Kingston has recently announced a new SSD in their HyperX lineup that represents the next leap forward in high-performance solid-state technology.

The new HyperX Predator PCIe SSD features a PCIe x4 interface instead of the traditional SATA 6Gbps hookup, hitting up to blazing-fast 1400MB/s read and 1000MB/s write speeds for optimum multitasking.

Thanks to the slim/low-profile HHHL adapter and modular form, the SSD flexibly supports newer and older desktops with ease.

The Predator supports PCIe x4 when fitted in the adapter and can be separately detached to fit into an M.2 PCIe slot.

Although M.2 is supported, you’ll need to go the PCIe route to hit the SSD’s hit peak read/write speeds. The Predator is powered by a Marvell 88SS9293 Altaplus SSD Controller that’s optimized specifically for M.2 PCIe x4 lanes.

Like most leading-edge tech, Kingston’s new Predator PCIe SSD isn’t cheap. The 240GB drive will set you back $382, whereas the 480GB is a whopping $782.

Both flavors are only available via Kingston’s digital marketplace for right now, and come with a three-year warranty.

Below we have a full list of specifications for your perusal:

Specifications

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The next gaming platform from Nintendo (TYO: 7974) will be called “NX”, company executives revealed at a press conference on Tuesday.

Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata was light on details, but he said the platform would be an entirely “brand-new concept” that is likely to incorporate multiple platforms as Nintendo recently announced it would be bringing its IP to smartphone and tablet based gaming platforms. Nintendo also announced a partnership with Japanese mobile studio DeNA to bring these games to mobile platforms.

Watch Nintendo’s press conference here:

“As proof that Nintendo maintains strong enthusiasm for the dedicated game system business, let me confirm that Nintendo is currently developing a dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept under the development codename ‘NX’,” Satoru Iwata said on stage.  “It is too early to elaborate on the details of this project, but we hope to share more information with you next year.”

As details of Nintendo’s new hardware platform are non existent at the moment, it’s impossible to speculate with any certainty at what the company might or might not do. While Nintendo’s Wii console was a smash hit, the follow-up, the Wii U, was something of a dud. There have been some solid titles for the platform, but it did not capture the market in the same way the Wii did. In many ways its possible to draw parallels from the Wii U to the Gamecube; the Gamecube came after the smash hit of the N64 but lived in the shadow of the Playstation 2 and Xbox.

On stage Nintendo’s Iwata said that more details on the console would be available next year. A release date is currently unknown.

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Acer (TPE: 2353) said that the company is confident of its business scale in 2016 after its successful efforts to return to the profit-making direction.

“I hope we can gain momentum and expand our business scale starting from 2016. In 2015, we expect to find the right direction for our business and then speed up the momentum in 2016,” said Stan Shih (施振榮), founder for Acer.

Shih said that Acer, the leading Taiwanese PC maker, has expanded from hardware manufacturing into several new business with a profitable outlook, which will pave the way for faster growth of the company in the long term.

“Acer is like a big ship sailing in the ocean, but we lost direction in the past few years. We spent the entire year steadying ourselves last year, and I think now we have found the right direction to a new continent,” Shih said.

Acer’s revenue for 2014 declined to an eight-year low of US$10.49 billion. The PC maker has been moving beyond hardware manufacturing into software and services as the PC industry remains stagnated.

Acer Chief Executive Jason Chen (陳俊聖) said that the company will continue to invest in cloud computing this year, in return of a hope be profitable by the end of 2015.

“Our goal is to keep Acer’s core business and new businesses profitable and growing this year,” Chen said.

After a management reshuffle in January 2014, Acer began to emerge from three consecutive years of operating losses. The company’s new strategy “Build Your Own Cloud” became the hope for the company to increase the gross revenue of its cloud application business in 2015 by acquiring more corporate customers and increasing the payout rate for individual users. Acer said that the company has seen the number of individual users of its free cloud services jump from five million last year to six million as of Jan. 21. Shih said that the figure was estimated to reach 10 million during the first six months of this year.

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Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has re-instated the Xbox One’s price drop, bringing the all-in-one console back down to an attractive $349 price point.

The news comes straight from a new post on the Xbox Wire that discusses the Xbox One’s sales record for the holidays.

“Building off a record-setting holiday, we are excited to announce a new promotion in which fans in the U.S. can buy an Xbox One at a special price of $349, starting tomorrow, January 16, from their preferred retailer,” said Mike Nichols, Corporate Vice President of Marketing for Xbox. “

Over the holidays all non-Kinect Xbox One consoles were marked down to $349 for a “limited time”, including the Assassin’s Creed and Sunset Overdrive bundles. leading to a surge in console sales over the holiday season.

The price drop led to a surge in Xbox One sales over the holidays, and for the first time the Xbox One out-sold the PS4 in the U.S. for the month of November. It’s also worth noting that the limited nature of the price drop surely motivated sales.

Breaking Sony’s (NYSE: SNE) long-standing reign in sales was a tremendous occasion for the Redmond-based console-maker, and it showed gamers were willing to buy the Xbox One for the right price.

Microsoft has since revealed the Xbox One continued its streak, outselling the PS4 in December as well.

As of January 16 Microsoft has brought back the $349 price to commemorate the two-month record over the PS4, in hopes of moving more units and revitalizing console sales. The new price is part of a “new promotion”, and it appears that details aren’t clear whether or not it’s limited to the United States or will be applied globally.

While any victory is great news, Microsoft still has a long way to go. Sony has shipped more than 10 million PS4 consoles to date, and beat the Xbox One in global sales for December. Overall the PS4 continues to dominate worldwide console sales.

Microsoft hasn’t revealed how long the Xbox One will stay at $349, but we’ll likely find out when the sales charts roll in after a month or so.

The post Xbox One Drops Back Down To $349 appeared first on VR World.

