Archive

Raspberry Pi Pricing Updates published

Andrew Edney

-

Mar 13, 2012

The Raspberry Pi guys have today posted an update on pricing for the Raspberry Pi model B devices.

This is what the Raspberry Pi guys said:

In response to your request for a breakdown of the RS prices and shipping across the world for Raspberry Pi Model B….

With demand running at such a high level, and in an effort to keep things as simple as possible, RS have decided to set a single global price and a single global delivery charge! This should help you communicate to the Raspberry Pi community very clearly.

We will allow all orders to be placed on our website using this universal pricing mechanism, which will ensure that we ship on a first-come first-served basis to everyone that has registered, in the order that they registered with RS following the launch on 29^th Feb. It will also enable us to ship one Raspberry Pi to each customer who places their order, until availability eases and we can ship multiple Pi’s to anyone requesting more. We will be in contact with our registered customers with instructions on how to place their orders over the next few days, as we will soon be able to provide accurate availability information based upon volume manufacturing.

So, in every country that we are legally able to ship to, where we are not restricted from selling to private individuals*, we will apply the following universal £GBP selling price, shipping charges and VAT:

Raspberry Pi Model B = £21.60

+ Shipping Charge = £4.95 (this shipping charge also covers any accessories ordered to be shipped with a Raspberry Pi – Customers will only pay ONE charge of £4.95 per shipment)

VAT @20% = £5.31

(Liz edit: if you’re in the EU but outside the UK, your VAT may be calculated differently. Outside the EU you will not pay VAT, but will still have to pay any local sales and import taxes.)

Total inc VAT and shipping = £31.86

PAYMENT: We will accept payment via PayPal and Credit Cards. Any customer ordering with a credit card will be charged in local currency by the bank issuing the credit card, in accordance with the bank’s exchange rate policy.

The single Shipping Charge of £4.95 will apply to all orders and will also include any Raspberry Pi accessories ordered from RS at the same time as the Raspberry Pi Model B board (eg. Memory Card, Power Supply, Cables, Keyboard, Mouse etc.). We will not charge a further shipping charge for any accessories that are ordered and shipped with the Raspberry Pi board.

* – Currently we are restricted in selling to private individuals in Austria only.
[ADDENDUM : This means the only place individuals cannot buy from RS is Austria.]

Did you manage to get one? Let us know! Mine is coming in May apparently!

Sky+ app for Android Updated to version 2.1.8

Andrew Edney

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Mar 13, 2012

0

Sky+ app for Android Updated to version 2.1.8

The Sky+ app for Android has been updated and includes some graphic enhancements.

The latest Sky+ App ensures you never miss the latest and greatest TV.

For a start, there’s a full Seven Day TV Listing Guide that presents all your favourite channels.

And for shows that are simply unmissable, we’ve now introduced Series Link for mobile. This ever-so-useful function lets you record entire seasons of favourite shows to your compatible Sky+ HD box. And all with just a few finger taps.

In the app’s Showcase section you’ll find the top TV picks of the week – whether it’s a movie premiere, a big match or a new must-see drama.

Now & Next shows you what’s on and what’s coming up. And beneath individual Programme Details you’ll find Other Airings (which tells you when else a favourite programme is on air) plus alternative programmes you may like.

The Sky+ App also lets you group channel Favourites together to create your very own personal TV guide. Recording couldn’t be easier – you just tap on the Record button alongside your chosen programme and the request will go straight to your Sky+ box. What’s more, the app allows you to record from anywhere in the world.

What’s new in 2.1.8:

7 day listings are now accessed via the new Calendar icon on the top toolbar
Navigation improved for TV guide and Now & Next
Graphic enhancements
Minor bug fixes

Download now from Google Play

Android 4.0 Rolling out to Samsung Galaxy S II next week

Andrew Edney

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Mar 13, 2012

0

Android 4.0 Rolling out to Samsung Galaxy S II next week

Samsung have today confirmed that Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will be rolling out to the Galaxy S II next week!

This is what Samsung posted:

Samsung UK can confirm that the roll out of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) on Galaxy S II will be available from week commencing 19th March, however the availability of software upgrades in the UK will be dependent upon each network’s own software approvals process. ICS for GALAXY Note, GALAXY S II LTE, GALAXY Tab 8.9 and 10.1 will follow soon.

Do you have the Galaxy S II? Let us know when you get ICS!

