AMD Prepares A4-3420 Llano-Based APU for May/June Release

Even though this summer will mark the introduction of the company’s second generation high-performance Trinity APUs, AMD will continue to expand its current A-Series processor lineup with new models based on the Llano architecture. One of these upcoming APUs, dubbed the A4-3420, was recently uncovered by the Donaim Haber website, which has learned that this new processor is expected to arrive in May or June of this year. Just as its name implies, the A4-3420 will be a slightly faster version of the company’s A4-3400 APU that was introduced in 2011. The most important change brought by the A4-3420 when compared to its predecessor, is the slightly faster core speed, as the APU will now work at 2.8GHz instead of the 2.7GHz default clock of...

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Intel 7-Series Ivy Bridge Motherboard BIOSes Now Available, DX79SI Gets New BIOS Too

Its 7-series chipsets might not be official yet, but this hasn’t stopped Intel from adding to its support website BIOS updates for three of the company’s upcoming Ivy Bridge motherboards. The LGA 1155 boards in question are the Z77-based DZ77GA and DZ77BH, which are joined by the DH77EB built around the company’s H77 chipset. All three of these solutions are expected to become official at the end of April, as far as we know. Sadly, details about their specifications are scarce at this time, but if for some reason or another you would want to download their BIOS, you can do so by following these links: DZ77GA, DZ77BH and DH77EB. If you don’t own any of these 7-series solutions, but have the Intel DX79SI motherboard for LGA 2011 processors,...

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AMD Radeon HD 7990 Launch Set for April 2012, Says Report

In about a month away from now, AMD is said to introduce a new high-performance dual-GPU video card, based on the company’s Graphics Core Next architecture, which will be dubbed the Radeon HD 7990. A specific launch date isn’t available so far, but Donanim Haber has found out that the graphics card is scheduled to arrive this April. Most likely, the Radeon HD 7990 will be built using two Tahiti XT graphics cores that will be linked together via CrossFireX. If AMD goes for the Tahiti XT graphics core, this could mean that the card should feature 62 Compute Units for a total of 4096 stream processors, 256 texture units and 64 ROP units. Each one of the two GPUs will also feature a 384-bit wide memory, bus that will be connected to 3GB of GDDR5...

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Synology DS112j Personal Cloud Storage NAS Comes Packed Full of Features

Synology has just announced that is has expanded its NAS portfolio with the addition of a new single-bay solution, dubbed the DS112j, which was designed to be used as a personal cloud storage device courtesy of a range of apps designed for iPhone, iPad and Android. Those apps allow users to access the data they have stored on the DS112j, including documents, music, video and photos, as well as to receive live streaming video from home surveillance webcams. The device itself can accommodate a single 3.5-inch storage drive and comes with a new milk white chassis that adds a dash of style to Synology's NAS. Things have also changed on the inside of the DS112j, as the 1GHz processor and 128MB of RAM are now cooled by a low-rotation 60mm fan...

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HTC Explains Micro Arc Oxidation on One S, Video Available

HTC’s One S smartphone will arrive on shelves with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform and with the HTC Sense 4 UI on top, while promising great performance capabilities courtesy of a dual-core 1.5GHz application processor.  However, this is not all that the handset has to offer, and the Taiwanese mobile phone maker is set to make sure that we’re aware of that.  Thus, the company came up with a video to detail one of the “cool” features that this device arrives on shelves with, namely a durable body that also feels great in the hand.  For that, HTC is zapping the aluminum body of the device with 10,000 volts, the equivalent of lightning.  This is not necessarily needed for the device, but it does offer that level of “wow” that many are seeking in a new gadget....

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Galaxy S III Said Again to Be Waterproof

One of the features that Samsung might include inside the upcoming Galaxy S III smartphone would be waterproof capabilities, some of the latest rumors around the web suggest.  Apparently, Samsung might have partnered with P2i, the electronics waterproofing company, for the addition of this special feature to the upcoming handset.  A recent article on TechRadar notes that P2i already confirmed working with a large Korean manufacturer on the matter, and that carriers were also interested in launching devices that featured such capabilities.  "We're working with major carriers to create a standard of performance for water repellence which can give OEMs something to work to when creating smartphones,” Eric Cohill, COO for P2i,...

