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    Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 will be available for pre-order tomorrow

    Gadgets Team
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    Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 will be available for pre-order tomorrow

    If you’ve been waiting for Samsung to out their entry to the Honeycomb tablet market, you don’t have to wait much longer: we’ve received reports that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 will be available for preorder online tomorrow, at 8 am. While there’s still no word on how much the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (16GB) will retail for Php 29,990 (we’re still unsure which version you’re getting) and you can expect to nab a Php 3000 discount from the sticker price for preordering, plus a nice leather sleeve for Sammy’s long awaited 10-inch tablet, bringing the price down to 26,990. The Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 meanwhile is being offered for Php 12900 plus free Urban Ears earphones. Samsung is allowing card holders to enjoy the Php 26,990 preorder price on a 0% Banco de Oro Credit Card installment facility for a period of 6 months. If you plan to get yours, you better move fast – there’s only going to be 700 units of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 300 units of the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 available during the pre-order period. Hit up http://www.samsung.com/ph/itstimetotab/ once the anointed hour is reached to get yours (not now though, the site isn’t up yet). The preorder period is from August 17, 8:00 am to August 20, 11:59 pm.  You’ll be able to claim your preordered Tabs at the ground floor Fashion Walk, Greenbelt 5, Makati City on August 21, 2011 from 8AM – 8PM. You can expect our review of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tomorrow (spoiler alert: It’s awesome).

    Review: Sparkle Calibre X560 Ti DF

    Gadgets Team
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    Review: Sparkle Calibre X560 Ti DF

    So we’ve had a good two weeks of playing around with Sparkle’s newest card, the Calibre branded X560 Ti DF. We unboxed this little number a while ago and since then, we’ve slapped it into our test system and managed to play with it with both Battlefield Bad Company 2 and 3DMark 11. So did it pass with flying colors?

    If you’re not big on back reading links, let us break it down for you. The Calibre X560 Ti DF is Sparkle’s latest card based on NVIDIA’s 560 Ti GPU. The 560 Ti uses NVIDIA’s GF114 GPU which is marketed to the mid-end segment of the gaming market. On paper, the 560 Ti graphics and memory clock is about 822 and 1002 Mhz, respectively. The Calibre X560 Ti DF on the other hand, runs at 950 and 1151 Mhz, respectively, which means that the card is slightly overclocked from the factory.

    Physically, the card is imposing, but not overly so. It’s a large card yes, but it’s not the sort of card that’s able to warm a family of five on a cold winter’s night. It’s hard to believe, but the overall look and feel of the card from the packaging down to the metal backplate make it seem quietly threatening. It’s exactly the opposite of gaudy and loud – and we definetely appreciate that. Less LEDs, more performance we always say.

    That particular styling extends all the way to its packaging which, to be honest, didn’t look like it contained a video card at all. Inside you get the card (obviously), a CD with device drivers on it, additional power plugs and a nifty HDMI cable with a mini connector.

    The card itself will take up about two PCI-E slots in your rig, and will be powered through two 6-pin plugs. Cooling is done via two 9cm ball bearing fans, Cool Pro thermal modules and 8mm copper heatpipes. The solid metal backing of the card gives it more surface area to dissipate heat, as well as providing a solid foundation to prevent board bending.

    We used two benchmarks and one game to accurately gauge performance numbers. Futuremark’s 3DMark 11 and Unigine’s Haven benchmarks will give us the performance numbers we need, while DICE’s multiplayer extravaganza Battlefield Bad Company 2 will give us real world performance feedback. Our test system is an Intel Core i5 2500K running at 3.30GHz with 4GB of DDR3 memory on an Intel DH67BL board. The system is stock, no overclocks.

    We made two passes with 3DMark 11 – one on the default Performance preset (1280×720) and the other on the Extreme preset (1920×1080).

    The card managed to net a score of P4944 for the performance preset and X1698 for the Extreme preset.

    For Unigine’s Haven benchmark, we cranked up the resolution to 1920×1080 and anisotrophy to x4. The Calibre X560 Ti DF managed to net a score of 920, with an average of 36.5 FPS. Not bad at all.

    For the final test, we booted up our copy of Battlefield Bad Company 2. With the resolution set 1920×1080, and anti-aliasing on x4 we set about playing a few rounds of Rush. According to FRAPS, a recording app that we use to count frames, the Calibre X560 Ti DF managed an excellent 90 FPS. Gameplay was extremely smooth, and even with multiple explosions going around me and all the smoke effects during the match, the game was still pretty damn smooth.

    So is the Calibre X560 Ti DF worth it? Well, that depends solely on your budget. With a suggested SRP of $259 (or about Php 11000), it’s definitely not cheap. But for that price, you get a nice, powerful card that’s certainly able to tackle the flood of titles come the holiday season.

     

    What’s Hot:

    Design

    Card is silent even under full load

    Easily overclocked

     

    What’s Not:

    Expensive

     

    Bottomline:

    If you have the budget, the Sparkle Calibre X560 Ti DF is definitely a card to look at.

