There is no doubt that once you see the iPad 3 screen that it will be hard to move to another tablet computer, so Apple are hoping that the new screens will wow the public into purchasing one of their new machines.

Apple Mac sales are growing faster than the mainstream PC sector. Analysts claim that the Apple portable devices link much better to Apple desktop/laptop computers, so people are adopting a ‘one size’ fits all system of buying. Apple’s plans on merging iOS features with OSX also means that the learning curve is as low as possible.

Apple’s Mac sales are very healthy with reports that they doubled in the last year, hitting $21.8 billion. Many other companies are following their strategy of releasing, thin, aluminum systems to attract an appearance focused audience. No indications yet if the price point will increase.

Kitguru says: As we reported before, the new Macbook computers will be upgraded to the latest generation of Intel Core processors and they will also get a thinner body.

The new iPhone screens are said to measure 4 inches from corner to corner, which translates to approximately a 30 percent increase in display size. Apple have always used 3.5 inch screens since introducing the first iPhone in 2007.

According to sources in Taipei Apple will be relying on three screen suppliers which could begin as soon as June with production planned shortly afterwards.

Many people feel the 3.5 inch size is perfect, however Apple have been facing mounting pressure from competitors such as Samsung who have recently released their top of the line Galaxy smartphone with a 4.8 inch screen and faster processing power.

The 5 inch Dell Streak received mixed reviews when it was released, with many people feeling it was just too big to handle daily. With an new 4 inch iPhone, many feel it may be just a little too big, however we know that a portion of the enthusiast audience will love the idea of a larger screen. Whether it will be as practical after a few months of use is a question for a different day.

Kitguru says: Samsung phones have been positively received worldwide, they sold 45 million phones in the first quarter this year, and sales of the Galaxy phone have surpassed the iPhone.

While the channel might still be puzzling Fusion/APU, the multi national corporations (MNC) understand the offer perfectly and have been integrating it with glee.  If you run purchasing for Acer, HP or Dell, then the last thing you need is Intel with a 100% market share. In fact, if you work in Intel’s legal team – the last thing you need is Intel with a 100% market share.

Monopoly might be cool for Parker games, but less so for commissions set out to investigate such things – and certainly not for buyers looking to trade suppliers off against each other. Samsung, Dell, Acer and HP all need to have 2 price lists – and nowhere more than in the portable PC market.

Cue the next generation APU processor, Trinity.

So what are the key differences?  Here’s a nice-n-easy run down, so you know what’s what:-

• HyperTransport gets the boot in favour of PCI-Express, and the memory controller now runs both the main system memory and the graphics RAM
• BGA (Ball Grid Array) options will be made available – so no more pins etc for ultra thin designs – the APU will come hard wired onto the mainboard
• While Trinity provides a solution at just 17 watts, it’s also a step on the path to a 3w solution for 2013
• While Trinity is armed with almost 11% more transistors than the last generation of APU, it’s packing density remains the same – so it looks like AMD is aiming for a simpler manufacturing process and, presumably, better yields
• Ramp up on production seems to have been much better, with over 1 million chips already produced and shipped to HP and co
• Updated Piledriver cores (your choice of dual or quad) deliver more performance for mainstream applications – faster by up to 25%
• Improved graphics mean a 50% boost on performance for games etc – chugging along from 424MHz to 800MHz

It’s good to see this product finally/formally be launched. When KitGuru first got hands on with the specs, back at the start of the year, Trinity looked promising. Now the A10 et al promise, is becoming a reality.

KitGuru says: It’s unfortunate that normal folks won’t see any of these new chips until the start of Q4, but AMD is looking after shareholders by aiming to increase revenue through a 100% MNC targeting policy for the launch of trinity. We can see a future where Intel makes the top end processors, ARM takes care of phones etc and AMD aims at portable solutions that need high-graphics performance.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

Seasonic are one of the most famous and highly regarded power supply manufacturers. They create many high grade units for other companies, allowing them to rebadge their designs. Today we are reviewing one of their most powerful products under the ‘Seasonic’ brand, the Platinum 1000W.

The Seasonic Platinum 1000W is (not surprisingly) 80 Plus Platinum certified, aiming to target the efficiency sensitive audience. It is a fully modular unit featuring a LLC/full bridge circuit topology with a unique integrated DC connector panel with an embedded voltage regulator module.

