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october 5th 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 amd fx-6100 listed in e-tailer bundles source http vr-zone.com/articles/amd-fx-6100-listed-in-e-tailerbundles/13690.html october 5th 2011 olympus pen e-p3 review this pen is mightier than your compact camera source http vr-zone.com/articles/olympus-pen-e-p3-review-this-pen-ismightier-than-your-compact-camera/13611.html october 5th 2011 one of the top american e-tailers tigerdirect has revealed amd s upcoming fx-6100 as part of several bundles ranging from motherboard to full system bundles the price for the fx-6100 is listed as $189 not surprisingly the fx-6100 is not listed individually one of the top american e-tailers tigerdirect has revealed amd s upcoming fx-6100 as part of several bundles ranging from motherboard to full system bundles the price for the fx-6100 is listed as $189 not surprisingly the fx-6100 is not listed individually the olympus pen e-p3 is one of the three cameras that were announced in singapore at an event at end june this year and boasts the world s fastest autofocusing af via frequency acceleration sensor af system and a lens incorporating the msc movie and still compatible mechanism in this review vr-zone have a hands-on the new micro four-thirds camera and see if it shoots as well as it looks interestingly some bundles such as msi 990fx fx-6100 claim to be shipping as early as within 24 hours however the asus sabertooth fx-6100 bundle has a more realistic time frame of 7-21 days since there is no individual listing there are no detailed specifications mentioned for fx-6100 however the heading itself reveals a 3.3 ghz base clock 14mb total cache and a 95w tdp all in accordance with reports thus far of course these bundle publications are likely to be in breach of ndas and may be taken down from the website soon till then you can review a list of fx-6100 bundles here when olympus launched their first pen series e-p1 micro four-thirds digital camera in 2009 it garnered many favorable reviews and based on the success of their new line of micro four-third products the camera manufacturer has unveiled the olympus pen e-p3 which is one of the latest models in the pen series announced this year the e-p3 resembles its elder siblings the e-p2 and e-p1 though it comes with few improvements overall the camera claims to incorporate the world s fastest autofocusing achieved with the fast frequency acceleration sensor af system and features 12.3-megapixel high speed live mos sensor with 1080i full high definition movie compatibility and high iso 12,800 sensitivity here s a look at the e-p3 specification 1

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone lens mount effective pixels image stabilizer monitor dust reduction lens system live mos sensor magnification ratio filter array af system metering system metering range memory aspect ratio recording format file format recording image size movie recording file size scene select ae iso sensitivity preset white balance olympus e-p3 micro four thirds mount 12.3 million pixels built in imager shift image stabilizer 3-inch oled touchscreen display supersonic wave filter dust reduction system for image sensor micro four thirds interchangeable high speed live mos sensor x5 x7 x10 default x14 primary color filter rgb image contrast detection af system af assist ttl image sensor metering system ev 0 20 sd memory card sdhc sdxc uhs-i compatible eye-fi 1.33 4:3 dcf dpof compatible/exif print image matching iii raw 12-bit lossless compressopm jpeg rawjpeg mpo 3d still [raw 4032x3024 pixels [jpeg 4032x3024 pixels 640x480 pixels avchd avi motion jpg avchd max 4gb avi motion-jpeg max 2gb portrait e-portrait landscape landscape portrait macro sport night scene night portrait children high key low key 3d dis mode nature macro candle sunset document panorama fireworks beach snow fisheye conv wide conv macro conv auto iso 200 12800 customizable default 200 1600 6 settings 3000k 7500k lamp 3000k fluorescent 4000k daylight 5300k flash 5500k cloudy 6000k shade 7500k drive mode sequential shoot speed built-in flash input/output battery dimensions weight single-frame shooting sequential shooting selftimer approximately 3 frames sec available usb2.0 mini hdmi video-out dedicated multiconnector video ntsc/pal selectable optional remote cable rmuc1 usb bls-1/bls-5 lithium-ion battery included 122x69.1x34.3 excluding protrusions 369g including battery and memory card from idf retina quality 2560x1600 hd panels on ivy bridge ultrabooks source http vr-zone.com/articles/from-idf-retina-quality-2560x1600-hdpanels-on-ivy-bridge-ultrabooks/13689.html october 5th 2011 with 2560x1400 retina displays expected on ivy bridge ultrabooks next year even the 2048x1536 ipad 3 may not have the portable hi-res lead for long but why not 16:10 2560x1600 then instead makes it easier to see the photographs and documents in real proportion during the past month s idf there were many interesting disclosures and even strategic directions unveiled especially when it comes to intel s mobile product expansion ultrabooks the new category of ultraslim very light full function notebook pcs that offer real pc experience at neartablet size and weight were the focus there in particular their displays what about the displays all those beautiful slim ultrabooks on the show floor had typically a 13-inch class 1366x768 hd ready display yes the same useless 16:9 moviescreen with less vertical real estate than any 5 year old notebook how will that compare with 10 inch class ipad 3 2048x1536 display with not only 3x the pixel count but also much more useful 4:3 aspect ratio enter retina quality ultrabooks early next year when ivy bridge ultrabook models arrive expect to see 2560x1440 13.3 inch displays just some 3 mm thick to satisfy the system thickness requirements take a look at the slides 2

