Gigabyte moved into new offices here in the Netherlands. A completely new building was bought and is stationed in Eindhoven the Netherlands. Today the mayor of Eindhoven Mr. Rob van Gijzel and Gigabyte Founder & Chairman Mr. Dandy Yeh opened up the new facility. We where there for the festivities.

The new building has roughly 1000 M2 of office and storage space spread out over two floors. The new building will house Sales, marketing but also functions as a transport hub for the Benelux and likely some other countries.

Interesting to see is that there is an RMA department as well. Typically when a motherboards breaks down you'd expect credit note or a replacement but apparently it is still efficiency and cost effective enough tyo repair the motherboards. Lots of components and chips are stored there and can be replaced / repaired if broken.

   

Anyway, we took some photo's of the happening, but also that RMA department and the storage HUB -- should you guys be interested in looking at them, click on the thumbnails. Obviously we like to congratulate Gigabyte with this new facility.

  

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DigiTimes heard that Microsoft's Surface tablets will be manufactured by Pegatron Technology, but that there's still not a firm estimate for order volumes.

They also got to hear that the Windows RT model will be priced over $599, while the Windows 8 Pro-based version with Ivy Bridge processor will cost at the very least a good $799.

The sources pointed out that the industrial design of Microsoft's Surface tablet PCs should attract consumers in the enterprise market, but their high prices are expected to become the biggest obstacle in the market.

The sources also pointed out that the Surface tablet PCs have successfully attracted the attention of consumers, but the strategy also means that Microsoft will directly compete against its downstream partners in the Windows-based tablet PC market. Since Microsoft is only expected to receive limited profits from its own-brand tablet PC products, while greatly offending its clients, the strategy that Microsoft has taken is rather risky.

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Microsoft officially presented Windows Phone 8, a new mobile operating system based on the same Windows NT kernel as Windows 8, making it easier for software developers to make apps for both versions of Windows. The operating systems share the same driver model and several frameworks, but the bad news is that Windows Phone 7 users will not be able to upgrade to WP8. Instead, they will receive a (very) minor update called Windows Phone 7.8. Full details at Windows Team Blog.

With Windows Phone 8, the similarity is more than skin deep. We

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Sharkoon presents Skiller, a new gaming keyboard with 18-key rollover, interchangeable gaming keys and programmable keys. It has a MSRP of 14.99EUR.

Sharkoon brings to the market another innovation from its gaming lineup featured at CeBIT: The Sharkoon Skiller gaming keyboard comes with an 18-key rollover, interchangeable WASD and cursor keys, and software for creating up to ten keyboard profiles.

Visually, the Skiller has defining corners and edges: The black keyboard comes in a striking geometric design; an additional eye-catcher is the blue illuminated Skiller logo in the palm rest. Gamers who want to highlight and haptic their WASD and Cursor keys will find enclosed eight interchangeable rubber keys all in blue. In addition to the 107 standard keys, the Sharkoon Skiller has 20 multimedia keys for Internet and Media applications.

The Skiller is fluid in its operation: Thanks to its 18-key rollover, players will not be at a disadvantage during action-packed gaming situations which require simultaneous quick and accurate key commands.

With its programmable keys and profile memory, the Skiller is an extremely versatile companion that quickly adjusts to all changing areas of operation: Through the enclosed software all standard keys can be assigned frequently used individual functions or macros. The configuration supports the creation of up to ten profiles, each with three sub-levels. This allows an optimal keyboard layout for a variety of different applications and gaming environments to be created with only a little bit of effort.

The keyboard measures 485 x 212 x 25 mm, weighs 603 grams and is equipped with a 150 cm long USB cable.

End customers will find the Sharkoon Skiller Gaming Keyboard available for the suggested retail price of 14.99 euros in authorized retailers.

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Thief 4 may be in trouble. Internet sleuth Superannuation has posted a column at Kotaku that details high-level staff turnover at developer Eidos Montreal. According to LinkedIn resumes, Thief 4's audio director, two lead level designers, a pair of senior concept artists, a senior technical level designer, a senior animator, and a senior level designer have all left Eidos Montreal since 2010.


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Check the first public showing of the new 3DMark tech demo. Fortunately, we have now put an HD trailer up on YouTube for everyone to enjoy.

The next 3DMark for Windows will be the world's first unified graphics benchmark allowing testing of DirectX 9, DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 capable hardware through the DirectX 11 API. This is a big change from previous 3DMarks and one that we are very excited about.