One of the talking points of this unit is the new ‘Hybrid’ Silent Fan Control which offers a three phased (Fanless, Silent and Cooling Mode) thermal control to balance the noise levels between cooling efficiency. The company also offer a selector switch which is provided to allow the user to control the settings.

Special Features -

• 80PLUS® Platinum Certified Super High Efficiency
• 7 Years Warranty
• DC Connector Panel with Integrated VRM [Voltage Regulator Module]
• DC to DC Converter Design
• Active Power Factor Correction [99% PF Typical]
• Conductive Polymer Aluminum Solid Electrolytic Capacitors
• High Reliability 105℃ Japanese Grade A Capacitors
• High Current Gold Plated Terminals
• Tight Voltage Regulation [±2%]
• High +12V Output
• Dual Sided PCB Layout
• Seasonic Patented Hybrid Silent Fan Control
• Sanyo Denki San Ace Silent Fan
• Ultra Ventilation [Honeycomb Structure]
• Full Modular Cabling Design
• Multi-GPU Technologies Supported
• All-in-One DC Cabling Design
• Easy Swap Connector
• Universal AC Input [Full Range]

The SAPPHIRE HD 7770 Vapor-X OC Edition is the first card in this generation to use the SAPPHIRE exclusive implementation of Vapor chamber cooling technology. Previous products with Vapor-X have received world wide acclaim for delivering very efficient cooling that allows the card to run at higher speeds but with very low noise levels. Based on the latest GPU technology from AMD, the SAPPHIRE HD 7770 Vapor-X OC Edition has 1GB of the latest DDR5 memory, and is factory overclocked with core clocks of 1100MHz and memory clocks of 1300MHz (5.2 GB/s effective) to deliver excellent performance.

Working or gaming with multiple monitors is becoming increasingly popular, and the SAPPHIRE HD 7700 series supports this with AMD Eyefinity, now in its second generation. The SAPPHIRE HD 7770 Vapor-X OC Edition has two DVI ports (DVI-I and DVI-D), HDMI and a single DisplayPort output, supporting up to four monitors. In addition, the SAPPHIRE HD 7700 series cards can output multiple, independent audio streams allowing the correct audio content to be associated with different applications on different screens.

HDMI specifications have increased in the HD 7000 series. Fast HDMI 1.4a supports Stereoscopic 3D with enhanced frame rates of 60Hz per eye – 120Hz total. It is also ready for the next generation of 4K displays that can be driven from a single high speed input of 3GHz HDMI 1.4a or DisplayPort 1.2 HBR2.

APP Acceleration is the name given to the enhanced performance of a wide range of applications using the stream processing capabilities and specific hardware features of the graphics architecture. The HD 7000 series has been optimised for this type of task. Typical applications include Video encoding and decoding, compression and multiplexing for media distribution, gaming or video conferencing.  APP acceleration can also enhance everyday tasks such as Internet browsing, Office applications and file compression with supported software suites.

The HD 7000 series is the third generation of DirectX 11 compatible solutions from the graphics division of AMD – formerly ATI. The new SAPPHIRE HD 7700 series is ready for DirectX 11.1 and the new Windows 8 operating system as well as delivering all the features of the current DirectX 11 such as DirectCompute11 and multi threaded communications with the CPU. Communication with the host PC is optimised with the implementation of the latest high speed PCI-Express Gen3.0 interface, and multiple cards can be used to further enhance performance in CrossFireX mode on a suitably specified mainboard.

Source: Press Release

Roll the clock back just 10 years and, somewhere inside China’s massive bureaucracy, a decision was made to no longer rely on Western companies designing the core technology on which China’s future would be built.

A project was kicked off at the Institute of Computing Technology under the watchful eye of Professor Hu Weiwu.

“Professor Hu?”, we hear you ask – and the answer is “Yes – you cheeky sod”.

The first chip was a 266MHz, 32-bit processor fabricated on a ‘nice and chunky’ 0.18 micron process. In modern parlance, that’s 180 nanometres. China had kicked off its first salvo into the CPU market with a very basic chip that was aimed purely at products like the tills you find in shops.

Intel, you might remember, was pushing out 3.06GHz Pentium 4 chips and AMD was ruling the processor performance roost with its Athlon 64 FX range about to hit the market.