     

    Buymeter: 8.5

    Augmented reality shopping now a reality

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    Augmented reality shopping now a reality

    Remember that movie “Clueless” with Alicia Silverstone and how she was able to mix-and-match her daily school ensemble via her computer? Now that may have been a 90s flick and that technology might seem primitive by today’s standards but now, that same ease of looking good and not becoming a fashion victim is almost within our reach.

    The new “Hybrid Fitting System” from Toshiba TEC gives shoppers a whole new shopping experience via an augmented reality. Shoppers can gesture movements to see the different products, colors as well as put together entire outfits. It also recommends accessories to top off your selections. With a navigable motion sensor and built-in cameras on a high-resolution screen, you can see your chosen products with prices and other details such as new lines and collections in real time. It also has the potential to allow the disabled to experience this type of shopping as well as those remote locations where shops aren’t easily accessible.

     

    Source: cscout

     

    How Colored Hubble Telescope Images Are Made

    Gadgets Team
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    How Colored Hubble Telescope Images Are Made

    Some of the most stunning photographs ever taken are literally out of this world.

    The photo above of Spiral Galaxy NGC 3982 is just one among many amazing photos taken by the infamous Hubble Telescope. As we marvel at this hypnotizing telescopic image, most of us might not even consider thinking about the complex process that goes behind producing these photographs.

    Creating the final image above takes laborious hours of post-processing with software that will humble any photographer. According to the HubbleSite, the initial images are black and white, and color is actually applied in post using data from Hubble’s filter-covered sensors.

    Perhaps its better to actually see the post-process in action via a time-lapse video, which compresses the entire procedure in a few minutes:

     

     

    Google buys Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion

    Gadgets Team
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    Google buys Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion

    Google just dropped a bomb tonight – the gigantic search giant/mobile OS maker/future masters of the world has announced it has acquired Motorola Mobility, the arm responsible for creating the Droid series of smartphones and the Xoom for $12.5 billion. In a blog post at the official Google blog, CEO Larry Page stated that “Motorola’s total commitment to Android in mobile devices is one of many reasons that there is a natural fit between our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers everywhere.” Additionally, he says that “this acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform,” and that “we (Google) will run Motorola as a separate business.” That’s not the only reason why Google acquired Motorola though. It’s probably safe to say at this point that Larry sees Motorola as insurance against the patent bruhaha that Google believes is being instigated on them by Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and others. “We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to “protect competition and innovation in the open source software community” and it is currently looking into the results of the Nortel auction. Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies,” the Google CEO said.

    Via: Tech Crunch

    Source: Google Blog

    Unplggd makes you relish wires and create art

    Gadgets Team
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    Unplggd makes you relish wires and create art

    Who doesn’t hate long cables? We’ve all devoted a large amount of time and energy finding ways to cut the cord or at least banish wires from our sight. Website Unplggd suggests that you do the complete opposite though, and display your wires in an expression of geeky art. Like the piece from Maussie Maud Broadhead, wherein she takes the very long cable of her lamp and creates a nice conversation piece.

    Or the one from XBMC, in which he re-arranges all the cables coming from his PS3 into an homage to technology. Inspired yet? We sure are, and we’re rooting for our extra long Ethernet cable just in case.

    Via: Geek

    Source: Unplggd

     

    Why geeks rule this Halloween

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    Why geeks rule this Halloween

    Halloween may be a couple of months away but wouldn’t it be awesome to come prepared to win Best Costume at the local Halloween party? Well, if you’re in it to win it (and you want to let that inner vixen out), don’t go as the played-out witch, nurse, or Disney princess. Here are a few costumes that are sure to get the attention every guys’ attention alike… especially the geeks.

    Toronto-based Artifice Clothing, creator of some very unique costumes gives you a Glowing trim Angled thigh corset that looks like it came straight out of Tron and Miss Enigma, a dead-ringer to Joker’s sidekick, Harley Quinn. Now these skin-tight suits may not be for everyone but hey, I know I wouldn’t mind shedding a few extra pounds to play such a one-of-a-kind villainess. And an incredibly sexy one at that.

    Dell unveils Vostro V131 notebook, aims it at small businesses

    Gadgets Team
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    Dell unveils Vostro V131 notebook, aims it at small businesses

    While there’s certainly much to be said about professional notebooks for enterprise, those devices are simply too expensive for struggling small businesses. That’s why Dell’s unveiled the Vostro V131, a notebook made for business that has a price tag small businesses can afford. Sporting the latest Sandybridge Core i3 and i5 processors, the Vostro V131 brings stylish and lightweight sensibilities to small businesses without sacrificing performance. It’s also able to handle most tasks that’s expected from office machines, and features a fingerprint reader for added security. The Core i3 version of the Vostro V131 is available through www.dell.com.ph for $728 (about Php 30,918).

    Firefox 6 Pre-Release Download Available Now!

    Gadgets Team
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    Firefox 6 Pre-Release Download Available Now!

