How to Permanently Delete Your Facebook Account

Plenty of people delete their Facebook accounts in a fit of rage or the spur of the moment. Luckily for them, the regular way of doing this doesn't actually delete the account, it just "removes" or "disables" it.

This means that the profile won't be visible or searchable, but all of the content will be kept by Facebook and some of the content, shared with friends, may still be visible to other users.

When users decide they didn't actually want to delete their accounts, they can simply restore their profiles and be done with it.

"In case you want to come back to Facebook at some point, we save your profile (timeline) information (friends, photos, interests, etc.) so that the information on your profile (timeline) will be there when you come back. A lot of people deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons," Facebook explains.

For some people, most people probably, this is useful. For the ones that actually wanted their Facebook profiles deleted, it's creepy.

Luckily for them, Facebook does indeed offer a way of deleting their accounts permanently. The feature has been available for a while, but it's not that easy to find if you don't know where to look for it. You can permanently delete your account via this link.

Note that, even if you use this link, your stuff will be stored for a couple more weeks. If you log into your Facebook account during that time, your profile will be restored. Otherwise, all of your data will be deleted forever. Or, at least, that's what Facebook promises.

"If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added," Facebook explains in a help page.

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Sony Xperia S Goes Live in India, Xperia P, U and Sola Arriving in May

Sony Xperia S has been on pre-order since last weekend for Rs 32549 (635 USD or 485 EUR) outright. Various leading retailer offered the smartphone along with free accessories and software to make it more attractive.

Although Sony India said it would bring the Xperia S bundled with free accessories worth Rs 4,000 (80 USD or 60 EUR) none of these retailers is currently offering all products included in the promised bundle.

Sony said that the Xperia S will be retailed with the following free accessories: car charger, leather case, HDMI cable and 2 NFC Tags.

Anyway, starting today, Android enthusiasts living in India will be able to purchase the Xperia S for prices ranging between Rs. 31,990 (620 USD or 475 EUR) and Rs. 32,549 (630 USD or 485 EUR).

Flipkart offers a free car charger and 2 NFC tags to each customer who purchases the Xperia S, whilst Letsbuy's Xperia S comes bundled with Norton Mobile Security for Android.

As expected, Sony Xperia S will be shipped in India with Android 2.3 Gingerbread on board. However, Sony plans to deliver an Ice Cream Sandwich update to all its Xperia NXT smartphones soon after they are launched on the market.

Aside from announcing the immediate availability of the Xperia S in India, Sony confirmed the rest of the Xperia NXT smartphone will be launched in the country next month.

Starting May, Indians will be able to get the Xperia U, Xperia P and Xperia sola for prices that will be unveiled closer to launch.

“Now, as part of the Sony group, we are in an even stronger position to bring connected entertainment experiences to consumers in India. Bringing together the best of Sony’s electronics, networked services and content, the Xperia smartphone is a cornerstone to enjoy entertainment in this connected world,” said P. Balaji, Managing Director, Sony Mobile Communications India. via AndroidOS

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And Here Is the Excite 10 Tablet from Toshiba

After seeing the huge Excite 13 tablet, we have finally arrived at the Excite 10, which is basically the closest thing to the “common” denominator on the slate segment right now. 

"One size does not fit all, so we are carefully considering how and where people are using tablets and designing form factors to best suit various needs," said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, digital products division, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. 

This idea is what led to the appearance of the 13.3-inch Excite 13, which we covered here, and the Excite 7.7, discussed here. 

Now we finally get to see the size that does not fit all but, in the end, is still just right for most people. 

Excite 10 is, obviously enough, a 10-inch Android tablet, where the exact version of the Android operating system (OS) is 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). 

The display features a native resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels, as well as a Corning Gorilla Glass overlay. 

In other words, it will withstand scratches, hits and falls without being damaged in any way. 

Of course, particularly severe hits or shocks will still leave a mark, but only if someone actually puts active effort into wrecking the tablet. 

As for what lies inside, the configuration is actually pretty standard, as dictated by the NVIDIA Tegra 3 ARM platform. 

The quad-core SoC with integrated graphics is backed by 1 GB of DDR3 RAM (random access memory) and 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of built-in NAND storage. 

The list goes on with micro USB connectivity, micro HDMI, a full-size SD card slot, two cameras (5 megapixels on the back, 2 megapixels at the front) and a battery that can keep everything running for up to 12 hours, or so Toshiba claims. 

