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    Product Highlight: ASUS ROG Maximus IV Extreme

    Gadgets Team
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    Product Highlight: ASUS ROG Maximus IV Extreme

    Since the release of Intel’s second generation Core i processors, there’s been an influx of motherboards created by different OEM brands vying for your attention (and your wallet’s contents). But if there’s one thing you got to understand, there are motherboards, and then there are motherboards. ASUS’ Republic of Gamers branded Maximus IV Extreme falls in the latter category. This beast is the real deal – and is decked out with so many features we don’t even know where to start. How about the option of overclocking it remotely? Gigabit Ethernet? USB 3.0? Seriously, it throws so many things all at your face at once, you won’t even know where to start. It’s simply awesome. Want to see what you get when you decide to take the leap? Scroll down and check out the pictures we took of this bad boy.

    Sony unveils SmartAR augmented reality tech, might possibly be witchcraft

    Gadgets Team
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    Sony unveils SmartAR augmented reality tech, might possibly be witchcraft

    While augmented reality has been around for a while, there has always been limitations to what the tech could do. The biggest limitation for the tech is the need for markers – either in barcode or image form – for it to work. Sony has devised way for AR to work without the need for specialized markers and barcodes, instead relying on normal objects like menus and the like to trigger it. It’s hard to explain how everything works but thankfully Sony has included a nifty little video of the thing in action. Follow the link to Sony’s site and you’ll see what we mean.

    Source: Sony

     

    Globe fuels smartphone revolution with new unlimited data plans

    Gadgets Team
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    Globe fuels smartphone revolution with new unlimited data plans

    Want to maximize your smartphone and all the benefits that come with it? Globe Telecom keeps up with the growing demand for smartphones and mobile data with its newest offer of unlimited data plans for postpaid subscribers. “Globe My Super Surf Plan is designed for tech-savvy subscribers who want to make the most out of their devices. They are driven by the need to be always online wherever they are, minus the fear of hidden and high charges, or the constant pursuit for WiFi spots just to get connected,” said Martha Sazon, Head of Globe Postpaid. “With My Super Surf Plan, Globe subscribers can get the smartphone of their dreams for free or at an exclusive discount, and then boost it with our customizable and affordable data plans which will allow them to enjoy mobile internet, their way.”

    Introducing Globe My Super Surf Plan, the country’s first-ever range of fully-customizable unlimited data plans which provide subscribers with uninterrupted mobile surfing, consumable monthly fees, bonus call and text services and add-ons in a single subscription.

    As part of the company’s portfolio of personalized postpaid plans, Globe My Super Surf Plan is available at Plan 999, Plan 1799 or Plan 2499. Under each data plan, subscribers can enjoy unlimited surfing without the fear of high charges or the inconvenience of bill shock. With Globe My Super Surf Plan, subscribers get unlimited data to browse, chat, research, send an e-mail, and do social networking on their mobile phones without having to pay on top of their Monthly Service Fee.

    Designed specifically for gadget-loving individuals, Globe My SuperSurf Plans also come with some of the latest and most desirable gadgets and handsets out in the market. Some handsets are available for free on each data plan while some can be purchased with minimal cash out. These include the Apple iPhone, the latest and greatest BlackBerry handsets, and top of the line Android handsets and tablets.

    After getting the gadget of their dreams, subscribers select their choice of plan, all of which come with unlimited surfing for an entire month. Plus, all My SuperSurf Plans come with additional freebies like free calls and texts to Globe/TM and other networks, international calls and texts, and unlimited call and text services to one Globe/TM number, all of which can be changed monthly.  Subscribers on My SuperSurf Plan 1799 and 2499 are also entitled to enjoy consumable amounts worth P800 and P1500 respectively which can be used to send text messages and make calls to Globe, TM and other networks, where standard rates apply.

    Apart from freebies and consumables, My Super Surf subscribers can also boost their plans with a multitude of add-ons ranging from My Super One, My Super Txt, My DUO, My Super DUO, My Super Txt All and My Super Unli to enjoy other services like unlimited calls and texts. The wide range of add-ons can also be changed monthly and are available at affordable prices which can be consumed on top of the subscriber’s monthly subscription fee.

    The new offer is in line with the company’s strategy to offer the best mobile data services that match growing demand for on-the-go connectivity to come with more affordable smartphones. Recently, the company started offering the white version of the iPhone 4 to subscribers who want to personalize their iPhone 4 experience with a different look. The white iPhone 4 is up for grabs as one of the featured devices under the My Super Surf Plan. To know more about My Super Surf Plan, visit their website.

