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60 E3 2013 Pictures

Jimmy Thang — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:40:01 +0000

E3 booth babes, booth tours, and more!

We had the chance to check out E3 2013 in Los Angeles, California last week. As expected, the gaming/tech event was a big one with Microsoft and Sony showing off their new Xbox One and PS4 consoles. But it wasn't all about the next-generation consoles. PC vendors such as Nvidia, AMD, Alienware, and Razer were at the expo showing off their latest gaming toys and there were a bunch of PC-exclusive titles at the event.

In our E3 2013 picture gallery below, we'll provide a look at some of this hottest tech, booth babes, and much more. What did you think was the coolest thing at the show this year? Let us know in the comments!

It's Official: China Owns the Supercomputing Crown

Paul Lilly — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:24:03 +0000

We saw this coming.

Earlier this month we said that China was poised to sit atop the supercomputing summit with its Tianhe-2, a system built by the Chinese National University of Defense Technology (NUDT). Armed with over 3 million physical processing cores and 1 petabyte of memory, there was no way this thing wouldn't shoot right to the top, and so it did, taking pole position on the TOP500 chart.

Tianhe-2 became the world's fastest supercomputer with a performance metric of 33.86 petaflop per second on the Linkpack benchmark, according to the 41st edition of the twice-yearly TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers. What's more, Tianhe-2's ascent to the top came far earlier than expected.

"The surprise appearance of Tianhe-2, two years ahead of the expected deployment, marks China’s first return to the No. 1 position since November 2010, when Tianhe-1A was the top system," TOP500 said. "Tianhe-2 has 16,000 nodes, each with two Intel Xeon Ivy Bridge processors and three Xeon Phi processors for a combined total of 3,120,000 computing cores."

It's an incredible machine equipped with 32,000 Xeon processors and 48,000 Xeon Phi accelerator processors. The machine also has 12.4 petabytes of storage and consumes 17.8MW of power. It's cooled by a closed air cooling system.

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Were Xbox One E3 Demos Powered by Windows 7 and Nvidia Graphics?

Paul Lilly — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:36:08 +0000

Things that make you go hmmm.

Microsoft made a splash at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) last week by showing off a number of fantastic looking games for its upcoming Xbox One console. It was hard not to get excited by some of the titles, including Dead Rising 3 and Forza Motorsport 5, but as it turns out, the game demos we saw might have actually been running on Hewlett-Packard PCs running Windows 7.

Before we go any further, let's be clear that it's not all that unusual for game developers to use PC hardware to show off future titles, so that in and of itself isn't reason to rake Microsoft over the coals. However, it's at least a little bit interesting that these tech demos were being run on Windows 7 rather than Windows 8, which the Xbox One's OS is partly based on.

Secondly, it was discovered that the HP PCs were equipped with Nvidia GeForce GTX 700 Series graphics cards. Given the risk of exposure, it would have made more sense to use machines running AMD graphics cards since the GPU in the Xbox One is an AMD part that's comparable to a mid-range Radeon HD 7790.

All of this came to light when Julian Rignail from U.S. Gamers posted to Twitter a message saying, "I just played an Xbox One game using an Xbox One controller that crashed... to a Windows 7, Hewlett Packard-branded desktop. Magic!" The Internet demanded pics, and lo and behold, there are a couple shots of Windows 7 PCs tucked inside Xbox One cabinets.

Again, using PCs to show off console games isn't unusual, but the choice of OS and GPU certainly raise an inquisitive eyebrow. And according to Cinema Blend, which first broke the story, developers have confirmed that PlayStation 4 game demos shown off at E3 were running on PS4 Dev kits, not PC hardware.

File this under "T" for "Things that make you go hmmm."

Update 12:30 PM

Or maybe not. A developer for Twisted Pixel's LocoCycle claims that his game was the only one of the bunch running on a PC, and that the choice of hardware was "solely [Twisted Pixel's] decision," not Microsoft's. That would certainly explain a few things, and hopefully blunt those pitchforks and douse the torches.

Kudos to "dracx619" for the update in our comments section.