There had been a time when the International CES trade show was considered to be waning, when technology companies chose to launch products and technologies on their own terms and in their own events. Even Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) pulled out as keynote presenter after 12 years, signalling what could possibly be the end of an era for consumer electronics.

But with the Internet-of-Things and mobility on the rise, hardware and consumer electronics have become in vogue again. This year, CES continues to give a nod to startups from around the world that aim to catch the attention of potential partners, investors, media and users, with interest in hardware, software, platforms and other technologies that aim to catch on with mass appeal.

If you’re attending CES in Las Vegas this coming week, or perhaps simply observing the keynotes and presentations from online sources, you will want to note that the Eureka Park Marketplace — the event’s official startup-centric exhibit — is now 59% larger in terms of floor space compared with 2014. This year also features a concentrated exhibit from Israel and France, which have quite a big representation of up-and-coming tech firms, compared with other countries. In total, there will be at least 370 startup companies showcasing their wares at CES this year at Eureka Park alone. This does not count events run in the sidelines, as well as startups sponsored by the academe and other organizations that will vie for exhibition space through startup competitions.

Here are a few startups that might be of interest:

Virtuix Omni. This VR startup first caught attention at CES last year as a viable companion to VR goggles like the Oculus Rift. The Omni is a platform that enables users to “walk” around a virtual environment through special shoes and a slippery surface. At CES this year, Virtuix is launching what will be the final or release version of the Omni, which should hopefully be available to consumers who want that full-on VR experience.

Be warned, though: using the Omni involves being strapped into the contraption with a diaper-like harness, which may be uncomfortable or even embarrassing. But we can see the multitude of applications here, including from gaming to military/situational training or even virtual tours.

Butterfleye. Connected homes have been yet another highlight of the previous year’s CES, and the trend seems to be continuing this year. According to Butterfleye, Dropcam was just the beginning of consumer-grade (and often also SME-oriented) Internet-connected cameras. Butterfleye ups the ante with what it considers an intelligent algorithm, combining several sensors (infrared, thermal, motion, light, sound, WiFi) to activate. It is also wireless and cordless, enabling users to situate the device anywhere at the home or office. We only hope it won’t be used by unscrupulous individuals for spying.

Carbon Flyer. Launched as an Indiegogo project, the Carbon Flyer is a $190 crash-proof drone built from carbon-fiber and designed with a low-drag, high-speed delta-wing shape. The drone is controlled by smartphone via Bluetooth. This poses range questions, of course. And even if the drone itself is resistant to crashes, we can’t guarantee it won’t cause trouble for stuff it crashes into.

Connected Cycle. Not everyone drives or rides a car to work, school or to get around town. For avid cyclists, Connected Cycle incorporates smart features into any bike through a custom pedal, which automatically records speed, routes, elevation and calories burnt. It even alerts users if one’s bike is stolen, and users can track the whereabouts of the bike through a smartphone app.

Empire Robotics. One inherent advantage of humans over other beings is our use of opposable thumbs, which enables us to handle objects and tools (not to mention use touchscreen smartphones). Robots may not be that articulate, though, given differences in how the human hand and skin grips even odd-shaped objects. Empire Robotics wants to change this by incorporating a ball-like device called the VersaBall, which offers a flexible and secure grip for objects of various sizes.

FlyKly. FlyKly’s Smart Wheel converts any bike into a pedal-assisted electric bike which gives a boost up to 25 Km/h for 40 miles on a single charge. The trick is to replace the rear wheel with FlyKly’s wheel, which also comes with a smartphone app for location, performance and charge tracking. Now if only FlyKly can design a similar wheel that can convert any car or motorcycle into a hybrid.

Genisyss. If it sounds like the title of an upcoming SciFi film with futuristic/time travel themes, it’s somewhat close. This startup has developed a “DNA capsule” that essentially stores your DNA information into a thumb drive sized devices, in which you can store samples of your DNA. Perhaps one day, when scientists discover how to clone human beings or parts (which comes with big moral repercussions, of course), these tools might come in handy.

Know Roaming. For frequent travelers, roaming can be expensive, and switching to a local prepaid SIM is a better option to save on costs (and sometimes to get better service). But switching SIMs can be an inconvenience, and not all phones support dual SIM setups. Know Roaming is an add-on sticker that goes on top of your existing SIM in a one-time application. It will then determine whether you’re at your home country or network, or roaming, and will use either your default network or its own prepaid roaming network accordingly.

My Brain Tech. Noting how stressful life can be, this startup has designed a product called Melomind, which helps get rid of stress through a mix of sounds and other stimulus. We reckon the helmet can also be tweaked to magnify your telekinetic powers and prevent telepaths from accessing your thoughts. Kidding, of course.

PetCube. There are connected cars, connected homes, connected devices, and now connected pets. PetCube is a device that lets users monitor their pets and even talk to them remotely. It also comes with a laser pointer that helps you keep kitty engaged.

Umoove. This startup has developed precise facial and eye tracking technology with the use of any camera, mobile devices included. According to the company, applications include gaming and other fields that require the study of eye and facial movements (including advertising and marketing, of course).

These companies and technologies are just a drop in the bucket amongst startups and established firms that will have a presence at the International CES this week. From the sampling, there is an indication that the Internet of Things and connected devices will continue to have a strong following. The question, however, is which technologies will actually gain traction and get good execution after CES.

Stay tuned for more as VR World covers the event on the ground.

The post CES 2015: Startups to Watch Out For appeared first on VR World.

With the annual Consumer Electronics Show right around the corner and the industry’s marketing efforts going into overdrive, what is it that we will likely see next week?

It’s a safe bet that if will be a week of opposites.

From hardware going to both larger and smaller designs, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) G-Sync versus AMD (NYSE: AMD) FreeSync, small displays with massive resolution, and gaming notebooks of both massive and diminutive sizes.