Sales will start on May 6, 2012, and the price will be $449, probably 449 Euro in Europe, in spite of exchange rates. Not even close to the $199 / 150 Euro (probably 199 Euro in truth) promised by NVIDIA by summer, but decent enough, we suppose.

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Toshiba Unveils Excite 7.7 ICS-Based Tablet with Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU

Toshiba has just announced a new set of three tablets based on Google’s latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, Excite 10, 13 and 7.7.

All three slates come with similar hardware configurations, but set themselves apart when it comes to display and storage amount. 

The smallest of the three, the Excite 7.7 is Toshiba’s first tablet to feature an AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display. The other two slates sport AutoBrite LED Backlit displays, which are larger than Excite 7.7’s screen.

Toshiba Excite 7.7 is only 0.3 inches thin and weighs in at only 13.4 ounces (380g, battery included). Even though the tablet is small and light, it comes with a powerful hardware configuration, which enables users to smoothly run the latest games and HD content.

The tablet is powered by a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, which is complemented by a GeForce graphics processing unit and 1GB of RAM. In addition, the Excite 7.7 tablet includes a microUSB port and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).

Software-wise, all three tablets include a full suite of the popular Google Mobile Service applications, such as Google Play, YouTube, Gmail and Google Maps. 

Google apps aside, the Excite 7.7 comes pre-loaded with a slew of Toshiba software and third-party applications, including TOSHIBA Book Place, TOSHIBA Media Player, TOSHIBA File Manager, as well as Netflix and Zinio.

According to Toshiba, the Excite 7.7 tablet will be available for purchase from June 10 for a suggested retail price of $499.99 (380 EUR) for the 16GB model and $579.99 (440 EUR) for the 32GB model.

“With amazingly thin and light designs, our new Excite family of tablets continues to incorporate what consumers have come to love about Toshiba tablets: essential ports for a more complete tablet computing experience plus durability that ensures they can go the distance,” said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division.

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Foxconn Becomes Primary Owner of Sharp Osaka Plant

It looks like Sharp really is doing badly nowadays, having decided to sell so much of its LCD production in Sakai, Osaka, that Foxconn will be the one with the greatest stake in it. 

It was last month that Sharp sold a stake of 46.5 percent to Foxconn. 

That left it with the same share, while 7 percent went to Sony. 

Now, though, Sharp has decided to sell another 7% to Dai Nippon Printing Co. and Toppan Printing Co. 

In other words, Sharp's LCD plant will no longer be Sharp's LCD plant, as Foxconn will have the greatest share, unless Sony decides to sell its own back, balancing things again. 

All in all, the partnership that Foxconn and Sharp have entered, presumably to help usher in the Apple TV, has become quite unbalanced, all because the latter expects financial losses, unlike the former.

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Script: OSClass

OSClass is a relative new classified ads publishing platform, built to resemble the WordPress backend interface as much as possible. Nevertheless, all similarities end here.

Built to work on its own (not as a WP plugin), OSClass is one of the most delightful classified ads management solutions we have ever tested here. Just to highlight some of its features, OSClass allows users to manage general ads and specialized ads the same way (through modules), comes packed with a friendly graphic installer to easily install it anywhere, it's extremely SEO friendly and features a powerful search utility, to allow visitors to find their desired content.

Of course, as any other respectable open source project, OSClass has support for themes and plugins. OSClass' official website boasts a free themes and plugins repository to expand core functionality if and whenever needed. An OSClass demo can be tested here, while development news and updates can be followed on the SourceForge and/or GitHub pages.

Download OSClass here.

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Synology Presents RackStation RS2212+ and RS2212RP+ NAS Servers

Taiwanese company Synology has just announced its new RackStation RS2212+ and RS2212RP+ NAS Servers on its official website. These are 10-bay rackable enclosures complete with multiple failover systems.

The platform is powered by a Dual Core 2.13 GHz CPU that’s very likely to be an Intel Atom family member. The RS2212+ has 1 GB of DDR3 RAM that can be expanded to 3 GB.

On the storage side, it can handle ten 3.5” or 2.5” drives for a maximum total capacity of 30 terabytes. All the HDD bays have hot swap capability and the external connectors include four USB 2.0 ports and one expansion port.

The network connectivity is serviced by two gigabit ports complete with Link Aggregation and Wake On LAN/WAN.

