Kojima Compares Metal Gear Solid with the Olympic Games

With the real-world Olympics taking place in London well underway, video game developers seem inspired to sprinkle some Olympic spirit on their own development efforts, with Hideo Kojima, the father of the well-known Metal Gear Solid franchise, comparing the sporting event with the development of his own franchise.

Via Twitter, the legendary developer stated, “When asked what the MGS series is to you, I once responded, ‘It’s like the Olympics.’ A big event held every three or four years.”

He added, “You devote your life to the major goal of a fight on the world stage”, before concluding, “You think of nothing beyond that. The latter half becomes difficult, and you think that you’ll retire after this. But after release, you think about the next tournament.”

Hideo Kojima did not reveal whether the next tournament would be a full-blown Metal Gear Solid 5 or whether the company’s mysterious Project Ogre also has something to offer for fans.

Publisher Konami has already revealed that it would hold an anniversary for the Metal Gear Solid on its 25th birthday on August 30 and, presumably, the occasion will be used to offer more information on the future of the series.

Recently, the Kojima Productions team has been working on a new engine, called Fox, which is set to power Project Ogre and the next generation of Metal Gear titles.

Metal Gear Solid 5 is ru mored to offer a stealth-based gameplay structure and will once again star Solid Snake.

Until then, fans of the game universe will be able to play Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the Platinum Games title which uses action-based gameplay to bring the adventures of Raiden to life.

The game is currently slated for a February 2013 launch on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 after a number of delays.

Via: Kojima Compares Metal Gear Solid with the Olympic Games

Asus Padfone Arriving in Australia on August 14

Asus Australia announced last month that the Padfone device would go on sale in the country sometime in July. However, it appears that the company had some trouble in keeping its word and has recently confirmed that Asus Padfone won’t hit shelves until next month.

According to PC World, Asus Padfone is expected to land in Australia on August 14 for $999 AUD (1050 USD or 855 EUR) outright.

Customers will be able to purchase it via Harvey Norman and for the amount mentioned earlier they will receive both the smartphone and the 10.1-inch Padfone station.

For anything else that one would want to add to the Padfone, like a keyboard or a Stylus speaker, they will have to pay separately.

The main advantage for grabbing both the smartphone and the 10.1-inch Padfone station is the fact that the latter can greatly improve the phone’s battery life.

In fact, the smartphone comes with a standard 1520 mAh Li-Ion battery, which is rated by the manufacturer for up to 360 hours of standby time (370 in 3G mode) or up to 16 hours of talk time (8 hours in 3G mode).

While the phone is inserted inside the Padfone station, it will drain energy from the 6600 mAh Li-Ion battery, thus greatly improving usability while on the move.

Although the Pad fone is powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, Asus has already confirmed that the smartphone will receive a Jelly Bean upgrade in the near future.

Hardware-wise, Asus Padfone is equipped with a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260A Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, an Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM.

The smartphone comes in three versions, each with a different amount of storage: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. We’re not sure yet whether or not Aussie customers will be able to choose from all three variants.

Via: Asus Padfone Arriving in Australia on August 14

Samsung Galaxy S IV Concept Phone Packs 12MP Camera

Samsung’s Galaxy S line of devices is already the most popular smartphone series in the world, and the latest addition to the lineup is doing a great job at attracting even more users to it.

However, although Galaxy S III is here and is said to be the best smartphone of the year, enthusiasts already dream of what the next handset in the series would have to offer to them.

Supposedly dubbed Galaxy S IV, the smartphone would be better, would deliver increased performance levels, and would also prove far more appealing than the current-generation Galaxy S.

Whether Samsung will indeed launch such a device or not is yet unknown, but we cannot imagine why it wouldn’t. After all, the success Galaxy S devices enjoyed helped the company become the leading smartphone vendor in the world.

Bob Freking has his own idea of what Galaxy S IV could offer in terms of hardware, software and outer design, and came up with a concept device to show that to the world.

Rocking a large 5-inch touchscreen display capable of delivering a 1920 x 1080 resolution, the handset would easily prove to be the phone every user wants.

It would be powered by an Exynos 5 ARM15 dual-core application processor, faster than the dual-core inside Galaxy S III, and would be only 9.3mm thin.

On the back, Galaxy S IV could easily sport a 12-megapixel photo snapper, with full HD video recording, complemented by a 3.2MP camera on the front for making video calls.

With a polycarbonate unibody design, the handset would feature a 2,500mAh battery inside, while running under Google’s Android 4.1 Jelly Bean platform, with the TouchWiz UX loaded on top of it.

The same as Galaxy S III, the upcoming handset would sport a great deal of appealing software features, alo ng with all the connectivity capabilities that users are looking for.

For the time being, Galaxy S IV is only a concept device, but it could easily become a real handset, with great benefits for both users and the mobile phone maker.

Via: Samsung Galaxy S IV Concept Phone Packs 12MP Camera

Sapphire Launches Slim AMD Radeon HD 7750 Low-Profile Video Card

Traditional AMD video card manufacturing partner Sapphire has just announced a new video card powered by AMD’s Radeon HD 7750 GPU. The new card features a single slot cooling system and a low-profile PCB that is perfectly suited for cramped cases.

The new device completely adheres to AMD’s reference specifications of the Radeon HD 7750 GPU so the AMD’s “Cape Verde” graphics processing unit is clocked at 800 MHz when working in full load 3D mode.

In 2D mode, the frequ ency of the GPU will drop to a low 300 MHz.

The GPU has a very small 123-square millimeter die size, containing 1.5 billion transistors containing 512 unified shader processors, 32 texturing units and 16 ROPs.

The “full” “Cape Verde” comes with 640 shaders and 40 texturing units, but that’s the Radeon HD 7770 and Sapphire’s version has some of the units inactive.

The GPU is quite modest in its power requirements, and the Sapphire HD 7750 LP features a very simple cooling system yet quite prone to failure (because of the higher rotation speed) and likely noisy after some months of wear.

The Sapphire HD 7750 LP comes with 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 4500 MHz default when in 3D mode, but it drops to 600 MHz when working in 2D.

The memory and the GPU work on a tight 128-bit BUS, so playing games with very high resolutions will be quite a challenge for the small card .

The pricing is reportedly slated at 90 to 100 EUR for European HTPC enthusiasts and $100 in the US.


Via: Sapphire Launches Slim AMD Radeon HD 7750 Low-Profile Video Card

HighPoint Launches RocketRAID 4520 512 MB DDR3

California headquartered traditional RAID controller maker HighPoint has just launched a new, dedicated SAS RAID controller card using Marvell’s Sheeva RAID-on-Chip onboard processor, on its official website.