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Samsung Starts Mass Producing World's First PCI-Express SSDs for Skinny Laptops

Paul Lilly — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:38:21 +0000

Slim design, big performance.

Samsung has ramped up production of what it claims is the industry's first PCI-Express solid state drive (SSD) for next generation ultra-slim notebooks. Dubbed XP941, these new drives come in the new M.2 form factor and measure just 80mm by 20mm. They weigh a scant 6g, which is about 9 times less than a standard 2.5-inch SSD, Samsung says. Though they're small and light, these drives kick out some heavy-hitting performance numbers.

Sequential read performance is as high as 1,400MB/s. To put that into perspective, Samsung says its new drive can read 500GB of data or 100 HD movies as large as 5GB in just 6 minutes, or 10 HD movies at 5GB in 36 seconds. A typical hard drive would need 40 minutes to perform the same task.

"With the Samsung XP941, we have become the first to provide the highest performance PCIe SSD to global PC makers so that they can launch leading-edge ultra-slim notebook PCs this year," said Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung plans to continue timely delivery of the most advanced PCIe SSD solutions with higher density and performance, and support global IT companies providing an extremely robust computing environment to consumers."

While the drives are just now going into mass production, Samsung said it's been supplying the parts to major notebook players with 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB capacity SSDs since earlier this quarter. New and thinner laptops that use these drives should start showing up soon.

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Patriot Memory and Meteor Tag Team Hawken Themed Rage XT USB 3.0 Thumb Drive

Paul Lilly — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:14:49 +0000

Free in-game bonus with purchase.

Patriot Memory on Monday announced that it's teamed up with Meteor Entertainment to launch a "one-of-a-kind" SuperSonice Rage XT promotional bundle with Meteor's online mech action game, Hawken. The bundle pairs Patriot's 64GB USB 3.0 Supersonic Rage XT NAND flash memory drive with a game changing 7-day Hawken Double XP Boost, allowing gamers to level up faster in the multiplayer mech title.

Hawken is a free-to-play first person shooter built around Unreal Engine 3. It uses a freemium model, though up until June 25, gamers can test drive the Scout and Rocketeer mechs at no cost.

As for the flash drive, the Supersonic Rage XT sports an "extra tough" rubberized housing. It's rated to read data at up to 180MB/s and write at up to 50MB/s when plugged into a USB 3.0 port. It's available in bundled form exclusively at Newegg for $60.

In semi-related news, Patriot recently launched new Intel Extreme Masters Limited Edition DDR3 memory. Built for gamers and intended for 2nd and 3rd Generation Intel core processors, the Limited Edition RAM is certified for Intel XMP 1.3 delivering frequencies of 1600MHz, 1866MHz, and 2133MHz. It's available in dual- and quad-channel kits in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities.

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Google and Twitter Take a Pass on new FISA Disclosure Deal Adopted by Facebook and Microsoft

Justin Kerr — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:12:46 +0000

They might not have a choice, but they are fighting it anyway.

Privacy concerns are front and center in the online world these days, and a deal taken by Facebook and Microsoft on government transparency doesn’t pass the Google sniff test. Google claims the offer comes with strings attached they can’t live with, and they appear to be holding out for a better offer.

The current deal forces companies who wish to disclose FISA requests to lump in those coming from the NSA with that of U.S. local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. This restriction alone makes it pretty much impossible to know where our information is going, and is further complicated by another rule that forces them to only report request in bands of 1,000.

Google has taken a hard stance on the matter, and has released a pretty clear statement with what they hope to accomplish.

We have always believed that it's important to differentiate between different types of government requests. We already publish criminal requests separately from National Security Letters. Lumping the two categories together would be a step back for users. Our request to the government is clear: to be able to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately.

We have no idea if Google will get its way, but at the very least they should be applauded for sticking up for the rights of their users. Twitter’s legal director Benjamin Lee has also sided with the search giant, paving the way for a standoff that will play out over the coming weeks.

We agree with @Google: It's important to be able to publish numbers of national security requests—including FISA disclosures—separately.

— Benjamin Lee (@BenL) June 15, 2013

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Microsoft is Paying Upwards of $100,000 To Secure Key Windows Phone 8 Apps

Justin Kerr — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:22:41 +0000

Microsoft throws money at the problem.

