Asus (TPE:2357) and Gigabyte (TPE:2376) have been duking it out for the last two years in the motherboard segment, with the latter vendor taking the lead in Q1 2015.

Gigabyte is said to have sold 4.7 to 4.8 million motherboards in Q1 2015, with Asus netting 4.5 million sales. Both vendors accounted for over 80% of all motherboard sales in China. MSI and ASRock (TPE:3515) are set to have far fewer sales in this category, with 2.3 to 3.2 million sales projected for the first half for both organizations.

In what may be a sign of things to come in 2015, DigiTimes (which has a reliable track record for this, unlike its rumors) revealed that overall motherboard shipments would be far lesser than last year, with both Asus and Gigabyte not expected to cross 20 million unit sales in 2015. The PC segment witnessed a decline in markets like China, where mobiles and tablets continue to be on the rise. The Euro’s depreciation led to lukewarm sales in Europe.

To counter slowing sales, ASRock is said to target the server segment, as evidenced by the vendor’s launch of a Skylake board earlier this year. Meanwhile, MSI will be shifting its efforts toward the gaming notebook segment after barely breaking even in 2014.

One reason for slow sales this year could be attributed to the fact that there isn’t a Broadwell CPU for the desktop yet, and with Intel set to launch Skylake later this year, it is likely customers are just waiting for the next-generation CPU to arrive before upgrading their hardware. Broadwell is estimated to launch in June, and Skylake is rumored to make its debut in October, with the CPU featuring the LGA1151 socket. The architecture will accommodate both DDR3 and DDR4 memory modules, and is said to usher in a host of changes with relation to energy utilization.

We should be seeing Z170/H170-based boards by vendors in time for the launch of Skylake, which will possibly lead to an increase in sales in the final quarter of 2015.

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Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) announcement of the new $149 Chromebook as well as the Chromebit included details of a partnership with Indian vendor Xolo, Thai communications leader True and Indonesia’s Nexian, with all three brands set to offer devices running Chrome OS in the near future.

Currently, HP (NYSE:HPQ), LG (KRX:066575), Acer (TPE:2353) and Samsung (KRX:005930) offer Chromebooks in India, with the offerings getting a lot of visibility in retail as well as e-commerce stores. However, the segment itself has failed to take off in the country, mostly due to the lack of advertising. The pricing, which starts at the equivalent of $400 for devices such as the HP chromebook 14 also played a part in poor sales, with products such as the Lenovo G50 offering a full-fledged Windows experience for just a $100 more.

But with Google aggressively pushing Chrome OS devices, that is set to change in the coming months. Once limited in functionality, Chromebooks now offer a robust set of services, with the hardware also receiving a hefty upgrade in the form of full-HD multi-touch displays.

Google has announced that it is working on a touch-centric user interface for Chrome OS, and that it will be making it easier for developers to port Android apps to the platform. A total of ten new devices from the likes of HP, LG, Lenovo (HKG:0992) and Dell are set to launch over the coming months as well, which will considerably expand the Chrome OS ecosystem.

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The Zenfone 4 and Zenfone 5 have sold considerably well in India, and Asus (TPE:2357) is now looking to continue that momentum this year with the launch of its latest handset, the Zenfone 2. Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the Zenfone 2 grabbed headlines in the tech community as being the first device to feature an astounding 4GB RAM.

Launched in Taiwan in the month of March for what amounts to $295, the 4GB variant (ZE551ML) features great hardware for the price, including a 5.5-inch full-HD display, Intel’s quad-core 2.3GHz Atom Z3580 CPU, 64GB internal memory, microSD slot, dual SIM and LTE connectivity and a 13MP camera at the back along with a 5MP front camera and 3,000mAh battery. Software-wise, the Zenfone 2 features the latest version of Android 5.0 with Asus’ Zen UI rounding off the customizations.