The new card uses a Marvell 88RC9580 RAID-on-Chip processor that has a 513 MB of DDR3 decicated memory.

The new RAID card from HighPoint uses a PCI Express 2.0 x8 Host Interface and provides the user with 8 Internal 6Gb/s SAS & SATA ports and dual internal Mini-SAS conn ectors (SFF-8087).

The card will support up to 128 SAS HDDs using a SAS Expander, but it comes with a passive heatsink and a low-profile PCB.

HighPoint’s new RocketRAID 4520 adapter comes with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and the usual JBOD with RAID configuration protection.

The usual BIOS boot, stagg ered drive spin up, spin down idle disk, S.M.A.R.T. and NCQ support are all present and also the HighPoint RocketRAID 4520 comes with 64bit LBA support for drives with more than 2TB of storage capacity.

Marvell’s Sheeva RAID-on-chip processor is a powerful SoC that integrates an ARM core working at a high 900 Mhz frequency along with RAID 5/6 and CRC32 engines, internal SRAM and DDR3 memory interfaces optimized for advanced RAID topologies.

The chip only consumes 9 watts according to Marvell and comes in a 676-Ball FCBGA package.

The on-core cache is 512 KB and there is also an on-chip 1 MB Scratchpad.

It has support for various advanced RAID features including Dual XOR RAID 6, P+ Q + Copy, or Q + Q + Q RAID 6, and is ideal for mid-range to high-end servers.

The processor also provides support for RAID 60 although HighPoint doesn’t mention this in its press r elease.


Via: HighPoint Launches RocketRAID 4520 512 MB DDR3

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 P7500 Gets Android 4.0 ICS Update

Google’s popular smartphone and tablet operating system has been long awaited by the owners of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 P7500. Now the Korean giant seems to be ready to start the updating process.

There are reports that say Italy is getting the ICS rollout today while other markets will soon follow.

While these may happen in the next 24 hours, there are clear reports that confirm the P7510 model is getting the newer version of the popular operating system today.

There are multiple different models of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet and not all of them are part of today’s update process, but Samsung has made it clear that all its Galaxy Tab 10.1 products will receive the software eventually.


Via: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 P7500 Gets Android 4.0 ICS Update

Nvidia Says Warranties Remain the Same

There was a rumor that enthusiastic overclockers that push their new Kepler card too far might have a chance to see their warranty refused by the AIB. The report was based on various sources that said Nvidia was in talks with AIBs about revoking warranties where burnt GPUs were clocked beyond 1.1 Ghz.

Whether Nvidia was in talks with its AIBs or not, the official response from the company reportedly came through Mr. Igor Stanek, senior product PR manager EMEAI at Nvidia.

Mr. Stanek said that, “Nvidia’s warranty is between Nvidia and our add-in card partners.  It does not govern individual product warranties, which are between the card manufacturer and end users.  This is standard industry procedure.  Nvidia has not made any recent changes to our warranty with add-in card partners regarding overclocking."
< br /> There are two things we can take from this. One is the fact that the company claims that nothing has changed from the way they were doing business before when it comes to warranties for the end-user.

The other thing is that it’s AIB’s responsibility to decide if a product was properly used or not and, therefore, decide whether the user receives a replacement or not.

Via: Nvidia Says Warranties Remain the Same

Telstra to Offer BlackBerry Curve 9320 on Prepaid

Unveiled back in May, BlackBerry Curve 9320 is one of the cheapest smartphones launched by Research In Motion (RIM). The smartphone has already been launched in Australia, but it’s not yet available on prepaid.

According to CrackBerry, major carrier Telstra plans to offer the BlackBerry Curve 9320 on prepaid plans. Unfortunately, there are no additional details on the phone’s pricing options and availability.

The Curve 9320 is one of the first smartphones, along with Curve 9220, to come with BlackBerry 7.1 OS out of the box. However, the device is not that impressive when it comes to hardware.

It comes with 512MB of ROM, 512MB of RAM, microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB), 2.44-inch display and 3-megapixel rear camera. The phone drains energy from a 1450 mAh Li-Ion battery.

Via: Telstra to Offer BlackBerry Curve 9320 on Prepaid

Former Valve Developer Says Company Got Too Big

Despite being much praised by its employees and by gamers alike, it seems that Valve, the company behind such franchises as Half-Life and Portal, has grown too big for at least one former employee who is now working at Arkane Studios.

Viktor Antonov, who is best known for the level design he has done on City 17 for Half-Life 2, has told Eurogamer that, “Valve has grown into a much bigger company, and what I really enjoy about the philosophy of Arkane is that it’s a small, core team that does ri sky creative projects.”

He added, “And when I went to Valve, they were a small company. They’ve grown now, they’re much bigger, and I’m interested in a certain level of creative risk taking and a certain energy that can be compared to jazz, jamming or rock n’ roll, where it’s small, it’s intense and it’s about making revolutions in the media.”

Antonov last worked on the pitch for Team Fortress 2 and has since grown dissatisfied with the way Valve has approached the development of the Half-Life franchise, focusing on episodes rather than delivering another AAA project.

His current project is Dishonored, the first-person action and stealth game that allows the player to use a wide variety of weapons, items and supernatural powers in order to navigate a steampunk city and solve a number of mysteries.

Antonov is the chief visual design director working on Dishonored, w hich is set to arrive during October on the PC, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

The game uses a very distinct style, which mixes elements from European history with standard fantasy and steampunk elements.

The co-directors working on Dishonored are Harvey Smith and Ralph Colantonio, who are well known for their work on action games.

Valve has not announced any clear plans for the future of the Half-Life series.

Via: Former Valve Developer Says Company Got Too Big

The Next Google Nexus Might Look Like This Concept

Google’s series of Nexus smartphones has already proved highly popular around the world, and it might continue to do so if great devices are added to it.

In fact, previous rumors have already suggested that some great new devices are en-route to the market with the Nexus mark on them, some even this year.

Next year could also bring along a series of such smartphones, even if nothing was made official on the matter for the time being.

Of course, we have no idea what these new devices could pack in terms of hardware specifications or software, though that does not prevent enthusiasts from dreaming of them.

One of them, Bob Freking, even came up with a sort of teaser for the device, proposing a possible outer-design that would be somehow similar with the one present on today’s Galaxy Nexus.

However, the designer does not offer info on what the phone could pack inside and he asks users to imagine what it could include.

Being a 2013 Google Nexus smartphone, the new phone could easily pack inside a quad-core application processor; the same as the latest high-end smartphones do today, and might be powered by the upcoming flavor of Android, supposedly called Key Lime Pie.

