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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone vr-zone.com stuff for the geeks vr-zone stuff for the geeks is a bi-weekly publication covering the latest gadgets and stuff for the geeks exclusive gigabyte to include wi-fi and bluetooth 4.0 with x79 motherboards source http vr-zone.com/articles/exclusive-gigabyte-to-include-wi-fiand-bluetooth-4.0-with-x79-motherboards/13844.html october 31st 2011 gigabyte has already had leaks with regards to some of the features of its upcoming x79 motherboards and today we have an exclusive leak of our own gigabyte is going to add bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11n wi-fi support to its x79 motherboards however the company is taking a different and in our opinion better approach than its competitors when it comes to adding support for wireless connectivity gigabyte has already had leaks with regards to some of the features of its upcoming x79 motherboards and today we have an exclusive leak of our own gigabyte is going to add bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11n wi-fi support to its x79 motherboards however the company is taking a different and in our opinion better approach than its competitors when it comes to adding support for wireless connectivity as we ve already seen ecs went for a pair of usb type dongles at the rear of its x79 motherboard although seemingly the wifi part relies on a pcb antenna connected by hardwired and rather messy wire to the rear i/o of the motherboard asus has added a proprietary raiser card for its p9x79 deluxe which is a custom designed usb setup as far as we can tell both companies are also only offering bluetooth 3.0 although this is at least less of an issue at the moment gigabyte decided to go with a slightly more sensible solution and one that has a bit of future proofing thrown in for good measure what you re looking at is a pci express to mini pci express adapter which takes a standard half-size mini pci express card in this case a card based on atheros chips the unusual thing with this adapter is that it has a usb pin-header that attaches to the usb pin-header on the motherboard this is for the bluetooth 4.0 part of the card while the wi-fi part connects over pci express there s also a usb port on the card ­ a feature we ve never seen before ­ to which you can attach any usb device with a standard usb connector a neat addition that we re sure plenty of people will find useful the bluetooth part of the card is compatible with bluetooth 3.0 hs as well as the low power bluetooth 4.0 standard for now very few devices are available that supports bluetooth 4.0 although the iphone 4s is one of the first devices out there that officially supports the standard that said it s not meant to a standard for syncing files or using bluetooth headsets instead it s meant to connect to low power sensors or home automation solutions but we ll see how things develop 1

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone we have one minor gripe with the card as although you can swap out the mini pci express card for something faster in the future the way gigabyte designed the pci express card means that you re stuck using 150mbps wi-fi as there are only two antennas this translates to no mimo support which is needed to hit wi-fi speeds of 300mbps or more but hopefully this is something we ll see in future revisions the card will ship with the x79-ud5 x79-ud7 and g1.assassin 2 but we re hoping that gigabyte will be selling it on its own as well as it s an easy way to add wi-fi and bluetooth support to any desktop pc 4 direct contact heat pipes first looks cooler master hyper 412 pwm cpu cooler with lga 2011 support source http vr-zone.com/articles/first-looks-cooler-master-hyper-412pwm-cpu-cooler-with-lga-2011-support 13843.html october 31st 2011 view from the top the cooler master hyper 412 pwm is one of the first air coolers with native socket lga 2011 screw-type support to arrive at our test labs we give our readers a glimpse of the new member of our extensive heat sink collection the cooler master hyper 412 pwm cpu cooler weighs 538g wider fin gaps help to maximize cooling performance at low fan speeds 2

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone 120mm sleeve bearing pwm fan rated at 0.37a 2000 rpm and 82.9cfm additional brackets for another 120mm fan and provided thermal paste bolts nuts screws and universal bracket universal 4-corners screw-type mounting system better for even mounting pressure for all modern intel and amd sockets shenzhen the new hardware and electronics shopping mecca source http vr-zone.com/articles/shenzhen the-new-hardware-andelectronics-shopping-mecca 13842.html 3