Secondly, the new 3DMark will be compatible with Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. As a result, we are dropping the "3DMark for Windows 8" working title and instead referring to the new benchmark as 3DMark for Windows, or simply the next 3DMark, though these are working titles too.

Here's the first screenshot of the benchmark (click to enlarge):

HELSINKI, FINLAND ­ June 21, 2012 ­ Futuremark

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Sharp has proudly introduced the LC-90LE745U 90-inch (!) 1080p HDTV. It is equipped with Sharp

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Alright, in the summer spirit and being hardware related check this out for a fun story: BBQ Guru today launched the CyberQ Wi-Fi for BBQ enthusiasts :)

It is claimed to be the world

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VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient computing platforms, today announced the VIA ARM DS (Digital Signage) system.

Developed for the Android operating system, the VIA ARM DS is an all-in-one system-ready solution for managing dynamic displays for cost sensitive high volume segments where high performance video and connectivity are paramount for enhanced customer engagement. Applications range from kiosks, POS systems, video walls, and menu boards to TVOIP, cloud streaming, and Out of Home Advertising across a broad spectrum of retail, hospitality, education, and entertainment environments.

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Cooler Master reveals the CM Storm Stryker, a new white full-tower case. The CM Storm Stryker has a MSRP of 159.95EUR and will be available in retail stores from mid-July.

Today CM Storm, Cooler Master

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Adobe's Flash 11.3 plugin is causing issues with crashes or no contents loading in Firefox. Mozilla and Adobe have not been able to resolve the issue, but so far one of the only solutions for those experiencing problems is to downgrade to a previous version of Flash.
Firefox browsers that are currently running on Windows 7 and Vista that experiences crashes/or no contents on flash media sites should downgrade to Adobe

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Okay, best hardware of 2012 ? :)

The Grill Alert Talking Remote Meat Thermometer enables you to cook the perfect steak, no matter which method you choose. You just need to insert the stainless steel probes in the center of meat, select the type of meat you are cooking and how you would like it done (Rare, Medium Rare, Medium or Well Done). The Grill Alert Talking Remote Meat Thermometer will alert you when the meat is almost done and then done. The Grill Alert features a backlight display for nighttime grilling. $69.99 is all you need to bring home the Grill Alert Talking Remote Meat Thermometer. [Product Page]

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Microsoft unveiled Surface: PCs built to be the ultimate stage for Windows. Company executives showed two Windows tablets and accessories that feature significant advances in industrial design and attention to detail. Surface is designed to seamlessly transition between consumption and creation, without compromise. It delivers the power of amazing software with Windows and the feel of premium hardware in one exciting experience.

• Advances in Industrial Design
  Conceived, designed and engineered entirely by Microsoft employees, and building on the company's 30-year history manufacturing hardware, Surface represents a unique vision for the seamless expression of entertainment and creativity. Extensive investment in industrial design and real user experience includes the following highlights:
  Software takes center stage: Surface sports a full-sized USB port and a 16:9 aspect ratio
  

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The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family reached a new supercomputing milestone as the fastest adopted new processing technology to power 44 systems, including 3 Petascale-class supercomputers on the 39th edition of the Top500 list announced today.

The "SuperMUC" supercomputer at LRZ in Germany, which ranked fourth on the list, delivers 2.9 PetaFLOPs of performance, making it the most powerful in Europe, as well as the largest installation based on the new Intel Xeon processors E5 family.

At the International Supercomputing Conference, Intel Corporation also announced that Intel Xeon Phi is the new brand name for all future Intel Many Integrated Core Architecture (Intel MIC architecture) based products. Available by the end of 2012, the first generation of Intel Xeon Phi product family (coprocessors codenamed "Knights Corner") will complement the existing Intel Xeon processor E5-2600/4600 product families and deliver new levels of performance for highly parallel workloads. While the first generation primarily targets high performance computing (HPC), future generations of Intel Xeon Phi products will also address enterprise datacenters and workstations.

First Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Due This Year
Intel disclosed new technical details of the first commercially available product from its Intel Xeon Phi product family, a coprocessor codenamed "Knights Corner." In addition to delivering breakthrough performance for highly parallel applications, Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor's ease of use is bolstered by the benefits of familiar programming models, techniques and developer tools available with Intel architecture. With greater use of parallel CPU code, software companies and IT departments do not have to retrain developers on proprietary programming models associated with accelerators.

