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Catching up on some more projects and reviews from the forums:
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
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Monday, 28-July-2014 03:25:49 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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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.
Thanks to mpot and TonyR this week!
     
     
     
     
     
     
Friday Afternoon
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Friday, 25-July-2014 03:12:24 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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iiNet have a blog post outlining their opposition to Mandatory Data Retention. At the end of this month, iiNet will front a Senate Committee reviewing telecommunications laws concerning interception and access to communications data or metadata, which could include introducing mandatory surveillance and data retention on the communications activities of the entire Australian population. Our statement to the Committee is summarised, in part below. Coverage here and here.
TomsHardware have a list of PSU Brands vs Manufacturers. Do you think that all power supplies are manufactured by the brand on the label? Think again. We show what makes a good PSU and reveal who builds them. You can actually find lots of quality (instead of just scrap metal) behind some of the budget labels.
EA are giving away The Sims 2 on Origin, along with all 18 expansions. Ultimate Collection includes the base Sims 2 game along with "every single The Sims 2 expansion pack and stuff pack." The list of content that entails, as a result, is comically long: There have been eight expansion packs (which add new functionality and major features) and ten stuff packs (which, as you might guess, contain various stuff--primarily clothing and furniture) released since The Sims 2's launch in 2004. Discussion here.
Techspot wonder if virtual desktops & GPU acceleration are the future of computing. While we've long moved away from the early days of the mainframe and thin clients, there are some areas of computing where we're seeing a push back to similar architectures. We'll take a look at some of the more common advantages and disadvantages of virtual desktops, offer our general impressions on using them, and make some educated guesses as to whether virtual desktops truly are the future of computing or if they will likely remain a niche technology.
Telstra will be turning off 2G in 2016, with more info here. Telstra will close down its 2G network before the end of 2016, and is expected to reuse the spectrum for 4G technology once the network's existing customers are migrated onto 3G and 4G. In a blog post titled "It's time to say goodbye old friend", Telstra's group managing director of networks Mike Wright said the 2G GSM network had been in place for more than 20 years and had been surpassed by newer technologies.
Microsoft have a new video explaining Quantum Computing. An introduction to the mind-bending world of quantum computing.
Friday Midday Reviews
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Friday, 25-July-2014 02:31:58 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
ASUS Z97-PRO Motherboard on HWSecrets.
MSI Z97 MPOWER MAX AC (LGA 1150) on eTeknix.
ASUS Z97I-PLUS mini-ITX on Techgage.
ASUS Maximus VII Formula on OCAholic.
Intel Pentium Anniversary Edition & OC Guide on TechSpot.
Core i7-4790K "Devil's Canyon" overclocking revisited on TechReport.
MSI A88X-G45 Gaming Assassin's Creed Edition on PCPerspective.
Gigabyte Z97-D3H Motherboard on Modders-Inc.
ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer Motherboard on ThinkComputers.
Storage:
SanDisk Extreme Pro 480GB SSD on Vortez.
Western Digital Red 6TB and Red Pro 4TB on PCPerspective.
Seagate Desktop 4TB, 5TB and 6TB HDDs RAID Report on Tweaktown.
SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD (480GB) on HWHeaven.
Thecus N2520 2-Bay NAS on eTeknix.
Crucial MX100 256GB Solid State Drive on eTeknix.
Intel SSD Pro 2500 Series 240GB Enterprise SSD on LegitReviews.
Corsair Voyager Air 2 1TB Mobile Storage Device on Tweaktown.
Cooling:
CRYORIG C1 Top-Down CPU Cooler on NikKTech.
NZXT Kraken X31-X41-X61 AIO Water Cooler Roundup on PureOC.
Audio Visual:
NEC MultiSync EA244UHD 24-Inch 4K Monitor on HotHardware.
CM Storm Resonar headset on Vortez.
Video Cards:
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Vapor-X 4 GB on TechPowerUp.
Sapphire Dual-X R9 280 3GB OC on LegitReviews.
HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X2 Turbo Boost 2GB OC on Tweaktown.
Gigabyte GeForce GTX Titan Black WindForce on Guru3D.
GeForce GTX 660 Ti vs. GTX 750 Ti on OCAholic.
Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Vapor-X OC on Tweaktown.
Cases:
DeepCool STEAM CASTLE on Vortez.
BitFenix Neos Mid-Tower on eTeknix.
Thermaltake Urban T81 Full Tower on ThinkComputers.
Raidmax Scorpio V on OCClub.
Fractal Design Core 3300 Mid Tower on NeoSeeker.
Deepcool Steam Castle on OCAholic.
Misc:
Tt eSports Poseidon Z Mechanical Keyboard on TechWareLabs.
Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro Ultrabook on Tweaktown.
H. R. Giger Tribute PC
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Wednesday, 23-July-2014 11:13:06 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's an amazing mod from MNPCTech, a tribute to H. R. Giger who passed away in May 2014:
click for the thread!
GIGABYTE Contests
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Wednesday, 23-July-2014 06:11:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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GIGABYTE have posted the results of their recent CATZILLA OC contest. GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the winners of the GIGABYTE CATZILLA OC Contest hosted on HWBOT.org. With $1,000 and two GIGABYTE Z97 series motherboards up for grabs, the GIGABYTE CATZILLA OC Contest invited the overclocking community to push their hardware to the limit by running the custom made CATZILLA benchmark skin on their GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboard.