Sources close to Microsoft have confirmed that the tech giant is determined to prop up its Windows Phone 8 App Store, and it’s willing to bust out the big boy checkbook to do it. According to Business Insider, Microsoft has offered several top tier developers upwards of $100,000 to bring key apps to its mobile platform, and that’s in addition to smaller incentives currently open to anyone.

For the month of June Microsoft is also offering developers of any size a cool $100 for any app that gets published to the store up to a maximum of $2,000. This could certainly help Microsoft pad the numbers a bit on paper, but it won’t help with the quality vs. quantity argument. That’s where the big payouts come into play. If Microsoft can write a check to convince just a few more key developers to join the platform, Windows Phone could end up being the only viable alternative to Apple and Google in the mobile space.

Buying your way into a market is a questionable and expensive strategy, but it also shows Microsoft’s commitment to the platform. Will throwing money at the app problem make it go away? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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System76 Jumps on the Haswell Bandwagon with Two New Ubuntu Laptops

Pulkit Chandna — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 20:15:22 +0000

The Gazelle Professional and the Galago UltraPro both come pre-loaded with Ubuntu 13.04

System76 may not exactly be a household name, but the Ubuntu system builder has been in business for over seven years now, apparently long enough to have launched nine iterations of a single product. The ninth generation of the Gazelle Professional laptop has, in fact, just come out, as has the all new Galago UltraPro, “the world's first and only ultra thin laptop to feature Intel's new Iris Pro Graphics with 128MB of eDRAM.”

Both the 15.6-inch Gazelle Professional and the 14.1-inch Galago UltraPro are built around Intel’s 4th generation Core i7 processors, run Ubuntu 13.04 (64 bit), and rock full HD displays. While the former is available now starting at $799, the UltraPro starts at $995 and is only up for pre-order at the moment, with “shipments estimated to begin in mid to late July.”

At 5.40 lbs, the 9th generation Gazelle weighs exactly the same as its Ivy Bridge-based predecessor, but despite their fair share of similarities, a lot has changed, right from the processor to the webcam. In its most basic form, the highly configurable Gazelle packs a full HD LED-backlit display (glossy surface),2.4GHz Core i7 4700-MQ processor (up to Core i7-4900MQ), 4GB DDR3 SDRAM (up to 16GB), 500GB HDD (up to 2x1GB HDDs plus 1x256GB mSATA SSD), DVD-Super Multi drive, 2MP webcam, 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN + Bluetooth combo, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, eSata/USB 3.0 Combo, 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, headphone jack, microphone jack and SD card reader.

Here’s what the Galago UltraPro is packing under the hood: full HD LED-backlit IPS display (matte surface), 2GHz Core i7-4750HQ Processor, 4GB DDR3 SDRAM (up to 16GB), 500GB HD (up to 1.256TB storage), 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN + Bluetooth combo, 1MP webcam, HDMI, Display Port, Ethernet, 3 x USB 3.0, headphone jack, microphone jack and SD card reader.

“Wait, that's not it! One more – smaller, but still awesome – bit of news,” the company said on its Facebook page. “All System76 laptops based on 4th Generation Intel Processors now include color calibrated profiles created with ColorHug installed by default. The new profiles significantly improve color reproduction on our new professional grade LCD's.”

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E3 2013: Unu Interview

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:44:06 +0000

Not your ordinary tablet.

Devices makers are aggressively pushing Android as a viable platform for your living room entertainment needs, hence consoles like Ouya, Mojo, and more. The Unu tablet is a similar attempt at getting gamers to fire up Android titles in the living room, but in a different way. It's a 7-inch slate that plugs into your TV, which in and of itself isn't a fancy trick since many tablets already have HDMI output, but the difference here is it turns your television into a smart console of sorts.

We had a chance to see the Unu tablet at E3. It comes with an air mouse (remote control) so that you can dock the tablet and sit on the couch out of arm's reach. You then navigate the tiled interface, selecting from various categories like YouTube, Smart TV, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Games, and more.

