Gigabyte GZ-G1 and GZ-G1 Plus Formalized

'Steel towers' isn't exactly a phrase that would make someone immediately think about PC cases, but the words are, in this case, quite descriptive of the two enclosures that Gigabyte created for desktop PCs. The reason why steel and tower both accurately capture part of the essence of the two products that Gigabyte made is because the GZ-G1 and GZ-G1 Plus, as they are called, are desktop cases that feature the tower form factor and a steel structure. They aren't the only ones of their kind either, as the GZ-G series also includes the GZ-G2 and GZ-G2 Plus. The whole product line can be found here, on the company's official website. The only difference between the GZ-G1 and the GZ-G1 Plus is that the latter has an extra fan of 120mm and a...

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Giada MI-Z68 Mini-ITX Motherboard Debuts

People looking to build an HTPC for Christmas might want to check out the new motherboard that JEHE is preparing, the MI-Z68, based on the Intel Z68 chipset. The motherboard market is occupied with the Intel X79 chipset right now, the ones that support LGA 2011 Sandy Bridge-E CPUs. Those central processing units are just for the high-end market, though, which means that smaller platforms, like the Giada MI-Z68 from JEHE, have to stick to Z68. The MI-Z68 supports LGA 1155 CPUs, Sandy Bridge as it were, and features the mini-ITX form factor. As such, it will act as a platform for small form factor personal computers, especially HTPCs (home-theater personal computers). It still has all the components that a standard PC is equipped with, though,...

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AMD Dual-GPU HD 7790 May Arrive in March 2012 Says Report

After the release of the Radeon HD 7900 series cards in the first part of 2012, some even say in January, AMD will continue to expand its graphics processor lineup and it now seems like March will mark the arrival of the dual-GPU Radeon HD 7990. The card will be based on the same Tahiti core as that used for the Radeon HD 7970 or HD 7950, but we don't know if AMD will go for the XT or the Pro version of this GPU. AMD's current Radeon HD 6990 is built using the more powerful XT version of the Cypress core, but this is no guarantee as the company has also used Pro parts in its previous dual-GPU solutions. Mo matter the Tahiti core that AMD will end up choosing, Donanim Haber reports that the HD 7990 should be launched by the end of Q1 2012,...

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Nvidia's Project Denver is On-Track, Doesn't Use ARM 64-bit Arch

After ARM announced its v8 core with support for the 64-bit instruction set many were tempted to believe that Nvidia's upcoming Project Denver is based on this new architecture, but the company's CEO has recently stated that this isn't true as the chip will use a 64-bit technology developed by Nvidia. According to Xbit Labs, Jen-Hsun Huang revealed this fact during the company's latest quarterly conference call with financial analysts. "Our focus [with Project Denver] is to supplement, add to ARM's capabilities by extending the ARM's architecture to segments in a marketplace that they are not themselves focused on,” said Nvidia's CEO. “There are some segments in the marketplace where single-threaded performance is still very important and...

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Nokia Lumia 800 Comes with Fast Facebook Photo Sharing

One of the appealing features that Nokia's first Windows Phone arrives on shelves with its the social networking integration, which offers users the possibility to easily stay on top of what is happening on Facebook or Twitter, and also to update statuses or share content with their friends while on the go.  Courtesy of Facebook integration, the Nokia Lumia 800 is capable of easily pushing a photo that was just snapped to the social networking site, for all friends and family to see it. Nokia came up with a video to show you how this can be done, and the video is available above for your viewing pleasure. As Nokia puts it, “this video talks about the Facebook integration and how easy it is to take a photo, tag it and share with your friends on Facebook...

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Office on Windows Phone Mango Video Demo

One of the reasons that Windows Phone will make inroads into the existing territory of rival mobile platforms is related to the level of integration it delivers with traditional desktop and server technologies from Microsoft.  This also includes the Office productivity suite, and the software giant made an excellent move when it made the Office hub a key part of Windows Phone. The Office hub is essentially an out-of-box Windows Phone app, which lets users work with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote documents, and take advantage of a range of additional capabilities such as Cloud storage and synchronization. Watch the video embedded at the top of this article in order to get an idea of just what the Office hub on Windows Phone Mango is capable o...

