QNAP Systems Inc. today announced the release of the latest addition to its Silent NAS series, the more advanced HS-251+ with a quad-core Intel Celeron 2.0GHz processor, 2GB DDR3L RAM, and powerful integrated graphics. It is designed as a home NAS for entertainment, and supports a wide range of multimedia applications, HDMI connectivity for local playback, real-time and offline video transcoding, and scalability to accommodate large HD media collections. Housed within a stylish and compact set-top box design with no moving parts and supporting up to two 8TB hard drives, the fanless HS-251+ is the best choice for those looking for a silent NAS, as well as a Home Theater PC/NAS combo.

"We are proud of our Silent NAS series and are happy to announce the launch of the upgraded quad-core Silent NAS which provides more power to handle multimedia applications and brings greater entertainment potential with a free remote control," said Jason Hsu, product manager of QNAP, adding "This amazing NAS is coupled with an unrivalled set of apps and features that allow home users to enjoy a perfect home theater experience while providing a secure centralized storage for all of their files, and much more."

AMD released Catalyst 15.10 Beta drivers. These drivers address issues with Star Wars: Battlefront Beta, and comes with quality and performance optimization for Ashes of the Singularity in DirectX 12 mode. It also addresses a rare crash that occurs when maximizing a minimized web-browser window with a YouTube 4K video playback in it. Issues with Cyberlink PowerDVD playback on 3D displays connected via HDMI are also addressed.DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 15.10 Beta for Windows 10/8.1/7 64-bit | Windows 10/8.1/7 32-bit

TechPowerUp presents its very own YouTube channel! We take you on a journey though the very latest in the world of tech, with news, views, previews, and more. We're thrilled to present one of our first official videos. We're still learning, and welcome any and every feedback on what you'd expect from the moving-images version of your favorite tech site.

TechPowerUp's foray into the YouTube medium can be led by you. Yes, you! Do you think you can talk hardware and gaming in front of a camera, for our thousands of readers? If so, sign up for our TechPowerUp YouTube Channel project, and you could be the face of this site on YouTube. All you need to be, is aged between 21 and 30, based in US or Canada; be presentable (we're not too strict on this), and have a good command over English, with an easy international accent; have basic video editing skills, and most importantly, have a good aptitude with PC hardware (you needn't be too technically sound or have a formal education in this area).

Upload a sample of your work, while keeping it "unlisted" (eg: describe a piece of hardware, or explain a recent news story at length, while keep it interesting. We are interested in seeing your face, personality and speech), and e-mail a link to that video to w1zzard@techpowerup.com . You needn't be a regular forum member of TechPowerUp. Do not post links to your videos in the comments. We will get back in touch with shortlisted candidates to talk turkey.

Ahead of summer builds and upgrades by PC enthusiasts, NVIDIA announced an interesting new social media challenge, called the GeForce Garage. Open to residents of Poland now, NVIDIA plans to take it to several other markets very soon. The challenge is simple - build a gaming PC, make a video of yourself doing that, try to offer interesting / useful commentary while building it (eg: an interesting way to manage cables, cooling/ventilation, mods, post-build OC, benchmarks, etc.) Post it on YouTube, and share it with NVIDIA. Show the world that building a gaming PC can be as fun as cooking up something special and rewarding. It doesn't matter what hardware you use in your build, and it needn't be an extravagant build. Three of the best entries will win some cool new gear from NVIDIA, with notable mentions of participants. The winner gets an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and a Shield Tablet; first runner up gets a GeForce GTX 970, and the second runner up gets a GeForce GTX 960. Friends from Poland, this way please.

Razer, a world leader in connected devices and software for gamers, today announced the Razer Seirēn (stylized as "Seirēn" and pronounced "Sigh-ren"), a plug-and-play digital microphone designed for studio-grade recording and streaming.

The Razer Seirēn features a versatile multi-pattern USB digital connection capable of four different recording pattern configurations with three custom-tuned 14 mm condenser capsules. This makes the Razer Seirēn digital microphone ideal for the needs of professional musicians, streamers and YouTubers who demand superior clarity. With plug-and-play simplicity this microphone is simple to use at the studio or at home.