While devices such as the Zenfone 2 are highly anticipated in Western countries, in India, the handset will encounter fierce competition from the likes of Lenovo (HKG:0992), Xiaomi and Huawei, all of whom offer stellar hardware at an affordable price. The differentiator for Asus, at least in India, will be the 4GB ZE551ML variant, which will make it the first device to offer that much memory.

In terms of hardware, the Zenfone 2 is up there with the likes of Xiaomi’s Mi Note, which the Chinese vendor has dubbed the “best smartphone available today.” Xiaomi has become a force to reckon with in India, but Asus has also enjoyed a healthy dose of attention from consumers with its budget offerings. Furthermore, the brushed metal design of the Zenfone 2 looks far more polished than the glass back on offer with the Mi Note. Pricing may also turn out to be a factor that determines the fate of either device in the country, with Xiaomi already showing that it can offer its products for as low as what they are available in China.

There isn’t an exact launch date mentioned for the Zenfone 2 in India, but it should be making its debut sometime before the end of the month. Along with the 4GB model, there will be several affordable options that offer 2GB RAM and a lower resolution screen.

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Slides from AMD’s (NASDAQ:AMD) event at the PC Cluster Consortium event in Osaka, Japan offer up details regarding the chip vendor’s roadmap for its GPUs and CPUs, with the takeaways including the launch of a 300W APU targeted at the HPC segment along with the launch of new CPU cores.

At the event, Junji Hayashi, Consumer and Commercial Business Lead at AMD Japan, shared details on the vendor’s K12 ARM as well as the x86 Zen CPU cores. AMD is looking to introduce both ARM as well as traditional x86 cores in a pin compatible platform that is codenamed SkyBridge. Aimed at the server, embedded, semi-custom and client markets, both the ARMv8 and the x86-powered cores will offer 64-bit computing and will be manufactured using a 14-nm FinFET process. SkyBridge will be launching before the end of the year, although an exact launch window was not provided.

The K12 core will feature Simultaneous Multi-Threading, which is a departure from the Clustered Multi-Thread technology that is currently utilized in AMD’s offerings. SMT will offer larger CPU cores the ability to achieve a higher throughput by allocating underutilized resources to an additional, slower, execution thread.

As for GPUs, Hayashi mentioned that AMD would be moving to a two-year release cadence cycle for updating the GPU architecture of APUs. There was also a mention of a High Performance Computing APU, which is said to be radically different from existing designs in that is features the Stacked HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) memory standard. The HPC APUs will slot in between the standard server cores and the FirePro line of cards.

The current generation HBM is nine times faster than GDDR5 memory and 128 times faster than DDR3. AMD is said to be utilizing the same standard in its Radeon 300 series, with the technology itself developed in collaboration with SK Hynix.

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After launching the Titan X earlier this month, it looks like Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is set to unveil a second video card based on the GM200 silicon, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti. The card is rumored to offer significant increase in better performance when compared to the GM204-based GTX 980, which is why Nvidia may decide to call the card the GTX 990.

Based on the latest leak, the GTX 980 Ti is said to offer the full complement of 3,072 CUDA cores available in the GM200, while reducing the video memory to 6GB GDDR5, down from the 12GB featured on the Titan X. Memory bus will remain the same at 384-bit, and with the GTX 980 Ti, Nvidia will allow its partners to offer custom variations of the reference design that include custom cooling solutions and factory unlocked models.

Doing so has the potential for the GTX 980 Ti to be faster than the Titan X, which is only offered in a reference design with the stock cooler. There’s no confirmation as to when we’ll see the card, with the rumor only suggesting that Nvidia is targeting its launch to coincide with that of AMD’s (NASDAQ:AMD) Radeon R9 390X. The Radeon R9 300 series will make its debut at Computex, so it is possible that we may see the GTX 980 Ti at around the same time.

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Futuremark has launched a new API Overhead feature test for its 3DMark benchmarking utility, with the test allowing users to test performance differences between DirectX 12, DirectX 11 and Mantle API.

