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November 2012 |
Thanks to Andrew and Damo this week!
     
     
     
     
     
And if you're after more, check out this Wiki page which lists ALL "misc pics" news posts from the archive.
There's a new Australian Police Child ID Safety App. The Australian Police Child ID App was adapted from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Child ID App in the United States. This collaborative effort has seen the Australian Federal Police (AFP) create a tool that will help parents and guardians more easily collect and send important information about their child/children to authorities in the event of a disappearance or abduction. The application allows families to store photographs and vital information about their children on their mobile phone. In the devastating event that a child goes missing, this information can be immediately provided to authorities.
Nintendo launched the Wii U in Australia last night, with midnight launch parties across the country. When midnight struck, nobody hung about, instead taking Wilson’s advice to hurry home and get the hefty day-one update downloading; in typically Nintendo fashion, attendees were advised to play in the morning, when well-rested, rather than sit up all night. I’m not sure anyone took this sterling advice, although they did take a balloon Mario home with them. Discussion in our Nintendo Consoles forum.
Syria has gone dark, completely disconnecting from the Internet. Looking closely at the continuing Internet blackout in Syria, we can see that traceroutes into Syria are failing, exactly as one would expect for a major outage. The primary autonomous system for Syria is the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment; all of their customer networks are currently unreachable.
Also disconnected recently were Vodaphone customers, who apparently couldn't even dial emergency numbers from their mobiles for several hours. Vodafone network users in Perth have been affected by a meltdown at a major Melbourne switch which has left tens of thousands of customers without mobile phone services. WA police took to Twitter on Thursday to advise Vodafone customers in WA to use a landline or alternative mobile carrier when calling 000 or 131444. They advise people with no alternative to keep trying to get through.
Phoronix compared some mobile CPUs. The Samsung Chromebook is very interesting since it's one of the few readily available computers on the market employing an ARM Cortex-A15 processor rather than Cortex-A9 or other models. The Cortex-A15 found in the Samsung Exynos 5 Dual SoC proved to be very powerful and this Chromebook was quite a good deal with it being trivial to load Ubuntu Linux (and other distributions) while costing only $250 USD for this ARM-based laptop. In the past week I have carried out additional ARM Cortex-A15 benchmarks, including a comparison of its performance the the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core ARM "Cardhu" tablet and several Intel Atom/Core x86 systems.
ArsTechnica are concerned about non-replaceable desktop CPUs becoming the norm. While this move wouldn't have much of an impact on the vast majority of desktop users, most of whom simply don't perform their own processor upgrades, there's been quite a bit of hand wringing among power users who feel that their ability to upgrade and build their own systems is in jeopardy. But are the desktop-as-we-know-it's days really numbered, or is all of this worrying much ado about nothing?
There's new evidence of water on Mercury. Now the newest data from MESSENGER strongly indicate that water ice is the major constituent of Mercury's north polar deposits, that ice is exposed at the surface in the coldest of those deposits, but that the ice is buried beneath an unusually dark material across most of the deposits, areas where temperatures are a bit too warm for ice to be stable at the surface itself.
There's a new Humble Bundle, this time featuring THQ games. If you bought these seven epic games and soundtracks separately, it would cost around $190. But we’re letting you name your price starting at $1! Choose exactly how your purchase is divided: to vital charities, THQ, or even us! Discussion here.
Friday Morning Reviews
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Friday, 30-November-2012 08:47:54 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
Asrock FM2A85X Extreme6 on Pro-Clockers.
Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 on Hardware Secrets.
Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 on techPowerUp.
Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 on t-break.
Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 on Legit Reviews.
ARM Cortex-A15 vs. NVIDIA Tegra 3 vs. Intel x86 (w/Ubuntu Linux) on Phoronix.
Storage:
ADATA DashDrive Elite HE720 on Hexus.
Samsung 840 250GB SSD on TweakTown.
HGST Touro Mobile Pro 500GB USB 3.0 Portable HDD on NikKTech.
Corsair Force GT 240GB RAID 0 TRIM SSDs on Real World Labs.
Cooling:
Reeven Kelveros RC-1202 CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers.
Sapphire Vapor-X CPU Cooler on eTeknix.
Cases:
Corsair Carbide 200R & Antec Three Hundred Two on Tech Report.
Antec ISK110 VESA M-ITX on eTeknix.
Antec P280 on Rbmods.
Silverstone Sugo SG09 on Hardware Canucks.
Audio:
Cooler Master Storm Sirus Gaming Headset on Real World Labs.
Sennheiser U320 Multi-Platform Gaming Headset on HardwareHeaven.
Input etc:
Tt eSPORTS Level 10 M Gaming Mouse on TweakTown.
TAB360 Universal Racing Gaming Wheel Stand for Smartphones and Tablets on Megatechnews.
Apple iPad Keyboard Folio Round-up on Techspot.
Misc:
Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 on HotHardware.
Crucial DDR3-1600 CL8 VLP UDIMM Tactical on Teachreaction.
Photography Gallery
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Thursday, 29-November-2012 20:39:29 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's a quick snapshot of what people are up to in our Photography Gallery forum.
Thursday Evening
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Thursday, 29-November-2012 20:30:24 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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It seems there won't be a change to the GST-free threshhold, but perhaps more efficient processing of purchases arriving from overseas. NAB this week estimated online sales in Australia hit $12.3 billion in the year to October, clocking up an annual growth rate of 26 per cent. Despite its phenomenal growth, however, NAB said online sales account for about 5 per cent of the traditional retail market, and most of the online spending is with Australian businesses.
Microsoft are looking at annual Windows versions, if "unnamed sources" are to be believed. Way back in August, three months before the release of Windows 8, we learnt about the existence of a project at Microsoft codenamed Blue. At the time it wasn’t clear whether this was Windows 9, or some kind of interim update/service pack for Windows 8. Now, if unnamed sources are to be believed, Windows Blue is both of those things: a major update to Windows 8, and also the beginning of a major shift that will result in a major release of Windows every 12 months — just like Apple’s OS X. Again it all seems to come from one anonymous source, so a grain of salt is required - discussion here.
io9 report on a possible warp drive. A few months ago, physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks — and all without violating Einstein's law of relativity. We contacted White at NASA and asked him to explain how this real life warp drive could actually work.
The dumb ways to die video is being called Australia's biggest viral hit. The original clip, made to promote safety on Melbourne Metro Trains, has amassed more than 28 million views on YouTube since it was posted on November 14.
Trolling seems to be the order of the day, with a fake Jetstar page, a Newcastle blogger fined and a lengthy article on Gawker about a champion of trolling. This has been the single principle that Auernheimer has carried throughout his varied career: That his trolling is Good For Society, and that he is doing us all a favor by acting like a dick on the internet. Earlier this year he appeared on the Australian current affairs TV show Insight and offered what amounts to a social Darwinian argument for internet trolling.
Thursday Morning Reviews
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Thursday, 29-November-2012 06:28:11 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
ECS A85F2-A Golden Motherboard on Hardware Secrets.
Intel Core i7 3970X Extreme Edition (Sandy Bridge-E) CPU on TweakTown.
MSI Z77 MPower LGA1155 on [H]ardOCP.
Asus F2A85-V PRO on Overclockers Club.
Graphics Cards:
HIS Radeon HD 7950 IceQ X Boost 3 GB on techPowerUp.
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 670 (2GB) WINDFORCE 3X Video Card on circuitREMIX.
Storage:
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 240GB on DV Hardware.
Synology DS213+ and DS213air on Legion Hardware.
Samsung 840 512GB SSD on TweakTown.
Adata SP600 128GB SSD on PureOverclock.
OCZ Vector (256GB) SSD on Anandtech.
OCZ Vector 256GB SSD on [H]ardOCP.
Memory:
GSkill Ripjaws Z 1866MHz 32GB Kit on Pro-Clockers.
Crucial Ballistix Tactical LP 16GB (2x8GB) on Funky Kit.
Power Supplies:
Seasonic G Series 550W on Jonnyguru.
Corsair AX760 ATX Power Supply on Hexus.
Cooling:
Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid Cooler on Pro-Clockers.
Silverstone Heligon HE01 CPU Heatsink on Frosty Tech.
Rosewill AIOLOS CPU Cooler on Hardware Secrets.
Input etc:
Thermaltake Level 10M Gaming Mouse on t-break.
Logitech G710+ Mechanical Gaming on Benchmark Reviews.
CM Storm Quick Fire TK Mechanical Keyboard on eTeknix.
CM Storm QuickFire TK Mechanical Keyboard on Techgage.
Misc:
Fractal Design NODE 605 HTPC Case on Futurelooks.
Samsung Galaxy Camera on t-break.
Wednesday Night
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Wednesday, 28-November-2012 21:22:13 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Recent news about OCZ has focussed on their financial woes, so it's nice to see product launch info for a change. This time it's a new SSD with a new controller. Coverage on Tech Report, Guru3D, HWHeaven, Tweaktown, TheSSDReview, TechSpot and HotHardware.
The ABC report that Australia's copper network is rooted, to use a technical term, thanks Sniper. Their info seems to be based on "an insider" and others disagree, so there's a followup article here. Our insider explained how three years ago, when Telstra tendered the process to switch to their own Fibre to the Node scheme it was found that the average network pillar had a 30 per cent failure rate in terms of line faults and lines being listed as connected to the wrong number.
Researchers in the UK are making progress towards 3D printing of electronics. The material, nicknamed ‘carbomorph’, enables users to lay down electronic tracks and sensors as part of a 3D printed structure – allowing the printer to create touch-sensitive areas for example, which can then be connected to a simple electronic circuit board. So far the team has used the material to print objects with embedded flex sensors or with touch-sensitive buttons such as computer game controllers or a mug which can tell how full it is.
Adam sent in this article about a new service to address the patent system issues. Leading technology companies have launched a website to help fix a global patent system that they say stifles innovation. Patent Progress, under the umbrella of the Computer & Communications Industry Association lobby group, aims to lead enterprises and individuals struggling with the patent litigation and policy landscape.
PCPerspective follow up on the earlier stories about non-socketed CPUs in future. It has been widely reported that Intel will not be offering the next generation Broadwell architecture as a LGA based product. Broadwell is a 14 nm product that will integrate southbridge functions into the chip, making it essentially a SOC. It will be offered only as a BGA only product, which means that it will be soldered onto a motherboard with no chance of being able to be swapped out.
Meanwhile VR-Zone wonder if ARM is the beginning of the end for AMD, with a second part here. After covering AMD - among many other CPU vendors, of course - over nearly two decades, and seeing quite a few of these CPU vendors fall by the wayside, I thought of the company as a kind of 'survivor', the feisty underdog or even 'Luke Skywalker' freedom fighter which, even in spite of the 'Darth Vader'-esque Intel shadow of the past, and, more importantly, repeated top management blunders, still soldiers on to provide the PC community an alternative CPU and system platform source. However, this past year's happenings, for the first time, make me feel that AMD's time as a serious CPU contender may be coming to an end. Why?
From Tim, a link simply titled Brain Controlled Helicopter. I don't need to hear anything more! Puzzlebox CTO Steve Castellotti introduced the device as a "flying sphere you control with your brainwaves," pointing to the three components — a helicopter, the pyramid (a remote control system), and the EEG headset. Sadly, it's only a Kickstarter concept at the moment.
Rage spotted these practice tests for the Australian Citizenship Test. How Astraaaan are you? :)
Today's timewaster is Frog Fractions from BC. It's.. odd.
Wednesday Morning Reviews
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Wednesday, 28-November-2012 02:13:02 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
ECS A85F2-A Golden on t-break.
Asus F2A85-V Pro (A85X) on eTeknix.
Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 (AMD A85X) on TweakTown.
Memory:
Avexir Core 1600MHz 8GB Kit on Pro-Clockers.
Avexir Core Series DDR3-1600 16GB Kit on ThinkComputers.
Storage:
OCZ Vector 256GB Indilinx Barefoot 3 SSD on Legit Reviews.
Thecus N2800 NAS on Xbitlabs.
Western Digital RE 4TB Enterprise Hard Drive on Hardware Canucks.
Cases:
Fractal Design Node 605 HTPC Chassis on eTeknix.
Fractal Design NODE 304 on techPowerUp.
Enermax Ostrog Giant on Hardware Secrets.
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 on Anandtech.
In Win GRone on Hexus.
Input etc:
CM Storm Recon Gaming Mouse on bcchardware.
Cooler Master Quickfire TK Gaming Keyboard on Ninjalane.
Misc:
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 Super Overclock on Xbitlabs.
Acer Aspire S7-391-6810 ultraportable on TechReviewSource.
Roku LT Streaming Media Player on XSReviews.
Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow CPU Cooler on eTeknix.
Razer Blackshark Expert 2.0 Headset on NikKTech.
Google Android 4.2 Jelly Bean on TweakTown.
Lepa Gold Series 750W Power Supply on PC Perspective.
Interesting Forum Threads
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Tuesday, 27-November-2012 09:33:05 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's a snapshot of what's going on in some of the forums. You can also find new interesting things you might have missed via the Who's Online page, the New Posts page and the Live forum view. Also try the Today's Posts link (find it on the Quick Links menu) and the handy Who Quoted Me? feature.
OCAU HWBOT TEAM Annual Update 2012 in Overclocking & Hardware.
Sony and Panasonic rated as junk by Fitch. Bankruptcy likely? in Audio Visual.
DIY RC Car in Electronics.
How much power does my computer use? in Electronics.
N00b Moments in Extreme Cooling.
Who is getting Win8? in Windows Operating Systems.
How to talk sister in law out of buying a Mac? in General Software.
Microsoft closes Windows Live Messenger to focus on Skype in General Software.
IOPS, Disk Response Times, and Disk Speeds in Business & Enterprise Computing.
NASA verifying "exciting" data from Mars Curiousity Rover in Science.
Are we getting dumber? Will we not be able to use the tools we invented? in Science.
Scientists offer quantum theory of soul's existence in Science.
A scientific question of momentum in Science.
Home Brewing to Cost Save in Geek Grog.
More NiN in the works in Entertainment.
Classic Album app in Entertainment.
How much do you value life/work balance? in Career, Education & Finance.
400Kw NSW police car hits road in Motoring.
2012 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix in Motorsport.
Stephen Conroy's going to set the spectrum auction reserve price himself in Current Events.
Tuesday Morning Reviews
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Tuesday, 27-November-2012 07:44:46 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
AMD A10-5800K (Trinity) and FX-8350 (Vishera) Joint CPU Review on TweakTown.
AMD A6 Trinity APU on t-break.
ECS A85F2-A Golden FM2 on TechwareLabs.
Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z on Bjorn3D.
Intel Core i5-3350P on PC Perspective.
Storage:
ADATA SP300 24GB mSATA SSD on eTeknix.
Plextor M5 Pro 256GB SSD on Guru3D.
Cooling:
EK-FC670 GTX DCII Water Block on PureOverclock.
Corsair Hydro H60 Update and H55 coolers on Techgage.
Corsair H100i Watercooler on Guru3D.
DeepCool Neptwin CPU Cooler on PureOverclock.
NZXT Cryo E40 Notebook Cooler on ThinkComputers.
Xigmatek Prime SD1484 CPU Cooler on Funky Kit.
Power Supplies:
Kingwin Power Force 850W on ThinkComputers.
Kingwin Power Force 850W on techPowerUp.
Cases:
BitFenix Ghost on eTeknix.
Cooler Master CM Storm Stryker on Madshrimps.
Input etc:
Roccat Kone Pure mouse on HardwareHeaven. (Youtube)
Das Keyboard Professional Model S Mechanical Keyboard on NikKTech.
Audio:
RHA CA-200 Black Noise Isolating Headphones on Benchmark Reviews.
JVC HA-NC250 Noise Cancelling Headphones on Benchmark Reviews.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC) on Legit Reviews.
Asus S56C Ultrabook on TweakTown.
Google/LG Nexus 4 Smartphone on TweakTown.
Misc:
Cisco Linksys EA6500 Smart Wi-Fi Router on Legit Reviews.
ZOTAC GTX 660Ti AMP! Extreme on Vortez.
Sunday Afternoon
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Sunday, 25-November-2012 16:30:29 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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It's being suggested that Intel's upcoming Haswell processor may be the last user-upgradeable one. Starting from Broadwell, which is expected to arrive in 2014, Intel will adopt a BGA form factor, similar to Atom processors. The advantage is a smaller footprint, but the downside is that the chips have to be soldered to the motherboard, meaning that the processor will no longer be installable by the end-user, and that upgrading will no longer be possible without buying a new motherboard. Discussion here.
Kim Dotcom's legal case continues, with new evidence seeming to benefit them. Evidence has emerged showing the Department of Homeland Security served a search warrant on Mr Dotcom's file-sharing company Megaupload in 2010 which he claims forced it to preserve pirated movies found in an unrelated piracy investigation. The 39 files were identified during an investigation into the NinjaVideo website, which had used Megaupload's cloud storage to store pirated movies.
Emupp spotted this page about opening microchips with acid. Microchips - are indeed can be considered a black box - as long as it's working you normally don't look inside. But what if you want to? Today we'll show how to "open" chips and what's inside.
Windows 8 seems to be struggling to take off. Net Applications data shows Windows 8 use at just 1%, compared to rapid takeoff which saw Windows 7 over 3.6% within weeks in 2009.
Intel's "Next Unit of Computing" or NUC gets a going-over on VR-Zone and Tweaktown. Whether or not you believe in the Post-PC era malarkey, there is no denying that the emphasis on personal computing has shifted on to smartphones and tablets rather than the latest Bulldozers and Geforces. After all, it's not the size that matters, but what you do with it. NUC discussion in this thread.
Another week goes whizzing by - not to mention another year. I did some Xmas shopping yesterday!
     
