Best of Tech News for 7/17/12

AlienBabelTech has officially begun its news cycle. Some affiliate news is included below along with articles we thought interesting and worth sharing in case you missed them. Every week has something new, strange, and exciting to it. This week there is scissoring, Ice Cream Sandwich updates, great reviews, and new products. In other news: Verizon ignores the first amendment and attacks a blogger, pirating laws have no effect and are video games art?

 

News

Surprise: Yahoo! Lures Mayer Away From Google as New CEO (FoxBuisness.com)

“In a huge coup that is sure to shock Silicon Valley, Yahoo! (YHOO: 15.60, -0.04, -0.29%) has recruited Google (GOOG: 576.73, +1.81, +0.31%) exec Marissa Mayer to become the struggling technology company’s latest CEO.

The hire instantly makes Mayer, who famously designed Google’s iconic search homepage, one of the most powerful women in the tech world.”

For a long time Yahoo! has been trying to transform what it does to try to rekindle the market share they have lost over the years, this move could prove very interesting in the long run. We shall see how she fares, and Yahoo!

 

HTC EVO 3D and HTC EVO Design Customers to get Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich Update (Sprint)

Why is this important? Well not only is it great news for Evo3D owners, like one of our editors, but the Virgin Mobile and GSM versions of the EVO3D have had Ice Cream Sandwich for almost 2 months. On the EXACT same phone, this is another example of carrier delay and failure. Jellybean has been announced and this device will probably be forgotten now, which is extremely disappointing. Looking at the post, responses are all singing the same tune: get LTE out already, your network sucks, too little too late, etc.

 

Genius Announces Lychas HS-g550 Foldable Gaming Headset for the GX gaming Series (Lanoc.org)

“Ideal for LAN parties and competitions because of its individual volume control, the Lychas is easy to carry around with its swivel ear cups and foldable design. When both of the ear cups’ volume is turned up, the GX Series’ Lychas not only provides clear and accurate audio for a tactical advantage in any combat situation, but the large 50mm drivers also prevent distraction from background noises.”

Apple Rolling Out iCloud.com Email Addresses with iOS 6 Beta 3 (Macrumors.com)

“iCloud.com email addresses are now available for iCloud mail users. Users signing up for new Apple IDs, or enabling Mail on their iCloud account for the first time, will automatically receive an @iCloud.com email address instead of a me.com email address. iCloud users with @me.com addresses that have been used with iOS 6 beta 3 will receive an @iCloud.com email address that matches their @me.com address.”

 

Apple seems to be taking yet another cue and service from Google. Its been ages now that a new user on an Android device signs up for a Gmail account. Why? To save contacts, apps/games, Wi-Fi passwords and little more. With every new device purchase a user simply signs into the new Android device and everything is synced and automatically downloaded. An arbitrary solution to the non-iTunes issue, but it has been there. Now iCloud is essentially the same service with your storage, great news for an already fantastic ecosystem. We just hope apple doesn’t go sue crazy over this as well.

 

Reviews

ASUS P8Z77-V Thunderbolt Motherboard Review (Benchmarkreviews.com)

At $179.99 (Newegg/Amazon) this motherboard is one that many people in the market would take a look at. Benchmark reviews has put up a very good review of the product that is certainly worth the read if you are looking for a new motherboard.

Giada’s i53- Powerful Performance in a Book-sized Mini PC (Lanoc.org)

“The standard model of the i53 coming with an Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 500GB HDD is available for the suggested retail price of $520.”

This might be a good product if your looking for budget PC with a compact size, one ideal for students and those in small spaces. Follow the link above for more information.

 

MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning Video Card (Benchmarkreviews.com)

““Not that MSI would be content with anything so mundane as just a new cooler for their Lightning product lineup. While they do offer variants of the GTX 680 with their signature Twin Frozr cooling system as the sole distinguishing feature, the N680GTX Lightning is built upon a completely new custom PCB that owes nothing to NVIDIA’s reference design.”

This review is worth the read for those looking for a higher performing GTX 680. You know what to do, follow the link for the FULL review.

 

Triple-screen gaming on today’s graphics cards (Techreport.com)

 

“Obviously, tripling the number of displays results in a much heavier rendering load. To keep the pixels flowing smoothly, a fast graphics card is required.” This article takes a look at triple screen gaming and if todays cards can handle this well use uses two “candidate” cards to test this feature. A good read for people will multiple displays. Personally we love multiple screen gaming and single screen gaming. Both have their benefits, and especially in 3D multi-screen gaming can look amazing and become really immersive.

Opinion/Blog

Video Games as a Legitimate Art Form (Benchmarkreviews.com)

For as long as we can remember people have always criticized video games for their lack of depth. Calling gamers losers, and tossing any notion the a video game can offer an experience out the window. Video games have some of the most intense moments like Max Payne 3, Beautiful music like Halo,movie like action sequences that include you as a character like Battlefield 3. This article takes a deeper look at video games and the role as art.

 

Verizon thinks the net is its newspaper(Buzzmachine.com)

Verizon has basically threatened to sue a man for calling them out on his blog. They claimed the net is “property” that they can take down at any time they wish. Ignoring the first amendment. Read on.

Extra and Noteworthy

770,000 Users Demand YouTube-to-MP3 Conversion [UPDATED](Mashable.com)

This one is worth the read. The gist of the article being YouTube-mp3.org is a service that people looking to “rip” audio from YouTube are doing so illegally and Google has decided to sue. Essentially starting a war with almost a million signers, stating this is no different that copying a television broadcast.

Read more for the full scope.

UK Pirate Bay Ban Didn’t Stop File Sharing, ISP Claims(Mashable.com)

 

Along the same lines as the previous article this one is also interesting in the world of pirating and “stealing.” “Shortly after the UK High Court ruled that the country’s ISPs must block users from accessing TPB, peer-to-peer activity dropped by more than 11%, compared to average levels.” But the levels have already returned as Europe’s users have found alternate services – meaning the law had no effect on pirating.

 

Sarah Silverman’s Indecent Proposal(Distriction.com)

A GOP Romney supporter has pledged 100 million dollars to the campaign…… Sarah Silverman has offered this man something in return for giving the money to Obama’s campaign instead. To say the least, its interesting.

 

 

The TR Podcast 114: Gigahertz graphics and high-def tablets (Techreport.com)

 

What’s New in Halo 4 (G4tv.com)

 

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