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone ac ryan introduces veolo digital home entertainment device source http vr-zone.com/articles/ac-ryan-introduces-veolo-digital-homeentertainment-device/13688.html october 5th 2011 ac ryan has unveiled the veolo smart android hub that claims to offer apps internet and media streamer on your tv at the comfort of your home the veolo is equipped with arm cortex a9 1ghz processor onboard 512mb ddr3 and is based on google android 2.2 froyo mobile operating system ac ryan has launched veolo digital home entertainment device that claims to offer apps internet and a media streamer all on your tv.the veolo is based on the google android 2.2 froyo mobile operating system and brings enhanced experience including casual games and social media the built-in web browser and java support allow users to view flash websites and stream videos on tv you can also stream your library of movies music and pictures in full high definition hd with 1gigabit wired lan in addition the device is equipped with arm cortex a9 1ghz processor onboard 512mb ddr3 memory and offers built-in wireless 802.11 b/g/n lan you can access the functionality of a keyboard and mouse wireless motion controller with the bundled 3-in-1 remote control the ac ryan veolo will retail in november 2011 and end october in singapore at a suggested retail price of s $329 now a 2560x1440 ultrabook would have a lot of pixels over 3 and a half million to be precise but the wide moviescreen factor would leave many of those unused even if editing typical photos or documents or web pages having a 2560x1600 full 4 mpixel screen at 16:10 would here enable not just better usability but also more beneficial tablet configuration which some ultrabooks will offer a 16:9 tablet screen is just too elongated except for angry birds playing or movie file watching and since these are premium ultrabooks the 5 or so that stingy panel vendors save by glass cutting is not worth the trouble on such top end machines either way except this stuff in about six months from now too arctic cooling released two new vga coolers source http vr-zone.com/articles/arctic-cooling-released-two-new-vgacoolers/13687.html october 5th 2011 3

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone arctic cooling the well known manufacturer from switzerland today released two new vga coolers aiming at different segments of the market the first cooler baptized accelero twin turbo 6990 is a very powerful dual fan cooler designed especially for the amd radeon hd 6990 the second product the accelero s1 plus is a universal passive cooler read on for details arctic cooling the well known manufacturer from switzerland today released two new vga coolers aiming at different segments of the market the first cooler baptized accelero twin turbo 6990 is a very powerful dual fan cooler designed especially for the amd radeon hd 6990 the second product the accelero s1 plus is a universal passive cooler the company claims that their new accelero twin turbo 6990 is the most powerful vga cooler ever with two 120mm pwm controlled quiet fans and a cooling capacity of 400w it certainly seems to be a very impressive product on the other hand the accelero s1 plus is an entirely passive vga cooler designed for maximum compatibility and absolute silence of course the latter is obvious since there are no fans or any moving parts at all while arctic cooling claims that this cooler can be mounted on over 80 different models of midrange to high-end cards the cooler appears to be a good value at 49.95 usd apple launches the iphone 4s source http vr-zone.com/articles/apple-launches-theiphone-4s/13686.html october 5th 2011 this cooler has been designed as a unique solution for the newest amd radeon hd 6990 vga card obviously aiming towards both hardcore overclockers and users who found the stock cooling solution too loud finally arctic cooling also designed the most expensive vga cooler in history with the accelero twin turbo 6990 retailing for 149.95 usd the iphone 4s has finally landed and it seems like most of the changes has taken place on the inside and as expected apple updated it with the same apple a5 processor as the ipad 2 apple claims up to twice the performance and up to seven times faster graphics compared to the iphone 4 the iphone 4s has finally landed and it seems like most of the changes has taken place on the inside and as expected apple updated it with the same apple a5 processor as the ipad 2 apple claims up to twice the performance and up to seven times faster graphics compared to the iphone 4 by now you ve probably figured out that performance should be slightly faster than the ipad 2 thanks to the slightly lower resolution screen 960x640 vs 1024x768 apple is touting the iphone 4s as a great gaming device thanks to the powervr sgx543mp2 graphics core from imagination technologies 4

