If you've been keeping up with us these past few weeks, you'll know that we've got a little monitor-crazy--and the fever hasn't yet subsided! Samsungs awesome six panel display peaked our interest, so we decided to see what else we could pull off. NEC came through in the clutch, sending us three 30" panels to run games in landscape mode (thusly eliminating those annoying middle bezels), and three 46" TVs.
I took some wrangling (and some beast hardware), but we've been gaming on all three of these crazy set ups for an upcoming monitor deathmatch, and we decided to keep a camera running while we were checking them out. Check it out in the video below! And let us know in the comments which set up you'd prefer.
The more we hear about Living Social's meteoric rise, the more we think Groupon should have taken that Google buyout offer. In the process of acquiring a company called SocialMedia, Living Social disclosed some financial data to value the shares they were handing over in the deal. According to the disclosure, Living Social is valued at $2.9 billion, and sees $50 million in monthly revenue.
Groupon is currently pulling in about $100 million per month, but they gap has narrowed considerably. Living Social just started getting people's attention a few months back when the Amazon gift card deal was offered. Since then, Living Social has been piling up users and positive buzz. Meanwhile, Groupon is faltering a bit.
What this tells us is that the Groupon model is not unique. Any number of companies can come along and do it better. Do you use either of these services? Any complaints?
Think you got a good deal on those Beats by Dre? Might've. Or maybe you paid too much for a knockoff. Thanks to easily accessed suckers like you, business in the world of phony high-end audio has never been better.
Early on the morning of October 28, 2010 a massive strike force assembled outside the Meipai Electronic Audio Factory and three other storage facilities in and around Southern China's Enping City. What had started out as a tip from a handful of major audio equipment makers led to a months-long investigation by Guangdong Public Security Department and Jiangmen City police. By day's end, four people were in jail and 1,200 counterfeit audio items were in police hands, and the so-called "New Dynamics Audio Equipment Factory" was effectively shut down. It was the first salvo in a new war against fake wares, lead by an unlikely coalition of audio companies who, though fierce competitors in stores, are closely allied against a common enemy.
This February, the same international initiative helped tip authorities off to another den of fakes, this time in the UK. Together, the two stings have netted counterfeit audio gear worth more than $500,000. Sounds like a lot, but that's just a teensy drop in a giant bucket: a multi-billion-dollar industry that's proving nearly impossible to quash.
The two recent busts came after months of investigation—including test purchases, surveillance stakeouts, and a series of coordinated raids on warehouses and private residences. All told, authorities have managed to confiscate everything from fake mics and headphones to loudspeakers, amps, and mixers.
The UK raid in particular represents the largest seizure of bogus audio equipment (mostly headphones) in the country's history, according to Sennheiser and Monster. And the two counterfeiters now under investigation are reportedly linked to Britain's third largest online retailer.
While the size and scope of these separate raids may be noteworthy, counterfeiting and copycat designs are of course nothing new to the headphone and A/V industry.
Over the years, a thriving grey market for ersatz goods has sprung up all over the world, nourished by cheap Chinese production costs, increasingly sophisticated manufacturing facilities, e-commerce, and often non-existent IP and trademark laws. In other words, those knock-off Ferrari Limited Edition Monster Beats you mistakenly bought are not only getting easier to make, but they're also quite lucrative for the guys selling them.
According to a recent study put out by the US Chamber of Commerce, counterfeit goods could account for as much as 10-percent of China's gross domestic product (third economy holla!). Worldwide, it's regarded as $600 billion dollar industry—fully half of which is located in the US.
"Right now the counterfeit problem is at an all time high for a few reasons" explains David Tognotti, vice president of operations and general counsel for Monster Cable. "You have a China economy that needs to keep people employed and create millions of jobs every year; you have lax laws and enforcement in that country, you have rising consumer demand for luxury branded goods; and you also have people with a lot less money in their wallets."
