IT News, Computer Components, Reviews

2012-10-18T22:05:00.000+03:00

Logitech has unveiled the G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. It may come as a surprise to some that this is the company’s first mechanical input device in their 30+ year history. Logitech says the board combines high-speed non-clicking key switches with a dampening ring underneath each keycap to reduce overall noise, a typical complaint among certain mechanical boards.
The board uses keys with an actuation force of 45g and a distance of 4mm. It is backlit with white LEDs that are adjustable to one of four brightness levels or can be disabled completely. Additionally, the brightness of the arrow and WASD keys can be adjusted independently for better visibility when gaming.

Durability shouldn’t be a concern as Logitech claims the G710+ has undergone significant torture testing with professional gamers, partners, publishers and everyday gamers. As such, the board has a life cycle of at least 50 million keystrokes.
Anti-ghosting and 26-key rollover means gamers will be able to enter complex keystrokes without having to worry about commands going unregistered. With the included Logitech Gaming Software, it’s easier than ever to program complex macros or Lua gaming scripts. The board accepts up to 18 individual functions per game.
The Logitech G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard will be available in the US this month before launching in Europe sometime in December. The board carries a suggested retail price of $149.99 and supports Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista

AMD to Cut Up to 30% of Workforce

2012-10-15T00:57:00.001+03:00

Days after warning of a huge sales and earnings miss, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices is close to announcing a significant reduction in its workforce that could be be made public as early as next week.

According to sources familiar with the company’s plans, (they asked not to be identified), AMD will announce next week that it will cut between 20 percent and 30 percent of its employees, which, given AMD’s headcount of about
~~11,700~~11,100 workers, would amount to between 2,200
~~2,300~~and 3,300
~~3,500~~jobs.
The cuts, the sources said, will affect employees involved in engineering and sales, groups of employees that have been spared in previous rounds of cuts. Additionally, these people, who are familiar with the company’s operations, suggest that the cuts will be deep enough as to indicate that AMD may be forced to scale back some of its product offerings.
The cuts might be disclosed when AMD announces its quarterly results on Oct.18, or the announcement could come on Oct. 25, sources said. One source said the cuts may be completed by the 25th, at the close of a 10-day process.
CEO Rory Read is said to have brought in a team of business consultants from McKinsey & Company and BCG to advise the company. McKinsey’s role is said to involve handling the cuts, while BCG is said to be consulting on what one source described as a “grand strategy” to take the company forward.
One source described the mood within AMD as grim. Employees have been expecting the cuts for some time. “There are a lot of nervous people, and not a lot is getting done right now,” the source said.
A third source said that the scale of cuts may be lower, closer to between 10 percent and 20 percent of AMD’s workforce, which would imply a range of between 1,170 and 2,300.
An AMD spokesman declined to comment.
This would be the second major reduction in AMD’s workforce since Read took over as CEO. The company announced a 10 percent reduction 11 months ago. Those cuts amounted to about 1,400, and were necessary, the company said at the time, to reduce operating expenses by $118 million in 2012, and by $10 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Last month, CFO Thomas Seifert was the latest to leave; he is, according to an informal count tabulated by AllThingsD the 26th from among the company’s senior ranks to depart since Read, a former executive at IBM and Lenovo, took over as CEO.

Halo 4 leaked to the internet

2012-10-15T00:46:00.003+03:00

Microsoft Game Studios upcoming blockbuster Xbox 360 exclusive game Halo 4 has been not only spotted in the wild, but fully leaked to certain websites. Postings appeared on Reddit and NeoGAF showing retail disc copies of Halo 4, as well as an image of the Xbox Dashboard showing Halo 4 ready to be played.After some sleuthing around on popular sources for pirated games, we discovered that a full disc image of Halo 4 Disc 1 - the disc containing the single-player campaign - is available to download and burn to a dual-layer DVD, enabling you to play it on your Xbox 360 provided the DVD drive has received certain modifications. The image is approximately 8 GB, and the description states Disc 2 containing the multi-player portion of the game will be uploaded later. Update: Disc 2 is also now available.
However, no law enforcement team will be able to stop the force of the internet now that the game has leaked, as it will surely spread like wildfire. To make matters worse this leak has occurred a full three weeks before its launch on November 6, so naturally spoilers are going to be available soon for the entire campaign which can't be accessed by legitimate paying customers.

It is common for Xbox 360 games to be leaked before their release, although a leak this far before is rare. Keep in mind, for those people attempting to pirate a copy of the leaked Halo 4, that playing leaked games before their release can result in your console being permanently banned from Xbox Live.

2012-10-13T02:50:00.002+03:00

Cooler Master Debuts Two New Coolers - Blizzard T2 and Hyper T4

Cooler Master has today announced its newest CPU coolers, the Blizzard T2 and the Hyper T4. Priced at 14.90 Euro, the Blizzard T2 features four CDC (Continuous Direct Contact) copper heatpipes boasting a Dual Loop design, a 92 mm Rifle bearing fan operating at 2200 RPM, and offers support for Intel LGA 1156/1155/775 and AMD FM1/AM3+/AM3 /AM2 processors.

The Hyper T4 costs 24.90 Euro and has four Direct Contact heatpipes, a 120 mm PWM fan that can run at 600 to 1800 PRM, and support for Intel LGA 2011/1366/1156/1155/775 and AMD FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2 chips.

Both coolers will become available at the end of this month

2012-10-13T02:08:00.004+03:00

CyberPowerPC Debuts Fang III Taipan Gaming Laptop

CyberpowerPC today announced its Fang ІІІ Taipan, the most customizable gaming laptop with twin NVIDIA GPUs, 3rd Generation Intel Core Processors and enough memory and add-ons to make the most demanding games and applications sizzle. The Fang Taipan can accommodate two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680Ms in SLI model, an Intel Core i7-3940XM (3.0GHz) Extreme Edition Ivy Bridge Mobile Processor, and up to 32 GBs of dual-channel DDR3 memory! CyberpowerPC uses the Clevo P370EM notebook chassis for this model. IT features a 17.3" Full HD 1920x1080 Display w/ an illuminated keyboard. The base price of the Fang III Taipan is $1,819

2012-10-13T02:01:00.000+03:00

Dell Announces New Windows 8 Devices - XPS 12, XPS One 27 & Inspiron One 23

Dell today announced a refreshed portfolio of business and consumer PCs built for Microsoft Windows 8, designed to provide a more intuitive computing experience and address evolving customer desires. Today Dell is making available for pre-order three new PCs in its upcoming fall portfolio: the XPS 12, XPS One 27 and Inspiron One 23. All of the new systems deliver an intuitive touch experience that is necessary to fully experience Windows 8.
The XPS 12 is two devices in one: a fully-featured, full-powered laptop that easily becomes a fully-featured touch-powered tablet. The Dell XPS 12 uses a flippable touchscreen and magnets to enable the functionality while also saving space. This innovative convertible PC starts at $1,199.99 and begins shipping on October 26 alongside Windows 8. The Dell XPS One 27 All-In-One (AIO) Desktop features a massive 27" display with quad HD graphics (2560 x 1440) along with multitouch capability to take advantage of Windows 8. It also features an articulating stand giving it a nice range of flexibility. The XPS One 27 starts at $1,599 and will begin shipping on October 26th. Dell is also rolling out a refreshed version of its XPS 13 Ultrabook to support Windows 8 that starts at $999. All three devices are available to pre-order now