Dirt 3, which is set to be released in North America on 24 May, has received positive reviews around the web. Reports are saying words like "Excellent", "Outstanding" were given to Dirt 3 in all of the early reviews. The game will have more cars, routes and events. It will be available in PC, XBox 360 and Playstation 3.
Source: Fudzilla
Check out the official Dirt 3 Website.
Check out some of the Dirt 3 reviews: GameTrailers, Bit-Tech, IGN.
Electronic Arts recently had a campaign where answering a survey about their company led to a discount code for $20 worth of content from their online store. Over the weekend though, this promotional campaign backfired, as the code was released in a post on Reddit.
Unfortunately for EA, the code wasnt unique; it could be used multiple times, and by multiple users. As a result, over the next 18 hours, hundreds of users downloaded games with a big discount, or in some cases, for free. In total, 44 games, including Mass Effect 1 and FIFA Soccer 12, were available for free by using the code.
EAs button logo
The code was only meant for use within the US and Canada, though a fake US address in the billing section, though breaching the terms of service for EAs store, allowed users worldwide to make use of the code. It is unknown how much money EA lost as a result of the discount code, but one can assume it was enough to cause a bit of frustration.
After the coupon code was disabled, the Reddit post which had originally spread it, instead began showcasing the spoils of what its users had acquired. It is a shame though, that the people who originally took the survey in order to get the code legitimately, will no longer be able to use it.
• RD580 + SB450 chipsets
• HT 2000 MHz
• Dual channel DDR-400
• Dual Gigabit and 10/100 network connections
• 8-channel audio
• 2 PCIe x16 + 2 PCIe x1 + 2 PCI slots
• 8 USB 2.0 + 2 IEEEa ports
• 2 SATA II + 4 SATA ports supporting RAID 0, 1 and eSATA
ELSA has officially announced their workstation barebone series at Computexwhich are equipped with NVIDIA Quadro series graphics cards. Marco Chen, thegeneral manager of ELSA revealed that they are upbeat about their workstationbarebone series and are currently working closely with NVIDIA on providing theQuadro solutions as well as Gigabyte on providing the motherboards. Pricing ofthe Epee series is expected to be very attractive and ELSA aims to tackle theChina market initially.
SINGAPORE, 8 June 2009 — Today, Epsonlaunches theirlatest Full High Definition (HD) 1080p flagship projector, EH-TW5000, which is engineered to offer the best possible home cinema experience.
Equipped with Epson's new D7 panel technology with C²Fine, the EH-TW5000 provides stunning 3LCD picture quality with a ground breaking dynamic contrast ratio of 75,000:1.
The EH-TW5000 reproduces outstanding pictures, whatever the content, with full HD resolution at 1080p. Whether viewing movies, sporting events, digital pictures or playing video games, this projector’s range of features and stylish design will ensure this high quality product is the centrepiece of your big screen home cinema experience.
Incorporating Epson’s innovative 3LCD technology, the EH-TW5000 provides brighter images, more accurate colour reproduction and finer grey scaling. For the first time ever, an amazing dynamic contrast ratio of 75,000:1 has been reached, thanks to the new D7 C²Fine panels, advanced DeepBlack technology and an improved E-TORL lamp to minimise light leakage and ensure jet blacks. Furthermore, Epson’s improved Cinema Filter allows a viewing experience second to none in any lighting environment.
Built with the advanced HQV processor, the EH-TW5000 features a true HD 12-bit video processing and 4-4 pull-down, resulting in stunning picture quality and motion flow. The frame interpolation feature also ensures perfectly smooth video playback; blurring is suppressed and motion pictures are much sharper to offer film-like images. The ISF certification means that the EH-TW5000 can be calibrated by an Epson dealer to ensure the performance of the projector is professionally fine-tuned to suit its environment. Colour isolation calibration is also possible without the need for optical colour filters.
Priced at SGD6,688 (including GST), the Epson EH-TW5000 is now available.
