In an email sent to Steam users Friday afternoon, from Gabe Newell, the company admitted that it is “probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008.”

“This backup file contained user names, email addresses, encrypted billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. It did not include Steam passwords.”

Mr. Newell stressed that there is no evidence that hackers have broken the encryption on the stolen file, as it was hashed and salted. He added that using Steam Guard and keeping a vigilant watch over one’s credit card statements was a good idea.

The email also mentioned that Steam is still investigating and working with law enforcement officials to track down those responsible.

Valve has yet to respond to Hardware Canucks’ request for comment.

The transcript of Valve’s email to Steam users is below:

Dear Steam Users and Steam Forum Users

We continue our investigation of last year’s intrusion with the help of outside security experts. In my last note about this, I described how intruders had accessed our Steam database but we found no evidence that the intruders took information from that database. That is still the case.

Recently we learned that it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008. This backup file contained user names, email addresses, encrypted billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. It did not include Steam passwords.

We do not have any evidence that the encrypted credit card numbers or billing addresses have been compromised. However as I said in November it’s a good idea to watch your credit card activity and statements. And of course keeping Steam Guard on is a good idea as well.

We are still investigating and working with law enforcement authorities. Some state laws require a more formal notice of this incident so some of you will get that notice, but we wanted to update everyone with this new information now.

Gabe

The GeminII SF524 measures 144 x 144 x 105 mm, it weights 592 grams, has five 6 mm copper heatpipes, and offers support for Intel LGA 1366 / 1156 / 1155 / 775 and AMD FM1 / AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2 processors. The cooler can be found selling for 37 Euro.

Equipped with PowerColor exclusive cooling solution, the latest HD7970 lowers down 10% temperature through 92mm ultra big fan and unique SSU-shape heat pipe design; while dissipates the excessive heat efficiently, it delivers low noisy level up to 15% quieter than reference version, providing no-compromise cooling effect with silent gaming environment.

The PowerColor HD7970 has core clock at 925MHz and memory clock at 1375MHz; with compatible with PCI Express 3.0, enabling unprecedented gaming performance by doubling the bandwidth per lane of previous generation. With 3GB GDDR5 onboard memory, the latest HD7970 allows the highest bandwidth for demanding DirectX® 11.1 gaming title, delivering the astonishing image quality up to six displays* by utilizing AMD Eyefinity technology.

The latest HD7970 takes advantage of AMD PowerTune technology, enabling higher clockspeeds while needed through unused TDP headroom, delivering the best power efficiency. Also, with the support of AMD APP Acceleration, it creates a “co-processing” environment of GPU and CPU, simply speeds up the everyday applications.

VTX3D HD7970/HD7950 X Edition incorporates the latest PCI-E Gen 3 to get the maximum performance from your GPU. Both fitted with 3 GB of GDDR5 memory connected via a new high speed 384 bit memory interface. VTX3D HD7970/HD7950 X Edition is clocked at 1050 MHz and 880 MHz respectively, also together with 1425 MHz and 1250 MHz for each memory, fulfilling those who thirst for extreme performance. The HD7970/HD7950 X Edition also features ultra cooling design. With two 92 mm ultra big fan and SSU-shape heat pipe design, this efficient cooling solution maximizes the speed of heat dissipation, but minimizes the noisy level, creating most pleasing environment for gaming.

VTX3D HD7970/HD7950 X Edition offer gamers with advanced DirectX 11, including faster Tessellation and DirectCompute, bringing intense gaming performance and unrivalled image quality with ultra-realistic imagery. With AMD PowerPlay technology support, ensuring maximum GPU efficiency by dynamically scaling clocks speeds and power consumption in response to GPU loads. Enhancements for AMD Eyefinity technology include multi-display stereoscopic 3D support and 16k x 16k group resolution, gamers can get the most intense gaming performance than before.

Reuters

Google first announced its intent to purchase Motorola Mobility’s patent library, pending approval by federal regulators, back in August 2011. When this deal goes through, Google will have one of the largest patent libraries in the mobile phone industry.

Google initially tried to bid for the Nortel portfolio as well, but the Apple-led consortium outbid outbid the search engine giant. This consortium, which includes Apple rivals RIM and Microsoft, will pay $4.5 billion for 6,000 patents that the now defunct Canadian telecom-equipment manufacturer is selling.

While the Google deal will likely be OKed by American regulators, there are some concerns that Google’s expanded patent library means the company will own patents for things that are considered industry standards, and will attempt to licence these to competitors at exorbitant rates.

Google would be expected to licence the patents to anything considered an industry by a principle known as FRAND: fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory.

In an attempt to assuage fears over potential patent trolling, Google has sent letters to standards organizations claiming that it would licence FRAND patents in Motorola’s portfolio.

“Google will not apply for injunctive relief against a willing licensee,” Google wrote in its letter.

Google added that it “reserves its right to seek any and all appropriate judicial remedies against counterparties” that refuse to play by its rules for licencing FRAND patents.

Cisco Systems has been an outspoken critic of the industry’s handling of FRAND patents. In a letter written to Google in late January, and published recently in the Wall Street Journal, the company said while it supported Apple’s efforts “the telecommunications industry would benefit from a more consistent and transparent application of FRAND.”

