Apple introduces Developer ID and Gatekeeper for Mac OS X Mountain Lion

Andrew Edney
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0
Apple introduces Developer ID and Gatekeeper for Mac OS X Mountain Lion

Apple have started contacting developers and advising them to join their Mac Developer Program by introducing Developer ID and their new Gatekeeper feature in OS X Mountain Lion.

Gatekeeper

The Mac App Store is the safest place for users to get software for their Mac, but we also want to protect users when they get applications from other places. Gatekeeper is a new feature in OS X Mountain Lion that helps protect users from downloading and installing malicious software. Signing your applications, plug-ins, and installer packages with a Developer ID certificate lets Gatekeeper verify that they are not known malware and have not been tampered with.

Mac Developer Program members can sign applications with their Developer ID now to get ready for Gatekeeper. If you’re not already a member, join the Mac Developer Program today.

QNAP Adds Peripherals to Compatibility List

Jim McCarthy
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0
QNAP Adds Peripherals to Compatibility List

QNAP today added two Toshiba hard drives and some back up applications to the compatibility list for QNAP hardware today.  Read on for details.

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QNAP added two Toshiba drives and some back up applications to their compatibility list.  Here is the news release:

QNAP Expands its Turbo NAS Peripherals Compatibility List, Adding Two New 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drives and Five 3rd Party Backup Applications
Taipei, Taiwan, April 30, 2012 – QNAP®Systems, Inc. is extending the number of compatible peripherals for its Turbo NAS products. The additions, including two 3.5-inch internal hard drives and five 3rd party backup applications, are now fully compatible. The expanded peripherals compatibility is expected to give users greater convenience and deployment flexibility.The compatible 3.5-inch internal hard drives are listed below:

· Toshiba® MK1002TSKB, MK2002TSKB

The compatible 3rd party backup applications are listed below:

· Retrospect® Retrospect 9, Retrospect 7.7

· Rectiphy® ActiveImage Protector 3.1

· Symantec® Backup Exec 2012

· Acronis® Backup & Recovery 11

Visit www.qnap.com for more information.

About QNAP Systems, Inc.

QNAP Systems, Inc. is a privately held company founded in 2004 and is dedicated to bringing world class NAS storage, professional NVR video surveillance, and network video players to consumer, small/medium business, and entry level enterprise market segments. QNAP leverages not only hardware design but also a growing core competency in software engineering that is precisely focused on bringing to market products that offer the highest available performance coupled with outstanding reliability, scalability, and ease of installation and use. QNAP is a multi-national company with headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, and subsidiary offices in China and the United States.

 

The Toshiba drives are enterprise drives with 7200 RPM speeds, SATA 3.0 interfaces and 1TB and 2TB sizes, respectively.  The 1TB drive currently sells for $132 on Newegg, and the 2TB drive sells for $299.

The five backup applications are normally found in many current IT shops, so adding backup applications that are widely deployed in business settings only helps with disaster recovery credibility in the SMB.

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft announce new strategic partnership called Newco; includes NOOK app for Windows 8

Andrew Edney
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0

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft today announced the formation of a strategic partnership in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary, which will build upon the history of strong innovation in digital reading technologies from both companies.

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This is the press release with more details:

The partnership will accelerate the transition to e-reading, which is revolutionizing the way people consume, create, share and enjoy digital content.

The new subsidiary, referred to in this release as Newco, will bring together the digital and College businesses of Barnes & Noble. Microsoft will make a $300 million investment in Newco at a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion in exchange for an approximately 17.6% equity stake. Barnes & Noble will own approximately 82.4% of the new subsidiary, which will have an ongoing relationship with the company’s retail stores. Barnes & Noble has not yet decided on the name of Newco.

One of the first benefits for customers will be a NOOK application for Windows 8, which will extend the reach of Barnes & Noble’s digital bookstore by providing one of the world’s largest digital catalogues of e-Books, magazines and newspapers to hundreds of millions of Windows customers in the U.S. and internationally.

The inclusion of Barnes & Noble’s College business is an important component of Newco’s strategic vision. Through the newly formed Newco, Barnes & Noble’s industry leading NOOK Study software will provide students and educators the preeminent technology platform for the distribution and management of digital education materials in the market.

“The formation of Newco and our relationship with Microsoft are important parts of our strategy to capitalize on the rapid growth of the NOOK business, and to solidify our position as a leader in the exploding market for digital content in the consumer and education segments,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “Microsoft’s investment in Newco, and our exciting collaboration to bring world-class digital reading technologies and content to the Windows platform and its hundreds of millions of users, will allow us to significantly expand the business.”