Whether it's producing a knockoff Louis Vuitton purse or a pair of Sennheiser CX300s, counterfeiters are taking advantage of this perfect storm. While a decade ago, you had to visit Canal Street—or at the very least a flea market—to reliably hunt down such fakes, in the age of e-commerce, they're literally everywhere. Indeed, part of the problem authorities and companies are facing is finding a reliable way to link these fake products back to their sources. Because these products are typically shopped globally and can move through so many different tiers before reaching a consumer, it's virtually impossible to trace them back to their origin.
"More and more of these counterfeiters have exceedingly smart distribution systems," says Sylke Roth, manager of group legal services at Sennheiser's headquarters in Germany. "In many cases, they are teaming up with other counterfeiters around the world and establishing distribution and manufacturing systems that are nearly as professional as the ones of the original brand."
These realities are forcing companies who would normally be fierce competitors—Shure, Sennheiser, Audio Technica, Harman, and Monster—to team up. Because of their high market profiles, these manufacturers are typically the juiciest targets for counterfeiters. And while many have preferred to remain silent or hide their counterfeit problem, that's starting to change.
"Working together, we can share costs to fight the same problem," says Roth. "We can also share information, so if any one of us hear something in the market or from our customers, we can pass it along to others."
Monster is perhaps most active on this front due to the overwhelming demand for counterfeit versions of its cables and headphones. The company worked with the UK's Trading Standards Service, a consumer protection agency, for the most recent bust. It also recently formed its own internal Global Brand Protection team, which monitors major B2B, B2C, and auction sites on a daily basis, keeping an eye out for counterfeit items. That's in addition to issuing take-down notices to the thousands of fake "official" Monster sites that keep popping up.
But if you eliminate one fake retail site, it seems like five others pop up in its stead. Bust one fraudulent seller on eBay and he uses one of his 10 other seller names to move counterfeit goods. Shut down one factory, the one next door picks up the slack. It's all part of a cat and mouse game with an increasingly sophisticated opponent.
So many companies are switching tactics and placing more of an emphasis on consumer education. Monster has its own counterfeit awareness page, as does Sennheiser. Many other companies are following suit.
Unfortunately, trying to explain what to look out for isn't always easy. There is no hard and fast set of criteria to help identify a counterfeit product. Fake headphones can be impeccable, right down to the boxes and cleaning cloths, or horrible (and even humorous). Prices aren't always an indication, either. Counterfeiters got savvy to the fact that some customers were linking inordinately low prices with fakes, so many have simply raised their prices to appear more legitimate. Now, instead of spending $50 on a pair of $300 headphones, you're spending $250—still a good deal, but not juicy enough to raise a red flag.
But at the end of the day, the easiest way to avoid having to return those "Blose" branded headphones is to stick with authorized dealers. Unless you find a pair of knockoffs that sound great—good luck with that.
Skype might have been caught off guard by the news that their Android app was subject to a data stealing exploit, but the company has made an announcement to calm our nerves. Skype has acknowledged the issue, and is working on a fix. In the meantime, they suggest users be cautious about what apps they install.
The Skype app for Android stores user profile data on the SD card in a standard folder. None of the sqlite3 databases are encrypted, so it is a relatively simple process to extract the data. The information that is accessible to this hack includes contacts, IM logs, and profile data.
Clearly this was a serious failure from Skype, but at least the dedicated Android community noticed it before it was being exploited by the bad guys. Does this issue concern the Skype users out there?
If you've been waiting with bated breath for Google to launch their iTunes competitor, take a breath. No, it's not happening, we just don't want you to pass out during the wait. A report from All Things D indicates that Google's talks with the recording industry have broken down. The situation is so bad apparently, that Google is reconsidering their entire approach to Google Music.
All the indications leading up to this were positive, with sources indicating their confidence in a deal being reached. It is possible that talks have been complicated by the launch of Amazon's Cloud Player. Google may have realized they needed different arrangements, but the labels put their collective foot down.
Google may still be able to forge ahead without label support in a more limited fashion. The search giant would not be able to sell music, but could still operate a digital locker service. How do you think this is going to pan out?