The form factor of this phone could easily move away from the candybar design on current Nexus devices, and Google and its manufacturing partner might also consider a slimmer body for this product, that’s for sure.< br />
In all fairness, these are only our ideas on the device, and they might be different from yours. If you find the concept device interesting, drop a comment below to let us know that you would like to see inside of it.

Both hardware and software suggestions are welcome and you should not necessarily keep things close to reality. After all, it is a device you are dreaming of to land one day in your hand.

Via: The Next Google Nexus Might Look Like This Concept

Windows Phone Developer Portal Will Be Down on Monday

Windows Phone application developers will have some difficulties submitting new software for approval in the official Marketplace in the next few days, Microsoft announced.

The App Hub will be down on Monday, April 6, a move planned all the way back in April. This means that developers should hurry and submit apps in the next few days, to make sure they land there.

However, approvals might be delayed a bit, Microsoft’s Todd Brix notes in a blog post. He also notes that no specific info on how long the portal will be down is yet available.

“If you have an app you were hoping to update or publish to Marketplace this week, you should submit it today or tomorrow. While maintenance work is underway you may experience delays in app certification and publishing,” he explains.

“This effort also requires App Hub to be taken offline starting next Monday morning Pacific Time. I don’t have an exact downtime, but we expect it to be less than 24 hours.”

Microsoft will work hard on making sure that the developer portal is back online as soon as possible. However, app builders might meet some issues with it for a short period.

“Rest assured our teams will be working as quickly as possible to minimize the impact on you. Once the developer portal is back online, you might still encounter an occasional hiccup as we complete the back-end work over the next several weeks,” Todd Brix continues.

Following these enhancements brought to the App Hub, the entire submission and certification process of new Windows Phone applications is expected to become more robust.

Moreover, Microsoft will improve the developer experience by solving some of the issues that have been spotted with the portal lately.

“The good news is that this brief inconvenience will result in a more robust submission and certification pipeline for your Windows Phone 7.5 apps, and address many of the concerns you’ve shared over the months,” he concludes.

Via: Windows Phone Developer Portal Will Be Down on Monday

Water Resources Specialist Offers Advice on Managing Droughts and Floods [Video]

Not very long ago, we talked about how global warming is bound to make drought periods last longer. As well as this, we reported on how heavy rainfalls and floods might also soon be a thing of the day.

It is not difficult to imagine that such extreme weather manifestations will take their toll on our society's water supplies.

However, water resources specialist Jane Frankenberger now brings us somewhat good news. Apparently, by implementing the appropriate water management strategies, the new weather pa tterns brought about by climate change can be more easily dealt with in an efficient manner.

Taking into consideration US's geography and demographics, Jane Frankenberger explains how, depending on which water sources various communities rely most heavily on, local citizens will experience the effects of present and future droughts in different ways.

Thus, Indianapolis and several other regions which mainly exploit surface rivers and reservoirs will be the most affected by the climate change, seeing how their water sources are the least dependable when it comes to getting locals through extended periods of drought.

On the other hand, urban and rural areas, which have their water demands met by means of water sources, are bound to feel the pressures of climate change later on.

As reported by Purdue University, the specialist argued that, “It takes years for rain to get into groundwater; therefore, it takes yea rs before the shortage of rain would actually affect the groundwater. So those communities probably don't feel the effects quite as dramatically.”

Nevertheless, efforts must be made to conserve this natural resource on a national scale, by resorting to strategies such as cutting down on how much water each household or business used on a daily basis, and investing in infrastructure which helps collect rainwater whenever it happens to fall.

Apparently, Jane Frankenberger also believes that, “The drought is a wake-up call to remember to not take our water resources for granted but to think about conservation, to think about how our community is planning for using them wisely in the future.”

Those wishing to learn more about how communities can work together to fight back the effects of global warming can watch the video below.



Via: Water Resources Specialist Offers Advice on Managing Droughts and Floods [Video]

E3 Remains in Los Angeles Until 2015

The Entertainment Software Association in the United States has announced that it has entered into a new agreement with the city of Los Angeles to host the E3 trade event at the L.A. Convention Center for the next three years, until 2015.

The partnership has been active for sixteen years and in 2013 the biggest video game-centered event in the world will take place between June 11 and 13.

The city of Los Angeles has estimated that the economic impact from event visitors amounts to as much as 40 million dollars (32.5 million Euro).

The ESA has also confirmed that after the 2013 event, the West Hall of the Convention Center will be torn down and replaced by a new one by the time of the 2014 E3.

Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, stated, “My office was committed to doing whatever it took to keep the largest annual conference that the City hosts here for another three years.”

Via: E3 Remains in Los Angeles Until 2015

Zombies Counter-Protest Westboro Baptist Church Protest Video

As the Westboro Baptist Church is intensifying its efforts to show the world that American soldiers' deaths abroad are God's way of saying America is too tolerant of the gay lifestyle, more counter-protesters are willing to stand up against the “hate church.”

WBC announced plans to picket a DuPont, Washington military base on Friday, prompting a Facebook campaign aimed to get counter-protesters to show up to dissuade them from further actions of the kind.

The campaign, “Zombie'ing Westboro Baptist Church AWAY from Fort Lewis!” turned out to be a hit, as the video above will confirm.

Only 8 members of the WBC showed up. There were also 300 zombies on site, eager to spread the word that the real God doesn't hate even if someone happens to be gay, which can't be said about WBC believers.

&ld quo;We wanted to turn something negative around, into something people could laugh at and poke fun at. It was the easiest way to divert attention from something so hateful,” Melissa Neace, the counter-protester who organized the “zombie'ing” tells the press.

Via: Zombies Counter-Protest Westboro Baptist Church Protest Video

Liam Neeson Is Still Deadly in New Taken 2 Trailer

A new international trailer for Liam Neeson's fast-paced action movie “Taken 2” has been released. Check it out in full above.

After “Taken” proved a surprise hit with both critics and audiences, virtually establishing Liam Neeson as the new Chuck Norris of action movies, a sequel was greenlit instantly.

We've already seen several photos, trailers and videos for it. However, not releasing a new one now that Neeson is making a surprise cameo in one of this summer's most hyped blockbusters (we're not saying which) would have meant a missed opportunity.

So here it is. It doesn't bring much new footage but it does include plenty of snapped necks, car chases and violence to make it worth your time.

The film also stars Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace, and will be out in October.

Via: Liam Neeson Is Still Deadly in New Taken 2 Trailer

There's Now Even More Google+ in Your Blogger

Blogger users have been noticing this for a while now, Google+ is slowly being built into the blogging platform, one small step at a time. But Google went all out in the latest update and added a Google+ page to the dashboard. From there, users will be able to control all manner of Google+ settings.

"Blogger lets you share your thoughts, grow your readership, and engage with your audience. But we want to make Blogger even better by letting you tap into the growing Google+ community," Google wrote.