“The shift to digital is putting the world’s libraries and newsstands in the palm of every person’s hand, and is the beginning of a journey that will impact how people read, interact with, and enjoy new forms of content,” said Andy Lees, President at Microsoft. “Our complementary assets will accelerate e-reading innovation across a broad range of Windows devices, enabling people to not just read stories, but to be part of them. We’re at the cusp of a revolution in reading.”

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have settled their patent litigation, and moving forward, Barnes & Noble and Newco will have a royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products. This paves the way for both companies to collaborate and reach a broader set of customers.

This is a very interesting move, and I look forward to seeing more of this in the near future. What do you think?

Ceton Companion Apps & Extender Beta Announcement

Andrew Edney
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0
Ceton Companion Apps & Extender Beta Announcement

Today saw Ceton make two announcements – one on the availability of their Companion Apps and the other about an Extender beta.

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This is what Ceton posted:

Today we are pleased to make two announcements. First is that the Ceton Companion App will be available to ALL Windows Media Center (Windows 7) users. There is no need for new hardware and will simply plug in to your current HTPC. Second is that registration has opened for both the Ceton Companion Apps for Windows Media Center and the Ceton Extender for Windows Media Center. Simply head over to http://beta.cetoncorp.com and fill out the registration form and you will automatically be entered into a chance to participate in the Ceton Companion Apps beta. Selection will take place on or before May 25th and you will receive an email with information as to how to participate in the beta program. Additionally when you register for the Companion Apps beta you also have the ability to register for the Ceton Extender beta. Selection for the Ceton Extender beta will take place on or before July 15th.

Ceton Companion Apps Features:

  • Multiple platforms
    • iPhone (iOS 4.1+)
    • Android (2.2+)
    • Windows Phone 7 (Mango)
  • Works on any Windows 7 HTPC
  • Browse all of your media center libraries
    • Videos
    • Music
    • Photos
    • Movies
  • Start playback of content on multiple devices
  • Manage and Schedule Recordings
  • Rich meta data for Movies and Television
  • Browse Premieres of upcoming television shows
  • Universally search movies, TV, guide, and more.
  • A whole lot more!

Throughout our Beta process we want to hear back from you our customers. We are extremely interested in your likes, dislikes, feature requests, and just about anything else you want to tell us. We will be sending out surveys each week that will help in making the best mobile applications that we can for you!

So go and register now!!! http://beta.cetoncorp.com

Skype for iPhone and iPad Updated to version 4.0

Andrew Edney
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0
Skype for iPhone and iPad Updated to version 4.0

The Skype app for the iPhone and iPad has been updated to version 4.0, bringing with it some bug fixes and improvements.

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What’s New in Version 4.0

This version works on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad and iPod touch. Skype requires iPhone OS version 4.3 or above.

-New feature: ability to move own video preview
-App auto restarts if unexpectedly shut down
-Improved accessibility
-Improved stability
-Updated design for contacts and messages
-New sign in screen
-Other minor UI improvements
-Bug fixes

Download now from the Apple App Store

CyberLink PowerDVD Remote app for Android updated; brings support for Android 4.0

Andrew Edney
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0
CyberLink PowerDVD Remote app for Android updated; brings support for Android 4.0

The CyberLink PowerDVD Remote app for Android has been updated to version 2.0.2820.

PowerDVD remote

PowerDVD Remote FREE by CyberLink turns your Android phone or tablet into a remote control for PowerDVD. You can also use PowerDVD Remote to wirelessly send, playback and save content from your smart device to your PC!

If you like to connect your PC up to your TV so you can watch your movies on a bigger screen, then PowerDVD Remote lets you control everything from the comfort of your couch.

Via Wi-Fi you have total control over your Blu-ray Discs, DVD titles and high-definition videos as well as the music and photo playback features in PowerDVD.

What’s in this version:

  • Support Android 4.0
Learn more and download from Google Play

LG announces LG Cloud service beta

Andrew Edney
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0
LG announces LG Cloud service beta

LG Electronics (LG) have announced the beta opening of LG Cloud service with the aim of providing seamless connectivity and streaming access to all digital content across various electronic devices.

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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 (www.lgecloud.com) 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.