LG Electronics will unveil the first-ever LG Chromebase, an all-in-one computer powered by the Google Chrome operating system, at next month's 2014 International CES. The LG Chromebase (Model 22CV241) offers the highly efficient Chrome operating system for a fast, simple, secure and affordable computing experience. Along with the unique operating system, a 21.5-inch widescreen Full HD IPS display and a raft of advanced features, this innovative new desktop computer comes packaged in a chic, space-saving design.

The LG Chromebase all-in-one computer is underpinned by a simple yet powerful architecture and comes with several outstanding Google applications. It also serves as a gateway to tens of thousands of web apps in the Chrome Web Store, many of which work just as well offline as they do online.
The LG Chromebase allows users to write emails and documents, read the latest news and Ebooks, edit videos and photos and play entertaining games. The streamlined platform makes almost any task effortless and is the perfect device for taking advantage of Google products such as Gmail, Drive, Search, Maps, YouTube, Play or
Google+ Hangouts.

AMD today announced that it will webcast a special product showcase taking place at the AMD GPU '14 Tech Day event Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013 at 3 p.m. EDT.
A real-time video webcast of the showcase can be accessed on the Investor Relations homepage. A replay of the webcast can be accessed approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live event and will be available for 30 days after the event. Additionally, viewers may access the webcast on the AMD Gaming Facebook page and AMD'sYouTube channel. A replay of the webcast can be accessed on AMD's YouTube channel.

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solution products, today unveiled its innovative smart display product family, adding the 24" VSD240 to the recently launched 22" (21.5" Vis.) VSD220.

Aimed at changing the way people compute, the VSD240 integrates a 24" (23.6" Vis.) 1920x1080 Full HD LED screen with the quad-core, 1.7Ghz processer from nVIDIA and an Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" operating system, delivering a lightning fast and silky smooth computing experience.

Genius announces an ultra wide angle webcam for conference calls - WideCam 320. With its 100° view angle the entire boardroom can be captured in a single frame.

The ultra wide 100° angle view ensures that everyone around the conference table can be seen without any crowding together. The high-quality manual focus lens ensures well-defined video of the entire room. Everyone can be heard clearly around the room as well. The WideCam 320 has a built-in sensitive microphone that picks up the speaker's voice clearly while filtering out any background noise.

Elric Phares, founder of the 20-year old tech publication Motherboards.org learned the hard way not to cut deals with the devil big corporate media houses that promise accelerated growth of your publication in exchange for a share of profits/copyrights. According to a rant posted by Phares on YouTube, Motherboards.org joined the ChannelPro Network three years ago, a deal which typically sees Motherboards.org hand over its revenue-stream management and copyrights to ChannelPro in exchange for site (cosmetic/technical) and business (diversification/partherships) development, leading up to increased revenues for all involved, which according to him, never happened. To add to that, Phares had been noting financial irregularities. When confronted with evidence of these, ChannelPro fired him. In his video, Phares announced what will shape up to be a long-drawn legal battle with his former employer, and appealed to his followers to unsubscribe from Motherboards.org (as run by ChannelPro). Phares set his base of operations in his 2010-registered consumer electronics website, TechofTomorrow.Elric Phares's video announcing his departure from Motherboards.org follows.

Today we're starting to roll out the official release of the update to Xbox LIVE subscribers around the world. To ensure a stable release, this will be a gradual deployment across subscribers and regions over the course of the next week. Our initial deployment will reach approximately three million consoles worldwide, with additional users being updated over the course of a couple weeks. Don't panic if you don't see an immediate update, just keep checking back in.

Razer, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, set a technological benchmark today with the release of its new Razer DeathStalker Ultimate gaming keyboard, featuring Razer's award-winning Switchblade User Interface (UI).

The Switchblade UI on the Razer DeathStalker Ultimate is the same acclaimed, customizable LCD trackpad and LED keypad combo introduced on the Razer Switchblade concept, which can currently be found in production on the Razer Blade gaming laptop and the Star Wars: The Old Republic gaming keyboard. This unique interface transforms gaming keyboard functionality into a customizable control panel with 10 dynamic, adaptive tactile keys that can be used to bind commands, macros, skills and spells for an unparalleled in-game competitive advantage. Each key can display any image by using Razer's Synapse 2.0 software, offering gamers the smartest keyboard on the market.