Small form factor hardware as is one of the fastest growing areas in the hardware segment, and no doubt there will be a lot of it on display at CES.  With hardware becoming so powerful and small we are seeing a lot of really powerful builds that can be done.  With even MATX X99 boards we are seeing that there is a move toward making things small and potent.  On the other side there is a lot of huge pieces of hardware showing up on the market, namely 4K and ultra wide monitors.  They are becoming even more prolific and the ultra wide monitors are drawing a lot of interest from gamers and power users who were once planning on going for a 4K monitor or two.  There will be a lot of talk this CES about AMD’s FreeSync for enthusiast gaming monitors as it is the newcomer challenging Nvidia’s established G-Sync.  FreeSync will draw the attention of monitor manufacturers since it is less costly to implement and license than the G-Sync solution.  The LG 34UM67 will be a curved ultra wide monitor that will feature AMD’s FreeSync, and should definitely steal a lot of the spotlight next week.

The mobile computing segment is also something to watch next week as we will see a lot of small notebooks with very high resolution displays.  It is easy to say that there will be a number of notebook models that will feature 3K and 4K screens, even at the 15.6-inch sizes.  There will also be a movement with ultraportable gaming notebooks of small size that can be docked with a desktop graphics card for superior gaming ability while at a desk.  With the shrinking of parts that make up computers we will be seeing a drastic reduction in size and weight of these ulta portable notebooks.  Not only will they be smaller but they will be potent and even come equipped with quad-core Intel i7 processors and decent graphics.  On the other hand you will also see that there is a move to the opposite extreme as there will be new 18″ gaming notebooks that will be the true embodiment of the “desktop replacement” name.  Some of these huge notebooks will even sport gaming grade mechanical keyboards featuring Cherry MX Brown switches.

Be sure to check back throughout next week as CES 2015 kicks off in Las Vegas.

The post PC Enthusiats: What Can We Expect to See at CES 2015? appeared first on VR World.

Antec announced today that it has a new model coming out in the GX family of chassis: the GX300.  The case joins the GX900, GX700, and GX500 of which all are mid-tower cases.  The GX300 cases are the entry point into the GX family, and these cases will come in windowed and non-windowed styles.

 The case is painted black inside and out that will provide a much nicer looking setup, especially with the windowed variant.  The USB, audio jacks, and power/reset buttons are located on the top of the case  with a fan controller to switch the case fans between high and low speed operation.  This board supports graphics cards up to 400mm long, CPU coolers up to 140mm tall while supporting ATX, mATX, and mini-ITX motherboards.  For the price the case is a rather sharp looking case for the low cost that it will be retailing for.  The price and the looks of this case will definitely make it a popular option for those who are budget minded and looking for a new case.  The GX300 is covered by Antec’s standard  3 year limited warranty.

Specifications

• Chassis color: Black
• 6 drive bays
• 6 x 3.5″ / 2.5″ drive trays
• Motherboards: Standard ATX, microATX, Mini-ITX
• 7 expansion slots
• Maximum graphics card size: 15.7″ (400 mm)
• Maximum CPU cooler height: 5.5″ (140 mm)

Cooling System:

• 2 x 120 mm top exhaust fan (Optional)
• 1x120mm rear exhaust fan pre-installed
• 2 x 120 mm front intake fan (Optional)

Front I/O ports:

• 1x USB 3.0 High Speed USB port
• 1 x USB 2.0
• 1 x Audio I/O (HD97)

Unit Dimensions:

• 485 mm (H) x 180 mm (W) x 475 mm (D)
• 19.09″ (H) x 7.08″ (W) x 18.70″ (D)

Net Weight:

• 5.45 kg

The post Antec Announces The Budget-Minded GX300 Case appeared first on VR World.

Consumers will soon be able to actually feel digital objects in virtual reality.

A tech firm known as Dexta Robotics is crafting the Dexmo F2, a specially-made exoskeleton that folds over a users hand to simulate the sensation of touch in VR environments. The device will apparently be compatible with the Oculus Rift, and may even transition to other VR platforms.

Originally spotted by Kotaku, a representative from the company launched an AMA on the Oculus Reddit to raise awareness on the Dexmo peripheral and to explain how it works.

“How does it work? On the thumb and the index finger exoskeleton there are two additional piece of hardware that we invested a lot of time developing, called the force feedback unit, which is essentially a miniaturized gear disk breaking system.

“It works like this: when the avatar you are controlling hits a digital object, a signal is sent back via our SDK to Dexmo F2 and the small actuators actuates, brakes the joint and locks the exoskeleton.

“When you further bend your finger inwards, a normal force will be created on your fingertip. (FYI, this is patent pending in the state(s), and we got our very first patent for Dexmo approved in China).”

The Dexmo will be compatible with the STEM System for a “full-body” VR experience.

At its core the wearable exoskeleton captures hand motion and then processes that information across the the Oculus Rift, ultimately leading to a new realm of VR interactivity.

Dexmo will also work in conjunction with emerging wireless mo-tracking systems like the STEM system along with the prestigious Perception Neuron system. Both of these emerging platforms aim to bring an immersive full-body experience to virtual reality.

But it appears that sense of touch will be limited to a “there” and “not there” capacity. Users won’t be able to feel varying degrees of touch, like, say, feeling the softness of velvet, but harder objects like walls and metal will induce sensation.

The original Dexmo looks steampunk-ish and intimidating, but Dexta affirms that the exoskeleton is safe for regular use.

To the everyday gamer, the Dexmo might look something like a contraption that a futuristic Freddy Krueger might wear, or something that fits right into The Lawnmower Man movie. But the robotics-maker affirms that the Dexmo is safe, and that its “passive locking” capabilities won’t break any fingers should it malfunction.