"Today, we&r squo;re adding a new 'Google+' tab in the Blogger dashboard, so you now have a central place to start growing your blog with Google+," it explained.

So far, users had been able to link up their Google+ profile to their Blogger one. That meant that the Google+ page replaced the Blogger profile entirely. But this was limited to regular users.

Now however, businesses can do the same by replacing their Blogger profiles with a Google+ page. Other than that, the feature works exactly the same as before.

Beyond this, Blogger is also making it easier to expand your posts beyond the site and onto Google+. Sharing on the Google social network is easy since you'll get a share button for every post you make.

Readers will also be able to use the standard Google+ share button to link to posts they like. Finally, linking up a Google+ profile will allow you to use hashtags and +mentions inside the posts.

"To ge t started, click the 'Google+' tab in the Blogger dashboard and then the 'Upgrade' button. If you’ve already upgraded to Google+, we’ll help you associate your blog with your profile or page," Google explained.

"We'll be introducing more settings on this tab in the future, so stay tuned for additional ways to get more out of Blogger with Google+," it promised.

Via: There's Now Even More Google+ in Your Blogger

Crucial Launches 2.5-Inch v4 SSDs, for Pre-2011 Systems

Two weeks after releasing the v4 mSATA solid-state drive series, Crucial, one of Micron's global SSD brands, has formally introduced the 2.5-inch v4 line.

We'll say it upfront that the 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB SSDs aren't high-end products. They don't even possess the SATA III 6.0 Gbps interface actually.

Instead, they are equipped with SATA II 3.0 Gbps ports and are advertised as drives meant to improve the performance of systems built before 2011.

We actually think thi s is a smart move. Regardless of what the rest of the media says, many people still use desktops and laptops that are several years old.

That said, Crucial v4 SSDs should be able to read data at up to 230 MB/s and write it at 190 MB/s.

“The Crucial v4 SSD boils down to two things: performance and value,” said Robert Wheadon, senior worldwide product manager, Crucial.

“Most consumers realize that SSDs help their computers start quicker and run faster, and are a more durable alternative to hard drives, but many don’t realise that most SSDs outperform the data transfer capabilities of their SATA 2 machines. With the Crucial v4 SSD, we’ve come up with a product that’s designed to bring the most value out of a SATA 2 system without paying for extra performance that can’t be used.”

As we said before, Crucial's v4 2.5-inch solid-state drives have capacities of 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB.

The first one bears a price of £31.99, which corresponds to $50 / 40 Euro, assuming exchange rates are to be taken into account. Chances are that the actual prices in the US and EU will be lower, as UK tags normally exceed them.

Meanwhile, the 64 GB drive ships for £44.99 ($70 / 57 Euro), the 128 GB SSD for £63.99 ($100 / 81 Euro) and the 256 GB device for £122.99 ($193 / 157 Euro).

Via: Crucial Launches 2.5-Inch v4 SSDs, for Pre-2011 Systems

Panasonic Rakes In Nice Profit Despite Low Sales

Unlike certain other companies on the IT market, Panasonic weathered the second quarter of 2012 with little trouble, even succeeding in making some profit.

The reason for this is that Panasonic has been reducing fixed costs and restructuring each business segment.

With this to compensate for the increasingly serious financial crisis in Europe, the company was able to make up for the previous losses.

That is to say, whereas 2011 brought a loss of $9.7 billion (7.91 billion), the second quarter of 2011 put a stop to the drop in income and generated $164 million / 133 million Euro.

It bears noting that Panasonic achieved this feat in spite of a 6% decrease in sales, compared to the first quarter.

The only unfortunate part in all this is that this business balance has been achieved at significant cost .

Via: Panasonic Rakes In Nice Profit Despite Low Sales

Android 4.0 ICS Update for HTC Incredible S Now Available in India

Good news for HTC Incredible S owners living in India as the Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer has decided to start the rollout of the long-awaited Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Those who were afraid that HTC Incredible S may have the same faith as the Desire HD, which has recently been denied the same update, can now rest easy as their phones will receive the hotly anticipated upgrade.

It appears that offering Ice Cream Sandwich updates for older Android phones has been quite a challenge for HTC.

The company has recently announced that HTC Desire HD won’t be receiving an official Android 4.0 ICS update in the future “to how storage on the HTC Desire HD is partitioned - and the larger size of Android 4.0 - it would require re-partitioning device storage and overwriting user data in order to install this update.”

Basically, it means that the phone is short on storage and users would have to delete all data stored in the memory in order to install Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This is a rather weird explanation especially that HTC Incredible S has a lower amount of internal memory.

In fact, aside from internal memory, both smartphones, HTC Desire HD and Incredible S, have similar features. They are powered by the same Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon single-core processor clocked at 1GHz and pack 768MB of RAM.

Luckily, HTC Incredible S will be getting the promised An droid 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update, while Desire HD owners will be stuck on Gingerbread.

According to AndroidOS, an Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich update is now available for download in India. The file is about 250MB in size and is pushed OTA (over the air) in stages, so not all Incredible S owners will get it at the same time.

The update is said to add HTC Sense 3.6 UI, as well as new features and overall improvements. Users can manually check for the update by going to Settings / About / Software update.

Via: Android 4.0 ICS Update for HTC Incredible S Now Available in India

Dragon Dogma 2 Is Official, Bigger Than Original

Hideaki Itsuno, the creator of the series, has revealed that his team inside publisher Capcom is now officially working on Dragon’s Dogma 2 and has revealed a few bits of information about the coming action and role-playing mix.

During an interview with Japanese magazine Famitsu, the game creator has revealed that the original Dragon’s Dogma has only included 60 to 70 percent of the ideas that he had for the game world, which leaves plenty of innovation space for the sequel.

One of the confirmed features of Dragon’s Dogma 2 will be quest creation, which will allow players to select their objectives and their structure and then create and share new game content.

Hideaki Itsuno has also revealed that he originally wanted a bigger game world, but resources only allowed his team to create what the players saw in the first Dragon Dogma.

The sequel will offer an increase of about one third on the overall game space and presumably new normal monsters and more boss battles will also be included to populate all the new areas.

The first game in the franchise has been a hit for Capcom, selling more than 1 million units on the Japanese home market, in a genre where the biggest hits tend to be Western-made titles like Skyrim.

For the second quarter of the year Capcom has reported a significant increase in profit, which has grown by 300 percent in order to reach 1.3 billion Yen, which is the equivalent of $17 million (€13.8 million).

Dragon’s Dogma was launched in late May and allowed players to select a class and then create a party of characters with which to tackle a number of quests, most of them centered on a big battle against mythical creatures.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 will probably be launched on next-generation devices at some point during 2014.