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october 31st 2011 october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone electronics mobile phone accessories or security products or batteries or led displays and so on going to tokyo or taipei to find fancy electronics if your local electronics mall doesn t have what you want or not at the price you want try shenzhen s huaqiang road first it s likely much cheaper with wide choices and just a budget flight away huaqiang road instead of akihabara for quite a long time now it is far eastern cities that have the largest glitziest and choicest computer and electronics shopping malls around while the tradition started in us and europe long before it s here now that every major city has a full fledge electronics district with multiple large centres covering everything from consumer electronics to computers and components singapore s combined sim lim square tower may look small compared to shanghai s xujiahui or one of seoul s multiple digital complexes not to mention the old champion tokyo akihabara however one particular place is seemingly bound to overtake them all shenzhen the 15-million populated centre of china s electronics industry and of the new 50 million supercity starting from foshan and guangzhou then continuing all the way to hong kong houses thousands of companies manufacturing and increasingly designing everything from ics display panels flash storage to mainboards enclosures and of course whole systems being right at the source means that any shopping for the stuff we want would be quite direct without too many hops and also greater likelihood of finding some unusual stuff while shenzhen and neighbouring dongguan city have the electronics factories and design centres spread across their whole municipalities the focal area of electronics shopping both end user and channel wise is huaqiang north road huaqiangbeilu a long street located in the centre of the city between the luohu lowu and futian cbds the main street as well as its numerous back alleys full of even more electronics related bazaars is served well by two metro lines one of which connects to both the main lowu hk border crossing and the shenzhen airport while the other one with a station in the northern part of the street links to the shekou international ferry port with its direct service to hk airport departure halls bypassing hk immigration and the security so no problems getting there the roughly half a mile of length of huaqiang north road street level between these two metro stations contains about a dozen electronics malls of different sizes with the two largest ones seg plaza and the huaqiang electronic world being million square-ft sized gigantic establishments seg plaza topped up by a 72 storey 354 m tower the rest of the malls along the main street as well as another dozen or so malls in the back alleys focus more on specific areas like only communication 4

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone we focused mostly on seg plaza and the huaqiang electronic world as your exploration adventure should start from there the lower floors are a good point to look at first as it is a heaven for component seekers any kind of pcie connector or memory or fpga or flash chip or funniest wires batteries disk drives even screws you could ever think of have a look the higher floors will normally house the same stuff you ll find on floors 4 5 and 6 of sim lim square in singapore or low yat plaza in kl there are all the mainboards cases monitors enclosures with psus and such you ll find the same high end offerings too just like here the difference many things are cheaper especially things like enclosures and yes monitors a miniitx casing with psu here will cost you some 30 singapore dollars cash and carry while a 24-inch 16:10 format samsung led-backlit super slim lcd monitor will go for around s 250 or so for the parts such as memories 5

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone october 31st 2011 and disks usually the price will be slightly lower than here but there were cases where on the first inquiry some vendors will try to play too smart with high prices note that a little bit of haggling is expected anyway but only that much literally little bit as in able to squeeze prices by maybe 10 on average electronics is quite a challenging business to make high margins anyway thought you ve seen it all about asrock s x79 lineup with the x79 extreme7 think again it seems asrock has another more feature-rich socket lga2011 motherboard in the works which will top off the first wave of asrock s motherboards compatible with core i7 sandy bridge-e lga2011 processors the asrock x79 extreme9 this board is packed to the brim with connectivity options a meatier vrm and better memory expansion compared to the extreme7 thought you ve seen it all about asrock s x79 lineup with the x79 extreme7 think again it seems asrock has another more feature-rich socket lga2011 motherboard in the works which will top off the first wave of asrock s motherboards compatible with core i7 sandy bridge-e lga2011 processors the asrock x79 extreme9 this board is packed to the brim with connectivity options a meatier vrm and better memory expansion compared to the extreme7 either way seg plaza and the huaqiang electronic world will pretty much take you most of one day the other day should be there to check the smaller malls and their oddity of things on offer the places are so huge there is so much on offer and with very special offers for things you d never think you could find whether it s a super custom cellphone enhancement or an odd chip from days gone by or parts for your own home radar this is the next mecca for electronics afficionados asrock x79 extreme9 tops off lineup source http vr-zone.com/articles/asrock-x79-extreme9-tops-offlineup/13841.html the asrock x79 extreme9 uses strong digital pwm power circuitry that draws power from two 8-pin eps connectors the cpu is wired to eight ddr3 dimm slots unlike six on the extreme7 this ensures that each of the four ddr3 memory channels can seat up to two dimms pci-express expansion includes five pci-express 3.0 x16 slots and an x1 slot on one of these slots the bundled asrock game blaster if we re reading it right daughterboard is to be installed the game blaster daughterboard holds high-grade sound core 7.1 channel audio and a gaming-grade network controller we re not entirely sure if the nic and audio controllers are made by killer and creative respectively like on the asus rog thunderbolt 6

