|  |  |  | | | | | Maximum PC - All Articles | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Intel on Tuesday announced the availability of the"Westemere-EX" family of 32nm server chips. The launch means that the title of Intel's fastest server chip, which hitherto belonged to the native 8-core Nehalem-EX processor, now firmly rests with the 10-core Westemere-EX. The new chips, eighteen in all, are no longer known by the Westemere-EX codename, but by the Xeon E7 product line that they now form. The Xeon E7 spread includes six-, eight- and ten-core server chips. According to Intel, the E7 range includes processors for two-, four- and eight-socket servers, and can be scaled all the way up to 256 sockets. The company claims that Xeon E7 processors deliver up to 40 percent greater performance than the Xeon 7500 series processor family. Describing its performance as record breaking, the chip maker revealed that the E7 family has set more than a dozen world records in performance. "The new Intel Xeon processor E7 family delivers record breaking performance with powerful new security, reliability and energy efficiency enhancements. The industry momentum we're seeing for this new server processor architecture is unparalleled in Intel's history," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of Intel's Data Center Group. The chip maker also announced the availability of over 35 Xeon E7 family-based platforms from a number of leading manufacturers, including Cisco, Dell, HP, IBM and Oracle.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  If you've ever, for whatever reason, wanted to run an Android app without an Android phone, a company called BlueStacks is looking to fill that need. By utilizing some fancy virtualization technology, BlueStacks will let users run Android apps side by side with native Windows apps.
BlueStacks will tie in with your Windows drivers to allow access to computer hardware like the camera or printer. There will be no Android Market support, so all apps would need to be sideloaded, or installed through the Amazon Appstore. BlueStacks will rely on keyboards and mice for input, but that might not work so well in Android apps designed for touch. A Windows tablet may benefit, though. BlueStacks is expected to debut later this year, but an exact date was not available. The virtualized environment is based on Android 2.2, so we hope to see a more updated version when the product officially launches. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Yesterday we heard the news that internet hacker group Anonymous had begun an attack on Sony in retaliation for their legal threats against PS3 modders. But now things are taking a bit of a dark turn, even for Anonymous. An offshoot of the main OpSony Anon group called SonyRecon has decided that hitting the Sony sites and services with DDoS attacks isn't enough. They've decided to go after Sony employees personally.
The process of gathering "Dox" (or personal documents) has already begun. This can include things like an address, marital status, phone number, IP addresses, or even the details of family members. This information can be leveraged to harass the target. The SonyRecon IRC has suggested participants could engage in all manner of trickery to pressure targets. "Call an AIDS hotline and ask them to anonymously tell the target they could have HIV," one post read. The offshoot has reportedly already found information on high-level Sony execs including Group Executive Robert S. Wiesenthal, and Sony boss Howard Stringer. We're not even going to assert that this might be okay, but how NOT okay do you think this is? | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  The music app on Android has been an embarrassment since the platform launched back in 2008. But thanks to a recent leak, we're getting a gander at Google's new music app for phones complete with cloud syncing. A developer version of the Android Market app miraculously showed up on a handful of phones, and allowed access to the new app. You can grab a copy, but it will overwrite your current Music app and may not work, so be warned.
