HDD Crisis Was Fake: Seagate and Western Digital Post Big Profits

Hard drive manufacturers Seagate Technology and Western Digital have reported great financial results after such a prolonged hard disk drive “crisis”.  There was always talk about the fact that hard disk drives are so cheap that the profitability of the manufacturers in getting low enough to limit the R & D investments they would otherwise make. Many industry insiders were talking about overstocking and lowering profits. The situation was bleak.  One year ago, Samsung wanted to get rid of their HDD division despite the fact that the products developed there were quite good. The F1 and F3 lines of desktop HDD are very good performers to this day and they’ve been since way back in 2008. Seagate jumped at the...

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Intel Looses Market Share to AMD

Market analysis company Mercury Research has reportedly made public their study of the last quarter and concluded that AMD gained CPU market share from Intel. AMD's market grew to 19.1 percent from 18.2 percent, according to Mercury Research and Intel's share of the market dropped to 80.2 percent during the first quarter of this year from the 81 percent it owned in last year's first quarter. The overall x86 processor shipments went down in the first quarter of this year compared to the last year. This is probably because of the struggling economies and because of the floods in Thailand that led to the hard disk drive crisis. AMD benefited from the recovery in the hard disk drive shipments and managed to reach a very consistent...

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Galaxy GeForce GXT 680 GC Custom Card Officially Launched

Chinese company GalaxyTech, reportedly has already started shipping its custom designed GeForce GXT 680 GC video card to online shops in the western world. The price is a very nice surprise as the card comes to US buyers at around 535 USD.  That would be almost 405 EUR for the European customers, but we’re sure the price in the old continent will be quite a bit higher than in America. The card comes with the well-known Nvidia GK104 GPU. This is a very efficient and quite cool chip by the usual “huge” GPU standards. This graphics processing unit has 3.5 billion transistors built on a 28nm process at TSMC. For more information and details along with pictures and more complete specifications, readers should check out our...

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HIS Intros the Radeon HD 7770 IceQX Video Card

Hong Kong company Hightech Information System Limited has reportedly presented the custom designed, pre-overclocked HiS Radeon HD 7770 IceQX silent video card. The card is built around AMD’s “Cape Verde XT” graphics processing unit that comes with a minuscule 123 square millimeters die size containing 1.5 billion transistors. The default GPU frequency is 1 GHz when working in 3D mode, but HIS’s implementation comes pre-overclocked to a high 1170 MHz GPU speed. In 2D mode, the frequency of the GPU will drop to a low 300 MHz. The 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory clocked at a high 5000 MHz when in 3D mode, but drops to 600 MHz when switched in 2D. This is higher than the reference’s default memory frequency of 4500 MHz. It works...

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TSMC to Provide 14 nm finFET Design Kits by the End of 2012

TSMC has recently announced at its 2012 Technology Symposium conference that it would provide finFET design kits for the 14nm node by this year’s end. The foundry seems to be keen on pursuing the finFET concept and it encourages customers to build and design new architectures with finFETs in mind. It’s no wonder TSMC’s roadmap is heading this way as the foundry’s old Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Dr. Chenming Calvin Hu PhD. is the main architect behind the idea. Now, Dr. Hu is TSMC distinguished professor of microelectronics at the University of California, Berkeley, but between 2001 and 2004, he was the CTO of TSMC. It’s strange how Intel manages to implement other companies’ ideas before the initiators do it. They...

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Script: Wysija Newsletters

Wysija Newsletters is a very powerful and advanced WordPress plugin for sending out newsletters to subscribed users. Unlike many other similar plugins, Wysija Newsletters works entirely inside the WordPress platform, with no connection to email campaign sites like AWeber or MailChimp. This means all data is stored inside the WordPress database, and the administrator is not limited in any way by API calls or query/connection delays. The plugin also features an innovative email template editor, just like the ones found in the aforementioned services. Of course, the plugin is available in the WordPress plugin repository as well. A premium version provides extra features and access to more themes. Download Wysija Newsletters...

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Apricorn Aegis Padlock 3.0 Portable Drive Has Buttons

Apricorn has announced a new version of the Aegis Padlock drive, that hard drive unit that has a number pad on its top side. Armed with either 128-bit or 256-bit AES-XTS hardware encryption, it will keep data safely locked away until the unit is linked to a PC and the password typed. No special software is needed for everything to work and there is even USB 3.0 support now. Indeed, USB 3.0 is the asset that led to the new drive being called Aegis Padlock 3.0. "With the addition of USB 3.0 to our Aegis Padlock drives, we are now able to benefit from improved hard drive and SSD performance. We have also added other enhancements including allowing the drive to be used as a boot device," said Mike McCandless, VP of sales and...