Hauppauge Digital, Inc., the world's leading developer and manufacturer of TV tuners and HD video recorders, has launched their latest high definition video game recorder, HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition at the Gamescom, Cologne, Germany. HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition will have a list price of £159.99 and features high definition HDMI and Component video recording up to 1080p/30, plus HDMI 'no delay pass-through' so gamers can record their game play while playing on a TV monitor.

The HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition is a complete kit for gamers who want to record their Sony PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 game-play in high definition. HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition has near perfect video quality and records HD video from either HDMI or Component video at up to 1080p/30. Gamers can share their best video game-play with friends on YouTube by using the included Showbiz application to record and then upload videos to YouTube. HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition allows any user to produce their own video movies from their game-play. All cables necessary to record game-play, including HDMI in and out cables plus a special PS3 Component video cable are included.

Gateway today debuts its new Gateway NE Series line of notebooks in Canada. The new Gateway NE notebook line delivers the ultimate blend of essential performance, popular features and great extras for learning, playing, being productive and staying in touch. In addition, the new Gateway NE notebooks feature an all-new design that is sleek and stylish; its matte black finish is highlighted by brushed stainless steel accents.

"The new Gateway NE Series delivers what families and students are looking for today -- a combination of the most popular features and proven technologies," said Eric Ackerson, mobile product marketing for Gateway. "This new notebook line delivers the outstanding performance and capabilities needed for classes, homework, staying in touch and having fun. Students and families planning back-to-school purchases will definitely want to consider the Gateway NE Series."

EVGA is celebrating its 13th Anniversary and the way we like to do that is by thanking our community and giving away tons of prizes for participating in tons of games. We have so many prizes to giveaway that the list is too long to include here… but they all add up to more than an incredible $70k!

Our 13th Anniversary Grand Prize that will see three lucky winners sent undercover to Florida, USA, for an unforgettable 007 Mission Experience. Each of our Secret Service agents will be swept away in limos, scooped up in helicopters, sent tumbling in stunt planes and thrust through the waves in offshore raceboats.

Western Digital, the world's leader in external storage solutions and maker of the popular WD TV media player family, today unveils its first line of wireless home networking products, designed specifically to accelerate movies, video and gaming, delivering a premium high-definition entertainment experience. With the My Net family of powerful and easy-to-use home networking products, WD debuts its exclusive FasTrack technology that instantly detects entertainment traffic on the network and fast-forwards it to gaming consoles, media players, smart TVs, tablets, smartphones, computers and other Wi-Fi connected devices.

LG Electronics (LG) announced the beta opening of LG Cloud service on May 1 with the aim of providing seamless connectivity and streaming access to all digital content across various electronic devices. Although cloud is today's hottest IT buzzwords, LG Cloud is the first that allows users to manage and consume all types of content on "three screens" which includes Android smartphones, PCs and smart TVs (including but not limited to CINEMA 3D models) without a separate set-top box.

To use the service, users need to download the LG Cloud app from Google Play or LG SmartWorld app store from their Android smartphones, LG SmartWorld store from their LG Smart TVs or the LG Cloud website from their PCs or laptops. LG's Cloud service automatically synchronizes smartphone content with the cloud server and the user's PC and TV. Photos and videos taken with the smartphone can be viewed and streamed to the PC or TV almost instantaneously. Videos edited on a PC can be uploaded to LG Cloud for viewing seconds later on a smartphone. Unlike other cloud services, there's very little waiting or lag time since the content is streamed to the TV, PC or smartphone, not downloaded first.

An alleged marketing video of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680, slated for after launch, got leaked and uploaded to YouTube by an Italian-speaking YouTube user (going by the Italian used in the description). The part that makes it look genuine is it features NVIDIA's VP for Corporate Marketing Ujesh Desai, holding the graphics card, and detailing it. He claims that NVIDIA set out to build the fastest GPU - "and accomplished it." The entire bouquet of new features introduced with the GeForce GTX 680 has been disclosed in the video, to great detail.Watch the video (embedded from YouTube) after the break.

