There were instances where the Core i7-3770K was ~10% faster, such as Fritz Chess 13, and then we saw the biggest gains in our encoding benchmarks. Here the Core i7 3770K was 10-17% faster than the i7-2600K. Gaming with a discrete graphics card such as the GeForce GTX 580 saw the Core i7-3770K provide slightly more performance than the i7-2600K, but nothing to write home about. Power consumption was more impressive, taking 11% less power than the i7-2600K while performing on average 17% faster....

“We have fully aligned and focused the telescope on a star, and the performance is beating specifications. We are excited about what this means for science,” said Ritva Keski-Kuha, deputy optical telescope element manager for Webb at NASA Goddard. “We now know we have built the right telescope.” Furthermore, NASA found zero critical issues and no measurable contamination or blockages in Webb’s optical path. As such, the telescope is able to gather light from distant objects and deliver it to various onboard instruments without issue....

The crux of Musk’s argument against Twitter, and the reason he backed out of the $44 billion deal, is his claim that the company lies about how many fake/bot/spam accounts populate the site. It says the figure is fewer than 5% while Musk claims it’s closer to 20%. Musk’s lawyers previously asked the judge in the case to hand over the names of employees who evaluate the number of bots on Twitter....

The well-known KillNet group orchestrated a new malicious campaign based on powerful distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, targeting the websites of some of the largest airports in the United States. The attacks did not ground aircraft or scheduled flights. However, it did disrupt user access to the websites, flight updates, and booking services. According to information released by KillNet on its official Telegram channel, the targeted domains belonged to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Orlando International Airport (MCO), Denver International Airport (DIA), Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and other high-traffic terminals in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Hawaii....

Konami earlier this month revealed that it was joining the NFT bandwagon by selling 14 NFTs on auction site OpenSea. The “Konami Memorial NFT collection” is part of Castlevania’s 35th-anniversary celebrations, as opposed to being any kind of in-game NFT that so many companies are pushing these days. Bidding for the items started on January 12, and all were sold over the weekend. It was bad news for anyone hoping to see low selling prices that might dissuade other companies from putting out NFTs: the items went for a total of over $162,000....

According to a Bloomberg report, the three biggest Bitcoin mining companies traded on the US stock market lost over $1 billion in the second quarter. The firms had to write down the value of their holdings due to the massive drop in cryptocurrency prices in the past months. Bitcoin’s value dropped by almost 60 percent in the three months ending on June 30, from around $45,000 to under $20,000. Other cryptocurrencies dipped even more in price, with GPU-mineable Ethereum losing two-thirds of its value in the same period....

However I can’t help but feel like Lenovo hasn’t nailed the execution of this device, even in its second generation. Sure, there are numerous improvements in many areas, but it’s still well short of being an ideal business grade tablet-laptop convertible. Most of the issues I have with this system revolve around the keyboard dock. The basic Ultrabook Keyboard is decent enough to type on, but its lack of a hinge severely restricts its usefulness....

Dynamic clocking is present in the display’s firmware, reducing the refresh rate of the panel when static content is being displayed, in an attempt to reduce power consumption. There’s also some clever manipulation of display brightness to ensure it’s as low as possible while still being readable, plus a typical power saving mode that gets activated when the battery level falls below 30%. Generally speaking, during my time using the LG G3 as a daily driver, the battery life wasn’t bad at all, but at the same time it wasn’t outstanding....

Synology Disk Station DS409+ - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII) - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII) - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII) - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII) Promise Technology SmartStor NS4600 - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII) - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII) - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII) - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII) Synology Disk Station DS109 - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII) Synology Disk Station DS107 - Western Digital Black 500GB (Serial ATAII)

Intel has run this program as part of the Intel Inside scheme for a long time, but it’s now come to the forefront of the Intel fandom after a Redditor sought to test it. His processor didn’t come with a sticker because it was second-hand, but fortunately, Intel was happy to send him one. According to the Intel Processor Label Replacement Request Form – yes, there’s a dedicated form and landing page – you only need an invoice or receipt as proof of purchase....