Cooling consists of four 80 mm fans with failover support that can reach a noise level of 39.3 dB(A) when loaded with 1TB ST31000520AS hard drives from Seagate and measured one meter away from the RackStation RS2212+.

The power consumption can reach 88W when loaded with 10 Western Digital 3TB WD30EZRS hard drives. In HDD Hibernation mode, the power consumption can drop to 36W.

The RackStation RS2212+ comes equipped with a standard PSU bay but the RS2212RP+ can be equipped with redundant power supplies to guarantee system reliability during a power outage.

The stations can reach a very high performance with read and write speeds at 200.73 MB/s and 194.32 MB/s respectively, using a RAID 5 configuration with Link Aggregation enabled.

Both units can be expanded using Synology RX1211 or the RX1211RP to hold up to 22 drives.

Pricing has not been announced yet.

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Besides Qosmio, Toshiba Readies Satellite P, S, C, L Laptops

New tablets are all well and good, but Toshiba has been up to more than just new mobile devices running Android 4.0. In fact, it has a bunch of new laptops on the way too.

We'll get the real powerhouses out of the way first: the Qosmio X875 and the Z875 3D, both based on Ivy Bridge CPUs and 3GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 670M GPUs.

With 17.3-inch 1,600 x 900 displays (1,920 x 1,080 3D panel on the X875 3D), they have Harman Kardon Speakers, Blu-ray units, four USB ports, "Black Widow" styling and prices of $1,299 to $2,499, depending on storage, memory, graphics options, etc.

Sales will commence on June 24, which is quite far off, but it makes sense, knowing that Intel's mobile Ivy Bridge units will come out around that time themselves. Go here to learn more about them.

Now we can get to the Satellite laptops, and there are many of them, to put it lightly.

The Satellite L800 and C800 are the ones that most people should be looking at, being mainstream-level and low-end, respectively.

They measure 14, 15.6 or 17.3 inches in diagonal and have various Ivy Bridge CPU, memory, storage configurations, plus HDMI, HD webcams, Blu-ray drives and many possible colors.

Shipments will start only in the third quarter, but the starting prices of $449.99 and $399.99 (probably just as many Euro) are well worth waiting for, one might argue.

Finally, there's the Satellite P800 and Satellite S800 mobile personal computers, which have the same screen size possibilities as above.

Whatever CPU is selected, it gets an NVIDIA GeForce 630M GPU as partner or a comparable AMD discrete graphics card.

It is also interesting to note that the S800 can have an AMD processor instead of an Intel one.

Like the other Satellite laptops, the P800 and S800 will start shipping in the third quarter, for $799.99 / $699.99.

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Toshiba Launches 13-Inch Excite 13 Tablet

Toshiba has officially launched its latest tablets, one of which stands out through its sheer size, as well as the quality of its liquid crystal display panel.

The NVIDIA Tegra 3 mobile platform has been used in so many tablets that it is no longer capable of getting one sold on its own, even with its new and shiny 4-PLUS-1 trademark.

Toshiba knew this when it put together its newest slate range, so it went a bit outside the norm.

That is to say, in addition to the expected 10-inch and 7.7-inch Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich models, it conjured up a larger one too.

To be more specific, Toshiba created the Excite 13, a tablet with a 13.3 inches screen diagonal.

What's more, the display features a native resolution of 1,600 x 900 pixels (a so-called HD plus display), making this one of the relatively few Android tablets with a panel better than 1,280 x 800.

Toshiba believes that Excite 13 is just right for the role of “sharing element” in a home, but some test runs will have to come and go before we believe that.

Not that we don't think the size goes a long way, because we do, but the price of $629 is a bit worrisome.

That's 479.60 Euro according to exchange rates, but European stores will probably list the thing for 500-600 Euro or so.

The rest of the specs are more or less common by now, starting with the aforementioned Tegra 3 quad-core CPU that has 32 GB or 64 GB of storage to work with.

Toshiba tossed in micro USB, a dull-size SD card slot and two cameras: 5 megapixels at the back and 2 megapixels on the front.

Everything somehow fits in a package whose thickness is of 0.4 inches (10.16 millimeters) and whose weight is of 2.2 pounds (just short of one kilogram). Sales will start on June 10 (2012).

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The Entire Wikipedia Available in a 9.7GB Torrent

Wikipedia is the ultimate web success story, something made possible by the internet and one of the big examples of why the internet is so great. But the internet is only great if you can use it, which, even in the most developed parts of the world, is not always possible.

