Sony Puts Tablet S on Pre-Order in Australia

Sony Tablet S, one of the latest devices to be unveiled to the world with Google's Android Honeycomb operating system on board, is now available for pre-order in Australia, via the company's own website.  Sony has just added Tablet S to its Australian website in two different flavors, differentiated by the amount of internal memory, namely 16GB and 32GB. Both devices sport only WiFi connectivity capabilities.  The Sony Tablet S 16GB (Wi-Fi) arrives on shelves with a price tag of $579 (around $565 USD/ 417 Euros) attached to it.  At the same time, Sony lists the 32GB model as available for pre-order for a bit more, at $689 AUD (about $673.35 USD / 500 Euros). Both device models are available on Sony Australia's website here. Those...

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New iPhone 5 Cases in AT&T's Stores

The availability of a new iPhone model is drawing near, and the emergence of new cases for the upcoming device in stores at wireless carrier AT&T is a clear indicator of that.  The wireless services provider should launch the iPhone 5 model in the near future, and photos with cases that will fit the handset have already started to make their way to AT&T's shelves.  The iPhone 5 silicone sleeves reportedly arrived at AT&T only a few days ago, showing that Apple has come up with a new design for the device.  This is not the first time when cases for the upcoming iPhone models emerge at the United States-based wireless carrier.  A few weeks ago, we had the chance to have a look at what appeared to be cases for the...

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Intel Atom Cedarview CPUs Won't Support DirectX 10 After All

DirectX 10.1 support was one the major features Intel promised to deliver with the introduction of its new Cedarview Atom architecture, but recent reports suggest the chip maker wasn't able to keep up to its word as the Cedar Trail platform is limited at offering just DX 9 graphics. Intel launched the Atom Cedarview netbook and nettop chips just earlier this week without making to much of a fuss about them. Compared to their predecessors, these new processors were expected to bring a series of improvements to the graphics core and one of the most important features was the introduction of DirectX 10.1 support. However, according to CPU-World's findings it seems like DX 10.1 hasn't made its way the new Atom CPUs and that Intel has no plans of...

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'Free' iPhone 5 Upgrades Available Through Trade-In Program

NextWorth, a company that puts bread on the table through electronics upgrades and trade-ins, has announced a way for consumers to upgrade to the iPhone 5 for free. In fact, customers are promised some pocket cash as well, should their iPhone 4 be in mint condition. “NextWorth … announces a way for consumers to upgrade to the soon-to-be-announced iPhone for free and get an extra $50,” says NextWorth. “By trading in a 16GB or 32GB iPhone 4 on NextWorth.com in good working condition before October 4th, the service will guarantee $250 for the trade-in and lock in the price for 21 days.” The ‘free’ thing is actually based on the assumption that Apple will replace the iPhone 4 with the iPhone 5 without increasing the price for purchasing a brand...

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Elsa Outs Compact GTX 560 Ti Graphics Card for SFF Systems

Video card maker Elsa, has recently announced the introduction of a new solution graphics based on the GeForce GTX 560 Ti design, which uses a more compact PCB in order to make the card compatible with small form factor cases. Compared to Nvidia's reference design for the GTX 560 Ti, Elsa's latest creation measures only 170mm (less than 6.7-inches) in length, which makes it almost 60mm shorter than its counterpart. Elsa has achieved this feat by rearranging most of the components installed on the PCB, while also developing a more compact cooling solution that is also capable of coping with the heat produced by Nvidia's GPU. The new radiator design covers most of the card's printed circuit board and uses a pair of thick 8mm anodized cooper heatipes...

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Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 vs. Kaspersky, Avira, AVG, Symantec, BitDefender on Windows 7 SP1

While Microsoft is busy improving the built-in antivirus capabilities of Windows 8, Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 continues to be an excellent choice for customers looking for a free and basic security solution.  MSE 2.0 was certified by AV-Test.org in the latest series of benchmarks which involved Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), and a total of 25 products, from suites to free AV.  Microsoft Security Essentials scored 11 out of a possible 18 points, and delivered a satisfactory performance, especially when compared to paid security suites.  “During July and August 2011 we continuously evaluated 25 home user security products using their default settings. We always used the most current publicly-available version of all products for the testing,” AV-Test said.  “They...