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Windows 8 Internationalization Efforts Expanded

Microsoft has expanded the efforts designed to internationalize the next major iteration of the Windows operating system, especially around terminology defining the evolution the platform’s evolution.  The software giant is doing it again, but this time around for no less than 23 languages on top of the initial four corresponding to the countries above. “A few weeks ago we asked speakers of Chinese Simplified, Japanese, German and French help us translate the planned, new terminology in Windows 8. We got some brilliantly creative suggestions and insightful comments that will help us get the language experience just right in Windows 8,” revealed Microsoft’s Palle Petersen. “We are now looking for feedback or alternative suggestions for...

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Intel Quad-Core Sandy Bridge Powered Asus N75 Gets Listed in Europe

Announced at the end of September, Asus' N75 multimedia notebook has now started to reach stores in Europe, various models making their appearance including a quad-core powered version that retails for 1,089€ ($1,487).  The notebook is housed inside a chassis sketched by the same David Lewis who also drew the N73 and it comes with a 17.3-inch display sporting a Full HD resolution and an Asus ColorShine finishing. Under the hood, the Asus N75SF-TZ110V model, which was spotted by Laptop Spirit, is powered by a quad-core Intel processor, the Core i7-2670QM, which comes clocked at 2.2GHz and is seconded by 6GB of system memory (upgradable to 8GB). The fast Intel processor is paired with a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 555M graphics core based...

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Thermaltake Outs Smart Series PSUs with Single 12V Rail

Thermaltake, a company well renowned for its cooling solutions and power supply units, has just announced the release of a new series of PSUs under the Smart brand name, which is comprised of no less than seven new models. The series features both modular and non-modular power supplies with ratings ranging from 430W to 730W, and include a single 12V rail. Depending on the wattage of the PSU, Thermaltake's smart models can deliver between 34 and 56 Amps of current to the system. As expected, the modular models are somewhat more advanced than their fixed-cable counterparts, so Thermaltake has installed a 140mm ultra-quiet cooling fan with RPM control in order to provide booth silent running and great cooling performance. In addition, the modular...

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Windows 7 SP1 Update Removes Fraudulent Digital Certificates That Could Allow Spoofing

Microsoft has issued an update designed to remove trust for two Intermediate Certificate Authorities (CA) certificates from DigiCert Sdn. Bhd. DigiCert Sdn. Bhd, is a subordinate certification authority (CA) of Entrust and GTE, based in Malaysia, and the Redmond company provided a heads-up of this refresh as of the start of November 2011. KB 2641690 is now available for download for users of all supported versions of Windows, including Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Jerry Bryant, group manager, Response Communications Trustworthy Computing Group, revealed that the software giant also published Microsoft Security Advisory (2641690), offering users additional details about the transition of DigiCert Sdn.Bhd certificates to the Microsoft Untrusted...

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VIA Outs Nano X2-Equipped Mini-ITX Board for HTPCs

Shortly after introducing a series of motherboards targeting the embedded device market, VIA has announced the release of the Nano X2-equipped VE-900 mini-ITX board which was specially developed for being used in media PCs. VIA's latest creation is built around an 1.4GHz Nano X2 dual-core processor which is paired with the company's VX900 chipset including Chrome9 HD graphics and the ChromotionHD 2.0 video engine. This media system hub, as VIA likes calling it, sports hardware acceleration support for various HD video formats, including MPEG-2, H.264, VC-1, WMV9 and HDCP for Blu-ray content. Users have the option of pairing the Nano X2 processor with a maximum of 8GB of system memory that can be installed in two standard sized DDR3 sockets. The...