Windows 10 Technical Preview users on build 10041 and the latest video drivers from Windows Update will now be able to access the test through 3DMark Advanced or Professional Edition. To test the DirectX 12 features, users must have DirectX 11-compliant hardware with at least 4GB RAM and 1GB video memory. To run Mantle tests, you need AMD hardware that works with the Mantle API.

Developed in collaboration with AMD(NASDAQ:AMD), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), the test’s objective is to determine the “relative performance of different APIs on a single system.” Essentially, you’ll be able to gauge how your current system performs with DirectX 11, and the differences in performance when using DirectX 12.

The API Overhead test works by sending a call to the GPU to draw an object on the screen, which is handled through the API. The more efficient the API, the more number of lines that can be drawn on the screen. The number of draw calls is increased with every iteration, with the final result calculated based on the maximum number of draw calls per second achieved by an API before the frame rate goes under 30 fps.

With DirectX 12 slated for commercial availability later this year, Futuremark’s test offers users a way to check how their current configurations will be able to handle Microsoft’s new API.

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Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) has shed further details on its second-generation Xeon Phi CPU, known as Knights Landing.

The processor features several technical achievements, starting with a 14nm manufacturing process, which is a first in this series. Designed to offer high-performance computing, Knights Landing differs from other server-based CPUs in that it uses lots of low-energy cores to run parallel tasks, whereas offerings from IBM (NYSE:IBM) or Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) use fewer but more powerful cores.

Built on Intel’s MIC (Many Integrated Core) architecture with a total of 8 billion transistors, Knights Landing runs a modified version of the Atom Silvermont x86 core in a tile configuration, with a single tile featuring two cores and vector execution units along with shared L2 cache as well as a circuitry that connects the tile to the rest of the mesh network. Intel has mentioned that each Knights Landing package would include a processor with 30 or more tiles and eight on-chip memory modules. Another major highlight with Knights Landing is that it would be able to function as a host processor, meaning that it can boot and run x86 operating systems and application code without any need for recompilation. It can also act as a co-processor.

Talking about memory, the chip vendor has announced that Knights Landing would feature eight 2GB stacks of memory, totaling up to 16GB. The chip is manufactured at Micron, and looks to be a variant of the manufacturer’s Hybrid Memory Cube, which involves stacking memory and using an embedded logic chip to deliver higher bandwidth at a lower power. Micron has mentioned that its HMC modules will be able to transfer data 15 times faster than a standard DDR3 module, while utilizing 70% less energy. Along with on-chip memory, Knights Landing will come with six memory channels that can connect a total of 384GB DDR4 memory.

The result of the new manufacturing process, core design and memory is that Knights Landing will offer three times the performance as the current-gen Knights Corner, with Intel claiming 3 teraflops double-precision and 6 teraflops single-precision performance. That number is close to the 7 teraflops figure Nvidia (NASDAQ:INTC) touted during the launch of its latest video card, the Titan X.

It is no wonder, then, that Intel is aiming for the same use-cases as Nvidia for Knights Landing, with the chip vendor stating that the CPU can be used for deep learning and data analytics. Nvidia, however, has invested significant resources in its platform, and is offering tools such as the Digits software framework. Even if Intel does not manage to successfully challenge Nvidia in the Knights Landing, it is witnessing a great amount of demand, with over 50 companies set to sell server systems with the CPU as the host.

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EVGA has launched the first GeForce GTX 980 with an all-in-one liquid and air cooler, with the card dubbed the GTX 980 Hybrid. The custom cooling option is claimed to reduce temperatures by a full 25 degrees Celsius when compared to a reference GTX 980, allowing EVGA to substantially overclock the card out of the gate.