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Flickr Gets an HTML5 Uploader with Drag and Drop

Flickr may not be the hottest thing around, but it's all that Yahoo's got at the moment. And, while the photo-sharing herds have moved on to greener pastures (maybe it's all the colored filters that make them seem so) like Instagram, there are still plenty of people using Flickr. And if you're seriously interested in photography, it's still the best place around, though Google+ is becoming an interesting alternative. In any case, Flickr is doing its best to, at least, hang on to the users it has, if not add new ones, and it has been introducing quite a few new features and improvements lately. It's now debuting a brand new HTML5 uploader that's a significant improvement over the previous one. The photo uploader is one of the...

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Nikon D600 DSLR Camera Rumored

Even though it supposedly doesn't have enough D800 cameras to go around, Nikon is reportedly preparing a sort of successor/sibling to it.  Nikon Rumors says that a DSLR camera called D600 will appear sooner or later.  It will be an “entry-level” full frame camera, but that doesn't mean the price will be all that low compared to the D800 (around $3,000 / 2,898 Euro).  Alas, the specs are only partially known, and the sensor is not among them.  Still, even learning of the dual SD card slots, the Auto DX crop mode and in-camera RAW editor is better than nothing.  GPS integration may be present as well, but no HDR will be available, nor an external battery grip.  The report suggests that...

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Netgear Launches the First 1 Gbps Wireless Router

Netgear may have dug itself a gold mine when it created the R6300 router. Sure, it'll cost $199.99 when it goes up for sale in the United States, in May, and probably just as many Euro whenever it gets to the old continent. Nevertheless, the simple fact is that the item really does deliver on its promises: it is the fastest wireless router to date. Not only does it communicate over two bands, but it can reach 450 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz and a massive 1,300 Mbps on the 5 GHz frequency. Sure, obstacles and distance will have an impact, but the R6300 is still expected to be about three times faster than 802.11n routers, thanks to its support for 802.11ac. Netgear installed the genie app on the router too (users can monitor...

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HP Envy 4 Series Sleekbook and Ultrabook Already Selling in China

Reportedly, HP has already listed the new Envy 4 series that currently has six different models on its online shop. The 1005tx and 1019tx are relatively entry-level models, while the 1004tx and 1021tx are part of the mid-range. The high-end is represented by the 1006tx and 1021tx Ultrabooks. The slower models are powered by an Intel Core i3-2367M CPU. This is a 1400MHz processor that fits into the BAG1023 socket. It has 256 KB of Level 2 cache for each of its two cores and a hefty 3 MB Level 3 cache. It features an integrated memory controller able to support a maximum of 16 GB of DDR3 memory running at DDR3-1066 or DDR3-1333. The CPU also comes with integrated HD 3000 graphics that can run at 350 MHz in default...

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Thecus Intros N5550 5-Bay NAS

There is a new network-attached storage device up for order, or there will be as soon as Thecus decides the time is ripe for retailers to list the thing or put it up on a shelf. The product covered in the most recent press release on the company's part is called N5550 and goes one step beyond what most things of this type bother with. That is to say, where most NAS devices don't have more than 4 bays, this one has a full set of five. An Intel Atom processor runs the device. Alas, the exact model is unspecified, both in the announcement and on the product page. We are reasonably certain it is a Cedar Trail though. Either way, the CPU is backed by 2 GB of random access memory (DDR3). Moving on, the N5550 is equipped with...

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Samsung Galaxy S3 Manual, Render and Specs Leak

Just when we thought that we got our share of rumors and news about the upcoming Galaxy S3 for this day, we stumbled upon something really interesting that might shed some light on the phone’s features and design. It looks like the guys over at SamMobile received an early official service manual for the Samsung GT-I9300 (also known as Galaxy S3), which contains the phone’s specs sheet and a render. Obviously, the information is to be taken with a grain of salt, as some things seem not to be lining up with the latest rumors. For starters, the manual says the smartphone will pack an 8-megapixel rear photo snapper, while the latest benchmarks leaked online point to a 12-megapixel camera. Furthermore, the Galaxy S3 is said...