“Windows on ARM enables creativity in PC design that, in combination with newly architected features of the Windows OS, will bring to customers new, no-compromise PCs,” wrote Mr.Sinofsky.

Microsoft’s new-found enthusiasm for putting Windows on the ARM architecture creates a partnership with existing mobile chip market leaders NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments. It also has the potential to sour relationships with Intel and AMD – x86/64 chip manufacturers – as both of these companies are working to expand their mobile and low power consumption offerings.

“Windows on ARM builds on the foundation of Windows, has a very high degree of commonality and very significant shared code with Windows 8, and will be developed for, sold, and supported as part of the largest computing ecosystem in the world.”

Windows on ARM will ship with a desktop version of Microsoft’s next generation Office suite, known as Office 15. It will also include a full featured version of Internet Explorer 10, complete with hardware acceleration for HTML 5.

While Windows 8 on the ARM platform, also known as WOA in technical circles, won’t be able to run existing x86/64 desktop applications it will be able to run Metro style applications from the Windows Store created using the WinRT API.  

Mr. Sinofsky wrote that users who want to primarily run existing x86/64 applications would be better served using Windows 8 on that platform. WOA is more geared towards users considering purchasing a non-Windows platform such as an Android tablet.

“If you’re already considering a non-Windows device, then we think WOA will be an even better alternative when you consider the potential of form factors, peripherals, Windows Store apps (and developer platform), and Office applications as well as a broad set of intrinsic Windows capabilities.”

“WOA will not support any type of virtualization or emulation approach, and will not enable existing x86/64 applications to be ported or run,” Mr.Sinofsky wrote.

Because of ARM’s low power requirements, WOA PCs will have a battery lifespan similar to tablets or high powered smartphones. Mr. Sinofsky went as far to claim that you won’t have to turn off a WOA PC, stating that they would have power cycles more similar to a smartphone or tablet.

“WOA PCs will not have the traditional hibernate and sleep options with which we are familiar,” he wrote.

“Instead, WOA PCs always operate in the newly designed Connected Standby power mode, similar to the way you use a mobile phone today. When the screen is on, you have access to the full power and capabilities of the WOA PC. When the screen goes dark (by pressing the power button or timer), the PC enters a new, very low-power mode that enables the battery to last for weeks.”

Mr. Sinofsky says that Microsoft will be making WOA development machines available to developers at the end of February, about he same time the consumer preview of Windows 8 is available.

“WOA PCs are still under development and our collective goal is for PC makers to ship them the same time as PCs designed for Windows 8 on x86/64.”

The VIA EPIA-M910 is available in both active and passive cooling configurations with the choice of either a performance oriented 1.6 GHz VIA Nano X2 dual core processor or a fanless 1.0 GHz VIA Eden X2 dual core processor and is paired with the VIA VX900 media system processor, which provides the ideal platform for today’s HD-intensive applications.

The rich I/O set of the VIA EPIA-M910 features HDMI and VGA display connectivity ports with pin headers for two 24-bit LVDS (one single channel and one dual channel), eight USB 2.0 ports, dual Gigabit LAN networking, eight COM ports (which can be expanded to twelve with the VIA LPC-01/02 add-on card) and is available in SKU’s with either DC-in or ATX power supply support, providing the utmost flexibility to match a wide range of embedded computing needs.

“The VIA EPIA-M910 Mini-ITX board delivers a highly optimized platform that boasts comprehensive HD video performance, HD audio and HDMI support in a compact, power-efficient package” said Epan Wu, Head of the VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. “The rich I/O provides the connectivity and flexibility demanded by today’s ever diversifying embedded applications.”

VIA EPIA-M910 Mini-ITX Board

The VIA EPIA-M910 is available with the choice of a 1.6 GHz VIA Nano X2 dual core processor or a fanless 1.0 GHz VIA Eden X2 dual core processor. Supporting up to 8 GB of DDR3 system memory, the VIA EPIA-M910 is paired with the VIA VX900 media system processor, featuring the latest ChromotionHD 2.0 video engine which boasts comprehensive hardware acceleration for the latest VC1, H.264, MPEG-2 and WMV9 HD formats at screen resolutions of up to 1080p without incurring a heavy CPU load.

Rear panel I/O includes dual Gigabit LAN ports, PS/2 support, one HDMI port, a VGA port, two RS-232 5v/12v selectable COM ports, four USB 2.0 ports and audio jacks. On board pin headers provide 2 x 24-bit LVDS support (including backlight control), two SATA ports, an additional six COM ports, a further four USB ports, Digital I/O, and a PCIe x4 slot. The VIA EPIA-M910 is available with support for either ATX or DC-in power supplies.

Mr. Schmitz’s wife and family are not currently residing in this mansion, instead living in one of the smaller properties the digital storage locker mogul owns. An official with the New Zealand government told the Herald that there are no plans to evict the family.