The GTX 980 Hybrid features a base clock of 1291MHz and a boost clock of 1393MHz, with the vendor stating that there will be plenty headroom left for further overclocking. The card comes with 4GB GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit interface and a bandwidth of 7010MHz. The liquid-cooled portion directs heat away from the GPU, while the included air cooler is used to cool the memory and VRM sections of the video card.

This isn’t the first AIO liquid-cooled video card, as that distinction goes to AMD’s Radeon R9 295X2, but this is the first time we’re seeing this system used on the GTX 980. Based on Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) new Maxwell architecture, the GTX 980 features the GM2014 GPU with 2048 CUDA cores.

The GTX 980 is listed on EVGA’s website for US $649.99/€779,00. If you’re interested in just getting the cooler, EVGA is offering it for $99.99.

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In what may be a sign that Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is set to move on from the Broadwell platform and focus on Skylake, it is being reported that the chip vendor will launch just two Broadwell SKUs for desktop, with the parts set to be announced at this year’s Computex.

The processors will be the Core i7-5775C and Core i5-5675C, and the 65W TDP offerings will be fully compatible with current Z97 motherboards following a BIOS update. The “C’ in the nomenclature is to denote the fact that the processors are unlocked, with Intel said to be moving away from the “K” naming convention.

The Core i7-5775C will feature a base clock of 3.3GHz along with a turbo clock of 3.7GHz. With four cores, eight threads and 6MB cache along with Iris Pro Graphics 6200, the i7-5775C will be the higher-end offering in this series.

The Core i5-5675C, on the other hand, will feature a slightly lower clock speed of 3.1GHz, with a turbo frequency of 3.6GHz. The CPU has 4MB cache and will also feature Iris Pro Graphics 6200. The LGA1150 Broadwell offerings are essentially a 14nm shrink of the Haswell die, and unlike previous years, Intel will not be offering a full gamut of CPUs across pricing tiers.

Instead, the vendor will focus its efforts on the Skylake architecture, the tock in Intel’s tick-tock release cadence cycle. Skylake will also be fabricated on a 14nm process, but will usher in significant CPU and GPU improvements along with lesser power consumption. To expedite the launch of Skylake, Intel is rumored to move up its annual Intel Developers Forum to mid-August, where it is officially set to unveil the new CPUs.

Skylake for the desktop will be offered as fully unlocked versions with TDPs of 65W and 95W, with a 35W SKU also planned for low-power devices. The chip vendor is set to begin producing the hardware in June or July, with retail availability set to commence from October.

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After conquering the smartphone market in key emerging markets such as China, Xiaomi’s venturing into the world of tablets with the Xiaomi Mi Pad.

While this year’s offerings by Xiaomi such as the Mi Note have followed an original design, last year’s products such as the Mi Pad bear a striking resemblance to Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) offerings, with Xiaomi clearly targeting the iPad mini with its first tablet. In broad strokes, both tablets share the same pixel density at 324 ppi, the same 4:3 ratio and are offered in a 7.9-inch form factor. That’s where the similarities end, however, as both products are aimed at entirely different buyers.

Design

The iPad mini features an all-metal chassis that feels great in-hand, with Xiaomi deciding to go with plastic on the Mi Pad. There are several Android-based tablets in the price segment Xiaomi is targeting, but by offering much better hardware than tablets priced significantly higher, the Chinese vendor is once again looking to punch above its weight.

The front of the Mi Pad is an unassuming slab, and features the Mi logo etched onto the top left corner. The top section also hosts the front camera sensor. At the bottom, you’ll find three capacitive buttons. The camera sensor at the back is on the top left corner, with the built-in microphone directly underneath. At the bottom, there are stereo speakers sitting below another Mi logo.

The volume rockers as well as the power buttons are on the left side of the tablet, and there’s a micro-USB charging port at the bottom and a 3.5mm audio jack at the top. The volume and power buttons have decent travel, which as it turns out is hard to get right as evidenced by HTC with the first few production runs of the Nexus 9. Xiaomi has however managed to get the tactile feedback right as far as the buttons on the Mi Pad are concerned.