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And Here Is Samsung's Updated Chronos 17 Laptop

The status of the 15.6-inch Chronos laptop equipped with an Intel Ivy Bridge CPU may be undecided, but that doesn't go for the Chronos 17 700Z. Sure, Samsung didn't provide any availability date, nor a price, but that doesn't change the fact that the product has, in fact, been formally launched. "Following the success of our award-winning Series 7 Chronos , we are expanding our line-up with the new 17-inch model," said David Song, senior vice president of the IT Solutions Business at Samsung Electronics. "Powerful features with more immersive viewing packed in Samsung's innovative design and engineering excellence will offer users the ultimate personal computing experience." The Intel Core i7 Processor 3615QM quad-core...

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Samsung's 15-Inch Chronos Laptop Gets Ivy Bridge

Now that Intel's third-generation Core i5 and Core i7 central processing units are almost ready to ship, Samsung is busy updating its eligible product lines.  Intel ended up launching more Ivy Bridge CPUs than some people expected, both for desktops and mobile personal computers.  Sure, a questionable design decision led to them, or some desktop parts anyway, being hotter than intended.  Fortunately, that has no bearing on the matter we are here to discuss, namely the upgrade of the 15-inch Chronos notebook.  According to a listing on the company's Canadian website, the machine relies on the Intel Core i7 Processor 3615QM.  A quad-core unit, the chip has a base clock speed of 2.30 GHz and a L3...

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NVIDIA Makes Bizarre GeForce 600 Graphics Cards

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680 graphics card will forever be the star attraction of the 600 series, but the company has now provided some models that consumers will never be able to buy directly.  Instead, the newest video boards are made for OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), who will utilize them in their upcoming desktop systems.  There is a GeForce GT 630, three different GT 640 and the GT 645. Three of them are 28nm-based Kepler cards and the other are rebranded, 40nm Fermi.  That's right, NVIDIA deliberately made its card lineup so complicated that it will be hard to know exactly what you're in for.  For the sake of some coherence, we'll first look at the boards that aren't weirdness embodied,...

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GALAXY S3 (GT-I9300) Shows Up in Samsung Kies

After being spotted in Samsung UNPACKED application for Android devices, the Galaxy S III made its appearance in Samsung Kies desktop software as well. The guys over at SamMobile discovered the upcoming Galaxy S III in Samsung's desktop application.  Simply open Kies and head to Samsung apps / Choose phone, and you will be able to find the unannounced Galaxy III. In fact, the smartphone is listed as Galaxy S3 (GT-I9300 and GT-I9300T). This is another proof that indicates Samsung plans to name its next-generation smartphone Galaxy S3, not Galaxy S III, as we previously thought. However, we can’t be sure of anything until Samsung comes forward with the official announcement, which is expected to go live on May 3. That...

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Samsung Confirms Exynos 4 Quad-Core CPU for “Next Galaxy” Smartphone

Next week we’ll find out everything there is to know about Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy smartphone that will probably put an end to all rumors. Although we’ve got lots of information on the alleged Galaxy S III specs sheet, nothing has been confirmed yet. However, it appears that Samsung made another step towards revealing the Galaxy S III’s insides. The South Korean company has just announced that its new Exynos quad-core processor will power the   next-generation Samsung Galaxy  smartphone that will be officially announced in May. Dubbed Exynos 4 Quad, Samsung's new application processor is based on 32nm HKMG (High-k Metal Gate) process and exceeds 1.4GHz per core. According to Samsung, the CPU is...

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Ivy Bridge Is Hotter Than It Should Be Due to Intentional Design Choice

Most people may not know that central processing units have integrated heatspreaders, but the number of prospective buyers who do may rise now that Ivy Bridge is out. People who got a hold of Ivy Bridge engineering samples, as well as reviewers, mostly agree on at least one fact about the Ivy Bridge: it is too hot. Not too hot to safely operate mind you, just a bit warmer than it should be. Whether because of a hunch or a tip of some sort, the folks at Overclockers.com decided to investigate what the problem might be. It turns out that it isn't a problem per se, but a design decision on Intel's part. In the Sandy Bridge chips, the previous-generation collection, the Santa Clara, California-based company used flux-less...

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Intel Lynx Point Chipset Models Detailed

Even though Intel has barely just brought out the Ivy Bridge CPUs line, and not all of them at that, people are already snooping around, trying to find info on the platform that will come next.  For next year (2013), Intel plans to bring out the series of LGA-1150 central processing units codenamed Haswell.  They will be just part of the Shark Bay platform, as they will get their own chipsets too.  As people have, no doubt, guessed by now, said chipsets will have their own codename, Lynx Point (Ivy Bridge is paired with Panther Point).  VR-Zone has provided what it claims is the relevant, known information on the 8-series chipset models.  The main difference between them and the current lineup...

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