     
     
     
     
And if you're after more, check out this Wiki page which lists ALL "misc pics" news posts from the archive.
Friday Morning Reviews
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Friday, 23-November-2012 03:59:43 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards:
ASRock Z77 Extreme11 on Hardware Secrets.
Biostar Hi-Fi A85W AMD Socket FM2 on techPowerUp.
MSI Z77A-GD55 LGA 1155 on [H]ardOCP.
Graphics Cards:
Asus GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II OC Edition on ThinkComputers.
PowerColor DEVIL13 HD7990 on [H]ardOCP.
Storage:
Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD on Legit Reviews.
Lexar Media 32GB Triton USB 3.0 Jump Drive on Pro-Clockers.
Lexar Media 32GB Triton USB 3.0 Jump Drive on techPowerUp.
Kingston 200GB SSDNow E100 Enterprise SSD on The SSD Review.
RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-3640SU3 USB 3.0 Quad Bay Enclosure on NikKTech.
Cooling:
NZXT FX-120LB and FX-140LB Fans on OCmodshop.
Corsair Hydro Series H100i on Vortez.
Cases:
Cooler Master Storm Stryker on Hardware Canucks.
Antec Take-4 Rackmount Chassis on TweakTown.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Apple Mac Mini (Late 2012) on TechReviewSource.
Acer Aspire V5-571P-6642 on TechReviewSource.
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T 32GB Tablet on The SSD Review.
Google Nexus 10 Android Tablet on HotHardware.
HP ENVY 6 Sleekbook Review; AMD's Mobile Trinity on Hardware Canucks.
Apple iPad mini on Anandtech.
Memory:
GeIL EVO Leggera PC3-14900 16GB Dual Channel on TweakTown.
Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3 2400MHz 8GB on eTeknix.
Kingston HyperX Predator 1866MHz 16GB DDR3 on Vortez.
Misc:
Razer SW:TOR Edition Headset on eTeknix.
Thursday Night
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Thursday, 22-November-2012 20:34:44 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Saw Skyfall today.. not bad at all. Better than the last two.
The UN have an internet treaty conference next month, and it's claimed that national governments want broader control. Russia's proposals would, if adopted, dramatically affect Internet governance, transferring power from engineering-based organizations such as the Internet Society and ICANN to national governments, all under the authority of the UN. Many people are concerned, including Google. A free and open world depends on a free and open Internet. Governments alone, working behind closed doors, should not direct its future. The billions of people around the globe who use the Internet should have a voice.
Australia has new Airborne Early Warning & Control aircraft. The Wedgetail project had a budget of more than $3.4 billion dollars and has now delivered six 737-700 commercial aircraft all of which carry a world class air battle management capability. Final Operational Capability (FOC) is expected in 2013-2014.
Manhattan's recent flooding has faded from the headlines, but there's still a big cleanup project underway - including the underground cabling. On Wednesday, two weeks after the storm, I met with Verizon's Executive Director of Operations, Christopher D. Levendos, who showed me the extent of the damage and repairs. Levendos tells me the 90,000 cubic foot cable vault has suffered a “catastrophic failure,” far worse than the damage done to a similar, but much larger vault at Verizon’s West Street headquarters near the World Trade Center.
Startup-promoting website Kickstarter are being sued by a 3D printing company over a project on their site. More than 2,000 users contributed over $2.9m (£1.8m) to help Massachusetts-based Formlabs build the device. However, 3D Systems - a leading maker of printers that turn computer design files into real-world objects - has alleged one of its patents was being infringed by the machine.
TechSpot have an article on the Rise and Fall of AMD. Considering that it was once considered an equal to Intel, many wonder why AMD is failing today. However, it's probably fairer to ask how the company has survived so for long -- a question we intend to explore as we revisit the company's past, examine its present and gaze into its future.
Western Digital have a 4TB Black drive. It's shipping a 4TB version of its WD Black desktop drive that holds nothing back for the sake of the extra storage, spinning at a healthy 7,200RPM while packing 64MB of cache, dual processing and a two-stage actuator that together keep the drive working at full burn.
Wednesday Night Reviews
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Wednesday, 21-November-2012 20:50:33 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
AMD A10-5700 APU on Silent PC Review.
Gigabyte GA-F2A75M-D3H on Silent PC Review.
MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 on HardcoreWare.
AMD Trinity A10 5800K APU on Madshrimps
Storage:
Intel 330 Series 120 GB SSD on Hardware Secrets.
WD My Passport Edge 500GB Portable HDD on Legit Reviews.
Silicon Power Firma F80 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive on NikKTech.
Patriot Memory Gauntlet 320 Wireless 2.5 HDD on Funky Kit.
SanDisk ReadyCache 32GB SSD on t-break.
Icy Dock MB996SP-6SB 6-Bay 2.5" Drive Cage on TweakTown.
Power Supplies:
Thermaltake Toughpower XT Platinum 1275W on TweakTown.
Silverstone Zeus 1350 W on techPowerUp.
Memory:
GeIL EVO VELOCE PC3-17000 16GB Dual Channel on TweakTown.
Crucial Ballistix Tactical Low Profile DDR3-1600 16GB on ThinkComputers.
Cooling:
Prolimatech MK-26 GPU Cooler on XSReviews.
Noctua NH-L12 L-Type Low Profile CPU Cooler on eTeknix.
BitFenix Recon and BitFenix Hydra Pro Fan Controllers on Overclockers Club.
Misc:
SteelSeries Flux Luxury Edition on Custom PC Review.
Alienware M14x R2 on t-break.
Asus PB278Q on TechReviewSource.
Roccat Kone Pure Mouse on Vortez.
Wednesday Lunchtime
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Wednesday, 21-November-2012 13:00:13 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Click Frenzy, billed as Australia's largest online sale and "the sale that stops a nation", has had mixed success, with the website being largely unavailable early on due to high demand. The intertubes are abuzz with comments about it, with some retailers discussing refunds. More here and here. "What the data shows is that significant numbers of Australian consumers wanted to take advantage of these sales and they couldn't because the sites couldn't respond; they were either generating errors or just so slow that they were unresponsive." Discussion here.
Also awkward is this video from the bicentennary of Australia, dug up by Sabz. Some of the more painful, cringe-worthy moments from Australia Live, a four-hour program celebrating Australia's bicentennial that aired across three channels on New Years Day, 1988.
There's a new enormous skyscraper on the way in China. Maybe that's not such big news, but they're planning to build it in only 90 days. A 220-story Sky City tower in the Chinese city of Changsha could take the crown as the world's tallest skyscraper next March with an astounding height of 2,749 feet, edging out the mega Burj Khalifa that currently stands 2,722 feet over Dubai. What makes the 11-million-square-foot Sky City so astonishing isn't its height or its appearance but rather the three-month construction plan to create the building that kicks off at the end of the year.
Killer robots may be a genuine concern soon. “Giving machines the power to decide who lives and dies on the battlefield would take technology too far,” said Steve Goose, Arms Division director at Human Rights Watch. “Human control of robotic warfare is essential to minimizing civilian deaths and injuries.”
Something more retro from Callan: The world's oldest original working digital computer is going on display at The National Museum of Computing in Buckinghamshire. The Witch, as the machine is known, has been restored to clattering and flashing life in a three-year effort. In its heyday in the 1950s the machine was the workhorse of the UK's atomic energy research programme.
C|Net list their Top 10 Tech Turkeys of 2012. Welcome to CNET's 2012 Tech Turkeys, from a hyped startup that’s gone nowhere fast to a national intellectual property system that's crushing American innovation.
They list the American patent system as the #1 turkey, and this article shows some of the issues. Trolls are exploiting the flaws in our patent system – especially for software. They shouldn’t be able to use questionable patents to extort productive companies or block products from consumers, but that’s what appears to be happening. Technology companies like Google, Facebook, HP, and Amazon face hundreds of troll lawsuits. Yet these are the companies that are “in the arena,” doing the hard work of creating real products and real services for real people.
Tuesday Afternoon Reviews
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Tuesday, 20-November-2012 14:30:05 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
AMD A8-5600K Trinity APU on TechwareLabs.
Asus F2A55-M LK (A55) on eTeknix.
Graphics Cards:
HIS 7750 IceQ X Turbo on PureOverclock.
HIS Radeon HD 7970 X Turbo 3 GB on techPowerUp.
Storage:
Super Talent USB3 Express RC8 100GB Flash Drive on The SSD Review.
SanDisk Extreme 480GB SSD on TweakTown.
Kingston Class 10 128GB SDXC Card on Bigbruin.
OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD VTX3-25SAT3-240G on PCstats.
Cases:
Corsair Carbide 200R on Guru3D.
Corsair Carbide 300R on eTeknix.
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 Midi Tower on NikKTech.
Enermax Hoplite ST Mid-Tower on TweakTown.
Thermaltake Armor Revo Snow Edition on Bjorn3D.
Fractal Design Node 304 Case on Hardware Secrets.
NZXT Phantom 820 on ThinkComputers.
Cooling:
Spire TME III (TherMax Eclipse III) CPU Cooler on eTeknix.
Cooler Master TPC 812 CPU Cooler on APH Networks.
Keyboards:
Rosewill RK-9100 Illuminated Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Legit Reviews.
Matias Quiet Pro Keyboard for Mac on Madshrimps.
Audio:
Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth Headset on NikKTech.
Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset on Benchmark Reviews.
Smartphones & Tablets:
Sony Xperia Miro Smartphone on HardwareHeaven.
Asus PadFone 2 on InsideHW.
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 on TechReviewSource.
Microsoft Surface with Windows RT on HotHardware.
Misc:
NZXT Hue LED Controller on Rbmods.
Dell XPS One 27 All-in-One System on PC Perspective.
ADATA XPG DDR3 2400G 8GB Dual Channel Memory Kit on Neoseeker.