The gentle sloping sides allows you to grip the Mi Pad with ease, with the tablet belying its size when held in-hand. The overall build quality of the tablet is top-notch, but the decision to go with a glossy plastic back wasn’t the best by Xiaomi as it makes the tablet quite slippery at times. The Mi Pad is available in several colorful configurations ranging from white, blue, pink, green and so forth, with the more colorful options distinctly reminding us of the iPhone 5c.

The post Xiaomi Mi Pad Review: Great Hardware Letdown By Software appeared first on VR World.

After serving up a few details regarding the card at the Game Developers Conference earlier this month, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has officially launched its latest offering in the Titan series, the Titan X. The card will be priced at $999 and will be available in the month of May.

The specs on offer with the Titan X match what the last round of leaks predicted, with the card featuring a 28nm GM200 GPU that offers 3072 CUDA cores, 192 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 3MB of L2 cache along with 12GB of GDDR5 memory with a 384-bit memory interface. Base clock for the card is at 1002MHz, with a boost clock of 1078MHz.

Nvidia has stated that there is more than sufficient headroom available for overclocking the Titan X, and the card will reach frequencies of 1200MH without any hassles. The GM200 silicon is basically an enhanced version of the GM204 GPU that was introduced with the GTX 980. We see a 50% increase in bandwidth, CUDA cores and ROP count, with the end result being a card that features a maximum TDP of 250W.

The cooler itself is similar to what we’ve seen in earlier-generation Titan cards, although this time around the metal shroud has a black coat of paint. Nvidia is once again touting that the Titan X is the fastest single-GPU solution available in the world today, with the card billed more as a luxury gaming video card than an entry-level compute card, like the Kepler-based GTX Titan and GTX Titan Black. For that reason, its pricing at $999 may turn out to be the only sore point given that cards like the GTX 980 in SLI can outperform the Titan X.

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Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has announced its own computing solution aimed at deep-learning researchers at the GPU Technology Conference. Called Digits DevBox, the system includes four Titan X GPUs in quad-SLI, making it the most powerful configuration of GPU hardware in a single PC available today.

The box will feature the Digits software framework, which gives deep-learning researchers a series of tools that will enable them to configure and monitor deep neural networks, as well as process data. The system itself is powered by Ubuntu 14.04, and comes with the following frameworks and libraries installed: Caffe, Torch, Theano, BIDMach, cuDNN v2, and CUDA 7.0.

Other hardware includes an Asus X99 motherboard with an Intel Haswell-E Core i7  processor, a combination of mechanical and flash-based storage that includes 3×3 TB drives in RAID 5, as well as  M.2 SATA and SSDs along with a 1500W power supply.

The cost of the system at $15,000 is several times more than what you pay for just the hardware, so it’s clear Nvidia is also chrging a premium for its software-driven framework. The chip vendor is now taking registrations for the Digits DevBox, and there’s an online configurator as well that can be accessed by filling out this form.

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At the GPU Technology Conference, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced a developer kit for its self-driving car platform, dubbed Drive PX.

One of the key features of the platform is its hardware, which is powered  by two Tegra X1 chips and comes with the ability to process video simultaneously from 12 different HD cameras placed around a vehicle that feed information about the environment back to the system, thereby allowing Drive PX to facilitate surround view, collision avoidance, pedestrian detection, mirror-less operation, cross-traffic monitoring and driver-state monitoring.

Nvidia is billing deep learning as the integral differentiator for the Drive PX platform, with CEO Jen-Hsun Huang stating that the system is far more advanced than conventional Advanced Driver Assistance Systems available today, most of which center around lane guidance and collision prevention. Drive PX will be able to train itself to react to different situations, and there’s the added feature that any actions learned in one vehicle are shared with the platform as a whole.

