In addition to revealing the “world’s first” true 7.1 surround sound headset during Gamescom 2011, peripheral manufacturer Razer announced its new Battlefield 3 Collector’s Edition line of gadgets and gear slated to hit retail outlets worldwide this October.

According to Razer, this new line includes a little something for everyone, spanning the PC, console and mobile markets: a Battlefield 3-themed BlackWidow Ultimate mechanical keyboard, an Imperator gaming mouse, a Scarab hard mouse mat, an Onza Tournament Edition Xbox 360 controller, a Messenger Bag for storing gaming hardware on-the-go, and an iPhone 4 silicone protection case.

“Everyone at Razer is eager for the day Battlefield 3 launches and we’re going to be right there next to every other gamer immersed in the most hardcore military game to date,” said Robert ‘RazerGuy’ Krakoff, President, Razer USA. “And we’ll be doing it with the Battlefield 3 Collector’s Edition peripherals and gear line by Razer – the best hardware to complement one of the most hotly anticipated shooters of 2011.”

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Gabe Newell and the gang over at Valve Software want Electronic Arts to return to Steam. This shouldn’t be a surprise given that EA holds the rights to a good number of money-making IPs including Battlefield, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, The Sims and Crysis.

In recent months, digital EA titles began disappearing from Steam. There has been speculation that EA wanted to sell DLC directly to gamers which isn’t allowed on Valve’s platform. Typically DLC is hosted on Steam and Valve receives a revenue cut.

But by EA removing its PC games, DLC, and shifting over to its own competing distribution platform, Origin, Valve will miss out on a whole lot of money. And while a good number of EA games still reside on Valve’s Steam distribution platform, hot upcoming digital releases including Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic will be Origin exclusives. Naturally, Gabe Newell wants to do what he can to keep EA’s business and steady cash flow.

During an interview with Develop, Newell admitted that Valve’s relationship with EA, although complicated, is reconcilable.

“I don’t think Valve can pick just one thing and think the issue would go away if we fixed that,” he said in an upcoming issue. “We have to show EA it’s a smart decision to have EA games on Steam, and we’re going to try to show them that.”

When asked if customers should expect more games to be removed from Steam, Newell said that companies have to earn the right to install content on their customers’ PCs on a regular basis.

“The same thing is true of Steam,” he said. “We have to prove we are creating value on an ongoing basis, whether it’s to EA or Ubisoft or whoever. We really want to show there’s a lot of value having EA titles on Steam. We want EA’s games on Steam and we have to show them that’s a smart thing to do.”

But if EA is intent on publishing DLC for its PC games outside Steam, then there’s a good chance we’ll see even fewer new releases on Valve’s platform in the coming months. Still, Newell seems optimistic.

“I think at the end of the day we’re going to prove to Electronic Arts they have happier customers, a higher quality service, and will make more money if they have their titles on Steam,” he said. “It’s our duty to demonstrate that to them. We don’t have a natural right to publish their games.”

After tanking on the market with its TouchPad tablet, HP is shutting down its webOS-related tablet and smartphone division, and will put the OS on hold.

Just over a year after HP purchased Palm for its seemingly-tasty webOS software (for $1.2 billion, no less), the company has suddenly decided to put the operating system on hold altogether. The announcement isn’t quite official, but the company clearly stated its intentions in a Thursday press release, that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones.

“In addition, HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward,” the company said.

The news arrives after reports of HP launching the 64 GB version of its white Wi-Fi TouchPad tablet only in Europe. The device features a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor (APQ8060), HP’s webOS 3.0, a 1.3MP camera, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 802.11b/g/n and more. The Pre 3 smartphone also went on sale in Europe just one day prior, and still hasn’t reached the North American market as of this writing.

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New research presented by Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley claims that popular websites including Hulu and MSN are currently using new techniques to track users. These include the use of “supercookies” which are not only legal, but almost impossible to detect. They even reportedly re-create user profiles after the user deletes the original cookie from their computer.

Thursday The Wall Street Journal revealed that supercookies can be used to steal a user’s entire browser history. They’re also stored in a different place than the typical cookie, the latter of which usually resides within a browser’s cache folder. Most of the time supercookies are deployed either through HTML5 code, or through Flash content, both of which store the supercookies in a separate folder, thus making them hard to detect and delete.

According to the paper, Hulu was storing tracking coding in files related to Flash. The website itself also contained code from a company that analyzes website-traffic data which in turn was injecting supercookies into browser cache and into files associated with HTML5. After Hulu was contacted about its use of supercookies, the website posted an online statement claiming that it “acted immediately to investigate and address” the issue.

Mike Hintze, associate general counsel at Microsoft, said that the MSN team was alarmed when the research results were brought to their attention. “It was inconsistent with our intent and our policy,” he told the paper, and then added that Microsoft removed the offending code from the MSN website. Other Microsoft-owned websites and its advertising network were also found to be using supercookies.

“Microsoft’s Mr. Hintze said that the company removed the code after being contacted by Mr. [Stanford researcher Jonathan] Mayer, and that Microsoft is still trying to figure out why the code was created,” the paper states. “A spokeswoman said the data gathered by the supercookie were used only by Microsoft and weren’t shared with outside companies.”

Both Flixter and Charter.net were discovered to be using a “history stealing” tracking service which snoops into the browsing histories of visitors to see if they frequent one of more than 1,500 listed websites. The history stealing on those two sites was being performed by Epic Media Group, but chief executive Don Mathis claims that his company was inadvertently using the technology and no longer uses it. Flixter and Charter were completely (and conveniently) unaware of the ordeal.

