Futurelooks - Stuff For People Who Like Computers!

Futurelooks Weekly Giveaway 2 of 3 – Win an ADATA XPG v1.0 1866mhz 8GB (4GB x 2) Memory Kit

Stephen Fung — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:45:38 +0000

Thanks to everyone that entered Week One of Three in our weekly give away spree with ADATA Technology USA. We had over 2420 entries thanks for the ADATA 32GB USB3 Dash Drive and we can't wait to draw someone's name at the conclusion of this contest series to win it. With that in mind, Week Two of Three continues with the giving away of an awesome memory kit from the generous folks at ADATA. Up for grabs this week is the ADATA XPG v1.0 1866mhz 8GB (4GB x 2) Memory Kit! About the ADATA XPG v1.0 1866mhz 8GB (4GB x 2) Memory Kit...

The ADATA XPG v1.0 1866mhz 8GB (4GB x 2) Memory Kit is fitted with bright red heatsink over a green PCB. Attached to it are DDR3 ICs rated to go up to 1866MHz and beyond! Although high speed memory, as we've found in our numerous reviews, does little for overall gaming performance, applications that do take advantage of high memory bandwidth (think any high end professional software that uses a lot of RAM) does take advantage of that. But even if your application doesn't take advantage of the memory bandwidth, the modules are great looking and will add a nice splash of colour to your latest build. For features that we have not covered, well, they come with a lifetime warranty from ADATA Technology and the modules that you're hoping to win today sit just shy of their top tier kit which runs at 2133MHz. But 1866MHz isn't too shabby at CL10 timings. You can also choose to turn the clock back with tighter timings, giving you overall better responsiveness in a wider range of applications. You can check out the ADATA Website for a better look at the entire XPG family. ADATA XPG memory kits will run you anywhere from $89.99 to $169.99 US at most online retailers. But if you win this contest, you'll have a set for free! How do I win? For week one, all you have to do is LIKE Futurelooks and ADATA on Facebook. After you’ve done that, you can gain additional entries by following Futurelooks on Twitter. You get TWO bonus entries when you share this contest on Facebook and TWO MORE when you share it on Twitter. Best of all, you can share each day for more entries. Just come back to this page and claim your entries using the form below...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Last but not least, you can also pick up an entry for subscribing to our YouTube Channel and we just recently added Pinterest to our social media goodness so make sure you follow us there and "PIN" this contest to pick up even more entries! All entries must be logged through the Rafflecopter widget embedded above, so come back daily to claim those bonus entries. Leave no entry unclaimed! Important Dates Week Two of Three in our Giveaway Series with ADATA will run from today till Sunday, May 26th, 2013 at Midnight. A new contest for yet another awesome ADATA prize will be announced the following Monday. The winners of each of the three weekly giveaways will be announced together around the first week of June 2013 so make sure you start checking your email boxes around that time. If you don't answer your winning email, we'll be forced to draw again after 48 hrs and all you'll be left with is the story about that time you ALMOST won something. The Fine Print This contest is open to all residents of the United States and Canada. If you’re not a resident of the United States or Canada and still wish to participate, the prize can be shipped to any US or Canadian address of your choice. The prize must be accepted as awarded and there are no substitutions or cash surrender value for this prize. Canadians may be subject to a skill testing question because that’s what Canadians have to do to claim a prize. This contest is void where prohibited by law. There is no purchase necessary to enter this contest, however entrants must be 18 years or older. If you have any questions or comments, please ask in the comment area below. Good luck!

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Futurelooks Deals – Hot Prices On Computer Stuff from NewEgg (US)

Stephen Fung — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:00:35 +0000

Here's your quick shot of deals from NewEgg USA. They've got quite the mixed bag of stuff on sale this time including some great deals on SSDs and hard drives plus some deals on select systems. Even servers, desktops, and notebooks are represented. If you're looking to refresh or upgrade your system, this seems like a great time to buy. Especially with Intel's new Haswell platform just around the corner. You'll definitely need some spare parts to get that platform fired up as you decide whether to keep that old "Ivy Bridge" system around. Some of the deals end today while some are good till May 30th, 2013 so make sure you pay attention to that or you might be disappointed. Have a look and let us know if you pick up anything. We'd love to hear your experience with the retailer and their process! Save Up to $250 on Select Desktop PCs at Newegg.com, exp. 5/30 $70 Off SanDisk Extreme SDSSDX-480G-G25 2.5" 480GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive - $329.99 + Free Shipping at Newegg.com, exp. 5/21 $130 Off BenQ GW2750HM Glossy Black 27" 4ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor - $229.99 + Free Shipping at Newegg.com, exp. 5/20 $150 Off ASUS R500A-RH51 Notebook Intel Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1600 500GB HDD - $449.99 + Free Shipping at Newegg.com, exp. 5/20 $60 Off HP ProLiant G7 N54L Ultra Micro Tower Server System bundled w/ Sans Digital 4 Bay eSATA Port Multiplier JBOD Tower Storage Enclosure for $289.98 after $90 MIR at Newegg.com, exp. 5/22 G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 Desktop Memory - $121.54 w/ 15% off code AFMAY16 + Free Shipping at Newegg.com, exp. 5/22 $10 Off Optical Quantum 50GB 6X BD-R DL 10 Packs Spindle Disc - $32.99 after $7 MIR + Free Shipping at Newegg.com, exp. 5/22 Happy Shopping!