    The New Lomo LC-Wide

    Gadgets Team
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    The New Lomo LC-Wide

    Meet the LOMO LC-Wide, the latest spin-off from the popular Russian camera that propelled the current analog art movement known as Lomography.

    The LC-Wide features a 17mm Minigon Ultra-Wide-Angle lens and supports three different photo formats (full, square or half-format).  It supports all types of 35 mm (135) film, has unlimited multiple exposures and still produces photos with the beloved vignettes and intense saturation.

    Although this new release is still quite expensive, any Lomography enthusiast would be heartbroken not to own one. It’s predecessor, the LCA-+ is available locally in Team Manila stores.

    For a full set of technical specs and features, visit the official Lomo LC-Wide site.

     

    Source: Gizmag

    Duke Nukem Forever finally being released next month, reports of hell freezing over unconfirmed

    Gadgets Team
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    Duke Nukem Forever finally being released next month, reports of hell freezing over unconfirmed

    Duke Nukem Forever (and by extension, its developer 3D Realms) has been synonymous with vaporware because of its long development schedule. The game was announced in 1997 and has been in development for fourteen years. The atom bomb took faster to make (yes, that is a fact). But, after 14, long years, we’re finally going to be seeing the Duke kick alien ass. Gearbox and 2K Games has rescued the fallen warrior and has slated to release the game next month (June 10), and we’re all eagerly anticipating its release. The game will be available on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, and will still have the same testosterone fueled gameplay, slight nudity and witty one liners that only the original FPS king can deliver. The game will also have a multiplayer option, so you can frag your friends while doing your worst Duke impersonation.

    Source: Duke Nukem Forever

    Obvious report of the day: Social tools to blame for lost productivity

    Gadgets Team
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    Obvious report of the day: Social tools to blame for lost productivity

    Who would have thought that social tools like Facebook, instant messengers and text messaging would spell lost productivity? A study sponsored by harmon.ie found that 57% reported work interruptions are due in part to collaboration and social tools. Shocking stuff. What’s more worrying however, is that some of the respondents say that they can only work for 15 minutes before they get interrupted. Another worrying statistic is that if a worker loses an hour per day because of these interruptions (which isn’t a huge leap to make), harmon.ie says that it translates into $10,375 of wasted productivity per person per year, assuming an average salary of $30/hour. This is something that businesses need to be aware of, lest their employees get more concerned over their farms than the business at hand.

    Source: harmon.ie

    Malware tricks you to thinking your hard drive is about to fail

    Gadgets Team
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    Malware tricks you to thinking your hard drive is about to fail

    Malware posing as legitimate software is nothing new, but a new iteration of scareware, software that tricks you into purchasing useless software is taking it to the next level. There’s now scareware programs that can simulate your hard drive failing, giving you a false alert and linking you to a recovery tool. Symantec says that to make the ruse more believable, the program moves files and programs into another folder, simulating the drive failure. Then a link to a recovery tool will pop up, and for a payment of $79.50, will supposedly help you get your stuff back. Seeing that there’s nothing more horrifying than the prospect of losing years of files, folders and data, most users pony up the dough to get it. We’ve linked a video of the thing in action below.

    Source: Symantec

    Amazon now sells more E-Books than actual books

    Gadgets Team
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    1
    Amazon now sells more E-Books than actual books

    Amazon.com began as an online bookstore, and has one of the biggest catalogs for books around. Now it seems that the retail giant is now selling more e-books than actual books (paperback and hardbound). Amazon says that the company has been selling 105 Kindle books for every 100 print books. The company says through a press release that “during this same time period the Company has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books. This is across Amazon.com’s entire U.S. book business and includes sales of books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the numbers even higher.” And judging from the figures quoted in the release, it seems that it’s not a trend that’s going to go away. The U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 810,000 books including New Releases and 107 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers. Over 670,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 74 New York Times Bestsellers, and with Kindle apps allowing customers to “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” on the Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle DX, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and Android-based devices, the appeal of buying e-books has never been higher.

    Via: Publisher’s Weekly

    Source: Amazon.com

    Angry Birds surpasses 200 million downloads, Pigs still evil

    Gadgets Team
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    1
    Angry Birds surpasses 200 million downloads, Pigs still evil

    There’s nothing like collapsing a weight bearing column on a top of a smug pig’s head to help you close the day, and apparently 200 million other people agree. Rovio’s addictive game has been downloaded more than 200 million times, a number that includes the original game and numerous other add-ons (like Angry Birds Seasons). That’s not the end of the comedic adventure of birds vs pigs – the Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry Playbook version of the game still isn’t out yet, and we’re sure users of both platforms are hankering for some bird flinging action.