Via: Dragon Dogma 2 Is Official, Bigger Than Original

Bristol Palin on Her DWTS Return: God Provides Opportunities Like This for Me

Bristol Palin's new reality show might be a flop, but at least she still has a shot at making it big (and big bucks as well) in television: she and other 11 celebrities will be back for the first all-star edition of Dancing With the Stars on ABC.

Asked about the reason she agreed to come back on the show, especially considering how, the first time around, she was literally bombarded with negative reactions from audiences, Bristol says that it's God's way of helping her provide for her son, Entertainment Weekly reports.

The comment was made on Friday at the panel that announced Bristol's return to DWTS, with EW noting that she received the most questions, even though Pamela Anderson and other celebrities were also there.

“God provides opportunities like this for me. It’s a positive, active show. It’s going to be awesome. Do I like to provide for my son? Yes, I do,” Bristol said when queried why she'd want to put herself in the spot again when she must know for a fact she'd be harshly criticized, if not actually worse.

“The press is going to talk to me no matter what I do. I might as well have fun,” she added.

It's not just fun that's bringing Bristol back to the show, as it's easy to imagine: she's also back for the money.

With her new “Life's a Trip” series rubbished by critics and most likely on its way to an early cancellation, it's not like she's drowning in offers.

This would explain why she literally jumped at the chance of coming back, EW says: at this point, she doesn't really have much choice as regards the TV projects she signs on.

“Apparently, it wasn’t a hard sell to get the eldest daughter of the former Vice Presidential candidate to return to the ballroom. One insider on the show say it was an 'easy sell' to get her back in sequins – just like it was the 11 other celebrities who will participate in the show’s first all-star edition beginning Sept. 24,” EW writes.

“One star who didn’t make the cut was Kate Gosselin, who wanted to return but apparently the producers didn’t think her current 'storyline' was that interesting. Snap!” the same media outlet notes, before adding that ABC knew bringing Palin on board again wo uld instantly translate into massive ratings, negativity or no negativity.

Also on the panel, members of the media asked Bristol why she hated the gays, to which she replied she didn't; it was just the press who always made her look as if she did.

Via: Bristol Palin on Her DWTS Return: God Provides Opportunities Like This for Me

Bane's Voice in The Dark Knight Rises, Before and After Video

Late last year, Warner Bros. screened a 6-minute prologue from its upcoming “The Dark Knight Rises,” causing quite a storm online among fans who could not understand what its villain, Bane, was saying. Chris Nolan fixed that for the final film.

Though audiences still complained they could not make out about 10 percent of what Bane (Tom Hardy) said in the film, it was a clear improvement over what was shown in December with the prologue, as the video below will confirm.

At the time the 6-minute clip was screened, director Chris Nolan insisted that he would do nothing to make his voice clearer because he believed this is who a man wearing a mask covering half his face should sound like.

However, by early July, he had admitted that the voice had been redubbed for the obvious practical reasons.

The video below shows just how much of an improvement that turned out to be, by comparing audio from the original prologue with dialog from the final film.

“The Dark Knight Rises” is Chris Nolan's final Batman film, and stars Hardy as the bad guy, Christian Bale as Batman, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.



Via: Bane's Voice in The Dark Knight Rises, Before and After Video

Seagate Appoints New SSD Leader, Doesn't Wait for OCZ

We'd have expected Seagate to wait until the latest acquisition was completed before appointing a leader of its solid-state drive business, but that has not turned out to be the case.

Seagate Technologies has decided who will be managing its solid-state drive division: Gary Gentry, previously of Micron.

The man oversaw the Enterprise SSD Division at Micron Corporation and, before that, held leadership positions at Spansion, Storage Genetics and Maxtor. He even worked at Seagate for a time in fact.

We find it particularly curious that Seagate actually made this management decision, and not because of Gary Gentry himself.

Rather, we would have expected it to wait until the OCZ acquisition was finalized and then appoint the company's CEO in that position, Mr. Ryan Petersen.

Alas, even as it posted its financial results for the latest quarter, Seagate made no mention of the deal, causing the suspicion that it might not go through after all.

Then again, there might be another reason for Gary Gentry's recruitment: OCZ has just announced that its new manufacturing facility in Taipei, Taiwan has achieved ISO 9001: 2008 certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

"We are very pleased to have obtained ISO 9001: 2008 certification demonstrating that our manufacturing processes not only follow rigorous quality standards, but they are consistent with leading compa nies worldwide," said Jason Ruppert, sr. vice president of operations for OCZ Technology.

"This ISO certification provides our OEM customers with a validation that our manufacturing processes deliver high quality, reliable products, and a heightened user experience."

We'd agree that this is impressive, if that standard wasn't already old. There are third-tier SSD manufacturing outfits that got ISO 9001:2000 and 9001:2008 certification years ago.

In other words, OCZ is a bit behind the times in terms of quality assurance. And its shares are also not doing that well, though they did rise when rumors about the impending acquisition came out.

Thus, Seagate may be of the opinion that Gentry has a better shot at pushing its solid-state drive business forward, including OCZ and its fabled Barefoot controller if it comes down to it.

Via: Seagate Appoints New SSD Leader, Doesn't Wait for OCZ

Civ V: Gods & Kings Diary Hard Choice Time

I managed to find a string of Ruins, one of the most important early game tasks for all Civilization V players, and one of them has given me enough Faith in order to make my first important choice linked to religion.

First, the player is asked to select a Founding belief, which can range from getting more culture from some tiles like Jungles or Deserts to faster population increase for cities, before he can try to get a Great Prophet and found a full religion.

I am still baffled by the variety that developer F iraxis has included here and I probably spent 5 minutes trying to decide which of the gods Pacal should bow to before deciding that I will praise the God of Craftsmen, so that I can get a little extra production in my big cities.

I then go on to found my own full religion, adopting a number of beliefs that bring me more happiness and increase my production in cities, while also making my troops better than the enemies they are likely to face when in the vicinity of religious cities.

As we move into the Classical Age, I also eliminate most of the barbarians around the world and do some scouting in order to get some solid city locations.

The terrain discovery game is very important in Civilization V and I fall slightly behind because I lose two scouts to the aggressive Asoka, who goes to war because I refuse to give him some of my previous Pearls.

I have also discovered Vatican very close to my capitol and pl anned to attack the city, because it seems to be lightly defended and it certainly plays against my usual strategy, which is always to be on the good side of city-states.

I have one catapult and a force of 2 spearmen and 2 bowmen should easily do the job.