Plex for Google TV gets updated

Andrew Edney

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Mar 13, 2012

0

The guys over at Plex have updated their Plex for Google TV app.

This is part of what they said:

The home page is divided into two parts – on the left are the movie, TV shows, photo and music sections that you added to the media server during setup. You’ll also see sections for recently used channels, your myPlex queue as well as sections others are sharing with you. The right side will show you details as you flip through items on the left. Plex shows you the most important information from each section so that you spend less time looking for media and more time enjoying it. Here for example is the TV section.

There are two panels shown for TV shows. The bottom panel shows the most recently added episodes. The top ‘On Deck’ panel keeps track of where you are in each TV series you’ve been watching, so that you can quickly and easily pick up where you left off. ‘On Deck’ is cool for those of us (like me) that can’t remember where we left the remote, let alone what episode of each TV series we were on. As you watch each episode, Plex keeps track, so when you’re finished watching the ‘On Deck’ section will update with the next episode if it’s available in your media library.

To read the rest, click here.

If you have tried it let us know your thoughts.

ZOTAC Announces GeForce GTX 560 SE graphics card

News
Tech

Andrew Edney

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Mar 13, 2012

0

ZOTAC Announces GeForce GTX 560 SE graphics card

ZOTAC today announced the GeForce® GTX 560 SE. The new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560 SE gives gamers a taste of stunning 1080p gaming on a budget.

“1080p resolution displays and Microsoft® DirectX® 11-enabled titles are affordable and become quite popular among gamers. Our new ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 560 SE provides an excellent value for gamers that want to get their feet wet with 1080p and DirectX® 11 gaming,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

Packing 288 unified shaders and 1GB of video memory, the ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 560 SE shreds through the latest Microsoft® DirectX® 11 titles with blazing-fast frame rates and dazzling eye-candy for an out-of-this world gaming experience on a budget.

Details

· New ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 560 SE graphics card

· NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 SE GPU

· Engine clock: 746 MHz

· 288 unified shaders

· Shader clock: 1,492 MHz

· 1GB GDDR5 memory

· Memory clock: 3828 MHz

· 192-bit memory interface

· Dual DVI, HDMI & DisplayPort outputs

· DirectX® 11 technology & Shader Model 5.0

· OpenGL® 4.2 compatible

· Hardware-accelerated Full HD video playback

· Blu-ray 3D ready

· Loss-less audio bitstream capable

· TrackMania 2 Canyon 3-Day Game Pass included

Specifications

Product Name	ZOTAC® GeForce® GTX 560 SE
GPU	NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 SE
Engine Clock speed	746 MHz
Unified Shaders	288
Shader Clock	1492 MHz
Memory Clock speed	3828 MHz
Memory	1GB GDDR5
Memory interface	192-bit
Display Outputs	Dual DVI, HDMI & DisplayPort
HDCP	Yes
Cooling	With fan (dual-slot)
DirectX^® version	DirectX^® 11 with Shader Model 5.0
Other hardware features	Hardware accelerated Blu-ray 3D ready
Software Features	Hardware Video Decode Acceleration Technology, NVIDIA^® CUDA^™ technology, OpenGL^® 4.2
Windows 7 capability	Windows® 7 with DirectCompute support

HP unveil new Pavilion Notebook PCs

Andrew Edney

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Mar 13, 2012

1

Today saw HP unveil some new Pavilion notebooks.

Here is the press release:

HP today unveiled Pavilion notebook PCs that delight users with new styles and enhanced features. The updated consumer notebooks PCs reflect HP’s new Mosaic design approach, ensuring that each HP notebook, while individually unique, breathes a common design DNA.

The Mosaic approach is an extension of the MUSE (materials, usability, sensory appeal and experience) design philosophy, introduced in May 2010. Mosaic fuses together the multi-faceted elements of MUSE, including rich colours, premium materials and purposeful shapes, to form one comprehensive design language that spans the consumer notebook portfolio. Similar to a mosaic art piece, each HP notebook line represents a small piece of the canvas that, when combined, builds into a beautiful picture of the HP product family.