Enabling the learning experience is a deep neural network software development kit called Digits that allows the Drive PX system to understand objects in the real world and react to ever-changing scenarios. The system will be available in May to select automakers, automotive suppliers and research institutions, with the developer kit priced at $10,000.

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Although Nvidia announced the Titan X during Epic Games’ demo at the Game Developers Conference earlier this month, the chip vendor is yet to share the full specs of the video card. The card is set to be officially announced at Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference later this week, but the full specifications of the GM200 silicon — which is what the card is based on — have been leaked.

Videocardz posted the block diagram of the GPU, with the fully-unlocked silicon featuring 6 Graphics Processing Clusters (GPCs), each holding 4 Maxwell Streaming Multiprocessor (SMMs), for a total of 24 SMMs, or 3072 CUDA cores. A total of 6 memory controllers, each with 64-bit memory means that the Titan X has a memory bus width of 384-bit. Other specs include 192 Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) and 96 Raster Operation Units (ROPs).

In terms of bandwidth, the Titan X clocks in at 1002MHz base and 1089MHz boost, and will offer an astounding 12GB of GDDR5 memory at 1753MHz. While not confirmed, the video card is set to have a TDP of 250W, with one eight-pin and six-pin PCI-Express power connectors. Display connectors include three DisplayPort, one HDMI and one DVI port. Synthetic benchmarks of the card have leaked last week, indicating significant gains in performance over the GTX 980.

Pricing of the Titan X is said to be the case as earlier-generation models, which would come out to $999. The card is slated to make its debut tomorrow, which is when we’ll have further details, as well as real-world benchmarks.

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Xiaomi is looking to expand its presence in India with the launch of 100 experience stores across the country later this year. The centers will allow prospective customers to get a hands-on look at all the products Xiaomi has to offer.

No devices will be sold at the stores, with Xiaomi stating that it will continue to sell products exclusively through Flipkart. There was talk of Xiaomi starting its own e-commerce portal, with the vendor set to reveal its plans at a later stage.

Xiaomi is also set to create manufacturing facilities in India, where the vendor will assemble the devices that will go on sale locally. Currently, all Xiaomi products are imported from China, but in the next 12 to 18 months, the manufacturer is looking to assemble handsets within the country. Xiaomi will also be looking to sell products assembled in India in neighboring countries as it looks to continue its global expansion.

Along with manufacturing facilities, Xiaomi is building an R&D division in India that will deliver an ecosystem of content and services tailored to customers located within the country.

The move to launch offline experience centers is a way to get more users to get some hands-on time with Xiaomi products, and to also dispel the negative image most consumers have with regard to Chinese vendors, which were notorious for selling low-quality knock-offs in the Indian market a few years ago. The centers will also offer service and support for Xiaomi’s devices.

Xiaomi is not the only vendor looking to increase its presence in India, as Motorola has also announced that it will also be launching similarly-themed experience stores in the country this year.

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Indian manufacturer Micromax’s wholly-owned subsidiary Yu Televentures has started teasing its second handset, codenamed Project Caesar. The handset is set to launch sometime next month, and will continue to offer CyanogenMod out of the box following an exclusive partnership between the two companies in India.

In the teaser, Yu says, “Stay tuned, the fYUture is coming!” followed by an image of a lollipop and a finger of KitKat, with the tagline, “KitKat in the age of Lollipop? Give Me a break.”

The Me stylization is a reference to Xiaomi’s Mi branding in India, and the remark is concerning the fact that MIUI 6 — the latest version of the operating system found on Xiaomi’s products — is still based on Android 4.4 KitKat.

While the teaser is further proof that Yu’s upcoming smartphone will run CyanogenMod 12, which is based on Android 5.0 Lollipop, out of the box. The device itself is said to be a Qualcomm reference design with mid-range hardware that will be offered at an affordable price tag, as is the case with Yu Yureka, which is essentially a rebranded Coolpad F2 that offers a 720p display, Snapdragon 615 SoC, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, 13MP camera, 5MP front camera and a 2,500mAh battery for the equivalent of $150.