    Source: Geek

     

    Review: HTC Desire S

    Gadgets Team
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    6
    Review: HTC Desire S

    The original HTC Desire was a media darling as it had all the right things going for it: solid hardware, good looks and easy to use UI. So it wasn’t really a stretch that HTC wouldn’t stray too far from the original Desire’s formula. The result is a solid device that performs extremely well, but plays a bit too safe for our liking.

    If you’re upgrading from the original HTC Desire, then the Desire S won’t be much of a change externally. While at a cursory glance it resembles the original, the Desire S nixes the optical trackpad and hard keys, and now sports capacitive keys and an aluminum unibody construction.

    It’s also sporting the latest version of Android – 2.3 AKA Gingerbread, and a speedy 1 GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset.

    The overall size of the HTC Desire S (which sits at around 115 x 59.8 x 11.6mm) is just right – not too big, not too thin. It weighs in at 130 grams, which really gives it a bit of heft. The screen is a 3.7-inch S-LCD capacitive deal and has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels.

    There’s not much in the way of hard keys on this one – all you get is a volume rocker and an off/on switch that doubles as the lock button. There isn’t even a shortcut key for the camera. Speaking of cameras, the HTC Desire S has two – the one on the back is a 5 megapixel deal, capable of shooting photos up to 2592 x 1944 pixels with autofocus and a LED flash.

    Like all HTC phones, the HTC Desire S ships with HTC’s Sense UI layered on top of Android. There’s little difference that we can see from the previous iteration of Sense UI that was used on the HTC Desire HD, mainly in the main menu.

    It used to be that every app, selection and settings were all jumbled up into the menu. Now you can view everything, or filter it via downloaded apps and frequently used ones via the tabs on the bottom.

    Sense UI gives you additional homescreens, up to seven from a stock Android’s five. You can quickly view all of your screens via the home button if you’re in the main screen, allowing you to quickly jump into a screen of your choice without swiping through all of them.


    The ever useful FriendFeed – a social network aggregator that displays updates of your networks – helps you to be perpetually connected to what your friends are doing.

    Another nice feature that’s exclusive to HTC phones is the ability to be able to track, lock and if needed, erase your phone from your PC. You just need to register your device to HTCSense.com.ph. From there, you can make your phone ring full volume (even if your phone is set to silent), track where it is, lock your device or completely erase it if it’s ever lost.

    We gauged the performance of the HTC Desire S by using two benchmarking software – Quadrant Standard and Neocore. Quadrant Standard tests the CPU, memory and graphics capabilities of the device, and comes up with an appropriate numerical score to gauge overall performance.

    Neocore meanwhile, runs a graphics test on the device. The higher the FPS (frames per second) the better that device is at running graphics. Quadrant Standard gave a nice 1251 score for the Desire S. The Desire S managed a nice 57.6 FPS.

    Battery life was a marked improvement over the previous devices, as the Desire S managed to last a day and a half without needing a trip to the charger. Overall call quality was good.

    Screen readability is a bit of a problem though, especially in direct sunlight. Another minor gripe I have with it is that HTC seems to have played safe with this one. It doesn’t have the same impact, as say as the HTC Desire HD. Of course, your mileage may vary, and for the average consumer, this isn’t going to be a problem.

     

    What’s Hot:

    Aluminum Unibody construction

    Has a nice heft to it

    HTC Sense adds a nice layer of security.

     

    What’s Not:

    Screen readability suffers under direct sunlight

     

    Bottomline:

    While it’s not the same leap forward as the HTC Desire was, the HTC Desire S is still a great smartphone that has plenty of features to satiate even the most hardcore of users.

    FinanceAsia’s 11TH Best Companies Poll

    Gadgets Team
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    FinanceAsia’s 11TH Best Companies Poll

    Another reason why we should be proud of our own and why the Philippines continues to hold a great stake when it comes to effective business ventures and company management. Now I may not know much about finance, but if the Aboitiz group can garner these many awards, you can be quite sure that the businesses they hold a share in are reliable and responsible.

     

    AboitizPower President & CEO Erramon Aboitiz was named Best CEO by FinanceAsia.

    Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) and Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower) prominently ranked in seven categories in the 11th annual Best Companies in Asia poll conducted by FinanceAsia, the publication of choice for the Asian investment community.