HP Pavilion g-series notebook PCs – simple yet distinct

Inspired by close connections and interlocking layers, the redesigned HP Pavilion g6 and g7 feature curved, beveled edges with elements of precision. Available in sparkling black, winter blue and ruby red, the g-series is characterised by its comfort and style, with a set of delicate details to make the products stand out. A bowl-shape keyboard deck with island style keyboard and numeric keypad alongside a textured touchpad with bowl-set curvature define the series’ distinct form. The HP g6 and g7 notebooks allow users to enjoy everyday computing with a series of advanced extras, integrated HP Webcam, Dolby Advanced Audio and Altec Lansing speakers and USB 3.0 for faster file transfers.

The g-series audio experience is enhanced with both design and functional elements. A chrome strip bordering the speaker serves as a visual cue for audio, while the exposed speaker bar provides better sound projection.

HP Pavilion dv-series notebook PCs – powerful yet graceful

Influenced by kinetic energy with its tapered chassis and slim top view, the new HP Pavilion dv6 and dv7 boast a brushed aluminum metal finish and an infinity waterfall edge. The sleek dv-series comes in a chic midnight black colour and thanks to the soft-touch bottom panel, it conforms comfortably to the hand, making it easy to hold. Experience sound like never before with Beats Audio™ technology and four internal speakers. An exposed speaker bar integrated with the display further magnifies the dv-series’ audio experience, projecting sound directly towards the user.

Both the g-series and the dv-series come with HP CoolSense, helping your notebook to operate at a lower temperature, even when running demanding programs and HP ProtectSmart to protect your hard drive should your notebook receive a potentially damaging impact. The dv-series also comes with the HP SimplePass innovation which allows for fingerprint identification for notebook user profiles.

The redesigned HP notebooks with Mosaic design elements are expected to be available on in store at the end of April.

– HP Pavilion g6 and g7 will have a starting price of £399.

– HP Pavilion dv6 and dv7 will have a starting price of £599.

Twonky Mobile app for iPhone updated to version 2.1.3

Apple
News

Andrew Edney

-

Mar 13, 2012

0

Twonky Mobile app for iPhone updated to version 2.1.3

The Twonky Mobile app for the iPhone has been updated to version 2.1.3 bringing with it some improvements and fixes.

Twonky Mobile lets your iPhone become the ultimate remote control. Find media on your network, such as the music, photos and videos stored on your computer, and play them on your phone or beam them to your TV or other network-connected media player (e.g. DLNA, Airplay device). Select your media library and player, and then queue your media for instant playback. You can also access photos, videos and music stored on your iPhone from most networked-connected screens, or beam them to supported devices.

What’s New in Version 2.1.3

• Improvements for local library discovery
• Updated naming convention for local video and photo files
• Fix for album cover art
• New video thumbnail support

Download from the Apple App Store

Sky News iOS App updated to version 2.0

Apple
News

Andrew Edney

-

Mar 13, 2012

0

The Sky News app for the iPad and iPhone has been updated to version 2.0 bringing with it a brand new design!

With over 3 million downloads, the award-winning Sky News mobile app is now even better, with added depth on big breaking news stories.

Delve deeper with image galleries, live blogs, graphs and interactive pictures, all made exclusively for the iPhone.

You can read all the top stories from the newsroom with sections for UK News, World News, Politics, Business, Showbiz, Strange News, and a new Technology News section.

Key features:
– Enjoy a whole new level of depth on the main stories of the day with content made exclusively for the iPhone
– Live TV over 3G and WiFi
– Headlines, showbiz and weather bulletins
– A new technology news section
– Send your breaking news story directly into the Sky Newsroom via Your Report
– Swipe between articles and categories

What’s New in Version 2.0

The latest version of Sky News includes the following new features:
– Brand new design
– Articles are now supplemented with image galleries, timelines, live blogs, graphs and interactive pictures to allow you to delve deeper into the key news stories
– A new technology news section
– Support for swiping between articles and categories

Download from the Apple App Store

WindowSMART 2012 Beta version 2.2.3.12 available

Andrew Edney

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Mar 13, 2012

0

WindowSMART 2012 Beta version 2.2.3.12 available

WindowSMART 2012 is a SMART client for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It has just been updated to beta version 2.2.3.12 “Red Jumpsuit Apparatus”.

WindowSMART 2012 is a SMART disk monitoring for Windows Vista, 7, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2. Its function is nearly identical to the Windows Home Server add-in Home Server SMART 2012, and they share about 90% of the same code.

