for- transformer-prime-from-next-week/14421.html January 5th, 2012 For those lucky few that has managed to get their hands on an AsusEeePadTransformerPrimethecompanyhasannounced that it will start rolling out Android 4.0 also known as Ice Cream Sandwich beginning on the 12th of January. On top of that,thecompanyisworkingonasolutionthatwillallowusers to unlock the bootloader, with one small caveat. For those lucky few that has managed to get their hands on an AsusEeePadTransformerPrimethecompanyhasannounced 17

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January 5th, 2012 that it will start rolling out Android 4.0 also known as Ice Cream Sandwich beginning on the 12th of January. On top of that,thecompanyisworkingonasolutionthatwillallowusers to unlock the bootloader, with one small caveat. The details were posted on Asus' Facebook page and contain some confusion as it mentions an over the air update with a version number of 8.8.3.33 which will apparently improve the auto focusing of the camera, the fluidity of the touch experience and the APK capabilities in the Android market. Then it goes on to talk about the Android 4.0 upgrade which is also an over the air update, but it's not clear if this contains the aforementioned fixes or not, or if that's a separate update for those not wishing to move on to Android 4.0 as yet. The post also contains a disclaimer about the GPS and the fact that it's not as good as people expected it to be. Asus is making some excuse about the metal chassis of the tablet blocking the signal as well as the usual excuses as to why you wouldn't get a goodGPSsignal.Eitherwhichwayitappearsthatthecompany has removed the GPS from the spec and it's now a feature that is included but may not work to everyone's satisfaction. Odd to say the least. As for the bootloader and the complaints about Asus locking it down, Asus is making some fairly lame excuse about Google DRM, yet Google's own phones aren't locked down as tightly as the Transformer Prime. Asus is also claiming that bricking is one of the reasons why Asus decided to lock down the Transformer Prime, but anyone that has tried to flash a recent Android device knows that it's relatively hard to brick it. Even so, Asus will apparently be offering a tool that unlocks the bootloader, but this means that you can no longer watch Google video rentals and other similar DRM'ed content on your tablet. Not a big loss in our opinion, but it might be for some. Toshiba to promote TransferJet at CES Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/toshiba-to-promote-transferjet-at- ces/14420.html January 5th, 2012 YoumayormaynotbefamiliarwithTransferJet,atechnology that allows for short range wireless data transfer speeds of up to 560Mbps using the 4.5GHz band. So far there isn't much in terms of devices that supports the standard, but Toshiba and theTransferJetconsortiumaresettochangethisatCESwhere they will be showing off a range of new devices that supports the technology. YoumayormaynotbefamiliarwithTransferJet,atechnology that allows for short range wireless data transfer speeds of up to 560Mbps using the 4.5GHz band. So far there isn't much in terms of devices that supports the standard, but Toshiba and theTransferJetconsortiumaresettochangethisatCESwhere they will be showing off a range of new devices that supports the technology. 18 Published by: VR-Zone Toshiba's press release didn't reveal too much about the specific devices, but we can apparently expect tablets, laptops and smartphones featuring TransferJet. As you'd expect, Toshiba is one of the driving forces behind TransferJet alongside Sony, but many other companies are standing behindthetechnologyincludingCanon,JVC,Nikon,Olympus, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung and Sony Ericsson to mention a few of the promoters of the standard. So far most of the companies are Japanese and this is part of the reason why the technology hasn't taken off. Another reason is the relatively high cost and this is what Toshiba is hoping to address with its new LSI, the TC35420 which is a single chip solution for TransferJet that incorporates bot the IC and the RF part. This should not only help simplify the implementation, but also help drive down cost, although at US$5 a pop in sample quantities one can hardly accuse Toshiba for selling the chips on the cheap. Compare this to a USB 3.0 host controller which by now we'd expect to be below US$2 in large quantities and you can see why TransferJet is struggling a bit. Actual transfer speeds of TransferJet are close to that of USB 2.0 at 375Mbps (USB 2.0 has a theoretical data speed of 480Mbps), so as long as you don't mind plugging in a cable, there are much faster alternatives. In as much as we're all for ease of use, it's hard to justify the extra cost and getting slower speed than a wired connection can offer at lower cost. Still, it'll be interesting to see what Toshiba and the TransferJet consortium will demo at the show.