For many of us, social networks like Facebook and Orkut would be absolutely great if they weren't so full of people you don't know or care about. And those inane games invitations and targeted advertisements? Don't even get us started. For anyone that's ever thought they could rock an online community harder than Mark Zuckerberg and his cronies could ever dream of, there's Ning, our Cool Site of the Week.
For a reasonable fee, Ning provides their clients with an online tool set that allows them to very quickly put together a social network of their very own. With scalable service plans to suit the needs of a wide variety of users, a wide variety of site templates and an easy to use drag-and-drop site editor, Ning makes building a social network a breeze. Within minutes of signing up, we were able to build a rough and ready website, send out invitations and start posting to our new online community.
For subscribers who that demand complete creative control, Ning even offers packages that allow for CSS support, customized site design, a unique URL and--should you feel like fleecing your fledgling community--a number of revenue generating solutions. For internet isolationists, special interest groups, private companies or people want to stay connected to their loved ones in a more personal way than services like Facebook can afford, Ning is the perfect solution.
Be sure to check back every Friday for another edition of Cool Site of the Week.
Need a new compact case that can accommodate high end GPUs, like the AMD Radeon HD 6990 and Nvidia GTX 590, but is small enough to tote around to LAN parties? If so, Cooler Master hopes you'll give its new Storm Enforcer gaming case a once over. Cooler Master describes the case as "a bold new LAN deployable addition to the Storm lineup." And according to CM, it's the first mid-tower to include native support for the above mentioned dual-GPU videocards.
On the outside, the Storm Enforcer sports a rugged aesthetic that CM says is "reminiscent of a futuristic or even a biological armor." A nearly full-length side panel gives users a view of whatever hardware you pack inside.
The Storm Enforcer supports two 200mm (one included) fans and two 120mm fan (one included). Removable dust filters on the fan inlets should prevent dust bunnies from building up, and CM says the front door and filtered lower mesh body should both assist in minimizing the amount of dirt and debris that gets in the case.
Other bullet points include large rubber grommets, pre-drilled holes in the 2.5-inch hard drive cage to mount a liquid cooling pump, internal USB 3.0 connector, an all-black interior, and cable management holes.
Just three short years ago, the announcement of a new Norton product would have been met with a "big whoop" from the enthusiast community. Some of you might still feel that way, but take it from us, Symantec seriously stepped up its game starting with the 2009 releases, and Norton has been faring well in our annual antivirus roundups ever since, including a 9 verdict awarded to Norton Internet Security 2011. If you want to see what's in store for next year's release, Symantec just made available Norton Internet Security and Norton Antivirus 2012 in beta form.
"As we've proven year after year, we are committed to arming consumers against cybercrime with the strongest protection possible, without slowing down their computers," said Jens Meggers, vice president of engineering, for Norton products. "For the Norton 2012 release, our aim is to continue to raise the bar for both protection and performance."
The betas include Insight 3.0, the latest version of Norton's reputation-based security technology. Also updated is Download Insight, which checks every downloaded file for safety before it is allowed to run. In the 2012 release, Download Insight includes information that lets users know if a downloaded app is likely to cause stability issues, too.
Symantec revamped its Norton Identity Safe module with a streamlined interface, improved login and form detection technology, and the capability to store passwords in the cloud so they can be access from any computer with Norton 360, NIS installed.
Congratulations to any of you who picked "Ivy Bridge" in the office pool trying to guess which chipset Intel would finally implement native USB 3.0 support in. At the Intel Developer's Forum (IDF) in Beijing, Intel's Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of Intel's Data Center Group, confirmed that at long last, USB 3.0 would be in the chip maker's cards, putting to rest conspiracy theories that the suits in Santa Clara would shun the spec in an attempt to promote Thunderbolt (Light Peak).
The Inquirer says that the announcement came on the same day that the USB Association said AMD will be integrating USB 3.0 support into its Fusion-based A75 and A70M chipsets. Looking down the road, this means that board makers can stop looking to third parties, like NEC and VIA, for USB 3.0 chips, which adds another layer of cost and support.
