SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today announced the SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive, a USB flash drive featuring both a micro-USB and a USB 2.0 connector in a sleek and sturdy form factor. The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive is designed for Android smartphone and tablet users who need an easy way to move content such as photos and videos from their mobile devices. The drive allows users to safely store and backup files, free-up space, or simply transfer multimedia between their smartphones, tablets and computers.

"The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive provides a simple, convenient way to offload and backup files from smartphones and tablets - with the peace of mind that comes with the trusted SanDisk brand," said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, SanDisk. "This new drive integrates with SanDisk's Memory Zone app to make freeing up space on mobile devices simpler than ever, improving the user experience."

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced official certification of the latest dual port Thunderbolt 2 technology on the GIGABYTE Z87X-UD7 TH motherboard. Code-named 'Falcon Ridge', the new Intel Thunderbolt 2 controller supports an incredible 20 Gb/s aggregated data transfer simultaneously across two channels per port.

"GIGABYTE is delighted to announce official certification of Intel's latest Thunderbolt technology on our flagship 8 series motherboard," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "This underlines our commitment to offering our customers the absolute fastest connectivity options, placing GIGABYTE at the forefront of technological innovation."

LG Electronics USA today launched two new "UltraWide" 21:9 aspect ratio* LED monitors designed to offer professional tools for effective multitasking and excellent gaming experience. Models EA73 and LN450W, which will be on sale in late September, also employ LG's advanced In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology and 2560 x 1080 resolution capability* to deliver exceptional picture quality. "Picture quality is always the number one priority when LG designs display products, but we also focus on versatility," said Tim Alessi, director of new product development at LG Electronics USA. "Our new UltraWide monitors exemplify that focus with features that make them ideal for home-office professionals, students, gamers and casual users alike."

DisplayLink, the leading provider of USB Graphics technology, today announced plans to show the latest solutions for Wireless and USB Docking at Interop 2013. Targeting Ultrabook and Tablet expansion and connectivity for business users, DisplayLink will feature wireless WiGig Docking, Enterprise Class USB Docking, and the latest Mac drivers, with demonstrations to be held at the Interop Expo.

Introducing the latest solutions, John Cummins, VP Sales and Marketing for DisplayLink said, "IT Managers are struggling with BYOD. At Interop 2013, DisplayLink will showcase our customer's products, including monitor-docks for tablets with touch screen and integrated Webcams, WiGig Docks for wireless graphics and peripheral expansion, and Enterprise-Class USB Docks with multiple display connections for both Windows and Mac. These products solve problems and enhance productivity."

With NVIDIA clamping restrictions on graphics card makers' ability to make custom design PCBs for its flagship GeForce GTX TITAN GPU, the likes of GIGABYTE are opting for the next best thing - creating accessories that enthusiasts can mod their GTX TITAN graphics cards with, at the cost of product warranties. A little earlier this month, the company unveiled its WindForce 450W VGA cooler, which is capable of handling GTX TITAN. At a more recent event, it showed of G-Power, a supplementary voltage regulation module, which is similar in principle to EVGA EPower and ASUS Matrix PWM.

The device is a small PCB with high-capacity power leads on one-end, which need to be soldered on to the reference GeForce GTX TITAN PCB, and a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors on the other. Between them is a 6+1 phase VRM, with components that appear similar to the ones used on GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 5 motherboards, consisting of 60A ferrite core chokes, International Rectifier PowIRstage IR3550 driver-MOSFETs, and International Rectifier IR3563A controller. The G-Power module stabilizes power on the GTX TITAN PCB, preventing voltage droop from breaking the overclock. There's no word on how GIGABYTE plans to sell these.

NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, announced today a 29-inch LED-backlit monitor that boasts an IPS panel, slim profile, full ergonomics and comprehensive connectivity for corporate, financial services, digital signage and medical environments, among others.