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HIS Passive Cooled Radeon HD 6670 iSilence 5 Makes Appearance

Over the years, we have grown accustomed to HIS' in-house Radeon HD designs and today the company has released another such solution based on AMD's HD 6670 GPU, the HIS 6670 iSilence 5 1GB DDR3, which was built specifically for HTPC enthusiasts. The video card was designed in order to provide noise-free operation and uses a passive heatsink to dissipate the heat produced by the HD 6670 graphics core. This covers most of the card’s PCB and increases cooling efficiency by maximizing the heat dissipation surface. Heat is conducted from the GPU and into the aluminum fin array via four copper heatpipes.  The good news is that the advanced cooling assembly used by HIS doesn’t require more than two slots inside the system case, which means...

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HTC One X with Quad-Core CPU Receives FCC Approval

Back in February when HTC unveiled the One series of Android phones, the company promised that all HTC One devices would be available on the market as soon as Q2 2012. The Taiwanese handset maker has teamed up with more than 140 carriers in orders to offer these HTC One smartphones worldwide, as fast as possible. One of the carriers that confirmed plans to release the HTC One XL is AT&T. The smartphone has already been approved by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) earlier this month. However, the guys over at Pocketnow spotted the HTC One XL sibling, the One X at FCC, which means that the quad-core device will make its entrance in the United States as well. HTC One XL will be available at AT&T with LTE support, but with...

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) Spotted at FCC with AT&T 3G Radios

Officially unveiled back in February, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 is slated for a March release in the UK. However, Samsung confirmed the slate would be launched worldwide within the following months. In this regard, it looks like we’re closing to a release in the Unites States as the tablet has just been spotted at FCC (Federal Communications Commission) by the folks over at Engadget. Even though there are no details on the tablet’s price tag and release date, it appears that Galaxy Tab 2.0 (7.0) has been approved with AT&T’s 3G radios.  Based on the popularity of the original model, the second generation of Galaxy Tab 7.0 will probably be available in the United States through multiple carriers. Codenamed GT-3100, the slate is expected...

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The First Photos Taken with Apple's New iPad

The Vietnamese source that obtained one of the first Retina display iPads is dishing around photos taken with the tablet’s five megapixel rear camera, following an unboxing and a benchmark. After unboxing and assessing the new iPad’s processing capabilities, Vietnamese site Tinhte.vn proceeded with tests on the tablet’s rear camera, which Apple boosted to 5 megapixels (from 1 megapixel in the iPad 2). The camera module also uses some advanced optics that go far beyond the iPad 2, but not quite where the iPhone 4S stands. Still, the new iPad churns up much clearer images compared to its predecessor. The Vietnamese source itself admits that more tests need to be done in order to fully determine its capabilities. Check out the full batch of...

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GeForce GTX 680 Is 40% Faster Than AMD Radeon HD 7970, Slide Claims

We tend to be skeptical about marketing slides, especially those made by a company in order to promote their new products, but the one NVIDIA leaked recently still deserves a once-over.  The slide in the picture appeared on the NGF Community forums and is basically a comparison chart between the upcoming NVIDIA board and AMD's two strongest, single-GPU Radeon cards.  The pink bar is the Radeon HD 7950, the red bar is the HD 7970 and the green bar is, naturally, the one corresponding to the GeForce GTX 680.  All three cards were benchmarked in a variety of games, both with and without AA (anti-aliasing).  There seems to be a single instance where the Keplerbased adapter did not leave the other two behind: Civilization...

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Mozilla Ready to Capitulate in HMTL5 Video War, Firefox May Start to Support H.264

A long time ago (a couple of years ago) the HTML5 video wars, with the patent-encumbered H.264 pitted against the open and Google-backed WebM, were grabbing everyone's attention. Sides were chosen, battles were waged. Things quieted down after an while and it seems, unlikely or not, that the Mozilla-Google group has lost or if it hasn't lost yet, it's close to admitting defeat. In fact, the problem, from Mozilla's point of view, was that there was no Mozilla-Google group to speak of. Google promised something, but hasn't delivered. It has converted much of its YouTube library to WebM, but it hasn't dropped support for H.264 from Chrome. So now Mozilla has come to the unfortunate realization that it is fighting an already lost war and that...

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Script: Site Layout Customizer

Any WordPress developer can tell you that creating a custom layout for the WP frontpage (loop file) is probably the biggest nightmare when building a non-standard blog. While in the past multi-column layouts drove developers mad and even made them switch platforms altogether, these days, with the help of a little plugin called “Site Layout Customizer,” almost any front-page design is possible in WordPress. Building a newspaper layout proved quite easy in our tests, the only thing we lacked was enough dummy content in our localhost installation to take a proper snapshot of our masterpiece. To embed the custom-built layout, the plugin creates a custom shortcode that can be embedded in any WP page. Just designate that page as the site's...