Roll the clock forward 10 years and we have a very interesting quote from nVidia’s Chief Scientist, Bill Dally, circulating the web. He has been quoted as saying that China’s efforts at making a processor were “Laughable”, but that the rate of development and licensing was “Frightening” to the point where nVidia is predicting that China will be matching the West very soon and pulling ahead by 2017.

In a double thumbs up with big grin “You like?” moment, China’s CPU programme (Godson/Loongson) has decided that X86 and Windows should not really form any part of its future – so the main thrust is on Linux. That’s not to say that other operating systems cannot be ported to the Chinese processor – just that it is more ‘for show’ then a serious push.

KitGuru says: As we type, the Chinese chip folks have managed to pass the 1GHz barrier, delivered a working 8 core design and in x86 emulation mode, only loses around 30% of its performance capability. Maybe nVidia is right to be frightened by these developments, but can it (and AMD/Intel) turn the Chinese chip business into some kind of partnership – or will this all result in direct ‘shots across the border’ conflict?

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

We had no problems getting the board to 4.8ghz with a £20 cooler when we reviewed it, however we wanted to poke into this a bit further.

We received some pictures showing pictures of various Z77 boards from Asrock, MSI, Asus and Gigabyte.

It would appear that all other boards have populated the rear of the CPU socket with capacitors.

We spoke to an engineer in the Far East who wanted to remain nameless, but he made a comment.

He said “Those chips are 22uF capacitors (MLCC package) that used to follow Intel load line (spec of CPU voltage and current).

Those are most populated on back and front side of central CPU SKT. The quantity of capacitors would depend on each board maker’s design but the less quantity of Capacitors would impact some item as below:

1)      Impact the stability of CPU under high loading (overclocking).

2)      Impact the voltage recovery speed while CPU needs huge power (Vdroop feature).

3)      CPU compatibility.

Component spec:  CAP MLCC,22uF,6.3V,X5R,0805,20%,1.25mm.”

We called Gigabyte today and explained the rumours and concerns. They wanted to liase with their engineering team and replied after a few hours, sending us the following statement.

1. The Vcore chip mentioned are actually ceramic capacitors.
2. Our boards have an advanced power design that includes an industry-leading digital PWM and a 2x copper PCB that is exclusive to Gigabyte. None of our competitors use the same designs and technology. We have no idea what the capacitor ratings are on competitor boards and don’t wish to comment as that would be unprofessional, but it seems that they possibly need additional capacitors on the underside of their board designs and according to our testing and validation processes, Gigabyte do not.
3. We are possibly being attacked by our competitors with pictures that are essentially meaningless. Other than showing these pictures, they haven’t so much as indicated what possible problem there might be or produced stats to prove there is a performance issue with the product.
4. We are completely confident in our design and back it up with a comprehensive warranty on all our boards.
5. Third party media reviewers have looked at the product and given it top marks for performance  and design these media do not work for Gigabyte and are independent, we feel these reviews reflect our commitment to product quality and speak volume in regard to the Z77X-UD5H itself.

Gigabyte seem confident in the design of their board and the reviews so far seem positive, from sites such as eTeknix, Tech Radar, Bit Tech, Overclock3D and Kitguru.

Kitguru says: Gigabyte have addressed the rumours.

Another advantage of devices being release in partnership with Google is that from now on they will likely be available through Google itself, on the Play Store. Today, you can buy the Samsung Galaxy Nexus directly from Google. However, this is currently only open to Americans, although Google plans to roll it out to other regions soon.

With the announcement (and possible launch) of Android 5.0 Jelly Bean next month reports are stating that Google is working with up to five manufacturers for stock Android 5.0 devices – both smartphones and tablets – to bring more to the Google Play Store. One of the devices is likely to be the rumoured Asus tablet that has been mentioned several times before.

It is not exactly clear how the five manufacturers will differentiate their products from the other devices however. It is possible that each manufacturer has guidelines from Google that they have to work by. For example Asus could make a cheaper 7 inch tablet, while Samsung could produce a high end 10 inch tablet.

KitGuru says: While not much is known about Android 5.0, the addition of many Nexus devices can only be a good thing.

There will be two MHL supported models at first, the 23 inch S23B550VS and the 27 inch S27B550VS. Both are Full HD LED displays with integrated speakers and VGA input.

MHL allows users to easily connect their smartphone (that supports MHL) to their monitor and was introduced last year with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S II. Since then other phones including the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S III support MHL. It essentially works by transmitting HDMI signals through a MicroUSB slot on a phone.