“Certainly no one is going to be evicted. It’s no different to any other restraining order where I take custody and control of property, but the family can still live there,” Guy Sayers of the office of the Official Assignee said to the Herald. “We’ll set up a property inspections to make sure there’s no damage, but other than that, the family can still enjoy it.”

Initially, Mr. Schmitz did not qualify to purchase property in New Zealand because he didn’t meet the “good character” test. He then decided to buy property that was under the threshold value of the test, and lease the large mansion where he used to reside.

Mr. Schmitz is currently being held in custody,after being denied bail, awaiting an extradition hearing.

While the company is still officially the world’s second largest PC manufacturer, its steady rate of growth means it will soon overtake HP.

Lenovo had $8.4 billion in sales during Q3, which accounted for a 44% increase. From these sales the company posted $154 million in profit, an increase of 54%.

“Despite the worldwide hard drive shortage in the past quarter, Lenovo continued to achieve strong growth with record results in market share and revenue, as well as record high in PTI (pre-tax income) of US$192 million. For the first time, Lenovo became the number one vendor globally in commercial PCs and in consumer desktop,” said Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo Chairman and CEO.

“We saw strong progress in our Mobile Internet business. During the quarter, Lenovo sold more than 6.5 million phones, and almost half were smartphones. Lenovo’s smartphone market share in China reached double-digit market share in December. We also see strong momentum in our tablet business. All these successes demonstrate that Lenovo has built a strong foundation for the next steps beyond traditional PCs.”

Market analysts point to Lenovo’s performance in China as a key ingredient to the company’s success.

Sales in China accounted for 42% of Lenovo’s total sales. This past quarter, Lenovo’s market share in China rose 3.1%.

“Lenovo’s performance in China is quite a major factor on why it beat the consensus in the third quarter. It continued to gain market share and its margins there are also the highest compared to the performance in other emerging markets,” said Jenny Shih, an analyst with Daiwa CapitalMarkets in Taipei to Reuters.

Mr.Shih also pointed out that growth in the United States, considered a mature market, largely came at the expense of HP floundering during the failed regime of ex-CEO Leo Apotheker.

“[Lenovo] is also doing pretty well in certain mature markets. The United States for example, has gained market share as some commercial PC users switched to Lenovo given concerns over HP’s management and strategy,” Mr.Shih said.

During Thursday trading on the Hong Kong exchange, Lenovo’s shares rose as much as 4.8 percent to hit a high of HK$6.55, the highest level since May 2008.

While the MaxRevo 1200W (EMR1200EWT) is designed to meet highest performance and efficiency standards of hardware enthusiasts, the 80 PLUS Bronze certified NAXN 650W (ENM650AWT-B) will strengthen Enermax’ position in the competitive segment of budget power supplies for gamers.

Today Dell Canada and Fongo announced the launch of their new mobile app, Dell Voice – a free to download full feature VoIP phone alternative that may help Canadians save money on their mobile phone bills. Users of Android and iOS devices can now avoid costly long-distance charges and daytime calling restrictions from their wireless carrier by receiving and placing calls to landline and mobile phones using Dell Voice.

Dell Voice is loaded with free features that Canadians typically pay for as part of their carrier’s plan. Features included with Dell Voice are free local and long-distance calls to most of Canada, free unlimited incoming calls, free Voicemail, free Caller ID, and free Call Waiting to name a few.

Dell Voice uses Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to receive and place calls with users existing data connection¹ (i.e. 3G, 4G or WiFi) on the Fibernetics network. Fongo enjoys privileged access to Fibernetics, a Canadian CLEC that owns and operates its own coast-to-coast network in Canada. By using the Fibernetics network, users can choose a local Canadian phone number for their Dell Voice line, as well as place emergency VoIP 911 calls.

“Dell and Fongo want to tilt the competitive playing field by offering smartphone users everything we believe they need in a mobile phone service – for free,” says John Stix, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Fongo. “Dell Voice aims to help Canadians reduce the cost or even eliminate the need for a voice plan. I believe Dell Voice is a game changer that has the potential to transform the telecommunications industry, while helping to put money back into the pockets of Canadian consumers and business owners.”

Dell Voice can help small business operators save money on their mobile phone bill, which is good news for small business owners like Conor Gordon, a student painting franchisee who racked up a monthly mobile phone bill of more than $1,500 in August, despite having negotiated with his wireless carrier the ‘best’ package to suit his business needs. “Dell Voice will make a huge difference to a small business like mine that is totally reliant on mobile phones for communication. I’ll have all the features I need in a phone, without the huge bills. It’s a no-brainer to download the app and use my extra data as long-distance and daytime voice minutes,” Gordon said.

David Gair, marketing director for Small & Medium Business, Dell Canada, added, “Dell has been a pioneer in providing clients, whether individual consumers or businesses, with the most advanced, yet cost-effective solutions to meet their communication and computing needs. Dell Voice is part of this commitment and complements our spectrum of technology offerings that help Canadian consumers and businesses to stay connected without breaking the bank.”

Lords of Dharmaraja says that Symantec officials offered them payment to stop the release of the code, a claim which the company denies. Leaked emails posted on Pastebin do not make it clear which party first proposed the hush payment, though Symantec quickly involved law enforcement agencies and attempted to set up an undercover sting operation.