Beyond its compatibility with x86 programming models, the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor will be visible to applications as an HPC-optimized, highly-parallel, separate compute node that runs its own Linux-based operating system independent of the host OS. This feature allows more flexibility when implementing cluster solutions that are not available with alternative graphics accelerator-based technologies.

Made with Intel's innovative 22nm, 3-D tri-gate transistors, the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor, available in a PCIe form factor, contains more than 50 cores and a minimum of 8GB of GDDR5 memory. It also features 512b wide SIMD support that improves performance by enabling multiple data elements to be processed with a single instruction. Last year Intel showed a live demonstration of the single Knights Corner coprocessor delivering over 1 TeraFLOPs (1 trillion floating point operations per second) of double precision real life performance, as measured by DGEMM. At ISC'12 Intel demonstrated the same effective performance of more than 1 TeraFLOPs per node but measured by the industry standard benchmark Linpack (Rmax)1. By comparison, in 1997, it took more than 9000 Intel

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Logitech shows off the G600 MMO gaming mouse, a new highly customizable mouse with 20 buttons. It will ship in July for $79.99.

Today Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) introduced the latest addition to its popular G-Series gaming lineup: the Logitech

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Check out Gigabyte's Aivia Osmium, a new mechanical gaming keyboard with Cherry MX red switches and a USB 3.0 hub. It's expected to become available for around $100 as tech report reported.

Behind every key on the Aivia Osmium sits a mechanical switch, Gigabyte says, including the five macro keys in the upper left corner. Next to the macro row lie two analog wheels: one to adjust the brightness of the blue backlight, and another to control the audio volume. Analog headphone and microphone jacks can be found along the right edge.

The audio ports are linked to pass-through connectors, and so is the built-in USB connectivity. USB ports are commonly found on modern keyboards, but the Osmium's are SuperSpeed-compatible. This is the first keyboard we've seen with USB 3.0.

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Cooler Master issued a new SKU which is an optional windowed side-panel accessory for its CM Storm Trooper chassis (SKU: SGA-5000-KWN1). A feature I know that many of you guys wanted.

The windowed panel replaces the standard meshed panel (pictured here), with one that has a large clear acrylic window that gives you a great view of your rig's innards. The panel is otherwise made of the same SECC steel, and blends in with the rest of the case. Available on Cooler Master's online store, the panel is priced at

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Intel designed a 4" x 4" Next Unit of Computing (NUC) system for kiosks and digital signage, but there's been so much interest in the device that Intel expects products to be available from both system integrators and e-tailers. The initial system is expected in Q3 2012 and will cost around $400.

Users should have the option of buying complete systems, barebones configs, or just the motherboard. We could see cases offered by multiple enclosure makers, too. The initial system will arrive in the third quarter of this year and cost $400. Inside the box, you'll find a mobile Core i3 processor paired with the HM65 chipset. USB 3.0 didn't make the cut for this version, which will feature three USB 2.0 ports in addition to dual HDMI outputs. Audio will be carried over HDMI, and we can expect 4GB of RAM, a 40GB mSATA SSD, and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The motherboard has dual SO-DIMM and mini PCIe slots, so there's some freedom to mix and match components.

This first version is just the beginning. In the fourth quarter, we can expect another configuration with a 7-series chipset, USB 3.0 support, and Thunderbolt connectivity. The platform is designed for 17W CPUs, and Intel is planning variants with Core i5 and i7 processors. A cheaper, Celeron-based version may be offered, as well.

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Canon officially presents the EOS 650D, a new 18 megapixel hybrid CMOS sensor model with DIGIC 5 processor, a 3" vari-angle touchscreen, and 100-12,800 ISO range. It iwll ship next week for 849EUR (incl. VAT). Canon unveils the new EOS 650D
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NASA has stunning photos of the 2012 planet Venus transit up on their website, you can view them over here and more HQ HR photo's over here (brilliant shots great for wallpaper usage).

On June 5, 2012, Hinode captured these stunning views of the transit of Venus -- the last instance of this rare phenomenon until 2117. Hinode is a joint JAXA/NASA mission to study the connections of the sun's surface magnetism, primarily in and around sunspots. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages Hinode science operations and oversaw development of the scientific instrumentation provided for the mission by NASA, and industry. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., is the lead U.S. investigator for the X-ray Telescope.

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