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone although once again it should be similar to the ipad 2 in terms of graphics performance apple claims up to 8h 3g talk time or 14h 2g talk time alternatively 6h of web browsing over 3g or 9h over wi-fi it s also meant to do either 10h of video playback or 40h of music playback that s a slight improvement over the iphone 4 in terms of 3g talk time but slightly worse for wi-fi web browsing on the plus side apple has added support for 14.4mbps hsdpa the iphone 4 supports 7.2mbps although the hsupa speed remains the same at 5.8mbps for those in cdma countries the really good news is that the iphone 4s is what is generally referred to as a world phone as in it works on both cdma and gsm/wcdma networks the camera has been boosted from 5megapixels of the iphone 4 to 8megapixles for the iphone 5 the new cmos sensor has backside illumination which apple claims can capture 73 percent more light furthermore the new camera captures pictures 33 percent faster and it has a new hybrid ir filter that s said to offer better colour accuracy and better colour uniformity apple has also kitted out the camera with a new f/2.4 lens with five lens elements that the company claims is 30 percent sharper add to this a new image signal processor in the a5 soc that adds face detection and 26 percent improved white balance and a 1.1 second time to first shot and 0.5 second shot to shot and you re looking at a pretty serious phone snapper and voice command feature that allows you to give voice commands to your phone as to how well this will work for non-native speakers or those with a strong accent or dialect is yet to be seen and we can imagine the amount of problems siri will suffer from siri will work with uk us and australian english as well as french and german at launch but apple is promising to add more languages over time there s no doubt apple has spent a lot of resources on developing siri it s just that every single voice command or speech recognition system we ve ever used over the year has proven to have some kind of issues siri offers a lot of advanced features that we haven t seen from other voice command programs and it s clear that apple is taking advantage of the cpu power on offer from the a5 soc things like reminder can be set to a specific location and siri remember who specific people are we d presume that there s something of a learning curve here where some things have to be set up manually before siri can do some of the tasks on offer but at least some of the functionality appears to be pretty handy that s about it for the iphone 4s it ll be available in black or white and it ll of course run ios 5 the 16gb model is going for us$199 the 32gb for us$299 and a much hoped for 64gb version for us$399 at the same time the 8gb iphone 3gs is now available for free while there s a new 8gb iphone 4 available for us$99 all prices includes a two year contract tie-in of course the iphone 4s will be available for pre-order on october 7th with initial availability in the us canada australia the uk france germany and japan on the 14th with another 22 countries including singapore added on the 28th and another 70 countries before the end of the year it seems like the iphone 5 rumours weren t true after all for more detailed coverage from the event we suggest you hit up engadget fujitsu launches its own version of an ultrabook source http vr-zone.com/articles/fujitsu-launches-its-own-version-of-anultrabook/13685.html october 5th 2011 apple has finally caught up with the competition but not overtaken them by adding 1080p video recording support to the iphone 4s as well as video stabilization electronic we guess and something the company calls temporal noise reduction finally apple added support for airplay mirroring which means that you can play games on the big screen although we re not sure how popular this feature would be as although the iphone has some of the best handheld games out there we doubt that they ll look good on a 1080p screen the most talked about feature ahead of the launch was apple s new voice assistant and it s called siri it s a speech recognition in as much as intel s ultrabooks have their merits we can t help but wonder why anyone would get over something like say the new fujitsu lifebook sh76/e as here we have an ultra-light 13.3-inch notebook with a full fat cpu and a 6-cell battery it s not the only one of its kind either as toshiba has been offering a similar machine for quite some time now in the shape of its portege r830 and older r730 in as much as intel s ultrabooks have their merits we can t help but wonder why anyone would get over something like 5

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone say the new fujitsu lifebook sh76/e as here we have an ultra-light 13.3-inch notebook with a full fat cpu and a 6-cell battery it s not the only one of its kind either as toshiba has been offering a similar machine for quite some time now in the shape of its portege r830 and older r730 the lifebook sh76/e weighs in at a mere 1.34kg that s about the same weight as acer s new ultrabook what we didn t mention is that this is with the optical drive fitted slide it out and replace it with a weigh saver and the lifebook sh76/e is a mere 1.22kg that s lighter than many netbooks adding a bit of extra weight is a secondary 27w battery pack that can also be fitted in lieu of the optical drive and combined with the standard 72wh 6-cell battery pack fujitsu claims 18.2h battery life although the standard battery is said to be good for up to 13.7h of usage without the optical drive installed luxa2 announces its iphone 5 cases ahead of apple s launch source http vr-zone.com/articles/luxa2-announces-its-iphone-5-casesahead-of-apple-s-launch/13684.html october 5th 2011 we re not sure this was the smartest move in history but luxa2 a division of thermaltake has sent out its press release about its new iphone 5 cases showing off a total of 13 different designs although the images doesn t give away too much in terms of details there s one front shot of a dummy unit which suggests that apple decided to keep the round button for at least one of its rumoured two new models that are expected to launch later today us time we re not sure this was the smartest move in history but luxa2 a division of thermaltake has sent out its press release about its new iphone 5 cases showing off a total of 13 different designs although the images doesn t give away too much in terms of details there s one front shot of a dummy unit which suggests that apple decided to keep the round button for at least one of its rumoured two new models that are expected to launch later today us time if nothing else it s a great way of getting some free publicity as iphone s cases are a dime a dozen these days and although luxa2 has come up with a couple of slightly unusual looking cases such as a wooden one and a braided one the other are fairly generic in terms of look although six models appear to the made of clear plastic with various patterns this pretty much blows away the ultrabooks in terms of battery life and we haven t even gotten to the feautres for starters the lifebook sh76/e comes with a core i5-2520m cpu which is clocked at 2.5ghz but which will turbo all the way up to 3.2ghz there s space for a pair of so-dimms and up to 8gb of ram can be fitted although it ships with 4gb as standard storage comes in the same of a 128gb msata ssd and this is partly what helps to keep the weight down but then again many ultrabooks are expected to ship with msata ssd s connectivity isn t bad either as fujitsu has managed to fit a pair of usb 2.0 ports a single usb 3.0 port a d-sub connector an hdmi port a gigabit ethernet port an sd card slot a single audio jack and even an expresscard/34 slot add to that 802.11b/g/n wi-fi and optional wimax support and this is far more impressive than your average ultrabook we should also mention that the display has a typical notebook resolution of 1366x768 so ok the lifebook sh76/e might not be quite as thin as the ultrabooks at 16.6mm at its thinnest and 23.2mm at its thickest but we re quite happy to live with that slightly thicker profile considering all the extra features there s only one problem the asking price as the lifebook sh76/e will hit retail in japan later this month for 180,000 yen s$3,075/us $2,345 about twice the price of acer s ultrabook 6

