Although at a much "smaller" scale, Raspberry Pi did to mini computers what iPad did to tablets (wake up a nearly dead product segment), and now a section of the market likes computers to be as small and potent as the ARM-driven Raspberry Pi. Although at a different end of the price and performance spectrum from the Raspberry Pi, Intel has reason to believe its NUC mini computer could achieve market success. NUC (Next Unit of Computing) is a mini box computer for the retail channel, which is roughly the size of a modern wireless router, but as powerful as a mainstream laptop.

The NUC owes its computing power to Intel Core i3/i5 "Sandy Bridge" dual-core processors (probably in the BGA-1023 package), with Intel HD 3000 graphics, and dual-channel DDR3 memory (SO-DIMMs). The logic board measures 100 x 100 mm, and has all the essential connectivity crammed into it, including umm...10 Gb/s Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n, and HDMI with multi-channel HD audio. This board is smaller than VIA's NANO-ITX (120 x 120 mm) form-factor. The rest of the ABS plastic enclosure's volume is spent housing the cooling assembly. Informed sources predict that while the NUC won't be priced in the hundereds or thousands of Dollars, it most certainly won't be priced at $25. A starting price of $100 seems realistic.

After last Monday's launch, Intel's new Core "Ivy Bridge" processors started selling in the retail channel, today. At least six quad-core models under Core i5 and Core i7 brand extensions were listed on US retailer Newegg.com, which included the Core i7-3770K (3.50 GHz, Unlocked) at US $349.99, Core i7-3770S (3.10 GHz) at $319.99, Core i7-3770 (3.40 GHz, locked) also at $319.99, Core i5-3570K (3.40 GHz, Unlocked) at $249.99, Core i5-3550 (3.40 GHz) at $219.99, Core i5-3450 (3.10 GHz) at $199.99, and Core i5-3450S (2.80 GHz) also at $199.99.

European cooling expert Phanteks expands its product portfolio with the PH-TC14CS C-Type CPU Cooler. The PH-TC14CS measures 160 x 151 x 140.5 mm ( with dual fans), it weighs 900 grams, has five nickel-plated 8mm copper heat-pipes, and supports the latest LGA 2011/ 1155/ 1156/ 1366/ 775 and AMD FM1/ AM3+/ AM3/ AM2/ 2+/ AM3 micro-processors. Featuring Phanteks patented Physical Antioxidant Thermal Shield ( P.A.T.S) and Cold Plasma Spraying Coating Technology (C.P.S.C), PH-TC14CS provides a perfect cooling solution for low profile setups. Enthusiasts with HTPC's or multimedia cases can achieve maximum cooling while maintaining quiet performance.

Joystiq is reporting that CCP Games, the developer behind EVE Online, has struck a deal with NVIDIA for players to use in-game currency -- PLEX -- to purchase GeForce 560 GTX graphics cards, which run almost $200 at retail. That's fake money for real items, folks. NVIDIA and CCP will start by selling 100 graphics cards (limit one per EVE account) to test the demand. After CCP announced its NVIDIA deal, the in-game price of PLEX jumped "significantly," CCP said. PLEX (Pilot License Extension) is an in-game currency that can be used to pay for 30-day EVE subscriptions. PLEX can be purchased with ISK, EVE's main currency that can be earned throughout the game, meaning some dedicated players end up with a free subscription each month. Now they may end up with a "free" graphics card as well.

It looks like murmurs about the $499 (excl. taxes) price-tag of GeForce GTX 680 have more than an element of truth in them, after all. European retailer PC Components listed an MSI-branded GeForce GTX 680 graphics card (model: N680GTX-PM2D2GD5) for 492€ (including VAT), and 416.95€ (excluding VAT). This reinforces the theory of a US $499 (excluding taxes) price-tag (including taxes price varies significantly between states and other US territories).

The listing also reveals the box-art of MSI's card, and various other features of the GeForce GTX 680, such as NVIDIA GPU Boost Technology, NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround (with the ability to connect all three displays to a single graphics card), clock speeds of 1006 MHz (core) 1056 MHz (boost), 1502 MHz (6.00 GHz GDDR5 effective memory), 2 GB memory, and 195W TDP.Find the listing here.