WindowSMART 2012 consists of two main components, a user interface and a service. The user interface is where you can see the health of your disks, view detailed analysis and configure settings. The service, on the other hand, runs continuously, monitoring your disks at pre-determined intervals (default 10 minutes; you can change this). The service can send email notifications when problems are detected. You do no need to be logged into the computer for the service to run.

Features in WindowSMART 2012

NEW Instant notification on iOS devices using Prowl
NEW Instant notification on Android devices using Notify My Android
Solid State Disk support – HSS can report correct SMART data for the following SSD controller manufacturers (note this is being tested by the community)
- Indilinx (seen in Crucial and Corsair)
- Indilinx Everest (seen in OCZ Octane)
- Intel
- SandForce (seen in Kingston, OCZ, Patriot)
- STEC
Works with disk pooling software Drive Bender and StableBit DrivePool.
- Default setting not only ignores virtual disks, but hides them from the UI (since they have no SMART data anyway).
You can ignore individual problems on disks and also un-ignore (resume) them, either on an individual basis or for all problems on all disks.
You can ignore entire disks (and resume them as well) – useful for hiding flash drives and media card readers, as well as disks that you know are showing incorrect information (rare, but it’s been reported).
Improved the ability to stop, start and restart the service.
Shut down or reboot your computer from within the UI.
Send alerts via email.
Bug Report Helper – runs a small self-test to detect installation problems and provide details to help in troubleshooting.
Continuous disk health monitoring by an always-on service.
- Monitors health of attributes and will generate alerts when a failure condition (threshold is met or exceeded) is detected.
- Monitors disk temperature and airflow temperature, and generates alerts when unacceptable temperatures are detected (airflow temperature is flagged in HSS 2012 only).
Customizeable temperature thresholds for Warm, Hot, Overheated and Critical.
Temperature display can be shown in Celsius (default), Fahrenheit and Kelvin.
Proactive alerting when changes occur on certain “super critical” attributes such as bad sectors, spin retries and end-to-end errors, even if they have not actually “failed.”
List of physical disks shows status icons for an “at-a-glance” view of disk health.
Each attribute shows a colored icon in addition to a status message relative to its health.
Double-click any SMART attribute to learn more about that attribute on the selected disk.
Supports most IDE/PATA and SATA controllers that expose SMART data via standard Win32 IOCTL calls or WMI.
Supports most USB and FireWire enclosures that expose SMART data via standard Win32 IOCTL calls.
Allows you to clean up data from “stale” disks — disks you’ve removed from the server.
Allows you to perform a manual polling of the disks for the latest data, rather than waiting for the service to poll them again.

Learn more and download the beta from here

StableBit Scanner 2.0 for Windows Home Server 2011 Beta Updated to 2.0.0.1282

Andrew Edney

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Mar 13, 2012

0

StableBit Scanner 2.0 for Windows Home Server 2011 Beta Updated to 2.0.0.1282

StableBit Scanner 2.0 for Windows Home Server 2011 is now available in beta and has been updated to version 2.0.0.1282.

An advanced hard disk surface scanner, monitor and more.

Monitors all your hard drives and ensures that every bit holding your precious data is readable.

2.0.0.1282 ———-

* Do not show / scan Covecube virtual disks.

* Do not show / scan VHD virtual disks.

* Updated to licensing 2.0.

* Enabled SAT for non-USB drives.

* Added Background I/O option to scan settings.

Download the latest beta version from here

AMD Catalyst Software Suite Version 12.2 Released

News
Tech

Andrew Edney

-

Mar 13, 2012

0

AMD Catalyst Software Suite Version 12.2 Released

This morning my computer told me about an update for the AMD Catalyst Software Suite – taking it to version 12.2.

This is what is included in this update:

NEW FEATURES

Windows 7 and Windows Vista support for the AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series

Enables support for Windows 7 64-bit/32-bit and Windows Vista 64-bit/32-bit.
Windows XP support will be made available in AMD Catalyst 12.4.

IMPROVEMENTS

Super Sampling Anti-Aliasing is now available for DirectX® 10 and DirectX 11 applications

Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 7900 and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series.
Users can now enable Super Sample Anti-Aliasing and Adaptive Anti-Aliasing through the AMD Catalyst Control Center for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications.
Applications must support in game Anti-Aliasing for the feature to work (Forced on Anti-Aliasing through the Catalyst Control Center is not supported for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications).