Joining the award-winning MultiSync EA Series lineup, the EA294WMi performance-driven monitor enhances multi-tasking capabilities, work performance and productivity through its panoramic view, 21:9 aspect ratio, uniform color brightness and 2560 x 1080 resolution. It also consumes 29 percent less power than dual 19-inch monitors with similar LCD panel technology. The EA294WMi offers split-screen Picture by Picture/Side by Side (PBP) functionality, which enables two sources to display information on one monitor.

Intel Corporation today announced several tools and initiatives targeted at software developers, creating some of the most performance-hungry gaming and media titles on the market. Intel Core processor performance, power efficiency and strong momentum for Intel HD Graphics are freeing developers to take applications in new directions.

Debuting at GDC 2013 were new graphics capabilities for forthcoming Intel HD Graphics platforms that are accessible through DirectX extensions. The first of these extensions, called PixelSync, provides access to underlying hardware that allows programmers to properly composite partially transparent pixels without the need for an expensive sorting operation. Game developers have long awaited this capability in order to more realistically render smoke, hair, windows, foliage, fences and other complex geometry and natural phenomena.

With consumers increasingly sharing and viewing content among different devices, Intel Corporation today introduced storage solutions based on the Intel Atom media processor CE5300 series. The new low power system-on-chip (SoC) enables high definition (HD) video to be simultaneously watched on smartphones, tablets and other smart devices, in real time, while also shared with consumer devices such as a Smart TV. "Streaming content across numerous mobile devices, not just from the cloud but locally, has become a common practice for today's consumers," said Bev Crair, general manager, of Intel's Storage Division. "New storage solutions based on the Intel Atom CE5300 series elevate this to a whole new level by making it simple to 'browse, click, and play'. The new SoC provides an excellent foundation for creating compelling entertainment experiences."

The powerful, dual-core Intel Atom CE5300 series delivers simple application and I/O support, making it ideal for synchronizing and streaming video content without compromising power for the performance necessary to allow seamless I/O and media transcoding. Storage solutions based on the Intel Atom CE5300 series allow consumers to easily set up all of their media in one place and avoid capacity limitations of mobile devices. They can use their storage system either as an iTunes server or DLNA (Digital Network Living Alliance) media server, and access that content from their mobile device of choice. Users can also simultaneously transcode 1080p video content to a smartphone, tablet, TV, Ultrabook or other smart device. The media processor system intelligently adapts to the screen resolution for each of these devices.

Presenting NextPowerUp, our sister tech-publication in the works, designed with a bigger canvas. TechPowerUp established itself as one of the top PC hardware publications thanks to our pursuit for quality reviews and relentless news delivery. We decided it was time to put these core ideals to use, in addressing the much larger consumer electronics and gadgets markets, without disturbing TechPowerUp's focus on PC enthusiast content, one of its hallmarks.

NextPowerUp is designed to keep you up to speed on the latest in over 20 markets (and growing), each with its own content channel, and editors hand-picked for them. These include Audio (personal, home, professional, concert), Business, Cinema (filming, production, exhibition), Desktops (pre-built desktop PCs), Displays (signage, projectors), Gadgets, Gaming (games, game development, gaming industry, consoles), Internet (the business of WWW), Networking (social networking), Notebooks (notebooks, Ultrabooks, netbooks), Phones (of all shapes and sizes), Photo & Video (cameras of all shapes and sizes), Politics (industry soap-opera), Robots (outside assembly lines), Science (popular science, space exploration), Software, Storage, Tablets, Televisions (TVs and technologies built around them), Transportation (wheels that don't run on fossil fuels), and Wireless (Cellular carriers, commercial WiFi).

Today's IT managers face a range of challenges from complex business processes to sophisticated security threats. Additionally, a number of industries such as retail, healthcare and industrial are turning to technology to develop innovative solutions to solve the unique challenges facing them in an increasingly connected world. To address these challenges, Intel Corporation has announced the availability of its 3rd Generation Intel Core vPro processor-based platforms for business and intelligent systems.