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone there is plenty of sata connectivity thanks to the use of as many as three marvell-made 2-port sata 6 gb/s controllers to supplement the x79 pch the x79 itself gives out two sata 6 gb/s and four sata 3 gb/s ports there are as many as four usb 3.0 controllers giving out eight ports four on the rear panel four by headers apart from the network connection on the game blaster card there is one network connection local to this board apart from firewire usb 2.0 and esata 6 gbps expect the asrock x79 extreme9 to be counted among the costliest socket lga2011 motherboards microsoft windows 7 ultimate dsp limited pack nanami edition retails 4 november in japan source http vr-zone.com/articles/microsoft-windows-7-ultimate-dsplimited-pack-nanami-edition-retails-4-november-in-japan/13840.html october 31st 2011 microsoft in japan will be retailing the windows 7 ultimate dsp limited pack nanami edition that comes bundled with a microsoft touch mouse the limited edition touch mouse features a modern design with subtle tones and white and is designed by renowned illustrator designer art director and artist deanne cheuk on top of that this edition also comes with madobe nanami the special character created to promote windows 7 who will provide video guides as well as windows 7 themes three desktop wallpapers and 24 original sounds the windows 7 ultimate dsp limited pack nanami edition is scheduled to retail on 4 november pricing has not been established at press time hp announces touchsmart620 3d edition pc and 2311gt 3d lcd monitor source http vr-zone.com/articles/hp-announces-touchsmart620-3dedition-pc-and-2311gt-3d-lcd-monitor/13839.html october 31st 2011 microsoft in japan will be launching a special limited pack nanami edition of the windows 7 ultimate dsp aside from the operating system the bundle will include the microsoft touch mouse for use with windows 7 and some additional content read on seeing the popularity of 3d technology pc giant hp has recently unveiled their latest consumer portfolio which claim to offer immersive 3d experience to consumers the hp touchsmart 620 3d edition pc features an intuitive and ergonomic design with active shutter 3d glasses while the hp 2311gt 3d lcd monitor provides improved brightness and a flicker-free 3d picture hp touchsmart620 3d edition pc 7