That shouldn't stop you from accessing Wikipedia though. At least, that seems to be the thinking behind a very interesting project, a full copy of the site available to anyone willing to download a 9.7 GB torrent.

"If you’d like to read Wikipedia in an airplane (of the offline variety) or in an area with no or limited connectivity, or install it in a university, or just to have it handy in case of a zombie apocalypse, you can now download a full text copy of the English Wikipedia (from January 2012) in the convenient OpenZIM format, which was specifically developed for sharing wiki content," Wikimedia announced.

The copy was put together by Emmanuel Engelhart, the developer of Kiwix, a wiki reader app. However, any app capable of handling a OpenZIM file can use the copy.

This copy contains only the text articles along with lists, tables, citations and most other text and metadata. Images are not included though, not to mention other media files. Including just the thumbnail images for all the articles would have swollen the archive to more than 100 GB.

It's hardly the first copy of a Wikipedia, but it's the first full copy of the English version, a previous attempt only archived 45,000 articles, a small fraction of the total, and dates from 2010.

There are copies of the other Wikipedia sites as well, for example full copies of the Spanish or Japanese Wikipedia, including images, dating from March 2012. The English version is from January 2012.

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NoFAN Announces CS-70 and CS-80 Cases

Seoul-based fanless PC company NoFAN has recently announced the CS-70 and CS-80 computer cases on its official website. Having a computer with no moving parts has always been a dream for silent PC enthusiasts.

NoFAN has a wide variety of original cooling systems in its product range – enough to build a completely silent PC. 

Back in the days (i.e. before 2008), even with every cooling part having no fan, the PC couldn’t be completely silent as it needed a hard drive.

Now, with the arrival of wide spread use of solid state drives, we can build a whole system that is completely silent.

The CS-70 case supports the MicroATX standard and has three 3.5” bays and one external 5.25” bay. There is also a 2.5” bay for the aforementioned SSD. The front panel has two USB 3.0 connectors and the standard HD Audio connectors.

It measures 284 mm in length, has a height of 487 mm while being 235 mm wide. These translate in 11.1” by 19.1” by 9.25” in imperial.

The CS-80 is a full-blown ATX case with six 3.5” bays and three 5.25” bays. It benefits from a completely screwless design, and has an extra eSATA port on the front panel next to the two USB 3.0 ports and the standard HD Audio connectors.

CS-80 stands 470 mm tall with a width of 200 mm while being 490 mm long, meaning 18,5” by 7.87” by 19.29” in imperial.

Both cases can perfectly fit inside the CR-100C fanless cooler and a fanless P-400A power supply for a completely silent PC solution. Even the smaller CS-70 can fit a full-blown 300 mm long card inside, while the CS-80 has an upper storage tray with USB 3.0 port for holding small devices as smart phones or external pocket-sized HDDs.

Pricing has not been established yet.

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Microsoft Office Mobile for Nokia Belle Now Available for Download

Available only for Windows Phone devices, Microsoft Office Mobile application has just been launched for Nokia Belle handsets. 

The recent release follows Nokia’s announcement that OneNote, Lync 2010, Document Connection and PowerPoint Broadcast are available for Nokia Belle platform.

Nokia and Microsoft worked together to offer Symbian users the chance to download Word Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile and Excel Mobile applications. 

The whole Microsoft Office Mobile Suite has been optimized to work on the following Nokia Belle smartphones: Nokia 701, Nokia 700, Nokia 603, Nokia E7, Nokia X7, Nokia C7, Nokia Oro, and Nokia C6-01.

Nokia fans have probably already noticed that some popular Symbian smartphones are missing from the compatibility list. 

No worries, as the Finnish company has confirmed that Nokia N8, Nokia E6 and Nokia 500 will also be added to the list of compatible devices a bit later.

Moreover, Nokia 808 PureView smartphone that has yet to make its debut on the market, will come pre-loaded with all these apps when it begins selling.

The applications can be downloaded and installed through Nokia Software Update tool or connecting the smartphone to a PC via Nokia Suite desktop software.

According to Nokia, Microsoft Office Mobile for Belle platform will be available for download from the Nokia Store within the next few weeks.

The utility of the apps cannot be questioned. Office Mobile allows users to create, edit or delete documents. With Word mobile, users can also save or send documents, as well as keep some of the functionalities offered by the desktop version, such as pinch and zoom.

Presentation texts and speaker notes can be edited in PowerPoint Mobile, while Excel Mobile allows users to create charts or insert formulae and view rich data and charts while on the move.