The new music application has a similar feel to the version that debuted in Honeycomb. It has the same aesthetic as the 3D Gallery app, and there is an album view very reminiscent of Coverflow. The real show is in the settings menu where we see settings for Google's still to be announced Music service. There are options for caching, downloading and streaming in the app. It was nearly a year ago at Google I/O 2010 that we saw the service demoed alongside an early version of this app. We can only assume that licensing has held up the deployment. This might be why Amazon decided to proceed without music industry blessing and deploy their cloud music service. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 
If you think that you need access to yet another cloud storage solution like you need another hole in your head, let us tell you: You need another hole in your head. Making it's debut last week, Amazon Cloud Drive is the latest service offering to take care of your cloud-based storage needs. Giving all users five GBs of free storage space very agreeable music streaming capabilities, Amazon's Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services may be the cloud computing solution you've been waiting for. To help get your Amazon cloud storage empire off on the right foot, we've put together a collection of ten of the best tips and tricks we've uncovered for the fledgling service. Snag additional storage on the cheap 
Amazon is offering up 20 GB of additional cloud storage for free to anyone that purchases an album from Amazon MP3. Given Amazon MP3's wide selection of artists and reasonable pricing, you'd be nuts not to jump at the chance for those extra gigabytes. It's worth noting that any music you purchase from Amazon MP3 will automatically be made available via Cloud Player, but doesn't detract from your total amount of storage space. Nice! Access Your Music on the Go 
For those of you just tuning in, aside from offering reasonably priced cloud storage solution, Amazon Cloud Drive is also a brilliant way to stream your music at the low, low cost of free. Just upload the tracks you want to listen to, navigate to your Cloud Player, or access it via Amazon's free Cloud Player app for Android, BlackBerry or Web OS and you'll be picking tunes out of the air in no time. IOS device users? Sorry. For the time being, you're out of luck unless you do this… Play MP3 files stored in your Amazon Cloud Account on your IOS Device 
It's a little rough and tumble but it can be done. Using your iOS device's Safari browser, navigate to your Cloud Drive interface. Open up the music folder, and select the audio file you want to hear. Now, click the Download button. The the file will be streamed from your Amazon Cloud account to your iOS device and played via Quicktime. Sadly you'll only be able to play one tune at a time using this method, but it's better than nothing, right? Amazon Cloud Player's MP3 Uploader: Use it. 
Sure you could use your Amazon Cloud Drive's file upload utility to get your computer-side MP3 files online, but the company offers a far more eloquent solution. Steer your Browser over to your Cloud Player page and upload your files from there. You'll be presented with the option to download an application that will locate your iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries, tell you which files can be uploaded, how much space they'll take up and how long before the transfer process is complete. The application will even point out which of your audio files aren't compatible with Amazon Cloud Player. Now that's service. Map Keyboard Shortcuts 
At the time that this story was written, Amazon Cloud Player offered no keyboard shortcuts. Fortunately, If you're a Firefox or Chrome user, KeyMazony does. Providing you with essentials such as volume control, track selection play and pause, KeyMazony should keep you going until if and when Amazon decides to provide Cloud Player users with a desktop client. The extension can be found here for Chrome and here if you're using Firefox. Backup Your Backups, Because You Never Know... 
You can never have too many backups of your files. Even if you're already using a service like Dropbox, Sugarsync or Box.net, it never hurts to have a tertiary backup of your most valuable data. At this time, Amazon Cloud drive doesn't have the slick automatic sync services of competitors like Dropbox, it does offer 5GB of free storage—that's enough space to back up all of the files from that free Dropbox account you've been rocking for the past few years two times over. Trust us, when you suffer a major crash, you'll be glad you took the time to set up an additional recovery solution. Be Master of Your Domain 
Amazon Cloud Drive comes with four default folders: Documents, Music, Pictures and Video. That said, Amazon makes creating, moving and deleting around new folders a cinch as well. As your online storage kingdom grows (and it will), it's best to try and maintain some level of organization. After all, the only thing harder to find than a missing file on your PC is a missing file lost somewhere in the clouds. Divide and Conquer 
If you're anything like we are, you've got a lot invested in your cloud service of choice: Application preferences, documents for work, photos and even a few movies. If your primary cloud account is starting to feel a little crowded, consider moving large, infrequently accessed files over to your Amazon Cloud Account. Doing so will allow you to continue to rock your primary account in the manner to which you've become accustomed without being forced to pay any extra for additional storage space. Read the fine print 
While 5 GBs of free online storage sounds great, Amazon has stung their customers in the past with other virtual offerings. Remember a while back when they removed content from Kindle eBook readers without any prior warning or consent? Well, in reading over the legalese for Amazon Cloud Drive, we stumbled across this jewel of a clause: "Our Right to Access Your Files. You give us the right to access, retain, use and disclose your account information and Your Files: to provide you with technical support and address technical issues; to investigate compliance with the terms of this Agreement, enforce the terms of this Agreement and protect the Service and its users from fraud or security threats; or as we determine is necessary to provide the Service or comply with applicable law." Yeah. That was our reaction too. It goes without saying that you should be careful what you stash in your Cloud Drive, but we're saying it anyway. BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU STASH IN YOUR CLOUD DRIVE. Be Patient 
While Amazon Cloud Drive may not offer the native support for iOS devices or application integration that well seasoned cloud services such as Dropbox do, we see a lot of promise here. Already offering up one of the best online music streaming services around from the get-go, we've got a feeling that Amazon has a few more tricks geared towards taking on Apple and Google's online empires up their digital sleeve. As time wears on, there's little doubt that added features and application support will make Amazon Cloud Drive a force to be reckoned with. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  You know what sucks about the iPhone? If you said the walled-garden approach to applications, you're correct. If you said "Apple's fanatical devotion to industrial design," you're less correct. If you said, "dealing with the steaming pile of masticated vegetable matter and half-cooked industrial byproduct that is iTunes every time I want to add something to my iPhone or remove that thing from my iPhone," you win! And the prize is an Android phone, which, if you're reading this, you probably already own. If not, go get one. We'll wait.