Tuesday Afternoon
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Tuesday, 20-November-2012 13:45:23 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Texas Instruments are winding down their tablet chip business to focus on other markets. Texas Instruments said in September it would halt costly investments in the increasingly competitive smartphone and tablet chip business, leading Wall Street to speculate that part of the company's processor unit, called OMAP, could be sold.
Mpot spotted this Windows 8 / Google Docs trojan. A new Trojan variant, detected as Backdoor.Makadocs and spread via RTF and Microsoft Word document marked as Trojan.Dropper, has been discovered that not only adds a clause to target Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, but also uses Google Docs as a proxy server to phone home to its Command & Control (C&C) server.
Be careful what you say on online media, as the authorities are taking it seriously. Figures obtained by the Associated Press through a freedom of information request show a steadily rising tally of prosecutions in Britain for electronic communications – phone calls, emails and social media posts – that are "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character – from 1263 in 2009 to 1843 in 2011. The number of convictions grew from 873 in 2009 to 1286 last year. Behind the figures are people – mostly young, many teenagers – who find that a glib online remark can have life-altering consequences.
IBM have simulated 530 billon neurons and 100 trillion synapses on a supercomputer. “Previously, we have demonstrated a neurosynaptic core* and some of its applications,” continues the abstract. “We have also compiled the largest long-distance wiring diagram of the monkey brain. Now, imagine a network with over 2 billion of these neurosynaptic cores that are divided into 77 brain-inspired regions with probabilistic intra-region (“gray matter”) connectivity and monkey-brain-inspired inter-region (“white matter”) connectivity.
More details are surfacing about the odd world of John McAfee, who seems to be officially on the run from Belize's authorities now. Despite his disappearance, McAfee, 67, has remained in contact with the media, providing a stream of colourful bulletins over his predicament, state of mind and his claim that Belize's authorities want to kill him. He has also been updating his blog with details about his life on the run.
Next time you need surgery, maybe get a gamer to do it. Or an actual surgeon. Probably the surgeon. The surgical skills of the high school students (who played video games an average of two hours a day) and the college students (some of whom spent four hours a day gaming) were found to be equal to the UTMB physicians—and in some cases, even exceeded the skills of the residents. The UTMB physicians were able to save face when the same test groups were asked to perform non-robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery, the physicians unsurprisingly coming out on top.
PCPerspective took apart the new Nintendo Wii U console. Getting inside the Wii U was surprisingly easy as the white squares over the screws were simply stickers and we didn't have to worry about any clips breaking, etc. The inside is dominated by the optical drive provided by Panasonic.
Today's timewaster is this nauseatingly cute kitten and balloons game from metamorphosis. :)
Interesting Forum Threads
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Monday, 19-November-2012 21:18:57 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's a snapshot of what's going on in some of the forums. You can also find new interesting things you might have missed via the Who's Online page, the New Posts page and the Live forum view. Also try the Today's Posts link (find it on the Quick Links menu) and the handy Who Quoted Me? feature.
PSU efficiency bench results in Overclocking & Hardware.
Windows 7 cached memory bloat in Overclocking & Hardware.
MS DirectX 11.1 with Native Stereo-3D Output Is Exclusive for Windows 8 in Video Cards.
Im being hit with DoS scans / attacks like crazy in Networking, Telephony & Internet.
Rumours Surface on new PS4 called "Orbis" in Sony Consoles.
Can it be true? Introducing Apple employee Sam Sung in Apple iOS.
Google Nexus 4 Phone - 4.7" Inch, 1280x768 320ppi, S4 Pro, 8MP, HSPA+, 8/16GB in Google Android.
Anyone go a few billion lying around?.....AMD is (not) for sale! in AMD Hardware.
Let's talk about XenServer in Business & Enterprise Computing.
Mirroring 1U twin servers in Business & Enterprise Computing.
The OCAU Figurine Collection Thread in Other Toys/Hobbies.
3 phase AC welders - how work? in Electronics & Electrics.
CNC work on my robot - video inside in Electronics & Electrics.
Reprap open source 3D printer in Electronics & Electrics.
For the musos with broken bones in Musicians.
Tips on Flights, Accomodation, Luggage, Frequent Flyer Programs in Holidays & Travel.
NSW 2012 Road Rules update 1.11.2012 in Motoring.
How to tell if an alloy wheel is genuine or not in Motoring.
"Memory fade" whilst driving in Motoring.
Bugatti told to develop 1500 hp / 460 km/h Veyron in Motoring.
Calling all people that work remotely (from home) in Career, Education & Finance.
Computer surveillance in the workplace in Career, Education & Finance.
Sunday Afternoon
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Sunday, 18-November-2012 15:50:42 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Apple Australia have a hefty back-tax bill, thanks Tony. APPLE AUSTRALIA has been hit with a $28.5 million bill for back taxes, statements lodged with the corporate regulator in April show. ... Apple's Australian arm reaped $4.9 billion in revenue last year through the sale of its computers, iPads and iPhones. The bill takes its total tax tab for the year ending September 24, 2011, to $94.7 million.
American authorities have uncovered a vast LCD price-fixing conspiracy. Did you buy a computer notebook, computer monitor, or big-screen TV anytime from late 2001 to 2006? If you did, odds are that you paid too much for it because of an international criminal conspiracy to fix the prices of the LCD (liquid crystal display) panels used in these products.
The Taliban have revealed their email subscriber list with a BCC mistake. The names were disclosed in an email by Qari Yousuf Ahmedi, an official Taliban spokesperson, on Saturday. The email was a press release he received from the account of Zabihullah Mujahid, another Taliban spokesperson. Ahmedi then forwarded Mujahid's email to the full Taliban mailing list, but rather than using the BCC function, or blind carbon copy which keeps email addresses private, Ahmedi made the addresses public.
AMD's stock continues to decline, but they insist they are not for sale. While J.P. Morgan refused to comment on the rumor, AMD spokesperson Drew Prairie denied the claim, stating that: "[AMD is] not actively pursuing a sale of the company or significant assets at this time."
Apple have patented virtual page turns. The patent illustration shows three images: One with the corner of a page being turned slightly, the next with it halfway, and a third showing the page almost entirely turned over. A feature used in Apple’s iBooks, and books in general, the patent represents one of 38 different patents granted to Apple this week.
I'm not quite sure what the point of it is, but Scootre spotted this Australian video mocking clueless DSLR users with "all the gear and no idea". When it comes to photography, that means mates who run around with their shiny new DSLR, mouthing off about their love of photography, with next to no idea of how to use any of their kit. This video, by Sony Australia, boils that right down.
TechSpot checked out COD: Black Ops II performance. But as usual, our main concern from a performance article perspective has to do with the game engine which has been slow to evolve over the years. The key changes to the game engine include a new technology called "reveal mapping" and HDR lighting. On paper the upgrade also calls for the move to the DirectX 11 API for the PC version of the game. This means PC gamers should enjoy better visuals when compared to those using console versions.
Dailymail look back at the first laptop computer. They may only be from 1981, but this piece of kit and the amazing adverts that try to sell it show just how quickly things move in the technology world. The hardware is the Osborne 1, widely acknowledged as the first laptop computer - and a machine very different from today's laptops and iPads (which was first introduced in 2010)
Google have a cool 100,000 stars explorer thingy. It's billed as a "Chrome Experiment" but seems to work in Firefox too. More info here. "Using your mouse or trackpad, you can zoom in and out to explore our galaxy," Google said. "Zooming in reveals the names of the most prominent stars close to our sun – click each name to learn more about it and see a digital rendition."
If that's not enough (or too much) of a timewaster, try foldit instead. Foldit is a revolutionary new computer game enabling you to contribute to important scientific research.
Saturday Morning Reviews
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Saturday, 17-November-2012 05:09:04 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
ASRock X79 Extreme11 on ThinkComputers.
Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe on Overclockers Club.
Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z AM3+ on [H]ardOCP.
Cooling:
Zalman CNPS 9900 DF (Dual Fan) CPU Cooler on Guru3D.
Phanteks PH-TC90LS Low Profile CPU Cooler on PureOverclock.
Cases:
Enermax Hoplite ST on PureOverclock.
Corsair Carbide 200R on Hardware Secrets.
In Win GRone on Vortez.
Cooler Master CM Storm Scout 2 on Neoseeker.
Input etc:
Roccat Kone XTD Gaming Mouse on eTeknix.
Steelseries Sensei MLG edition Mouse on FunkyKit.
Audio:
Genius GX-Gaming Cavimanus 7.1 Headset on Benchmark Reviews.
Razer Kraken Pro headphones on Gaming Nexus.
Smartphones & Laptops:
Samsung Galaxy Note II on TechSpot.
Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD on HotHardware.
Lenovo Yoga Ultrabook on t-break.
Misc:
Asus Matrix HD 7970 Platinum Video Card on Legit Reviews.
In Win Commander III 600 W PSU on techPowerUp.
Newer Technology NuGreen LED Desk Lamp on Madshrimps.
Philips 221S3UCB USB monitor on Hexus.
Silicon Power Slim S70 240GB SSD on TweakTown.
Thanks to Matt, Constructacon and Charg3r this week! Out and about today so pics are early.
     