AMD Eyefinity 2.1 technology enhancements

Custom resolutions – users can now choose from a much larger set of display resolutions for their AMD Eyefinity configurations.
Dynamic Configuration Changes: Switching between different display configurations (when physically plugging/un-plugging displays) will occur automatically by loading the appropriate profile.
HydraVision enhancements: The Windows Task bar can now be moved and resized based on users preference.
Profile Manager improvements: Users can now create multiple Display profiles, enabling users to seamlessly switch between various AMD Eyefinity and Display Configurations.

RESOLVED ISSUES

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 12.2 software suite for Windows 7. These include:

Random texture flickering is no longer experienced when playing Tom Clancy HAWX with Crossfire™ and Eyefinity enabled.
Random texture flickering is no longer experienced when playing Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 3 in a Tri-Crossfire setup.
Random texture flickering is no longer experienced when playing Dragon Age 2 with Crossfire and Vsync enabled.
Skipping the in-game cinematics when running Dragon Age 2 in DirectX 11 mode no longer causes random stuttering.
The Battleforge DirectX 10.0 benchmark no longer experiences intermittent crashes when run in Tri-Crossfire mode.
Random flickering is no longer observed when playing Battlefield – Bad Company 2 in DirectX 11 mode.
Playing back h.264 interlaced BluRay content no longer displays intermittent green flashing.
The system no longer experiences random hangs when playing back BluRay 3D content in Duplicate mode.
Starcraft II no longer experiences random system crashes when exiting a campaign in certain Crossfire configurations.
Batman – Arkam City no longer experiences intermittent system crashes when run in DirectX 11 mode.
Changing Crossfire settings no longer causes a random system crash.
A system crash is no longer experienced when playing Rage with Crossfire enabled.
Crysis Warhead and Battlefield – Bad Company II no longer experience random crashes in certain Crossfire configurations.
Playback of BluRay 3D content now correctly uses hardware acceleration.
Random texture corruption is no longer displayed when playing Dirt III in DirectX 11 mode and with anisotropic filtering applied.

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 12.2 software suite for Windows 7. These include:

Windows Aero options are available after installing the driver.
Background textures in World of Warcraft Cataclysm no longer experience random flickering in some Crossfire and Eyefinity configurations.

KNOWN ISSUES
Known issues under the Windows 7 operating system

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows 7 operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst. These include:

Alan Wake – Enabling CrossfireX can cause corruptions or hangs. This issue will be fixed in AMD Catalyst 12.3
Elder Scrolls – Image corruption can be be seen with Anti-Aliasing enabled on speciic AMD graphics hardware. This issue will be fixed in AMD Catalyst 12.3
Vsync may be disabled after task switching when playing Rage.
A black screen may be displayed when running Civilization V in certain Eyefinity configurations.
Playing Far Cry 2 at high in game settings may generate a system hang.
Poor performance may be experience when playing Dirt 3 in DirectX 11 mode at low resolutions with Crossfire enabled.

Known issues under the Windows XP operating system

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows XP operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst. These include:

The system may hand when playing Dirt 3 at maximum in-game settings.

For the complete list of updates, fixes and changes, click here.

Apple Updates Safari to version 5.1.4

Apple
News

Andrew Edney

-

Mar 13, 2012

0

Apple have justed updated it’s Safari browser to version 5.1.4 bringing with it an nubmer of fixes.

Screen Shot 2012 03 13 at 06 48 21

Safari 5.1.4 contains improvements to performance, stability, compatibility, and security, including changes that:

Improve JavaScript performance
Improve responsiveness when typing into the search field after changing network configurations or with an intermittent network connection
Address an issue that could cause webpages to flash white when switching between Safari windows
Address issues that prevented printing U.S. Postal Service shipping labels and embedded PDFs
Preserve links in PDFs saved from webpages
Fix an issue that could make Flash content appear incomplete after using gesture zooming
Fix an issue that could cause the screen to dim while watching HTML5 video
Improve stability, compatibility and startup time when using extensions
Allow cookies set during regular browsing to be available after using Private Browsing
Fix an issue that could cause some data to be left behind after pressing the “Remove All Website Data” button

Review of the Buffalo USB 3.0 PCI Express Interface Card

Reviews
Tech

Andrew Edney

-

Mar 12, 2012

2

Review of the Buffalo USB 3.0 PCI Express Interface Card

If you want to use USB 3.0 devices but your computer doesn’t have USB 3.0, then you might want to get yourself a USB 3.0 PCI Express Interface Card, if your computer supports it. Here we review the Buffalo card.