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone lg launches optimus lte first 4g hd smartphone in korea source http vr-zone.com/articles/lg-launches-optimus-lte-first-4g-hdsmartphone-in-korea/13683.html october 5th 2011 if the dummy fitted to the cases turns out to be anything like the real deal which we d expect it to be this close to launch then we re back to a metal back with a plastic apple logo the logo is used to improve the antenna signals which would be blocked by the metal back otherwise the camera doesn t appear to have changed in any significant way as far as the design is concerned but that s about as much as we can tell from the pictures lg korea has announced the launch of their new optimus lte smartphone which claims to be the first mobile device in the country to lead long term evolution lte with high definition ips display technology unfortunately no word as to when this phone will be available outside korea though the volume buttons have changed into a slim line rocker design and it appears as if the lock switch has been moved right next to the camera on the opposite side of the volume rocker as far as the front of the phone is concerned well it doesn t look that different but it s possible that apple has supplied the case manufacturers with dummy units that don t give away the rumoured front re-design make what you want of this but the wait is almost over lg korea has announced the launch of optimus lte which claims to be the first mobile device in the country to offer 4g connectivity with the highest resolution ips display available on a smartphone the lg optimus lte features a brilliant 4.5-inch true hd ips display which claims to provide higher resolution brightness and clarity showing natural colors it is equipped with a 1.5ghz dual-core processor runs android 2.3 gingerbread mobile operating system and comes with a high capacity 1,830 mah battery on top of that the smartphone also offers seamless content sharing through 7

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone hdmi and dlna availability of the lg optimus lte in markets outside of korea has not been confirmed 5megapixel auto focus camera the only novel feature here is interchangeable back covers a typical nokia feature the ace on the other hand will be nokia s flagship phone but we have a hard time getting excited about a single core 1.4ghz windows phone 7 device even though nokia is said to be kitting it out with a 4.3-inch amoled display and an 8megapixel carl zeiss branded camera with auto focus it s also said to have 16gb of storage a 1,800mah battery and hspa connectivity nokia will of course launch all of its upcoming windows phone 7 devices with the mango release of the os we can t but feel a little bit sorry for nokia as its new handsets will be running last year s hardware by the they arrive in quantity in the market it s less than three months left of this year and the handsets aren t expect to launch at the earliest towards the end of this month nokia world 2011 has been suggested as a potential launch platform and that takes places on the 26th and 27th of october in london at this rate nokia is willingly giving away its market share to its competitors as the company simply doesn t have competitive products unless of course you only count other windows phone 7 handsets that is geforce 600 branding leaked in 285 beta drivers source http vr-zone.com/articles/geforce-600-branding-leaked-in-285beta-drivers/13682.html october 5th 2011 in the latest unreleased 285 beta drivers the expected geforce 600 branding has surfaced the marketing names leaked are nvidia geforce 610m and nvidia geforce gt 630m the geforce 610m is likely to be an entry level gpu while the geforce gt 630m could very well be a gk107 sku in the latest unreleased 285 beta drivers the expected geforce 600 branding has surfaced the marketing names leaked are nvidia geforce 610m and nvidia geforce gt 630m the geforce 610m is likely to be an entry level gpu while the geforce gt 630m could very well be a gk107 sku between gk107 news and these leaks it seems evident that nvidia is concentrating on small mobile gpus to debut it s next-gen line of gpus nokia ace and sabre specs leak source http vr-zone.com/articles/nokia-ace-and-sabre-specsleak/13681.html october 5th 2011 amd and intel s upcoming platforms get certified by the pci-sig source http vr-zone.com/articles/amd-and-intel-s-upcoming-platformsget-certified-by-the-pci-sig/13680.html october 5th 2011 details of nokia s upcoming windows phone 7 handsets are starting to appear if we re to believe the rumours as with every other windows phone handset maker nokia seems to be limited to the same qualcomm soc and in this case it s the msm8x55 depending on cdma/umts support even though the rumours are only mentioning a 1.4ghz processor without specifying the model details of nokia s upcoming windows phone 7 handsets are starting to appear if we re to believe the rumours as with every other windows phone handset maker nokia seems to be limited to the same qualcomm soc and in this case it s the msm8x55 depending on cdma/umts support even though the rumours are only mentioning a 1.4ghz processor without specifying the model the sabre appears to be similar to the already leaked searay as both handsets are said to feature a 3.7-inch display although with sabre being the lower-end handset it gets to make do with a standard lcd display over the amoled display fitted in the searay sabre is also said to feature 8gb of internal storage 25gb of free skydrive storage and a we don t generally browse the pci-sig s website but we happened upon some interesting information somewhat by accident as we were searching for something unrelated it seems like the pci-sig has certified not only amd s upcoming trinity apu but also intel s upcoming 2012 desktop and mobile platforms although it s not what you think we don t generally browse the pci-sig s website but we happened upon some interesting information somewhat by accident as we were searching for something unrelated it seems like the pci-sig has certified not only amd s upcoming trinity apu but also intel s upcoming 2012 desktop and mobile platforms although it s not what you think the certification list covers pci express 2.0 compliant hardware and both amd s trinity apu with associated reference platform and intel s maho bay and chief river motherboard platforms have passed certification does this mean we won t see pci express 3.0 support from either company next year well no it just means that both platforms are compliant with the current standards and that they can operate at speeds of 5gt/s or gb/s if you prefer 8