There are many ways to get data to and from your Android device without ever doing something so gauche as attaching it to your computer with a USB cable. Apps like WinAmp and DoubleTwist AirSync allow you to sync music over WiFi, to say nothing of more advanced apps that let you ssh or FTP into your phone. I'm currently digging on Titanium Media Sync, from the fine folks who brought you Titanium Backup. Titanium Media Sync, like the previously-covered Epistle, is a simple app that leverages Dropbox to make your phone more awesome. You use Titanium Media Sync to pair folders on your SD card or internal storage with folders in your Dropbox. When Titanium Media Sync detects a change in one of the watched folders on your phone, it mirrors that change to the remote folder, i.e. the one on your Dropbox. 
This means you now have one or more folders that will auto-upload their contents to your Dropbox. For example, if you pair the DCIM folder on your phone, any photo you take will be automatically uploaded to Dropbox and therefore available anywhere Dropbox is: your home computer, the Web, or your tablet. Taking screenshots on most Android phones is a notorious pain in the behind, requiring either root access or use of a computer running the Developer's Kit. I use ShootMe, which requires root access, to take screenshots on my Droid Incredible. Pairing my sdcard\ShootMe folder enables me to auto-upload screenshots to my Dropbox as they're taken. That's where all the screenshots in this story came from. George tells me that Windows Phone 7 lets you take screenshots and automatically upload them to Live, which just seems unfair. 
Getting screenshots off your phone and into Dropbox is easy with Titanium Media Sync
Since you can pair any folder on your phone, the possibilities extend further than just uploading photos and screenshots. Upload your nandroid backups! Videos! Whatever! Titanium Media Sync's continuous phone-to-Dropbox syncing is one-way, but it also offers one-shot Dropbox-to-phone syncing. Given that the Dropbox app lets you download files to your phone's local storage at will, I don't mind that limitation. You can choose whether to allow syncing via 3G, 4G, WiFi, or any, and whether to upload when on battery power or only while charging. Titanium Media Sync is around $2.99 from the Android Market. What cool uses have you found for it? 
Titanium Media Sync Market Link
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  The secretive Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is a done deal.
Negotiated, written, and even released where hoi polloi like us can read it, on the U.S. Trade Representative's website. It's still awful, calling for more parts of the DMCA to be worldwide, but not as awful as it was. Thanks to the efforts of groups like Public Knowledge and EFF, and New Zealand, which has taken the strange position of not criminalizing the normal behavior of its citizens, it was toned down. ACTA is now all packed up with a little bow waiting for legislatures to approve it, but the companies behind it have already left it like last week's tuna sandwich. Turns out the 37 nation trade-maximalist agreement is, like, so five minutes ago. The new hotness in oppressive copyright regimes is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Intellectual Property chapter, cleverly hidden under the unsearchable acronym TPP IP. Yes, Google, I really did mean TPP IP. This time around, our trade reps are going after the Pacific Rim. Outlandishly huge damages, copyright extensions that will be spry when Halley's Comet returns, and DMCA-style anticircumvention laws that criminalize watching DVDs on Linux is just the start. TPP goes further. It calls for software patent protection and tries to establish technical incoherencies like copyright protection for temporary copies. This is a fancy way of saying that rights holders can either charge you extra for the contents of your cache files, slap DRM on them, or both. It's like everything bad about IP in one steaming pile and about as close as current technology can get to letting the studios charge you for thinking about a movie. It's done in our name, but authored by PhRMA, MPAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It's a harmonizing treaty, so they're poised to ram it down the throat of whatever tiny nation provides the thinnest excuse for the copyright holders, then come back to our congress, pleading trade agreement as an excuse to pass even stricter laws. Someday we should try to get our name back. Quinn Norton writes about copyright for Wired News and other publications. Her work has ranged from legal journalism to the inner life of pirate organizations. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | If you read our massive browser battle article, you know that Firefox 4 has recently been released. Call it a response to Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9; call it general and expected progress; call it whatever you want—Firefox 4 is no slouch. It takes the best features of Internet Explorer and Chrome, improves them, throws in a mountain of new features itself, and wraps it all up in a sleek, intuitive package. To kick it all off, we've put together a visual guide to some of its best new features along with some tips and tricks to help turn you into Firefox power user. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The suit makes the man You can take Crysis out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of Crysis. For those worried that Crysis 2's city-slicking setting would turn it into a cramped corridor crawl, go ahead and activate strength mode, grab your fears, and ragdoll them 30 feet in the air. Crysis 2—while not quite as open as its predecessor—is subtly complex, brilliantly paced, and morbidly satisfying from start to finish. Sure, it's far from revolutionary, but sometimes, you just want to put on a talking suit and shoot squid monsters, you know? OK, that made more sense in our heads. Allow us to explain. 
The fight shifts from an island in Crysis to the urban playground of New York City. Crysis 2 throws you headlong into a tale of military in-fighting, invasion clichés, and whiny scientists crying into your ear that's, well, honestly kind of terrible. But that's not the point. The nanosuit has always been the Crysis franchise's real main character, and this time around it's quite apparent that Crytek knew that. The end result, then, is a stylish piece of sci-fi chic that—while at first glance appearing "dumbed down"—has been expertly refined. Now you have two central modes to aid in your almost unfairly one-sided manhunts: stealth and armor. That doesn't mean your old pals strength and speed have abandoned you, however. Rather, Crytek has decided that there's something to that whole "making sense" idea that everyone's always talking about, so speed is now rolled into your normal sprint, and holding down your melee attack automatically gives you a hulked-out variation on the theme. All told, the new approach is even more empowering because picking a central mode is now a snap decision. One or the other: no more fumbling through superfluous nonsense. As a result, tailoring your play style to the task at hand quickly becomes second nature. 
Deformable environments change dynamically during gameplay. The Crysis franchise's other main pillar—largely open level design—holds up its end of the bargain in a similar fashion, sacrificing a bit of freedom for a pace that makes the game nearly impossible to put down. So yes, we encountered a few "if only there wasn't an invisible wall here..." moments, but they were far outweighed by a fusion of smart, sparingly applied scripting and impromptu chaos. Combat, you see, isn't quite like anything else on the market. In Crysis 2, you're neither Rambo nor Solid Snake. The nanosuit's limited energy capacity doesn't allow it to go all-in with either, so hit-and-runs are your best option. And that's the beauty of it. Any enemy, alien or human, can and will kill you if they catch you with your superpowered trousers down, and that element of real danger ensures that you never feel like a bored child stepping on ants. Instead, you're a mighty hunter—easily at the top of the food chain—but your prey's no slouch, either. And even though levels are more confined, they're no less varied, managing to be both hauntingly beautiful and suitably vertical. 
You'll go through numerous weapon changes throughout the game. Then again, given the franchise's history, that's not exactly shocking. On the "pleasant surprise" end of the spectrum, meanwhile, is Crysis 2's multiplayer. Again, the nanosuit's the star of the show here—especially in modes like Assault, where one team doesn't have nanosuits at all, but makes up for it with better weaponry. Other than that, Call of Duty's the obvious inspiration (gain XP, unlock weapons/attachments, etc.), but Crysis 2's superpowered shenanigans put it near the front of that particular pack. That's not to say, however, that Crysis 2 is without flaws. Foremost, the game chose to stick with an antiquated autosave system that'll turn your smile into a scowl faster than you can say, "But I played this area, like, 20 minutes ago." Also, enemies—while generally the ShamWows of brutal bullet-sponging—occasionally suffer from AI brain farts, resulting in staring contests with walls and the always comical, "Oops, I guess it was just a false alarm," when you're standing two feet away from the enemy. The game's graphical customization options, meanwhile, are shockingly limited compared to other PC games, presenting you with literally four options and nothing else. 