For more details on Mobile Office apps head over to Nokia for Business site.

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First Intel 14nm CPU Is Atom Z2580

According to SemiWiki, the name has been uncovered for the first central processing unit built, or which will eventually be built, on the 14nm manufacturing process technology.

With early 2014 as the ETA (estimate time of arrival), the chip (codenamed Airmont) is a sort of proof that Intel really is moving faster than Moore's Law.

For those unclear on the matter, Moore's Law states that the number of transistors possible to place (affordably) on an IC (integrated circuit) doubles every two years.

That's neither here nor there, though. What's really important here is the name, Atom Z2580, that 4G LTE will be supported and that phones, slates and even ultrabooks could use it.

All other specs are unknown, including the battery power consumption.

Production will probably start in early summer 2013, if mass availability really is set for two years from now.

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Nokia 103 Is the Cheapest Phone on the Market, Gets Priced at 16 EUR (21 USD)

Nokia has silently released the cheapest phone ever launched on the market. We’re not sure what exactly the handset vendor put inside this device, but Nokia 103 has been priced at just 16 EUR (about 21 USD).

Although the bar phone has just been announced in Nigeria, it’s likely that the Finnish company will release the Nokia 103 in other emerging markets.

According to IntoMobile, citing Benedict Evans, the Nokia 103 costs only 16 EUR (about 21 USD) before taxes and subsidies, which makes it one of the cheapest phones on the market, if not really the cheapest.

Nokia has yet to officially announce the availability of the phone, but press photos have already been published on its site, along with the handset’s data sheet.

So, what to expect from such a low-priced mobile phone? Well, not much. Nokia 103 features a bar form factor and is based on the Series 30 UI. 

Besides the standard keypad, Nokia 103 comes with two contextual keys, the usual Accept and End calls keys, as well as a big D-pad button that helps users navigate through menus.

The phone measures 107.2 x 45.1 x 15.3mm and weighs around 77g (battery included), which puts the phone into the extremely light category. 

However, given the cheap plastic that the phone is made of, this doesn’t come as a surprise. On the positive side, Nokia 103 is dust proof.

The phone comes with calendar, alarm clock, FM radio, integrated flashlight, time tracker and pre-paid tracker, as well as some pre-loaded games. It also supports up to 500 contact entries and has enough storage for up to 250 SMS.

Nokia 103 packs a very small 1.36-inch black and white display, and drains energy from an 800 mAh Li-Ion battery, which is rated by the manufacturer for up to 27 days of standby time or up to 11 hours of talk time.

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Raspberry Pi Gets CE Certification, No Modifications Needed

After delays and more delays, the Raspberry Pi foundation has finally eliminated the last barrier between it and free sales of its eponymous PC. 

About two weeks ago, we reported on the latest barrier that had lowered itself in front of the Raspberry Pi Linux computer. 

Then again, it might be more accurate to say that the Raspberry Pi foundation finally hit the obstacle it should have been able to foresee. 

Basically, the product could not be sold in Europe because it lacked compliance with CE quality guidelines. 

Now, though, the foundation is happy to announce that its small computer passed all the tests and didn't even need to go through hardware modifications for it. 

“We just received confirmation that the Raspberry Pi has passed EMC testing without requiring any hardware modifications,” the company wrote. 

“The Raspberry Pi had to pass radiated and conducted emissions and immunity tests in a variety of configurations (a single run can take hours), and was subjected to electrostatic discharge (ESD) testing to establish its robustness to being rubbed on a cat. It’s a long process, involving a scary padded room full of blue cones, turntables that rise and fall on demand, and a thing that looks a lot like a television aerial crossed with Cthulhu.” 

While the foundation was at it, Raspberry Pi also went through the effort of making sure the computer complies with FCC regulations and CTick guidelines too. 

In other words, when the Pi finally makes its way to the United States of America and Australia, respectively, history won't repeat itself. 

All that remains is for people to check their retailers in case they want to buy this thing (the price is $25 / 19 Euro), or wait until schools, colleges and universities get it through educational programs (at some point later this year).

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Galaxy S III’s True HD Super AMOLED Screen Combines FMM and LITI

As Samsung’s next Android-based flagship smartphone is getting closer to release, more details and rumors on the technologies that it will pack inside are making it online. 

Today, some info on the phone’s screen has emerged, confirming that it will be the first true Super AMOLED HD panel out there. 