     
     
     
     
And if you're after more, check out this Wiki page which lists ALL "misc pics" news posts from the archive.
Friday Morning Reviews
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Friday, 16-November-2012 04:24:51 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Monitors:
ASUS PB278Q Professional 27-inch WQHD on Hot Hardware.
Dell UltraSharp U2713HM on TechReviewSource.
Storage:
Lexar JumpDrive S73 32 GB USB 3.0 on techPowerUp.
Lexar JumpDrive 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive on PC Stats.
OCZ Agility 4 256GB SSD on Neoseeker.
Samsung 840 Series SSD on Tech Report.
Vantec NST-400MX-S3R NexStar MX Enclosure on Pro-Clockers.
Toshiba DT01ABA100 & DT01ACA100 1TB SATA III HDDs on NikKTech.
Cases:
Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced M-ITX on TweakTown.
Cooler Master HAF XB on PureOverclock.
Corsair Carbide Series 200R on Overclockers Club.
Cooler Master Scout 2 on Bigbruin.
Fractal Design Node 605 on Hardware Secrets.
Fractal Design Define R4 on Futurelooks.
Silverstone Precision Series PS07 Midi-Tower on eTeknix.
Cooler Master Silencio 650 on OC Inside.
Input etc:
Func Surface 1030 XL on Vortez.
Genius DeathTaker Mouse on Hardware Secrets.
CM Storm Recon Mouse and Skorpion on Benchmark Reviews.
Gigagyte Aivia Osmium Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Techgage.
Misc:
Corsair Dominator Platinum PC3-22400 16GB Dual Channel on TweakTown.
Silverstone Heligon HE02 Fanless Passive Heatsink on Frostytech.
BeQuiet Straight Power 580w PSU on XSReviews.
LG Optimus G 16GB Smartphone on Legit Reviews.
Asus Matrix HD 7970 Platinum 3GB on eTeknix.
Thursday Evening
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Thursday, 15-November-2012 18:02:43 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Australia has a new emergency text alert system on the way. “In a world first, emergency text messages will be sent out to mobile phones based on where that phone is, as well as its registered address. Telstra customers will have access to the system this season and Vodafone and Optus customers next year. “After all, mobile phones are mobile. This update will help emergency services to get warnings to the right people at the right time in the right place.
There's some red faces over at the VCE exam body after a photoshopped historical picture has been used in an exam. But when students opened their exam this morning they found an altered version of the work with what appear to be a large "BattleTech Marauder" robot aiding the rising revolutionaries in the background.
Also feeling sheepish are the makers of a dictionary app which posted accusatory tweets on the accounts of people who had genuinely purchased it. More here, thanks mpot. An apology in Japanese was posted on the Japan-based Enfour's site, listing affected products including more than a dozen English dictionary and thesaurus apps, such as American Heritage, Collins, and Australian Oxford dictionaries.
An American man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling 6 counterfeit discs. When investigators searched King’s home and businesses, they eventually turned up 10,510 counterfeit discs and the computer equipment they believe he used to manufacture the bootlegs. The Clarion Ledger notes that authorities also uncovered a number of weapons, including an assault rifle, from King’s Hazlehurst, MS home, but it was only the six counts of piracy that will put him away until 2027.
Here's a cool article about someone who wrote Windows for C64 when he was 13. Because I didn't have PC , I have been going to internet club to see how real PC works and what commands it has. After that I started to write Windows shell on my C64. When I created desktop and start menu, I also programmed DOS, Corel Draw, Notepad, Writepad, Documents , Excel some games, .... all that programs haven't been fully functional of course , I was just creating what I saw on PC in the internet club :). Reminds me of my own early days typing in programs from a book on a friend's VIC-20 and later our Amiga 1000.
Pete sent in this cool 3d printing photo booth. Tokyo’s stylish Harajuku district will soon be home to an unusual pop-up photo booth—customers will walk away not with photos, but with 3D printed figurines of themselves. The customer is first 3D scanned in a process that requires them to stand still for 15 minutes. A 3D model of the customer is then refined on a computer before output to a 3D printer. The figurines are available in sizes ranging from 4 to 8 inches. Discussion here.
Today's timewaster is Balls of Life from biatch.
Thursday Morning Reviews
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Thursday, 15-November-2012 02:21:57 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
Intel Core i7 3970X on Toms Hardware.
ASRock Z77 OC Formula on Neoseeker.
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H-WiFi on Overclockers Club.
Graphics Cards:
MSI Geforce GTX 660 HAWK 2GB on TweakTown.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB on eTeknix.
Sapphire HD 7770 FleX on TechwareLabs.
Storage:
Corsair Neutron GTX 480GB SSD on [H]ardOCP.
Patriot Gauntlet 320 Wireless Hard Drive on APH Networks.
Plextor M5 Pro and M5S SSDs on Xbit Labs.
Power Supplies:
Seasonic X-1250 1250W on [H]ardOCP.
Seasonic Platinum Series Fanless 520 W on techPowerUp.
Cooling:
ARCTIC Freezer i30 CPU Cooler on Xbit Labs.
Dark Rock Pro 2 Cooler on Hardware Heaven.
Portables & Phones:
Google Nexus 4 Smartphone on Anandtech.
13-inch Retina MacBook Pro Review (Late 2012) on Anandtech.
Samsung Galaxy Note II on MEGATechNews.
Audio
Sharkoon X-Tatic Pro Gaming Headset on TweakTown.
Steelseries Guild Wars 2 Headset on Funky Kit.
TekRepublic TH and TH Pro Gaming Headsets on ThinkComputers.
Misc:
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on OCmodshop.
Kingston HyperX Predator DDR3-1866 memory on Hexus.
Cooler Master HAF XB on Hardware Canucks.
Geek Food
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Wednesday, 14-November-2012 12:54:03 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's some more yummy threads from our Geek Recipes forum:
Wednesday Midday
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Wednesday, 14-November-2012 12:36:05 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Some new Telstra routers have hardcoded passwords and usernames, causing a security concern. Telstra has today issued a patch to fix the flaws and was contacting affected customers by phone and email to urge them to apply the fix. The firmware upgrade was the only means of removing the unchangeable default logins introduced by Netcomm into the BigPond Elite Wireless BroadBand Network Gateway line.
A Chinese website recently enjoyed a world record day of online sales. The figure is a world record - apparently, the closest competitor was 2011 Cyber Monday in the US, where total sales across all retailers was $1.25bn (comScore). Taobao already ranks 12 in the list of top global websites (Alexa), but the record sales mark a highwater-point for one of modern China's greatest success stories.
AMD's financial struggles continue, as they've hired a bank to advise how best to proceed. One of Silicon Valley's oldest chipmakers, AMD is laying off engineers and some analysts are concerned it may not find new markets for its chips in time to reverse a declining cash reserve. AMD's shares have fallen more than 60 percent this year, giving it a market value of about $1.4 billion. It also has long-term debt and capital lease obligations of about $2 billion.
Intel have launched some new Extreme components. Available today, the latest Extreme Edition Core™ i7-3970X processor and the Extreme Series Intel® Desktop Board DX79SR codenamed “Stormville” will unleash new PC performance for enthusiasts. This is Intel’s highest performance Extreme Edition processor with 6 Cores, Intel® Hyper-Threading technology, 15 MB cache, and 4 Channels of DDR3 memory. The Intel Desktop Board DX79SR, “Stormville” is our highest performance Extreme Series Board designed for premium features such as 8 memory DIMMs, 64GB of memory, 3 PCI*Express 3.0 x16 graphics connectors to support NVIDIA SLI* and AMD CrossfireX* configurations, and full complement of controls targeted for performance tuning and overclocking.
HotHardware report on the Crysis 3 Multiplayer Preview. Normally we don't cover games that are still in alpha. While beta coverage is typically a good example of how final gameplay is shaping up, alpha is a time when major design elements are still in flux. We're making an exception for Crysis 3's recent multiplayer test, however, to highlight just how gorgeous the game already is.
HardCoreWare have a Windows 7 vs Windows 8 Performance Guide. We could tell you how long each OS takes to copy a file, or extract an archive, or encode an MP3. But unless something is wrong, those operations will be purely limited by CPU or storage hardware speed, and will thus be identical no matter what OS you’re using. What we want to find out is how fast each OS will allow you to be productive, or how efficiently you can consume media.
Now that Steven Sinofsky has left Microsoft, Windows in the hands of Julie Larson-Green. Julie Larson-Green has been corporate vice president, Program Management, Windows Client. Larson-Green is no stranger to Windows: She has had between 1,200 and 1,400 program managers, researchers, content managers and other members of the Windows team reporting to her.
GIF is the word of the year for 2012, according to the Oxford American Dictionary. Really?! “GIF celebrated a lexical milestone in 2012, gaining traction as a verb, not just a noun,” Katherine Martin, head of the US dictionaries program at Oxford said in a statement. “The GIF has evolved from a medium for pop-cultural memes into a tool with serious applications including research and journalism, and its lexical identity is transforming to keep pace.”
Wednesday Morning Reviews
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Wednesday, 14-November-2012 02:57:22 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards:
Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 AMD Socket FM2 on techPowerUp.
Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 AMD Socket FM2 on Vortez.
Storage:
LSI Nytro WarpDrive 800GB BLP4-800 PCIe Enterprise SSD on TweakTown.
OCZ Vertex 4 256 GB SSD on Hardware Secrets.
Kingston DataTraveler Vault Privacy 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive on NikKTech.
ADATA DashDrive Elite HE720 500GB USB 3.0 Portable HDD on ThinkComputers.
Cases:
Cooler Master HAF XB on TweakTown.
Cooler Master HAF XB on Pro-Clockers.
Cooler Master HAF XB on Ninjalane.
Cooler Master HAF XB on Overclockers Club.
Cooler Master HAF XB on Benchmark Reviews.
Aerocool XPredator X3 Full-Tower on eTeknix.
In Win GRone Tower Case on OCmodshop.
Corsair Carbide 200R Mid-Tower on Pro-Clockers.
Input etc:
Logitech Zone Touch T400 Wireless Mouse for Windows 8 on Legit Reviews.
Steelseries Guild Wars 2 gaming mouse on Funky Kit.
Notebooks:
Asus S56CA-DH51 Ultrabook on TechReviewSource.
Schenker XMG P722 Gaming Laptop on HardwareHeaven.
Misc:
Amped Wireless R20000G Router and UA2000 Adapter on PC Perspective.
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Units on Bjorn3D.
F1 Race Stars (PC) on HardwareHeaven.
Total Solar Eclipse