Current MHL solutions require you to have an additional power source but these new MHL cables (as yet unavailable, but they will be coming soon) remove the requirement for this, as the monitor will supply the required power.

KitGuru says: It’s good to see Samsung taking a step forward in the rather stale PC monitor market.

KitGuru shouts “I shrunk the back, sides and lid” and jumps on board for a fantastic voyage.
.

At CeBIT 2012, Tony Ou took us around an early engineering sample of the FT03 Mini and – true to his word – Silverstone are now launching, exactly on time.

We can’t be sure it was Tony who was sitting in Silverstone’s board room – surrounded by his company’s greatest ever creations – when the penny dropped and he began to wonder, “Can we take one of these SG mini PC chassis and turn it on its side?” – but whoever had that inspiration was a clever person.

To this day, we’re not sure why more chassis manufacturers don’t follow the laws of physics and position their internal layouts vertically – so hot air can simply LEAVE the case. The highly successful Raven series bred the initial FT03, which won a glut of awards from journalists across the industry.

Now that creation has been shrunk.

So what do you get inside?

Here’s a list of the coolest [pun city - Ed] features:-

• Support for graphic cards up to 10″ long (25.2 centimetres) – like the GTX 680
• CPU coolers up to 78mm high
• Space under the mainboard for routing
• Enough mounting space for a pair of 2.5″ drives and a full sized 3.5″
• Full size, 140mm, Air Penetrator fan at 1,500 rpm – as well as support for entry level liquid cooling
• Dual, front mounted, USB 3 connectors with easy access for users

Naturally, the powerful fan drives dust, as well as cool air, into the chassis – so there is an easy to remove filter in the bottom of the case, which pops out for periodic washing.

Users will also be able to order a slot-entry optical drive, low-noise-short-cable 450w PSU and a handy carry bag – should you wish to make all your mates jealous at a LAN party.

KitGuru says: With an expected UK price of around £139 inc vat, the FT03 Mini looks like a great choice for a full-power, small-footprint system. As soon as we have taken one apart in the KitGuru lab, we will let you know if the build/thermals/noise are as attractive as the external design.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

They are the most popular DDR3 memory brand since Q4 2011, showing their growth in the enthusiast sector. According to the information, G.Skill have 1/3 of the market in the overclocking sector which is a staggering result.

They say in their press release “During the 1st quarter of 2012, figures showed more than 1/3 of users within the community have chosen G.SKILL DDR3 kits as their memory solution for breaking overclocking records and benchmarking, while gaining a total of 7.4% of popularity share since Q1, 2011.”

Bill Wang, VP at G.SKILL, stated “G.SKILL memory is widely known for its superior quality and unlimited overclocking headroom. We are excited and thankful that our products are highly recognized by overclocking community and we will continue to strive for ultimate customer satisfaction in the years to come.”

You can read more over here.

Kitguru says: What memory do you own? let us know.

We have reviewed memory from Kingston, G.Skill and Topower in recent weeks and today we are looking at a kit from Patriot, called the Viper Xtreme Division 2 which runs at 2,133mhz. We will test it on Intel’s latest Z77 platform, courtesy of the Gigabyte Z77-UD5H motherboard.

Patriot have a well earned reputation in enthusiast circles, having released a range of high quality Solid State drives and memory kits in the last year.

The Viper Xtreme Series ‘Division 2′ Edition memory has been designed for the Intel platform and they utilise a custom designed heatspreader solution with an outer shield built around a copper core to provide improved cooling.

Patriot claim that each module has 6 grams of copper at the core, paired with extruded aircraft grade aluminium which works as the outer shield. They say that the memory is built on quality pre-sorted IC’s and are ‘rigorously tested and validated on the Intel 6 series platform to achieve maximum performance and stability’. Phew, they aren’t messing around.

More importantly, they have decided to spell ‘Xtreme’ in a very cool way too, dropping the leading ‘E’. Yes, we digress.

Specifications:

• Extreme Performance PC3-17000 (2133MHz).
• Enhanced Latency (11-11-11-30).
• Voltage: 1.65V.
• XMP Ready.
• Equipped with an extruded aluminum shield build around a copper core to provide improved cooling.
• 100% Tested and Verified.
• RoHS Compliant.

