Tag Archives: 2013

Thief 4: New Info and Gameplay From E3 2013

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Square Enix has promised to bring the next offering from their popular Thief series to this year’s E3 and the company was able to deliver on its promise. The company recently had a closed door presentation at E3 and showed off live-action trailer that formally introduced the game’s main protagonist, Garrett.

20dee thief 4 Thief 4: New Info and Gameplay From E3 2013

The game is known for its unique steampunk environment where stealth and advanced technology is utilized. The trailer shows master thief Garrett returning to his hometown after years of being away to see that everything’s in chaos. A character called Baron is in power, a plague is ravaging the city and the rich are as unaffected as ever. So what does our master thief do? He does what he’s best at, rob them senseless.

There are reportedly a lot of changes happening in Thief 4. The franchise has always emphasized stealth over action and the new game showcases this even more. Players can actually complete the game using only stealth and without having to kill anyone. Other alleged changes is Garret being able to use a claw as a climbing tool, a dog being present in the game and using focus when picking locks. One important feature that’s already been confirmed is that the player’s health and focus don’t auto-generate and would require consumables.

Thief 4 will be released on the PC, PS4 and the Xbox One in 2014.

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Tianhe 2 Is The Fastest Supercomputer For 2013

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Finally, supercomputing is now a confirmed reality courtesy of the Chinese supercomputer Tianhe-2 (a.k.a. “Milky Way- 2″) which has just arrived two years ahead of its original schedule.  With a performance record of 33 quadrillion calculations in every second, it’s no wonder why it earned the top spot in the world’s top 500 most powerful supercomputers.

5cc87 tieanhe 2 supercomputer fastest Tianhe 2 Is The Fastest Supercomputer For 2013

The above-mentioned list gets updated two times a year at an event dubbed as the International Supercomputing Conference.  The judging is based on measuring the performance of massive systems that are normally needed in doing heavy duty tasks such as predicting global climate activities and designing nuclear weapons.  The Chinese-made Tianhe 2 is now considered as the most massively created system to date.

The Tianhe 2 features Xeon processors of up to 32,000 which are boosted by as much as 48,000 Xeon Phi accelerator processors.  This results in getting 3.12 million processor cores to be linked together through the Chinese TH Express 2 interconnecting system.  Moreover, it features Kylin Linux OS, power usage of up to 17.8 megawatts, and a memory of 1 petabyte that is equivalent to 12,500 times as much memory from an ordinary PC.

Tianhe 2 is the successor of the 2010 winner Tianhe 1A.  Currently, the Top 500 list is dominated by the US with 253 supercomputers which are among those that are top ranked.

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Fallout 4 Announcement Concealed on E3 2013 (Rumor)

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Time and again, we’ve heard game developers saying that developing a game is actually a long process especially if the team behind it is ambitious and dreams big.  The same goes with Bethesda when it was supposed to announce ‘Fallout 4’ at the recently concluded E3 2013.  When the announcement was not made, fans readily showed their disappointment with Bethesda.  Bethesda’s VP of PR and Marketing Pete Hines has expressed that the company is not ready yet to make an announcement and has advised fans on the best way to handle the situation.

09581 fallout 4 Fallout 4 Announcement Concealed on E3 2013 (Rumor)

The first advice he gave was for people to be more patient.  He explained the tedious process in game development and has reiterated that the team has just announced about working on the new project.  All they are asking for is for fans to give them some time and space.  They don’t just start doing a project that has no substance at all.  It definitely needs some time for it to materialize.

Not many details can be said about the game’s setting.  It was hinted that perhaps it will include the popular ‘Mojave Wasteland.’   So far, Bethesda Softworks has not yet given any confirmation on the existence of ‘Fallout 4.’   Everyone is thus encouraged to be more patient and just wait till the game is officially announced.

Asus ViVo PC: 2013 Model with Favourable Upgrades

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If the trend in smartphones is to go bigger, the PC is going the other way, with mini computers garnering a lot of attention from developers and consumers alike. One company taking advantage of this trend is Asus which recently showed off its smallest creation, the ViVo PC, during the just concluded Computex. While people who attended this year’s Computex saw what the little device looks like, most of the specs were kept under wraps. But a spec sheet that just surfaced on Asus’ website has shed more light on the mystery that is the Asus ViVoPC.

15be2 asus vivopc Asus ViVo PC: 2013 Model with Favourable Upgrades

Asus’ ViVoPC is a compact computer that comes in at 190 x 190 x56.2 mm and is reported to be Windows 8 ready. It’s not specified what type it will be but the ViVoPC will be powered by an Intel processor, possibly a new Haswell. It will come complete with a pair of DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM slots that can house up a system memory of 16GB and up. It also has an on-board Intel HD Integrated graphics, Sonic Master speakers, a storage system that can either be HDD or SSD, 3 USB3, 4 USB2, 3 audio jacks, VGA and LAN ports.

The released spec sheet might have given people an idea on what the mini computer can do, but it doesn’t mention how much it will cost or when it will hit the market.

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MacBook Air 2013 Review: Superb Battery Life But Without Retina Display

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Though the new MacBook Air has a cheaper price than its predecessor’s, it certainly has so much more to offer.  One notable enhancement is the battery life which is now stretched to last 5 hours longer as provided by the new Haswell chip from Intel.  The 13-inch laptop has the familiar svelte aluminum finish with a front lip that’s easy to open.  Currently, the 13-inch MacBook Air doesn’t show any signs of a change in color, materials, body size and weight.

fe38b 2013 macbook air wwdc MacBook Air 2013 Review: Superb Battery Life But Without Retina Display

Just like its predecessor, the MacBook Air keeps the MagSafe 2 power connector, headphone jack, and USB 3.0 on the left side.  The right side however is embedded with the SD card slot, a second USB 3.0 port, and the Thunderbolt port.

With a weight of just 3 pounds and a measurement of 12.8 x 9 x 0.11 x 0.68 inches, the MacBook Air is indeed one of the thinnest and lightest laptops in the market.  The difference in weight and size is very minimal when it’s compared with other 13-inch laptops such as the Sony VAIO Pro 13 (2.4 pounds), Acer Aspire S7 (2.8 pounds), and Samsung ATIV Book 9 (12.4 x 8.6 x 0.51 inches).

Whether the purpose is to save the battery life or to have a cheaper price point, Apple has decided to maintain the 1440 x 900 pixel resolution display in the Macbook Air.  However, there is also a MacBook Pro version that has a Retina display of 2560 x 1600 pixels at a higher cost of $ 1499.

Other notable features of the MacBook Air include rich sound-producing audio, spacious keyboard with dedicated action keys, glass trackpad of 4.1 x 3 inches, and FaceTime HD camera.  It boasts of a 1.3 GHz Haswell ULT processor from Intel, RAM of 4GB, and a totally new flash storage.

However, it may not be a good device when playing games as the fan tends to become noisy.  Moreover, it may find itself in stiff competition against other portable laptops that are lighter and has a screen with better resolution.

All in all, the 13-inch MacBook Air is still the longest-lasting portable laptop in the market today.  With a more affordable price of $ 1,099, it’s definitely a great find. What do our readers think?