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Tuesday, 13-November-2012 22:37:06 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Tomorrow morning, shortly after sunrise, a solar eclipse will be visible across most of Australia. Cairns seems to be the hotspot for people to go and see the total eclipse, but most people should be able to see at least a partial eclipse. Or if you prefer, there's a live stream of the event. The time during Totality, which can last only a few minutes, is described as one of the most awe-inspiring and magnificent natural events you are ever likely to witness. Day turns into night as the Moon completely covers the Sun, and the Sun's spectacular corona reveals itself as a halo surrounding the Moon.
Remember, don't look directly at the Sun even during an eclipse. SBS have some viewing safety tips. Exposure is not painful and damage may take several days to develop. It can result in permanent visual loss and there is no treatment, according to the Australian Society of Ophthalmologists (ASO).
The next total solar eclipse viewable from Australia won't be until 2028 - so don't miss out! Discussion in this thread.
Tuesday Afternoon
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Tuesday, 13-November-2012 17:39:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Antivirus pioneer John McAfee is being sought for questioning in a murder case in Belize. According to the report, police are searching for the killer of Gregory Viant Faull, an American expat. Gizmodo reported earlier today that McAfee was wanted for the crime, but CBS, quoting Rafael Martinez, spokesman for the Belize National Security Ministry, said it would be incorrect to call McAfee a suspect at this time. Discussion here.
Meanwhile Steven Sinofsky, who had a major role in Windows 8, has left Microsoft. He helped restore Windows from the debacle that was Windows Vista, a widely panned and dramatically late version of the company's flagship product. Windows 7 was his first effort, a solid product that cleaned up much of the mess that Vista left behind. Windows 8 debuted last month. While it's too early to tell how well it's doing, the product has won kudos and raised some concern for its bold user interface design, a striking departure from previous versions.
Intel are aiming to merge Xeon and Itanium. In addition to Xeon and Itanium (already) trading features and sharing a chipset, Intel has also announced that it plans to merge the two server chips even further, going so far as using the same CPU socket and motherboards — with the only appreciable difference being whether the CPU is based on the x86-64 or IA64 ISA (Instruction Set Architecture).
The TOP500 supercomputer list has been released again, and as expected, Cray's new 560,640-processor XK7 Titan has topped the charts. In claiming the top spot, Titan knocked Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Sequoia out of No. 1 and into second place. Sequoia, an IBM BlueGene/Q system, was No. 1 in June 2012 with an impressive 16.32 Petaflop/s on the Linpack benchmark. With 1,572,864 cores, Sequoia is the first system with one million or more cores.
mpot spotted this cool technique for blending 3d printing with real-world objects, with more info here. It's worth watching the video for the full story. It’s a very, very cool projet that demonstrates how good [Greg] is at making 3D models of real objects and modeling them inside a computer. After the break you can see a walkthrough of his work process, an impressive amount of expertise wrapped up in making the world just a little more strange.
Google have been ordered to pay damages to a Melbourne man because their search engine results portrayed him as being involved with the criminal underworld. But the Victorian Supreme Court heard, when entered into the search engines Yahoo and Google, Mr Trkulja name linked him to Melbourne's criminal underworld, including to pictures of gangland boss Tony Mokbel. A jury found in making the link, the internet giants had wrongly implied Mr Trkulja was "so involved with crime in Melbourne, that his rivals had hired a hit-man to murder him." Discussion here.
Photography Gallery
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Monday, 12-November-2012 21:34:30 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's a quick snapshot of what people are up to in our Photography Gallery forum.
Monday Night
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Monday, 12-November-2012 21:00:45 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Apple and HTC have reached a global settlement for the next ten years. This is a monumental development for not just the two companies themselves, but for the legal universe surrounding technology and gadgets on the whole. As for HTC and Apple, they’ve made it clear that this agreements means they’ll be able to focus on product innovation for a long time to come.
However, Apple's unsatisfactory apologies have left them footing the bill for Samsung's legal expenses in the UK. The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has ordered Apple to pay the legal fees of competitor Samsung on an 'indemnity basis' after the company published a "false and misleading" notice in the wake of a patent lawsuit over the iPad. The judgement, intended to humiliate Apple, will require the company to pay for all expenses associated with Samsung's legal defense, with any disputes over the exact amount likely to be resolved in the latter firm's favor.
The script writer for the upcoming Disney Star Wars film has been announced. Lucasfilm announced in a blog post that Michael Arndt, who also wrote the script for the upcoming second installment of the Hunger Games series, would be penning the initial drafts for Star Wars: Episode VII. Producers Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas have begun discussions with Arndt to develop ideas and concepts for the new storyline.
Fnkychkn shared his concerns about Skype's privacy in the wake of recent allegations that they shared customer data with a private company. Skype has issued a statement on the matter, saying that it “takes its customers' privacy very seriously” and is undertaking an internal investigation. A spokesperson told me that Skype was working with the private security firm to “combat spam and malware,” and admitted that “it appears that some information may have been inappropriately passed on to Dutch authorities without our knowledge.” There's some background info from a few months ago here, here, here and here.
The International Space Station has demonstrated a (form of) space internet to control a rover on Earth. The system uses a network of nodes - connection points - to cope with delays. If there is a disruption, the data gets stored at one of the nodes until the communication is available again to send it further. This "store and forward" mechanism ensures data is not lost and gradually works its way towards its destination.
Air New Zealand have a clever hobbit-themed safety video. A four-minute-long Air New Zealand safety video celebrating the upcoming premiere of the first film in the Hobbit trilogy has gone viral within 24 hours of being posted on YouTube.
Monday Night Reviews
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Monday, 12-November-2012 20:52:38 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards:
ECS A85F2-A Golden Board (A85X) on eTeknix.
ECS Golden Board Z77H2-AX Z77 on PC Perspective.
Gigabyte Z77X UP7 on Ninjalane.
ECS A85F2-A Golden motherboard on Guru3D.
Storage:
Mach Xtreme MX-ES 16GB USB3.0 Flash Drive on eTeknix.
Kingston Data Traveler Workspace Windows To Go Flash Drive on The SSD Review.
Cooling:
Cooler Master Seidon 120M Liquid CPU Cooler on PureOverclock.
DeepCool Neptwin CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers.
Power Supplies:
Rosewill SilentNight 500 W on Hardware Secrets.
Corsair AX860i 860 W on techPowerUp.
Input etc:
Roccat Savu Optical Gaming Mouse on Legit Reviews.
Azio Levetron Mech5 Gaming Keyboard on Metku.
Zowie Ec2 gaming mouse on Rbmods.
Ozone Gaming Gear Radon Opto mouse on Madshrimps.
Portable & Prebuilt:
HP Spectre XT Ultrabook on t-break.
Maingear Vybe 15 Gaming Laptop on TweakTown.
AGPtek TP10AYA 7-Inch Tablet on OCmodshop.
Apple iPad Mini (Wi-Fi) on TechReviewSource.
Toshiba Satellite U840W on t-break.
Software:
Postal 2 Complete on OCmodshop.
Need For Speed Most Wanted (PC) on HardwareHeaven.
Misc:
Cougar Evolution Galaxy Full Tower on TweakTown.
Sunday Morning
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Sunday, 11-November-2012 10:35:17 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Today is Remembrance Day - lest we forget. The day was specifically dedicated by King George V on 7 November 1919 as a day of remembrance for members of the armed forces who were killed during World War I.
An Australian tech blogger has been required to take down Toshiba manuals on copyright grounds. Since I was first contacted by Toshiba Australia’s legal department, I have been attempting to discuss with them the potential for me to continue to share their laptop service manuals on my site. Their flat and final response was “You do not have permission [to disseminate Toshiba copyright material] nor will it be granted to you in the foreseeable future.” As a result, all Toshiba material that was on my website is now gone, permanently.
Amazon will have a cloud datacentre in Sydney very soon. The Australian launch next week comes in advance of the global AWS customer and partner conference late this month. Partners expected the launch to boost cloud computing uptake among Australian enterprises that demand lower latency and faced data sovereignty concerns.
Anandtech took a look at Intel's NUC, or "next unit of computing".
Cray have a new supercomputer. Cray has just fired a nuclear salvo in the supercomputer wars with the launch of its XC30, a 100 petaflop-capable brute that can scale up to one million cores. Developed in conjunction with DARPA, the Cascade-codenamed system uses a new type of architecture called Aries interconnect and Intel Xeon E5-2600 processors to easily leapfrog its recent Titan sibling, the previous speed champ.
Supplanter spotted this familiar car for sale!
Saturday Morning Reviews
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Saturday, 10-November-2012 01:13:49 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards:
Asus F2A85-V PRO on Bjorn3D.
Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 (Intel Z77) on TweakTown.
Storage:
Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB on Hardcoreware.
OCZ Agility 4 256GB SSD on Bjorn3D.
Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB SSD on ThinkComputers
Thecus Top Tower N6850 6-Bay NAS on TweakTown.
Mach Xtreme MX-ES 32 GB USB 3.0 on techPowerUp.
Cooling:
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer on Frostytech.
AMD FX-Series Watercooler on Frostytech.
Phanteks PH-TC90LS Low-Profile CPU Cooler on TweakTown.
EK-Supremacy KIT H3O 360 HFX on Xbit Labs.
Power Supplies:
Corsair AX1200i on Xbit Labs.
Corsair AX860i on Guru3D.
Kingwin Power Force 850w on Hardware Secrets.
Cases:
Antec Three Hundred Two Case on Overclockers Club.
Thermaltake Armor Revo Gene Mid Tower on Legit Reviews.
Aerocool Mechatron Full-Tower on eTeknix.
Cougar Challenger on Overclockers Club.
Lian Li PC-7HX mid-tower on Techreaction.
Aerocool XPredator X1 Devil Red on Vortez.
Input etc:
Gigabyte Osmium Keyboard on HotHardware.
Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 Gaming Keyboard on NikKTech.
CM Storm Recon Gaming Mouse & Scorpion Bungee on techPowerUp.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7in on Hardware Heaven.
Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 on ThinkComputers.
Misc:
HIS 7950 IceQ X2 on PureOverclock.
SteelSeries Siberia V2 Limited Edition Headsets on Vortez.
Netgear R6300 Gigabit Wi-Fi Router on Benchmark Reviews.
Thanks to flagger, Frank and Simon this week!
     