“In January an individual claiming to be part of the ‘Anonymous’ group attempted to extort a payment from Symantec in exchange for not publicly posting stolen Symantec source code they claimed to have in their possession,” said Symantec spokesman Cris Padent.

“Symantec conducted an internal investigation into this incident and also contacted law enforcement given the attempted extortion and apparent theft of intellectual property. The communications with the person(s) attempting to extort the payment from Symantec were part of the law enforcement investigation. Given that the investigation is still ongoing, we are not going to disclose the law enforcement agencies involved and have no additional information to provide.”

Lords of Dharmaraja claims to have discovered the source code during a raid on the servers of India’s spy service in 2006. The etymology of the group’s name comes from the lore of Dharma Raja, an Indian King who granted asylum to thousands of Hindus and Christians fleeing the military and religious onslaught of Tipu Sultan, a Muslim tyrant.

The timeline of the email correspondence ends Monday with an ultimatum from the hackers to wire $50,000 to an offshore Liberty Reserve account or the source code would be released. Symantec’s “Sam Thomas” (an undercover law enforcement agent) responded with a request for more time to check with the “finance people”, but the hackers ignored the request and released the code.

Mr. Paden says that Symantec had prepared for a worst case scenario, and had developed a series of patches for pcAnywhere that would nullify any exploits developed from the stolen code.

He added that the products that hackers  likely had source code for, Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition and Norton SystemWorks, are no longer being sold by Symantec.

The TITAN 17 features support for both the latest Intel Core i7-3930K and the Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition. With fast, intelligent multi-core technology that accelerates performance to match your workload, it delivers an incredible breakthrough in gaming performance. For both gamers and demanding users, the Titan 17 capitalizes on a dramatic leap forward in processing technology to provide all the power you need for even the most advanced games and applications.

Constantly looking to push performance boundaries, MAINGEAR’s TITAN 17 features the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M, combining the power of DirectX 11 and NVIDIA PhysX technologies. The GTX 580M can also be configured in SLI offering up to 2x’s performance scaling on today’s hottest PC games. The TITAN lets you play games the way they’re meant to be played without having to worry if your video card is up to the task.

The updated TITAN 17 also features support for the Quadro 5010M, featuring up to 4 GB of graphics memory and 384 CUDA cores. Built on the innovative NVIDIA Fermi architecture, the latest Quadro mobile graphics offerings integrate high performance computing capabilities with advanced visualization, transforming your TITAN 17 into a mobile super computer.

Gamer and PC enthusiasts on the go will never have to compromise with the TITAN 17. This powerhouse notebook can be customized with up to 32 GB of DDR3 memory with speeds up to 1866 MHz, two hardwired USB 3.0 ports, up to three SSD or SATA HDDs with hardware RAID support, and even when fully loaded; it keeps the option for an optical drive. As the power of the notebook will allow user to do more faster, the TITAN 17 also offers a full size illuminated keyboard and numeric pad.

The MAINGEAR TITAN 17 is currently available for pre-order and is offering free shipping along with the highly anticipated legendary game: Jagged Alliance: Back in Action and Batman: Arkham City PC games. For more details visit: http://www.maingear.com/titan17.

Technical Specification:

- Video Card: up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M SLI with 2 GB GDDR5 or NVIDIA Quadro 5010M with up to 4 GB GDDR5 Graphics memory
- Display: 17.3″ (16:9) Full HD (1920×1080) LED-Backlit Display with Super Clear Glare Type Screen
- Processor: Intel Core i7-3930K Processor (3.20 GHz)/(3.80 GHz) in Turbo Mode, 12 MB L3 Cache, LGA 2011 or Intel Core i7-3960X Processor Extreme Edition (3.30 GHz)/(3.90 GHz) in Turbo Mode, 15 MB L3 Cache, LGA 2011
- Memory: Up to 32 GB Quad Channel DDR3 – 1600/1866 MHz
- Optical Drive: Up to Blu-ray reader/8x Multi Combo (BD-R, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
- Hard Drive: Up to 3x 600 GB Solid State Drive or 750 GB 7200 RPM SATA 2.5
- Network Adapter: Bigfoot Networks Killer Wireless-N 1102 supports 802.11a/b/g/n
- Keyboard: Illuminated Full size isolated keyboard with Numeric Pad, 6 instant buttons for Volume up, Volume down, Mute, Wi-Fi On/Off, Bluetooth On/Off, and Camera On/Off
- Audio: Built-in High-Definition Audio
- Slots: One ExpressCard 54/34 Slot and Built in 9-in-1 Media Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/SD/Mini-SD/SDHC/SDXC)
- Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Home, Professional or Ultimate 64-Bit
- Battery: Removable Polymer Smart Lithium-Ion battery pack
- I/O Ports: 1-HDMI 1.4a out, 1-DVI-I out, 1 Display Port 1.2, 2-USB 3.0, 2-USB 2.0, 1 IEEE-1394b Fire Wire, 1-S/PDIF out, 1 RJ-45 LAN, 1-eSATA Port (powered USB 3.0 (AC/DC) combo)
- Security: Kensington Lock and fingerprint reader
- Dimensions: (W)16.5″ x (H)2.2″ x (D)11.3″, 12.13 LBs with battery pack
- Price: Starts at $3,499

“The new MAINGEAR TITAN 17 offers the best in desktop replacement versatility,” Said Wallace Santos, CEO and Co-founder of MAINGEAR Computers. “With the power of the latest Intel 2nd generation Core I7 Extreme Edition desktop processor, dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580Ms in SLI and with the option to use Quadro 510M graphics, this system caters to anyone looking for the ultimate mobile powerhouse.”