The difference is in LG’s Real-time Streaming Transcoding technology. The conversion happens on the server in realtime, not on the device. There is no need to worry about installing codecs or converters, everything happens seamlessly and in the background with no involvement from the user. No other cloud service can make this same claim.

The service also works perfectly with 3D content. Vacation videos taken with an LG 3D smartphone can be uploaded via 3G or Wi-Fi to the LG Cloud service. Back home in the comforts of the living room, the family can watch the vacation footage as it streams from LG Cloud to their LG CINEMA 3D Smart TV in superb three dimensions.

To better develop cloud services that prioritize convergence, LG created a new division called Smart Business Center to focus specifically on content and services. Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG’s Home Entertainment Company, is also responsible for the new Smart Business Center.

LG Cloud will be offered as both a free and paid service. Free storage space and pricing will differ market to market and will be announced separately as the service becomes available in that country.

BYOB Podcast Episode 84 Out Now

Andrew Edney
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0
BYOB Podcast Episode 84 Out Now

The guys over at the BYOB podcast, including our very own Tim Daleo have just released episode 84.

BYOB300_thumb_thumb_thumb

Here is what is included in this weeks show:

[box style=”rounded” border=”full”]Z77, Ivy Bridge, Windows 8 talk, SplashTop, and Cloud Drives. Tonight we have some in depth discussions on the new Ivy Bridge CPU’s and the Z77 chipsets. We also hash out some differences on the various cloud drives such as Dropbox, SkyDrive, and G Drive and talk about the pros and cons of each. We discuss the recent Windows 8 skews to see what it means to us.[/box]

As usual you can listen to the show from here.

Pritect for Kinect Review

Jim McCarthy
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0
Pritect for Kinect Review

The Pritect Kinect sensor cover is a new product that claims to enhance your security, protect your Kinect and prevent annoying infrared light beams from distracting you when watching a movie over your Xbox.  Does it do these things?  We reviewed it to find out!

Pritect Environment

First of all, exactly what is a Pritect?  Well, here is how Catalyst Components, the company that makes the Pritect, describes it:

Privacy cover perfectly compliments Kinect ™ design aesthetic while obstructing the camera’s view and protecting sensor lenses from dust and debris

Pritect eliminates view of distracting LED indicator and infrared sensor lights for optimal use in the video display area of any home theater environment

Pritect has been designed for minimal impact, seamlessly slips on and off, and will not harm or damage sensor surface

Pritect will not alter standard functions such as voice commands or calibration procedures, but simply eliminates the light necessary for the camera to operate

Made in the USA

Limited Lifetime Product Warranty

In addition, Catalyst Components sent out a press release with this comment from the entrepreneur running the operation:

Paul Harper, Pritect’s inventor and the President of Catalyst Components, comments: “For the first time ever, we have invited into our living rooms a technology which can not only capture video and sound data, but can also identify specific individuals using advanced biometrics, or 3-d facial recognition.  The Kinect can see everything when powered on and for most users, has a direct connection to the internet. It’s like a giant window into your home, but you can never know who might be looking in. With Pritect, you can now close the blinds.”

“The Pritect Sensor Cover is the first and only product designed to protect the Kinect’s lenses, eliminate the camera’s view when not in use, and block the LED and infrared sensor lights for an optimal home theater,” continued Harper. “Pritect does not interfere with Kinect’s startup calibrations or voice command functions; it simply eliminates the light necessary for the camera to operate.”

Catlyst Components was nice enough to mail me a unit to review, so we’ll check out what they say about their product.

Here are some pictures of the product:

TomTom launces GO LIVE Camper and Caravan Satnav

Andrew Edney
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0
TomTom launces GO LIVE Camper and Caravan Satnav

TomTom has launched the GO LIVE Camper & Caravan. This specialist navigation device provides tailored routes by vehicle type and has pre-installed Points of Interest that make it easy for drivers to find camper and caravan sites and services.

TomTom GOLIVE-CAMPER option lores

The TomTom GO LIVE Camper & Caravan includes new navigation software which adjusts routes and arrival times to match a vehicle’s size, weight and maximum speed.  Drivers can set separate profiles for their camper, caravan, car, van and trailer, and use the device whatever vehicle they are driving.

Custom Points of Interest are stored on the device to help drivers locate places such as camping areas, chemical toilet facilities and camper servicespots. Plus, a year of LIVE Services is included for free, providing access to weather forecasts, real-time traffic information with HD Traffic, and Google Local Search.