    FinanceAsia’s awards, which are given per major Asian country, are considered an industry benchmark. Every year, the magazine solicits nominations and votes from more than 300 investors and analysts across the region.

    In the poll, respondents are asked to score on company attributes such as corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR), and also seeks consensus on companies and corporate personalities deemed best in their field.

    AboitizPower CFO Iker Aboitiz was named Best CFO by FinanceAsia.

    For the Philippines, AboitizPower President & CEO Erramon Aboitiz was named Best CEO and Iker Aboitiz as Best CFO.

    In the Best Managed Company category, AboitizPower ranked 2nd and AEV was at 5th, improving their 6th and 11th rankings, respectively, in 2010.

    For Best Corporate Governance, AboitizPower stayed steady at 6th, same as last year, while AEV improved to 7th from 8th place in 2010.

    In the category of Best Investor Relations, AboitizPower ranked 3rd from last year’s 7th place, which is being occupied by AEV this year.

    For Best CSR, AboitizPower improved its ranking to 3rd place from last year’s 7th spot while AEV slipped slightly to 7th from the 6th spot in 2010.

    In the Most Committed to a Strong Dividend Policy category, both AboitizPower and AEV landed in 4th place, from last year’s 6th and 5th spots, respectively.

    Both Erramon Aboitiz and Iker Aboitiz acknowledged the value and result of teamwork in winning the awards.

    “Thank you to all. These awards are a result of the whole team delivering what our stakeholders expect from us,” said Erramon Aboitiz.

    For his part, Iker Aboitiz said, “These awards belong to the entire Aboitiz team. They have nothing to do with individual talent but rather the teamwork that allows the Aboitiz Group to achieve its goals and those of its stakeholders.

    Apple’s iCloud might be coming soon

    Gadgets Team
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    1
    Apple’s iCloud might be coming soon

    It seems as if there will be an Apple in the cloud.

    What has begun as mere rumors might now be an actuality, as Apple continues their aggressive stride towards releasing their own cloud-based music service, as the company recently signed a deal with both Warner Music and EMI Music. They are reportedly on the verge of solidifying agreements with Universal Music Group and Sony Music as well.

    While Google Music (Beta) and Amazon’s Cloud Player both offer their users similar cloud services, Apple rises above the occasion by making sure their service is legally approved by recording labels.

    In essence, what iCloud will do is scan a user’s hard drive and then consequently search for the same song on Apple’s (legal) online database, and subsequently queue it in the user’s online locker instead of having the user manually upload each song from their existing library.

    Furthermore, iCloud will supposedly employ a patented technology that Apple calls “Sync partial music”. This essentially means, as the name implies, that only the first portions of songs are stored locally on a device with the remainder of the track stored on a remote server.  So when users press “play” or skip to the next track, the songs will play instantly with no delay.

    While this is also known as pre-buffering, (a capability that is not at all new since other companies such as Pandora and Spotify are already employing the same tactic), what will set Apple apart is that users will be able to choose whether songs are pre-buffered automatically or not.

    Multiple sources say that at the rate that Apple is moving, the iCloud project might be revealed as early as June 6 at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.

     

    UPDATE: 5/20 – Apple and Sony sign an agreement for iCloud.

    Source: CNET

    Microsoft sold more Windows 6.x powered devices than Phone 7 smartphones according to Gartner

    Gadgets Team
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    Microsoft sold more Windows 6.x powered devices than Phone 7 smartphones according to Gartner

    There’s a lot of talk about the future of Phone 7 and rumors about the new Microsoft’s new mobile OS performance has not been favorable. Gartner has confirmed some of these fears, saying that out of the 3.6 million smartphones sold by Microsoft in the first three months of 2011, only 1.6 of those were powered by Windows Phone 7. Ouch. Microsoft better hope that their partnership with Nokia scores big with consumers, or they’ll really be in big trouble.

     

    Via: Engadget

    Source: Gartner

     

    We’re giving away free swag!

    Gadgets Team
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    93
    We’re giving away free swag!

    We’re truly happy that you’ve chosen us to be your source of the newest trends in technology and lifestyle. And to show you our gratitude, we’re giving away 2 sets of Draven GCs valued at Php 2500 each. Want in on this? Rules are simple:

    1. Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/GadgetsMagazine
    2. Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/gadgetsmagazine
    3. Tweet: Follow @gadgetsmagazine for a chance to win Php 2,500 worth of DRAVEN GCs #GadgetsGiveaway
    4. Leave us a note on this post with your Name and Twitter User Name
    5. Contest will run till 12 noon, Friday, May 27, 2011. We’ll be drawing 2 winners via electronic raffle.
    6. Results will be posted on our website and Facebook page, and the winner will be contacted through Twitter

    Alright Gadgets fans, get to tweeting!