Thankfully there’s a way to eliminate and prevent supercookies from invading your privacy. For the Windows platform, CCleaner will nuke most cookies stashed on the hard drive, and Flush.app is a handy cookie cutter for the Mac platform. Those using Mozilla’s Firefox browser can install the BetterPrivacy extension that will help block most of those pesky invaders.

Wednesday during Gamescom 2011, peripheral manufacturer Razer revealed the “world’s first” discrete 7.1 surround sound gaming headset, the Razer Tiamat 7.1.

According to Razer, the headset packs a total of 10 discrete drivers, 5 in each circumaural ear cup. These drivers represent the 7 surround sound channels plus subwoofer: 2 for center, 1 each for the left and right, surround sound left and right and surround back left and right, and 2 for the subwoofer.  All 10 drivers work in unison to produce a true pinpoint positional surround sound.

“The Razer Tiamat 7.1 also gives gamers maximum customizability of their audio experience adjustable on a sleek control unit,” the company said in a press release. “You can precisely fine-tune the volume of every audio channel, position, and bass depth, as well as conveniently toggle between the headset’s 7.1 surround sound mode, 2.0 stereo mode or external speakers as long as they are also hooked up to the unit, so you’ll have the right setup for your entertainment at all times.”

In addition to the 7.1 model, Razer also revealed a cheaper Tiamat 2.2 version using 4 discrete drivers, two of which are dedicated to bass. Both models feature leatherette ear cushions and a precise, unidirectional noise-cancelling microphone.

Along with the announcement, Razer has launched the “Experience the Power of 7 – with the Razer Tiamat 7.1” contest. Participants must answer two questions related to the product, invite seven friends via Facebook and/or Twitter, and like the product on Facebook.

“The Razer Tiamat headset range is the pride of our audio engineering, the world’s first 10 driver headset, built to deliver the most powerful, clear and accurately produced positional audio gamers will ever need for the competitive edge,” said Robert “RazerGuy” Krakoff, President, Razer USA.  ”Surprise the enemy trying to creep up for a stealth kill, when you can hear their footsteps loud and clear behind you.”

So far both headsets are slated for a Q4 2011 release. The Razer Tiamat 7.1 will be priced at $179.99 (179.99 euro) and the Razer Tiamat 2.2 will be priced at $99.99 (99.99 euro).

SOURCE via Razer

A recent job listing indicates that Apple may integrate DisplayPort support into the A6 SOC. AppleInsider came across an Apple job posting that seemingly indicates support for the DisplayPort interface is in the works for future iOS-based hardware. The feature is listed as one of the core experience points needed for a currently-vacant full-time Signal Integrity Manager position.

A signal integrity engineer balances the noise emitted by chips and circuit boards so that they don’t overpower the device’s data signals.

“The Signal Integrity Manager needs to have extensive experience in mobile product board designs, SI expertise in Serial links (such as DisplayPort) as well as parallel bus standards (such as LPDDR2 interface), and power integrity at package level and as well as board level,” the listing reads.

According to Apple, the company is “looking to hiring a Signal Integrity and power integrity manager in a group at Apple that develops SOCs that will be used in Apple mobile devices.” Put two an two together, and it seems that Apple may be integrating DisplayPort support into the next SOC, the unannounced A6.

Currently iOS devices support the older, composite VGA while only the iPhone 4, iPad and iPad 2 supports digital parallel HDMI video. But by adding DisplayPort, future devices will be able to connect to modern displays including Apple’s own Thunderbolt Cinema Screen. Unfortunately, consumers may not see this addition until the iPad 3 possibly makes its debut next year, as the job listing indicates that the iPhone 5 will be released long before DisplayPort integration begins.

For those interested in Apple’s job listing, the ideal candidate should have experience in the actual product package/board design and analysis, PI/SI methodology development, and lab correlation/validation of the simulation results. Technical management of a team is required in addition to 10+ years of experience with at least 2 in leading a small team.

SOURCE via Apple

Sounds like Blizzard is now a bit more serious about “exploring a Diablo-related concept for consoles.” What was something of an understated “interest” in bringing on talent for a version of Diablo III for video game consoles now sounds almost imminent.

At Blizzard Entertainment’s Gamescom press conference, Diablo III lead designer Josh Mosqueira said the developer is “very, very serious” about bringing some undefined “experience” to platforms beyond the PC and Mac.

“Today, we’re trying to build the best console team at Blizzard,” Mosqueira said during a Q&A session. “We’re looking for programmers, designers and artists who think their dream job would be to bring Diablo to the console.”

While neither announcing nor confirming Diablo III for a Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo console platform, Mosqueira promised “All I can say is it’s going to be awesome. Stay tuned.”

Given Blizzard’s wide open windows between product announcements and product shipments, we wouldn’t expect Diablo III for consoles any time soon. But it sounds like staying tuned might be a good idea (or at least better than holding one’s breath).

Was it really only a month ago that Dell released the remarkably priced U2412M? The folks at Round Rock are already at it again with another impressive widescreen — the unromantically named (yet impressively thin) S2330MX. Lurking behind the catchy moniker is a 23-inch display (did we mention it’s thin?), LED backlighting and a DVI to HDMI adapter. Let’s face it, the power cables are gonna be thicker than the monitor — it’s very thin, you see. What’s more, the monitor seemed to be rather affordable, at $250.

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