Via: Civ V: Gods & Kings Diary Hard Choice Time

Zync Launches Z-909 Plus Tablet in India for Only $65 USD (55 EUR)

Android enthusiasts in India continue to be flooded with some of the most affordable devices. Since Google launched the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, native handset makers launched a gazillion of tablets and smartphones priced under $100 USD (75 EUR).

Indian company Zync has just announced the upcoming availability of a new Gingerbread-powered tablet in the country. The Z-909 plus is aimed at low-cost tablet market and will be available for only Rs 3699 (65 USD or 55 EUR).

According to Zync, customers will be able to purchase the Z-909 plus at major online e-commerce portals across the country, such as Snapdeal, HomeShop18, Futurebazaar, Naaptol.

Moreover, the new budget-friendly slate will be made available across 22 states through its distributor network Balaji Solutions.

It is also worth mentioning that the tablet comes with several accessories included in the sales package, such as screen guard and a lycra pouch.

“Owing to the fierce competition in the tablet market with many players entering this category, we felt the need to introduce a product which does not burn a hole in the consumers pocket, yet possesses the latest technologies at an affordable cost,” said Ashish Garg, director, Zync Global Private Limited.

Hardware-wise, the tablet is equipped with a 1 GHz single-core processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory, which can be expanded up to 16GB via microSD memory card.

Zync Z-909 plus also sports a 7-inch resistive touchscreen display, a VGA front-facing camera, and Wi-Fi connectivity. It runs on the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and has a powerful 3000mAH battery, which makes it an ideal device for long hours of usage.

Unfortunately, the tablet is powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but at least it comes pre-loaded with popular apps such as Angry Birds, BigFlix and Ibibo.

“After having launched our earlier products in the range of 8000-1200K, we felt the sub 4K segment was fairly untouched and hence we saw the opportunity to introduce a product in the price bracket of 4K. We believe in excellent customer service and for the same we have a one year warranty along with a pick up and drop facility for all our products,” concluded Garg.

Via

Via: Zync Launches Z-909 Plus Tablet in India for Only $65 USD (55 EUR)

Worms Revolution Tips and Tricks Showcased in New Video

After confirming an October release date for its long awaited Worms Revolution title, Team 17 has now revealed a new video in which its lead QA officer, Daniel Martin, talks about the weapons included in the game and offers quite a few tips and tricks about the title.

Worms Revolution promises to deliver a different type of Worms experience, as Team 17 has introduced a wide array of new gameplay mechanics into the long running series, ranging from fresh weapons to new physics effects.

In order to show off some of these new things and how they impact the regular Worms gameplay, Team 17 has posted a brand new video in which its lead QA officer, Daniel Martin, shows off the new weapons, as well as the new effects that will drastically change the way the game is played.

As of yet, Worms Revolution has received only a concrete release date of October 13 fo r the P3 in Europe, but it’s also going to appear on the PC or Xbox 360. Until then, check out the video above.

Via: Worms Revolution Tips and Tricks Showcased in New Video

Casio Announces Two Shock-Resistant Android Tablets

Well-known Japanese watch manufacturer Casio has decided to enter the Android tablet market and apparently they want to be really different from the other players. Casio’s new tablets go against Panasonic’s mid-line of rugged similar devices, but are not competing with the Matsushita’s “army-line”.

The new toys from Casio are called V-T500-GE and V-T500E and the manufacturer targets these towards business users in need for a sturdy tablet device.

Casio’s new tablets are powered by Texas Instruments’ powerful OMAP 4460 ARM processor.

The OMAP 4460 is manufactured in TI’s own semiconductor FAB using 45nm technology and is clocked at a high 1500 Mhz.

The design is in fact an ARM Cortex A9 dual-core chip, so readers should understand that the performance will likely be half of what Qualcomm’s dual-core “Krait” SnapDragon S4 is capable of.

There is no information on pricing yet, but we don’t expect them to be affordable as most Made-in-Japan are of very high quality, but also pricier.


Via: Casio Announces Two Shock-Resistant Android Tablets

Far Cry 3 Is About Survival, Not Morality

Far Cry 3 is specifically created with the player’s emotions in mind and will show gamers how the quest to become a hero can lead the protagonist to blur the lines between good and evil.

Mark Thompson, who is the level design director working at Ubisoft, has told Polygon that, “He’s not being a bad guy. He’s just doing the things he needs to do to survive and rescue his friends. It’s not about right and wrong or good and bad. That’s why the Far Cry games don’t have morality systems, there isn’t this rigid dichotomy of good and bad in the world, so why reflect that in the game?”

He added, “We don’t say whether something is good or bad. We don’t judge players. Ultimately the game is about killing, and we know that, so we don’t want to condescend. The game asks you to shoot. The game is about killing people to win. So we wanted to make sure we wrote a story that understood that.”

Thompson says that before coming to the tropical island at the core of Far Cry 3, Jason has not used a gun or killed anyone.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder will be part of the experience of the main character and they will serve both as gameplay elements and as ways to show the gamer in front of the screen how violence impacts those who use it, regardless of their aims.

Jason roams the island in order to find and rescue his missing girlfriend and, as he progresses he will meet a cast of inhabitants that reveal more and more of their madness, almost all of them ready to kill him.

The development team has promised to introduce better firefight mechanics than in Far Cry 2.

Far Cry 3 will be launched on the PC, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft in November.

Via: Far Cry 3 Is About Survival, Not Morality

GeForce GTX 660 and GTX 660 Ti Full Specifications Confirmed [Photo]

The Californian fables GPU and ARM CPU designer is apparently dead set on launching a GeForce GTX 660 Ti video card that will be able to use the GTX 670 PCB. This means that the Ti suffix will come together with a 256-Bit memory interface.

The lesser GeForce GTX 660 version will come with the same GK104 GPU, but will feature a 25% narrower memory BUS that will also allow the card to fit into a more modest 130 watts TDP.

There are various sources that talk about a GK106 GPU that will likely power the GTX 660 in the future once it will tape out from TSMC.

The full specifications reportedly show a well-known GK104 Kepler GPU that will have only 1152 CUDA cores active clocked at a default 980 MHz frequency with a 1033 MHz Boost option and the same 6008 MHz frequency for the 1.5 GB of GDDR5 video memory.

The GTX 660 Ti model might come with a 1133 MHz Boost option, but we find that very unlikely.


Via: GeForce GTX 660 and GTX 660 Ti Full Specifications Confirmed [Photo]

XFX Prepares AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition with Vapor Chamber Cooling

AMD’s famous “Tahiti” GPU is now making a comeback in the form of the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition video cards. The company’s 4.3 billion transistors chip has been very overclockable from the start, but now that TSMC has refined its 28nm manufacturing process, AMD is able to simply raise the working frequencies and launch a new product.