Featuring a great resolution and a higher pixel density than before, the upcoming smartphone is expected to easily leave rivals behind, and to provide users with the great visual experience they are looking for. 

Apparently, the South Korean mobile phone maker decided to combine some of the screen technologies it already mastered, to make sure that the things indeed turn out this way. 

Galaxy S II, last year’s Android flagship from Samsung, came with a 4.3-inch screen capable of delivering a 480 x 800 pixels resolution and 250ppi pixel density. 

Samsung did better than that with the Galaxy Note and Nexus through using PenTile screen matrix arrangement. The screens were Super AMOLED and delivered an HD resolution. 

Galaxy S III, however, will feature a non-PenTile screen, capable of the same HD resolution and featuring a higher pixel density at 316ppi, the latest details coming from DDaily unveil. 

For that, Samsung combined the Fine Metal Mask (FMM) process used for AMOLED screens at the moment with the tricky Laser-Induced Thermal Imaging (LITI) production method, which is cheaper and also allows for smaller pixels at 2.5 micrometers (compared to 15 micrometers for FMM). 

Apparently, FMM is used for the blue pixels on Galaxy S III’s screen, while LITI for the red and green pixels. The panel should feature the same 4.65-inch size as on Galaxy Nexus or Galaxy S II HD LTE, while being done with a true HD RGB matrix.

According to phoneArena, Samsung has completed Phase 3 production method tests for the 5.5-Gen A2 production line and is firing it up for mass producing said 720p Super AMOLED screen for the Samsung Galaxy S III.

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High-End Z77 Boards Need Ivy Bridge CPU to Power Third PCIe x16 Slot

As information stickers on new Z77 motherboards show, builders of Z77-based systems will need an Ivy Bridge CPU to make one of the long PCIe slots work. 

This is quite strange as it’s the first time we’re presented with a disabled PCIe x16 slot on a wide range of high-end PC motherboards.

Whether that's the case is unclear but very likely. The third long PCIe x16 slot from most of the motherboards might not work at all. That is to say, it won't work even with a device that doesn’t need too much bandwidth, like a sound card or a TV tuner.

If we were to take a close look at the block diagram of the Intel Z77 Express chipset, we can easily notice that the chipset has a single PCIe x16 link. 

These 16 lanes can be configured in three ways: x16/NC/NC; x8/x8/NC and x8/x4/x4.

Intel considered that they should take advantage of the high bandwidth the 3rd generation of the PCI-Express standard has to offer. 

If a PCIe lane in PCI-Express v.1.0 can carry 250 MB/s in each direction, and a PCI-Express v.3.0 lane can carry 1 GB/s in each direction, then a 4 lane PCIe 3.0 slot will have roughly the same bandwidth as a 16 lane PCIe 1.0 slot.

Physically, the slots on the motherboard look the same, but electrically, 4x PCI-Express 3.0 has the same bandwidth as a 16x PCI-Express 1.0 had back in the days of 2004.

Therefore, if you plan on buying a future-proof motherboard with a Z77 chipset but only have the money for a cheap Sandy Bridge CPU, keep in mind that if you ever save the funds for a triple-SLI or triple-CrossFireX setup, you’ll need money for an Ivy Bridge CPU as well.

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Zotac Has a Bigger and Badder SuperOverclock Motherboard Too

We've seen the small, mini-ITX 7-Series motherboard from Zotac, and now we get to look at what is essentially the polar opposite, in both size and features. 

The ZT-Z77-U1D SuperOverclock hasn't actually been launched officially, or at least we haven't spotted the press release yet. 

Instead, it is Expreview that got a hold of the press photos and the specifications. 

Just looking at the mainboard is enough to see that Zotac has every intention of using this as one of, if not the flagship, Z77 models. 

A 27-phase VRM powers the LGA 1155 socket. That's right, this is a professional overclockers' board, pure and simple. 

Since we're on the subject, we suppose it wouldn't hurt to elaborate on the VRM: it uses AIO ferrite-core solid-state chokes, DrMOS, tantalum capacitors, a super-ML multiphase capacitor (for power conditioning) and a VRD12-compliant controller. 

The VRM isn't the only thing that makes Zotac's creation so well-suited for clock tweaking. 

The company also tossed in a redundant UEFI BIOS, onboard switchers, POST LEDs, consolidated voltage measurement points and a lot of room on the upper half, for easy application of LN2 pots. 