With the prototype in its early stages, Dexta Robotics plans to launch a Kickstarter for the exoskeleton later this month. The company plans to refine their design–which is currently made out of rather flimsy-looking 3D-printed material–to a metallic frame,

The cyberglove uses “tactical feedback” sensors that can be programmed to deliver varying degrees of touch sensation.

Dexta isn’t the only company pioneering this kind of tech: the Dexmo exoskeleton goes up against the CyberGlove, a similar mo-capping device that users sensors to simulate touch on the fingertips.

Today is an exciting time for the advent of virtual reality, with more and more high-tech peripherals and virtualized platforms springing up every which way. It’ll be interesting to see how the Dexmo (and the Cyberglove) push forth a new wave of interactivity in VR gaming, and how they will shape the revolution in the field of VR tech.

For more information on the Dexmo and the company that made it be sure to drop by Dexta Robotics’ official website.

The post Dexmo Exoskeletons Bring Sensation of Touch to VR appeared first on VR World.

Google Capital, the strategic venture capital fund run by search giant Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), has co-led a $32 million Series C funding round for InnoLight Technology Corp, along with Chinese venture firm Lightspeed China Partners. With its first investment in a Chinese startup, Google Capital joins the ranks of major Chinese firms like Tencent (HKG:0700), Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) and Alibaba (NASDAQ:BABA) in backing early- and growth-stage technology companies in the country. Suzhou Ventures and Acorn Ventures have co-invested in this funding round.

InnoLight designs, builds and markets high-speed optical transceivers meant for datacenter use. These devices convert electrical signals into optical signals, which are then transported from server to server through fiber-optic cables, where the light is converted back into electrical signals. At present, InnoLight specializes in 40Gbps transceivers, but has since ventured into 100Gbps transceivers, which it aims to bolster with this investment.

“InnoLight has experienced dramatic growth during the last three years, nearly doubling revenue every year. We are now a leader in 40Gbps optical transceivers and a first mover in 100Gbps solutions. With the Series C investment, we will continue to strengthen our technology leadership and expand productive capacity to support the rapid growth of the cloud computing industry,” says InnoLight CEO Dr. Sheng Liu in a statement.

“InnoLight’s technology is uniquely suited for next generation data center environments,” says Gene Frantz, general partner at Google Capital. According to James Mi, managing director at Lightspeed China Partners, the chipmaker will gain “operational expertise and deep insight into core computer center technology,” with Google Capital’s involvement.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Suzhou, China, InnoLight has sales and R&D offices in mainland China, Taiwan and the US. The firm earlier raised its Series A and B funding rounds worth $20 million. The investors will hold about two-thirds stake in the company, with the remaining shares owned by management and staff.

Google Capital was launched in 2013, with focus on growth-stage startups, as compared to Google Ventures, which funds early-stage startups. This year, Google Capital raised $300 million in fresh capital for funding growth- to late-stage startups, and has backed ten companies to date. These include peer-to-peer loan service LendingClub, market intelligence firm SurveyMonkey, and educational software maker Renaissance Learning.

The post InnoLight Raises $32M to Build Faster Optical Transceivers for Servers appeared first on VR World.

With so much media available today the need to either backup or store it creates the need for external storage.  Samsung’s D3 Station line is out to provide storage at a good price point while not having much extra “fluff” in the package.   It has some simple functions via software that is for both OSX and Windows like automated backups and password protected partitions.  In testing we hope to see just how fast this thing can be for a 4TB hard disk with USB 3.0.

Samsung D3 Station drive enclosure

Samsung D3 Station STSHX-D401TDB 4TB specifications

• Windows 8/7/Vista/XP SP2, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later
• SuperSpeed USB 3.0 (Max): 5.0Gb/s
• Temperature (operating): 5° to 40°C (41° to 104°F)
• Temperature (nonoperating): –20° to 65°C (–4° to 149°F)
• AutoBackup personal backup solution
• Secure Drive for worry-free data security
• SecretZone™ can encrypt data on a virtual drive
• 7.11″ x 5.09″ x 1.85″
• Length: 180.6mm
• 3-year limited warranty

Contents
• D3 Station External Hard Drive
• USB cable
• Power adapter
• Quick Install Guide
• Software preloaded on the drive
• Electronic User Documentation (PDF)

Samsung D3 Station underside

Design

The enclosure is very simple but looks very nice for something that will be sitting on most peoples desks. The drive is in a simple external enclosure with just USB 3.0 and port ports, and an indicator light on the front. The actual 4TB hard disk at the heart of the unit is made by Seagate, a version of their ST4000DM000. The D3 Station comes with a 3 year warranty, which is a year more than the hard drive were to have if you bought it to put inside your system. The bare drive can be found at a price higher than this external solution, though demand for bare drives is most definitely the reason for that higher price.

The D3 Station’s accessories

The drive comes with a power adapter that will work in many different countries, which is likely a way to easier package one drive for sales in various locations.  This also means that it will be nice to have in case you are visiting another country and want to take the drive along with you.  The USB 3.0 cable that comes with it is a little short and makes positioning the drive a bit harder, so it would be advisable to get a longer cable.

Samsung Drive Manager Software

 Software

The D3 Station comes with a couple folders on the drive with installs for the included Samsung Drive Manager software.  The software comes with a few useful features such as automatic backup scheduler, SecretZone, disk diagnostics, and disk management.  The SecretZone is a utility that allows you to create a partition that is password protected and it has the ability to make multiple password protected partitions.  The utility allows you to select either a normal set size partition or one that is dynamic and will expand automatically if needed.

Performance

With the proliferation and adoption of USB 3.0 into devices slow transfer speeds are no longer an issue with many external drives having taken to the standard. USB 3.0 has a maximum speed of 5Gb/s as opposed to the older 2.0’s 480 Mb/s, which is a huge improvement. This means that the SATA 2 hard disk drives that you find in most every external drive will not be limited by the connection anymore since SATA 2’s max speed is 3Gb/s (which hard disks will never come close to saturating any time soon).