Apple machines were infected last month, infecting more than 600,000 Macintosh computers. Apple released two security fixes last night for OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Apple have been targeted recently by malware makers and the Flashback code exploited a record 600,000 machines. It spread across the globe by exploiting a Java vulnerability. Last month Apple released code for OS X 10.7 and 10.6 Snow Leopard. Older versions of the operating system don’t get priority, which is why users should always be sure they are updating regularly.

OS X 10.5 now has a Flashback removal Security Update. The release notes add This update removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware. If the Flashback malware is found, a dialog will notify you that malware was removed. In some cases, the update may need to restart your computer in order to completely remove the Flashback malware.”

Another update was released by Apple which disables Java and “versions of Adobe Flash Player that do not include the latest security updates, and provides the option to get the current version from Adobe’s website.”

25% of the infections were linked to OS 10.5 users. Security expert Brad Arkin said “We welcome today’s initiative by Apple to encourage Mac users to stay up-to-date: With the Apple Safari 5.1.7 update released today, Apple is disabling older versions of Flash Player (specifically Flash Player 10.1.102.64 and earlier) and directing users to the Flash Player Download Center, from where they can install the latest, most secure version of Flash Player.”

Sophos technology consultant Graham Cluley said “It’s encouraging to see Apple has not left users of this older version of the Mac OS X operating system completely out in the cold when it comes to protecting against the latest threats. Clearly they realize that it’s not good for the Apple Mac’s image if older computers connected to the Internet are harboring malware that could cause problems for others in the Mac community.”

Kitguru says: Make sure you update your operating system.

This new image has surpassed NASA’s updated ‘Blue Marble’ shot which is actually a composite image of many satellite images. The new single shot image is taken 22,369 miles away by the Russian weather satellite Elektro-L No.1.

The image is very different to any we have seen before as the satellite uses visible and infrared wavelengths of light to gather the colours. Infrared light is used to see plants, and this is shown as patches of brown on the shot, rather than green.

Above is a time lapse video of Earth’s northern hemisphere which was also taken by the Elektro-L weather satellite.

If you want to see the super high resolution image, you can zoom in on it over here.

Kitguru says: What a stunning piece of work !

You can win some very sexy coolers and power supplies and all you have to do is like their page.

How do you enter? Head over to their Facebook page and find out how to enter over a six week period.

Kitguru says: Free hardware? we know you like it !

“Are Mobile and Social Gaming Platforms the Future of the Video Game Industry?”

While the video game industry is immensely profitable, recent years have seen a shift among gaming hardware and software sales to a higher return on mobile and social gaming.  What does this mean for game publishers and the series we have come to know and love?

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“Grandma Gamer Overcame Depression by Gaming, Husband Overcame Alcoholism by Gaming”

Tatyana Zinovieva, a 59 year old housewife, was diagnosed with leukemia and only began gaming three years ago.  Games achieved a feat unmatched by other forms of entertainment – curing her depression and her husband’s alcoholism.

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“What Does a Master’s Thesis Look Like for a Student of Video Games?”

What is it that college students learn about video games?  Anything from programming to the truly artistic fields in gaming.  Many master’s students around the world even develop their own video games as a thesis and quite some games these theses are!

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“Taking Classic Games Mobile – A Presentation by Atari’s VP of Mobile Games”

When you think Atari, a mobile phone is probably a device furthest from your mind.  Atari brings to mind the groundbreaking Pong and other classics like Asteroids and Centipede…Atari certainly doesn’t conjure up images of an iPad, iPhone, or Android.  In fact, many producers left Atari this past year during the transition toward mobile gaming, saying they would forever remain console-based producers.  However, as the research shows, mobile gaming seems to be the future of the gaming industry and here to stay.

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“The Location-Based Gaming Phenomenon: Get Ready to Run from Your Actual Zombified Neighbors”

Ever hear of location-based gaming?  At the Mobile Gaming USA conference, I had the opportunity to meet with PerBlue – creators of the first GPS-based MMORPG for iPhones and Androids – and 2clams – creators of location-based action games.

You can read the review over here.

If you fancy trying one out for yourself, then you will be pleased to hear that Sapphire are running a competition to win it!

Find out how to win one over on the Sapphire Facebook Page.

A quarter of all Siri searches are directed through this service so it would appear has put a block on Siri accessing it for this particular inquiry. Instead Siri now replies with such replies as “the one you’re holding” and “you’re kidding, right?”

First off, Apple are obviously censoring Siri results and this is never a good thing. Secondly, Apple is playing the big and arrogant guy in the playground and chances this will backfire on them in some way.