Everything else about the ZT-Z77-U1D is what one would expect from a high-end Panther Point motherboard. 

Two PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x8 in dual-card mode) are accompanied by four PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots. 

Buyers will also find six SATA ports (two SATA 6.0 Gbps, four SATA 3.0 Gbps) and a rear I/O panel with DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, 8+2 channel HD audio, Gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports (four more are available via headers), some USB 2.0 ports and, naturally, wireless support (802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0). 

Finally, everything gets power through an 8-pin EPS connector and a 4-pin Molex (optional, only needed if two slot-powered video cards are present).

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TOSHIBA Qosmio X875 3D Laptop Technical Details Unveiled

Japanese company Toshiba has just sent out a press release announcing its new Qosmio gaming notebook line. The powerful mobile systems are powered by Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors.

The 17.3” model is called Qosmio X875 and also has a 3D version. The platform can handle up to 32 GB of DDR3 RAM, as the mainboard has four DIMM memory slots that already come equipped with 16 GB  of RAM directly from the manufacturer.

The maximum working frequency for the memory modules is 1600 MHz.

The big 17.3” screen offers a 1600 x 900 resolution that is called HD+ by Toshiba and has TruBrite technology. It can also come with a FullHD panel with Nvidia 3D Vision 25 kit included with Lightboost.

The audio part is serviced by four Harman Kardon quality speakers with Toshiba’s Slipstream technology and SRS Premium Sound 3D capability.

It has an optical Blu-Ray drive and an HDMI port to output those FullHD images on an external device.

The video processing engine is powered by Nvidia’s Kepler generation GeForce 670M chip with 3GB of GDDR5 graphic memory.

Two HDD slots for up to 2 TB or storage are also available.

Although this might add to the weight of the device, it is good that it has two 2.5” bays because, this way, the user will be able to swap one of the HDDs for a fast SSD, and use it as the OS drive.

Connectivity is improved by means of four USB 3.0 ports, one VGA connector and an RJ45 LAN port. Also, the X875 has the standard headphones and microphone jack connectors along with the HDMI port.

The upper parts of the case are made of aluminum with a diamond-like texture. Just like older models, the X875 has a metallic red-and-black color scheme. The Qosmio logo on the top of the lid is glowing red just like the keyboard backlighting.

The pricing will start from 1,299 USD, but can easily reach 2,499 USD for the top configuration. This is around 995 EUR up to 1915 EUR for European buyers.

The Qosmio will start selling in Q3 2012, so Toshiba fans must wait quite a while before they’ll be able to get their hands on the Black Widow.

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Zotac's Mini-ITX Ivy Bridge-Ready Powerhouse

Intel's Ivy Bridge CPUs will be launched in a couple of weeks, so motherboard makers are showing their 7-Series platforms, even very small ones. 

Contrary to what some may think, a powerful computer does not actually need to have a huge main unit, far from it. 

It all boils down to the motherboard size and how many features a hardware maker can cram into it. 

Zotac's Z77-ITX WiFi shows that even a mini-ITX motherboard can support all the Panther Point chipset and Ivy Bridge CPU features. 

“ZOTAC is the global innovator when it comes to mini-ITX mainboards. We continue to push the performance envelope with mini-ITX to rival much larger systems,” says Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International. 

“The latest Intel Ivy Bridge processors paired with our ZOTAC Intel 7-series mini-ITX mainboards make an unbeatable performance combination without sacrificing energy-efficiency.” 

Even when smaller than the ASUS Maximus V GENE, the ZOTAC Z77-ITX WiFi somehow crams together two DDR3-1600 memory slots (2,133 MHz when overclocked) and a PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot (for graphics cards). 

Knowing how powerful video boards are nowadays, this means that small PC boxes can breeze through any game. 

It doesn't take too much imagination to picture this platform inside a small LAN party case and loaded with high-end hardware. 

That said, Zotac tossed in two HDMI outputs, a mini DisplayPort connector, two SATA 6.0 Gbps ports, two SATA 3.0 Gbps connectors and a bunch of USB ports/headers. Finally, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0 go without saying. 

In addition to the ZOTAC Z77-ITX WiFi, the company has a H77-ITX WiFi board too, which lacks overclocking but is otherwise identical to the Z77.

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Nokia Lumia 610, Lumia 900 and 808 PureView Up for Pre-Order in the Netherlands

Nokia had a pretty solid presence at this year’s Mobile World Congress trade fair. The Finnish company announced several interesting new devices, including a Nokia Belle smartphone, the 808 PureView.