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone cyberlink s powerdvd users can convert their existing 2d content such as photos and videos into 3d content while the tridef ignition game player displays 2d games in 3d the hp 2311gt 3d lcd monitor is available now in apj from a starting price of around us$299 sandy bridge-e and x79 available for pre order source http vr-zone.com/articles/sandy-bridge-e-and-x79-available-forpre-order/13837.html october 31st 2011 the new hp touchsmart620 3d edition pc offers an all-inone hub of fun and entertainment users can create their own 3d videos and pictures with the touchsmart s built-in webcam and share them with family and friends online or via the 23inch diagonal high definition display with the tridef ignition game player it allows users to enjoy playing their favorite games in 3d the touchsmart620 3d edition features an intuitive and ergonomic design can swivel up to 180-degrees and reclines up to 60-degrees and allows users to adjust the display s position for comfortable viewing of 3d content with the active shutter 3d glasses in addition to exclusive hp features like linkup technology and beats audio the hp touchsmart620 3d edition also offers the latest version of the company s proprietary touchsmart software premium graphics and processors the hp touchsmart620 3d edition pc is expected to be available from mid november in apj from a starting price of around us$1,399 hp 2311gt 3d lcd monitor with just over two weeks to the launch intel s sandy bridgee processors are starting to appear in listings with online retailers around the globe what s even more interesting is that you can pick up x79 boards ­ at least in some countries ­ today with several models being available for pre-order including intel s own two models with just over two weeks to the launch intel s sandy bridgee processors are starting to appear in listings with online retailers around the globe what s even more interesting is that you can pick up x79 boards ­ at least in some countries ­ today with several models being available for pre-order including intel s own two models the hp 2311gt 3d lcd monitor can deliver enhanced 3d experience in an ultra-slim 23-inch diagonal led backlit display it features film patterned retarder fpr technology which offers a display with improved brightness and a flickerfree 3d picture bundled with two pairs of passive 3d glasses users will also enjoy software from cyberlink and tridef as well as a 3d movie trailer for the upcoming animated film puss in boots from dreamworks animation skg inc with let s start with the cpu s although we have a feeling that the prices are a little bit off as the core i7-3930k is listed for a steep 5,800 rmb us$912/s$1,135 in china £481.19 us $776/s$695 in the uk and for between 5,000 and 6,000 sek us$784-940/s$975-1,169 in sweden a cpu that should in fact retail for around us$583 unless intel s rumoured list price is going to be a lot higher than anticipated it s worth taking into account things like vat here but that only makes the 8

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone cheapest prices end up somewhere close to intel s expected list price that the ones worth having will be the d stepping models which should have all the kinks worked out but they re not likely to arrive until much later next year corsair tx550m power supply review source http vr-zone.com/articles/corsair-tx550m-power-supplyreview/13836.html october 31st 2011 the core i7-3960x is listed at 7,800 rmb us$1,226/s $1,525 in china £854.39 us$1,379/s$1,715 in the uk and between 8,800 and 11,000 sek us$1,380-1,725/s $1,715-2,145 in sweden which means that the core i7-3960x is at least in most cases a lot closer to the rumoured list price which we re still expecting to be over us$999 which has been intel s standard price point for its extreme edition models in the past it appears that the latest tx-m series which corsair released a few weeks ago will be a great success for the company as the market demand of the new units is very high and enthusiasts seem to embrace the idea of high performance partly modular power supplies it was only a few weeks ago that we had a look at the tx750m 750w unit which offered great overall performance and quality for the price today we are going to examine and review the performance of the tx550m the weakest and most affordable power supply of the series which also comes only in the m modular variant it appears that the latest tx-m series which corsair released a few weeks ago will be a great success for the company as the market demand of the new units is very high and enthusiasts seem to embrace the idea of high performance partly modular power supplies it was only a few weeks ago that we had a look at the tx750m 750w unit which offered great overall performance and quality for the price today we are going to examine and review the performance of the tx550m the weakest and most affordable power supply of the series which also comes only in the m modular variant manufacturer s features and specifications · conforms to the latest atx12v v2.31 and eps 2.92 standards and is backward compatible with the atx12v 2.2 and atx12v 2.01 standards · a dedicated single +12v rail offers simple configuration and maximum compatibility with the latest graphics cards and other components we only found the quad core core i7-3820 listed in china for 3,500 rmb us$550/s$685 a cpu which should be retailing closer to us$300 we re hearing rumours that the core i7-3820 has been delayed further and it shouldn t arrive until the middle of q1 next year now as for the core i7-3930k and 3960x we re hearing that intel will offer a very limited amount of cpu s in the tens of thousands although we can t disclose the exact figure we ve been told the reason for this is that the current consumer sku s are c2 stepping chips and intel is already working on a c3 stepping but we re hearing · an ultra-quiet 140mm double ball-bearing fan delivers excellent airflow with exceptionally low noise levels by varying fan speed in response to temperature · complies with the european union erp directive 2009/125/ec so the power consumption of the whole system in either standby or off mode can be less than 1w when used with a properly configured erp-compliant motherboard · 80 plus® bronze certified delivering up to 85 energy efficiency under real-world load conditions 9