The D3 Station’s read and write are very fast and are on par with speeds of an internal hard drive.  This is a great solution since you can add a full speed storage solution to your computer and not have to worry about it being slower.

The drive is showing that it is getting 160MB/s read and write in ATTO as well, which means that this will make quick work of your file transfers to the drive and off of it.

Value

The drive can be found at Newegg on sale for $119.99 on sale and is normally at $139.99 . If you have only plans for just one drive for your storage needs this is by far a better value than installing a bare drive.  You will still have the speed with USB 3.0 and you will have a year more warranty on the drive.  With the drive being from Samsung you can rest assured that if you ever need to use the warranty service that the company will stand by it.

Is it worth it?

The drive is definitely worth the money you will spend, especially if you get it on sale.  The downside of the external drives over internal drives is that they will take up extra space and ports on your computer while requiring another power outlet to be used.  All in all the drive is a standard external hard drive without any extras, but at a great price and with good speeds.  I am personally very satisfied with the drive and can see myself buying another if I need one down the line after I consolidate my media onto this drive from my others.

The post Samsung D3 Station 4TB Review: Affordable, Fast Storage appeared first on VR World.

Apple’s live event in Cupertino today saw more than the iPhone 6 announcement; the mobile giant also unveiled its new smartwatch contender, the Apple Watch.

Like everything else it does, Apple’s presentation of their new watch was accompanied with gusto; audiences were informed on exactly how the new device would fill out the company’s growing ecosystem.

The Apple Watch does indeed fill an interesting role in “iDevice” webwork. The new device is essentially a mini-smartphone that can some surprising things, and tethers to an iPhone to relay content.

The Apple Watch comes in a huge variety of flavors and styles, with customizable faces.

Apple’s smartwatch is in itself an innovation in practicality and mirrors quite a bit of a smartphone’s functionality. Using the watch you can answer phone calls from your iPhone, or even use the walkie-talkie mode like a high-tech Dick Tracy.

The Apple Watch also houses a digital slice of Siri, the lovable AI that scours the Internet at our behest.

Other features allow you to check your whereabouts with GPS-enabled maps and stay up-to-date with events in a simplified to-do calendar. You can also check your e-mail and do some IM’ing on-the-fly. It can tell you the weather, inform you on the phases of the moon, and can be tailored to your specific personality thanks to customizable watch-faces.

Pictured above are the Watch Sport and regular Watch versions of Apple’s new smartwatch.

It even acts as a remote camera by tapping into an iPhone’s iSight lens, making for easy snapshots.

You can even send custom touch-drawn image-messages to other Apple Watch users–sending a bit of love, wrist-to-wrist. Curious what your heart-rate is? The “iWatch” can easily check it for you, and even upload it to an exercise app for later viewing.

Charging the watch is a breeze thanks to inductive charging that magnetically snaps onto the watch’s back.

Instead of setting the time, the watch’s crown acts as a dial to zoom or shrink images. Apple has even found a unique way to charge the device using a combination of inductive charging and MagSafe tech. The charger basically “snaps” into place via magnetism and effortlessly charges your watch.

The watches will come in three flavors: the default yet stylish Watch version, the simplistic and functional Watch Sport, and the lavish Watch Edition whose face is bordered by 18-karat gold and comes with a sapphire-crystal display.

Powered by iOS 8, the Apple Watch will tap into a host of new apps including the Activity and Workout Apps.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Apple Watch is the huge potential it has with its app line-up, and how it interacts with these apps. It’ll be compatible with iOS 8, Apple’s latest OS suite for “iDevices”, alongside a host of new app content.

The new Activity App, for example, taps into the device’s hardware to track your daily activity. It’ll show you how long you’ve spent standing, sitting and moving in any given period.

The Workout App is something that aligns perfectly with fitness buffs. The app not only tracks and shows you real-time progress like calories burned and your current pacing, it’ll upload this progress to your iPhone. This creates a more complete picture of exercise and allows users to practically focus and dictate their workouts at any given time.

The Watch Edition is the premium flavor of the “iWatch”, and features a distinctly luxurious look.

Other apps include your media staples like photo viewing, music, and a digital remote that interacts with iTunes and Apple TV. Social media apps like Twitter are also accessible through the watch, and it’ll support Apple Pay.

It’s also worth noting that the watch will require an iPhone 5 or later in order to function.

The Apple Watch may be available in early 2015 for a price point starting at $349. We expect that the three different editions will have their own accompanying price tiers, and may even have their own performance boosts.

We may see some changes made between now and release, and specs aren’t 100% finalized yet. You can find more details and specifics on the Apple Watch on Apple’s website.

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In the world of tech journalism and hardware reviews, AnandTech is considered as a leading source of breaking news and balanced reviews. Founded in 1997 by Anand Lal Shimpi, the site started out with a focus on motherboards, but then evolved along with the times. AnandTech has since branched out into covering and reviewing CPUs, video cards, notebook computers, mobile devices and, in the words of founder Shimpi himself, “anything that mattered.”

Yesterday, Shimpi announced that he was leaving AnandTech, having served the site as publisher and editor for almost 18 years. Unlike most other high-profile departures in the media and technology industry, however, Shimpi said it was not for health reasons, nor was it because of business issues. In fact, AnandTech was doing well, with its editors and specialists having enough experience, know-how and clout to run the business themselves. While he has “enjoyed every minute” of covering technology, he sought much-needed change. “[A]fter 17.5 years of digging, testing, analyzing and writing about the most interesting stuff in tech, it’s time for a change.”

It turns out that Shimpi has joined Apple Inc., as first reported by Re/Code and confirmed by an Apple representative. However, Apple would not provide any details with regard to the seasoned journalist’s new role in the company. Given Shimpi’s experience with computer science, hardware reviews and various brands’ product lines, it’s highly likely that he will work in a product strategy role or some kind of consulting position.