     
     
     
     
And if you're after more, check out this Wiki page which lists ALL "misc pics" news posts from the archive.
Forum Projects
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Friday, 9-November-2012 13:53:47 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's some interesting projects from people in the forums:
Friday Morning
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Friday, 9-November-2012 11:15:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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A few people sent word that the Government has finally backed down on internet filtering, with more info here. The government will use its powers under the telecommunications legislation, so Senator Conroy will say a filter law will not be needed. Senator Conroy says providers have been issued with notices requiring them to block illegal sites. ''This means that more than 90 per cent of Australians using internet services will have child-abuse material blocked'' by their provider. Discussion here.
XbitLabs have a 120mm fan roundup. This is the first part of our new large fan roundup featuring 120 mm models. Today we will discuss fifteen low-speed and quiet products.
Here's an amazing terminator-like bionic arm. The new bebionic3 myoelectric hand, which is also made from aluminium and alloy knuckles, moves like a real human limb by responding to Nigel's muscle twitches. Incredibly, the robotic arm is so sensitive it means the father-of-one can touch type on a computer keyboard, peel vegetables, and even dress himself for the first time in six years. The bit with the eggs is fairly impressive.
The BBC have rounded up great inventions by Australians, according to a new book. Here are 10 eye-catching inventions that come from the land down under, according to Christopher Cheng and Lindsay Knight, authors of Australia's Greatest Inventions and Innovations. In some cases inventors from other countries may also have a legitimate claim, but Cheng and Knight do not want the Australian research to go unnoticed.
Thursday Afternoon
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Thursday, 8-November-2012 15:28:40 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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AtomicMPC have announced they are merging with PC & Tech Authority. The bad news, is that issue 143 of Atomic, which we’re putting to bed in a day or two, will be the last standalone issue of the magazine. The good news, to cut to the chase, is that Atomic will undergo a merger with PC & Tech Authority, both in print and online, to keep the brand – and the community – alive.
Meanwhile TheReg report that Optus are shutting down Unwired. Following Optus’ acquisition of Vividwireless earlier this year, we undertook a review of the current services available to Unwired customers. As a result, we have taken the decision to close the Unwired network from February 28, 2013. To ensure existing Unwired customers can continue to do the things they love online, Optus will provide a range of great value 4G and 3G mobile broadband plans.
TechDirt cover some irritating quirks of new Razer drivers. In a situation eerily similar to "always-on" DRM schemes, Razer mouse and keyboard purchasers are finding their high-end peripherals bricked by software that requires an internet connection to function. So, why would a mouse need an internet connection to be usable? Well, it's supposed to be a feature, but it's behaving more like a bug.
Working hard? You might be working like a superhuman one day. Performance-boosting drugs, powered prostheses and wearable computers are coming to an office near you — but experts warned in a new report Wednesday that too little thought has been given to the implications of a superhuman workplace. Academics from Britain’s leading institutions say attention needs to be focused on the consequences of technology which may one day allow — or compel — humans to work better, longer and harder.
Thursday Midday Reviews
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Thursday, 8-November-2012 11:29:48 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Cooling:
Cooler Master TPC 800 Vapour Chamber CPU Cooler on eTeknix.
Phanteks PH-TC90LS CPU Cooler on HWSecrets.
Zalman CNPS9900DF Dual Tower CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.
Thermaltake WATER2.0 Pro all-in-one watercooler on Vortez.
EK Supremacy CPU Water Block Full-Nickel on PureOC.
Software:
Halo 4 on OCModShop.
Halo 4 on TechSpot.
Assassin's Creed III Video Review on HWHeaven.
Storage:
Intel Solid State Drive 335 Series SSD on HotHardware.
OWC Mercury Electra MAX 3G 960GB SSD on TheSSDReview.
Portable & Prebuilt:
Acer Iconia W700 Windows 8 Tablet on XSReviews.
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime (with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean) on Tweaktown.
ASUS ROG TYTAN CG8890 Desktop on TBreak.
HP Envy X2 tablet/laptop on TBreak.
Power Supply:
Corsair AX760i 760W on TechPowerUp.
Corsair AX860i 860W 80 PLUS Platinum Digital on Tweaktown.
Video Cards:
AMD FirePro W5000 Professional Graphics Card on LegitReviews.
HIS 7970 IceQ X² GHz Edition & 7950 IceQ X² Boost Clock on LegionHW.
ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II TOP on Guru3D.
Wednesday Evening
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Wednesday, 7-November-2012 20:30:57 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Anonymous have been targeting Australian government websites recently. Anonymous said the sites were specifically chosen because the group had “proof” that small to medium businesses, education departments, student and personal accounts had been tracked by the State Government. “The Australian Government is attempting to strip away its citizens’ internet rights by forcing them to surrender passwords and internet usage data,” Anonymous Australia said via email.
TheReg report on another homegrown supercomputer at the University of Zurich. They chose the eight-core E5-2660 processor to slap into these boards, which is the fastest 95 watt part that Intel sells with all eight cores fired up and which delivers 140.8 gigaflops of peak gigaflops at double precision. Each node was configured with 64GB of main memory, for the expected 4GB per core that is the average out there in HPC Land. Each node also has a 128GB Vertex 4 flash-based SSD, which is the skinniest of the OCZ units in the Vertex 4 family (and therefore the least expensive).
Also on TheReg, a new hybrid disk drive from Singapore. The 'A-Drive' is a 2.5 inch beast just 5mm thick, with a double-sided platter bearing 500GB on each side. 32GB of solid state memory is also aboard, along with the usual hybrid drive goodies that ensure frequently-accessed files reside in flash while the Fleetwood Mac albums you can't bring yourself to delete remain on spinning rust.
They're also giving away tickets to vForum Sydney, which is on later this month. vForum is an all-signing, all-dancing, celebration of virtualisation at which you can wallow in all things virtual at hands-on labs, or soak up some quality content from VMware's finest minds.
This is the first I've heard of this legal battle, but apparently Apple are suing Amazon over the term "App Store". At a hearing today in an Oakland federal court, it became clear that while Apple may have a lot of fury and passion behind this lawsuit, it has run into trouble in the form of a very skeptical judge. US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton showed great doubt that Apple will be able to prove that consumers were confused or deceived by Amazon's use of the word "Appstore."
Google had an outage recently, and a blog post on CloudFlare looks into why. The case today was similar. Someone at Moratel likely "fat fingered" an Internet route. PCCW, who was Moratel's upstream provider, trusted the routes Moratel was sending to them. And, quickly, the bad routes spread. It is unlikely this was malicious, but rather a misconfiguaration or an error evidencing some of the failings in the BGP Trust model.
Wednesday Midday Reviews
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Wednesday, 7-November-2012 11:52:42 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Graphics Cards:
HIS Radeon HD 7750 IceQ X Turbo 1 GB on techPowerUp.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti on Neoseeker.
Power Supplies:
Seasonic X-460 80Plus on PCstats.
SilverStone ST45SF-G 450W SFX Form Factor on PC Perspective.
Xigmatek Centauro 600 Watt Modular PSU on OCinside.
Xigmatek Centauro 600 Watt Modular PSU on NikKTech.
Corsair AX760i on Hardware Secrets.
Corsair AX860i on HardwareHeaven.
Rosewill Fortress 750Watt 80PLUS Platinum on Futurelooks.
Cases:
Corsair Obsidian Series 550D on ThinkComputers.
Thermaltake Overseer RX-I on Bjorn3D.
Cooling:
Silverstone Heligon HE01 Twin Tower Heatsink on Frostytech.
Bitfenix Hydra Pro and Recon Fan Controllers on Techreaction.
Thermalright True Spirit 120M CPU Air Cooler on [H]ardOCP.
Input etc:
Tt eSPORTS Level 10 M Gaming Mouse on eTeknix.
SteelSeries Kana Counterstrike Global Offensive Edition Mouse on Madshrimps.
Cooler Master Storm Recon Mouse on OCmodshop.
Portable & Mobile:
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 on TechReviewSource.
Intel Clover Trail Atom Z2760 Tablet on Hot Hardware.
Misc:
PNY XLR8 PRO SSD on Benchmark Reviews.
Gigabyte H77N-WiFi on Anandtech.
Apple has updated its apology, but people are saying it's now harder to see. This code essentially ensures that the iPad mini advertisement takes up the whole page. In other words, no matter your resolution, you won’t see the statement without scrolling down the page. It’s no wonder that it took Apple so long to post the second apology; the company was likely looking for loopholes.
Kim Dotcom is proposing free broadband for NZ, possibly funding it by suing Hollywood and the US Government. Dotcom last night revealed his ambitious plans to build the $400m cable - which would double New Zealand's bandwidth - set up his new Me.ga company, creating jobs and a data centre to service the rest of the world. He would provide New Zealand internet service providers such as Telecom and Vodafone with free access for individual customers and charge a fee to business and central government.
Meanwhile back in Oz some telcos are cutting mobile data allowances. Australia's three biggest mobile contractors have slashed the amount of data offered in their plans, with some cutting their offerings by up to 40 per cent on what they provided last year.
Android is 5 years old already. Five years ago, on 5 November 2007, the newly formed Open Handset Alliance unveiled Android -- an open-source operating system for mobile phones. Although Google is Android's auteur, 34 corporations including T-Mobile, HTC, Motorola and Qualcomm formed part of the Alliance. The stated goal was "fostering innovation on mobile devices and giving consumers are far better user experience than much of what is available on today's platforms".
Here's a cautionary tale about a Norco case frying 3TB HDDs. We swapped out hardware until we found the culprit: the newer drives, 3TB drives, caused serious problems. Every time they were plugged into a Norco case, the result was fire or smoke. ... Unfortunately, when MOSFETs fail, bad side-effect occur. For 6 of our drives, this means that the +5 and +12V rails were momentarily connected together, causing their electronics to die.