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone we should also mention that intel s sandy bridge-e and ivy bridge cpu s are as yet not on the list and in case of all four listed products it s only the x16 slot that has been tested according to the slim information provided on the pci-sig website however looking at the list it doesn t look entirely complete as there are several current products missing from the list in related news asus has finally announced its first pci express 3.0 enabled motherboards vr-zone has kept out of the bickering that s been going on between the various motherboard manufacturers with regards to gen 3 support or not but we would just like to highlight the fact here that asus is making similar claims to gigabyte with regards to compatibility and has a list of older p67 h67 and h61 motherboards alongside most of its z68 boards the only bad news is that owners of the maximus iv extreme-z won t be getting gen 3 support although asus claims that the board will work with ivy bridge cpus for the full list of supported motherboards head over to the asus website the ultrabook was the most talk-about subject at the computex 2011 computer expo in taiwan this year and a number ofmanufacturers also took the opportunity to launch their ultrabook at the recent intel developer forum idf 2011 before we proceed let s look at what is an ultrabook at the computex 2011 the chip giant proposed the idea of making the notebook pc more portable and user-friendly with improved endurance to meet the needs of users for at least a day but most importantly the price would have to be below us$1,000 the acer aspire s3 from taiwan claims to be the first ultrabook on the market and it was officially launched on 28 september with announced availability details specifications and pricing listed below for your reference specifications aspire aspire s3-951-2464g33iss01 s3-951-2464g23iss02 intel core intel core i5-2467m 1.6ghz i5-2467m 1.6ghz turbo boost turbo boost 2.3ghz 2.3ghz intel um67 chipset intel um67 chipset 13.3 inch 13.3-inch 1366x 1366x768 16:9 768 ddr3 4gb x 1 ddr3 4gb x 1 320gb 7mm sata 240gb ssd hdd 20gb ssd 3 cell 6 hours 3 cell 7 hours usb hdmi usb hdmi memory card memory card reader reader 802.11 b g n 802.11 b g n bluetooth 4.0 bluetooth 4.0 1.3-megapixel 1.3-megapixel 1.33kg 4th gen 1.33kg 4th gen dolby digital dolby digital 13mm 13mm acer aspire s3 ultrabook review source http vr-zone.com/articles/acer-aspire-s3-ultrabookreview/13679.html october 5th 2011 processor the ultrabook is a new category of thin and lightweight ultraportable laptop defined by intel that are equipped with new sandy bridge/ivy bridge based consumer ultra-low voltage culv intel processors integrated graphics and ssd storage taiwanese manufacturer acer has recently launched their aspire s3 ultrabook in taipei and vr-zone managed to get one in for review chipset display memory storage battery ports wireless bluetooth webcam others 9

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone pricing aspire aspire s3-951-2464g33iss01 s3-951-2464g23iss02 nt$34,900 nt approx us$1,140 $44,900 approx us$1,466 1000hz ultrapolling 1ms response time 5 independently programmable hyperesponse buttons on-the-fly sensitivity adjustments 60 ­ 120 inches per second and 15g of acceleration zero-acoustic razer gaming grade ultraslick mouse feet gold-plated usb connector 7-ft lightweight braided fiber cable approx size in mm 128l x 70w x 42.5h razer unveils transformers 3 gaming peripherals with movie dvd/blu-ray release source http vr-zone.com/articles/razer-unveils-transformers-3-gamingperipherals-with-movie-dvdblu-ray-release/13678.html october 5th 2011 besides the transformers 3 dvd/blu-ray movie release you can now own a piece of limited edition transformers 3 gaming peripheral from razer razer with license from hasbro has unveiled their new range of transformers 3 gaming peripherals sandy bridge-e should hit c2 stepping after launch source http vr-zone.com/articles/sandy-bridge-e-should-hit-c2-steppingafter-launch/13677.html october 5th 2011 we knew that intel s sandy bridge-e chips were big and complicated to make but what we didn t expect was that intel was going to continuously keep running into problems the current c1 stepping is apparently having problems with vtd not a major issue for most consumers maybe but it s a huge problem when it comes to xeon chips and as such intel is working on the c2 stepping to fix this errata razer under license from hasbro has unleashed a unique transformers 3 dark of the moon collector s edition product line now available on dvd and blu-ray the four uniquely designed razer deathadder mice in the form of optimus prime bumblebee megatron and shockwave claim to offer unparalleled gaming performance also included in the product line is a dual-sided razer vespula mouse mat whereby one side represents the autobots with a speedenhancing surface and the other the decepticons with a control-enhancing surface you can showcase your favored allegiance as you annihilate opponents with your preferred style of swiping an exclusive laptop case designed by razer is also available in four iconic transformers brand colors delivering a stylish and eye-catching storage solution price us$59.99 availability north america retail and razerzone.com ­ available now rest of the world ­ q4 2011 product features ergonomic right-handed design 3500dpi razer precision 3.5g infrared sensor we knew that intel s sandy bridge-e chips were big and complicated to make but what we didn t expect was that intel was going to continuously keep running into problems the current c1 stepping is apparently having problems with vtd not a major issue for most consumers maybe but it s a huge problem when it comes to xeon chips and as such intel is working on the c2 stepping to fix this errata the only good news here for intel if you look at that way is that its current extreme edition cpu s don t support vt-d neither does the sandy bridge k-sku cpu s so as far as the consumer platform is concerned it looks like there won t be any further delays but the initial batch should be c1 stepping rather than c2 the c1 stepping should be in production by now or by the latest by next week although we don t know when intel will kick off production of the c2 stepping but it s very possible it won t be until next year as qualification samples of the c2 stepping isn t expected until the very end of the year as we ve mentioned before intel will only certify the waimea bay platform for pci express 2.0 at launch due to the fact that there aren t enough third party cards to test with some pci 10