What would you do for an Ultrabook computer? That's the question Intel Corporation asks in Ultrabook Temptations, a series of six light-hearted experiments filmed in four cities across three countries and posted to YouTube today.

Sleek and stylish, Ultrabooks are a new category of computers inspired by Intel. They are the next generation of mobile computing -- thinner, lighter and more responsive than traditional laptops, yet just as powerful and secure.

"People are drawn to Ultrabooks. When you see one, you just want one," said Claudine Pache, digital marketing manager for Intel Australia and New Zealand. "We created the 'Ultrabook Temptations' to see just how far people would go to get their hands on one."

Later this year, Google will adopt a single privacy-policy system for all its services. Some of Google's most popular services, as some might recall, are built from acquisitions of other equally genius start-ups as itself (eg: YouTube), many of these services were allowed to retain the essential part of their old privacy policies. The unified policy, effective March 1, 2012, allows sharing of usage statistics between services, to provide a user experience that's consistent between all its services. It doesn't sound harmful enough, yet it has generated public paranoia that it would, in some way, make Google more invasive on people's privacy than it already is, by, you know...owning YouTube?

Microsoft was quick put on an angel's robe and cash in on this paranoia. In a newspaper ad (first image below is down-scaled, the second is original), Microsoft talked about how Google's One Policy, One Google, One Experience is designed to be invasive to people's privacy, and how it allows Google to connect the dots between everything you do or say, across Google's various services. Fair enough, but what should have concluded as a PSA by Microsoft, ended up in being an advertisement for its own portfolio of services that are "better for users", as they're not as invasive as Google's.A video detailing Google's One Policy update (by Google), follows.

Analysts from all over the world are questioning Google's new privacy settings being implemented on March 1. Google is going to be tying its services closer together then before by allowing the privacy setting to be shared across services.

By doing this It will also be able to implement a new search for registered users. Google has stated,"If you're signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries, or tailor your search results, based on the interests you've expressed in Google+, Gmail and YouTube" the firm said.

Critics like the UK's Information Commissioner's Office warned that any changes must be communicated to users. They are quoted as saying, "It is important that technology companies, such as Google, are aware of the privacy concerns that exist when behavioral advertising is used to target particular content at individuals. Failure to inform users about changes may not only lead to a loss of trust in the company, but could also mean that they are failing to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act," it warned.

The highly controversial SOPA & PIPA bills currently being rushed through Congress by Big Media are encountering ever more opposition from minor and major players alike, such as Google. Now gog.com, owned by parent company CD Projekt RED, has come out against these bills too and are one of many games companies to do so. They address the questions of "will it work?" and "will it stop piracy?" with the answers being sort-of and no.

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:

Welcome to the TechPowerUp 2011 PC technology Christmas special. We hope that you will enjoy reading it while tucking into your turkey, Christmas presents and a little too much wine... In this article, we go through the technology of 2011 that has had the most significance, the most impact and was generally the most talked about. It's not necessarily the best tech of 2011 which is the most significant though, since lemons can be just as significant as the ground-breakers in how they fail to deliver - and the backlash that goes with it.

January: Intel Sandy Bridge i5 & i7

Released on January 9th, the new Intel Core i5 & i7 processors were based on Intel's second generation Core architecture built on a 32 nm production process (HEXUS review). They included an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) physically on the same piece of silicon along with HyperThreading. These new dual and quad core processors soundly beat all previous generations of Intel processors in terms of processing performance, heat, power use, features and left AMD in the dust. Therefore, Intel badly needed some competition from AMD and unless you have been living under a rock, you will know how that turned out in October with the launch of Bulldozer. Sandy Bridge was a sound win and is generally considered to be the only architecture worth considering at this point. The i5-2500K is currently at the sweet spot of price/performance. It comes at a stock speed of 3.3 GHz, but typically overclocks to an amazing 4.5 - 5 GHz with a decent air cooler and without too much difficulty in getting there. Models in the budget i3 range were released at various times later. See this Wikipedia article for details.