Meanwhile there's another contest here in our Forums, where you can win a motherboard or some mystery prizes. Each benchmark will award 10 points to the highest score, 8 to the second, 6 to the third, 4 to the fourth and 2 to the fifth. Prize 1 will go to the top scoring individual, with additional prizes going to a prize draw for any individual who submits scores in all 3 benchmarks.
click for the thread!
Wednesday Afternoon
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Wednesday, 23-July-2014 05:06:20 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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This Friday is SysAdmin Day, when System Administrators hopefully get appreciated for what they do behind the scenes. System Administrator Appreciation Day, also known as Sysadmin Day, SysAdminDay, SAD or SAAD, is an annual event created by system administrator Ted Kekatos. The event exists to show appreciation for the work of sysadmins and other IT workers. It is celebrated on the last Friday in July.
After teaching the rest of the world how a viral marketing campaign should be done, Weird Al Yankovic is now #1 in the charts for the first time in his career. The exposure Yankovic earned via mobile and social networks leaped an astounding 3,391% between the weeks of July 7-13 and July 14-20.According to Kontera, the Amobee Brand measurement company for web analytics, Yankovic’s video exposure in that period obliterated not just Mraz’s, but that of every other major music star. His closest competition, Beyonce, had roughly half as much exposure as the satirist. Discussion continues here.
Copyright infringing households in the UK will now get warnings and nothing else, thanks to new laws. From the beginning of 2015, up to four warnings will be sent annually to individuals suspected of online piracy, although if these warnings are ignored no further action will be taken. The scheme is called Creative Content UK (previously known as the 'voluntary copyright alert programme' or Vcap) and is a significant step back from plans outlined in the Digital Economy Act 2010, which would have seen persistent pirates have their internet access cut.
On a related note, |Renegade| spotted some 8TB HDDs from Seagate, with 10TB on the way. Seagate, after hinting in May that it would release 8TB and 10TB hard drives in the next 12 months, has started delivering early samples of its 8TB hard drive to “major customers” (i.e. enterprise customers). Curiously, while Western Digital hit 6TB last year by filling its drives with helium, Seagate appears to be pushing the 3.5-inch spinning disk storage envelope by simply increasing areal density. Western Digital, incidentally, despite being the first to 6TB, hasn’t announced anything new since November 2013. Maybe helium wasn’t quite ready for prime time?
NVIDIA's Shield gaming tablet has arrived, with preview info on Tech Report, HotHardware, PC Perspective, HWCanucks, Hexus and Techgage. Just under a year since the release of the Shield Portable, Nvidia has announced a second member of the Shield family. As expected, it's the Shield Tablet, an Android slate with an emphasis on gaming. Like the Shield Portable before it, the Shield Tablet will sell direct from Nvidia, not from a partner company. The Shield Tablet extends Nvidia's Android gaming focus to a new form factor, making it one of the first tablets anywhere with a fairly pure gaming mission.
Anthony spotted this strange move from Microsoft, blocking Google search on certain Lumia phones. If you buy a Lumia 630 or 930 Windows Phone and want to use Google as your default search engine, you're out of luck: Microsoft has disabled that capability in those phones. For better or worse, you're stuck with Bing. Will this come back to bite Microsoft?
mpot sent word of some iOS backdoors which seem to bypass encryption on Apple devices. When your backup is encrypted, you will need to enter the password when enabling or disabling encryption or when restoring from the backup, but according to Zdziarski, there is a iOS service called mobile file_relay, can be accessed remotely or through a USB connection to bypass the backup encryption. Looks like Apple have denied the claims already, though.
I may not have my flying car yet, but maybe I can have a hoverbike, thanks Ben!
Wednesday Midday Reviews
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Wednesday, 23-July-2014 02:54:30 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
Intel Core i7 4790K – Haswell gets a refresh on Bjorn3D.
MSI Z97M Gaming on OCAholic.
Gigabyte Z97X-SOC FORCE Motherboard on MadShrimps.
Intel Pentium G3258 (Haswell) 20th Anniversary CPU Gaming Performance on Tweaktown.
Audio Visual:
TDK A12 TREK Micro Wireless Speaker on NikKTech.
Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming Headset on HWHeaven.
Storage:
Western Digital Red Pro 4TB NAS WD4001FFSX Consumer HDD on Tweaktown.
Intel SSD Pro 2500 Series 240GB Encrypted SSD on Tweaktown.
Intel SSD 2500 Pro 240GB Solid State Drive on HotHardware.
Plextor M6S PX-256M6S 256GB SSD on NikKTech.
Intel P3700 NVMe SSD Installed In a Win 8.1 Consumer PC on TheSSDReview.
Misc:
BitFenix Fury 550G Alchemy-Sleeved Power Supply Preview on BenchmarkReviews.
Lantronix SLB Remote Branch Office Manager on Tweaktown.
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 vs. ASUS Matrix Platinum video cards on HWSecrets.
iOttie Easy Flex Wireless Qi Standard Charging Car Mount on ThinkComputers.
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