VR-Zone reports that Intel will ship its upcoming “Sandy Bridge-E” (LGA2011) Core i7 3820, 3930K and 3960X processors without a heatsink/fan combo in the box. The company will instead sell certified, compatible CPU coolers separately in a market that will already have readily available LGA2011-compatible solutions from big-name CPU cooler suppliers.

The report also suggests that users may want to look into liquid cooling with these three upcoming processors. Although the rated TDP is 130W, all three are reportedly consuming closer to 180W. Even more, Intel is supposedly telling power supply makers to verify that “their Sandy Bridge-E PSUs can cope with a peak current of 23A on the 12V2 rail and [be] based on an 80-percent or better efficiency rating of the PSU.”

In addition to reports of the shipment and TDP rumors, pricing for the three CPUs supposedly leaked over the weekend. The Core i7 3960X high-end Extreme Edition processor will be focused on the enthusiast and priced at a meaty $999 USD, and will reportedly sport 6 Cores/ 12 Threads, 15 MB of L3 Cache and a stock clock speed of 3.33 GHz (3.9 GHz turbo). The Core i7 3930K will be priced at $583 and the “entry level” Core i7 3820 will be priced at $294.

Beyond these three, the next wave of Sandy Bridge-E processors is slated to arrive in the first half of 2012. These will include the Core i7 3980X Extreme Edition flagship CPU, the Core i7 2800K which will replace the i7 2600K, and two others that will replace the 3930K and 3830 processors. So far it’s unknown if these processors will also ship without heatsinks and fans in the box.

Looks like Asus is getting ready to launch the long-awaited Eee Pad Slider tablet, as the company has launched the official product page as seen here. The tablet originally made its debut back in January during CES 2011, and was expected to launch in May. But now the projected launch date is unofficially in September with the arrival of two models: the $400 16 GB version and the $500 32 GB version.

According to the specs, the tablet will sport a scratch-resistant 10.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) IPS panel, viewable at angles up to 178°, supporting up to 10 simultaneous inputs and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. It will also have Nvidia’s dual-core Tegra 2 SoC clocked at 1 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi @ 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a 1.2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-facing camera. It will also feature a USB 2.0 port, a mini-HDMI output port, a microSD card reader and an audio jack for speaker output/microphone input.

On the software front, the tablet will be powered by Google’s Android 3.1 “Honeycomb” OS, upgradeable to version 3.2. Other software will include Asus Launcher, MyLibrary, MyNet, MyCloud, File manager, Kindle books, Zinio Magazine, PressReader, Polaris Office and Asus sync. All of this will be easily accessed and managed using the tablet’s physical, slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

As for other specs, the tablet will arrive in brown and white varieties, measure 10.75 x 7.09 x 0.68-inches and weigh just over two pounds. It will also feature a G-Sensor, light sensor, gyroscope, E-compass, GPS, SRS Sound with max bass response and a 25Wh Li-Polymer battery that will supposedly offer up to 8 hours.

SOURCE via Asus

Lyle Hall and Matthew Seymour at Heavy Iron Studios recently spoke out against Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Vita, calling it a “car wreck” mostly because consumers only want to carry around a single device. They’re not willing to shell out $249 and $299 for a device that mainly only has one function: playing games.

“If people aren’t willing to pay $249 for a Nintendo 3DS, why would they pay $299 for Vita?” Hall told GamesIndustry.biz. “People don’t want to carry more than one thing in their pocket, that’s why Android and iPhone have done so well, they are the devices of choice, they offer multiple functions outside of gaming. People don’t want [to carry more than one thing]. That’s Nintendo’s huge challenge – how do they add value to [a single platform]?”

Seymour, whose 20-year career includes tenure at Microsoft Game Studios and 2K Games prior to Heavy Iron Studios, was a bit more blunt with his observation. “With all due respect to Sony and Vita, it’s a car wreck,” he said. “And how about Xperia Play? I’d love to pull up the numbers on that.”

Recently Nintendo dramatically reduced the price of its 3DS handheld by $80 USD, bringing the March launch pricetag of $249.99 down to $169.99 just months after its North American debut. Although initial lackluster sales may be due to the handheld’s lackluster library of games, it may also be a reflection of old-school console manufacturers releasing hardware in a new Apple-dominated app-based market.

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As seen with the Pentium G6951 processor last year, Intel has released additional “upgrade cards” for three next-gen Sandy Bridge CPUs.