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone · active power factor correction pfc with pf value of 0.99 · universal ac input from 90~264v · over-voltage under-voltage over-current and short circuit protection provide maximum safety for your critical system components · high-quality capacitors provide uncompromised performance and reliability · a five year warranty and lifetime access to corsair s legendary technical support and customer service · safety approvals ctuvus ce cb fcc class b tÜv ccc c-tick while mastercard s contactless payment system was rolled out years ago it was only earlier this year that the company announced the inclusion of sim-based systems in a prepared statement andrew bocking vice president handheld software product management at rim said nfc technology is making smartphones even smarter and the mastercard certification is a significant step forward in helping transform the way we use mobile devices for payments we are working proactively with our carrier partners banks retailers and other industry players and we are excited to push the boundaries of how nfc can enable new mobile experiences for blackberry smartphone users around the world the bold 9900 and curve 9360 are two of the latest smartphones from rim that runs on the blackberry 7 os incorporating built-in nfc hardware this means that a separate radio antenna will transmit the requisite payment details wirelessly to a high-speed reader at checkout the nfc radio can be switched off if desired the certification from mastercard will be a shot in the arm for nfc projects around the world interest in nfc is increasing and mobile devices have been tipped to spur adoption given the ubiquity of phones in both developing and developed countries in singapore ida and seven companies will invest s$40 million into nfc to eventually allow banks and card issuers to connect via a common infrastructure as reported by channel news asia just last week the report mentioned selected models from nokia samsung and rim this presumably includes the bold 9900 and curve 9360 c orsair t5 50 m ac 1000-240v input 12a 50/60hz dc +5v +3.3v output max 25a 25a current max 140w 540w combined wattage total power 550w 50°c ambient temperature +12v 45a 9.6w -12v 0.8a 15w +5vsb 3a blackberry bold 9900 and curve 9360 nfc smartphones gain mastercard paypass cert source http vr-zone.com/articles/blackberry-bold-9900-andcurve-9360-nfc-smartphones-gain-mastercard-paypass-cert/13835.html october 31st 2011 lexmark extends workgroup product line with new colour laser mfps source http vr-zone.com/articles/lexmark-extends-workgroup-productline-with-new-colour-laser-mfps/13834.html october 31st 2011 the blackberry bold 9900 and blackberry curve 9360 have become the first sim-based smartphones to earn the mastercard paypass certification this means that mastercard is confident that the two mobile devices meet its functionality interoperability and security requirements to be certified as paypass-approved devices issuing banks are hence allowed to assign a paypass account to the sim cards used in the two smartphones to work with the nfc-based or near field communication payment system lexmark has introduced two new colour laser multifunction printers mfps targeted at the rapidly growing smes and mid-sized workgroup segment the company says the lexmark x548de and x548dte colour laser mfps delivers various high performance capabilities and advanced security features representative of more costly devices in the market but with a smaller footprint and at an affordable price point 10