Features of the TomTom GO LIVE Camper & Caravan include:

A specialist map of Europe for campers and caravans:  adjusts routes and arrival times for campers, caravans, recreational vans, trailers and cars, taking into account vehicle size and speed restrictions.

Custom Points of Interest for campers and caravans: locates over 20,000 Points of Interest such as camping areas, chemical toilet facilities and camper service spots.

Camper / Caravan / Passenger Car Options:  adjust routes to match the vehicle.

Dual Mounting System:  enables the device to be mounted on either windscreen or dashboard.

1 year FREE LIVE Services: provides access to a range of services including TomTom Weather, TomTom HD Traffic, Local Search with Google™, Search & Go with TripAdvisor and Expedia, and destination sharing with Twitter™.

Voice command and control:  drivers can navigate without taking their hands off the wheel, planning their route using only the sound of their voice.

Hands-free calling: allows drivers to make and answer phone calls safely while driving.

Advanced Lane Guidance:  gives extra clarity at difficult junctions.

IQ Routes:  uses real travel information shared by millions of drivers to get the best routes and arrival times at every time of day.

 

TomTom Camper visual

The TomTom GO LIVE Camper & Caravan comes with maps of 45 countries in Europe and is priced £349.99.

Learn more from the TomTom website

More New Updates to YouTube app for Google TV

Andrew Edney
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0
More New Updates to YouTube app for Google TV

The YouTube app is getting some new updates for Google TV.

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This is what Google posted:

Adding Recommendations in My YouTube
There’s a big, beautiful world of channels and videos on YouTube, and the My YouTube tab organizes all of it for you. With an hour of video coming to YouTube every second, there’s always something new to enjoy, so we’ve added Recommendations to My YouTube to make the experience more relevant for you.
Like a great playlist, Recommendations can introduce you to the ever-expanding creativity of YouTube creators, showing you how things like pillows, a car wash, and taxidermy are related in the most hilarious of ways. On the topic of playlists, all of your private playlists are now featured as a grid of videos so you can quickly find any video in your Watch Later or Favorites.

From a new favorite to a must watch
Recommendations and Search are great ways to discover all kinds of videos, and behind every great video is a channel you might enjoy even more. This February, you started seeing YouTube channels on Google TV. You asked us to make searching even easier, so we’ve added Channel Search to quickly find the channel you’re looking for. Find one you like? Subscribe and the channel will be available and constantly updated in the My YouTube tab.

Smooooooooth playback
YouTube videos should look crisp and beautiful on the big screen, so the video will start playing at the best available resolution based on your connection. If you need to share some bandwidth love with other devices on your network, YouTube will automatically switch to a lower resolution to keep your video playing smoothly, rather than rebuffering. In other words, play on, player.

YouTube +1
Finally learning about Gotye and want to share it with the world? You can now +1 the video the same way you can on YouTube, and it will appear in your Google+ profile.

Your new YouTube is automatically available now, and you can always download it from the Google Play Store .

Are you using Google TV? Let us know what you think of it.

Plex for Android app v2.1.1.3 Available Now

Andrew Edney
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0
Plex for Android app v2.1.1.3 Available Now

Plex for Android, version 2.1.1.3 has been released bringing with it performance improvements and various fixes.

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Here is what they posted on their blog:

The thing you’ll notice first when spinning up this release is that it’s quite a bit snappier. Navigation, page loads, image loading and scrolling should all be noticeably faster. Beyond that, this release fixes many issues large and small that our community reported and has been patiently waiting for.

One thing you may not notice that I’ll tip you off about is that you can now long press just about any media item, just about anywhere, to bring up details if it has them – which is particularly useful if you’re launching stuff from the home page. Some may not care but as for me – well – I think it’s cool if only for the little thrill I get with every buzz of haptic feedback that comes with the long-press.

Here’s the high level list, though there are many more fixes in here:

  • IMPROVED performance of navigation and image loading.
  • IMPROVED media selection logic – more channels play and quality better matches settings.
  • NEW long press on a media item takes you to details if they’re available so you no longer have to aim at the little ‘i’. It’s a small thing we know.
  • NEW configurable logging levels – the default is that Plex will now only display errors in the logs.
  • NEW ability to control your remote media players in addition to those on your local network (helps when your phone isn’t on your local wifi for example).
  • FIX lights out / low profile during media playback in ICS.
  • FIX some cases where subtitles weren’t being picked up and displayed.
  • FIX in Plex search capabilities.
  • FIX numerous connection related problems.
  • FIX memory leaks especially related to images.
  • FIX an issue where quality settings above 8Mbps were ignored.
  • FIX a problem where some channels (Flash and Silverlight video) were always playing at the lowest quality.
  • FIX for many, many other field and forums reported issues
Download now from Google Play

CDW Giveaway: Win a copy of StableBit DrivePool for Windows Home Server 2011

Andrew Edney
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31
CDW Giveaway: Win a copy of StableBit DrivePool for Windows Home Server 2011

When Microsoft removed Drive Extender from Windows Home Server 2011, Covecube jumped in and brought us StableBit DrivePool to replace the functionality. In the next of our giveaways, you can win a full licence – and we have five to give away.