As for AnandTech, editor Ryan Smith has taken over as editor-in-chief. Likewise, while Shimpi says he is now “officially retiring from the tech publishing world,” he says he will still be available to help the editorial team on an advisory level, although he will no longer be part of the editorial process. The dynamics of Shimpi’s continued involvement with AnandTech and his new role at Apple are also not clear at this point. But with the Cupertino company being very secretive in its planning, processes and strategies, there is a question whether or not AnandTech’s editorial team will enjoy some advantage in terms of access to insider information.

Image credit: Anand Lal Shimpi

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Sci-Fi fans are quite aware that what is usually the realm of science fiction can eventually become science-fact. For instance, while ultra-portable video-communicators were just a novelty item on series like Star Trek in the early 1970s, video-enabled IP-based communications is now readily available to anyone who has a smartphone. It’s the same with other technologies predicted by Sci-Fi writers, which tend to become a reality once the right technology and resources are available.

One such example is OTOY’s holographic capture and display system, which is set to be out in the market within the coming year. The cloud graphics firm has announced the availability of its holographic video pipeline platform, which includes a full 360-degree holographic capture system. The platform enables content creators to capture real-world objects in full 3D, and then store or capture the content for later consumption. Content can then be adopted for use on virtual-reality headsets like the Oculus Rift. OTOY is also developing a free-standing light field display that can output the holographic content, akin to the Holodeck concept found in Sci-Fi series Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as other fictional settings that employ holographic sequences for purposes like communications and training.

“OTOY’s breakthroughs in compression and rendering have dramatically reduced the barriers to holographic video, making it a viable media format that gives content creators everywhere a simple, cost-effective way to bring high quality, interactive 3D content to multiple platforms for the world to enjoy,” said Jules Orbach, Founder and CEO, OTOY, in a statement.

The new technology is expected to have an impact in various industries, including film, gaming, military training and other entertainment media. OTOY’s free-standing holographic equipment is set to be launched in 2015, although the company’s holographic video pipeline is already available to the industry in several components. These include the LightStage set for capture of people, objects and environments, and OctaneRender for image rendering. The platform supports the ORBX format, which delivers up to 4K and 8K video resolution, which provide 16 times the resolution of 1080P high-definition displays. The format also supports up to 32K, HDR, as well as holographic video.

OTOY’s technologies have actually received industry acclaim, particularly from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which means that there is potential for both industry and consumer markets to gain access to quality holodeck-like technologies once OTOY releases its stand-alone devices.

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In its recent earnings report, Advanced Micro Devices  reported an improvement its second quarter of 2014, compared with the same period the previous year.

The company posted a loss of $36 million ($0.05 per share) during the period, a reduction, compared with $74 million loss ($0.10 per share)  in the same period the previous year. This comes amid a growth in sales in the second-quarter of 2014, as well as new product releases expected to grow the company’s market share in both consumer and commercial markets. The Sunnyvale chipmaker’s performance has fallen short of analyst expectations, although it is still within the company’s own forecast.

A sound strategy

AMD’s recent restructuring strategy is also considered to have had a positive impact on its nominal improvement in earnings. The company has finished the first two phases of this three-phase strategy, which include scaling back on manpower, improving its cash flow, and executing its 2013 roadmap.  By focusing its resources on high-growth markets like ultra-low processors, semi-custom platforms, professional graphics processors and embedded solutions, the company is banking on innovations targeted at addressing the current trends in high-performance, cloud and mobile computing.

AMD is said to be in a unique position amid the rise of mobility-oriented technologies popularized by smartphones and tablets that cater to both consumer and enterprise needs. The chipmaker straddles two industries: one is the predominantly x86-based desktop architecture business currently dominated by Intel, and the other is the ARM-based architecture that powers a majority of mobile devices and low-power applications in the market. It is in the latter that the chipmaker is likely to dominate or at least grow significantly.

New releases

In the recent weeks, AMD launched a few technologies targeted at improving its position in the commercial and enthusiast market, particularly with the FirePro S9150 server card, which delivers up to 2.53 TFLOPS of peak double-precision compute performance, at a TDP of 235 Watts. According to AMD, this is the company’s first architecture designed specifically with high performance computing (HPC) workloads in mind, and is actually the first to break the 2.0 TFLOPS barrier. The new platform caters to cloud computing providers, enterprise clients, as well as the enthusiast market.

AMD has also launched its Opetron 64-bit ARM-based developer kits. Codenamed “Seattle”, the ultra-low power ARM-based kits are supposedly faster and more powerful than current low-power x86 chipsets. This chipset targets cloud services and data center providers.

Meanwhile, AMD is also targeting the emerging markets with its launch of two accelerated processing units (APUs) in China: the FX-8300 CPU and the Athlon X4 860K. The FX-8300 is geared toward providing multi-threaded performance at a low price point, targeting OEMs. The Athlon X4 860K is targeted at the gaming and enthusiast market, pushing four Steamroller cores clocked at 3.7 GHz with 2MB L2 cache.

Can the market share hold?

As it stands, AMD’s market share in the server industry has declined to 5% since its peak of 24% in 2006, although the company itself forecasts a gain toward 20% by end 2015 or by 2016. The chipmaker has traditionally been viewed to compete directly with Intel, although its recent thrust in focusing on high-performance and ultra-low power offerings may be seen as the company’s saving grace. AMD’s stock price fell 15% to  when it announced Q3 forecasts, which are largely conservative. However, the stock price rose 5% in the week after the company announced its latest Opetron and FirePro series, signaling that there could be interest in strong financials if the third phase of AMD’s restructuring plan is a deemed to be a success.