In the m3 Note’s spec sheet, Meizu makes some pretty specific claims about this display, which I’m happy to validate here as part of my testing. The claimed contrast ratio of 1000:1 is absolutely spot on, which is average for a budget LCD and delivers a reasonable viewing experience, although don’t expect deep blacks. Meizu also claims a brightness level of 450 nits, and in my testing I saw around 430 nits, which is reasonably close to their claimed value....

But I wouldn’t buy it over the OnePlus 3. In a head-to-head battle with the OnePlus 3 or OnePlus 3T, the Meizu Pro 6 Plus fights admirably but is ultimately beaten by a more rounded device. Coming in second place to such a fantastic device is a great achievement for an OEM that gets little fanfare overseas - and in many ways the Pro 6 Plus is a better buy than more expensive flagship handsets - but finishing second isn’t where a company wants to be....

Microsoft has since provided us with another touch-based rodent, the Explorer Touch Mouse. Unlike the Arc Touch, the Explorer features a more traditional shape complete with a uniform glossy paint job and a simplistic layout. The ambidextrous Explorer Touch Mouse is available in black and gray as well as a limited edition dark red model. Included in the retail package are the mouse, a 2.4GHz Nano USB receiver, two AA batteries and a packet with a quick user guide and other documentation....

Microsoft last May announced that it would be killing off Internet Explorer in its traditional form this year. The announcement came as little surprise, given that a year earlier, the company said it would be dropping support for the browser in Microsoft 365 and it started redirecting some websites from IE to Edge a few months later. Microsoft understands there are those who still rely on IE for compatibility or purely nostalgic reasons....

For those out there with a Surface Pro 3 and its Type Cover, the Surface 3’s Type Cover will be very familiar: it really only differs in size. The Cover is the same size as the front of the Surface 3, and at just 5.2mm thick, it adds a layer of protection to the display without being bulky or annoying. Aside from the keyboard keys and the trackpad, which are plastic, the rest of the Type Cover is made from a very pleasing soft fabric that’s slightly smoother on the front than the back....

Dead Island: Riptide Although publisher Deep Silver has noted that Riptide is more of a spinoff than a sequel of 2011’s Dead Island, you’ll still be able to import your old stats and pick up where you left off with any of the four original characters. As with the first entry, Riptide will take place on the fictional island of Banoi – albeit a different section – and will bring new levels, vehicles, weather conditions, defense mechanics, weapon proficiencies, multiplayer functionality as well as one fresh playable character, US Navy veteran and hand-to-hand combat expert John Morgan....

I’ve always been a fan of the Motorola DROID and its successor devices. The original DROID was the very first Android smartphone on Verizon, and even though its keyboard was questionable, it remained one of the best devices available for quite some time. The DROID 2, however, didn’t get enough of an upgrade to make it stand out from the sea of other Android smartphones. The new Motorola DROID 3 suffers no such fate....

Stock Android on this type of device has a number of benefits: less bloatware means better performance and battery life, Google’s design language looks great, and the overall user experience is generally quite good from vanilla installations. Of course, by going with stock Android, you miss out on some cool features that some OEM skins do bring to the table, but I’m not going to complain too much, because most skins are far too heavy....

Deadline was first to report on the cost-cutting measure. Sources told the publication that the layoffs will impact those in creative positions across both film and television. Several of those being let go are in the executive ranks and at least a couple of director-level original series execs are also exiting, Deadline added. In a statement issued to the publication, a spokesperson for Netflix confirmed they are letting around 150 employees go....

What they wanted to see was AMD launching a top end model to compete head-to-head with the best from Nvidia. They did just that and now that we’ve seen the results, PC gamers are now spoilt for choice (at least theoretically), when it comes to spending their dollars on the best performing graphics cards. But what about the chips powering them? Is one of them fundamentally better than the other?...