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Submission + - WeChat IM application could disclose your password to attackers (emaze.net)

Submitted by soulflyz
soulflyz writes: Security researchers found some security issues in WeChat, a popular instant messaging application developed by the Chinese company Tencet. By exploiting these vulnerabilities, any other application installed on the user's phone can force WeChat to send the user's password hash (in plain MD5 format) to an external web server, controlled by the attacker. Android versions of WeChat up to 4.5.1 are confirmed to be vulnerable, but similar issues could interest also other versions of the application. According to recent statistics, WeChat should have about 300 million registered users.

Submission + - Intel Bay Trail Brings New Architecture and Performance to Atom (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: Today at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, the company officially released the Atom Z3000 series of SoCs (Bay Trail) based on the Silvermont architecture. Unlike previous Atom designs, the Z3000 and Silvermont is a completely re-architected product from the ground up and is no longer based on legacy processors. Changes include a move to an out-of-order x86 architecture with drastically improved single threaded performance but the removal of Intel's HyperThreading technology. Dual-core modules with 1MB of shared cache can be paired up to create a quad-core SoC that also includes upgraded graphics design. Intel is no longer depending on PowerVR for a GPU and has integrated a 4 EU (execution unit) Intel HD Graphics design that is very similar to the one used in Ivy Bridge. As a result, as tested at PC Perspective in both Windows 8.1 and Android 4.2.2, the Bay Trail part is as much as 4x faster in single threaded tasks and 3.5x faster in gaming and graphics. Power consumption remains nearly the same as it did with Clover Trail (Atom Z2760) but with improved power gating and support for Connected Standby, Intel's new Atom looks and feels completely different than any before it.

Submission + - AMD releases 13.8 beta driver to implement frame pacing support

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: Over the past year AMD has been getting hammered over its CrossFire technology and the issues the multi-GPU scaling solution has with frame pacing — the ability to present frames evenly to the user and create a smooth gaming experience. As new tools have become available to evaluate the performance of graphics solutions (like capture cards and overlays), the battle between CrossFire and NVIDIA's SLI has really taken new life. After denying the problem existed for quite some time, AMD has put out the first beta driver that implements a software frame pacing solution to more evenly produce animations from CrossFire configurations. PC Perspective has done extensive testing with the Catalyst 13.8 beta and found that it has basically solved the single screen pacing problems. More trouble remains for AMD though as they still need to find a way to fix Eyefinity and 4K displays that are exempt from this driver's improvements.

Submission + - NVIDIA SHIELD is first with Tegra 4, merging mobile and PC gaming

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: First shown at CES in January, NVIDIA SHIELD is a purpose built Android gaming device with a few interesting features that help it stand out from your normal phones or tablets. First, it is the only available device to be powered by the Tegra 4 SoC, NVIDIA's latest processor. Second, it merges a console-grade controller with a 5-in touch screen in an attempt to standardize Android gaming with reliable and solid input. Third, users with GeForce GTX graphics cards can stream PC games on their home network to the SHIELD to play games remotely. PC Perspective has published a review of SHIELD and found that not only is Tegra 4 incredibly powerful but that SHIELD actually makes Android gaming interesting for the first time.

Submission + - New Samsung 840 EVO with TurboWrite TLC Technology (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: Samsung continues with strong releases into the SSD market with the new 840 EVO today. Based on the same TLC (triple level cell) flash that the original Samsung 840 drive used when it launched last year, Samsung has improved the write speeds of this new drive by implementing something called TurboWrite. By accessing a portion of that TLC memory as if it were SLC, it can be written to much faster that MLC or TLC allowing the drive to dump all writes to that area initially and then migrate the data to TLC when idle or when the cache is full. Initial write speeds of this write-back cache can be as high as 520 MB/s but after it's full (during sustained writes) it will drop to as low as 140 MB/s. Through testing at PC Perspective they found that average "flush times" of the cache will change based on the drive capacity and cache sizes which range from 3-12GB.

Submission + - ASUS PQ321Q Monitor Brings Multi-Stream Tiled Displays Forward (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: While 4K displays have been popping up all over the place recently with noticeably lower prices, one thing that kind of limits them all is a 30 Hz refresh rate panel. Sony is selling 4K consumer HDTVs for $5000 and new-comer SEIKI has a 50-in model going for under $1000 but they all share that trait — HDMI 1.4 supporting 3840x2160 at 30 Hz. The new ASUS PQ321Q monitor is a 31.5-in 4K display built on the same platform as the Sharp PN-K321 and utilizes a DisplayPort 1.2 connection capable of MST (multi-stream transport). This allows the screen to include two display heads internally, showing up as two independent monitors to some PCs that can then be merged into a single panel via AMD Eyefinity or NVIDIA Surround. Thus, with dual 1920x2160 60 Hz signals, the PQ321Q can offer 3840x2160 at 60 Hz for a much better viewing experience. PC Perspective got one of the monitors in for testing and review and found that the while there were some hurdles during initial setup (especially with NVIDIA hardware), the advantage of a higher refresh rate made the 4K resolution that much better.

