Toshiba Corp. is reportedly seeking a partnership with Nanya Technology in a bid to better compete against Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix on the market of multi-chip packages (MCP) for mobile and embedded devices. Toshiba wants to partner with Nanya to secure a stable supply of dynamic random access memory …
Read More »Yearly Archives: 2014
Performance of next-generation Intel ‘Broadwell’ Gen8 graphics revealed
A technology enthusiast has conducted the first benchmarks of Intel Core i7-5500U “Broadwell” processor’s integrated graphics engine and compared it to that of Intel Core i7-4510U “Haswell” processor. While the results are promising, they do not demonstrate any radical performance boosts. Intel Corp. has been gradually improving performance and capabilities …
Read More »Raijintek Morpheus GPU Cooler Review
Today we are going to take a look at the first GPU cooler from Raijintek, the Morpheus. This is a high end model which has been designed to compete with the best coolers on the market from the likes of Arctic, although Raijintek offer it as a ‘heatsink only' model …
Read More »Kim Dotcom pledges to kill NSA spying, Skype with MegaChat
Kim Dotcom may not be everyone's favourite ex-hacker, activist or gamer, but he does have a penchant for building something from ashes. His big move last year was the creation of MEGA, an encrypted file locker platform that was born from the ruins of his previous hit service, MegaUpload and …
Read More »‘The Interview’ pirates are mostly from outside the US
Have you seen ‘The Interview'? The film featuring Seth Rogen and James Franco that was summarily pulled from release on Christmas day due to hacker threats, only to be launched simultaneously in independent theatres and on Youtube/Google Play? Chances are if you did, that you live within the United States, …
Read More »GlobalFoundries denies problems with 14nm: everything is as planned
GlobalFoundries, the world’s second largest contract manufacturer of chips, late on Tuesday denied existence of problems with the ramp up of production using 14nm fabrication process. According to the foundry, it specifically stockpiles manufacturing equipment at a warehouse so that to install it once the fab 8 facility becomes compatible …
Read More »Nvidia to speed up development of graphics processing architectures
When Nvidia Corp. said earlier this year that it would delay its code-named Volta architecture and will launch code-named Pascal architecture in 2016 instead, many considered this a as a not very good sign. What Nvidia did not mention was the fact that Volta is due in 2017, not in …
Read More »Nvidia will not use ‘Maxwell’ architecture for Tesla HPC accelerators
Although Nvidia Corp.’s code-named “Maxwell” architecture has proven to be very energy-efficient, graphics processors on its base will not be used for Tesla accelerators for high-performance computing applications. At a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, Nvidia said that it would continue to offer “Kepler”-based Tesla cards for HPC applications in …
Read More »GlobalFoudries stops installations of 14nm tools, could delay production
Although GlobalFoundries has licensed 14nm FinFET manufacturing technology from Samsung Electronics back in May, 2014, it looks like the company may have to delay mass production using the fabrication process. According to a media report, the company has stopped installation of equipment required to make chips using 14nm FinFET technology. …
Read More »iTunes now offers refunds in Europe
Apple has changed the iTunes refund policy making it so that Europeans can return almost any digital item bought from the store within two weeks of purchase. However, as you would expect, there are some caveats in place to avoid abuse of the system. If you open an app, or …
Read More »Microsoft may launch a new web browser for Windows 10
Microsoft is reportedly working on an all new web browser to launch alongside Windows 10 in 2015. The project is currently codenamed ‘Spartan' and will see the company move away from Internet Explorer, which has garnered up quite a bad reputation over the years. According to ZDNet, the new app …
Read More »Apple Pay to arrive in the UK next year following tricky negotiations
Apple Pay is due to arrive in the UK next year but according to new reports Apple's negotiations are being held up as some banking executives fear that the mobile payment service could serve as a “beachhead for Apple's invasion of the banking industry”. Additionally, at least one of the …
Read More »Asus Maximus VII Impact (Z97) mITX Motherboard Review
In the computing world, bigger is usually better. But that doesn't stop us trying to squeeze the same performance out of something that is physically smaller in size. ‘Why?' you ask. Well, perhaps desk space is at a premium or maybe you simply never plan to use multiple graphics cards …
Read More »Microsoft improves Xbox One performance with new SDK
When Microsoft Corp. formally introduced its Xbox One video game console in 2013, it faced a rather massive amount of criticism from enthusiast gamers because the system’s graphics processing horsepower was considerably lower compared to that of Sony’s PlayStation 4. Apparently, the company has taken critics seriously and is trying …
Read More »Apple’s new MacBook Air 12-inch to sport Core M chip, USB 3.1, retina display