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone express 3.0 devices are still likely to work but intel doesn t guarantee compatibility this makes us wonder if the current 6-series motherboard with gen 3 switches will actually work properly once cards and more importantly ivy bridge cpu s arrive we also have some good news for those wanting to continue to use windows xp the waimea bay platform will be compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of windows xp although intel won t be providing rapid storage drivers for the 32bit version of xp and as such the standard windows drivers will be handling things the platform will also be supporting windows 8 once microsoft launches it we can t but feel sorry for the motherboard manufacturers as well as we re hearing that intel has jacked the price of the x79 chipset up by 20 percent compared to the x58 chipset which puts the x79 chipset somewhere in the us$70 region this is of course the list price and with various discounts and what not intel might very well be selling it for far less however we re looking at a chipset that offers nothing new over the x58 chipset in terms of features and it s the size of any of the 6-series chipsets i.e it should be cheaper to manufacture than the x58 chipset which consists of the i/o hub and the ich10r now if there only was some competition come up with this backwards solution but it really looks like just yet another artificial limitation that is likely to upset consumers we ve also got full details with regards to the graphics resolutions that are supported as well as confirmation of the clock speeds the n2800 and d2700 has the gpu clocked at 640mhz while the n2600 and d2500 gets to make do with a 400mhz gpu clock although the render clock is running at a slower 200mhz for all models all four cpus support edp/displayport hdmi 1.3a ldvs single channel and d-sub/analogue display connectivity however when it comes to supported resolutions things get complicated for the case of simplicity we ve included the table provided by intel but it s very clear that the mobile versions are artificially held back when it comes to the display resolution of the netbook/notebook although considering most notebook displays have a resolution of 1366x768 from 11.6 to 15.6-inches this isn t a huge issue what is strange though is the displayport limitation for external displays for the n-series cpus and you re better off using hdmi in this case note that only two displays can be used simultaneously intel reveals atom n2x00series details ahead of launch source http vr-zone.com/articles/intel-reveals-atom-n2x00-seriesdetails-ahead-of-launch/13675.html october 5th 2011 there isn t much left in terms of secrets when it comes to intel s upcoming n2x00-series of mobile atom processors but what we didn t already know intel has now managed to unveil itself thanks to a datasheet that the company published ahead of the cpu launch it s a simple mistake as the same datasheet covers the atom d2x00-series and although the two cpu families are very similar there are some differences beyond the mobile and desktop aspects there isn t much left in terms of secrets when it comes to intel s upcoming n2x00-series of mobile atom processors but what we didn t already know intel has now managed to unveil itself thanks to a datasheet that the company published ahead of the cpu launch it s a simple mistake as the same datasheet covers the atom d2x00-series and although the two cpu families are very similar there are some differences beyond the mobile and desktop aspects for starters we d missed he fact that the atom n2600 only supports 2gb of ram whereas the n2800 happily accepts 4gb just like its desktop counterparts on top of that the n2600 only supports a single dimm while the other three atom models happily take two we re not sure why intel has one of the most important aspects of the new atom processors is hardware video decode support and intel has implemented support for mpeg2 wmv h.264 and vc-1 at either 720p60m 1080i60 or 1080p24 for videos encoded at up to 20mbps sadly there s no support for mpeg4 or rather mpeg4 part 2 as h.264 is mpeg4 part 10 so divx and similar formats are still lacking hardware decoding in its wisdom or rather lack thereof intel won t be offering hardware decode for flash from version 11.0 and onwards in other words this is not a platform for the future in as much as the new atom platform is a huge upgrade in many ways we can t help but feel disappointed about how little intel really has added it s very clear that intel is scared that its atom platforms will eat away market share from its celeron and pentium branded processors amd s only battle in this market space is to gain consumer approval as its entry level fusion platform with the e and c-series apu s are easily outperforming intel s atom processors where it matters for most consumers we doubt that intel will have a hard sell but we don t think its atom processors will have the same market share as in the past as the platform just isn t competitive any more 11