A thermal imager makes sniping a snap. All told, however, Crysis 2 is an extremely empowering action-fest that absolutely deserves your attention. It's a game that sprinkles creativity and planning atop a heaping helping of chaos, and during this age of mindless Call of Duty clones, it's exactly what the doctor ordered. $59, www.ea.com/crysis-2, ESRB: M | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Apple set out to kickstart and then rule the tablet market with it's iPad, and now the iPad 2. Mission accomplished, at least until sexier Android tablets chip away at Apple's mobile market share. But what about PCs? It would be silly to think that slates will replace traditional computers, but according to one analyst, Apple's iPad devices have significantly cut into PC growth.
As noted by Apple Insider, PC sales are still growing, just not as fast as expected, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore. As Whitmore sees it, PC unit growth for 2011 will likely hit 4 percent year-over-year, down from his previous prediction of 9 percent. At the same time, Whitmore ramped up his tablet sales forecast from 40 million to 45 million, with 35 million attributed to Apple. "We remain skeptical whether the likes of (HP), Dell, Motorola, Samsung, and RIM etc., can close the gap on the iPad 2," Whitmore wrote. "Specifically, iPad challengers must either undercut on price (negative margin implications) and/or offer a superior user experience." In 2012, Whitmore again downgrades his PC growth rate prediction, though not by much. He now sees PC sales growing 7 percent year-over-year in 2012, down from 8 percent. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  As much as we'd like them to be, videocards aren't always about fun and play, For getting serious work done, you need a graphics card that cares not if it can run Crysis so long as it can compute the pants off of CAD design and other professional applications. That's the kind of thing Nvidia's new Quadro 400 videocard was designed for, and according to Nvidia, designers and engineers can expect up to 10 times better performance compared to a Sandy Bridge-equipped system, and 5 times better performance than the mighty GeForce GTX 580 in select tasks.
Those tasks don't include gaming, but do include professional applications like Autodesk AutoCAD. The Quadro 400 boasts 512MB of DDR3 memory, a 30-bit (10-bits per color) color engine with a dynamic range of over one billion color variations, and drivers that are optimized for work related programs. "Designers and engineers, whether designing the largest assemblies or smallest components, rely on Quadro," said Jeff Brown, general manager, Professional Solutions Group, Nvidia. "The Quadro 400 is the right tool to help ensure that job gets done the right way, especially when it comes to running professional apps like Autodesk AutoCAD." Other features include hardware 3D window clipping, unified driver architecture, support for ultra-high screen resolutions (up to 3840x2400 via dual-link DVI), and Nvidia Mosaic Technology enabling users to connect up to eight displays using a single card per two displays. The Quadro 400 is available now for $170. Image Credit: Nvidia | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Not a lot of folks can justify paying a premium for a Blu-ray burner and then the media to go along with it. At the other end of the pricing spectrum, DVD burners and media are dirt cheap, and so are mechanical hard drives, for that matter. But if you are going to spend a portion of your fun money on Blu-ray backups, it certainly helps if you can write to discs more than once, something you'll be able to do with Panasonic's upcoming 100GB rewritable Blu-ray disc.
According to TechOn, Panasonic's Digital AVC Marketing Division is gearing up to release a rewritable single-sided three-layer Blu-ray disc with 100GB of capacity on April 15, 2011. Panasonic says it's the world's first 100GB Blu-ray disc than can be written to more than once. The new disc supports 2x speed writes and is compatible with BDXL Part1 Version3. And at 100GB, it's twice as large as existing single-sided two-layer Blu-ray discs. Panasonic says you'll be able to archive 12 hours of a terrestrial digital TV program in the DR mode (with a transfer rate of 17Mbps) and about eight hours and 40 minutes of a BS digital TV program in the DR mode (transfer rate of 24Mbps). No word yet on price. Image Credit: Panasonic | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Chip makers Intel and Micron are in the process of seeing how low each company can go, and it has nothing to do with the Limbo. Instead, it has everything to do with shrinking NAND technology even further with the goal of doubling down the density of their flash chips by the time summer rolls around. Aside from being impressive from a technological point of view, lower density chips ultimately lead to lower cost solid state drives (SSDs).