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Here is how CoveCube describes this application:

  • Combine all your hard drives into one big storage pool (except the system drive with the OS).
  • Add and remove drives from the pool at any time without re-partitioning or manually moving folders.
  • Create duplicated folders on the storage drive pool that are protected against single drive failure. If a drive fails on which a duplicated file was stored, the contents of that file will remain readable even without the drive.
  • All your data is stored in standard NTFS files. You can always access your files even if the Windows Home Server completely crashes or this add-in can’t be used.

The Giveaway

As we mentioned, we have five full licences of StableBit DrivePool, worth $19.95 each to give away.

So what do you have to do to win?

All you have to do is leave us a comment here, or send us an email, saying why you want a copy and we will pick five winners.

The giveaway will run until Sunday 6th May and the winners will be announced on the site.

Good luck, and thanks again to Covecube for the licences.

Learn more from the new Stablebit DrivePool home

NVIDIA Unveils the GeForce GTX 690 Dual Graphics Card

Andrew Edney
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0
NVIDIA Unveils the GeForce GTX 690 Dual Graphics Card

NVIDIA today announced the GeForce GTX 690, the world’s fastest consumer graphics card—with a bold industrial design to match.

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Powered by dual Kepler architecture-based GeForce GPUs, the GTX 690 is meticulously designed—inside and out—to deliver the most refined, elegant and smooth PC gaming experience possible.

The surprise announcement was made by NVIDIA CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang during his keynote address at the NVIDIA Game Festival in Shanghai, which is being attended by more than 6,000 gamers from across China.

Engineered to reach a new threshold in gaming performance, the GTX 690 also looks the part. Its array of innovative technologies is complemented by sleek materials that contribute to the exotic design of the card, including:

· An exterior frame made from trivalent chromium-plated aluminum, providing excellent strength and durability

GeForce_GTX_690_bracket

· A fan housing made from a thixomolded magnesium alloy, which offers excellent heat dissipation and vibration dampening

GeForce_GTX_690_3qtr_no_shroud GeForce_GTX_690_F_no_shroud

· High-efficiency power delivery with less resistance, lower power and less heat generated using a 10-phase, heavy-duty power supply with a 10-layer, two-ounce copper printed circuit board

GeForce_GTX_690_3qtr_bare_PCB GeForce_GTX_690_B

· Efficient cooling using dual vapor chambers, a nickel-plated finstack and center-mounted axial fan with optimized fin pitch and air entry angles

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· Low-profile components and ducted baseplate channels for unobstructed airflow, minimizing turbulence and improving acoustic quality

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The GTX 690 is powered by a total of 3,072 NVIDIA CUDA cores, all working to deliver awesome gaming performance for ultimate gaming setups. Designed for the discriminating gamer and ultra-high-resolution, multimonitor NVIDIA Surround configurations, the GTX 690 delivers close to double the frame rates of the closest single GPU product, the GTX 680. Plus, it is more power efficient and quieter when compared to systems equipped with two GTX 680 cards2 running in NVIDIA SLI configuration.

“The GTX 690 is truly a work of art—gorgeous on the outside with amazing performance on the inside,” said Brian Kelleher, senior vice president of GPU engineering at NVIDIA. “Gamers will love playing on multiple screens at high resolutions with all the eye candy turned on. And they’ll relish showing their friends how beautiful the cards look inside their systems.”

The GTX 690 graphics card is designed using GeForce GPUs based on NVIDIA’s 28-nanometer Kepler architecture, following the introduction late last month of the GTX 680.

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Availability
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 GPU will be available in limited quantities starting May 3, 2012, with wider availability by May 7, 2012 from NVIDIA’s add-in card partners, including ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, EVGA, Gainward, Palit and Zotac.

More information about the new GeForce GTX 690 is available at www.geforce.com.

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