UK retail chain GAME, which sells well - games and gaming hardware, with presence in the UK, several European countries, and Australia, filed for administration. The retail chain has been seeing a few harsh months, it was unable to strike distribution deals with Capcom and EA, which contributed to a drop in its share value on the London Stock Exchange.

In a press-release dated today, GAME says "Further to this morning's announcement of the suspension of trading in shares of GAME Group plc, the board has concluded that its discussions with all stakeholders and other parties have not made sufficient progress in the time available to offer a realistic prospect for a solvent solution for the business. The board has therefore today filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator. In the short term the Board's intention is that the business will continue to trade and discussions with lenders and third parties will continue under the protection of the interim moratorium."

Last week, a Dutch store solicited pre-orders of ZOTAC GeForce GTX 680 for a brief period, before redacting the sale page. It was priced at 507.18€ (incl. taxes). US retailer Bottom Line Telecommunications, listed ASUS GeForce GTX 680 on its online store (shopBLT). Carrying the part number GTX680-2GD5, this card is priced at US $566.75. The part that makes this a pre-order is that the sale page mentions that "You may order this product regardless of availability," it would be shipped as soon as it's available (after it's launched, of course). The page doesn't tell us anything about the GTX 680 that we don't already know.Find the listing here.

According to MCV a major UK High Street retailer has mentioned two new titles for the first time. Firstly, it suggests that Warner Bros' upcoming summer movie hit The Dark Knight Rises will be accompanied by a video game tie-in. Furthermore, owing to the nature of the in formation MCV obtained, it suggests a physical release rather than a smaller-scale digital title. Also on the list is a game called Battlefield Evolved. No further details are known. With EA planning a big push for Medal of Honor: Warfighter this Q4, a fully-fledged Battlefield release seems unlikely. It may be that the SKU includes Battlefield 3 and all of its DLC. Both games are supposedly scheduled for the autumn.

A prominent retailer started quoting prices for bundles of next-generation "Ivy Bridge" Core processors and motherboards based on Intel 7-series chipset. The table below reveals prices in Singapore Dollars (SGD) of a large number of board+processor combinations. The table includes current-generation "Sandy Bridge" Core processors and 6-series chipset motherboards, too, as the platforms are inter-compatible (you can run Ivy Bridge processors on 6-series chipset motherboards, and Sandy Bridge processors on 7-series chipset motherboards).

Visa Inc. and Intel Corporation today announced a strategic agreement to develop mobile commerce solutions tailored to consumers in developed and developing countries. During a press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the companies outlined plans to collaborate to ensure consumers enjoy a consistent, streamlined, secure mobile commerce experience across Intel Atom-based smartphones and tablets.

"Visa's agreement with Intel paves the way for financial institutions around the globe to offer their account holders mobile payments and financial services using innovative mobile devices and technologies designed by Intel," said John Partridge, President, Visa Inc. during the press conference. "This is another example of how Visa is making mobile payments broadly available across devices and operating systems and is ensuring that mobile commerce applications are aligned with existing technology and security standards established by the global payments industry."

One of Europe's biggest retailers of enthusiast PC parts, Caseking.de, has reportedly struck a deal that will see it take over Overclockers UK (OCUK). OCUK has been among Britain's biggest retailers of interest to PC enthusiasts, dealing with performance computer hardware apart from enthusiast parts (cooling, casing, accessories, etc.). This takeover will affect 40 members of staff at OCUK. The value of the final deal has not been disclosed by either side. eTeknix estimates it to be "less than €50 million". The Caseking staff we contacted refused to comment, saying they cannot comment on such internal operations. The deal is said to have been struck in early February, though both companies are keeping mum about it, perhaps waiting for the right moment to make the big announcement.

The first of many retail listings for the 7950 are up today thanks to the online distributer PROVANTAGE. Not much is known but the high retail price of $481.58. Time will tell if this is just the normal mark up for a pre-release item or if this is in fact retail. Ironically the picture they display is that of a ATI HD4850. The listed specs are as follows: HD 7950 3072MB DDR5 384BIT PCI Express DVI.