KitGuru says: I thought Siri was meant to be helpful, not heavily biased?

Are you tired of the same, boring looking desktop system?

Alienware hope you are, because their X51 is designed from the ground up to turn heads. The system is built inside a diminutive, superslim chassis which can be used either vertically or horizontally.

Think Xbox 360.

The big question we need to answer today however, is it actually any good?

Unlike some of the more expensive Alienware systems, the The X51 won’t break the bank. The basic configuration starts at £649 including VAT and shipping. The model we are reviewing today has received a couple of upgrades, featuring a Core i7 2600 @ £899 inc vat and delivery.

X51 review system:

Processor: Intel Core i7 2600
Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600mhz
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 555 (1GB GDDR5)
Storage: 1TB SATA 7,200rpm HDD
Optical: DVD+/-RW (Read/Write)
Audio: Onboard High Definition 7:1
Wireless: Integrated 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Wireless LAN

Full specifications include…

• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0
• 3.5 inch HVGA (320×480) display
• Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 chipset (likely to be the MSM7225A)
• 600 MHz single core processor
• 512 MB of RAM
• 4 GB of internal storage plus a MicroSD slot
• 5 MP camera with LED flash, 0.3 MP front facing cam
• Beats Audio
• Available in black, white or red

Obviously it isn’t going to offer amazing performance with a processor offering the performance of a 2.5 year old flagship. Impressive in the PC world, in the mobile world; not so much. It also packs in the latest edition of Android and kind of looks like a mini HTC One X so all is not bad.

The Desire C will be rather affordable at just £160 (€200) and should be available in select European countries later this month.

KitGuru says: On the surface the HTC Desire C looks like a rather impressive budget Android.

CNN have a story published which details the life of autism sufferer Sharia Siddiqui. She was unaware of the world around her and often stood in front of the television transfixed by the images. She was no verbal and would only communicate through crying.

Her father said “What the iPad has done has given her a sense of control that she never had before. She knows when you touch it, something is supposed to happen. She knows she doesn’t need to cry, she needs to point.”

Sharia started to watch movies on the iPad and then played some games. Experts got involved with her case and she was introduced to applications such as Proloquo2Go, First Words, ABCs and Me and Puzzle Me. She learned to put sentences together and to express herself via the tablet.

142 Autism oriented applications were released for the iPad this year alone, with around 764 available via the Apple App Store. The Apple tablet is proving a very useful tool in helping these children interact in new and exciting ways.

CNN add “he accessibility of online stores as a platform for apps has opened a new avenue for parents. Those with the know-how are able to create apps based on their child’s specific needs.

Tricia Estrada of San Diego has developed apps for her son, Evan. The app and website Wonkido has a series of animations, each about four to five minutes in length, depicting various social skills such as “asking to play” and “going potty.” By watching, kids acquire a database of episodes to draw from for future social situations, she said.

Estrada said the most appealing facet of the iPad is its mobility. Before, when Evan needed to learn a new concept in the middle of soccer practice or while at a restaurant, she had no way of showing him until the therapist gave him a card or bought a DVD weeks later. With the iPad or iPhone, it’s immediate.

“I think (the iPad) is revolutionizing the augmentative communication field,” said Dr. Oliver Wendt, assistant professor of speech, language and hearing sciences at Purdue University. “It’s a very cost-effective system. Before, we had these expensive, bulky items, which now can be replaced with an iPad.”

The equipment that was used previously could cost $9,000 to $15,000.”

Kitguru says: The iPad is developing into a very important educational learning tool for many children.

Some investors expressed concerns after Facebook announced on May 9th that the advertising growth hasn’t held in line with the increase in the userbase. Bloomberg published a report today, quoting insiders who didn’t want to be identified with the matter.

Facebook are now telling analysts that they may not meet their projections. The company executives has another week to market the IPO, set to price May 17th. Underwriters are trying to ramp interest to get large shareholders interested. Facebook are said to be valued at $96 billion, however not everyone shares that view.

Bloomberg add “It’s overvalued at that price,” said Filippo Garbarino, who oversees $50 million at Frontwave Capital Ltd. in Chiasso, Switzerland. “Investors are becoming more selective and there are quite a few fallen angels around, like Netflix. Those who buy Facebook at these levels are more speculators than investors.”