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BitFenix Launches Two Updated Prodigy Mini ITX Cases

James White — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:30:05 +0000

It was about one year ago that BitFenix introduced the Prodigy mini-ITX case to the world. We saw it first at COMPUTEX 2012 and since then, it has turned into one of the best small form factor PC chassis on the market today. In fact, we recently built the Ultimate LAN Party PC in it (see video). Of course there is always room for improvement and this time we are getting not only more color options, but some tweaks that users have been asking for. Although this is still mostly the same BitFenix Prodigy case we have all come to love, there are some distinctly new things about this duo. For example, the new Cobalt Blue and Vivid Green come with a windowed side panel standard, which will guarantee that people will notice your case at LAN parties. Both sport the SoftTouch surface treatment and FyberFlex material for the feet and handles just like the original version of the Prodigy.

These great new options will be available later in May 2013, just in time for COMPUTEX 2013. I personal think the Cobalt Blue is the best of the two colors and that has nothing to do with it being my favorite color. You can find more information about the BitFenix Prodigy here or click the link below to reveal the full press release. More photos are also available below.

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Seagate Goes Flash Crazy and Unveils Full SSD Product Line

James White — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:41:29 +0000

There are several business strategies used when a company moves into a new market space or product line. "Dive in Head First" is strategy of choice here as Seagate unveiled their latest product line-up which includes consumer, enterprise, and PCIe SSD's. The Seagate 600, 600 Pro, 1200, and X8 Accelerator PCIe card will cover a large variety of markets distributed through their normal partners. The Seagate 600 series currently is available at NewEgg in 120 GB, 240 GB, and 480 GB with competitive pricing and performance. Thanks to the LAMD (Link-A-Media Devices) controller, first introduced by Corsair in their Neutron SSD lineup (see our review), have sequential speeds of up to 530 MB/s read and 440 MB/s write. If you order now, they will begin shipping to customers on May 28th, 2013. The Seagate 1200 is the high performance server and enterprise SSD in capacities up to 800 GB. Using a dual port SAS these drives will be capable of up to 12 Gb/s providing twice the performance of a standard SSD.

The Enterprise market will also see the X8 Accelerator, a PCIe based SSD. These cards, while half-height half-length, will come in up to 2.2 TB sizes with speeds of 1.1 million IOPS for those who need the best access times for Virtualization and SQL databases. This addition of an SSD line by the major mechanical drive manufacturers is long over due. Even though I think the SSD market is over saturated I am curious to see what Seagate can do in this space, besides helping to drive down prices. Full press release at the link below along with photos to drool over.

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On the Future of Cloud Computing

Michael Kwan — Mon, 20 May 2013 02:39:22 +0000

It's fascinating how technology evolves over time... and how we inevitably look to our past in order to create our future. Consider, for example, the whole concept of using a computer. Back in the early days, the normal thing to do would be to have the one main computer and then have several terminals connect to this central computer. It just didn't make sense, both from a logistical and from a cost perspective, to have separate computers for every user. And then, the personal computer (PC) came into the picture and we all had our separate computers operating about as separately as possible. After that, we discovered the Internet and while we were connected, each computer largely still had to handle its own processing and its own data. But that's changing again. With faster (and cheaper) Internet access, we are now moving more and more toward cloud computing and shared resources. Perhaps the biggest advantage of cloud servers is that your individual computer doesn't necessarily have to be all that powerful itself. This is because more of the heavy lifting is done somewhere else. That's the idea behind the OnLive gaming system, for example. And while not exactly working in the same way, the NVIDIA Shield handheld also builds on this kind of philosophy. But just as PCs can be incredibly varied, so can the application of what we collectively call "cloud computing." There are all kinds of cloud storage providers, for instance, that let you stash your media files online so you can access them from just about anywhere and from just about any device. At the same time, working in the cloud doesn't mean that you necessarily have to put everything on the Internet. An example of this is Adobe Connect where government agencies (and whoever else) can utilize a "private cloud" for more confidential data. And then you've got the move toward the cloud with Adobe Creative Cloud for PhotoShop, Premiere Pro and so on. The application itself still resides on your computer and it can still be used offline, but now you're paying a subscription fee rather than buying the software outright. Given how expensive that kind of software can be, a subscription model could prove to be much more financially viable for people with smaller budgets. And it comes with cloud storage and all sorts of other improvements too, like multiple GPU render support. With a name like "Creative Cloud," the hope moving forward is that Adobe really can allow users to fully exploit the power of the cloud. What if you really could share resources and tap into the processing power of the cloud? What if that could speed up your rendering even more? What if this means that your own PC doesn't have to be so powerful anymore, even if you need to do some very heavy lifting for your video editing? It's like we're moving back to the days of a central computer with multiple terminals again, don't you think? And, just as it was before, this philosophy just makes more sense for cost-control and for logistics.

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