The main attraction of Nokia 808 PureView is by far the 41-megapixel camera on the back. The handset manufacturer promised that the smartphone would hit shelves in May, for around 450 EUR (590 USD).

However, there’s no telling which countries will get it first and for what prices. The same goes for other new handsets announced back in February, such as the Lumia 610 and the international version of Lumia 900.

We reported yesterday that the Lumia 900 and 808 PureView had been spotted in Finland and Italy, respectively. 

Unfortunately, they are currently insanely priced in both countries, but this is a frequent practice for third-party resellers who want to boost their sales over naive customers.

Still, the folks over at MyNokiaBlog have been tipped off on a certain Dutch online retailer that is now taking pre-orders for Nokia 808 PureView, Nokia Lumia 900 and Nokia Lumia 610.

The amount customers are required to pay to pre-order these smartphones is a bit closer to Nokia’s suggested retail prices.

Thus, Belsimpel is now offering the Nokia 808 PureView for 567 EUR (745 USD), Nokia Lumia 900 for 527 EUR (690 USD) and the Lumia 610 for 189 EUR (250 USD).

In comparison, the Finnish company mentioned that Nokia 808 PureView would cost around 450 EUR (590 USD), the Lumia 900 would be available for 489 EUR (645 USD), while the Lumia 610 would be the cheapest at 189 EUR (250 USD).

Nokia specifically said that Lumia 900 would be launched in April in Canada via Rogers, and globally in Q2. Nokia Lumia 610 will be released on the market sometime in Q2, while Nokia 808 PureView is expected to hit shelves in May.

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LG Optimus 4X HD Benchmarks Show Great Results

LG Optimus 4X HD, South Korean mobile phone maker’s first quad-core smartphone running under Android, is capable of great performance, the latest benchmarking results show.

The guys over at Techblog.gr put it to the test, and discovered that it can deliver nearly the same performance as HTC’s One X smartphone. 

In fact, the device scored higher in the AnTuTu test than HTC’s new Android flagship, although it fell behind it in Quadrant and NenaMark2. 

The smartphone is expected to become available for purchase in May, and it seems that LG might still have some final touches to apply to it before that. 

In the end, it seems that the smartphone will be capable of delivering features that users expect from a Tegra 3-powered device running under Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform.

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AMD Trinity Field Test Shows FPU Performance Superior to Bulldozer

In an attempt to collect as much info on AMD’s Trinity results as possible, German blog site Citavia has compiled a list of results obtained from working with Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) software.

According to Wikipedia, BOINC is  “an open source middleware system for volunteer and grid computing. It was originally developed to support the SETI@home project before it became useful as a platform for other distributed applications in areas as diverse as mathematics, medicine, molecular biology, climatology, and astrophysics.

The intent of BOINC is to make it possible for researchers to tap into the enormous processing power of personal computers around the world.”

The compilation focuses on comparing the per-GHz performance of “Bulldozer”-based CPUs to the per-GHz performance of the next generation “Piledriver”-based processors. 

This is a major issue for potential AMD buyers because everybody in the market for an AMD CPU was very disappointed with the results of the "Bulldozer" launch last year.

The problem was not that AMD’s top performing CPU wasn't offering better results than Intel’s flagship, but rather that it was showing lower performance per clock than AMD’s “Stars” architecture.

What made things even worse was that, despite the increased clock speed, the new “Bulldozer”-based CPUs demonstrated lower performance than “Thuban”-based Phenom II X6 CPUs, when Floating Point performance was measured.

Therefore, everybody is hoping that “Piledriver” will have better FPU performance than “Bulldozer” and, hopefully, better than “Stars.”

The BOINC benchmarks used in the compilation were single threaded so that the single core performance of the architecture could be analyzed. They show an increase in Floating Point performance of 6% to 8% when the CPUs are clocked at 2.2 GHz but, if the frequency is increased towards 4.1 GHz , Trinity’s advantage is quickly diminishing towards zero.

What everybody should keep in mind is that a CPU's performance doesn’t scale upwards perfectly when the frequency is increased. The superior results that Trinity shows at lower clocks demonstrate that Trinity is an overall more efficient architecture with lower latencies than the ones that plagued "Bulldozer."

We’re more than one month away from the official tests with Trinity, so we can only hope that the reality will confirm the rumors circling on the Internet lately, and PC enthusiasts will have something to work with.

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