One of the key selling points of Apple’s next-generation MacBook Air laptop is expected to be very slim form-factor, fanless cooling and long battery life. However, it turns out that the new system from Apple will also sport a number of technological breakthroughs that will hit the market for the …
Read More »AMD could use GlobalFoundries’ SHP process technology for GPUs
Although Advanced Micro Devices wants to cease using special process technologies for its products in order to cut-down their manufacturing and development costs, it looks like next year the company will have to use GlobalFoundries’ 28nm super high-performance (SHP) technology for its Radeon graphics processors in order to ensure their …
Read More »Toshiba to consider overseas location for new chip plant
Toshiba Corp. said last week that it would consider an overseas location for its next NAND flash memory chip plant because currently demand for this memory type exceeds supply. While the company did not reveal where it could build its next fab, it is highly likely that the plant will …
Read More »Halo 5: Guardians beta launches today
Those of you that own an Xbox One along with a copy of the Halo Master Chief Collection will be able to check out the Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta test later today. This test will last three weeks and is there to help 343 Industries to tweak gameplay based …
Read More »Xbox Live and PSN back online following Christmas day attacks
Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network are back online following the Christmas period DDOS attacks which saw both services suffer from issues for a few days. The attack was carried out by Lizard Squad, a group of ‘hackers' that threatened to take down Microsoft and Sony's respective online services earlier this …
Read More »Asus Echelon Forest Gaming Headset Review
Asus tends to be very well known for its PC hardware but the company also makes a wide range of very good gaming peripherals as well. Today we are going to take a look at the latest headset from the Echelon line of camo themed peripherals, featuring multi-platform compatibility, 50mm drivers …
Read More »Game of Thrones crowned as most pirated show of 2014
Game of Thrones has managed to become the most pirated show of 2014, continuing its annual winning streak. This year's season was downloaded more than eight million times via BitTorrent, steaming ahead of the rest of the competition. The Walking Dead came in at a distant second place with just …
Read More »Sale bargains – check those labels carefully
Walking around the Boxing Day bargains, some KitGuru readers were keen to share their experience of what appears to be some quite blatant product mis-labeling. Naturally, we investigated, here are the initial results. Over the years, there have been some classic mis-labeling incidents across the tech world. Some are legitimate, …
Read More »Antec ISK 600M Case Review
This is the review that almost failed to happen. When the Antec ISK 600M arrived it didn't raise a huge amount of excitement and was temporarily placed in the pile of hardware that may get a second look at some point in the future. Happily for Antec, KitGuru and the …
Read More »OCZ ARC100 SSD’s all pass 22TB warranty point
Regular readers will know of the challenge submitted to KitGuru by OCZ – to kill 5 of their ARC 100 Solid State Drives. If you need a recap, then head back to this page posted on December 10th. Since then, we have been stress testing the drives to see if …
Read More »Independent cinemas rally round The Interview
One of the most interesting aspects of the whole hacking of Sony and the debacle that is The Interview movie, has been that when the big cinema chains backed out of showing it over fears of box office losses and viewer endangerment, many independent theatres stepped up. Cinemas like the Alamo …
Read More »Festive tidings from the KitGuru team!
2014 has been a great year for KitGuru and I wanted, on behalf of the team, to thank you all for the support throughout the year. Before you fall asleep fat and happy on the sofa watching the TV, never fear, our content hasn't quite stopped for the year – …
Read More »be quiet! Advent competition ending soon!
If you haven't entered the Christmas Advent competition from be quiet! You only have a couple of days left to do so, as it comes to an end this Saturday. It's been running all throughout December, with special prizes being awarded to lucky Facebook fans every Sunday and this one …
Read More »Samsung Smart TV’s to get PlayStation Now game streaming
In an announcement today Samsung and Sony declared a partnership that will see the PlayStation Now game streaming service being built into select Samsung Smart TV's next year. This will allow customers in the United States and Canada to stream games directly to their Samsung TV without any need for downloads. When this is launched …
Read More »Irish government and European parliament member side with Microsoft
Today, Microsoft is set to gain two more allies in its defense against the United States government, in an ongoing court case regarding a US warrant for customer data that is being stored in servers in Ireland. Both the Irish government and an European MEP, have now filed amicus briefs in support of the stance …
Read More »Cyberpower Fangbook Edge 4K Laptop Review
The killer feature with the Cyberpower Fangbook Edge 4K, as the name suggests, is the inclusion of a 4K display with a mighty resolution of 3,840×2,160 pixels. Adding a 4K display to a regular Fangbook Edge laptop bumps up the price by £90 from £1175 to £1265 inc VAT and …
Read More »