According to a recently leaked Intel roadmap, Ivy Bridge will debut in the first half of 2012 and mostly occupy the mainstream performance level, and part of what Intel dubs "Premium Performance." Incidentally, Ivy Bridge will also support Thunderbolt, which so far is only available on Apple's Mac platform. The dual-support of both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt underscores Intel's stance that the two technologies are meant to be complimentary, a point Sakaugen reiterated at IDF.
T-Mobile, which some would argue sat on the success of the original G1 for a bit too long, has been building up an impressive army of capable Android devices as of late. One of the newest entries is the G2x built by LG. This spunky dual-core smartphone will be available in stores beginning April 20, 2011, but you can hop online right now and order one from T-Mobile for $200, provided you sign up for a 2-year service agreement.
One of the best things about the G2x is it isn't saddled with a custom overlay, instead shipping with the stock version of Android 2.2 (Froyo) pre-installed, upgradeable to Android 2.3 (Froyo). There's also Nvidia's Tegra 2 dual-core processor clocked at 1GHz, 8GB of internal memory, 512MB of RAM, microSD card slot, 4-inch WVGA display, Full HD 1080p TV-out via HDMI, 720p video recording, 8MP rear-facing camera, 1.3MP front-facing camera, 802.11b/g/n, and 4G support.
If you want to save a few bucks, Walmart has it up for preorder for $180, or you can get it for $150 through Wirefly.
Acer this week started shipping a pair of new 3D monitors for customers in North America. These include the 23.6-inch HS244HQ and 27-inch HN274H, the larger of the two Acer claims is the first to feature both Nvidia 3D Vision and HDMI 3D for connecting to PCs and CE devices. And for what it's worth, Acer says both displays offer 50 percent more power savings than competing 3D solutions.
As mentioned, the HN274H supports both HDMI 3D and Nvidia 3D Vision solutions. It sports a DVI-DL connection that provides twice the bandwidth of DVI for supporting high-resolution images when connected to a PC. Other features include a dynamic contrast ratio of 100,000,000:1, 1920x1080 screen resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 2ms response time, 170 degrees left/right and 160 degrees up/down, and 2W speakers.
The HS244HQ offers many of the same specs, but with a 12,000,000:1 contrast ratio and just HDMI 3D. It also has a built-in IR emitter and comes with a pair of Acer brand active shutter 3D glasses.
The HS244HQ ($449) and HN274H ($689) are available now.
YouTube has a message for video uploaders who run afoul of copyright law: You better check yourself before you wreck yourself. To help offending users check themselves, anyone who receives a copyright notification for one of their videos will be required to attend "YouTube Copyright School." This entails watching a copyright tutorial video and taking a quiz afterwards to make sure you didn't simply hit 'play' while you head out to go smokin' in the boys room.
"Because copyright law can be complicated, education is critical to ensure that our users understand the rules and continue to play by them," YouTube stated in a blog post. "That's why today we're releasing a new tutorial on copyright and a redesigned copyright help center. We're also making two changes to our copyright process to be sure that our users understand the rules, and that users who abide by those rules can remain active on the site."
You won't receive a diploma for graduating from YouTube's Copyright School, but "in certain limited circumstances," those with multiple strikes on their record could have them removed after passing the quiz. YouTube currently enforces a three strikes law, in which three violations leads to suspension.
"We've found that in some cases, a one-size-fits-all suspension rule doesn't always lead to the right result. Consider, for example, a long-time YouTube user who received two copyright notifications four years ago but who's uploaded thousands of legitimate videos since then without a further copyright notification," YouTube explains. "Until now, the four-year-old notifications would have stayed with the user forever despite a solid track record of good behavior, creating the risk that one new notification -- possibly even a fraudulent notification -- would result in the suspension of the account. We don't think that's reasonable. So, today we'll begin removing copyright strikes from user's accounts in certain limited circumstances, contingent upon the successful completion of YouTube Copyright School, as well as a solid demonstrated record of good behavior over time."