Submission + - ASUS PQ321Q Monitor Brings Multi-Stream Tiled Displays Forward (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: While 4K displays have been popping up all over the place recently with noticeably lower prices, one thing that kind of limits them all is a 30 Hz refresh rate panel. Sony is selling 4K consumer HDTVs for $5000 and new-comer SEIKI has a 50-in model going for under $1000 but they all share that trait — HDMI 1.4 supporting 3840x2160 at 30 Hz. The new ASUS PQ321Q monitor is a 31.5-in 4K display built on the same platform as the Sharp PN-K321 and utilizes a DisplayPort 1.2 connection capable of MST (multi-stream transport). This allows the screen to include two display heads internally, showing up as two independent monitors to some PCs that can then be merged into a single panel via AMD Eyefinity or NVIDIA Surround. Thus, with dual 1920x2160 60 Hz signals, the PQ321Q can offer 3840x2160 at 60 Hz for a much better viewing experience. PC Perspective got one of the monitors in for testing and review and found that the while there were some hurdles during initial setup (especially with NVIDIA hardware), the advantage of a higher refresh rate made the 4K resolution that much better.

Submission + - GeForce GTX 760 marks NVIDIA's 6th based on GK104

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: With today's release of the GeForce GTX 760, NVIDIA has now built a total of six individual graphics cards based around the original GK104 GPU proving that you can get a lot of value out of a silicon investment if the market plays out correctly. Kepler has been wildly successful for the company by improving performance per watt quite dramatically over the GF100 Fermi designs and the new GTX 760 completes the life span of the design quite fittingly. With 1152 processing cores and a 256-bit memory bus (running at 6.0 GHz) all packed into the same old 3.54 billion transistor chip, the GTX 760 is running quite a bit faster than the competing Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition and equally as fast as the Radeon HD 7950 with Boost. With a price tag of $250 it might finally bring the GK104 design down to price points that everyday gamers are willing to swallow as well.

Submission + - New Apple MacBook Air features next generation ultra fast PCI-Express SSD (pcper.com)

Submitted by boxgamex
boxgamex writes: Apple may have only mentioned improvements to battery life for the Haswell-based MacBook Air at the WWDC Keynote on Monday, but that isn't all that has improved with this machine. Initial testing reveals Apple has switched to PCI-Express based SSDs for this new Air, which at over 700MB/s read speed outperform the theoretical maximum bandwidth of SATA. After digging into the hardware, it seems this may be just a preview of what is to come from M.2 NGFF SSDs, which are expected to come be released for PC platforms this Summer.

Submission + - New Apple MacBook Air features next generation ultra fast PCI-Express SSD (pcper.com)

Submitted by boxgamex
boxgamex writes: Apple may have only mentioned improvements to battery life for the Haswell-based MacBook Air at the WWDC Keynote on Monday, but that isn't all that has improved with this machine. Initial testing reveals Apple has switched to PCI-Express based SSDs for this new Air, which at over 700MB/s read speed outperform the theoretical maximum bandwidth of SATA. After digging into the hardware, it seems this may be just a preview of what is to come from M.2 NGFF SSDs, which are expected to come be released for PC platforms this Summer.

Submission + - AMD Making a 5 GHz 8-core Processor at 220 Watts (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: It looks like the rumors were true, AMD is going to be selling an FX-9590 processor this month that will hit frequencies as high as 5 GHz. Though originally thought to be an 8-module/16-core part, it turns out that the new CPU will have the same 4-module/8-core design that is found on the current lineup of FX-series processors including the FX-8350. But, with an increase of the maximum Turbo Core speed from 4.2 GHz to 5.0 GHz, the new parts will draw quite a bit more power. You can expect the the FX-9590 to need 220 watts or so to run at those speeds and a pretty hefty cooling solution as well. Performance should closely match the recently released Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell processor so AMD users that can handle the 2.5x increase in power consumption can finally claim performance parity.

Submission + - The Haswell Review - Intel Core i7-4770K Performance and Architecture

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: Earlier this morning Intel officially unveiled the quad-core variations of the new 4th Generation Core architecture, code named Haswell. Haswell is the first step in the ultimate goal of a "converged core: a single design that is flexible enough to be utilized in mobility devices like tablets while also scaling to the performance levels required for workstations and servers." The CPU core microarchitecture is very similar to Sandy Bridge but does add support for AVX2 ISA extensions and transactional memory. The biggest changes come in the processor graphics front where a new GT3 option doubles compute capabilities and the addition of embedded DRAM (128MB) will dramatically affect performance of mobile designs. PC Perspective has posted a performance review and analysis of the Core i7-4770K, the enthusiast-level unlocked processor that uses a new LGA1150 processor socket. Clock for clock, Haswell is about 10-15% faster than Sandy Bridge in CPU heavy tasks but that edge can creep higher than 30% in graphics and gaming workloads.

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