It seemed to run smooth and fast -- almost too fast, on occasion -- during our short look at the prototype device. If you want to play games, you can use the air remote, or a dedicated controller that looks similar to the Xbox's controller.

There will be two SKUs of the quad-core 7-inch Unu tablet, including a Media Edition for $199 and a Gaming Edition for $249.

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Half of the Internet's Mobile Ad Revenue Belongs to Google

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:23:23 +0000

By the numbers, it's Google's Internet, we're just witnesses.

Oh, to be Google for a day. If you could have Google's mobile ad dollars for a single day out of the year, you could quit your job and never work again, if you didn't want to. According to data by eMarketer, Google's mobile ad revenue is on pace to double in 2013 to $8.85 billion, and if you divide that by 365, it comes to more than $24 million per day. We'll give you a moment to let that sink in.

As if any of this needs put into perspective, Google rakes in more than half of the world's mobile Internet ad revenue. That was the case in 2012 when Google collected $4.61 billion of the $8.8 billion spent, and if eMarketer's forecast for 2013 is correct, Google's $8.85 billion this year will again account for the lion's share of the $15.82 billion that will be spent overall.

While most of the mobile ad dollars flow through Google, it's not the online online company collecting obscene amounts of green. Facebook is on pace to come in at a distant second with a little over $2 billion by the end of the year, ranking as the only other company to join the billion dollar mobile ad revenue club. After Facebook, Pandora is the biggest beneficiary of the Internet with 2013 revenue likely to total $400 million. That's a far cry from Google, but still more than $1 million per day.

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Using Siri to Sell Windows Tablets is a Potentially Winning Strategy

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:52:52 +0000

Microsoft continues to lob advertising grenades at Apple's iPad.

I have to admit, I'm finally impressed with Microsoft's ability to market. That's not something I can recall saying before, certainly not when Microsoft tried to counter the humorous (but misleading) Mac vs PC commercials with a series of Jerry Seinfeld ad spots. While Apple was busy clowning Windows Vista, Microsoft figured it was a good idea to show Seinfeld shopping for shoes. Seriously. Thankfully, Microsoft isn't making the same mistake in mobile, and its latest ads are actually quite funny.

In case you missed it, Microsoft several weeks ago took aim at the iPad by placing it side-by-side with an Asus tablet running Windows 8. In the ad, Siri repeatedly apologizes for being unable to perform the same tasks as the Windows 8 slate, and finally pleads, "Shall we just play chopsticks?" Here's a look at the ad, which has over 5 million views to date:

Tablets running Windows 8 have a long way to go before they catch the iPad in market share, but with a comical ad campaign that doesn't feature churros or any of Microsoft's other past quirks, and instead turns Siri against the iPad, the Redmond outfit may have a shot at winning over consumers, especially as prices come down.

There's the key. Prices are coming down, as Microsoft points out in a new ad. This latest one features a Dell tablet, and like before, Siri is both apologetic and in awe of the competition, until she see the price compared to an iPad. "Oh, that's not cool," she proclaims after learning Dell's tablet is $200 less. Have a look:

What do you think about Microsoft's latest ad campaign? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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E3 2013: Freddie Wong Videogame High School Interview

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:03:12 +0000

Behind the scenes with the cast of Video Game High School web series.

If you haven't already, spend some time getting caught up on Video Game High School, an action comedy web series by Rocket Jump. Through nine episodes in Season 1, VGHS has amassed around 36 million views on YouTube. Obviously the idea of professional gamers being elevated to star status is striking a chord with viewers. We had a chance to sit down with Freddie Wong, a gaming celebrity in his own right and one of the founders of Rocket Jump, along with the cast of VGHS.

Wong and crew explain the premise behind VGHS along with various inspirations. Having completed Season 1 of the web series, work has already begun on a second Season, Wong says.

Season 2 will see an expansion of the VGHS universe with the various characters having their own story lines. You can expect TV length (22 minutes) episodes in the upcoming season, a decision that was made in response to the overwhelmingly positive response to the series.

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E3 2013: Alienware 18-inch, 17-inch, and 14-inch Gaming Laptops

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:36:03 +0000

Alienware invades E3 in style.