    Draven is a California-based company bringing together international cultures of art, music and skateboarding. For more information about the Draven, please visit their FB site at http://www.facebook.com/dravenphilippines

    Review: Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Phantom

    Gadgets Team
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    3
    Review: Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Phantom

    A note before the review: while we understand that products like videocards and motherboards are highly technical in nature, we’ll try and explain everything as plain as we can. We understand that a majority of our readers are casual technologists and not overclocking monsters, and as such the wording and the way the review is made is targeted at our main audience. Alright, on with the review.

    Nvidia is patching up all the holes in its product line, as evidenced by the release of the GTX 560 lineup. Not to be confused with the GTX 560 Ti, the GTX 560 is targeted at the $199 to $220 range – it’s a card that’s built for gamers that have extra cash to spare, but don’t want to go all in with either the GTX 570 and its bigger and brasher brethren.

    The GTX 560 nixes the Ti suffix, and while it uses the same GF114 GPU (think processor, but for videocards) it takes a hit with the removal of one Streaming Multiprocessor. The standard clock speed for a reference GTX 560 places it at around 810 MHz. The GTX 560 Phantom has a stock clock speed of 822 MHz, indicating that it’s slightly overclocked straight from the factory – a usual occurrence with cards nowadays.

    Other specs of the Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Phantom include 1024MB GDDR5 (256 bits) memory, clockspeed of 2020 MHz and a custom cooling solution that combines heatpipes, heatsinks and dual fans.

    The overall appearance of the Gainward GTX 560 is eerily similar to its bigger brother, the 560 Ti. The package includes the card and a 6-pin connector plus the display driver, but other than that it’s pretty sparse. The Gainward GTX 560 is also a bit wider than a reference 560, occupying 2.5 PCI-E slots as opposed to 2 slots.

    Our test rig for this particular card is a second generation Intel Core i5 2500K (3.30GHz, 6MB cache) on a reference Intel DH67 Intel motherboard with 8GB of DDR3 memory. For comparison’s sake, we also conducted benchmark tests with an Inno3D GTX 570, a card that’s one tier higher than the GTX 560, running stock. Two benchmarking software were used during the test: Unigine’s Heaven and Futuremark’s 3D Mark Vantage. Identical settings were used for benching both cards (same resolution, Anti-aliasing settings, etc.) to keep a level playing field for both cards.

    After installing the driver with the card (the card was under press embargo when we reviewed it, so no online drivers from NVIDIA), we ran Unigine’s Heaven benchmark twice – an initial run with the resolution set to 1680×1050, 4X Anti-aliasing and anisotropy set to 4. The initial pass yielded good results, netting a nice 32.3 average FPS (frames per second), with an overall score of 814. In comparison, the GTX 570 got an understandably higher FPS of 41.4 with an overall score of 1044. A higher resolution of 1920×1080 (with everything else being unchanged) netted the GTX 560 a lower overall FPS of 28.4, and a lower score of 715.

    Futuremark’s 3D Mark series of benchmarking tools has long been a reviewer’s staple and 3D Mark Vantage isn’t an exception. We ran 3D Mark Vantage at a resolution of 1920x1080p, with the presets set to performance and Anisotropy on 16 and the multi-sample count at x4. The GTX 560 scored a nice overall score of 10,825, with the first test grabbing a nice 38.5 FPS, and the second test netting a 35.46.

    Of course, all the benchmarks in the world won’t real world game performance, so we loaded up Battlefield Bad Company 2, EA’s definitive multiplayer shooter. With the resolution set to 1920×1080, the game never dipped below 55 FPS, even with all the frenetic shooting and stabbing going on around me. It also performed well on my current MMO addiction World of Tanks; netting a nice 50-30 FPS average (my previous 460 only managed an average of 30-40 FPS).

     

    What’s Hot:

    Cheaper than the GTX 560 Ti without a large compromise on performance.

    Includes comprehensive overclocking software.

    What’s Not:

    Virtually similar to the GTX 560 Ti externally, a bit of variance would have been nice.

    Bottomline:

    While we’ve not heard a word on local pricing, if online pricing is any indication, the Gainward GTX 560 Phantom is a good compromise for gamers who can’t afford the higher tier GTX 560 Ti that the company is offering.

    BTW, we’re giving away a Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Phantom to a lucky Gadgets Magazine Fan! Stay tuned for the contest mechanics.

     

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