You can watch the 4m39s video and take the quiz here.
Now that both Microsoft and Sony have added motion controls to each of their respective consoles, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Nintendo may have lost a bit of its competitive edge. The Wii is no longer the only console in town that lets you control the on-screen action by flailing around in your living room. And until the upcoming price cut takes effect, it no longer trumps all other modern consoles at the register. Could these be clues that at Wii 2 is on the horizon?
Gaming site Kotaku thinks so, which has rounded up the latest rumors from a variety of sources. Game Informer, for example, says that the successor to the Wii will be revealed at E3 2011 and launched next year. And according to IGN, Nintendo will officially announce the next-generation console (Wii 2? Super Wii?) this month.
"We've heard from sources that it'll be more powerful than an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3," Kotaku says. "We're also pretty sure of one other thing. We can expect Nintendo to surprise us with its follow-up to the wildly successful Wii. But even if we're pleasantly surprised, we have a few wants and demands."
The most obvious addition Kotaku (and everyone else) would like to see is HD support, especially with Netflix nestled into the Wii. There's an obvious benefit for games, but in addition to that, as Netflix's catalog of HD movies continues to grow, who wants to be saddled with 480p?
The Wii could also benefit from better online support with a real online ecosystem like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have, as well as built-in storage, which is no longer just a luxury in console gaming.
Google recognizes that it gets pretty boring staring at a static image everyday, which is one of the reasons why Gmail comes with different color schemes and themes. Fancy a retro arcade look? It's there, as are scenic locations like a mountain landscape, summer ocean, and planets. But why stop there? The sultan of search just added yet another way to customize your Gmail account by letting you upload your own background images.
"Themes in Gmail are great -- there are tons to choose from and they give your inbox a personalized look," Google stated in its Gmail blog. "But we've heard from many of you who thought it would be even better if you could give Gmail an even more personalized look and create themes completely on your own."
To use the feature, hit up the Themes tab in Settings and choose Create your own theme. Once you're there, you can choose background images for the main area and the footer.
We're all for promoting technology in schools and teaching kids how to use a command a line, but do kindergartners really need an iPad? The state of Maine apparently thinks so and plans to spend $200,000 equipping more than 300 incoming kindergarten students with Apple's iPad 2 tablet. That means when they're not eating glue or sticking crayons up their noses, they can fire up a $500 tablet and get in a game of Angry Birds.
Digital Trends says the initiative won unanimous approval by the Auburn school board in Maine, and the program will go into effect this Fall. The Maine school district will be the first in the country to hand out iPad 2 devices to kindergartners, which isn't surprising considering Apple's second generation tablet is hard to come by even if you're an adult.
"If your students are engaged, you can teach them anything," Angus King, the former Maine governor who launched the state's laptop program, told the AP. "If they're bored and looking out the window, you can be Socrates and you're not going to teach them anything. These devices are engaging."
But are they also overkill? Not everyone is on board with the new program.
"I understand you have to keep up with technology, but I think a 5-year-old is a little too young to understand," said Sue Millard, a mother of children in older grades.
Do you see a problem with equipping kindergartners with iPad 2 devices, or is this exactly the kind of forward thinking our school systems need? Sound off in the comments section below!
We're still a long, long ways off from living out a Minority Report lifestyle, but the next time you turn on your Xbox 360 console, you'll be prompted to accept an update that adds even more razzle dazzle to your Kinect, if you have one. The update adds Kinect support for Netflix, so you no longer have to grab your controller to sort through titles and fire up movies in your queue.
"That means controller-free navigation of thousands of movies and TV shows, allowing you to use just the sound of your voice or wave of your hand to control your favorite Netflix content," Microsoft announced on its Major Nelson blog. "You'll be able to select movies and TV shows recommended for you by Netflix, as well as play, pause, fast forward, and rewind using gesture or voice."