At the start of the summer, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT), a joint venture between Intel and Micron, plan to release an enterprise-class SSD built on a 20nm manufacturing process and utilizing the PCI-E expansion card standard, ComputerWorld reports. "This will be the industry's leading drive," Kevin Kilbuck, Micron's director of strategic marketing for Micron's NAND Product Group, told ComputerWorld. It will be called the P320h and serve as the successor to Micron's original enterprise-class SSD, the P300. Like the original, the P320h will use single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory, as opposed to multi-level cell (MLC) memory, the latter of which is more common in consumer SSDs. Looking ahead, Intel and Micron will face certain challenges in further reducing the size of NAND flash memory. What's more, not many companies have the intellectual property to produce SSDs at the 20nm level, Kulbuck said. He added, "When we were at 50nm, pretty much anyone could slap together an SSD. At 20nm, it's almost the opposite effect." Image Credit: Micron | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  So long as hard drive makers continue to push the envelope with smaller form factors, there's no need to go tearing up a perfectly good pair of jeans with a bulky external hard drive. Enter Seagate, which today announced the availability of its new GoFlex Slim portable drive. This 2.5-inch HDD comes in a shell that's just 9mm thick, which is just barely more than an iPad 2 and skinnier than an iPhone 4.
"The continued growth of personal digital media stores, our increasingly mobile lifestyles and the continued proliferation of mobile devices are driving the demand for slimmer, more portable storage solutions," said Patrick Connolly, vice president and general manager of Retail at Seagate. "Netbooks and slim laptops are great for consuming media, but are limited when it comes to creating and storing high-definition films and photos. With the benefit of using Seagate's Momentus Thin drive, the 9mm GoFlex® Slim ultra-portable hard drive breaks through these boundaries—delivering a beautiful, ultra-slim, lightweight storage solution to complement existing mobile computing devices so they can enjoy even more of the content they love, anywhere they want." At 9mm, the new GoFlex Slim is 38 percent leaner than its predecessor. Inside the ultra thin frame is a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive accessible via the drive's USB 3.0 interface. It also comes with backup software with support for automatic and continuous backups and encryption. The GoFlex Slim is available now for $100 and works with both PCs and Macs. Seagate says it will also be shipping a version for use specifically with Mac OS X (HFS+ formatted otu of the box, making it compatible with Apple Time Machine). | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Network solutions specialist D-Link says it's easy to check in and keep track of what's going on at your home with the company's new mydlink-enabled Wireless N Day/Night Network Camera (DSC-932L). With support for night vision, a built-in CPU, and Web server, D-Link is pitching its new camera as a complete day and night monitoring system for homes and small offices. It's also easy to install, D-Link says.
"With D-Link's new day/night network camera, consumers can quickly, easily and affordably add networked surveillance to their home or small office," said Daniel Kelley, associate vice president of consumer marketing, D-Link North America. ""The addition of infrared technology to the mydlink camera line gives consumers peace of mind knowing that their loved ones and cherished belongings can be easily monitored from a remote location via PC, notebook or smart phone 24 hours a day." The DCS-932L is supposed to pick up where USB-connected webcams leave off, offering up high-quality live streaming video sent directly to the network without a PC. It boasts 20fps streaming, infrared illumination technology, and the ability to view feeds from a PC, notebook, iPhone, iPad, or Android phone or tablet. The DCS-932L is available now for $150. Image Credit: D-Link | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  We've awarded high marks to Cooler Masters HAF (High Air Flow) line of computer cases, including an 8 verdict for the HAF 922 and 9 verdicts for both the original HAF and HAF X enclosures. Needless to say, we've been pretty impressed. Building on the success of earlier variants (and milking the HAF reputation for all it's worth), Cooler Master announced a new addition to its High Air Flow line, the HAF 932 Advanced case.
