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1. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
VR-Zone.com | Stuff for the Geeks!
With regards to the software features, Asus has added a
VR-Zone | Stuff for the Geeks is a bi-weekly publication custom DLNA app called MyNet which allows for media
covering the latest gadgets and stuff for the geeks. streaming to and from other DLNA compatible devices.
MyCloud is a version of Asus' cloud storage service which is
free for the first year and US$4.99 a month after that and
Asus launches the Eee Pad it's supposedly unlimited in terms of storage space. Another
Transformer in Taiwan cool feature of MyCloud is remote PC access which allows you
to access your desktop or notebook computer even if you're
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-launches-the-eee-pad-
not at home or in the office. Finally MyLibrary is an eBook/
transformer-in-taiwan/11703.html
eMagazine/ePaper app that is tied in with various service
March 25th, 2011
providers depending on where in the world you live. Asus has
also included a copy of Polaris Office 3.0 which is compatible
with standard office document files such as .doc .xls and .ppt.
It's been nearly three months since Asus first showed off its
Android tablets and earlier today the first of the new models
launched, at least in Taiwan. The Eee Pad Transformer was
launched by the company chairman, Jonney Shih with what
appeared to be every single local media on location. Not much
that wasn't already known was announced, although we did
find out a few new details with regard to software features as
well as the much important retail price.
It's been nearly three months since Asus first showed off its The build quality of the final product units of the Eee Pad
Android tablets and earlier today the first of the new models Transformer are much better than the units we've seen before,
launched, at least in Taiwan. The Eee Pad Transformer was although one concern is the overly stiff hinge of the keyboard
launched by the company chairman, Jonney Shih with what dock and the fact that in “notebook mode” the Eee Pad
appeared to be every single local media on location. Not much Transformer we got some hands on time with today didn't
that wasn't already known was announced, although we did shut properly as you'd expect of a notebook. Minor issues
find out a few new details with regard to software features as maybe, but not something you'd expect of what is meant to be
well as the much important retail price. production ready hardware. We were told that the reason for
the stiff screen hinge was that it's because of the weight of the
tablet part and in Asus' defence, it's nowhere near as top heavy
as Acer's W500 AMD C-50 tablet and Asus' proprietary dock
connector feels a lot more secure than the standard USB port
that Acer decided to use.
1

2. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
The pricing ended up better than we expected, in fact the
Eee Pad Transformer is one of the most affordable Tegra 2
tablets to date. Just keep in mind that it doesn't have 3G/
HSPA connectivity which is a contributing factor to the lower
price point. The 16GB will retail for NT$14,900 (S$639) in
Taiwan, with the 32GB model at NT$16,900 (S$725). These
prices don't include the keyboard/battery dock which is an
extra NT$3000 (S$129) in either configuration. You'd be mad
getting the Eee Pad Transformer without the keyboard dock
though as not only does it double the battery life, but it also
adds a pair of USB 2.0 ports and a full-size SD card slot. The
tablet itself houses a microSD card slot, a mini HDMI port and
a headphone socket.
Lightning strikes twice: MSI
launches N580GTX Lightning MSI has unveiled its two flagship cards, the N580GTX
Lightning and the R6970 Lightning, based on the NVIDIA
and R6970 Lightning graphics GeForce GTX 580 and AMD Radeon HD 6970 respectively.
cards These cards are specifically designed to handle extreme
overclocking under the hands of world-renowed overclockers
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/lightning-strikes-twice-msi-launches-
n580gtx-lightning-and-r6970-lightning-graphics-cards/11702.html
and enthusiasts. The N580GTX Lightning can break the 1GHz
March 25th, 2011
core clock barrier easily on air-cooling, thanks to its industry-
leading Power4 power delivery architecture and Twin Frozr III
dual-fan advanced cooling solution.
Industry-leading Power4 architecture for overclocking
reliability
MSI has unveiled its two flagship graphics cards, the The MSI N580GTX Lightning and R6970 Lightning graphic
N580GTX Lightning and the R6970 Lightning, based on cards inherit the impressive Power4 architecture from
the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 and AMD Radeon HD 6970 previous Lightning cards along with improved components
respectively. These cards are specifically designed to handle and design in four areas.
extreme overclocking under the hands of world-renowed
• PWM module is twice as large as before and provides
overclockers and enthusiasts. The N580GTX Lightning can
double the amount of current to the GPU,
break the 1GHz core clock barrier easily on air-cooling, thanks
to its industry-leading Power4 power delivery architecture and
Twin Frozr III dual-fan advanced cooling solution. • memory has its own independent power supply using
an 8-pin connector for minimum interference to greatly
increase overclocking potential,
• next-generation Proadlizer capacitor increases signal
stability by leaps and bounds, and
• CopperMOS, the industry's best MOSFET, provides the
GPU with a large and stable power supply.
2

3. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
Combined, these features provide ordinary users as well as Reference: MSI Press Release
extreme overclocking enthusiasts with a more stable operating
environment.
Twin Frozr III and Propeller Blade technology takes cooling to
A.C. Ryan PlayOn!HD2 review:
the next level it's all about HD content
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/a.c.-ryan-playon-hd2-review-it-s-all-
about-hd-content/11607.html
March 25th, 2011
The all new Twin Frozr III cooling design with Propeller
Blade technology doubles the amount of airflow compared
to conventional fans. The twin 90mm PWM fans are able to
push air over a large surface area to remove heat quickly and
effectively.
Together with SuperPipe (large diameter heat pipes) and
Another day, another media player shows up in VR-Zone's
the 'form-in-one' heatsink, the result is reduced full load
office, where it sits on my desk awaiting its judgement in the
temperatures by 21°C for the N580GTX Lightning, and 26°C
form of a review. And this time, it is A.C. Ryan's Playon!HD2
for the R6970 Lightning over the respective reference boards.
which will be in the hot seat. How well will it fare when put to
Fan noise is also lower by 5dB and 11dB respectively.
the test? We shall see.
Overclocking potential unleashed with GPU / Memory /
PLL(VDDCI) triple overvoltage
The MSI N580GTX Lightning and R6970 Lightning graphic
cards come with the latest version of MSI's exclusive
Afterburner overclocking utility. The utility not only adjusts
core and memory clock but also manages VGPU, VMEM and
VPLL (VDDCI) to maximize overclocking potential.
Thanks to the triple overvoltage feature, the overclocking
potential of N580GTX Lightning is 30% higher than the
reference board.
King of extreme overclocking
Apart from V-Check Points and V-Switch for monitoring Most people enjoy watching movies, but not everybody is
and adjusting the VGPU, VMEM and VPLL (VDDCI) in real willing to spend good money on a movie ticket that is only good
time, Dual BIOS and XtremeCool3 switches help to effectively for one screening of a certain show. After all, common logic
prevent potential problems stemming from liquid nitrogen dictates that it is more practical to go for the cheaper digital
cooling. PWM Clock Tuner also helps to increase overclocking purchase of the film in question which allows for unlimited
potential. playbacks, as opposed to blowing it all on a single-trip ticket
to the movie theatre, even if the theatre offers a superior audio
and visual experience.
Carefully selected materials Of course, users who opt to go for digital downloads will still
Both Lightning cards use top-quality Military Class II want to be able to enjoy their downloaded movies on their
components including all-solid capacitors for overclocking, television sets, and that is where devices such as A.C. Ryan's
Super Ferrite Chokes (SFC) for 10% higher efficiency and Playon!HD2 comes in to fill that need. In this review, we will
30% increase in maximum current, as well as Hi-C capacitors take a look at the aforementioned media player to see whether
with tantalum core which boasts eight times the lifetime of it will fit the bill as a suitable device for the home theatre
conventional solid capacitors. enthusiast.
These high-quality components not only increase the graphics As usual, here is a quick listing of the Playon!HD2's technical
cards' overall service life, but also enhance GPU stability. specifications.
A.C. Ryan Playon!HD2 media player technical specifications:
The design of the Lightning series represents MSI's unceasing Chipset Realtek 1185DD
commitment to delivering new breakthroughs and providing A/V Output Video: HDMI 1.3, composite
consumers with product features and overclocking potential video, Ypbpr
that exceed their expectations. Audio: Digital 5.1(optical
+coaxial) audio, composite
stereo L/R
3

4. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
USB Interface 2 x USB 2.0 (host), 1 x USB
3.0 (slave only)
Supported File Systems FAT, FAT32, NTFS, EXT3,
HFS+
Samsung Galaxy Tab WiFi:
Supported output PAL / NTSC / 480p / 576p / Now available in Singapore
formats 720p / 1080i Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-galaxy-tab-wifi-now-
50Hz / 1080i 60Hz / 1080p available-in-singapore/11700.html
50Hz / 1080p March 25th, 2011
60Hz / 1080p 24FPS
Supported Video Formats AVI / MKV / TS / TP / TRP /
M2TS / MPG /
MP4 / MOV / M4V / VOB /
ISO / DVD-ISO /
Forget about the April 4 launch date that the rumour mill
IFO / DAT / WMV / ASF / has been churning out about the WiFi-only version of the
RM / RMVB / Samsung Galaxy Tab; a press release issued by Samsung has
just revealed that consumers down in sunny Singapore can
BD-ISO expect to see the WiFi-only Galaxy Tabs hit retail stores much
earlier than that aforementioned date.
FLV resolution up to 720p /
1080i / 1080p
Supported Subtitle SRT, SMI, SSA, IDX/SUB,
Formats SUB
Supported Audio MP3 / MP2 / WMA / AAC /
Formats FLAC / WAV /
OGG Vorbis / PCM / LPCM /
MS-ADPCM /
The rumour mill might be a great place to search when it
comes to digging out pre-launch leaks for a wide variety
LC-AAC / HE-AAC / COOK /
of products, but it should also be pointed out that any
RA-Lossless
information obtained via such sources usually comes with a
Supported Audio Systems Stereo Dolby Digital AC3 5.1 lot of question marks where accuracy is concerned. After all,
(passthrough & downmix to the rumour mill operates under the condition of anonymity;
stereo) as such, it is usually difficult (if not downright impossible) to
Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 verify the legitimacy of claims originating from it.
(passthrough)
That being said, if you have been keep up with our news
Dolby TrueHD 7.1 postings, you might have probably noticed that we had posted
(passthrough & downmix to a story describing a rumour that Samsung was planning to
stereo) release a WiFi-only version of the GALAXY Tab sometime in
April this year for approximately US$399. Well, it turns out
DTS Digital Surround 5.1 that the rumour mill was both right and wrong on this: while
(passthrough & downmix to Samsung has confirmed that there will indeed be a WiFi-only
stereo) GALAXY Tab, the idea of an April release date is bogus, at least
where Singapore is concerned.
AAC 7.1 (passthrough &
downmix to stereo)
FLAC
Supported Codecs MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 /
MPEG-4 SP/ASP/AVC
(H.264 | x264) / XviD /
DivX / WMV9 (VC-1)
RealVideo 8/9/10 (up to
720P)
Supported Image JPEG, HD JPEG, BMP, GIF,
Formats TIF, PNG
4

5. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
So when will Singapore be getting its shipments of the
Samsung GALAXY Tab WiFi? Well, according to the official Google Music now under
press release, the WiFi-only version of the tablet will be internal testing, still lacks
available starting tomorrow (26 March) at all leading mobile
phones and electronic stores at the RRP of S$538, inclusive definite release date
of GST. And yes, it comes bundled with version 2.2 (Froyo) Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-music-now-under-internal-
of the Android operating system, just as the rumour mill had testing-still-lacks-definite-release-date/11697.html
predicted. March 25th, 2011
Nook color to get apps and
flash in April update
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/nook-color-to-get-apps-and-flash-in-
april-update/11699.html
A long, long time ago in a news posting far, far behind, we
March 25th, 2011
wrote that Google was in the midst of planning some form
of cloud music service in order to offer a more complete user
experience on its Android ecosystem. More details about that
service has since been unveiled, and the information we have
gathered seems to suggest that Google Music is almost ready
for a consumer launch. Read on to find out more.
Made as an e-reader, who would have thought that the Nook
color would become one of the most popular device amongst
the android developers community. It's set to be even better
with the April update. Read on.
Google might not have its own online music service yet, but
it should be of no surprise that the search giant has always
harboured plans for such a service that could be integrated into
both its search engine and Android ecosystems. After all, we
had already posted a story way back in June last year which
shed some light about Google considering the possibility of a
music service, and a more recent article published last month
According to the Home Shopping Network, the April firmware has revealed that the music service was indeed a reality, thanks
update will include Flash support and apps. to a slip of the tongue by Motorola's CEO Sanjay Jha.
The Nook color took the Android tablet community by However, a lucky find by an XDA Developers forum member
storm shortly after its release. Developers have been able to has suggested that Google's development on its music service
transform the Android based ereader into something which is has proceeded much faster than many would have expected
able to match the galaxy tab in terms of performance. At just it to. In a forum post made two weeks ago, the poster claims
US$249, it is set to be one of the strongest contenders in the that he was playing around with a custom Honeycomb ROM
budget tablet arena. for his smartphone, only to find out that the ROM contained
Officially supporting apps and flash will gain support from a fully working version of Google Music preloaded, complete
those who are less keen to tinker with the inner workings of with cloud syncing capabilities.
their devices. It is still unknown if the apps support refers to More recently, a report published by CNET claims that music
Barnes & nobles' own app store or the Android market. industry sources close to the search giant have revealed that
Google is already well into the next step of the testing process.
Known as 'dog-fooding', it refers to employees being tasked to
try or test out a new product or service in order for developers
to gather data on how the service might function under typical
real world circumstances. Add both findings together, and
most users will probably come to the same conclusion - that
5

6. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
Google's upcoming online music service is almost ready, and Relative to exposure to radiation by air, exposure via water
it is only a matter of time before Google Music goes live. poses a greater threat to personal safety. Direct exposure to
radiation can result in inflammation. The two hospitalised are
At first glance, that might sound like a godsend. After all,
now being treated for radiation burns to the feets and legs.
online music sales have been largely dominated by the likes
of Apple, and competition from a powerful content provider
such as Google ought to give iTunes a run for its money.
Unfortunately, it seems that Google will have its work cut out
RIM confirms support
for it, as CNET's report claim that industry players close to the for Android applications
search giant have identified content availability as the biggest
problem faced by Google Music. This is due fundamental in upcoming BlackBerry
differences in Apple's and Google's approach to digital music: PlayBook tablet
unlike Apple, Google is reportedly negotiating with record Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/rim-confirms-support-for-android-
companies for rights to all music synced to Google's cloud applications-in-upcoming-blackberry-playbook-tablet/11696.html
servers, and not just tracks made available for download via March 25th, 2011
Google Music.
Needless to say, record companies are understandably wary
of Google's unorthodox proposal; this has resulted in delays
over content availability for Google Music. Still, one should
not overlook the fact that Google has had experience in digital
music, and it is entirely possible that Google's approach might Remember the rumours made some time back about RIM's
come off as the better solution as opposed to Apple's iTunes. upcoming tablet being able to run both its own apps alongside
But we shall wait and see. that of Android's, even though it uses a different operating
system? Well, it turns out that the rumours were true after all:
the PlayBook will indeed come with such functionality built
into the BlackBerry Tablet OS, along with a few extra features.
Fukushima workers rushed to
hospital
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/fukushima-workers-rushed-to-
hospital/11698.html
March 25th, 2011
It is no secret that it is no longer enough for a mobile
operating system to boast high-performance and a visually
Three workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had to be appealing user interface. While nobody will deny that the
rushed to the hospital following exposure to high dosages of aforementioned characteristics play a part in an operating
radiation. Read On. system's popularity, the real deal maker comes in the form of
the operating system's application repository. SImply put, if a
mobile OS wants to do well in the market, it has to offer a large
enough app repository that can satisfy just about every single
user's needs.
With that being said, how will a completely new OS like
the BlackBerry Tablet OS in RIM's upcoming BlackBerry
PlayBook solve the problem of having only small library of
native applications? Well, the rumour mill was claiming that
RIM would attempt to achieve some form of compatibility
with Android by giving its tablet OS the ability to run Android
Three workers at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant were exposed applications without forcing developers to recompile their
to radioactive water that was 10,000 times the normal level, apps. And as it turns out, the rumour is indeed true, for RIM
and two of them stepped into the water without boots, has confirmed that such a feature does exist in its BlackBerry
according to a report. Tablet OS.
According to a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial According to a report posted by gadget website Electronista,
Safety Agency (NISA), "Three workers who were working to lay RIM's approach in ensuring app compatibility between its new
cables in the basement of the turbine building were exposed to tablet OS and Android is made up of two steps. The first step
radiation between 170 to 180 millisieverts." requires that developers carry out some 'repackaging' on their
6

7. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
existing Android apps: this will allow users to download the Many people might have different interpretations of what
apps off RIM's own BlackBerry App World. actually constitutes an open-source project. However, it does
not change the fact that anything released under an open-
The second step involves the use of 'players', which appear
source or free software license is required to release its
to be some kind of compatibility wrapper or unofficial
underlying source code in order to allow other developers the
implementation of Android's APIs and libraries. This 'player'
chance to study, adapt, and where applicable, make changes to
will allow Android apps to run under the BlackBerry Tablet OS
the codes for the benefit of both users and programmers.
environment, albeit non-natively. If it works well, this move
will give RIM instant access to the large library of applications Which, for the most part, are characteristics which describes
currently available for download on the Android Market, along Google's Android operating system to a T. After all, Android's
with other third-party repositories which offer similar Android open-source nature has resulted in Android users having a
software. large variety of custom ROMs to play around with, courtesy
of the hacking community. However, it seems that this cosy
Last but definitely not least, RIM reportedly claims that
relationship between Google and the hacker community is
the PlayBook's OS will come with its own Java engine
about to hit a snag: a report published by BusinessWeek has
which is supposedly compatible with legacy BlackBerry Java
revealed that the search giant is not about to release the source
applications. No news about RIM's Java engine has been made
code for Honeycomb to the open-source community for the
public yet, but speculations are rife that RIM might opt to drop
"foreseeable future".
the Dalvik virtual machine currently used by Android in favor
of another implementation to avoid crossing paths with Oracle According to Google, the reason it is refusing to release
over the lawsuit the latter has filed against Google regarding the source code for Honeycomb is due to the fact that the
unauthorized used of Java code. aforementioned build of Android was specially developed for
a specific class of devices; tablet PCs. The search giant fears
that, by open-sourcing Honeycomb, the hacker community
Google deliberately will attempt to re-purpose the operating system for devices it
withholding source code for was never meant to be used on, which will have an adverse
impact on end-user experience.
Honeycomb? "To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-deliberately-withholding-
tradeoffs," said Andy Rubin, vice-president for engineering at
source-code-for-honeycomb-/11695.html
Google and head of its Android group. He added that they
March 25th, 2011
"did not want to think about what it would take for the same
software to run on phones", as it would have required "a lot of
additional resources and extended our schedule beyond what
we thought was reasonable".
"So we took a shortcut," he said.
In some ways, Google's fear is very real. After all, enterprising
The open-source nature of Google's Android operating system tablet OEMs had attempted to port early builds of Android
means that just about anybody can pick up the underlying over to tablets, and the result was that the end-user experience
source, adapt it for their own use and contribute bugfixes was anything but spectacular. While later versions of the
patches back to the main source tree if they feel inclined to. Android operating system such as Froyo were robust enough
However, it seems that this close relationship between Google to scale up with the large displays of tablet PCs with little issue,
and the open-source community might be about to take a it is clear that Google does not want to deal with similar issues
turn for the worse: various sources have suggested that Google about Honeycomb potentially playing nasty with non-tablet
might be deliberately withholding the source code for the latest devices such as smartphones, set-top boxes or even vehicles.
version of Android, also known as Honeycomb. What could Needless to say, Google's move has sparked off a fierce
be happening here? debate about the legality of its decision, with open-source and
free software enthusiasts claiming that the various licenses
Android is currently released under explicitly prohibits the
withholding of source code. However, the search giant has
attempted to address the community's ire by confirming that
the status quo for the overall Android ecosystem remains
unchanged, and that the Android project will always be open-
source.
7

8. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
Description: Just below that is an innocent looking GeForce
The Daily VR-Zone News logo, and while at first it seems a fairly standard decal, to our
Summary - 24 Mar 2011 surprise when first powering the card we were greeted with a
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/the-daily-vr-zone-news-summary--24- sleek illuminated GeForce logo. This is also used to indicate
mar-2011/11693.html any issues with the power connections. This illuminated logo
March 25th, 2011 was something that was photographed last year before the
GTX 580 launch, and while the card displayed was uncertain,
and speculated to be the GTX 580, it didn't ship with such
a decal. So we love that this distinctive feature was finally
included in a production card.
GeForce GTX 590 vs Radeon HD 6990: You Want The Best?
@ InsideHW
In today's news roundup: Reviews of NVIDIA's latest
Description: Every time that a new series of graphics cards
graphics card, the GeForce GTX590, have started surfacing
is presented, it’s merely a matter of time before multi-
in cyberspace; The GTX590 gets compared against AMD's
GPU solutions are presented to be the cream of the crop
Radeon HD 6990; Chrome 11 will reportedly come with a
of the current product gamma. These models don’t stay on
new speech-to-text feature; Bertrand Serlet, the guy who led
the market for long, nor do they shift sizeable amounts of
the development of Mac OS X since the beginning, is leaving
units sold, obviously, having in mind their outrageous price.
Apple; Our sister site SGCafe has published a report on the
Besides, the power efficiency of these models isn’t exactly
official announcement of Asiasoft's new 3D MMORPG known
something to be envied on, while the ludicrous dimensions
as AIKA SEA, and Capcom has confirmed that Resident Evil
and heating is also something to account for; besides the
4 and Resident Evil Code: Veronica X will be released as
environmental threat they pose, these cards have to be
downloadable titles in Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.
provided with a large enclosure as well. So, why even bother
Hardware news to make them, one may ask...
Patriot G2 PC3-12800 Review @ XSReviews.co.uk Zalman CNPS11X Extreme CPU Cooler Review @ Tweaknews
Description: Today we’re looking at some DDR3 memory Description: Zalman really has it going on with the new 11X
from Patriot. An offering from their Gamer series, the G2 Extreme. The five composite heatpipes and the innovative
enhanced latency kit is aimed towards gamers seeking the best design allow its fan to provide some excellent cooling with very
performance at the best price. Let’s take a closer look and find reasonable acoustics. Really, the only complaint I have about
out if it’s as good as they say it is. the 11X is the mounting solutions. While the cooler is very
EVGA GeForce GTX 590 Classified Dual Graphics DirectX 11 secure with this mounting scheme, I miss the ease with which
Video Card Review @Hi Tech Legion most previous Zalman coolers could be installed, even inside
Description: The EVGA GTX 590 Classified video card consists the case.
of two GF110 GPUs on a single PCB. The EVGA GTX 590 ASUS EAH 6990 Review @ ocaholic
Classified has 3,072MB of GDDR5 memory on a 768-bit Description: With the EAH 6990, ASUS presents its first AMD
memory interface equipped with 1,024 CUDA cores. Clocked Radeon HD 6900 series graphics card featuring two GPUs.
higher than the stock GTX 590, the EVGA GeForce GTX The successor of the already very powerful Radeon HD 5970
590 Classified edition carries a core clock of 630 MHz and a lets us all hope for another superb graphics card with excellent
memory clock of 3456 MHz. Despite the muscle, the EVGA performance because it's a fully functionnal dual Cayman XT
GeForce GTX 590 Classified runs silently with a single low (aka Radeon HD 6970) with high clock speeds. We expect
RPM fan actively cooling a pair of advanced vapor chamber really good DX11 performance and we're going to show you
heatsinks and only measures eleven inches in length. For if the Radeon HD 6990 performs as well as an HD 6970
enthusiasts who want maximum performance in ultra high CrossFire setup.
resolutions including 2560 x 1600 with up to 64x AA, the
Antec Nine Hundred Two v3 Review - XSReviews.co.uk
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Classified’s power is hard to ignore.
Description: Continuing our spate of Antec case revamp
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 Gemini Video Card @ Benchmark reviews, today we have the baby of the bunch, the Nine
Reviews Hundred two v3. Sure it’s a few hundred Antec numbers below
Description: With 512 CUDA cores each, two independent the Twelve Hundred we reviewed recently, but it’s a lot more
NVIDIA GF110 GPUs join to deliver 1024 total cores of than the P193 right? In numbers anyway. Still, featuring a new
graphical processing power. There are six 64-bit memory SSD slot, and a USB 3.0 port, what could go wrong?
controllers that offer 384-bit combined bandwidth per GPU,
Consumer Electronics and Software news
and feed 3GB of combined GDDR5 video frame buffer. All of
this is said to deliver comparable performance to the Radeon Chameleon X-1 gaming mouse / gamepad review: greater than
HD 6990, which is good for gamers, but it does so while using the sum of its parts
less power and emitting less noise. In this article, Benchmark Description: Manufactured by Hong Kong-based company
Reviews tests the GeForce GTX 590 against the AMD Radeon Shogun Bros, the Chamleon X-1 may be the most innovative
HD 6990 and an entire market of top-end desktop graphics gaming mouse to ever grace a desktop or laptop bag. The
solutions. Chameleon X-1 gaming mouse pulls triple-duty as a wireless
ASUS GeForce GTX 590 3GB review
8

9. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
gaming mouse, a wireless gamepad, and a media remote -- and least till next week. The latest portable gaming console from
it actually handles each of those tasks pretty well. Nintendo will be available on retail beginning March 28 at
a retail price of S$399. A midnight launch event be held in
Seagate GoFlex 1TB External Drive for Mac Review @
Funan Challenger store on March 27.
Bigbruin.com
Description: Once again, we are quite pleased with the overall Resident Evil 4 HD Hitting PSN and Xbox Live, Resident Evil
performance of a Seagate GoFlex product. Seagate is clearly Code: Veronica X also coming.
hoping the GoFlex for Mac will fill one of the only real voids left Description: Capcom said today it will release Resident Evil 4
in the GoFlex lineup, and at the same time provide a product and Resident Evil Code: Veronica X as downloadable titles on
targeted directly at Mac users. While their other products do Xbox Live and PlayStation Network this Fall.
work with OS X out of the box, the others are not optimized
for the Mac platform.
The Father of Mac OS X Is Leaving Apple
MSI launches CX640
Description: Bertrand Serlet, the guy who led the development notebook, upgrades others to
of Mac OS X since the beginning, is leaving Apple. He was one
of the heavyweights and a legendary figure at the company, Sandy Bridge
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/msi-launches-cx640-notebook-
even while he wasn't well known by the general public. But why
upgrades-others-to-sandy-bridge/11694.html
is he leaving?
March 25th, 2011
Chrome 11 Beta Brings Voice-to-Text Capabilities
Description: Google has pushed Chrome 11 to the beta channel,
bringing a couple of improvements, including the browser’s
ability to transcribe voice to text.
Windows Phone 7 Update schedule arrives: stinks for AT&T
users
Description: In a bid to penetrate the fog surrounding Earlier today we attended an MSI launch event in Taipei where
Windows Phone 7's updates, Microsoft has published a table the company unveiled its new CX640 notebook alongside
to let users know where their network operator stands and get second generation Core i platform upgrades two a few other
a feel for when they might actually get the update. For most, it models. One thing that struck us is that MSI has added USB 3.0
looks like the update is out of testing and will be scheduled for connectivity across all of the new and upgraded models which
release soon. Not so with AT&T, however. is something that no other manufacturer have done across so
many of its models to date.
Hercules XPS Diamond 2.0 USB Speakers
Description: Can a speaker be a girl’s best friend? We suppose
so, if the speaker is made out of diamonds. Well, theoretically Earlier today we attended an MSI launch event in Taipei where
speaking, it is going to be an extremely expensive pair of the company unveiled its new CX640 notebook alongside
speakers if this were to be true – but perhaps something like second generation Core i platform upgrades two a few other
the Hercules XPS Diamond 2.0 USB Speakers might make do models. One thing that struck us is that MSI has added USB 3.0
as a replacement. connectivity across all of the new and upgraded models which
MSI brings Fusion-based AE2050 AIO, CR650 notebook to US is something that no other manufacturer have done across so
Description: MSI brought two of its earliest PCs using AMD's many of its models to date.
Fusion technology to the US on Thursday. The Wind Top Let's start with the new CX640 model which features a
AE2050 headlines the group by putting AMD's 1.6GHz E-350 completely new design and MSI claims that they've drawn
into a 20-inch, multi-touch all-in one. Moving to the chip cuts inspiration from Audi's cars of all things, although we can
power use by as much as 74 percent over a typical desktop see a few other sources of inspiration. For example the side
but still gives it proper 1080p playback and otherwise modern mounted, round green power button is meant to draw its
Radeon HD 6310 graphics. inspiration from the engine start/stop button found in some
Gaming news cars, but we'd say it's very similar to what Sony have been
doing for a few years now. Not that there's anything wrong
Asiasoft Announces AIKA SEA, Prepares For Closed and Open
with drawing inspiration from competitors products and MSI
Beta
didn't stick the power button in the screen hinge.
Description: Asiasoft shows us a preview of AIKA SEA, a
localised version of AIKA Online - a 3D MMORPG that focuses
on the Player vs. Player (PvP) in the enchanting land of
Arcan. Developed by JoyImpact, a studio under HanbitSoft,
the South-east Asia version will be opening up for Closed Beta
on March 31 and Open Beta on April 12.
Nintendo 3DS Available In Singapore On March 28, Midnight
Launch on March 27
Description: Waiting patiently for Nintendo’s 3DS to be
officially available in Singapore ? Your wait is over, well at
9

10. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
memory and up to 640GB of hard drive space. The standard
optical drive is a DVD writer, but an optional Blu-ray combo
drive will be available in some markets.
There are actually two SKUs available, as the CX640 is the
version with discrete graphics whereas the CR640 is identical
in terms of design and features, but lack the discrete graphics
options and as such relies on Intel's HD 3000 graphics. In the
case of the CX640 MSI is offering a GeForce GT 520M with
1GB of graphics memory. The GeForce GT 520M is anything
but a high-end solution with a 64-bit memory interface and 48
shaders, but as it doesn't appear as if MSI is support graphics
switching on the CX460, this might be as well as at least it
should be a fairly low power GPU.
An interesting touch of symmetry is that the power connector
is located on the exact opposite side and is high-lighted with a
silver circle which makes it look similar to the power button.
The overall design of the CX640 is a big step in the right
direction for MSI as even though this is a mid-range model
from MSI it feels like a high-quality machine. The CX640
will be available in black and silver and both models have a
machined track pad of decent size that feels like it's been cut
out of a solid piece of metal. Both the wrist rest/keyboard
surround and display back appears to be made out of metal too
which adds to the high-quality feel of the CX640.
One interesting feature MSI has added to the CX640 is what
the company calls a Time Stamp button which is pretty much
a quick backup button which takes a snapshot of the current
system state. This will according to MSI allow for quick system
restores when needed. Other features worthy of note includes
a hard drive drop sensor which prevents damage to the hard
drive in case you'd drop the notebook, am ambient light sensor
that adjust the screen backlight automatically and MSI's HiFre
Other design touches includes most of the important ports (don't ask us what it stands for) Wi-Fi antenna which the
located on the left hand side, including the power, D-sub, company claims boost Wi-Fi performance by 1.3 times.
HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet and the two USB 3.0 ports. MSI
suggests that this removes the problem with wires sticking
out on the right hand side for those wanting to use a mouse,
although the only flaw in this reasoning would be left handed
people. On the right hand side is the optical drive, a pair of
audio jacks and two USB 2.0 ports. There's also a card reader
around the front.
Overall the CX640 is an impressive new model from MSI
simply because it's not like anything MSI has ever done before.
The best part of it is that it's an affordable model with the
Core i3-2310M model with 2GB of RAM and a 500GB hard
drive starting out at NT$27,900 (S$1,188) in Taiwan, with a
CPU upgrade to a Core i5-2410M will increase the cost by NT
MSI has also included a 1.3 Megapixel webcam, 802.11b/g/n $3,000 (S$128) which sounds like a pretty decent deal to us.
Wi-Fi support and Bluetooth 3.0 + HS. The CPU options will
depend on the market, but MSI will offer the CX640 with a
selection of Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, up to 8GB of DDR3
10

11. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
World's fastest graphics card?
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/world-s-fastest-graphics-card-nvidia-
geforce-gtx-590/11701.html
March 25th, 2011
NVIDIA has introduced the GeForce GTX 590, the fastest
dual-GPU graphics card available today which also happens
NVIDIA engineered the GTX 590 to be the world's quietest
to be the world's quietest too. Powered by dual fully-enabled
dual GPU product. It features a special cooling system and dual
NVIDIA GF110 GPUs on a single card, the GTX 590 is designed
vapour chambers which deliver both astounding performance
for uber enthusiasts and those looking to build the ultimate PC
and acoustics. Measured with a standard decibel meter, the
gaming rig.
GTX 590 clocks in at 48dB, more than two times quieter than
the closest competitive product under full graphics load. To
the human ear, this difference means the GTX 590 delivers
a 3D gaming experience that is typical of a quiet library. In
comparison, the competition's product is more on par with a
busy freeway.
"The GTX 590 is the best dual GPU product ever built,"
said Drew Henry, general manager of GeForce GPU business
at NVIDIA. "With leading performance, support for multi-
monitor 3D gaming, Quad SLI, and an acoustic envelope that
begs to be heard for how quiet it is, the GTX 590 epitomises
what a perfect dual graphics card looks, performs, and sounds
like."
SINGAPORE - March 25, 2011 - NVIDIA has introduced the With an estimated selling e-tail price starting at US$699,
GeForce® GTX® 590, the fastest dual graphics card available the GeForce GTX 590 is available starting today from the
today which also happens to be the world's quietest too. world's leading add-in card partners, including Asus, EVGA,
Powered by dual NVIDIA Fermi™-class GPUs on a single Gainward, Gigabyte, Inno3D, MSI, POV, Palit, and Zotac.
card, the GTX 590 is designed for uber enthusiasts and those
looking to build the ultimate PC gaming rig.
For more information on the new GeForce GTX
With a combined 1024 NVIDIA CUDA® architecture cores, 590, please visit: http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs/
3GB of GDDR5 memory, 6 billion transistors and over 2200 geforce-gtx-590/overview.
individual components all packed into an 11-inch dual slot
card, the GTX 590 delivers a staggering 32 tessellation engines For an interactive demo of the new GeForce GTX
that can power today's cutting edge DX11 games at resolutions 590, please visit: http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs/
of 2560 x 1600 and higher. With four separate video outputs geforce-gtx-590/productdemo.
on each card, consumers can configure their PC with four
independent displays, or they can span their gaming across 3
3D displays, at a resolution up to 5760 x 1080 for an intense, Source: NVIDIA Press Release
immersive, stereoscopic gaming experience utilising NVIDIA
3D Vision™ Surround technology.
ASUS Announces Xtion PRO
Like all NVIDIA "DX11 Done Right" GPUs, the GTX 590
delivers the world's fastest performance for DX11 gamesi. And Developer Challenge
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-announces-xtion-pro-developer-
with NVIDIA SLI® technology, the industry's most scalable
challenge/11692.html
multi-GPU platform, gamers can increase their PC's gaming
performance by adding a second GeForce GTX 590, for an
incredible Quad SLI gaming mode.
11

12. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
March 25th, 2011
ASUS has announced the start of a new competition designed
to showcase the exciting features of the new ASUS Xtion PRO.
With over US$24,000 up for grabs, creativity and ingenuity is
a must as competition will be fierce. In addition to the cash
prizes, participants will have a chance to earn future business
cooperation opportunities with ASUS. Last but definitely not least,developers are also required to
provide a short two-minute video to explain their applications,
Do you remember the short story about ASUS's new motion and how users can use the Xtion controller to interact with it.
sensing controller for PCs, the WAVI Xtion, that we published
some three weeks back? Well, if you do, you might possibly be If that sounds like something that is right up your alley, you
wondering how developers or programmers might be able to might want to start cracking: the competition has already
find a use for it. After all, full body motion sensing controllers commenced and will run until 31 May this year. And with
are still somewhat new and unfamiliar territory to many, and over US$24,000 in prize money up for grabs, we'd wager that
it is understandable if developers are regarding this new trend things are about to get really competitive in no time.
with some degree of scepticism. More information about the competition can be obtained here.
HP Rebuts Oracle, Pledges
Intel Itanium Support
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hp-rebuts-oracle-pledges-intel-
itanium-support/11690.html
March 25th, 2011
Apparently, ASUS is fully aware of this issue, and is keen
on ensuring that the Xtion controller receives the developer
support it needs to create its own market. To achieve that, the
Taiwanese OEM has announced a developer competition for HP reiterated that it will continue the development and
the Xtion, in which programmers will pit themselves against innovation of Itanium-based Integrity server platforms and
each other by attempting to design applications that take full will continue to support customers running existing versions
advantage of the Xtion's capabilities. of Oracle software on Itanium-based Integrity servers, both
The rules of the competition are fairly straight-forward: existing and future platforms. This latest Oracle action of
developers who wish to take part should ensure that their disinformation is clearly an attempt to force customers into
applications are written in either C++ or C#, and that purchasing Sun servers in a desperate move to slow their
the resulting software be fully compatible with the Xtion declining market share.
controller. In addition, developers are required to ensure that
their applications meet the following criteria:
Developers will be given free reign over the kind of application
they wish to design, although ASUS has stated that the finished
software should fall into either one of three categories, namely
Games, Multimedia and Miscellaneous.
HP reiterated that it will continue the development and
innovation of Itanium-based Integrity server platforms and
will continue to support customers running existing versions
of Oracle software on Itanium-based Integrity servers, both
existing and future platforms.
12

13. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
"Oracle continues to show a pattern of anti-customer behavior specific dates, both FX-series and A-series seem very likely to
as they move to shore up their failing Sun server business," release between late Q2 and early Q3.
said Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general
manager, Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking, HP.
"HP believes in fair and honest competition. Competition is Western Digital introduces
good for customers, innovation and the marketplace. We are
shocked that Oracle would put enterprises and governments at
6TB external storage device in
risk while costing them hundreds of millions of dollars in lost Singapore
productivity in a shameless gambit to limit fair competition." Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/western-digital-introduces-6tb-
external-storage-device-in-singapore/11687.html
March 25th, 2011
This latest Oracle action of disinformation is clearly an attempt
to force customers into purchasing Sun servers in a desperate
move to slow their declining market share.
In a direct contradiction to a statement made yesterday
by Oracle, Paul Otellini, president and chief executive
officer, Intel Corporation said, "Intel's work on Intel Itanium How much hard disk space is enough for a typical content
processors and platforms continues unabated with multiple creator's needs? 1TB? 1.5TB? Or perhaps even 2TB? Well,
generations of chips currently in development and on Western Digital thinks that even that amount is insufficient
schedule. We remain firmly committed to delivering a today considering how the digital landscape has evolved. And
competitive, multi-generational roadmap for HP-UX and its solution? Why, a new external strorage which boasts an
other operating system customers that run the Itanium astronomical 6TB of data storage capacity. Are you ready to
architecture." welcome WD's My Book Studio II into your digital lifestyle?
Poulson is Intel's next-generation 32-nm, 8-core-based
Itanium chip, and is on track to more than double the
performance of the existing Tukwila architecture. Kittson is
an officially committed roadmap product for Itanium beyond
Poulson and also is in active development. Intel(R) Itanium
processor industry momentum will be highlighted in a keynote
at the upcoming Beijing Intel Developer's Forum.
When it comes to expanding one's available storage capacities
Sterne Agee: AMD Llano (A- in a desktop or notebook PC, there are generally two ways to
go about in doing so. For hardware-savvy users, the solution is
Series) shipping in April usually to purchase a new hard disk and install it as an internal
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sterne-agee-amd-llano-a-series- storage device in order to take advantage of the significantly
shipping-in-april/11691.html faster speeds offered by the SATA interface.
March 25th, 2011
However, end-users who have little to zero experience in
dealing with a PC's internal components or just want a quick-
and-easy method of expanding their PC's existing storage
limits will opt for the second method, which is to simply
Vijay Rakesh, semiconduntor analyst at financial consultants purchase an external storage device that connects to one's
Sterne Agee, insists that AMD is set to ship Llano to major machine via USB, eSATA or Firewire. And if you belong to this
PC vendors, including HP and Acer, as early as April. AMD's group of users, Western Digital's latest announcement is sure
official stance has been "Summer 2011" for quite some time, to be nothing short of good news. Anyone fancy juicing up your
while lastest rumours indicate a July 2011 release. In addition, PC's storage space by as much as a whopping 6TB?
in a conversation with Tech Trader Daily, Rakesh re-iterated
that Llano was always expected to ship in April.
Technically, the US summer is often described as late May to
early September, so shipping by April for release in May is
within AMD's timeline. If true, we will see systems based on
Llano in stores within Q2. Surprisingly, Rakesh also states that
Bulldozer (FX-Series) will release in Q3, contrary to rumours
of a late Q2 launch.
Of course, this is anything but official information, so it must
be taken with a big grain of salt. Regardless of rumours for
13

14. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
This card will only be available in some regions such as US,
Europe, Japan, Australia and China for a suggested retail price
of US$699. There isn't any for Singapore market if you are
wondering.
Logitech launches Z906
theater-quality surround sound
speakers
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/logitech-launches-z906-theater-
quality-surround-sound-speakers/11686.html
March 25th, 2011
According to Western Digital, the new My Book Studio II is
a dual-drive external storage device that is optimized for use
on Mac OS X. Of course, by 'optimizing', the company means
that the My Book Studio II has been factory-formatted in the
HFS+ file system currently used by Mac OS X. This allows Mac The Logitech Z906 is the successor to the award-winning
users to not only access the full range of read-write capabilities Logitech Z-5500 speakers, and promises 5.1-surround sound
available for use on the storage device, but also renders it for movies, games and music. For those looking for a new 5.1-
compatible for use with Time Machine. This is because NTFS surround sound speakers, the Z906 will be available at end
support on OS X is limited to read-only, and Time Machine April.
does not support writing to non-HFS+ file systems.
In addition, the My Book Studio II also supports connections
via eSATA, USB 2.0 or Firewire (800 and 400). This makes
it a highly versatile storage device, as it can offer users a
choice between compatibility (USB) or performance (eSATA,
Firewire), especially if consistent, high-sped data read-write
speeds are required. The My Book Studio II can also be set up
to run in various RAID configurations for greater performance
and data security.
If that is enough to have you thirsting for a My Book Studio
II, the good news is the My Book Studio is currently available
for sale in Singapore at selected resellers, and that there will
be two distributors in charge of ensuring supply. The bad Logitech unveiled their surround sound speakers Z906.
news is that you might probably have to tighten your belt a Delivering 500 watts (RMS) of power, the Logitech Surround
little, thanks to the device's S$699 pricetag. Last but not least, Sound Speakers Z906 are THX Certified to create a theater-
Windows XP users will have to sit this one out, as the 10-year- quality audio experience in your living room.
old operating system does not support storage devices with If you enjoy house-shaking bass, the ported, side-firing
capacities larger than 2TB. subwoofer delivers 165 watts of pure, distortion-free bass. And
the Logitech Surround Sound Speakers convert two-channel
stereo into an immersive surround sound experience.
GeForce GTX 590 Gathers The Logitech Surround Sound Speakers Z906 are designed to
Much Fanfare Before Launch complement your existing living room setup. You can connect
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/geforce-gtx-590-gathers-much-fanfare- up to six audio devices simultaneously — including your TV,
before-launch/11689.html DVD, DVR, Blu-Ray player, Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii,
March 25th, 2011 iPod and even your PC or Mac laptop. And with its easy-to-read
display and easy-to-stack design, the control console looks
good with your home-entertainment system.
Pricing and Availability
The Logitech Surround Sound Speakers Z906 are expected to
be available in Singapore in end April for a suggested retail
price of S$609.
This card will only be available in some regions such as US,
Europe, Japan, Australia and China for a suggested retail price
of US$699. There isn't any for Singapore market if you are
wondering.
14

15. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
100 units will be sold in retail stores - Challenger, selected
Plantronics M100i limited Apple stores and retailers in Funan Mall and Sim Lim Square.
edition radiant red Bluetooth
headset retailing at Apple Hands on with Fujitsu's new
Stores Sandy Bridge consumer
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/plantronics-m100i-limited-edition-
radiant-red-bluetooth-headset-retailing-at-apple-stores/11685.html
notebooks
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hands-on-with-fujitsu-s-new-sandy-
March 25th, 2011
bridge-consumer-notebooks/11684.html
March 25th, 2011
Plantronics has announced their new limited edition M100i
Bluetooth headset which sports a stylish, ultra-slim and
lightweight design. It is available now at Apple stores till 18 Yesterday we got to spend some time with three new second
April. generation Core i processor notebooks from Fujitsu at a press
event in Taipei, namely the Lifebook LH531, A531 and NH751.
We did of course snap a few pictures of the new machines and
a model or two just because. So let’s take a closer look at what
Fujitsu have coming out in the next few weeks as far as its
consumer notebooks are concerned.
Yesterday we got to spend some time with three new second
generation Core i processor notebooks from Fujitsu at a press
event in Taipei, namely the Lifebook LH531, A531 and NH751.
We did of course snap a few pictures of the new machines and
a model or two just because. So let’s take a closer look at what
Fujitsu have coming out in the next few weeks as far as its
consumer notebooks are concerned.
The Plantronics M100i is very easy to setup and use, and Let’s start with the smallest machine of the three, the 14-inch
includes convenient voice alerts for remaining talk-time, low- Lifebook LH531. It comes with an option of a Core i3-2310M
battery, mute, and connection status. A new feature for iPhone or a Core i5-2410M processor, up to 8GB of DDR3 1333MHz
users allows them to monitor headset battery levels with an on- RAM and a 320, 500 or 750GB 5,400rpm hard drive.
screen battery meter. When it comes to noisy environments,
the M100 automatically adjusts to sound levels, so users are
always hands-free and able to focus on the task in front of
them.
Other M100i features include:
- Multipoint technology pairs one headset to two Bluetooth
devices.
- Battery that provides up to six hours of talk-time and 10 days
of stand-by life.
- At only 9g and 8mm thin, the Plantronics M100i is
lightweight and comfortable for extended wearing.
- Soft gel ear tips, in three different sizes, together with
an optional ear loop provide multiple wearing options for a Graphics is either from Intel’s HD 3000 graphics, or via a
perfect fit. discrete GeForce 410M which is a basic GPU from Nvidia with
48 shaders and a shader clock of 1150MHz which suggests
The Plantronics M100i is already selling in stores at a
a GPU clock of 575MHz. Fujitsu has added 1GB of discrete
recommended retail price of S$139. The limited edition M100i
graphics memory, although the GPU only has a 64-bit memory
in radiant red also carries the same S$139 price tag, except that
interface, so don’t expect this to be a gaming grade solution.
it will be retailing on the Apple online store from 19 March to
Nvidia’s Optimus graphics switching technology is at least
18 April 18. (http://store.apple.com/sg/product/H2517PA/A?
supported which is a bonus.
mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY). Following the promotional period,
15

16. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
i5-2410M, but as always price and configurations vary from
market to market.
The Daily VR-Zone News
Summary - 23 Mar 2011
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/the-daily-vr-zone-news-summary--23-
mar-2011/11683.html
March 25th, 2011
Moving on, we have a 14-inch screen with 1366x768 resolution
and although Fujitsu calls it an anti-glare display, you can see
from the pictures that it’s actually quite reflective. An optical
drive is also included and Fujitsu offers the LG531 with either a
DVD writer or a Blu-ray combo drive. In terms of connectivity In today's news roundup: Intel has declared that it will
the LH531 features four USB 2.0 ports of which one allows for continue to maintain development on the IA64 architecture,
charging of USB devices even if the notebook is switched off, a even after Oracle dismissed the platform as one that is about
D-sub port, an HDMI port, a Gigabit Ethernet port and a pair to reach EOL status soon; DRAM contract prices are slated
of audio jacks. to increase by some 3% in 2H March; Sprint announces HTC
EVO 3D smartphone and EVO View 4G tablet ; Apple has
sued Amazon for using the words 'App Store' to market its
app repository by claiming that the latter's move will mislead
consumers into thinking that Amazon is selling Steve Jobs-
approved apps; Singapore is slated to get the 3DS by March
28, and Sony is alleging that hacker 'Geohotz' has removed
critical data from his hard disks and left North America in
order to put himself out of the court's jurisdiction.
Hardware news
MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II OC Video Card Review @ Legit
Reviews
Other features include a memory card reader, 802.11b/g/n Wi- Description: The MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II OC 1GB
Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and a built in 1.3 Megapixel webcam. graphics cards is based on the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 550
The 6-cell battery is said to be good for up to about 6h of usage, Ti GPU, but is kept nice and cool with the MSI Cyclone II
although that would be using the Intel graphics. At 2.2kg the cooling solution. The N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II OC is factory
LH531 is a pretty typical 14-inch notebook in terms of weight, overclocked with the core clock set to 950MHz and the
so nothing out of the ordinary here. memory at 1075MHz. We put this overclocked GF116 card to
the test to see how it performs, keeps cool and overclocks!
ASUS EAH6870 1GB Video Card Review @ ITShootOut.com
Description: The Radeon HD 6870, contrary to its somewhat
confusing name, is not the successor to the Radeon 5870.
Instead, it acts as an almost direct replacement for the Radeon
5850, both in terms of performance and in price. Today we are
looking at the Asus variant which has some exclusive features
including the Voltage Tweak functionality we have come to
particularly enjoy when overclocking.
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 Pro CPU Cooler Review @
Tweaknews
Description: When it's all said and done, Arctic Cooling's new
Freezer 13 Pro, with it's innovative “Cross Blow” feature, is a
Fujitsu will offer the LH531 in at least black, red/black and worthy successor to the Freezer series of coolers. As of this
pink/red where in the latter case the keyboard is the red part. writing, it only seems to be available from the Arctic Cooling
Speaking of the keyboard, Fujitsu is sticking with its typical website for around $55 US.
and very distinctive keyboard design which we’re not entirely Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 Flex Edition 2GB DDR5 DX11
sold on, but it’s far from the worst out there. The track pad Video Card Review @Hi Tech Legion
on the other hand is a bit on the small side in our opinion, Description: Sapphire is back on the scene with the Sapphire
especially for a notebook this size. Starting price in Taiwan is Radeon HD 6950 FleX Edition. The Sapphire Radeon HD
NT$29,800 (S$1,274), although that price includes the Core 6950 FleX comes with the onboard ability to use Eyefinity
16

17. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
without the need of a DisplayPort monitor or Active DP Description: MasterImage 3D announced today that it has
adapter. The underlying 6950 is still the original stock model. received a $15 million investment from Samsung Ventures.
This sports a 800MHz core clock and 1250MHz (5 Gb/ The company is focused on 3D - for cinemas (with over 60
s effective) memory speed. The HD 6950 has 2 DVI, 2 installations), mobile displays and 3D camera ASICs. We're
mini Display Port, and a single HDMI 1.4a slot. There is guessing that Samsung is more interested in the glasses-
also advanced technology with the HD 6950, including dual free handset displays and cameras than the cinema 3D
graphics engines, 22 SIMD engines, and 88 texture units. technology...
Sapphire has also included TriXX utility support and their Apple’s Mac Chief Departs as Big Changes Come to OS X
Vapor-X cooling solution. Description: Apple SVP of Mac Software Engineering Betrand
NZXT H2 Review @ Vortez Serlet is leaving the company, according to a press release
Description: The H2 is a case that slots into NZXT's "Classic" issued by Apple. He will be replaced by Craig Federighi,
series and is regarded as the "Silent Midtower" due to the Apple’s VP of Mac software engineering. Frederighi’s chief
fact that there are thick side panels which feature foam responsibility at Apple has been OS X development.
underlay. It differentiates itself from the gaudy gamer styled Torvalds backs Google Android
cases currently swarming the market, by offering elegance and Description: The man who gave the world Linux, Linus
a minimalistic approach to styling. Fans within H2 can be Torvalds, has dismissed claims that Google's Android violates
controlled through 3 stages giving the user complete control the Linux licence.
over audio levels emitted from the chassis. With much more
to talk about, lets begin our analysis of the new NZXT H2 that Apple sues Amazon over "app store"
launches today. Description: Fruity peddler of broken iDreams Apple is suing
the online bookstall Amazon, claiming that it invented the
Fractal Design Define R3 Case Review on Technic3D words "app store". Apple has been getting very defensive about
(German) the phrase "app store" lately. Microsoft has appealed to the
Description: (Machine translation) The Fractal Design Define Trademark and Patent Office to stop Jobs' Mob from suing
R3 is the next PC-Case in the Technic3D Editorship. Define R3 everyone for using it.
– the successor to the good selling Define R2! Now available
with a bunch of improvements, including improved cable Samsung Galaxy Tabs 8.9 and 10.1 Are Official: HD Video
routing, air flow and bigger hole in M/B plate for mounting Recording And Superfast Networking Stand Out
CPU coolers. We will check this and more in the following Description: Samsung just announced their two new Galaxy
Review. Tabs, the 8.9 and the 10.1. Both are just 8.6 millimeters thick
and support 4G and WiFi. Click through to watch the live video
DRAM contract prices up 3% in 2H March launch of these two Honeycomb tablets (with TouchWiz on
Description: In order to ensure chip supply, which reportedly top).
is likely to be short of demand starting in May, PC and system
vendors are more willing to accept higher prices, according to Gaming news
sources at DRAM makers. Prices will go up in April anyway as Singapore 3DS launch slated for March 28
PC OEMs begin to rebuild their low inventory, even without Description: The 3DS may already be out in Japan, but gamers
taking into account the effects of Japan's earthquake on the in Asia are still in the dark about when the handheld will be
chip supply chain, the sources said. arriving in the region. Until now, that is, with a recent press
Intel: We Are Completely Committed to Itanium Platform. release from Singaporean distributors MaxSoft confirming
Description: Intel Corp. on Wednesday said that it would that the handheld will be available at all retailers in Singapore
continue developing Itanium-series microprocessors and the on March 28.
mission-critical platform will continue to exist. The company's Sony: PS3 Hacker George "Geohot" Hotz in South America
statements were a response to Oracle's claims that the IA64 Attempting to Dodge Court Authority
platform was nearing the end of life. Description: The ongoing PlayStation 3 security breach battle
Consumer Electronics and Software news of Sony Computer Entertainment America versus George Hotz
is set to continue on April 8. But according to the latest legal
Sprint announces HTC EVO 3D smartphone and EVO View 4G filing, it's possible Hotz will be a no-show as he continues what
tablet Sony calls "a campaign to thwart jurisdictional discovery at
Description: HTC is getting in on the 3D action with Sprint every turn" -- a campaign that includes Hotz's convenient trip
announcing the upcoming release of the 4G-capable HTC EVO to South America.
3D smartphone, which will be appearing alongside the equally
4G-capable HTC EVO View 4G tablet. Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D Dated in Japan
Description: There's some big Resident Evil news coming out
ARM cooperating with Microsoft, says ARM Taiwan president of Japan today. Joining the announcement of Resident Evil
Description: ARM has been cooperating with Microsoft to Revival Selection for PS3 and Xbox 360 comes a final release
develop processor architectures, according to president Philip date for Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D.
Lu for ARM Taiwan at a March 22 press conference in Taipei.
Samsung invests $15 million in mobile 3D technology
company
17

18. March 25th, 2011 Published by: VR-Zone
Sony Ericsson unveils Xperia
Play, Xperia Arc and Xperia
Neo in Singapore
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sony-ericsson-unveils-xperia-play-
xperia-arc-and-xperia-neo-in-singapore/11682.html
March 25th, 2011
This afternoon, Sony Ericsson held a media event to The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc features a large 4.2-inch Reality
unveil the new Xperia Play, Xperia Arc and Xperia Neo display with mobile BRAVIA engine. And it runs the latest
Android smartphones in Singapore. All three smartphones are Android 2.3 Gingerbread mobile operating system.
preloaded with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and will be in stores
soon.
It measures 8.7mm at the thinnest part and on the right, you
can find the volume control (and also camera zoom), and a
"2011 is going to be a very important year for us. In the micro USB connector.
beginning of the year, we made some announcements in the
Xperia range smartphones in the ranks of Arc, Neo and Play.
And it is our ambition to achieve the number one position in
Android smartphones. We are also among the first to launch
Xperia smartphones on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)," said
Eugene Goh, deputy general manager and head of Singapore,
Sony Ericsson.
At the top are the power button and HDMI connector. The
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc also features an 8.1-megapixel
camera with f/2.4 aperture and high definition recording. It is
scheduled to be available at the end of Q1 (which is like end
of this month) in midnight blue or misty silver. No word on
the pricing though.
Chua Khim Guan, product group marketing manager for Sony
Ericsson, also introduced the features of the new Xperia Neo,
Xperia Arc and Xperia Play Android smartphones such as the
mobile BRAVIA engine and HDMI output.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc hands-on
18