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone corsair h100 water cooler review source http vr-zone.com/articles/corsair-h100-water-coolerreview/13674.html october 5th 2011 even though computer water cooling started off about fifteen years ago it was not until a couple of years ago when companies first released closed loop ready to run liquid based coolers for pc components one of the first companies which released such a liquid based cooler a couple of years ago was corsair today we are going to have a look at the latest and largest liquid based cpu cooler corsair ever released the hydro series h100 the h100 features a dual fan radiator and corsair boasts that the cooler can deliver extreme performance we will find out if that claim is true in this review even though computer water cooling started off about fifteen years ago it was not until a couple of years ago when companies first released closed loop ready to run liquid based coolers for pc components one of the first companies which released such a liquid based cooler a couple of years ago was corsair today we are going to have a look at the latest and largest liquid based cpu cooler corsair ever released the hydro series h100 the h100 features a dual fan radiator and corsair boasts that the cooler can deliver extreme performance we will find out if that claim is true in this review asrock z68 extreme7 gen3 review source http vr-zone.com/articles/asrock-z68-extreme7-gen3review/13629.html october 5th 2011 asrock was established in 2002 to compete against tier 2 motherboard makers like dfi abit and ecs traditionally many think of asrock as asus s entry level board maker as asus is thought of as catering to the high-end market segment while things aren t so clear anymore as to who owns who it is pretty much accepted that asrock isn t owned by asus any longer but they still seem to buy in bulk and thus we see a lot of the same parts used even parts that are exclusively made for asus in fact after asus split with pegatron pegatron used asrock to compete against asus to make things even stranger it seems like asrock is still using some of asus s r&d foundries as well as buying in bulk with them while officially they are not the same company they sure do have many common similarities it seems that perhaps asus didn t know or maybe wanted asrock to become what it has become today a motherboard brand which has come a long way in very little time with the introduction of lga1155 based chipsets asrock shot through its lower tier status and is now competing head to head with gigabyte and asus the way asrock is able to do this is with lower prices since asus and asrock share a lot of the same parts asrock is able to obtain parts at a bulk price/contracts that they couldn t negotiate on their own then their parent company pegatron shares foundries with asus so when asus outsources to pegatron they can use the technology asus used to manufacturer that board it is not as devious as that sounds and its really a great thing for asrock fans yet this z68 extreme7 gen3 has a 3 year warranty 2oz copper pcb something pretty much unique to only a few asrock boards japanese solid caps that are sprayed gold to indicate good quality as well as some technologies that make this reviewer wonder are they trying to compete against the z68xud7 and the maximus 4 extreme-z to begin the review a block diagram of the z68 platform today we venture into asrock s lastest top-of-the-line z68 board which is in a class of its own a feature packed beauty with an affordable price tag follow us as we take a good deep look at what makes the board what it is from its unique technologies to what makes it roar follow us to answer questions like how do you get pci-e 3.0 with an nf200 how is the vrm on the extreme7 gen3 comparable to other boards how is this board priced lower than other nf200 bearing boards introduction 12

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone sony ericsson has announced the launch of two new android smartphones xperia active above left designed for users with an active lifestyle and live with walkman an android smartphone that delivers superior music experience sony ericsson xperia active compared to the earlier p67 the z68 chipset adds intel hd graphics support as well as intel smart responce technology ssd caching intel should have initially released the z68 chipset as its gains from p67 are very minimal this motherboard also has lucid virtu technology which allows for switchable graphics dvi hdmi d-sub and displayport are all avaible asrock doesn t do everything like asus first they don t use the intel phy instead they use broadcom controller the first time i have seen one on a $280 board they also use a plx bridge chip to better the use of the 8 pci-e 2.0 lanes that the pch offers this allows them to add another 16x 4x pghysical slot to the board while simultaneously running 3 x usb 3.0 and 2 sata 6gb/s controllers running on the latest android 2.3 gingerbread the xperia active is a tough android smartphone for an active sports and outdoor life this phone is dust-proof and water resistant and incorporates wet finger tracking to ensure the phone works perfectly even if the the screen or a user s fingers are wet the xperia active also features reality display with mobile bravia engine 5-megapixel rear camera that can capture high definition videos and a powerful 1ghz processor preloaded with sports apps that enable users to easily track their fitness levels users can set their training route using the builtin gps barometer and compass in addition on-screen heart rate and pulse can be monitored in real-time enabled by ant wireless networking technology while the sportypal pro app can monitor real-time performance sony ericsson live with walkman the sony ericsson live with walkman has a dedicated walkman hardware button that provides instant access to the music player the phone also runs the latest android 2.3 gingerbread and users can like share and discover content through facebook integration while the infinite button allows consumers to connect to friends photos music and videos the sony ericsson live with walkman has a stylish curved design a glossy finish and a mineral glass display it also features a 3.2-inch screen 1ghz processor front-facing camera for video calling and a 5-megapixel af rear camera that can capture 720p hd video recording the sony ericsson live with walkman also comes with sony s xloud that enhances audio output pricing and availability the sony ericsson live with walkman is now available in singapore in the colours black and white at a recommended retail price of s$398 before telco subsidies the sony ericsson xperia active will be available in singapore from 1 october 2011 tomorrow in black with orange band at a recommended retail price of s$498 without contract sony ericsson introduces xperia active and live with walkman source http vr-zone.com/articles/sony-ericsson-introduces-xperiaactive-and-live-with-walkman/13673.html october 5th 2011 the sony ericsson xperia active designed for the active lifestyle users was showcased in june with the xperia ray and xperia txt today the company has officially launched the phone in singapore together with the sony ericsson live with walkman that promises great audio enjoyment for music lovers 13