XFX’s new Radeon HD 7970 video card reportedly comes with the same 3 GB GDDR5 video memory that we can find on any HD 7970 video card, but this time the new GHz Edition BIOS is clocking the memory at 1500 MHz or 6 GHz effective frequency.

The cooling system doesn’t seem to have any cooling heatpipes running through it, but has the cooling fins directly welded to the vapor chamber.

There are two cooling fans with 90-millimeter diameter that a re placed in a rather standard design that reuses the air inside the computer case without blowing it outside the enclosure.

There is no information yet on the pricing of the new model.


Via: XFX Prepares AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition with Vapor Chamber Cooling

AMDs 1090FX Chipset Comes in 2013 with Steamroller Support

AMD seems to be concentrating on its mobile and server platforms for the moment and the PC desktop domain will only receive the Piledriver enhanced Vishera processors as an upgrade for the AM3+ owners.

We reported here about Vishera’s complete compatibility with today’s AM3+ platform and we already know that the performance boost should likely be around 20% or more like we reported here.

The company and the market is very enthusiastic on the computing performance and battery performance of the Trinity processors and they are working on a tablet platform also.

The tablet market will finally welcome some real competition from AMD in the form of its Jaguar APU.

The desktop platform will reportedly remain the same until next summer when AMD’s Steam roller architecture will be finalized.


Via: AMDs 1090FX Chipset Comes in 2013 with Steamroller Support

Nvidia Might Release Two Versions of the GeForce GTX 660 Video Card

Nvidia is working on the final touches for the launch of the long anticipated GeForce GTX 660 Ti video card. We’ve reported here about the August launch and here we’ve disclosed the likely exact date of the launch event.

Now it seems the company has two versions of the card prepared for the launch. A GTX 660 with no “Ti” suffix that will work on a 192-bit BUS and a “full” GeForce GTX 660 Ti with a 256-Bit memory interface.

Nvidia's goal is to have a $300 video card that will be able to beat AMD’s Radeon HD 7870 graphics adapters.

There will likely be two 6-pin power connectors on the 256-Bit model and a single such connector on the 192-Bit version.

There is a rumored 2700-point 3D Mark11 EP (extreme preset) score for the 256-Bit mode l, but there’s no reliable confirmation regarding this aspect.


Via: Nvidia Might Release Two Versions of the GeForce GTX 660 Video Card

Worlds First Fanless GTX 680 Video Card Details Exposed

Colorful a Chinese video card manufacturer seems to be determined to make a strong and lasting impact in the video card market. Fortunately for video card enthusiasts, the company is not willing to do this by using lower prices, questionable quality or high sales volumes, but by using innovative designs and powerful configurations.

The company has decided to launch the world’s first fanless Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 graphics adapter and it has been working on the design from some months.< br />
Colorful’s innovative design uses a two part cooling system with detachable components that have absolutely no moving parts.

The main piece is the principal cooling heatsink that’s directly attached to the video card’s PCB and the GPU.

Enthusiasts will be pleased to find out that there is a second cooling part that will attach to the main one in order to provide additional heat dissipation capacity to allow the user to overclock the device or use it in hotter environments that require additional cooling.

The video card will reportedly come with double the reference video memory quantity.

Therefore, Colorful has decided to use 4 GB of GDDR5 video memory on its fanless Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 video card.

This will ensure higher frame rates and generally better performance when running 3D applications in very high resolutions.

The new card will be called Colorful iGame GTX 680 and will also come with various overclocking features.

We’re not quite sure if overclocking features are the best fit for a quiet, fanless video card, but we’re glad Colorful is worki ng hard on building a quality graphics adapter.

The video card comes with a dual 8-pin power connector setup and a dual-VRM design with a special “extra” VRM card that will be user connectable when needed for overclocking.

Unfortunately we will have to wait until September to see the card on the store shelf.




Via: Worlds First Fanless GTX 680 Video Card Details Exposed

Script of the Day: Quick.Cms

Quik.Cms is a content management system (CMS) from OpenSolution that relies on a  flat-file database system to store the site's content.

It was specifically developed for programmers with lesser SQL experience or for hosting environments where an SQL database server cannot run properly or is not accessible due to firewall or similar restrictions.

Quick.Cms is available under two licenses, a freeware license and under a commercial license. The commercial version benefits from more features than the free one. You can compare editions and features here.

Based on this CMS' core, a similar product for managing online shops was created as well: Quick.Cart.

A demo of Quick.Cms can be accessed here. The demo for Quick.Cart is here. Test drive it and give us your feedback.

Download Quick.Cms from our Scripts section her e.
Download Quick.Cart from our Scripts section here.
Check out more Quick.Cms screenshots here.
Check out more Quick.Cart screenshots here.

Via: Script of the Day: Quick.Cms

Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 210

The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: VortexBox 2.1, Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 and Chrome OS 2.1.1145. In other news: Linus Torvalds officially announced Linux kernel 3.5. Softpedia Linux Blog news includes articles about Linux Mint 13 Xfce, LinHES 7.3, openmamba 2.0.10.1, GNOME 3.5.4, Arch Linux 2012.07.15, Linux Mint 13 KDE, Phoronix Test Suite 4.0.0, 4MLinux Allinone Edition 3.3, Frugalware 1.7 RC1, Slackware 14.0 Beta, Peppermint Three, AntiX 12 RC2, Transmission 2.61, Scientific Linux 6.3 Beta 2, Epidemic GNU Linux 4.0 Beta 2, Lubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3, Ubuntu Studio 12.10 Alpha 3, Ubuntu Server 12.10 Alpha 3, Kubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3, GhostBSD GNOME 3.0 Beta 1, Bodhi Linux 2.0.0, Calibre 0.8.62, Zorin OS 6 Educational, Zorin OS Gaming 6, Calculate Linux 12.0, and much more. For this week we've also prepared a very nice tutorial about how to install the Spec Op s: The Line game on Linux. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.


Summary:

· Announced Distro: VortexBox 2.1 · Announced Distro: Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 · Announced Distro: Chrome OS 2.1.1145 · Other News: Linux kernel 3.5 · Softpedia Linux Blog: GUADEC Conference 2012, LibreOffice Conference 2012, and more... · Tutorial of the Week: How to Install Spec Ops: The Line on L inux · Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu 12.10 Unity Concept Mockup Video · New Distributions: ProxLinux 2.2 and RayOS Almond · Distributions Updated Last Week: Linux Mint Xfce 13, Calculate Linux Desktop 12.0, and more... · Development Releases: Slackware 14.0 Beta, Scientific Linux 6.3 Beta 2, Kubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3, and more...

On July 24th, Andrew Gillis announced the release of VortexBox 2.1, a Fedora-based operating system that turns any computer into a music server or jukebox. The new version comes after six months of hard work and includes important updates and various neat features.