The Buffalo USB 3.0 PCI Express Interface Card (IFC-PCIE2U3) upgrades your PC to USB 3.0 – the next generation of high-speed interfaces that offer SuperSpeed data transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps, 10 times faster than standard USB 2.0.

Who are Buffalo?

From their website:

Buffalo is a global manufacturer of innovative storage, multimedia, and wireless networking products for the home and small business. The company is recognised as the Number 1 total PC peripheral manufacturer in Japan, and was the worldwide consumer NAS market leader in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (In-Stat).

The company’s storage products are addressing the needs of the individual and the business, providing cost-effective network attached storage (NAS), portable and desktop hard drives, multimedia players, Wireless LAN routers and a versatile line of USB flash drives, which together offer a complete and integrated solution for the small office and digital home environment.

Buffalo’s product portfolio includes its TeraStation NAS devices which are specifically designed to bring Enterprise storage to the SMB. The LinkStation range of NAS products, takes multimedia NAS to the home. The LinkStation Live & Mini enables you to create a central location to store files, photos and music, simply and easily. The Nfiniti™ range of easy-to-use, high performance wireless networking products for the SMB/SoHo and home user, with industry-leading AOSS™ (AirStation One-Touch Secure System) technology, allows users to build and manage secure wireless networks at home or in the office at the push of a button.

Buffalo’s strong international industry alliances with companies such as Intel, Broadcom™, Nintendo and Microsoft have allowed it to lead the industry in the development of the latest technologies into practical tools for the business and
the home.

Headquartered in Japan, Buffalo Technology has offices in the UK, France, The Netherlands, Germany, USA and Taiwan.

Specifications

What’s in the box?

The box contains the interface card, a driver CD, quick setup guide and a power cable.

A Closer Look

Using the Card

Before you can use the card you need to install the drivers. Pop in the CD and start the installation.

Follow through the few simple steps to get the card installed.

And that’s it – all you have to do now is connect a USB 3.0 device and away you go!

Final Thoughts

As someone who uses external hard drives a lot, for me, the faster the better, and so if I want the fastest (USB) that I can get today I am going to need USB 3.0 but none of my hardware has USB 3.0 ports. So this little ExpressCard adaptor is perfect for my “portable” needs. And it even has 2 USB 3.0 ports on it!

It was very easy to install the drivers and was ready to go in only a few minutes.

Just remember before you go out and buy one of these that your laptop needs to have an ExpressCard slot or it wont work!

Price wise, this retails for around £30, although as usual have a good look around online as will be able to find it cheaper.

Learn more from the Buffalo website

Battlefield 3 Close Quarters expansion pack coming soon

Gaming
News

Andrew Edney

-

Mar 12, 2012

2

Battlefield 3 Close Quarters expansion pack coming soon

If you are a fan of Battlefield 3, then you might be interested in the new themed expansion pack Close Quarters.

This is what they posted on their blog:

In June, take the battle indoors with our new themed expansion pack Battlefield 3: Close Quarters! This will be followed by all-out vehicle warfare in Battlefield 3: Armored Kill, featuring the biggest map in Battlefield history. Read on for the very first details about these upcoming expansion packs and more.We are happy to announce the first details on our June expansion pack Battlefield 3: Close Quarters. As the battlefield moves indoors, we will drop you into frantic and relentless infantry combat where the tight level design and vertical gameplay creates a highly competitive environment.By introducing high definition destruction, everything from furniture to plaster can be shot to pieces, and rubble and broken pieces will pile up on the floor as the battle rages on. Like all of our themed expansion packs, this is much more than just new maps, as we also include new weapons, Assignments, and dog tags to bring back to the base game — much in the same way as we did for Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand.But we’re not stopping there. This fall will see some truly epic all-out vehicle warfare in our third expansion pack, Battlefield 3: Armored Kill. Featuring new drivable tanks, ATV’s, mobile artillery, and more — and to top it off, the biggest map in Battlefield history.We also have a fourth expansion pack lined up for you: Battlefield 3: End Game, but details about that one remain tightly guarded for now. In addition to these three expansion packs and our upcoming Spring update, we will also add a much requested feature: a fully integrated rent-a-server program for console players. We will detail this program fully later, closer to launch.

Are you a fan of Battlefield 3? Let us know what you think.