Yu has been steadily gaining attraction since launching the Yureka in India late last year, accruing over 175,000 sales thus far. The handset is set to make the switch to Android 5.0 in the coming weeks, with the possibility of the update coinciding with the launch of the second Yu handset looking likely at this stage. It is clear that Yu is positioning itself as a direct competitor to Xiaomi, with both vendors offering a differentiated software experience along with stellar hardware at an affordable price.

Xiaomi is set to launch the Mi Pad and Redmi 2 later this month, and it is entirely within the realm of reason that Yu’s next handset will target Xiaomi’s upcoming handset.

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With Windows 10, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will be introducing a brand new browser codenamed Project Spartan, with Internet Explorer finally set to become obsolete. The browser will continue on as an alternative, mainly for enterprise customers, but for other users Project Spartan will be the go-to browser.

Microsoft’s marketing chief Chris Capossela announced during the Microsoft Convergence event yesterday that the manufacturer was working on a new name and brand for the Porject Spartan browser. Some of the new features that are set to be ushered in with Project Spartan include a new Edge rendering engine that can parse HTML markup directly, with the ability to also load legacy IE11 websites.

The browser will be delivered as a universal app, which means that for the first time, the same version of the browser will be available on Windows 10 as well as Windows 10 for phones. Considering Microsoft’s One Windows vision, it is possible a slimmed-down variant of the browser will be available for Xbox One as well. Ability to update directly from the store means that Microsoft can introduce new features without having to roll out an OS update. Also available in Spartan is extension support, and Cortana is also highlighted as an integral feature in the browser.

One of the main reasons in ditching the Internet Explorer brand is the negative connotation it carriers in the tech world. Microsoft tried to shake off the negative image of the browser by rolling out commercials, but ultimately failed to challenge the growing dominance of Chrome and Firefox. With Windows 10 heralding a new direction for Microsoft as a whole, Redmond is now looking to start afresh in the browser segment as well.

Microsoft is yet to figure out a name for Project Spartan, although it is likely given market research trends that it will feature Microsoft’s brand name in front of it. Microsoft Spartan, anyone?

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Network Attached Storage maker Synology has launched a new version of its web-based operating system. DiskStation Manager 5.2 beta brings a series of improvements to already existing utilities, while introducing several new features, chief among them being Docker, a software container service that allows developers and IT admins to easily create, deploy, and run applications on the NAS.

Docker allows devs to easily install server applications or web apps, and and facilitates management of all installed applications through a unified dashboard. There’s a registry of services available for devs to choose from, including database management utilities such as Redis, mySQL and MongoDB, blogging platforms like WordPress, CRM software, programming languages as well as server applications such as Nginx. 

Each instance of an application is installed in its own container and isolated from other services, allowing IT admins more control over the deployment and modification of individual modules. Another new feature in DSM 5.2 beta is SSO (single sign-on), through which an admin can sign on to all of Synology’s web applications with a single DSM account. Other security-focused features include the addition of SMB 3 encryption, which allows secure file transfers to Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 and later.

DSM 5.2 Synology now available

Link Aggregation has been one of the standout features of Synology’s NAS units, with DSM 5.2 beta bringing new modes of operation: Active-standby, 802.3ad dynamic, Balanced XOR, and Adaptive Load Balancing. Link Aggregation lets you daisy-chain multiple Ethernet ports to boost bandwidth without the need of a dedicated switch.

Note Station debuted in the last iteration of DSM, and the latest build brings additional functionality to the service in the form of a Chrome extension called Synology Web Clipper. The extension allows you to directly save content from the web into Note Station, with easy discovery of content facilitated through a search feature.