Key Features:
- Home cinema projector ideal for those who desire a premium home cinema experience - Sophisticated and stylish black design
- Full HD 1080p with true high-definition 1920 x 1080p resolution
- Superior image quality with Epson’s 3LCD technology and C²Fine inorganic D7 panel
- Amazing dynamic contrast ratio of 75,000:1 with Epson DeepBlack technology for jet blacks
- High brightness of 1600 ANSI Lumens - Convenient viewing in any light condition with perfect rendering, thanks to the improved Cinema Filter
- HQV video processor to realise clear and sharp motion pictures
- 12-bit video processing, frame interpolation on and 4-4 pull-down for film-like images
- Flexible placement with horizontal/vertical lens shift and 2.1x optical zoom
- Anamorphic wide mode (to use with third party anamorphic lens)
- Connect to a range of input sources including 2 x HDMI version 1.3, YUV and VGA
- x.v. Colour mode for vivid colour reproduction
- ISF calibration menus for professional calibration
- Included cable cover for stylish and neat ceiling mount installation
- Quiet projection of 22db
- Five year warranty (including Saturday visits) on lamp and projector
Seoul, July 31, 2009-- DIOTEK (www.diotek.com), Korea’s leading mobile software company, has released the DioPen™ Cursivehandwriting recognition software for Windows Mobile 5/6-based touch screen devices.
DioPen™ Cursive is a very convenient software product that recognizes cursive handwritings of users and converts them into characters to input into devices. This product boasts high recognition rate for various cursive handwritings of Americans and Europeans. In addition, DioPen™ Cursive can recognize print handwriting as well as a mixed use of cursive and print handwritings.
Multiple lines written sequentially on the screen can also be recognized with the software. To improve the accuracy of recognition, letters not recognized correctly are corrected automatically with dictionary embedded in the program.
In particular, DioPen™ Cursive’s optimized user interface allows users to input characters correctly only with fingers without additional stylus pen. The entire touchscreen area can be used for handwriting without limitations on space and direction.
Currently, DioPen™ Cursive supports English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Italian. Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Dutch will also be supported soon.
DioPen™ Cursive can be purchased at DIOTEK’s global app store (English site: www.diotek.com, German site: www.diotek.com.de), and its free trial version can also be downloaded with no functional limitation for 15 days.
Source: Korea Newswire
The series starts off with the most common PC form-factor, the ATX mid-tower. The ATX Ice is larger than most mid-towers, treading very close to being categorized a full-tower. It measures 230 x 508.5 x 513 mm (WxHxD), weighing in at 7.1 kg (net.). As mentioned earlier, Cubitek designed these cases with aluminum sheets as thick as 3 mm to give them the sturdiness of 1 mm thick SECC steel.
Pictured above is the main facade. You can find four exposed 5.25-inch drive bays, and a dust-protected inlet for the 200 mm intake fan. You can also get an idea of the outer texture of the aluminum body, dark brushed aluminum.
The internals dont used anodized aluminum, rather exposed. This helps with radiating heat. Although some cable management holes are rubber-valved, there are some wide open holes, such as the one next to the PSU bay, a cutout over the CPU socket area (to help with handling coolers with backplates), and one on the top-left corner of the motherboard tray (for CPU power capbles. You can immediately tell that Cubiteks Ice cases are not tool-free.
Theres nothing "loud" about the rear panel. You find the usual PSU bay at the bottom, a 120 mm grilled fan exhaust, two rubber-valved holes for water cooling tubing, and the expansion slot bays. Beating the ATX specification, there are eight bays instead of seven. This should help with multi-graphics card setups in which one of the graphics cards occupies the bottom-most expansion slot of an ATX motherboard.
How many of you rely on aftermarket coolers for your CPU? We dont know anyone that thinks Intels stock coolers are great and when details reached us of Intel not shipping coolers with its upcoming Sandy Bridge-E processors we were at first surprised, but considering the target market it makes a lot of sense.
The upcoming Core i7 processor from Intel, the 3820, 3930K and the 3960X will all ship without a cooler in the box. That said, Intel has decided to offer own brand coolers for the platform, its just that they wont come in the box with the CPU. We cant really see why anyone would buy an Intel cooler over a third party cooler as not even Intels high-end heatpipe cooler for its current and past Extreme Edition models were all that great. Some of the third party cooler makers will have products ready at launch, but worst case scenario, we might be looking at a cooler shortage at launch.
On top of this, were hearing that although the rated TDP is 130W these beasts are consuming closer to 180W and thats without even overclocking them. In fact, according to PSU design guidance weve seen, Intel is telling power supply makers to make sure their Sandy Bridge-E PSUs can cope with a peak current of 23A on the 12V2 rail and based on an 80 percent or better efficiency rating of the PSU.