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Gigabyte's Newest PSUs Are Superb

Gigabyte's Super line of computer power supplies may not be exactly new, but the five members covered in its latest and succinct press release definitely are, even if they haven't reached stores yet. The new Superb Gigabyte PSUs are complaint with the ATX 12V v2.3 standard, have 80Plus certification, which means they are efficient (up to 82%), and also boast 120mm fans. They also come with over-voltage, over-current, under-voltage and short-circuit protection, plus sleeved cables. The E470C3 and E470C3 have an output of 470W, while the E570, E620 and E720 provide 570W, 620W and 720W, respectively (and obviously, the names say it all). The PSUs also have multiple 12V rails each and will make their appearance in the next few weeks.  How...

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Linux Could be Kicked-Out of Windows 8 PCs

Being advanced has its own pros and cons. And for the next generation of Windows 8 PCs, it’s going to be something very different. Following the news that the next generation of Windows 8 PCs will be equipped with a completely new booting specification known as UEFI or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, we were able to receive a rather shocking update about the UEFI’s supposed desirable feature. It appears that Microsoft has gone a little cold, although the UEFI specification is somewhat captivating, we’ve also heard that the interface could most likely include a special secure boot protocol that will be required to all Windows 8 users. Yes, it is a security feature that can not only preserve your PC’s software sanity but can also ward...

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Nokia Promises Stunning Windows Phone Devices

In the next few months, the first Nokia handsets to run under Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system are expected to hit the market, and they are said to be stunning.  Reportedly, these are the exact words that Nokia’s Conor Pierce, general manager for UK and Ireland, used to describe the future smartphones from the company: “absolutely stunning.” In a recent interview with Pocket-lint, he also unveiled that the company's partners who saw the new devices were pleasantly impressed. “To the partners we have shown the device to, their words, not necessarily mine - although I agree - upon showing it to them. It's spontaneous and unprompted. They say ‘the first Nokia Windows Phone is absolutely stunning’ and that’s die hard gurus in this...

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Enable / Disable Hybrid Boot in Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 M3

Microsoft has already demonstrated Windows 8 booting in some 8 seconds, which included the time it took to load Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), the evolution from the traditional BIOS. The accelerated start-up time is the result of what the Redmond company has dubbed Hybrid Boot.  As the software giant explained it, Hybrid Boot brings the best out of two worlds, namely the old cold boot and hibernation.  When Hybrid Boot is enabled, Windows 8 doesn’t close kernel session, but just user sessions. In traditional hibernation, both user and kernel sessions are written to the hard drive.  What Hybrid Boot does is that it stores the kernel sessions on the HDD or SSD, accessing them extremely fast and transferring them...

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New Nokia and Samsung Windows Phones Leak from Microsoft

Microsoft's hardware partners are working on the release of new handsets powered by the company's Windows Phone Mango operating system, and some new such devices have emerged in a recent leak. Two Nokia phones and two handsets from Samsung have been recently listed on Microsoft Canada's website, yet they have been removed since.  The Nokia Sea Ray was one of the two devices from the Finnish handset vendor, while the other was the Nokia Sabre.  While the former was already spotted into the wild with the Windows Phone platform  on board, yet little is known on the phone that should be launched as the Nokia Sabre.  However, it seems that the name was actually spotted into the wild before, and that the device might become...

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Nokia Shuts Down Manufacturing Plant in Romania, 2,200 Employees Fired

Bad news for Romanian Nokia employees working at the manufacturing facility in Cluj, as the Finnish company has just announced its plans to shut down the factory.  According to Nokia, the planned closure will have a direct impact on approximately 2,200 employees.  After reducing its R&D operations in Smart Devices and Mobile Phones earlier this year, Nokia has started to cut down some of its manufacturing facilities across the globe. It seems that the Romanian factory is one of the first to be closed by Nokia, but the company also announced reductions of personnel at some of its manufacturing facilities in Salo, Finland, Komarom, Hungary, and Reynosa, Mexico. Even though these manufacturing facilities will remain opened, to serve...

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Ubuntu One Is Now Available on Windows

A client for the popular Ubuntu One online storage service from Canonical is now available for download for the Windows platform.  It's a known fact that lots of open source lovers have to work on Windows or Macintosh platforms at work and have Ubuntu installed at home.  Therefore, providing 5GB of free online storage, the new Ubuntu One client for Windows offers users the ability to store their files on a secure place, for syncing the data across multiple platforms.  "We believe in giving all users regardless of platform, access to one of the best personal cloud services available." was stated in the official announcement. "We want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy Ubuntu One and as a consequence, want to know more...