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october 31st 2011 october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone lexmark has introduced two new colour laser multifunction printers mfps targeted at the rapidly growing smes and mid-sized workgroup segment the company says the lexmark x548de and x548dte colour laser mfps delivers various high performance capabilities and advanced security features representative of more costly devices in the market but with a smaller footprint and at an affordable price point the introduction of the x548 smart mfps strengthens lexmark s position in a strategic growth area for our company workgroup colour laser devices said marty canning lexmark executive vice president and president of imaging solutions and services we are committed to driving innovative disruptive a4 technology with smart devices customisable with industry-leading software and tailored solutions to make our business customers more productive both colour laser printers come with a large 7-inch colour touch screen that allows for intuitive navigation to access work?ow solutions and shortcuts moreover pre-loaded applications can be customised with tailored workflows based on unique business needs advanced scanning capabilities includes the ability to scan to e-mail scan to ftp scan to fax scan to network as well as scanning to a flash drive plugged into a front usb port the duplex automatic document feeder allows for duplex colourscanning with a 50-sheet input capacity on the security front both laser printers support a variety of user authentication and authorization controls while securityaudit logging helps tracks and identi?es security risks a step up from the lexmark x548de base model the lexmark x548dte adds an internal hard disk drive which enables extra features as well as a 650-sheet duo drawer for additional media handling capabilities sensitive data on the hard disk drive of the x548dte is protected by means of advanced hard disk encryption the lexmark x548de sg$2,449 and lexmark x548dte sg$3,059 are available for sale from authorised lexmark business partners all prices above exclude gst and other prevailing taxes ecs elitegroup computer systems is a taiwanese electronics firm synonymous with entry level offerings or being the motherboard oem for brands like hp and ibm in our labs today is their latest offering ­ the x79r-ax black extreme boasting a whopping 12 sata ports dual lan esata bluetooth/wireless lan connectivity and four pcie x16 slots for multi-gpu extravagance we see if it has what it takes to be the x79 motherboard of choice box front view with a cloth string carrying handle to take it from the shops box behind this is one of the most colourful and vibrant boxes we have in our lab first looks ecs x79r-ax black extreme the feature filled x79 dark horse source http vr-zone.com/articles/first-looks-ecs-x79r-ax-black-extreme-the-feature-filled-x79-dark-horse/13832.html 11

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone ecs x79r-ax black extreme motherboard front view passive cooling and no flamboyant heatpipes find out more on the next page motherboard back view msi gt780r gaming notebook review taking the battlefield on the road source http vr-zone.com/articles/msi-gt780r-gaming-notebook-review-taking-the-battlefield-on-the-road/13794.html october 31st 2011 the msi gt780r was first seen at computex 2011 and is a 17inch full hd gaming powerhouse equipped with intel sandy bridge quad core nvidia gtx560m for graphics impressive 1.5 terabytes of speedy raid-0 storage and multi-colour led backlighted steelseries keyboard we check out the firepower of this mobile tank and take it for a spin in battlefield 3 i/o panel a nifty clear cmos button 2 esata 6gbps from a asmedia asm1061 bluetooth v2.1+edr/150mbps wifi from atheros ar9271l 4 superspeed usb 3.0 from a ti tusb7340 2 gigabit lan ports from realtek rtl8111e controllers and 7.1+2 channel audio from a realtek alc892 front of box laptop specifications 12

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone exterior of the msi gt780r 17-inch 1920x1080 16:9 led display manuals warranty and driver cd 7600mah 87wh lithum ion battery brushed metal cover 150w power adapter by delta electronics led indicators for charging harddisk activity and others 13

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone excellent dynaudio speakers on both sides hotkeys and a large power button 2 usb 2.0 on the right side our review unit came with a dvd super multi drive from left to right kensington lock charger hole gigabit ethernet port analog vga esata and hdmi port obligatory stickers from left to right a large vent for cooling 2 usb 3.0 ports card reader 1 usb 2.0 port and 7.1 channel audio ports 30fps@720p camera with a array mic shortened right-shift key mashed together with the arrow keys don t like this we d rather they do away with the numpad and have larger keys 14

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october 31st 2011 published by vr-zone with the usual wasd/space/ctrl/shift keyboard game assignment the touchpad can get accidentally actuated by the user s hand fortunately msi has included a nifty touchpad disable button pictures of lg prada k2 leaked source http vr-zone.com/articles/pictures-of-lg-prada-k2leaked/13830.html october 31st 2011 the collaboration between lg and prada started in 2006 with the first lg prada ke850 launched in 2007 and in 2009 in singapore we saw the lg prada ii kf900 and it looks like the time has come once more as pictures of the new lg prada k2 have been leaked online provided software to change keyboard lighting colors and intensity 15

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