Less than a year ago, reports pointed to a scratch-off “upgrade card” Intel was selling that enabled additional features on the Pentium G6951 processor. For $50 USD, owners of that specific CPU could purchase the card at any participating retailer, download software straight from Intel, and then use the number printed underneath the scratch-off surface. This unlocked a full 1 MB of L3 cache and HyperThreading support.

Eleven months later, Intel has released three more scratch-off upgrade cards for second-generation Sandy Bridge processors including the Core i3-2312M processor, the Core i3-2102 processor and the Pentium G622 processor. All three receive increased-yet-unspecified clock speeds thanks to the upgrade, but the Core i3-2312M, its SKU changed to the i3-2393M after the upgrade, receives additional cache. Depending on the application, the revved i3-2312M will be 10 to 19-percent faster, the i3-2102 (or i3-2153) will be 11 to 15-percent faster, and the Pentium G622 (or Pentium G693) will be 15 to 23-percent faster.

Although Intel didn’t provide actual upgrade numbers, AnandTech speculates that the i3-2312M, which ships clocked at 2.1 GHz with 3 MB of L3 cache, may be cranked up to 2.5 GHz and an extra 1 MB of L3 cache. The i3-2102 (3.1 GHz, 3 MB) could be 3.6 GHz after the upgrade and the Pentium G622 (2.6 GHz, 3 MB) could be 3.2 GHz after the upgrade. These numbers are based on the performance gains Intel reported in its press release.

Right now it’s unclear how much these upgrade cards will cost although it’s assumed to be $50 as before. But as pointed out, this may be a costly upgrade for Pentium G622 users who originally paid around $65 for the CPU. Then again, these upgrade cards may be ideal for those who purchased OEM PCs and can’t physically upgrade the CPU without voiding the warranty.

SOURCE via Anandtech

Google has said that it will acquire Motorola Mobility. The company announced the decision via its official Google blog and a press release posted early this morning. Having already garnered the approval of both boards, the deal will see Google acquire the mobile arm of Motorola for $40 per share, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63 percent to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday.

“In 2008, Motorola bet big on Android as the sole operating system across all of its smartphone devices,” Google CEO Larry Page said. “It was a smart bet and we’re thrilled at the success they’ve achieved so far. We believe that their mobile business is on an upward trajectory and poised for explosive growth.”

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google and commonly referred to as ‘the father of Android,’ said that while Google expects the acquisition to enable Google to ‘break new ground for the Android,’ the company’s commitment to Android as an open platform has not changed.

“We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices,” Rubin said.

Page echoed Rubin’s reassurances in a blog post published early this morning:

“This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform,” he insisted. “Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences.”

The deal may already have the approval of both the Google and Motorola Mobility boards but it will still be subject to the usual closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals in the US, the EU and other jurisdictions, and the approval of Motorola Mobility’s stockholders. The two expect everything to be signed and seal by the end of next year or early in 2012.

SOURCE via Google

It’s no secret that Apple lives in its own little world. In fact, it prides itself on its closed ecosystem where it can control as much of its products as possible and just filter out everything else that it doesn’t like. Such an approach can lead to a very cohesive, but directed, user experience, which isn’t always a bad thing. Most would say, however, that Apple would be taking it too far if it started redrawn maps. Oh, but Apple has redrawn a map – a map of the stars.

One of the new wallpapers included in Mac OS 10.7 Lion features an image of the Andromeda galaxy with a few alterations. David Kaplan, assistant professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, sent Boing Boing the above gif image illustrating the differences between Apple’s wallpaper and real life.

He wrote in:

Apple has once again altered the Universe according to their whim. They moved/removed many stars, and got rid of a whole galaxy. This is M110, which is one of M31′s [Andromeda's] satellites. The other big satellite, M32, is still there.

Interestingly, the M110 is also the model name for the original Samsung Galaxy.

In July we learned that enterprising businessmen in China have created fake Apple stores that replicated the Jobs & Co. experience so well that even the employees thought they were working for Cupertino.

Customers weren’t too happy with that, and demanded refunds. Of course, the products that they were sold were real Apple products but were from grey market importing to sidestep taxes.

Originally, authorities found five such fake Apple Stores. Now Reuters has followed up and discovered that authorities have identified another 22 stores that are falsely parading as Apple Stores.

Apple China has already complained to China’s Administration for Industry and Commerce for unfair competition and violating its registered trademark.

While China does have laws against IP theft, enforcing it is an entirely different issue. And it’s not just Apple Stores being copied – does this look familiar to you?