The debate is back on again about GST on overseas purchases, with more info here. State treasurers will this week consider calls to cut the GST-free threshold for goods bought from overseas online stores, in an attempt to bolster flagging revenues from the tax. Under current rules, products costing less than $1000 that are privately purchased from overseas are not subject to GST, sparking complaints domestic retailers face an uneven playing field.
Police-impersonating "ransomware" seems to be on the rise again. According to one malware researcher who goes by the online name Kafeine and has been tracking police ransomware across the world, the number of Australians presented with a fake AFP fine spiked dramatically at the end of October. Since early October Australian numbers in the operation he’s been tracking have remained below 10 on any given day. But on October 28 that figure jumped over 1600 per cent to 160 and on October 29 it tripled again to 403.
Tuesday Morning Reviews
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Tuesday, 6-November-2012 11:12:44 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 LGA 1155 on [H]ardOCP.
Sapphire Pure Black 990FX on Overclockers Club.
Storage:
Western Digital VelociRaptor 3 x 1TB RAID 0 on eTeknix.
Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB SSD on Legit Reviews.
Patriot Memory Supersonic RageXT 32 GB USB 3.0 on techPowerUp.
Corsair Neutron Series GTX 480GB SSD on TweakTown.
ADATA DashDrive Elite HE720 on Guru3D.
Cooling:
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Pro Liquid Cooling Heatsink on Frostytech.
Corsair Air Series Fans on Madshrimps.
Cases:
InWin GRone Full-Tower Chassis on TweakTown.
InWin GRone Full-Tower Chassis on Bjorn3D.
Cougar Challenger Mid-Tower Chassis on eTeknix.
Nexus Prominent 5 Midi Tower on NikKTech.
CM Storm Scout 2 on Rbmods.
Input etc:
SteelSeries Sensei RAW Mouse on Vortez.
Microsoft Comfort Keyboard 3000 on OCmodshop.
Audio:
Steelseries Siberia V2 Counterstrike:GO Headset on Funky Kit.
Sennheiser Momentum Headphones on t-break.
Portables & Prebuilt:
Origin Genesis Overclocked Quad SLI Gaming PC on PC Perspective.
HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 on TechReviewSource.
Misc:
Kingston HyperX Predator 2666MHz 8GB Kit on Pro-Clockers.
Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520 W Power Supply on Hardware Secrets.
Interesting Forum Threads
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Monday, 5-November-2012 21:23:39 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's a snapshot of what's going on in some of the forums. You can also find new interesting things you might have missed via the Who's Online page, the New Posts page and the Live forum view. Also try the Today's Posts link (find it on the Quick Links menu) and the handy Who Quoted Me? feature.
What's the worst thing you've done to your computer? in Overclocking & Hardware.
Your video card timeline in Video Cards & Monitors.
My bent Panasonic 60ST50A plasma in Audio Visual.
The complete, consolidated Anti-Virus thread « Ask your 'What AV?' questions here! in General Software.
The hidden cost of cookies in General Software.
Microsoft Office 2013 in General Software.
Good disk cloning software in General Software.
Government web / IT workers - WCAG2A compliance by december in Business & Enterprise Computing.
How many IT staff does it take to run...? in Business & Enterprise Computing.
Looking for people to fully review and pick apart a media app in HTPC.
The rise of Micro tower SFF (Tiki/Bolt/x51) in Portable & Small Form Factor.
New 10.6-inch Microsoft Surface tablet(s) in Mobile Phones & Devices.
Sleep as Android in Google Android (OS & Devices)
Canon 6D Thoughts in Photography & Video.
Halo 4 in Microsoft Consoles.
Forza: Horizon - Open World Altered Forza Physics Racer in Microsoft Consoles.
Coffee - It's delicious. But how much do you spend? in Geek Food.
Don't have a Dog or a Cat? Post your other Pet Here! in Pets & Animals.
4 characteristics of ideal job in Career, Education & Finance.
Past inattention, present budget woes mean USAF must keep aging warhorses in Current Events.
Computer Alliance Contest
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Monday, 5-November-2012 02:21:29 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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To celebrate their new website and the launch of Windows 8, OCAU Major Sponsor Computer Alliance have a new contest. There's a pretty big prize pool worth over $40,000 in total and it's free to enter.
click for details!
Sunday Afternoon
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Sunday, 4-November-2012 14:42:48 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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The ACCC has told a parliamentary enquiry that widespread downloading of media in Australia is a backlash against suppliers. The ACCC said illegal downloading methods were well-known to many consumers in Australia and are having an impact on supplier strategies. According to the ACCC, this illegal downloading is putting "competitive tension in the market". “At the end of the day, some of these responses in the market may well end up being a reasonably powerful backlash by consumers against what might be perceived as unfair conduct by suppliers,” an ACCC spokesperson told the inquiry
The data retention debate continues, with hazy definitions an issue. Committee member Andrew Wilkie suggested the changes to the legislation would simply target everyday internet users, while savvy crooks would slip through the nets using encryption, dark net and anonymising services such as Tor. “This will simply apply to law abiding citizens,” said Wilkie, of the proposed changes, “while the people we are really concerned about won’t be caught up.” Pretty much the same as the internet filtering proposal, then.
A judge has ordered the FBI to explain in more detail their internet monitoring plans. Washington hopes to eventually roll out a program that will see that the FBI and other federal agencies are allowed backdoor access to any and all online communications. So far, though, they’ve managed to make much of the so-called “Going Dark” program a matter that’s shielded from interested parties, namely the EFF and other Internet activists. On Tuesday, Judge Seeborg agreed with the plaintiffs that the Justice Department has been not exactly accommodating with Freedom of Information Act paperwork filed by the San Francisco-based non-profit, and said the FBI and other federal agencies will have to go back and reassess those requests, ordering a "further review of the materials previously withheld.”
Microsoft seem to be doing well in terms of software security, with no appearances on Kapersky's top 10 vulnerabilities list. Java and Flash feature heavily, though. The rankings are based on the percentage of users whose computers had the vulnerability in question. In other words, unpatched and old software, or just poor software in the first place. A few years ago, Microsoft would be all over the list, but starting with the release of Windows Vista, the company has seriously cleaned up its act.
BenchmarkReviews consider the future of personal 3D printing. I tell ya, I'm getting pretty excited about this stuff and where it will be in a couple of years. 3D printing technology has progressed beyond prototyping and developed into consumer production. What was once an expensive process that enabled quicker proto-fabrication has now become an affordable means for regular users to construct or duplicate any object of their desire. Inventors have championed 3D printers as devices favorable to their pursuit of product development, but the same technology will allow consumers the ability to copy patented work or firearms without consideration.
There'll be a total solar eclipse visible from the north of Australia on the 14th of November, thanks jimbogimp, who also notes that Panasonic will be broadcasting the event using solar power (Facebook link). The Total Solar Eclipse on November 14th, 2012 occurs in Earth's southern hemisphere, early in the morning on Wednesday 14th November. The path of totality will cross North Australia and the Southern Pacific. This is the first total solar eclipse for Australia since the South Australian eclipse in 2002.
Also in space, BeanerSA sent in these two cool Apollo stories - behind the scenes at Mission Control, and every console explained from there as well. So this is a station-by-station tour of Historical Mission Operations Control Room 2, or "MOCR 2." As mentioned in the feature, MOCR 2 was used for almost every Gemini and Apollo flight, and in the late 1990s was restored to its Apollo-era appearance. You can visit it if you're in Houston, but you won't get any closer than the glassed-in visitor gallery in the back, and that's just not close enough.
An Australian team won the F1 in Schools World Finals recently. Cold Fusion, a team from Adelaide, Australia, have been crowned F1 in Schools World Champions 2012 at the eighth World Finals held at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. This team of five 16 and 17 year old students from Brighton Secondary School turned up the heat on their rivals to lift the Bernie Ecclestone World Champions trophy and receive Motorsport and Automotive Engineering Scholarships for City University, London. Congrats!
Saturday Morning Reviews
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Saturday, 3-November-2012 11:14:46 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
Asus P8Z77 WS Workstation Z77 on PC Perspective.
Sapphire Pure Platinum A85XT (A85X) on eTeknix.
Asus P8Z77-V Premium on Xbit Labs.
ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M on Hardware Secrets.
Storage:
Intel 335 series 240GB SSD on Guru3D.
QNAP TS-869 Pro 8-Bay NAS on TweakTown.
Vantec NST-D400SU3 NexStar Dual Bay Hard Drive Dock on Pro-Clockers.
Vantec MRK-425ST-BK EZ Swap F4 Quad Bay 2.5" SATA SSD/HDD Rack on Pro-Clockers.
Memory:
Patriot Viper 3 PC3-15000 8GB Dual Channel Memory Kit on TweakTown.
Kingston HyperX Predator 2666MHz 8GB Kit on Pro-Clockers.
Cases:
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 Mid-Tower Case on Legit Reviews.
NZXT Aperture M on ThinkComputers.
BitFenix OUTLAW Midi Tower on NikKTech.
Corsair Vengeance C70 Mid-Tower on PC Perspective.
Cooling:
Xigmatek Dark Knight II - Night Hawk Edition on PureOverclock.
Zalman CNPS14X CPU Cooler on Xbit Labs.
Reeven ColdWing 12 Fan Series on eTeknix.
Power Supplies:
SilverStone ST45SF-G Power Supply on Hardware Secrets.
Input etc:
CM Storm Recon Gaming Mouse and Skorpion Mouse Bungee on HardwareHeaven.
Mionix Sargas 900 Deskpad on XSReviews.
Mionix Sargas 900 And Ensis 320 mousepads on Vortez.
Mionix Ensis 320 on XSReviews.
Portables & Mobiles:
Apple iPad Mini on Hardware Heaven.
Microsoft Surface Tablet (64GB / Windows RT) on Hardware Heaven.
Asus VivoTab RT convertible tablet on TechReport.
Samsung Galaxy Note II 16GB Smartphone on Legit Reviews.
Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 Tablet on HotHardware.
Thanks to yaleman, koopz and Philip this week! The last one is possibly NSFW. :)
     