The enhancements to the Intel Core vPro processor platform provide a more secure platform for business computing and drive the next wave of innovation in intelligent systems. The Intel Core vPro processor-based platforms address the realities of today's business climate, where data integrity and organizational efficiency create a competitive advantage. New capabilities embed security at every layer, including the silicon, without compromising performance. Software innovation allows IT managers to set up and configure systems within minutes to quickly implement compelling solutions. Additionally, the enhanced graphics and secure manageability help accelerate the transition and growth in intelligent systems for the retail, industrial, and healthcare industries.

GIGABYTE's first and only GeForce GTX 670 graphics card is the GV-N670OC-2GD, a non-reference design graphics card that implements the company's popular WindForce 3X cooling solution, coupled with its UltraDurable VGA+ PCB. While the PCB layout appears to be identical to that of NVIDIA reference design GeForce GTX 680, it is backed by GIGABYTE exclusives such as 2 oz copper PCB layers, electrical ripple control, tier 1 GDDR5 memory chips, ferrite core chokes, low RDS (on) MOSFETs, and Japanese solid-state capacitors.

Out of the box, the GV-N670OC-2GD features clock speeds of 980 MHz core, 1058 MHz GPU Boost, and 6.00 GHz effective GDDR5 memory. It loads 2 GB of memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface, with 192 GB/s bandwidth. Display outputs include two dual-link DVI, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort. The card is capable of 4-way SLI. The cooling solution consists of two aluminum fin stacks, to which heat is transported by three copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the GPU, and ventilated by three 90 mm fans. GIGABYTE is asking US $415 for the GeForce GTX 670 WindForce 3X OC 2 GB.

GIGABYTE Technology Co. LTD., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is pleased to present Radeon HD 7800 Overclock Series Graphics Card: GV-R787OC-2GD, GV-R785OC-2GD. Built with AMD's latest 28nm GPU and GDDR5 memory, GIGABYTE makes these cards with higher core clock. Equipped with GIGABYTE's latest in-house cooling design and adapted with GIGABYTE Ultra Durable materials, GIGABYTE makes sure that Radeon HD 7800 Series is with the best speed of heat dissipation and performance.

GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7800 Series also provides a number of innovative features including the latest AMD APP Acceleration, Microsoft DirectX 11 supported, AMDHD3D, Crossfire, and PCI-Express 3.0 supported. GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD, GV-R785OC-2GD, guarantee gamers to have the best gaming experience with realistic visuals and fantastic gaming performance.

ASUS Zenbook is perhaps the closest the Ultrabook has gone to Apple's MacBook Air in terms of features and aesthetics. Its makers are saving its successor for the Computex spotlight. It is reported that the second-generation Zenbook will be driven by Intel "Ivy Bridge" Core processor, its compatible 7-series platform, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M discrete graphics. It will feature NVIDIA Optimus technology that marshals graphics loads between the discrete GPU and Intel HD 4000 graphics, to minimize power draw when on light graphics loads.

With the new Ultrabook specification being governed by Intel, and compatible Ivy Bridge Core processors facing delays, Taiwan-based notebook vendors are finding incentives in launching "Ultrabook-like" PCs, notebooks that are about as compact as Ultrabooks, but with vendors' own hardware specifications. Such PCs are also said to be designed keeping in mind lower price-points, such as $600. These notebooks will do away with expensive metal unibody chassis, hollow hinges, and SSDs, and replace them with more cost-effective ones. For example, 7 mm-thick HDDs are already announced. Those could make viable alternatives for SSDs. Such Ultrabook-alternatives could be launched as early as in Q2-2012, sources note.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a worldwide leader in storage and multimedia products, today announced the expansion of its flash card product line with the introduction of high-capacity 600X CompactFlash cards with capacities now ranging up to 64GB. The new 64GB 600X CF card also features ultra-fast transfer rates of up to 90MB/s and supports the VPG-20 specification, ensuring professional photographers and enthusiasts benefit from the full high-resolution recording capabilities of today's modern digital equipment.