All of MAINGEAR products are supported with lifetime labor and phone support with one to three year hardware warranty. For more information about MAINGEAR’s TITAN 17 notebook, click here.

Mr. Price, Samsung Canada’s Director of Mobile Marketing, is referring to the Samsung Galaxy Note, the company’s half-smartphone half-tablet – called a “phablet” by some – expected to be released in North America mid-February (it was unveiled in Europe and Asia late last year).

We’re sitting in a small seventh floor suite of an opulent and sophisticated, though not ostentatious, hotel in Vancouver’s Yaletown neighbourhood. For a company whose mobile marketing slogan is “the next big thing is here”, this event is remarkably low key – focused more on demonstrating the device rather than unveiling it with pompous splash.

Mr. Price’s remark was well warranted, as the device certainly packs a punch: it is powered by a 1.4GHz dual core chip and is ready to run Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich OS (due as an upgrade in March). The phablet’s screen is as beautiful as the processor is powerful; the 5.3-inch HD Super (1,280×800 pixels) AMOLED display makes text look sharp and images vivid and rich.

As Samsung intends the Galaxy Note to be an “all day device”, a 2,500mAh battery is included. This should give the phablet a notably longer battery life than other smartphones on the market.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note isn’t the first device to attempt a midrange, or phablet, size. In 2010, Dell tried its hand at the phablet game with the Dell Streak. While reviewers praised the Streak’s hardware, it was ultimately relegated to the ash heap of consumer-electronics history because of its clunky UI and crash-happy OS. Dell tried to market the device as an iPad killer, though its sword lacked the strength to slay the Leviathan.

A Blackberry, Samsung Galaxy, Nexus, Note, and pad of paper.

While some, like Wired Gadget Lab’s Christina Bonnington, may ask if the world really needs something that isn’t quite a tablet or a phone, Mr. Price says that the Galaxy Note will “help define a category”.

“Samsung has pushed boundaries before,” he says.

Mr. Price explains that in this case bigger means better, and this device, complete with its included stylus, can be seen as something similar to an “evolution” of the smartphone.

One of the catalysts of this evolution will be the inclusion of a stylus, says Mr. Price, illustrating his point on the device’s screen. Unlike the tablets of yore that included a stylus, the Galaxy Note responds well to the input of the pen. The stylus isn’t a requirement to operate the Galaxy Note, as was the case with a Palm Pilot, but rather is a handy addition to the device’s overall functionality.

A portrait sketched with the Samsung Galaxy Note's stylus.

“It’s value added; nobody before has captured the convenience of a pen and paper.”

The Galaxy Note has a launch date of February 14, and will be available on all of Canada’s major carriers.

Check back next week for Hardware Canucks’ review of the Galaxy Note.

Maximizing Space
Touting a modern minimalist design, Elite 361 is engineered to be accommodating in space restricted work zones. Given its unique structure and airflow design, Elite 361 can be placed either horizontally or vertically within a space. A rotatable Cooler Master logo and four user attachable rubber feet assist in making these transitions. Front panel ports are positioned to be easily accessible in either orientation.

Viewing the interior reveals that Elite 361 supports up to a full-sized ATX motherboard, six 3.5” hard drives while being potentially expandable to a multiple graphics card configuration with its seven expansion slots. Benefiting from innovate enthusiast-grade features, Elite 361 incorporates a removable hard drive cage that, when removed, offers a maximum space of 12.3” or 312mm for graphics card length. A large 120mm top fan and several optional 80mm to 120mm fan ports provides superior ventilation potential.

Elite 361 will be available in February, 2012. Click here for more details.

This bulletin states that “all 3 PlayBooks are End of Life” and “inventory will not accept any returns on these devices.”

A roadmap leaked in late January states that RIM plans on releasing a 3G Blackberry Playbook with a 1.5Ghz TI OMAP 4460 processor and 42Mbps HSPA+ sometime in Q2 2012.

Telus recently dropped the price on the Playbook to $149.99.

Though the Prime Minister avoided any direct speculation or commentary on how the government might react if a foreign bid were to materialize, he did question whether hostile takeovers of “critical technology” firms are in the country’s best interests.

“I can’t make comments to you that would prejudice any kind of a bid, especially one that is completely hypothetical and may not happen,” Prime Minister Harper told Reuters in response to a question about a possible foreign bid for RIM.

“Takeovers of critical technology that the government’s invested in, or … hostile takeovers of key Canadian businesses, are obviously something that I think is widely understood is not in this country’s interest.”