     
     
     
     
And if you're after more, check out this Wiki page which lists ALL "misc pics" news posts from the archive.
Friday Afternoon
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Friday, 2-November-2012 14:21:11 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Apple's Samsung apology statement is not good enough, according to the court that ordered them to make it. I'm assuming it's this one here, which doesn't sound particularly apologetic. At a hearing in the court in London on Thursday morning, the judge told Apple that it had to change the wording of the statement within 48 hours, carry it on its home page, and use at least 11-point font.
OCClub have a 3-case roundup, all from GameTiger, a brand I don't think I've seen in Oz yet. GameTiger is a relative newcomer to the world of gaming-oriented cases and it looks to be poised to deliver feature-packed cases at low price points. It remains to be seen whether or not GameTiger can deliver upon its promises, especially in today's ultra-competitive market where you can pick from hundreds of cases at nearly any price point imaginable.
XbitLabs meanwhile compared four 800-860W PSUs. Power supply units with about 800 W capacity are an optimal choice for pretty powerful gaming rigs these days. They can easily power a couple of high-end graphics accelerators and a fast CPU (even at non-nominal frequencies), but their price is not too high at the same time. Today we will talk about four great products like that from Chieftec, Cooler Master, Corsair and Seasonic.
CNet show that Windows 7 is increasing its popularity lead over Windows XP. Though the gap between September and October is hardly earth-shaking, the numbers show that Windows 7 is slowly grabbing more users from the now 11-year-old XP. After years of XP holding the dominant position, Windows 7 finally won the top OS spot in August, according to Net Applications. Just a year ago, XP's share was 48 percent, while Windows 7 was resting below 35 percent.
This is a few days old now, but very cool in case you missed it - two guys flying a helicopter noticed someone crashing a remote-controlled plane into a tree, so swooped down to rescue it for them. Some strong language, but I guess if you're a kickass chopper pilot swooping in to save the day you can say what you like while you do it. :)
Thursday Night Reviews
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Thursday, 1-November-2012 23:08:21 (GMT +10) - by booj
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Motherboards & CPUs:
AMD A10-5800k APU Processor on eTeknix.
MSI Z77 MPOWER (Intel Z77) on TweakTown.
MSI Z77 MPOWER on Benchmark Reviews.
ASRock Z77 OC Formula on Overclockers Club.
Graphics Cards:
Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II on ThinkComputers.
XFX Double D HD 7970 GHz Edition on [H]ardOCP.
Galaxy GeForce GTX 660 Ti GC 3GB SLI on [H]ardOCP.
Storage:
ADATA SX900 128GB on Bjorn3D.
Adata UC500 16GB USB Drive on Tech Reaction.
Synology DS413 and DS413j on Legion Hardware.
Synology DiskStation DS213air NAS on Madshrimps.
MX-Technology MX-ES USB 3.0 SLC flash drive on Guru3D.
Input etc:
Roccat Lua Tri-Button Optical Gaming Mouse on TweakTown.
Gigabyte Aivia Krypton Mouse & Mouse Pad on Hardware Canucks.
Networking:
Amped Wireless R20000G High Power Dual Band Router on Legit Reviews.
Netgear N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Modem Router (DGND4000) on HardwareHeaven.
Misc:
Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB 1600MHz RAM on Funky Kit.
Samsung Chromebook (XE303 w/ARM Cortex A15) on Anandtech.
Corsair Vengeance 1500 USB 7.1 Gaming Headset on Futurelooks.
Bitfenix Ghost Case on Hardware Secrets.
Silverstone Heligon HE01 Dual Tower CPU Heatsink on Frostytech.
Thursday Night
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Thursday, 1-November-2012 21:36:07 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Anandtech give us a look inside the Titan supercomputer. Jaguar, the supercomputer being upgraded, featured 18,688 compute nodes - each with a 12-core AMD Opteron CPU. Titan takes the Jaguar base, maintaining the same number of compute nodes, but moves to 16-core Opteron CPUs paired with an NVIDIA Kepler K20 GPU per node. The result is 18,688 CPUs and 18,688 GPUs, all networked together to make a supercomputer that should be capable of landing at or near the top of the TOP500 list.
Scrollable panoramas aren't too uncommon nowadays, but here's one shot from an F1 car. The Norwegian company released its latest collaboration with Red Bull, fitting the firm’s custom-developed camera system atop one of the energy drink dynasty’s F1 cars and giving driver Sébastien Buemi a chance to tackle the track. The result is the video above, which allows you to pan around the circuit using your keyboard or mouse as Buemi canes the open-wheeled racer up and over 200 MPH.
George Lucas will apparently be donating much of his $4.05B cheque for Lucasfilm to charity. Lucas is the chairman of Edutopia, a part of the George Lucas Educational Foundation and likeliest candidate to receive the donation. Lucas is staying true to his 2010 pledge: “I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education. It is the key to the survival of the human race.”
HotHardware compared a couple of Z77 motherboards. We’ve seen more than our share of motherboards sporting the Z77 chipset, but today we have a pair of Z77 boards--one each from ASRock and MSI--that are designed specifically for overclocking. Even better, both of these mainboards are actually mid-range offerings, meaning you can enjoy the overclocking features without paying for the highest-end options from the two companies. What better way to put them through the paces than by setting up a good old-fashioned mainboard shootout?
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