Capturing fast-action images in enhanced detail, often during high-speed consecutive shooting or extended Full HD video recording sessions, requires a massive amount of storage space. Transcend's 600X CF cards target users who demand vast capacity, superior speed, and long-term reliability without the inconvenience of switching cards. The 64GB 600X CF card can capture more than 13,000 still images (with a 10 megapixel camera) and record over three hours of Full HD video (1920x1080 at 38.6Mbps), allowing users to take full advantage of their high-end digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLR) and HD video camcorders.

Yesterday, we reported on Intel's embarrassing gaffe at demonstrating racing game F1 1 2011 running on a prototype ultrabook with an Ivy Bridge processor, where it was really just a video. Since then, AnandTech has seen that game play on an Ivy Bridge notebook just fine, but the best proof has come now, where they got hold of the actual ultrabook at the centre of the controversy and tested it with that game. The result? It works just fine, like we suspected. It looks like Intel just need a little PR makeover, is all. Video proof follows.

That Dodgy Intel Ivy Bridge DX11 'demo' at CES 2012 (UPDATED)

Word has been flying round the internet about Intel's dodgy Ivy Bridge DX11 'demo'. Intel's Mooly Eden, VP, PC Client Group was attempting to demonstrate a racing game on a prototype laptop - 'ultrabook' - fitted with an upcoming 22 nm Ivy Bridge processor with a racing wheel attached and allegedly rendering DX11 graphics. However, as is very apparent at the start, it's actually a video, because the control panel for the free VLC video player pops up for a few seconds. Eden then 'drives' a car and after a few seconds puts up one hand and then the other, because as he says "they are driving it from backstage". However, there was no one driving the game "backstage", as it was just a video and Eden doesn't say anything about this at any point in the presentation.

This gives conspiracy theorists lots of ammunition, as perhaps the game was actually played on a high powered desktop PC with NVIDIA or AMD discrete graphics cards? What game was it? Eden doesn't say. "IB can't really do these graphics!" they cry and so on. Sure, man 'didn't' go to the moon, either... However, we believe that while yes, there was a bit of deception going on, it was nothing more than a white(ish) lie. Why? Because Ivy Bridge comes out in April and people aren't going to forget this demo. They will immediately put IBs DX11 graphics to the test with similar games and if it doesn't deliver, Intel will have a lot of egg on its face. Here's what Intel had to say about this demo in an official statement:

VR-Zone have been having a little chat with Intel 'sources', who have leaked some juicy tidbits for us to enjoy in the form performance and power news. The upcoming next generation Medfield platform is Intel's first true System on a Chip (SoC) and is designed to compete with various low power ARM offerings in the tablet space. To help achieve this, they've gone through an internal restructure, merging four business units into just one: Ultra-Mobility, Mobile Wireless, Mobile Communications and Netbook & Tablet PC. The business unit is now simply known as Mobile and Communications. It's being run by Mike Bell and Hermann Eul and the first product to emerge from it will be is the 32 nm Medfield SoC solution.

VR-Zone explained that the competition will be "Apple's A-Series, NVIDIA Tegra, Qualcomm Snapdragon, Samsung Exynos, Texas Instruments OMAP and the likes. Out of all the chips mentioned above, only Samsung's Exynos is currently manufactured in 32nm process, just like Medfield."

CyberpowerPC., a leading manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, today announced the Gamer Scorpius line, a series of desktop gaming PCs based on AMD's new FX-series "Bulldozer" CPU series.

The new Gamer Scorpius series combines AMD's new FX CPU, Socket AM3+ (900 series chipset motherboard), and AMD Radeon HD 6000 graphics into a desktop gaming rig that has a boost in performance of 50 percent over the previous generation of AMD desktop platforms at a low cost. The new AMD FX CPU provides fully unlocked processor clock multipliers that ensure maximum speed while processing to enable an unrivaled PC enthusiast experience for multi-display gaming, mega-tasking and High-Def content creation.

Dell rolled out a new ultra-slim 21.5 inch monitor, the S2230MX. It is just 9.9 mm thick at its thinnest point. The monitor is this slim thanks to two things: first, it uses LED-backlit illumination instead of CCFL; and second, it uses an external power brick. The Dell S2230MX uses a TN panel that provides 82% color gamut coverage.