Lackluster interest from institutional investors at this stage could compel the company to rely more on buying from retail investors, whose demand remains robust, people said. The company may still elicit enough demand to sell shares at or above the high end of a projected range, people said. Institutional investors tend to hold shares longer than retail investors, lessening a stock’s volatility.”

Facebook chief Zuckerberg is trying to raise $11.8 billion through the IPO, which is the biggest in history for an Internet company. Facebook will be offering 337.4 million shares at $28 to $35 each. They hope to sell 180 million shares. Existing owners such as Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies are offering 157.4 million shares. Zuckerberg will also offer 30.2 million of his 533.8 million shares.

Kitguru says: Zuckerberg is said to be worth $17,500 US this year.

Thompson was earning a salary of $1 million a year. and Yahoo will not be paying him severance pay for the 5 months he was in charge of the company. Yahoo employ 12,000 people. He will however receive cash and stock to compensate him for money he gave up when he left eBay. He was in charge of the Paypal division. Those award are said to be worth $6.5 million according to the Wall Street Journal.

Yahoo have declined to make any comment on Thompson and the public issues surrounding his departure.

Ross Levinsohn has taken over as CEO on an interim basis, but he is apparently interested in the job, full time. Yahoo are facing tough times ahead, with competition from Google and Facebook hitting their core business hard. They have recently made 2,000 people redundant.

Kitguru says: It would appear that Thompson has ‘exaggerated’ his resume/CV. Will another company want to hire him?

Lenovo have increased the screen size from 13 inch to 14 inch but the weight is down, thanks to the use of a carbon fibre rollcage. The new carbon fibre ThinkPad X1 is also the lightest 14 inch business class ultrabook available, say the company.

Lenovo are shipping the Carbon X1 with a 1600×900 resolution screen, a 720p HD camera which has face tracking capabilities and a backlit keyboard. It has built in 3G connectivity as well for business users. The machines will feature Intel third generation Ivy Bridge processors.

Lenovo claim that the new version of the X1 will feature the same ‘Rapid Charge’ feature, which means that the battery will recover from dead to 80% in only 30 minutes.

Pricing has not yet been confirmed but we expect it to be around the same price as the original, which means it should be an excellent purchase.

Kitguru says: Another award winner? We hope so.

While Qualcomm has managed a massive increase in semi-conductor sales, those chips are mostly helping to fuel the mobile market. Specifically, the arrival of multi-core Snapdragon designs are being, er, snapped up by phone manufacturers – eager for an alternative to the Samsung produced chips powering Apple’s rise. Ironically, some of Samsung’s own anti-Apple designs also use Qualcomm. Nice.

Off the back of Qualcomm’s new launches, analysts are predicting that Qualcomm’s shares will bounce up by a least 10% in value. That will make them very attractive, given that banks themselves are in the ‘suffering huge loses business’ right now with the collapse of the Greek economy.

While Samsung’s dominance in the phone market is not as strong as Intel’s is in the PC business – the Korean giant still commands around 60% of the multi-core mobile market.

Which brings us back to the title of this article, which is based on the latest info from market gurus IC Insights.

If we add together the chip shipments for Intel, nVidia and AMD – comparing Q1 2011 to Q1 2012 – then we see an overall increase of just 0.18%

That’s as close to zero as makes no difference.

KitGuru says: While the phone market is booming now and the PC chip business is flat – IDC is predicting a big jump next year. The entire industry is hoping that IDC is right about growth patterns for 2013/14. This industry needs some good news.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

One of the most eagerly awaited games of recent times, Diablo III, had (part of) its launch party in London last night. With Tuesday being the new ‘sexy day for launches, stores across the country had shelves laden with product – just waiting for the official Blizzard ‘bend over, pause, engage’ instructions to come through.

The genuine front line for this launch has been the totally unprepared supermarket chains. Checking through the online postings by folks like OMG Thor, Diablo III wannabes were being directed with info like: Asda (Walmart) Opening Time: 23:00 Brighton Marina, BN2 5UT Opening Until: 23:00

Unfortunately, gamers arriving at this and other stores in Farnborough etc, were met by sales assistants who swore, “Asda does not sell games, have you tried Game?”

OK, it’s not Harry Potter in terms of global numbers and knowledgeable Asda shop assistants, but this game is already making a name for itself.

