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Misc Pics (21 Comments) (link)  Friday, 1-August-2014  14:38:32 (GMT +10) - by Agg Thanks to HyRax1 and bugayev this week! Friday Afternoon (5 Comments) (link)  Friday, 1-August-2014  13:46:58 (GMT +10) - by Agg In case you're wondering what the big deal about Net Neutrality is, Sprint in the USA have given us a very good example with their new prepaid plan. The Virgin Mobile Custom plan, sold under Sprint’s Virgin Mobile brand, provides unlimited access to one of four social media services – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest – on top of your data plan for $12 a month. An additional $10 will net unlimited use of all four, while $5 more grants unlimited streaming from any one music app. Closer to home, Gizmodo wonder whatever happened to the IT Pricing Inquiry. One year ago today, the guns fell silent on the IT Pricing Inquiry. The Parliamentary Committee tasked with finding why we pays more for gadgets, software, music and movies fired the final shot in the form of a report to the government on how to solve the availability crisis Australia had found itself in. One year on, and nothing has happened. The Australia Tax is as bad as it ever was, and content piracy is now at epidemic levels. We’re at a tipping point, and the government isn’t doing a thing to help. However Malcolm Turbull has turned the focus onto content owners to help people get content without having to pirate it. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called on content owners to help limit copyright infringment by making material more widely and affordably available for Australian audiences. My phone camera has pretty much completely replaced the other cameras in my life. Techspot think I'm not alone, and have an article about smartphone camera hardware. For many people smartphone cameras have replaced standalone point-and-shoots as the go-to device for everyday photography, as they're easier to access and more compact to carry with you. But just what goes in to making a good smartphone camera? What hardware do companies use? What do pixel sizes and f-stops really mean? In this article I'll be exploring the hardware, key terms associated with photography, and some comparisons along the way. iFixit checked out the Oculus Rift DK version 2. Oculus VR took the world by surprise last year with the Oculus Rift. This year, they seek to push their own self-created envelope with the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2. We may not have flying cars, hoverboards or (commercial) teleporters, but we do have the latest virtual reality tech. Join us as we ogle the wizardry in the Oculus Rift DK2, teardown style. That free copy of the Sims 2 may have come with a catch, in the form of SecuROM. By now, everybody should know that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Let's apply that to EA, shall we? The publisher is giving away copies of The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection, for free... and not mentioning that it includes the controversial SecuROM anti-piracy software. Friday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Friday, 1-August-2014  13:15:57 (GMT +10) - by Agg Portable & Prebuilt: NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet on HotHardware. Digital Storm Vanquish II (Level 4) Gaming PC on HotHardware. NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet on Anandtech. First impressions of Nvidia's Shield Tablet on TechReport. NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet and Controller on PCPerspective. Motherboard & CPU: AMD's A10-7800 processor on TechReport. AMD Kaveri Update: A10-7800 APU on HotHardware. AMD Kaveri A8-7600 and A10-7800 APU on LegitReviews. AMD A10-7800 “Kaveri” APU on eTeknix. AMD A10-7800 Kaveri APU on Guru3D. AMD A10-7800 Kaveri APU on TechSpot. Biostar Hi-Fi Z97WE on TechPowerUp. Storage: Thecus N7710-G NAS Server on NikKTech. Phison S10 Quad-Core Performance SSD Controller on Tweaktown. Akitio Neutrino Thunder D3 Thunderbolt / USB 3.0 DAS on Tweaktown. Samsung 845DC PRO Review (400/800GB) on TheSSDReview. Diamond MDS3900 DisplayLink USB to HDMI/DVI/LAN Mini Ultra Dock on Tweaktown. USH-1 SD Card Roundup on HWHeaven. Video Cards: HIS IceQ R9 290X iPower Hybrid iTurbo 4GB on Tweaktown. Palit GTX 750 Ti KalmX 2 GB on TechPowerUp. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 AMP! on TechnologyX. Cases: SilverStone PT13 Ultra Compact Mini-ITX Thin Chassis on eTeknix. Thermaltake Urban T81 on PureOC. NZXT H440 Mid-Tower on ThinkComputers. Power Supply: PSU deathmatch: Cooler Master V750 vs. Rosewill Capstone-750-M on TechReport. Seasonic Platinum Series 1200W on TechPowerUp. Misc: Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury Gaming Mouse on PCPerspective. Kingston HyperX Cloud headset on OCAholic. Thursday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 31-July-2014  03:46:18 (GMT +10) - by aftahours Gaming: GRID Autosport (PS3) on Gaming Nexus Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3) on Gaming Nexus Cooling: Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate 360mm AIO CPU Cooler on TweakTown Raijintek Themis Evo Pro & Nemesis CPU Coolers on eTeknix Cooler Master Nepton 280L Liquid Cooler on Neoseeker NZXT Kraken X31 on OCC PSU: Seasonic X-Series XM2-1250 Power Supply on PC Perspective XFX XTS 520W Passive Modular Power Supply on eTeknix Seasonic Platinum Series 1200W on Tech Powerup Seasonic Platinum Series 660W Modular Power Supply on eTeknix Storage: Areca ARC-8050T2 Thunderbolt 2 8-Bay RAID Tower DAS on TweakTown Corsair Force LX 256GB SSD on Madshrimps Silicon Power Superior SDXC UHS-1 64GB on Madshrimps Synology Diskstation DS414j 4-Bay NAS Server on Bigbruin Icy Dock MB981U3-1S Hard Drive Dock on ThinkComputers.org Samsung 845DC EVO SSD 960 Gigabyte on Ocaholic Thecus N2310 2-Bay NAS Server on Big Bruin Virident FlashMAX II 2.2TB Enterprise PCIe SSD on TweakTown Synology Embedded DataStation EDS14 on Legion Hardware Csse: IN WIN S-Frame Open-Air Chassis on TweakTown Streacom FC8 EVO on Vortez Antec ISK 600 Mini ITX Case on Nikktech Tesla H Case on Silent PC Review SilverStone Raven RV05 on Silent PC Review BitFenix Neos Mid-Tower Chassis on TweakTown Aerocool Dead Silence DS200 on ocahoic NZXT H440 Mid-Tower Case on ThinkComputers.org Videocard: HIS Radeon R7 250X and 260X iCooler Graphics Cards on Funky Kit Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon R9 280X OC Edition on Ocaholic Audio: Tt eSports Level 10 M Gaming Headset on Techware Labs LUXA2 GroovyW Bluetooth Speaker with Wireless Charging Station on TweakTown Tt eSPORTS Level 10M Gaming Headset on Techgage CM Storm Resonar Gaming Earphones on eTeknix Gamdias HEPHAESTUS Virtual 7.1 Gaming Headset on Hardware Heaven GAMDIAS Hephaestus GHS2000 Headset on Benchmark Reviews Motherboard: MSI Z97 MPower Overclocking Motherboard on Hardware Asylum Gigabyte Z97X SOC Force on NinjaLane Portable: Lenovo Yoga 10 HD+ Android Tablet on Benchmark Reviews Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga Convertible on PC Perspective Samsung Galaxy Tab S on Hot Hardware Nokia Lumia 520 Smartphone on Hardware Secrets Sony Xperia Z2 Smartphone on TweakTown Keyboard/Mouse: Nixeus MODA Mechanical Keyboard on Legit Reviews Zalman Knossos ZM-GM4 Professional Laser Gaming Mouse on TweakTown Misc: XTracGear Carbonic, Ripper and Ripper XXL Mouse Pads on TweakTown XTracGear Carbonic Mouse Pad on Benchmark Reviews Gigabyte Brix Gaming BXi5G-760 mini-PC on Tech Report ADATA XPG V3 3100MHz 8GB DDR3 Memory Kit on Legit Reviews ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q GSYNC Game Monitor on Guru3D Forum Projects (1 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 29-July-2014  18:13:40 (GMT +10) - by Agg Catching up on some more projects and reviews from the forums: Kommandant33 is working on making a PC all rusty mcfee03 reviewed the Gigabyte P15F laptop ginger_nuts is building a chilled test bench Ameel is making a 10-channel Fan Controller jompenleet has finished a Phantom 820 build and ASIGN_Baz has finished his backyard observatory Tuesday Morning (7 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 29-July-2014  01:01:04 (GMT +10) - by Agg Illegal downloading is in the headlines once again, with a leaked discussion paper from the Federal Government. A UMR Research study cited in the draft