Adding Netflix is an interesting and natural evolution of the Kinect controller, which holds plenty of potential outside of gaming. Some would argue that all the potential is with non-gaming tasks, which is why modders were so anxious to get their hands on the SDK for PC-related tasks.
The more we hear about Living Social's meteoric rise, the more we think Groupon should have taken that Google buyout offer. In the process of acquiring a company called SocialMedia, Living Social disclosed some 
Skype might have been caught off guard by the news that their Android app was subject to a data stealing exploit, but the company has made an announcement to calm our nerves. Skype has acknowledged the issue, and is 
If you've been waiting with bated breath for Google to launch their iTunes competitor, take a breath. No, it's not happening, we just don't want you to pass out during the wait. A report from All Things D indicates that Google's talks with the recording industry have 
For many of us, social networks like Facebook and Orkut would be absolutely great if they weren't so full of people you don't know or care about. And those inane games invitations and targeted advertisements? Don't even get us started. For anyone that's ever thought they could rock an online community harder than Mark Zuckerberg and his cronies could ever dream of, there's 
Need a new compact case that can accommodate high end GPUs, like the AMD Radeon HD 6990 and Nvidia GTX 590, but is small enough to tote around to LAN parties? If so, Cooler Master hopes you'll give its new Storm Enforcer gaming case a once over. Cooler Master describes the case as "a bold new LAN deployable addition to the Storm lineup." And according to CM, it's the first mid-tower to include native support for the above mentioned dual-GPU videocards.
Just three short years ago, the announcement of a new Norton product would have been met with a "big whoop" from the enthusiast community. Some of you might still feel that way, but take it from us, Symantec seriously stepped up its game starting with the 2009 releases, and Norton has been faring well in our annual antivirus roundups ever since, including a 9 verdict awarded to 
Congratulations to any of you who picked "Ivy Bridge" in the office pool trying to guess which chipset Intel would finally implement native USB 3.0 support in. At the Intel Developer's Forum (IDF) in Beijing, Intel's Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of Intel's Data Center Group, confirmed that at long last, USB 3.0 would be in the chip maker's cards, putting to rest conspiracy theories that the suits in Santa Clara would shun the spec in an attempt to promote Thunderbolt (Light Peak).
T-Mobile, which some would argue sat on the success of the original G1 for a bit too long, has been building up an impressive army of capable Android devices as of late. One of the newest entries is the G2x built by LG. This spunky dual-core smartphone will be available in stores beginning April 20, 2011, but you can hop online right now and order one from 
Acer this week 
YouTube has a message for video uploaders who run afoul of copyright law: You better 
Now that both Microsoft and Sony have added motion controls to each of their respective consoles, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Nintendo may have lost a bit of its competitive edge. The Wii is no longer the only console in town that lets you control the on-screen action by flailing around in your living room. And until the upcoming price cut takes effect, it no longer trumps all other modern consoles at the register. Could these be clues that at Wii 2 is on the horizon?
Google recognizes that it gets pretty boring staring at a static image everyday, which is one of the reasons why Gmail comes with different color schemes and themes. Fancy a retro arcade look? It's there, as are scenic locations like a mountain landscape, summer ocean, and planets. But why stop there? The sultan of search just added yet another way to customize your Gmail account by letting you upload your own background images.
We're all for promoting technology in schools and teaching kids how to use a command a line, but do kindergartners really need an iPad? The state of Maine apparently thinks so and plans to spend $200,000 equipping more than 300 incoming kindergarten students with Apple's iPad 2 tablet. That means when they're not eating glue or sticking crayons up their noses, they can fire up a $500 tablet and get in a game of Angry Birds.
We're still a long, long ways off from living out a Minority Report lifestyle, but the next time you turn on your Xbox 360 console, you'll be prompted to accept an update that adds even more razzle dazzle to your Kinect, if you have one. The update adds Kinect support for Netflix, so you no longer have to grab your controller to sort through titles and fire up movies in your queue.