With a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, the Dell S2230MX panel offers 2 ms (GTG) response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio with 8 million to 1 DCR, and brightness of 250 cd/m². While display inputs on the panel include DVI and D-Sub, a HDMI-to-DVI adapter is bundled. Backed by a one-year warranty, the Dell S2230MX is priced at US $219.99.

ASUS today launched the ASUS Eee Pad Slider, a tablet that builds on the great success of the Eee Pad Transformer. Prior to its launch, the Eee Pad Slider has already made its mark with its winning design at the International Design Excellence Awards 2011. The Eee Pad Slider, which comes in either pearl white or metallic brown, features a slide-out keyboard, the new Google Android 3.1 operating system (Android 3.2 upgradable), as well as a plethora of powerful multimedia features. In pad mode, users can experience rich visuals on the 178° wide viewing angle IPS display. Connectivity is a breeze too, with the built-in USB port, Micro SD card reader, and mini-HDMI port. In slide-out mode, users can take advantage of the keyboard to compose emails and blog posts faster than ever.

Dell announced the new UltraSharp U2412M monitor for business and enterprise environments. This 24-inch monitor uses an IPS panel that provides viewing angles of 178/178 degrees, its stand is designed to allow a number of orientation adjustments, including tilt, swivel, pivot and height. The U2412M features 1920 x 1200 resolution, with 1,000:1 static and 2,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratios; 300 cd/m² maximum brightness, and response time of 8 ms (GTG). Display inputs include one each of DVI, DisplayPort, and D-Sub. A 4-port USB 2.0 hub completes the accessories department. Backed by a 3 year warranty (extensible to 4 or 5 years), the Dell UltraSharp U2412M is priced at US $399.

Point of View the leading European manufacturer of an exclusive range NVIDIA based 3D processor graphics cards, advanced netbooks as well as Tegra tablet computers and additional enthusiast PC products, announces today that the factory over clocked POV/TGT GeForce GTX 580 3GB Ultra Charged already started shipping into the European e-tail channel.

The hand selected POV/TGT GeForce GTX 3GB 580 Ultra Charged is of highest quality and tuned by TGT in Germany to feature rock solid stability even beyond the documented clock settings of 841 MHz (plus) core clock, 1682 MHz (plus) shader clock and 4104 MHz memory clock.

Point of View, the leading European manufacturer of an exclusive range of NVIDIA based 3D processor boards, advanced netbooks as well as fancy 7" and 10" Tegra tablet computers, and additional enthusiast PC products, announces today that it is first to market with a high performance NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 3D processor board family featuring 1 GB of fast GDDR5 memory, the POV/TGT GeForce GTX 560 1 GB series.

The POV/TGT GeForce GTX 560 1 GB series consists of two performance levels, "Charged" and "UltraCharged", and is based on a proprietary high-performance/wide-bandwidth hardware design. Hand-selected and carefully tuned by TGT in Germany, the POV/TGT GeForce GTX 560 1 GB series offers an optimized balance of enhanced core clock settings and supreme stability even beyond shipping specifications.

Committed to the growing market for cost-effective, capacity-optimized drives, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today introduced its new enterprise-class, 3.5-inch, 3TB Ultrastar 7K3000 drive family - the world's first and only 7,200 RPM drive family rated at 2.0 million hours MTBF and backed by a five-year limited warranty. The new Ultrastar 7K3000 drive family represents the fifth-generation of Hitachi's five-platter mechanical design, which has been stringently designed, tested and field proven for quality and reliability by global server and storage OEMs, as well as the most well known Internet giants worldwide.

With millions of five-platter Ultrastar drives shipped over the last three years, Hitachi's field reliability data shows an unprecedented AFR below 0.40 percent, exceeding customer and industry AFR quality specifications for a 7,200 RPM drive. By increasing the MTBF specification to 2.0 million hours, with an AFR 40 percent lower than drives rated 1.2 million hours MTBF, Hitachi enables data center managers to expect reduced failures, improved up-time and lowered TCO when using a large population of Ultrastar 7K3000 hard drives over a period of time.