As such it might be a very good idea to invest in a water cooling kit if youre planning on going Sandy Bridge-E, especially if youre planning on pushing the boat out and overclock. The bad news for LN2 crowd is that at least early samples of Sandy Bridge-E is suffering from the dreaded cold bug, although this might have been fixed in later revisions of the processor.
On top of all that it looks like the quad core 3820 model has been delayed and will arrive later than the 3930K and 3960X, although we dont know exactly when Intel intends to release it to the market. Intel is currently working on the C1 stepping and this should be what ships in the end unless there are any unforeseen issues with the latest stepping. So in other words, good news all around…
Getting used to the various new features introduced to a web browser that was only recently updated will probably most average users some time to pull off. After all, most browser updates usually introduces some minor changes to the user interface, and that alone will require some time for users to familiarize themselves with. And that does not include other under-the-hood changes which users need to get acquainted with as well, such as new privacy features and more extensive user-customizable settings, among many others.
However, it seems that all of that will no longer be a factor when it comes to Mozillas new release schedule for its Firefox web browser. According to development notes hosted on its GIT repositories, version 5 of the Firefox web browser will feature a much shorter development phase: this is due to the fact that Firefox 5 lacks what the Mozilla team calls development overlap with Firefox 4.
However, it should be pointed out that this accelerated development schedule only applies to Firefox 5, and that Firefox 6 will revert back to the old schedule, where each phase of the cycle will undergo six weeks of development:
Last but not least, the nightly builds for Firefox 5 have reportedly been made available for public testing already. While the builds have been signed off as being nothing more than alpha releases of Firefox 4.2, we have got word from TechCaverns report that these builds are actually the pre-release versions of what will eventually be known as Firefox 5. Of course, these builds are also highly unstable due to the fact that they have not been tested, so download at your own risk; we cannot be held responsible for computers and the data residing within its hardware going up in smoke at the click of a mouse button.
Source: Mozilla Github
At yesterday'sevent, Dell showcased thenew Dell XPS laptops which claim to incorporate JBL and Waves sound design, and high-definition Nvidia graphics to provide the cinematic experience to consumers. The latops are also 3D TV ready and include Nvidia's 3DTV Play software that allows you to hook up to your 3D TV and play your PC or movies in stereoscopic 3D.
Offered in 14- and 15-inch screen sizes, the XPS machines are also Skype-certified with HD video streaming webcams so that you can do video calls with friends and family easily. According to Dell, the XPS 14 and XPS 1 are available now (from http://www.dell.com.sg/) and the starting prices for both are S$1,499.
Besides the XPS 14 and 15 laptops, Dell also showcased their some of their other products including the 5-inch Dell Streak Android tablet and Dell Venue Pro Windows Phone 7.
Quick hands-onof Dell Streak
The Dell Streak is the company's first Android tabletwith a 5-inch display. While it is smaller than the iPad, we have no problem reading the text and the size feels about just right in our hands. According to a Dell executive, the Streak will appeal more to the ladies as it is smaller and lighter compared to other Internet tablets or ebook readers.
The Streak also offers a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. At the top are the 3.5mm audio jack, volume/zoom control and the camera button. When you want to take a picture with the tablet, you hold it exactly like how you would with a touchscreen phone, in a landscape orientation.
On the right is a unique connector that fits to the power adapter, USB cable or docking station. The Streak when its available here could be Android 1.6, but is upgradeable to 2.1. No pricing and availability information available yet though.
Quick hands-on of Dell Venue Pro
The Dell Venue Pro was one of the Windows Phone 7 when Microsoft announced their highly anticipated mobile platform, but it was only available in US. And it seems like the company could be bringing the phone to Asia after all.
The Venue Pro has a intuitive 4.1-inch touchscreen with a layer of toughened Gorilla glass to give the brilliance and durability, although it also offers a QWERTY keypad. But unlike most of the QWERTY phones that slide from the side, this one slide out from the bottom. The keys are pretty small to type on, though there is always theoption of using the onscreen keyboard.
The power button and 3.5mm jack are at the top, while the volume control are on the right. At the rear is the 5-megapixel camera with flash for taking pictures and videos.
No word as to when the Dell Streak or Venue Pro Windows Phone 7 will be available in Singapore yet, or their pricing. But they are definitely coming.