Can KitGuru quantify just how popular will the game be?  Well, according to Amazon, it has smashed all previous ‘pre order records’ – and that’s for the regular version. The special Collector’s Edition that Blizzard is making available for the launch only, is ever so slightly over-subscribed. Well, a 208 page art book and ‘behind the scenes’ Blu-Ray disc can have that effect.

The new system of Battle Tags being implemented for Diablo III will mean that multiple players can have the same name – while still being recognised as different people by the Battle.Net servers [That should save millions of gamers from having to learn how to pronounce Welsh - Ed].

Despite improvements in server technology that Blizzard has implemented ahead of the launch, the tech gurus from the World of Warcraft have been warning people that ‘an initial 40 second delay in being seen by the servers, is quite normal’.

Not convinced? Well you can check out the age-blocked Collector’s Edition here and then watch a trailer.

KitGuru has been told that there is a ‘Free 30 day guest pass’ system in operation, to attract noobs. If you want to check out the free/pay options, visit www.diablo3.com

KitGuru says: Judging by the queues for info at last year’s Gamescom, Diablo III will not let anyone down – least of all Blizzard’s shareholders, who have been mighty concerned about the de-population of WoW in favour of alternatives like Star Wars. Will the demonic power of Diable III be enough to draw the faithful back to the Blizzard?

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Tech firms, generally, have quite a sense of humour. To be in a business that declined the way the PC business did in 2008 – you’d have to preserve the ability to smile – or you’d end up crying. A lot.

Over at Overclockers, the logistics team has been taking delivery of the new nVidia GTX 670 – in some volume.

Ahead of the actual launch date, unsure how best to use these shiny new boxes, the primordial urge to ‘Lego’ everything in sight, took over and there were colleagues with wide angled lenses on hand to capture the glory of creation.

Here’s the result.

KitGuru says: There have been a lot of stories about nVidia’s relationship with TSMC and who gets priority on the latest technology runs. From Overclockers perspective, the proof of who can/can’t get stock, has been built in to this design.

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The best PR always trumps the best advertising.

Even if the advert is amazing, wonderful and fantastic – you still had to pay for it.

Apple knows that by leaking tiny shots of the upcoming iPhone 5, it can easily match the coverage that Samsung will buy for the Galaxy S3 – without spending a penny. Worse, they can get coverage even when the shot is not a shot.

A tiny, weirdly angled, pic has emerged on the interwibble, which encouraged us to install Photoshop CS6 for a quick play.

Having done the usual blowing up, de-speckling, angle adjusting and bi-lateral warp drive phase variancing – we dropped a suitably strong background in and ended up with this shot.

Which leaves us with just 3 questions: Will this be the new iPhone 5?  When will it be available?  Do we want one?

KitGuru says: Probably, soon and yes. That’s what we say.

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Starting off with the C Pen, which is essentially a fatter version of the capacitive stylus found in Samsung’s own Galaxy Note. It should be much better to use as well, taking on the look of a Parker pen more than anything, plus the ink will never run out.

Next up is the flip cover and while at first it may seem rather pointless, it actually replaces the Galaxy S III’s back cover entirely. Meaning it doesn’t add any major bulk to the 8.6mm thickness while protecting the 4.8 inch Super AMOLED display.

The stand pictured above fixates the phone in an upright position but doesn’t actually do much more than that. To add some value to it though, the stand opens up to restore a battery’s charge. If it had a proper dock it would be high up on my shopping list; and this is something Apple has actually come to realise.

Finally, there is the Wi-Fi Display Hub which on the surface seems to act much like HTC’s Media Link HD. It basically projects content from your phone to the monitor without the need for a 5m long HDMI or MHL cable.

KitGuru says: It’s good to see Samsung getting behind the Galaxy S III with some decent accessories, let’s just hope they aren’t massively overpriced.

AppleInsider released information at the weekend which suggested that Apple were in talks to acquire the company. Loewe then contacted German website Heise to respond to the report. They said that the deal had reportedly yet to be agreed.

The German company were said to “have been advised by its financial advisor to accept the offer and a final decision is scheduled to be announced internally before 18 May 2012.” according to the Appleinsider news. Sharp are one of the major shareholders in Loewe, and they are meant to be supplying panels for the upcoming Apple television set.

The report would add strength to the news that Apple will be releasing new high definition television sets in the next year. In other news today Foxconn chief has split the beans that they will be producing the new Apple television.

Kitguru says: Will Apple take over the television industry as they do with everything else they touch? Its a tough market to crack.