“But RIM, as you know, is a strong Canadian company. It’s been an important part of the Canadian business landscape, and obviously we want to see that company succeed and continue to grow as a Canadian company.”

In 2008 the Harper government used the Investment Canada Act to block the attempted to purchase of Vancouver-based military contractor MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) by an American firm.

In addition to developing the Canada Arm, MDA provides Unmanned Ariel Vehicles for the Canadian Forces and other NATO countries. MDA has also built classified imaging satellite ground systems for use by the Canadian government in arctic surveillance.

Todd Coupland, an analyst at CIBC World Markets, believes that a hostile bid for RIM would be difficult, even without Ottawa potentially nixing the deal.

“People are the lifeblood of that company, it isn’t just hard assets. Making a hostile bid in technology and intellectual capital like that is going to be very, very tricky,” Mr. Coupland told Reuters.

Terry Beech, an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Business, and CEO of HiretheWorld.com, agrees with Mr. Coupland that RIM’s value is in its human capital, but doesn’t agree with the Prime Minister that RIM is potentially a strategic asset to Canada.

“The value of RIM is highly intellectual, which means you’re only really as good as the quality of your patents and the quality of your people,” Mr. Beech told Hardware Canucks in an earlier article.“RIM stock is falling for a reason, and there isn’t much the government will be able to do about it.”

“Unlike Potash, Oil or Gold, the Government of Canada has no mechanisms to control the underlying value of RIM.”

It is also widely speculated that the Conservative government is considering easing restrictions on foreign ownership of telecommunications companies, though Prime Minister Harper declined to talk about the issue with Reuters.

RIM’s stock closed Friday on the TSX at $16.78, down 2.3%.

Mr. Schmitz denies these charges, stating that he has no intention of fleeing the country as he wants to be with his family and attempt to recover his frozen assets.

“I will not run away. I want to fight these allegations on a level playing field. I have three little children. My wife is pregnant with twins. I just want to be with them,” Mr. Schmitz told the court.

Mr. Schmitz is known to have multiple passports, and offshore bank accounts in different names. According to Bloomberg, Mr. Schmitz has more than $21 million in 23 seperate bank accounts in Hong Kong.

Justice Raynor Asher, who presided over Mr. Schmitz’s most recent case, argued that Mr. Schmitz’s great wealth and connection to Germany – which does not have an extradition agreement with the United States – is rationale to label him a flight risk.

“I’m aware that if I go to Germany I would be unable to unfreeze my assets. What I want to do is stay here to fight and get my money back,” Mr. Schmitz responded. “What would I do in Germany with five kids and a wife with no money?”

“It is not an option for me.”

The adipose former digital storage locker mogul claims that he has gotten “unwanted” letters from female prisoners, and a harassing phone call from a man claiming to be a prosecutor according to media reports from New Zealand.

Mr. Schmitz is expected to remain in custody until February 22, when his extradition hearing is expected to begin.

The pages listed details of the upcoming single- and dual-socket BL, ML and DL Gen8 servers.

These details were quickly retracted from HP’s site.

A reporter for the IDG news wire managed to take a look at the website, and filed a story with details of the new server line.

HP’s Proliant Gen8 server line will replace the x86 basd Gen7 line, first introduced in March 2010.

According to the now retracted page on HP’s website, the single-socket ProLiant BL460c will be a small form factor machine based on Intel’s E5-2650L.

On February 13 HP plans to host a press conference in Las Vegas with Dave Donatelli, VP of HP’s Enterprise Server division, to share news about a “ground-breaking, new enterprise technology and services that redefine customer data center experiences and economics,” according to an invite.

The word “Gigas” is part of the Greek language and means “giant”. In the modern language, the prefix “giga” can be found in many different areas to quantify the sheer size. Gigabyte or Gigawatt are such examples and the new chassis from Xigmatek carries the name “Gigas” for good reason.

The shell of the cube chassis is constructed of Aluminum, which give the chassis that extraordinary look and feel. With the single piece spanning across the left, front and right of the chassis, completely eliminating any ugly gaps between these areas. Plenty of openings allow for ample ventilation and have been placed in the rear, side and front of the chassis, with the one in the front shaped like an X for Xigmatek.

Two 5.25 inch drive bays in the front next to a perfectly placed I/O panel, which holds not only the power and reset buttons, but also the two USB 2.0 and a single USB 3.0 plug. The latter may be connected directly to the 20-pin header of modern motherboards. Naturally, two status LEDs and a pair of audio connectors can also be found on the I/O panel..

Upon removing the six screws holding the top cover in place, one may access the innovative interior layout, which is the absolute strength of the Gigas. The motherboard, be it of the Micro-ATX or ITX, is simply placed on the floor of the chassis as this panel also acts as the board tray. Expansion cards and ATX power supply are to be installed horizontally within the chassis, as this is the most efficient use of the limited space.

Two large air vents on the left side of the chassis give access to fresh air for the PSU and graphic card so that even the longest (up to 35 cm) and fastest graphic cards keep cool under any circumstance. Two 120 mm fans, rotating at up to 1.000 RPM push cool air across the components, further reducing the overall temperature within the Gigas.