AMD expects that by 2016, the company will focus 50% of its business on high-growth markets by 2016, thereby leaving the other half to focus on the traditional PC market — a sound decision considering it is in the high-growth portion where the company’s strength now lies. It will now depend on the computing market’s uptake of AMD products and platforms, whether the company can follow through with its last phase of restructuring, which is geared toward ensuring profitability from an improved market position.

AMD’s stock is currently trading at $4.10, with volume picking up in the wake of its second-quarter 2014 earnings announcement.

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There is a hardware contest being run by Hackaday that offers hardware hackers and makers to create something that is both open and connected. This device must be something that can enable others to use it for good and kind of create a cascade effect. A good example would be something like the Raspberry Pi, which has enabled tons of interesting usage applications and spurred tons of people to rethink how we use hardware. The awesome part about the Hackaday prize is that they are offering the winners of the contest to either take a trip out to space on the carrier of their choosing or $196,418 in cash, whichever they find more interesting. Obviously some people are going to be more interested in the cash if they’re committing time and resources to this project. But, there’s a good chance that space travel will not come in under $200,000 and who knows when you’ll have another opportunity to go to space. The contest itself is already running, but they are taking submissions up until August 4th, at which point they will no longer be taking any new entrants. You can check out the current entrants’ ideas over at Hackaday.io and see what you might come up against, or even what kinds of ideas this contest has brought forward. The best part about this whole Hackaday contest is that no matter what happens, there’s a very good chance that we’ll get an awesome product out of it that may once again change the way that we look at or use hardware. Just don’t forget that the entry deadline is August 4th if you’re interested in entering. The awards themselves for the best projects will be judged not only by their overall openness, but also on the actual physical hardware built and how it connects to the outside world (including the internet). This is another way of trying to spur the way that we use connected devices and how we connect our things to the Internet of Things. The judges that will be picking the award winners are also a virtual who’s who of the hardware hacking world’s most notable figures which includes; Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, Ronin, Jack Ganssle, The Ganssle Group, Joe Grand, Grand Idea Studio, Sprite_TM, Spritesmods.com, Limor “Ladyada” Fried, Adafruit, Dave Jones, eevblog.com, Elecia White, Logical Elegance, Ian Lesnet, Dangerous Prototypes. We wish all of the current (and hopefully future) entrants on their projects and we can’t wait to see what’ll come of it.

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As Bitcoin becomes more and more boring (and standardized) the amount of companies that begin to accept it increase ever more. A few months ago, TigerDirect announced that they would be accepting Bitcoin and that clearly has motivated other etailers to do so as well.

Newegg Bitcoin

So, it comes as little surprise that Newegg today announced that they will also be accepting Bitcoins as a form of payment for products on their site. There are no restrictions on what can be purchased with Bitcoin on Newegg’s site, which makes it incredibly attractive to anyone looking to spend their extra Bitcoins. Even though sites like Amazon haven’t quite yet accepted Bitcoins yet, Newegg is an online retailer that does billions of dollars in revenue every year, unlike some of their smaller competitors. Really, Newegg is the biggest computer hardware vendor in the US and is looking to expand globally so this means a lot more for Bitcoin than a lot of people think.

While Bitcoin isn’t anywhere near the value it was near its peak, there is still a good chance that hundreds of millions of dollars that are looking to be spent could be spent with Newegg as opposed to forcing people to convert their Bitcoins into dollars (and pay fees). Allowing users to pay with Bitcoins directly merely reduces the amount of friction and makes it easier for them to spend their valuable Bitcoins on Newegg merchandise. However, Newegg also has to be careful about the potential of stolen Bitcoins being used to buy products and hardware and what the legal repercussions could be of hardware being purchased using stolen Bitcoin. While I’m sure Newegg Legal has been discussing this for months up until today’s announcement, there’s still a risk and it appears that Newegg is willing to take it.

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In what appears to be a retaliation to the US official claims of Chinese Government Officials hacking US companies, the Chinese government has quietly advised their banks to review their security policies and hardware implementations, especially those with IBM hardware. While this study of Chinese Banking security risks is not an official or public one, Bloomberg has spoken to four sources that confirm that such a review is under way and is currently focused on IBM, but likely involves others as well. IBM itself has a very interesting history in China as the company claims to have been doing business there for the past 30 years, which may both work for them and may also work against them. Additionally, IBM recently announced that they would be offloading their ‘low-end’ server business to Lenovo while they continue to hold on to their high-end and high-performance server businesses that don’t operate on x86 processors.

Knowing IBM, they would be pushing as much of their high-end products as possible on these banking customers in China, even though there’s a good chance that the majority of current IBM hardware in China is ‘low-end’ server stuff that Lenovo will be taking over. After all, Lenovo is a Chinese company and I believe that the Chinese would love to build and sell their own servers to their own banks instead of having to buy from American companies. And frankly, IBM does have a lot of competitors in China already that are more than capable of competing against Lenovo for the banks’ business. But even so, companies like Inspur have a lot of growth potential and if anything, it gives them an opportunity to replace IBM’s high-end business in China as tensions increase between the two countries.

Ultimately, IBM is likely not responsible for trying to make China’s banking system insecure or involved in any sort of American plots to monitor China’s banking system, even though we already know through Snowden disclosures that the NSA has already been intercepting hardware bound for abroad from US companies and embedding it with their own backdoors. IBM is also trying to gain some momentum in China with their POWER 8 processor, trying to offer themselves as an alternative to Intel’s Xeon processors, however, both of these products are made by American companies and may prove a bit more difficult to sell into China than had originally thought. Sure, there aren’t many other options available to most of these companies or the server builders that use them, but it may spur the Chinese to consider alternatives (that already exist) like MIPS, Alpha and others. This just means another threat to IBM’s business after they’ve already suffered quite a bit of damage last year due to the Snowden disclosures.