    If you’ve been anticipating the release of Firefox 6, you might not have to wait for its official release.

    Mozilla has uploaded the final code onto its FTP servers, which users can download right now. Here are the links:

     

    Firefox 6 for Windows

    Firefox 6 for Mac

    Firefox 6 for Linux

     

    The newest release will feature increased speed and compatibility – startup time will be quicker, especially when loading up multiple tabs and groups. Similarly, the add-on manager will also include a plugins “check”  which will automatically determine if the updated versions of all extensions are running.

    For a complete look at what’s coming, you can check Mozilla’s release notes.

     

     

     

    Source: Maximum PC

     

    Acer’s 7-inch Honeycomb tablet outed – Iconia Tab A100

    Gadgets Team
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    Acer’s 7-inch Honeycomb tablet outed – Iconia Tab A100

    While 10-inch tablets have been the de-facto form factor for tablets, more and more consumers are gravitating towards 7 and 8-inch variants. Acer’s not one to get left behind, and has outed the Iconia Tab A100, a 7-inch Honeycomb tablet that’s also the first one to have version 3.2 on board. Interestingly enough, it’s not different from most 10-inch tablets floating around when it comes to hardware – dual core Tegra 2 processor, 1GB RAM, 8/16GB of internal storage, 5MP camera, WiFi and so on. One thing that’s caught our eye is it’s price – it says it’s going to sell for $329 (which is about Php 14,000 give or take) for the 8GB version, which gives it a very big edge price-wise in this price-sensitive country of ours.

    Source: Geek

    Ice Cream Sandwich leaked, Google’s seeing blue

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    Ice Cream Sandwich leaked, Google’s seeing blue

    Google’s announced that it’ll consolidate both tablet and smartphone versions of Android into a single OS, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich back in their I/O event last May. If you’re curious about how what the OS looks like, you can check out pictures of early builds courtesy of Android Police and RootzWiki – both sites have received pictures of a Nexus S running on an early build of ICS. Major changes include a blue-themed color scheme, revamped notification bar and a more Honeycomb-ish look. Like most major iterations of its new OS, ICS is being rumored to launch on a Google branded phone first (which would be the Nexus Prime) before it’s pushed out to other smartphones via software update.

    Source: Android Police, RootzWiki

    Week in review: August 8 – 12

    Gadgets Team
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    Week in review: August 8 – 12

    It’s the weekend again, and that means it’s time to look back at the stories that made headlines in the tech world last week. So if you were too busy to check our pages or open your browsers, now’s the perfect time to catch up on your reading.

    Toshiba outs a trio of Qosmio notebooks, sights set squarely at the gaming market

    DLS and Kicker hold car audio competitions

    “JUMP” into the future

    Hands on: Asus Eee Pad Slider SL101

    One-click rewards from Smart Bro

    HTC takes a bite of Beats Electronics for 300 mil, want to make great music together

    Review: A.C. Ryan PlayOn! HD

    Kingston releases SATA Rev 3 compliant HyperX SSD

    Globe brings the Facebook smartphone experience to feature phones

    Petron free safety checks now year-round

    Samsung’s Sixth Man app lets you follow your favorite UAAP team on your Android

    Asus drops prices for K-series notebooks, now only 27,995

    Product highlight: Samsung RC420

    BenQ releases EW series VA of LED monitors, love at first sight

    Unboxed: Sparkle Calibre X560 Ti DF

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    HTC takes a bite of Beats Electronics for 300 mil, want to make great music together

    Gadgets Team
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    3
    HTC takes a bite of Beats Electronics for 300 mil, want to make great music together

    HTC has just inked a strategic partnership with Beats Electronics (the makers of Beats by Dr. Dre). While the official press release says that it’s a “strategic partnership”, we’ve gotten word that it was actually a nice purchase, worth about 300 million USD. What does this mean for the prolific Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer who lately has been raking in millions and millions of dollars? Well, you can expect a better audio experience in future HTC phones for one, and we’re not terribly against the idea of Beats branded earphones being included in HTC devices. Who knows, maybe HTC will out a Beats branded smartphone?

    One-click rewards from Smart Bro

    Gadgets Team
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    1
    One-click rewards from Smart Bro

    Smart’s making it easier for its loyal subscribers to redeem rewards through their SMART Rewards’ bCODE technology. What it does is that it lets qualified SMART Bro postpaid and prepaid users redeem discounted or free items via their online account, including movie passes to upcoming movies. To do this, they need to log in to their WebConnect account and click on redeem free items. Once there, they can redeem a discounted or free ticket (depending on the points they’ve already accumulated), which will be sent to their email address via bCODE. The bCODE in turn can be printed out and taken to bCODE terminals located at SM Cinema lobbies, and enjoy the movie of their choice. The whole process sounds a bit complicated, but trust us, it’s simpler than it sounds. Want to know more how you can get in on this? You can check flyers and print ads, or visit their site at smart.com.ph/rewards.

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