To pull hot air out of the case, the Gigas may hold an additional two 120 mm units in the rear of the chassis. These are to be installed above each other, which generates a healthy flow of air across the hard drive cage and the CPU cooler,

Each of the two hard drive cages can hold up to three 3.5 inch hard drives, with an additional 2.5 inch SSD mounting on the underside of each unit, for a total of eight drives. A third cage, intended for two 5.25 inch drives can be found in the front of the chassis. For additional support of these parts, a metal beam has been installed within the chassis, while still allowing CPU coolers with an impressive height of 18.5 cm to be installed with the Gigas.

With all these features and the incredible and innovative use of space, the Xigmatek Gigas performs like a giant, able to hold high-end components without breaking a sweat. Xigmatek rounds up the impressive list of engineering achievements with their “Mono Cool” fan controller, also part of the Midgard (II) cases, with which one may adjust the speed of up to three fans within the chassis.

Citing industry sources, Digitimes is reporting that motherboard manufacturers are expecting to have to raise their prices by 10% this year due to rising copper and labour prices in China.

“Motherboard prices were hiked by 5-10% in early 2011 to reflect increased material costs and the impact of labor shortages, and by 3-8% in April 2011 due to increased costs of some components arising from the earthquake hitting northeastern Japan in March,” Digitimes’ sources said.

Copper has risen from approximately US$8,000 per metric ton (MT) to US$8,600/MT currently.

At the start of the new year the monthly minimum wage was raised from the equivalent of $184 to $200 in Beijing, while Shanghai is expected to raise their minimum monthly wage from $177 to $202 in April.

ASUS DIGI+ VRM 12-phase digital power delivery comes to graphics cards improved with Super Alloy Power components, while overclockers are bound to appreciate the inclusion of exclusive VGA Hotwire hardware overvolting and GPU Tweak software tuning. The new cards further support adapter-free AMD Eyefinity 6.

Overclocked to 1000 MHz – 75 MHz higher than reference

The HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP ships tuned to 1000 MHz, 75 MHz up from reference. This boost in clock speeds creates noticeable performance improvement, helping make greater use of the generous 3 GB GDDR5 video memory. The default increase in speed indicates the proprietary ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP design’s amenability to overclocking and performance pushing, making better use of the 384-bit memory interface and PCI Express 3.0 standard, which works at up to twice the speed of PCI Express 2.0.

DirectCU II leads to the coolest and quietest HD 7970 card available

Further design and engineering improvements to the ASUS DirectCU II thermal architecture have resulted in its finest iteration yet. The new design consists of six all-copper heatpipes in direct contact with the GPU, in addition to a 20% larger dissipation area than any previous versions. Cooling effectiveness increases by up to 20% compared to reference, helping the card run with improved stability and reliability – critical to successful overclocking. Since the card stays so cool, the dual fans can operate at lower speeds, contributing to a 14 dB quieter than reference experience that helps gamers focus on the action instead of the noise.

First graphics card DIGI+ VRM digital power design with 12-phase Super Alloy Power

ASUS has brought its acclaimed DIGI+ VRM digital power delivery design from motherboards to graphics cards, with the HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP serving as the launch vehicle. DIGI+ VRM has been applied via a massive 12-phase power design that uses digital voltage regulators to increase power efficiency, widen the voltage modulation range, and improve overall stability and longevity. Power delivery components utilize exclusive ASUS Super Alloy Power formulation, which reinforces capacitors, chokes, and MOSFETs with better manufacturing and materials to increase heat tolerance and stress resistance. Cards with Super Alloy Power outperform reference variants and last longer, offering consumers better value.

Easy DIY overvolting with VGA Hotwire

Derived from technology first implemented in ROG motherboards such as the Rampage IV Extreme, VGA Hotwire links headers on the motherboard and the graphics card with simple solder points. Users can alter voltages directly on a hardware level, resulting in more precise modification. Core, memory, and phase (PLL) voltages can be readily altered, opening up new overclocking opportunities.

Intuitive tuning via the GPU Tweak utility

Users who prefer a friendlier interface can utilize the ASUS GPU Tweak suite, which offers fast tuning of numerous card parameters, including clock speeds, voltages, and fan settings. GPU Tweak can control up to four cards at once through AMD CrossFireX. It features GPU clock and voltage syncing, plus 2D/3D switching and mode locking for higher 3D benchmarks. Users get more accurate system testing and higher scores in competitive overclocking scenarios. The utility offers auto driver/BIOS updates to keep cards in optimal working condition, and a handy monitoring widget that provides highly detailed multi-parameter information on demand. ASUS has also worked closely with Techpowerup to integrate GPU-Z into GPU Tweak, offering even more reliable graphics card data and tracking.

First HD 7970 card with four native DisplayPorts for six-screen AMD Eyefinity

The input/output logic of the HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP takes full advantage of the power of the hardware, offering users access to dual DVI and four DisplayPort connectors. As a result, one card can drive up to six screens – achieving HD/4K resolutions with no additional adapters. The efficient power of top-end 28 nm GPU technology means visuals look better than ever even on extremely large displays.