paper found that an estimated 21 per cent of all Australians over the age of 18 had engaged in online piracy. Furthermore, when Game of Thrones’ fourth season premiered in April, more people in Australia illegally downloaded the program than anywhere else in the world. Australia accounted for 11.6 per cent of the piracy, and Melbourne was the worst-offending city on the globe, according to TorrentFreak. Meanwhile in Sydney, a cartoon character has been arrested. But after police spoke to the man the found that all the “weapons” were plastic fakes and he was dressed as “Spiderman” as part of a charity fundraising campaign called Superhero Week. He was wearing the costume to work to help raise money for Bear Cottage at Manly, a hospice for children. Deadpool, not Spiderman.. ArsTechnica report on a magic fighter pilot helmet. In addition to providing the navigational and targeting information typically shown in a combat aircraft’s heads-up display, the HMDS also includes aspects of virtual reality, allowing a pilot to look through the plane. Using a collection of six high-definition video and infrared cameras on the fighter’s exterior called the Distributed Aperture System (DAS), the display extends vision a full 360 degrees around the aircraft from within the cockpit. Sniper spotted this video of a couple of Aussies setting up to play Doom on an ATM. Playing Doom on an NCR Personas ATM using the OEM PC and display, plus an i-Pac controller for mapping the side buttons, and eventually, the PIN pad. Seems to be more info here on Hackaday. Amazon are jumping onto the 3D printing bandwagon with a new 3D printing section (affiliate link). 3D Printers make a variety of objects using a laser that move along an X, Y and Z axis to build an object in three dimensions. 3D printing is considered the future of print and manufacturing, and is set to dramatically change the way we buy and produce products in the future. Browse our selection of 3D printed jewelry, home decor, tech accessories, toys & games, and more. No matter the occasion or budget, there is something for everyone in our gallery of 3D printed products. It'll be interesting to see where they go with this. Discussion here. From Marc: Thought you might like to know that the Australian gaming/streaming group ‘We Play’ will be hosting a live webcast on the 9th of August in support of the Childs Play charity. It is a day-long event where we play games, get drunk, cook lunch and laugh at each other whilst raising money for a worthwhile charity. There's a Facebook Event here, a Youtube Stream here and a Childs Play Event/Donation Page here. Monday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Monday, 28-July-2014  13:25:49 (GMT +10) - by Agg Motherboard & CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X vs Core i7-3930K 3-way SLI Gaming-Performance on OCAholic. Biostar Hi-Fi Z97WE on OCClub. Cooling: Noctua industrialPPC Series fans on Vortez. Enermax Liqtech 240 CPU Cooler video review on HWHeaven. Gamer Storm Maelstrom 240 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler on Tweaktown. Storage: Kingston SSDNow V310 960GB SSD Upgrade Kit on NikKTech. OCZ RevoDrive 350 480GB Solid State Drive on APHNetworks. ADATA SP610 SSD Review (512GB) on TheSSDReview. Crucial M550 2.5" SATA SSD Full Capacity Roundup on PCPerspective. Input Etc: GAMDIAS HERMES Ultimate Black Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on NikKTech. Logitech Illuminated Living Room Keyboard K830 on Techgage. Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog Flight Stick on Tweaktown. Portable & Prebuilt: Lenovo ThinkPad W540 Mobile Workstation Laptop on Tweaktown. x86 on Android: A quick look at Asus' Memo Pad ME176C tablet on TechReport. Kingston MobileLite Wireless G2 on LegitReviews. Cases: Streacom NC1-GK NUC Chassis on TechPowerUp. Corsair Carbide Series Spec-01 Mid-Tower on eTeknix. Cooltek W1 Windowed on OCAholic. Silverstone Raven RV05 on BenchmarkReviews. Misc: HIS R7 260X and R7 250X video cards on PureOC. XFX XTS 520W on PSU HWareHeaven. OlliOlli PC Game on Tweaktown. GamesterGear Cruiser P3210 Gaming Headset on Tweaktown.

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