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Sharp AQUOS 104SH to Run Ice Cream Sandwich at Softbank

Japanese mobile phone users will soon be able to purchase new mobile phones on the airwaves of local wireless carriers, and the Sharp AQUOS 104SH that will arrive at Softbank soon is one of these devices.  The new device packs an impressive 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP4460 application processor, and is expected to arrive on shelves sometime next year, with the Ice Cream Sandwich platform flavor on board.  This is the very first smartphone in the world we learned of to be planned with Google's Ice Cream Sandwich OS flavor on board, but it seems that this is only one of the appealing features that it should arrive on shelves with.  The handset will also pack a large 4.5-inch HD (1,280 × 720 pixels) LCD, offering support for up to 16,770,000...

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Windows 8 Preview Sends Feedback Automatically, Including Software and Hardware Info

Early adopters get to play with the Developer Preview of Windows 8 for free and Microsoft gets feedback in return.  This quid pro quo arrangement must already be familiar to all testers of the company’s software products, since it traditionally governs all pre-releases of future technologies from the Redmond giant.  Of course, Microsoft makes no secret about harvesting user data from early adopters testing Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3).  All that users need to do is read the license terms that accompany the first public release of Windows 8 and they’ll get all the information they require.  “Because this software is a pre-release version, we have turned on some Internet-based features by default to obtain feedback about them,” Microsoft reveals....

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AMD FX-4100 Bulldozer Processor Available for Pre-Order

Even though AMD's FX-Series processors based on the high-performance Bulldozer architecture aren't expected to hit retail before the middle of October, these chips have already become available fore pre-order from various Websites, the latest CPU to be listed being the FX-4100. The AMD FX-4100 is comprised out of two Bulldozer modules to deliver a total of four processing cores and it has a base clocks speed of 3.6GHz as well as 4MB of Level 2 cache memory and 8MB of L3 cache. All these are fitted inside a 95W TDP and the chip was designed to be installed in motherboards using the AM3+ socket. While this isn't expected to be launched ahead of its six- and eight-core peers, CPU-World reports that in the past few days, that CPU appeared for pre-order...

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Intel Sandy Bridge-E CPUs Can Overclock Up to 9.5GHz in Theory

Expected by computer enthusiasts and overclockers alike, Intel's processors based on the Sandy Bridge-E architecture were specially designed in order to provide an impressive overclocking headroom, and the Santa Clara chips maker doesn't disappoint as its upcoming CPUs will be able to reach in theory speeds up to 9.5GHz. The information surfaced thanks to a leaked Intel slide which details some of the overclocking features of Sandy Bridge-E processors. According to this document, the two unlocked processors that Intel plans to unveil in mid-November, the Core i7-3960X and Core i7-3930K, will be able to reach frequencies between 7.4GHz and 9.5GHz when overclocked. These are possible thanks to the 57X multiplier the processors are capable of,...

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Motorola XOOM 4G LTE Hits Verizon on October 13th

Mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility and wireless carrier Verizon have just announced that a new tablet PC will become available for purchase on the carrier's airwaves soon, namely the 4G LTE-enabled version of Motorola XOOM.  The new device is set to hit shelves at Verizon Wireless some October 13th, and will pack all of the features and capabilities that the original device does, plus the advanced connectivity option.  The launch follows shortly the release of the 4G LTE upgrade for all existing XOOM devices on Verizon's network. The Motorola XOOM 4G LTE should be able to provide users with average download speeds ranging from 5 to 12 Mbps, and with upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in areas where the wireless carrier's LTE network is...

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Don’t Use Expired Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 M3 - After March 8, 2012

Early adopters currently testing the first public development milestone of Windows 8 lose all rights to use the Developer Preview release once Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) has passed its expiration deadline, according to Microsoft.  As is the case with all pre-release software, and Windows 8 Build 8102 M3 is as pre-release as it gets, Windows Developer Preview is time-bombed.  This means that Microsoft has slapped an expiration date onto the first public test Build of Windows 8.  According to the information offered via the “About Windows” dialog box in one of the test copies of Windows 8 Developer Preview deployed here, the expiration deadline is March 12, 2012. However, the EULA, or end user license agreement tells a story that’s...

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iPhone 5 Supports HSPA+ (4G) Tech, Says China Unicom VP

A China Unicom executive pulled out a slide in front of a live audience at this week’s Macworld Asia event and claimed that the "iPhone 5", which Apple is said to unveil next week, will support the HSPA+ wireless standard, or "4G", in short. Citing a Japanese IT site, Macotakara has a two language version report, of which the English version seems to confirm what the above picture shows: “iPhone 5 will support W-CDMA based high-speed data transfer standard HSPA Evolution "HSPA+" (21Mbps).” The slide in question was reportedly shown by China Unicom's research VP, Huan Wenliang. Offering a maximum data speed of 21 Mbps (theoretical), the technology would greatly improve Internet speeds on Apple’s iPhone. It has been long speculated that...