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Adobe appears to be in a bit of a crisis with what they want the public to know. A few days ago, Adobe announced that they would be making a big announcement on June 18th about the new Creative Cloud for 2014. This announcement detailed a lot of things that Adobe planned to announce for or related to the new Creative Cloud for 2014, but then they moderated their post today and removed all of the details about what they planned to show. Thanks to Google’s Cache and the Google Cache Browser, it was fairly easy to go back and get the details that Adobe had removed from their new Creative Cloud event page.

So, first, we have the before page…

Adobe New Creative Cloud Before…

And then we have the after… as you can tell, some details about what they would be showing were completely scrubbed and they just posted the time and date and encouraged people to sign up. So, yes, Adobe is going to be launching a new Creative Cloud for 2014. But it will feature all new desktop apps, mobile apps, new creative hardware (this sounds interesting) and hundreds of new features and other surprises. So, naturally this sounds a lot more interesting than what you see below and is currently posted on Adobe’s site.

Adobe New Creative Cloud After…

Also keep in mind that not so long ago, Adobe was having massive issues with their Creative Cloud login ID system which effectively locked users out of logging into their Creative Cloud accounts to update or install new applications. For some users this was a horrible experience because they simply weren’t prepared for their applications to be unavailable to them for over 24 hours. Obviously, any professional that uses any cloud service has a backup offline program available on hand if necessary. However, Adobe increasingly wants to push all of their customers towards a cloud-based program. Even Microsoft offers their Office Suite as an offline option if users don’t wish to use their Office 365 service, but Adobe simply doesn’t offer anything above CS6 in offline/non-cloud versions, which is really a shame. Sure, Creative Cloud is nice, but it isn’t necessarily nice when you don’t have an internet connection or their service goes down like it did.

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Nintendo says they’re working on new hardware, and that they are actually already working on new hardware in most cases immediately after they’ve released the most current version. There appears to be no let up in Nintendo’s aspirations to release new hardware, which seems a bit surprising considering how disastrous their Wii U sales have been. Back in January, Nintendo was forced to cut their full year projections for the Nintendo Wii U by over 70%, which made a lot of investors lose faith in Nintendo’s business plan. However, Nintendo continues to move forward even though they posted a loss of $225 million for the full fiscal year of 2013 (ended March 2014).

The problem with this is that it overlooks Nintendo’s fundamental weakness that some of their competitors have overcome. They refuse to allow their vast library of characters and properties to be licensed out to platforms outside of Nintendo’s own hardware platforms. After all, if Nintendo is so convinced that the game experience is superior on their hardware they should have no issue allowing their games to move to other platforms. But that simply isn’t the case, as indicated by Nintendo’s recent request to pull a Nintendo Gameboy emulator from Apple’s appstore. If you look at one of Nintendo’s historic competitors, Sega, they had posted a profit of $300 million and they don’t even have any hardware business to sell to consumers.

Nintendo can and should update their console to be competitive (or better than) the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and they should find ways to keep their portable consoles relevant in the era of smartphones and tablets. But at the same time, they need to embrace iPhone and Android users that are going to want to play their games on their phones and tablets. Nintendo quite literally has a potential market of almost billions of people if they actually open their eyes to the possibilities. Nintendo did really well with the Wii, but they fell flat on their faces with the Wii U and anyone watching from afar could have (and probably did) call it. Nintendo is not a bad company, and they’re not poorly run, but they really need to remember what their core business is, and it isn’t selling hardware. I’m a huge hardware geek, and I actually hate to see companies go software only but the truth is that Nintendo doesn’t need to get rid of their own hardware, they just have to support other platforms.

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According to Glenn Greenwald, who seemingly quotes himself in his own titles, the NSA has routinely been intercepting US-based networking hardware bound for countries abroad. While Glenn Greenwald doesn’t specifically implicate any networking companies, it would be safe to assume that companies like Cisco, Juniper, Brocade, Dell, HP and many more. This is in the face of the fact that the US government had been criticizing the use of Huawei networking hardware due to the beliefs that the Chinese would be presenting a security risk to the US. They essentially claimed that Huawei was bugging their networking equipment for the Chinese government and that their routers weren’t safe, meanwhile the NSA was doing exactly what the US was accusing the Chinese of doing.

Glenn Greenwald states that this is among many other revelations in his new book due out tomorrow, called No Place to Hide which chronicles Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State. It is a bit curious that he would release such news from Edward Snowden a day before his book’s release and alluding to the fact that there would be more details buried within his book. A lot of people are going to look at this as an obvious money grab and are going to question his motives and whether he’s doing all of this to personally enrich himself. While he doesn’t address this in his interview with GQ directly, he clearly has a lot to say about a multitude of topics, including Edward Snowden himself. This is in addition to having left The Guardian, the publication that had originally helped him run all of the Snowden documents and gain worldwide attention to the US’ vast surveillance apparatus to start The Intercept.

So, How does the NSA do it? Well, according to a 2010 NSA document obtained by Glenn Greenwald, they would receive (intercept) routers, servers and other computer networking devices planned on being exported from the US before they were to be delivered to their final international destination. The NSA’s secret division would then implant backdoor surveillance tools and repackage the hardware with a factory seal and send them on their way. The NSA would then be able to gain access to those companies’ networks and all of their users and possibly data through these backdoors. He even states that the NSA document gleefully states that, “SIGINT tradecraft … is very hands-on (literally!),” clearly alluding to their physical tampering with hardware. Eventually, the bugged hardware connects back to the NSA and provides them with the data they want. The report continues, “In one recent case, after several months a beacon implanted through supply-chain interdiction called back to the NSA covert infrastructure. This call back provided us access to further exploit the device and survey the network.”

Clearly, the NSA has a very detailed and well-established structure for these activities and likely has been doing so for quite some time. The NSA are probably much more careful about how they do things nowadays with all of the attention drawn to them because of the Snowden disclosures, but it would be foolish to assume they’ve stopped.

If you’re interested in getting Glenn Greenwald’s book, I recommend you head over here.

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