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone norton mobile security lite offers android users from protection physical and online crime source http vr-zone.com/articles/norton-mobile-security-lite-offersandroid-users-from-protection-physical-and-online-crime/13672.html october 5th 2011 sony ericsson announces lara croft and the guardian of light first to android on xperia play source http vr-zone.com/articles/sony-ericsson-announces-lara-croftand-the-guardian-of-light-first-to-android-on-xperia-play/13671.html october 5th 2011 android users can now secure their mobile devices from physical and online crime with the free norton s mobile security lite the new security application offers selected antitheft features with powerful anti-malware to keep your data safe even if you lose your phone sony ericsson xperia play owners who are also fans of lara croft games would be pleased to know that lara croft and the guardian of light will be available on android and first on the xperia play smartphone read on for the details norton by symantec has unveiled the availability of norton mobile security lite a free security application for androidbased smartphones the norton mobile security lite claims to seamlessly combine selected anti-theft features with powerful anti-malware that gives users security even if their phone is lost stolen or compromised by malware key features on norton mobile security lite anti-theft ­ the average adult in singapore loses his mobile phone 1.6 times in 5 years and 50 percent reported concerns over the loss of privacy and sensitive information norton mobile security lite allows users to lock lost or stolen phones preventing strangers or thieves from accessing vital information or running up their mobile bill anti-malware ­ scans all files and app updates downloaded to the mobile device and automatically detects and removes threats without slowing you down automatic liveupdate ­ automatically downloads and installs security updates keeping you a step ahead of cybercriminals pricing and availability norton mobile security lite is now available for free in english on the android market for users who want additional protection such as the ability to block unwanted calls or text messages or block phishing websites used to steal personal information and money there is the option to upgrade to the full featured norton mobile security for an annual subscription of s$19.90 sony ericsson is adding more titles to its xperia play phone and with a partnership with world renowned square enix the partnership will bring much loved titles such as lara croft and the guardian of light exclusively to android on the xperia play in november 2011 more established game titles from square enix will follow in the coming months the sony ericsson xperia play has been made available to more consumers around the world the smartphone has recently gone on sale in the us on the at&t network and on the 14th september the company announced that xperia play will be launched in japan with ntt docomo in october 2011 lacie launches the laplug lets you access usb drives over the net source http vr-zone.com/articles/lacie-launches-the-laplug-lets-youaccess-usb-drives-over-the-net/13670.html october 5th 2011 if product design is more important to you than what you get for your money then lacie is most likely a familiar brand to you however the company does managed to come up with 14

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october 5th 2011 published by vr-zone some quirky bits of hardware from time to time and its latest addition the laplug is just one of those things that could be immensely useful but somehow turns out to be fairly pointless at the same time if product design is more important to you than what you get for your money then lacie is most likely a familiar brand to you however the company does managed to come up with some quirky bits of hardware from time to time and its latest addition the laplug is just one of those things that could be immensely useful but somehow turns out to be fairly pointless at the same time in essence the laplug is a compact nas box at 119x119x37mm except that by now you ve most likely realised that by being so small there s no space for an internal drive rather than doing a nas lacie put together a box that has both gigabit ethernet and support for 802.11b/g/n wi-fi where the quirky bit is that it has four usb 2.0 ports for external storage devices three of the ports are around the back for more permanent connectivity and one is on the front in addition to being able to accept storage devices the laplug also accepts printers for sharing over the network them aren t likely to have time machine support built in but they re likely to have more advanced features and you do get a router included as well we can t but help to feel that lacie priced itself out of the market a bit here although then again we re sure there will be plenty of less technically inclined users that would be more than happy to spend that kind of money for easy network access to their data stored on multiple usb drives samsung unleashes multiple mobile building blocks source http vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-unleashes-multiple-mobilebuilding-blocks/13669.html october 5th 2011 it s actually quite amazing how many products samsung makes and there s no wonder that the company is starting to have such a dominant place in the mobile market space the company announced no less than five new products related to mobile products a new hd cmos sensor a 16megapixel cmos sensor faster 64gb emmc flash memory 3xnm lpddr3 memory and a new 1.5ghz exynos soc manufactured using a 32nm high-k metal gate low-power process it s actually quite amazing how many products samsung makes and there s no wonder that the company is starting to have such a dominant place in the mobile market space the company announced no less than five new products related to mobile products a new hd cmos sensor a 16megapixel cmos sensor faster 64gb emmc flash memory 3xnm lpddr3 memory and a new 1.5ghz exynos soc manufactured using a 32nm high-k metal gate low-power process the hd cmos sensor is maybe not the most impressive of the announcements but the s5k8aa as it s called is a tiny 1/8.2-inch cmos sensor with a 1.2megapixel resolution and the entire camera modules is a mere 2.8mm deep the trick here is that it ll do 720p30 video or 480p60 and combined with backside illumination it should make for better video call quality in slim handsets and tablets on the other end of the spectrum is the 1/2.3-inch 16megapixel cmos sensor called the s5k2p1 that s the same size sensor as in the recently launched pentax q interchangeable lens compact and larger than that found in many budget digital cameras although this backside illuminated sensor was designed with high-end smartphones in mind it can also be used with digital cameras and camcorders and it shows that phones are getting very close to entirely replacing entry level digital cameras at least as long as you re not worried about having the ability to zoom samsung makes some impressive claims for the s5k2p1 as well as it s meant to shoot 16megapixle images at 30fps or 8.3megapixel pictures at 60fps all without any shutter lag effect in 16:9 format the neat trick is that lacie provides software with the laplug that allows you to access the attached devices even when you re not at home well at least as long as the laplug is connected to the internet somehow it s also possible to get access to the laplug via a web browser but this isn t always the most convenient option in our experience the laplug also supports upnp and dlna and will stream media to any other dlna device being an apple friendly company lacie has also thrown in support for apple s time machine backup software the problem is that lacie expects you to pay us$74.99 s$97 for the laplug for that kind of money you can wide range of wireless routers with a usb port or two built in so ok most of 15

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