There’s now a task management system within DSM, which lets you set different priorities for various tasks, with a reminder option also available. File Station is also getting added functionality, with the file browser now showing files from all services, local as well as cloud, in a single location. Cloud Station gets customizable version control, while Cloud Sync now offers one-way sync options as well as the ability to encrypt your files before uploading them to a cloud service.

DS photo is getting Chromecast and DLNA compatibility, which means that you can now stream your images wirelessly. The latest version of DSM is now available for download from Synology’s website.

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Noctua launched CPU coolers aimed at mini-ITX builds late last year, and the Austrian manufacturer is now rolling out a new low-profile cooler in the NH-L9 series, the NH-L9x65. Also announced is a new NF-A6x25 PWM fan that delivers automatic speed control.

The NH-L9x65 is aimed at offering much better performance than its predecessor, the NH-L9i. WIth mini-ITX motherboards now facilitating powerful processors, there is an increasing need for CPU coolers that offer an ample amount of cooling in a small form factor. The NH-L9x65 fits the bill in that regard, with the 51mm tall cooler featuring four nickel-plated copper heatpipes for efficient heat dissipation, which is aided by an NF-A9x14 fan.

The 2500 RPM fan is quoted to run at a noise level of 23.6 dBA. Although the presence of the fan raises the height of the cooler to 65mm, Noctua has retained the 95 x 95 footprint with the NH-L9x65 as well as full compatibility with PCI-Express devices and RAM modules, which is crucial in a segment where space is at a premium.

The NH-L9x65 features Noctua’s SecuFirm2 mounting system for both Intel and AMD motherboards, and comes bundled with the NT-H1 thermal compound. While several of Noctua’s offerings are aimed at the overclocking segment, the brand has mentioned that the NH-L9x65 is ideally suited for CPUs that do not exceed a TDP of 84W. The CPU cooler will be making its way to retailers later this month, with prices starting at $52.90.

Also announced with the NH-L9x65 is a new PWN fan called the NF-A6x25. The 60mm offering comes with the new SSO2 bearing, delivers fully automatic speed control through the 4-pin fan headers, and has a Low-Noise-Adaptor to reduce the maximum speed during from 3000 to 2300 RPM. The fan will retail for $17.90.

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Asus (TPE:2357) is making a Steam Machine, which is called the GR8S.

Set for a launch in the month of November, the machine will offer the latest hardware available from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). After a delay of one year, Valve’s ambitions are going ahead with full steam, with over 15 brands pledging to launch a Steam Machine this year.

The Steam Store listing for the GR8S mentions that the prices for the unit start at $699, with hardware configurations that include Intel’s Core i5/i7 CPUs, Nvidia GeForce 900 series video cards, DDR3 RAM ranging from 4GB to 16GB, storage options in the form of mechanical hard drives that are available in 500GB and 1TB flavors and SSDs from 128GB to 512GB. Here’s the full list of specs on offer:

• Price: Starting at $699
• CPU: Intel Core i5/i7 processors
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9-series graphics
• Memory: DDR3 4GB ~ 16GB
• Storage: 500GB/1TB 7200rpm HDD, or 128GB ~ 512GB SSD
• Audio: ROG SupremeFX 5.1 HD audio
• Network: Intel Gb LAN with 802.11 ac Wi-Fi

Asus has opted for a tower design, unlike Zotac, which went with a more traditional mini-PC styling. Asus’ design does stand out, with the red on black styling serving to highlight the premium nature of the chassis. The Steam Machine will be 4K-ready, with connectivity options including HDMI and DisplayPort. It is unclear if Asus will go with HDMI 2.0 connectivity, which is aimed at delivering 4K at 60fps through a single port, but seeing as how the GR8S will launch in the month of November, it is likely we’ll see the latest standard on board.

If you’re interested in seeing all Steam Machines that will go on sale later this year, be sure to visit Steam’s storefront. There are options from 15 mainstream vendors that begin at $459 and go all the way up to $4,999. Valve also launched a Steam Controller that will be up for sale for $49.99.

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