VortexBox 2.1 is now based on a recent kernel version of the Fedora operating system (with upgraded audio drivers), it includes Logitech Media Server 7.7.2, and it brings support for more than 2.2 TB drives for backups, which is great for 3 TB+ VortexBoxes.

VortexBox 2.1

Download VortexBox 2.1 now from Softpedia.

On July 26th, Canonical announced the immediate availability for dow nload and testing of the the third and last Alpha version of the upcoming Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) operating system.

Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 is now powered by the Linux kernel 3.5.0-6.6 packages, based on the stable Linux 3.5 kernel upstream release, and the latest development version of the upcoming GNOME desktop environment, GNOME 3.5.4, which brings lots of new features, such as revamped Nautilus (now called Files) and Empathy apps.

Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3

Download Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 now from Softpedia.

On July 27th, the Chrome OS developers announced the immediate availability for download of the Chrome OS 2.1.1145 Live CD Linux operating system, which brings a lot of fresh software. Chrome OS 2.1.1145 is now powered by Linux kernel 3.4.2, and features the new Cinnamon desktop environment, a fork of GNOME 3.

Highlights of Chrome OS 2.1.1145:

· Linux kernel 3.4.2;
· Cinnamon 1.4 desktop environment;
· Chromium 21.0.1145 web browser;
· Banshee 2.2 media player;
· Shotwell 0.11 photo manager;
· GIMP 2.6 image editor;
· LibreOffice 3.5 office suite;
· Wine 1.4 Windows emulator;
· Cheese 3.2 webcam application;
· Pidgin 2.10 multi-protocol instant messenger;
· Dashboard with the s ocial toolbar;
· Control Center;
· and much more!

Chrome OS 2.1.1145

Download Chrome OS 2.1.1145 now from Softpedia.

Other News:

· On July 21st, Linus Torvalds proudly announced the immediate availability for download of Linux kernel 3.5, which brings various interesting features (check out the highlights below and the quote from Linus Torvalds’ announcemen t) among which we can mention support for metadata checksums in the EXT4 filesystem, support for restoring and checkpointing TCP connections, support for TCP Early Retransmit (RFC 5827), a new network queue management algorithm designed to fight bufferbloat, Btrfs I/O failure statistics, and much more. Read more about it here.

Softpedia Linux Blog:

· Linux Mint 13 Xfce Edition Has Been Released
· LinHES 7.3 Has Linux Kernel 2.6.30
· openmamba 2.0.10.1 Has Linux Kernel 3.2.21
· GNOME 3.5.4 Comes With a Revamped Nautilus
· Arch Linux 2012.07.15 Ditches AIF
· Linux Mint 13 KDE Edition Has Been Released
· Phoronix Te st Suite 4.0.0 Available for Download

· 4MLinux Allinone Edition 3.3 Available for Download
· Frugalware 1.7 RC1 Has Linux Kernel 3.4.4
· Slackware 14.0 Beta Features Xfce 4.10
· New Kernel Vulnerability Affects Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
· Peppermint Three Is Based on Lubuntu 12.04
· AntiX 12 RC2 Available for Testing
· Transmission 2.61 Now Requires GTK3
· Scientific Linux 6.3 Beta 2 Available for Testing
· Epidemic GNU Linux 4.0 Beta 2 Available for Download
· Project Neon KVM Officially Launched
· Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Comes to Dell Laptops
· Calibre Plugin of the Week: Reading List
· GUADEC Conference 2012: 26th July - 1st August
· LibreOffice Conference 2012: 17th - 19th October
· Lubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Officially Released
· Ubuntu Studio 12.10 Alpha 3 Officially Released
· Ubuntu Server 12.10 Alpha 3 Officially Released
· Kubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Has Rekonq 1.0
· Kubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshot Tour
· Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshot Tour
· Introducing Ubuntu Radio Lens for Unity
· GhostBSD 3.0 Beta 1 Is Based on GNOME 2
· Bodhi Linux 2.0.0 Officially Released
· Calibre 0.8.62 Improves Full Screen Mode
· Fedora is Giving Away Mini-PCs
· Xubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshot Tour
· Lubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Screenshot Tour
& middot; Ubuntu 12.10 Unity Concept Mockup Video
· Zorin OS 6 Educational Available for Download
· Zorin OS Gaming 6 Features over 40 Games
· Calculate Linux 12.0 Has Been Officially Released

Tutorial of the Week: How to Install Spec Ops: The Line on Linux

· The following tutorial will teach Linux users how to install the Spec Ops: The Line game on their open source operating system.

Spec Ops: The Line game running on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Officially released at the end of June 2012, the ninth installment in the Spec Ops series, Spec Ops: The Line, is a third-person shooter video game developed by Yager Development and published by 2K Games. To install the Spec Ops: The Line game on your Linux system, follow the next step-by-step (with screenshots) tutorial.

Read the entire tutorial here.

Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu 12.10 Unity Concept Mockup Video

· For this week we've posted an 720p HD video clip that presents a mockup of Unity for the upcoming Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) operating system. The video has 3 minutes and 46 seconds, and it was posted by nq6.


New Distributions:

· ProxLinux 2.2
· RayOS Almond

Distributions Updated Last Week:

· Linux Mint Xfce 13
· LinHES 7.3
· openmamba GNU/Linux 2.0.10.1
· Linux Mint KDE Edition 13
· Peppermint Three
· Cinnarch 2012.07.23
· Leeenux 6
· LuninuX OS 12.00
· Bodhi 2.0.0
· Zorin OS Educational 6
· Zorin OS Gaming 6
· GParted LiveCD 0.13.0-3
· Calculate Linux Desktop 12.0
· Calculate Linux Desktop Xfce 12.0
· Calculate Linux Directory Server 12.0
· Calculate Linux Scratch 12.0
· Calculate Linux Scratch Server 12.0
· Calculate Media Center 12.0

Development Releases:

· Slackware 14.0 Beta
· Frugalware Linux 1.7 RC1
· antiX MEPIS M12 RC2
· Epidemic GNU Linux 4.0 Beta 2
· Scientific Linux 6.3 Beta 2
· ZeroShell 2.0 RC1
· Ubuntu Netboot 12.10 Alpha 3
· Ubuntu Cloud Server 12.10 Alpha 3
· Ubuntu Studio 12.10 Alpha 3
· Lubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3
· Edubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3
· Xubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3
· Kubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3
· Ubuntu ARM 12.10 Alpha 3
· Ubuntu Server 12.10 Alpha 3
· Ubuntu Core 12.10 Alpha 3
· Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.13-11

See you again at the end of next week for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.

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Via: Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 210