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Asus Unveils the P9X79 WS LGA 2011 Motherboard for Workstation PCs

When we pretty much though that we got acquainted with all the LGA 2011 motherboards that Asus want to launch a few days from now, the Taiwanese company has come out with a new image depicting the P9X79 WS, the company's second workstation board for Sandy Bridge-E processors after the Sabertooth X79. On a first look, one would be tempted to believe that the P9X79 WS is nothing more than a slightly modified version of the P9X79 Deluxe that was revealed a short while ago. However, when moving closer to this workstation motherboard, one gets to see that Asus made quite a few design changes starting with the cooling system, which now links all the VRM heatsinks to each other and also with the PCH heatspreader. In addition, the expansion slot...

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Intel Makes a Special CPU Just for Tablets

That Intel was working on the Medfield was something well enough known, but the company might just be refashioning its product plans in regards to the mobile market.  It was just reported that the Santa Clara, California-based chip giant has decided to change its roadmap to include a processor specifically made for tablets. This unit will supposedly be launched at some point next year (2012) while Medfield will be specialized on handsets and smartphones. Intel had originally intended for Medfield to cover slates as well, but for some reason or another it has changed its mind, assuming this report is accurate that is. Naturally, Intel hopes to at least match ARM in terms of performance and TDP (thermal design power). Within two years,...

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EVGA Superclock CPU Cooler Gets LGA 2011 Mounting Kit

With the launch of Sandy Bridge-E quickly approaching, more and more manufacturers hurry to make their products compatible with Intel's upcoming processor and the latest to do so is EVGA which has released a mounting kit for its Superclock CPU cooler. Launched at the end of May, the EVGA Superclock is a re-branded version of the Swiftech built Polaris 120, which has received an all black heatsink paintjob and a new LED fan. This fan measures 120mm in diameter and it can provide up to 84CFM of airflow at its maximum rotation speed of 2500RPM, while at its slowest speed (750RPM) EVGA states it produces 26CFM. The airflow generated is then directed through two separate air channels, which are specially designed to first cool the hottest of...

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iOS 5.0.1 Fixes Passcode Lock Bug

Apple acknowledges in a Support document that a person with physical access to a locked iPad 2 can access some of the user's data, if the right tricks are performed. The issue was discovered weeks ago, and is now fixed in the latest iOS software update. As promised, Apple not only patched the battery drain issues for iOS 5 customers, the company also fixed a security bug with iPad 2 tablets where a person could use the Apple Smart Cover accessory (or a simple magnet) to gain access to the last-run app. Apple’s description says that “When a Smart Cover is opened while iPad 2 is confirming power off in the locked state, the iPad does not request a passcode. This allows some access to the iPad, but data protected by Data Protection is inaccessible...

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Parted Magic 11.11.11 Has Firefox 8.0 and Kernel 3.1

Patrick Verner announced today, November 11th, the immediate availability for download of the Parted Magic 11.11.11 Linux distribution for partitioning tasks. Parted Magic 11.11.11 is a special edition, as it includes a new version system, and it had to be released in this special day. The new release is powered by a new Linux kernel and has lots of updated packages (see highlights for details). "This version includes a new version system! What a nice day to roll it out. The kernel has been upgraded to Linux 3.1.0. Other major program updates include Firefox 8.0, GParted 0.10.0, ClamAV 0.97.3, gptfdisk 0.8.1, and File 5.09. Most of the work has gone into fixing smallish annoying issues and minor scripting errors." - said Patrick Verner in...

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Nokia Champagne Emerges with Windows Phone 'Tango'

Nokia is gearing up for the release of new smartphones running under Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system, and one such device has just made an appearance into the wild, dubbed Champagne. Apparently, the new device is based on a future flavor of Windows Phone, namely version 7.10.871, called Tango, at least this is what data from the “I’m a WP7” application shows, according to WPCentral. Rumor has it that this would be the OS iteration that will enable the launch of Windows Phone handsets featuring LTE capabilities, supposedly set to be loaded on new Nokia devices as soon as next year, with one of these smartphones en route to AT&T. At the same time, some suggested that Tango might open the door to the release of very low-end smartphones,...

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