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HTC Announces Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for 16 Handsets

Taiwan-based handset vendor HTC Corporation has just confirmed plans to bring 16 devices to the latest version of Google’s Android operating system.  The mobile phone maker was already pushing out updates for two of its devices on the European market, namely HTC Sensation and Sensation XE, but that was only the tip of the iceberg, it seems.  Yesterday, Samsung too started to deliver the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system flavor to its users, though only the owners of Galaxy S II devices out there are receiving it at the moment.  Apparently, HTC plans to be one step ahead, and the company has made it clear that Ice Cream Sandwich will be available for many of its customers in the not too far future.  The list...

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Intel Ivy Bridge CPU Lineup Also Includes Pentium G2120 Embedded CPU

Together with desktop and mobile Ivy Bridge processors, Intel will also introduce in 2012 a series of embedded Pentium chips based on its new 22nm architecture, such as the Pentium G2120 CPU which has just recently been detailed. The yet to be released processor closely resembles Intel’s upcoming Pentium G870 desktop Sandy Bridge SKU, as both models operate at the same 3.1 GHz frequency. In addition, both of these chips feature 3MB of L3 cache, on-die integrated graphics and a similar feature set. What this means is that users won’t get support for technologies such as the AVX or AES instruction sets, Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost, but the chips will offer VT-x virtualization instead. The main difference between the embedded Pentium G2120...

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Fujifilm Promises Fixes for X10 and X-S1 Camera Bloom Problems

Though the Fujifilm X10 and X-S1 cameras were pretty well received last year, they have some problems, or some do anyway. A number of customers set inquiries regarding a “blooming” or “white disk” effect that causes exceptional highlights in a picture to appear as strongly, delineated rounded shapes. The company is working on a solution, namely a modified sensor, one that should show up in late May, 2012. Before then, though, their firmware will be upgraded, so that the white disk occurrence is reduced, especially in EXR mode. Scenes that are likely to suffer from the problem will be recognizable while taking a shot. This will automatically increase the ISO and optimize the DR (dynamic range). It won't totally eliminate the problem, but...

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Nvidia “Kepler” GeForce GT 640M GPU Benchmarked in Acer M3 Ultrabook

Even though Nvidia hasn’t officially announced its 600-series of mobile GPUs based on the Kepler architecture, the first benchmarks of such a graphics core, the GeForce GT 640M, have already made their appearance on the web. This 28nm GPU was used by Acer in its recently announced Aspire TimelineU M3 Ultrabook, which was reviewed by AnandTech just a few hours ago. According to the specifications accompanying Acer’s notebook, the GT 640M graphics core runs at speeds up to 625MHz and includes no less than 384 CUDA cores. This is four times the number of shaders packed by its predecessors, the GT 540, if we are to believe what Acer tells us. In the TimelineU M3 Ultrabook , the GT 640 graphics core is linked via a 128-bit wide bus to 1GB of...

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iPhone 5 Reportedly Thinner Thanks to inCell Display

An analyst with Jefferies issued a research note this week catering to some of the tech industry’s most beloved rumors, including an Apple "iTV", and the iPhone 5. On the latter, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said, “We believe Apple is partnering with Toshiba Mobile Display on inCell technology for potential inclusion in the iPhone 5 or beyond.” “Our view of inCell remains skeptical, but if they do achieve commercial yields we see this as almost as powerful a change as a move to OLED would be,” added Misek. Thanks to inCell, Apple’s next iPhone would not only be thinner, it would boast an amazingly responsive touch-display, Misek said. “It would remove the need for touch assemblies,” he noted, “allow them to reduce the thickness of iPhones...

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TAG Heuer Launches €2.800 (3,650 USD) Android Phone for Racing Fans

Swiss company TAG Heuer renown for the watches it manufactures for those who can afford it, has just announced the upcoming availability of a luxury mobile phone.  This is not the company’s first handset as TAG Heuer launched last year in June a €4,700 Android phone made of alligator leather, the LINK Phone. Today, Louis Vuilton’s division of luxury goods, TAG Heuer launched a new luxury smartphone inspired by Formula 1 racing cars, the Racer. TAG Heuer Racer will be available on the market from July. Customers would be able to purchase this expensive smartphone for “only” €2,800 (3650 USD).  The smartphone is mostly made of carbon fiber and titanium, and looks rather bulky. However, the things that matter most are its sturdiness...

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