Since its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the exceptionalASUS-Lamborghini VX1 has aroused global interest and received greatappreciation. At CeBIT this year, the ASUS Lamborghini VX1 notebook, displayedwith its supercar counterpart, continued to be the centre of spotlights. ASUSTechnology Pte Ltd (ASUS) today unveils the final details of theASUS-Lamborghini VX1 specifications.
The much-anticipated ASUS-Lamborghini VX1, supernote is expected to be availableon Lamborghini e-shop (http://www.lamborghinistore.com) and from the exclusivemerchandising shop at the Automobili Lamborghini headquarter located inSant’Agata Bolognese, Italy, at end April.
Speed – Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology
By continuous partnership with Intel, the slim and light ASUS-LamborghiniVX1 is based on the latest Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology with Intel®Core™ Duo processor T2500. The dual-core capability of the VX1 enablesmultitasking computing and provides fast processing performance that exceedsdesktop level. Stay in commend as the notebook works with short response timeand carry out tasks without delays.
Mobility – Slim and Lightweight Design
Just as the streamlined supercars are designed for maximum acceleration withsupreme aerodynamics, the slim and light VX1 is design for superior mobilitywith compact housing. The 15” notebook, weighing less than most of the 14”notebooks, is a lean and powerful mobile computing machine.
Power – Long Lasting Battery Life
The VX1’s mobility is enhanced with extended battery life that empowersbetter productivity. ASUS Power4 Gear+ power management automatically adjustsCPU speed according to system load. Offering up to 8 operation modes that aredesigned for gaming, watching DVD, listening to music and word processing, thisinnovation effectively extends battery life up to 20-25%, providing a reliableand continuous operation power on the go.
Pleasure – Exceptional Digital Entertainment Enjoyment
The 15” VX1 with Color Shine glare type high-resolution LCD screen offersvibrant video and cinematic audio performance perfect for both work and play.Exclusive ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology integrates andsynchronizes different multimedia data sources to reduce noise and conversionrate for vivid image displays with improved image contrast, brightness, skintone and color saturation with true brilliance.
Freedom - Extensive Wire-Free Connectivity
The VX1 also accommodates fast and easy wireless connection solutions.Built-in WLAN 802.11 a/b/g ensures wireless Internet access wherever receptionis available. Bluetooth 2.0 enhanced data rate provides data transfers at a ratethat is three times faster than the standard Bluetooth for increasedconnectivity and synchronization between digital devices.
The ASUS-Lamborghini VX1 Notebook Series is the ultimate fusion of informationand automobile technologies of two companies. Based the mutual passion foradvanced technology and innovative design, this true mobile computing revolutionrepresents the irrefutable leadership of both ASUS and Automobili Lamborghini intheir respective market
Specifications
Platform: Intel® Centrino® Duo
CPU: Intel Core Duo Processor T2500
Chipset: Intel 945PM
WLAN: Intel 3945ABG
LCD Screen: Colour Shine Glare Type 15” SXGA + (1400 x 1050)
Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce 7400/ 512MB Turbocache
HDD: 120GB
ODD: DVD 9.5” Super-Multi Double Layer
RAM: 1GB DDRII – 667 MHz
OS: Windows XP Professional
eBay is to ban the sale of Tarot readings and spells on its auction website from the end of this month, citing difficulties resolving customer complaints.
The popular website will be removing any listing for witchcraft-related services, such as Tarot readings, spells, curses and blessings, in September, according to the BBC, and those who still attempt to sell such services may suffer account suspension.eBays rationale is that these services often cause problems between buyers and sellers which are not easy to resolve. It is almost impossible to prove that a witch has actually performed the spell an individual has purchased, for example, while a Tarot reading may simply be waffle about tall dark strangers and good fortune, leading to customers demanding their money back.Of course, there is an opposing argument for allowing such services to remain available. Users should always be entitled to purchase what they want, within obvious limits, and providing such services feature disclaimers and are transparent about exactly what is being offered, no real harm can be done (except maybe if someone does purchase a curse that works).The ban is seen by some, including 1140 people who signed an online petition against the move, as a form of censorship, as it prohibits the free sale of services that may be tied to peoples beliefs or religious practices.On the flip side, there are undoubtedly many fraudsters out there who take advantage of the inability to prove these occult phenomena, and so eBay has a responsibility to protect buyers. The difficulty is in walking that tightrope between protecting people and censoring others.Source: BBC