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HIS Makes EyeFinity Multi-Monitor Gaming Cheaper with Special HD 6970

While multi-monitor gaming using AMD's EyeFinity technology is an attractive thought for most of us, such setups aren't cheap to build as users are required to use more expensive DisplayPort monitors or active DP adapters, so HIS developed an HD 6970 graphics card that does EyeFinity through the usual HDMI and DVI video outputs. The new HIS graphics card is dubbed the HIS 6970 IceQ Eyefinity RTS (Ready-to-see) and it comes with two DVI ports, one HDMI video output as well as with a pair of mini-DP connectors. While this configuration resembles pretty much the I/O setup of other AMD Radeon GPUs, the real breakthrough in HIS' implementation is that any of these outputs can be used for building an EyeFinity rig. This means users can install two...

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SHARP AQUOS PHONE SH80F - World's First Android Device to Convert 2D Content into 3D in Real Time

Japanese carrier NTT Docomo and Orange have just announce a partnership to offer Sharp's AQUOS PHONE SH80F, the world's first Android device that is capable to convert 2D content into 3D content in real time.  Although LG has already announced a dedicated software application for Android phones that can turn 2D games into 3D games, Sharp's smartphone can do it in real time. The phone will be initially launched in France on October 6 for 199 EUR with a new two-year agreement, but the device will go live in other European and Asian countries soon after. Sharp AQUOS PHONE SH80F allows users to watch 3D content without wearing special glasses on its 4.2-inch qHD capacitive touchscreen display. With Sharp's upcoming Android smartphone users...

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Windows 8 Build 8102 Can Keep Consuming Battery When Switching from Sleep to Hibernation

In certain scenarios, early adopters testing the Windows Developer Preview can find that their devices have drained the battery even if they put Windows 8 Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) to sleep.  Microsoft has confirmed an issue with Windows 8 Developer Preview in which the operating system keeps on consuming battery power despite testers putting their devices to sleep.  While some early adopters running the Windows 8 Developer Preview might experience this issue, not all testers can come across it.  I had the chance of playing with the Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC for a few days, and fact is that I only put the device to sleep, but never had any issues with Windows 8 draining the battery. Still, another tester of the Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC told me that he...

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ASRock Also Outs AM3+ Motherboards for AMD FX-Series CPUs

ASRock already sells quite a few AM3+ solutions for AMD's upcoming FX-Series processors, but recently the company expanded its portfolio with two new motherboards compatible with desktop Bulldozer chips, the 990FX Extreme3 and the Extreme3. Both of these solutions are pretty well equipped and come with a black PCB with some gold highlights that is guaranteed to please many modders interested in building an AMD FX system. Starting with the more powerful 990FX Extreme3, this board was built in order to house CPUs with TDPs as high as 140W paired with CrossFireX or SLI graphics setups as it comes equipped with three PCI Express x16 slots. As usual, only two of these get full x16 bandwidth, while the third only has four PCIe lanes routed to it. The...

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Mystery Indian Tablet Costs Just $35

Some may have dismissed the idea of a super-cheap tablet as a good but impossible dream, but the Indian government begs to differ, as it has gone through with the plans to launch a $35 (25.69 Euro) tablet. Going by what the slate industry looks like at the moment, tablets don't exactly make the top of the list in terms of affordability. After all, with the standard price point being $500, tablets that approach the $300 and even $400 mark are seen as a marvel. It is unclear where exactly this puts the tablet that the Indian government decided to make a fairly long time ago, and which is now nearing availability. Understandably enough, the slate is still wrapped up in mystery, especially in regards to the insides, but the price makes that more...

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Google and Samsung Will Hold Unpacked Event on October 11th

The unveiling of the next flavor of Android is nearing fast, and all might go down on October 11th, 2011, when Google and its hardware partner Samsung will hold an unpack event they already sent invites to.  “Join Us at Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2011to get a look at what’s new from Android,” the invitation reads.  While nothing was officially confirmed on what might be launched at that time, rumor has it that we should see the Ice Cream Sandwich platform release going official.  Moreover, there is the possibility that the two companies will announce a new Google phone, one that has been long rumored to arrive on shelves under the name of Nexus Prime.  The event will take place during CTIA, which sustains that idea that...

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