"The HAF 932 Advanced comes equipped with the very features that made the original HAF 932 world renowned," Cooler Master explains. "It notably included native liquid cooling support such as the ability to install a double or triple 120 millimeter radiator, a convenient coolant refill port, and liquid cooling grommets to easily route tubing to an externally mounted radiator." That's all well and fine, but it takes more than an added moniker to make a new case. So what's different? According to Cooler Master, the new Advanced case fuses all the features of previous models and is reborn with a high-grade all black interior coating. It's also the first Cooler Master case to natively support SuperSpeed USB 3.0 via a standardized internal motherboard connector, negating the need to route USB 3.0 cables through the back of the case. Also new is a redesigned graphics card ducting system. When combined with an optional 120mm fan, the duct is capable of cooling SLI configurations. And finally, there's a 2.5-inch SSD tray in the Advanced model. No word yet on price, though Cooler Master says the HAF 932 Advanced will make its retail debut later this month. Image Credit: Cooler Master | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  It's been a tough year for Borders and its employees. Competition from the the likes of Amazon and Barnes & Noble have made it difficult for Borders to turn a profilt, and as a result, Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in February. That's no laughing matter if you're a Borders employee, just don't accuse the book chain of losing its sense of humor.
A Consumerist reader living in Chicago sent in a photo of a local Borders store with a sign telling customers where they can go to use a bathroom. "Try Amazon," it says. Amazon, of course, doesn't have a physical presence, unless you count warehouses. While Amazon and Barnes & Noble fight over digital and physical book sales, Borders has been forced to shutter 30 percent of its stores just to stay afloat. Image Credit: The Consumerist | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Data firms are proving gold mines for hackers looking to sneak in and steal hordes of customer data in one fell swoop. That's what happened to Epsilon, a firm that stores personal data for thousands of companies, including JPMorgan Chase, Kroger, TiVo, Best Buy, Walgreen, and Capital One. The security breach exposed email addresses and other private data for some 50 firms, including each of the above named outfits.
Epsilon says that only names and email addresses were compromised, not Social Security numbers, financial information, and other sensitive data, the L.A. Times reports. The attack underscores how important it is for large data firms to put extra emphasis on security. "These are examples of why those people who provide services to thousands of other companies have to be way more secure than the individual companies themselves," said John Pescatore, a security analyst at Gartner. Nevertheless, it's the individual companies that originally collected the information that could end up be held liable, not necessarily Epsilon. "The liability really rests witht he company that directly interacts with consumers -- regardless of what the fine print said," said Scott Brady, a managing director at Dewitt Stern, an insurance firm. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  You've heard that April showers bring May flowers, and that Mayflowers bring Pilgrims. Those are both true, but also blossoming in May are Oak Trail tablets, right around the time Computex rolls around. It's been a long time coming. Intel announced Oak Trail last year once it was clear that tablets would be more than a passing fad, however we've yet to see any slates built around Oak Trail.
"Oak Trail tablets are expected to start hitting shelves in May and throughout 2011," an Intel spokeswoman said. According to the U.K.'s PC Advisor, Oak Trail tablets could offer up to 10 hours of battery life, which is what the iPad 2 is rated at, though you can squeeze even more out of it depending on your usage habits. These upcoming tablets will ship with Intel's single-core Z670 Oak Trail processor, which has been optimized for HD video decoding and to accelerate the playback of MPEG files in Window Media Player. It remains to be seen which OEMs will jump on board, though several companies have already shown Oak Trail tablets running Windows 7, including Lenovo, Fujitsu, Samsung, and Motion Computing. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Keyport is billing its Keyport Slide V.01 as "the ultimate keychain alternative." It's a lightweight and compact container that weighs only 2.1 ounces when fully loaded and "fits comfortably in the 5th pocket of a pair of jeans." Not bad considering it comes with six ports allowing you to consolidate your keys and other accessories in a single device. One of the few things it was missing was a mini-LED light insert, at least until now.
"Adding a light to the Keyport's growing set of features not only illuminates darkened hallways and difficult to find keyways, but it also shines the light on the inadequacies of a bulky keychain. In this case, bigger is definitely not better," says Keyport President David Cooper. The mini-LED insert uses two lithium ion batteries that last up to 15 hours. It's also water resistant. As for the Keyport Slide, as mentioned it holds up to six inserts, including a USB insert. That means you could carry around USB storage, an LED light, house key, car key, motorcycle key, and still have room left over for one more insert, including a bottle opener. Video Demo Image Credit: Keyport | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