There's no need to fear an alien invasion, not when they come from the planet Dell. Alienware comes in peace and is interested in one thing and one thing only: high-performance gaming. Maximum PC Online Managing Editor Jimmy Thang probed Alienware's booth at E3 to take a look at three new gaming laptops, including a 14-inch model, 17-inch model, and a giant 18-inch SKU.

Alienware claims its 14-inch model is the "most powerful 14-inch notebook in the universe." It's also uniquely designed and looks different from previous generation Alienware systems. There's an anodized aluminum cover, magnesium alloy body, and an overall industrial design. There's also a lot of metal on the inside to help keep components cool.

Lighting has been changed, too. There are now 10 customizable lighting zones, though if you're not into that sort of thing, you can turn them off. Alternately, game developers can tap into the lighting zones and, say, make them blink red if you get shot by an enemy. Cool stuff.

The 17-inch model kicks things up a notch and comes standard with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M GPU (you can upgrade to a 770M or 780M), and of course Haswell is inside.

Choosing the 17-inch SKU over the 14-inch model obviously sacrificies portability, though it also increases the level of immersion since you're working with a larger display. If you really want to go big, however, check out Alienware's 18-inch beast.

Described as the "big kahuna," Alienware says this is the most powerful gaming notebook in the world, period. Unlike past versions of Alienware's 18-inch model, you don't start off with a single graphics card anymore -- it now comes with two GPUs by default. It's essentially a portable gaming desktop.

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Microsoft Office Casually Moseys Over to iPhone, Caveats Follow

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:57:15 +0000

"You have to call me Dragon."

Remember that scene in Step Brothers when Dale Doback and Brennan Huff meet for the first time? They stare each other down and insist on being called Dragon (Dale) and Nighthawk (Brennan). It's a scene that immediately came to mind when we found out Microsoft's Office productivity suite had wandered over to iOS to meet the iPhone -- and only the iPhone -- in the form of Office Mobile.

You read that right -- Office is (finally) available for iPhone via iTunes, though not without caveats. Though it's a free download (yay!), it's only accessible to Office 365 Home Premium and ProPlus subscribers (boo!). The other caveat is that Office Mobile is only optimized for iPhone, not the iPad or iPad mini, both of which offer larger displays to work with.

Regardless, it's a first step -- and a big one at that -- in bringing Office over to iOS.

"After signing in to an Office 365 account, you can access, view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from anywhere," Microsoft stated in a blog post. "And, you can count on Office Mobile to keep all your content and formatting intact so the document still looks great when you're back on your PC or Mac."

Microsoft promises a consistent Office experience across platforms, meaning your formatting and layout will remain intact when going from PC or Mac over to iPhone. The software maker also touts the ability to make quick edits and share documents from your iPhone, with the ability to save directly to SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud-based storage locker.

Office Mobile is available to download right now.

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Intel's Desktop Processor Roadmap Through First Half of 2014 Leaked Online

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:41:43 +0000

Ivy Bridge-E is right around the corner.

Processor roadmaps must be slippery little suckers because it never seems like AMD or Intel are very good about holding onto them. Instead, we're frequently treated to early, often unauthorized glimpses of what each semiconductor has in store, and this time it's a look at what Intel is planning. The latest leaked roadmap shows Intel's processor plans through the first half of 2014.

The slides first showed up at asder00.com, a site that appears to thrive on leaked information. According to CPU World, a site that's been reliable in the past, the slides are legit, at least according to one of its sources that confirmed their validity. Anyway, enough about that, let's talk about what's on tap from Intel.

Those of you holding out for Ivy Bridge-E need only wait until the third quarter of this year. That's when Intel will launch its Core i7 4820K, 4930K, and 4960X processors, all based on Ivy Bridge-E. In addition, Ivy Bridge-E support will be added to the X79 chipset, according to the slides.

An expanded Haswell lineup is also slated for Q3. There will be a Core i7 4771 part along with a bunch of Core i3 and Pentium chips. A Haswell refresh is then planned for the second quarter of 2014, though the slides don't go into much detail on that front.

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