Also in: all-new ASUS HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP ships overclocked to 900 MHz

The HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP features the DirectCU II dual fan cooler and offers consumers superior performance compared to the 800 MHz HD 7950 reference card. ASUS has begun developing more enhanced versions of the HD 7950 that will feature additional exclusive ASUS technologies, including DIGI+ VRM and Super Alloy Power. These cards will ship during the remainder of Q1 2012. Further announcements will be made as products become available.

The Pirate Bay website was not a part of the legal proceedings and remains online, though it redirects to a .se domain.

“The verdict is absurd,” Carl Lundström’s lawyer Per E Samuelsson told TorrentFreak. “I am disappointed that the court is so uninterested in dissecting and analyzing the legal twists and turns of one of the world’s most high-profile legal cases of all time.”

The founders of The Pirate Bay and Mr. Lundström initially went to trial in 2009. In April of that year a Swedish court issued a decision that stating, “The court has found that by using Pirate Bay’s services there has been file-sharing of music, films and computer games to the extent the prosecutor has stated in his case. This file-sharing constitutes an unlawful transfer to the public of copyrighted performances.”

The four were sentenced to 1 year in jail each and fines totalling $3.26 million.

Mr. Lundström and the founders took this to the Swedish Appeal Court, and in 2010 they were sentenced to 4 to 10 months in jail and fines of $6.5 million. Mr. Svartholm was not sentenced at this hearing as he was absent due to medical reasons. Because of this, the 2009 ruling against him of 1 year in prison and an equal share of the damages was made permanent.

According to TorrentFreak, one of the defendents claims that they will appeal the case at the European court of justice.

While the shutdown of MegaUpload may have caused a ‘chilling’ effect to reverberate through the digital locker file sharing community, the sentencing of the Pirate Bay’s founders is a symbolic cannonball through the hull of the larger bittorrent community. In addition to being the world’s largest torrent tracker, the Pirate Bay’s brand name represented a culture of defiance; the tracker openly taunted copyright holders by mocking their attempts to have their files taken down.

Despite the founder’s fate, the characteristically resilient Pirate Bay promises to not be shut down.

“2012 is the year of the storm. The Pirate Bay will reach an age of [nine] years. Experiencing raids, espionage and death threats, we’re still here. We’ve been through hell and back and it has made us tougher than ever,” the website wrote in a blog post.

Mr. Sunde said he was disappointed about the ruling, and in a blog post made claims that he was some sort of martyr.

“TPB has been one of the most important movements in Sweden for freedom of speech, working against corruption and censorship,” wrote Mr. Sunde. “We’ve fought corruption all over the world. We’ve promoted equal opportunities to poor nations around the globe. We’ve crushed the monopoly on information.”

Antec‘s new desktop PSU series provides quiet, efficient power in 400W, 520W, and 620W models, accommodating casual gamers, home office and corporate consumers. The High Current Gamer M Series is the perfect combination of power and cabling that supply extreme levels of power and superb efficiency.

Maximum Efficiency – As one of industry’s mainstream 80 PLUS® Bronze certified PSU, the High Current Gamer M series offers an ideal combination of industry-leading reliability, guaranteed Continuous Power and up to 87% energy efficiency to help reduce electric bills.

Whisper Quiet – A simple 135mm two ball-bearing fan controlled by Antec’s renowned Thermal Manager and CircuitShield™ operates with minimal noise even at full load.

Premium Components – High Current Gamer M employs 4 fully-protected High Current +12V rails with high load capabilities to ensure maximum CPU and GPU compatibility. It’s designed with 100% Japanese capacitors, ensuring maximum DC stability and regulation. It also offers stealth wires for minimal visibility inside the chassis and a 10-pin modular socket for High Current Flexibility.

Black mesh cable sleeves – All wires darkened for minimal visibility in chassis

Safety Precautions – Patented Circuitshield™ includes voltage, current, power, under voltage, and short circuit protection which automatically shuts down the PSU to prevent further system damage.

All HCG-M power supplies are covered by an Antec five-year parts & labor warranty.

“Antec has succeeded with providing consumers with quiet and efficient power supplies to choose from,” said Mafalda Cogliani, Global Marketing Director at Antec. “And now we want to provide the same type of power and convenience via hybrid modularity power supply that will help with energy reduction.”

Availability
The HCG-M PSU series will be available in the US on Newegg, ASI, Ma Labs, Amazon, J&R and Buy.com and in Canada on NCIX and Canada Computers in early February.

The LED-backlit AS241W, which joins the AS171, AS192, AS191WM and AS221WM displays, offers a full range of environmental compliance, including EPEAT Silver, ENERGY STAR 5.1 and TCO 5.2 ratings. This full HD display boasts a quick 5ms Rapid Response time that delivers virtually uninterrupted, undistorted viewing of high-speed, full-motion video. Energy-saving ECO Mode™ enables users to toggle between pre-configured brightness settings that reduce power consumption, heat generation and extend the life of the AS241W.

“The AS241W is our first 24-inch 16:9 display in the AccuSync family, a popular size with the great features our SMB customers need for daily tasks,” said Lynn Gu, Product Manager at NEC Display Solutions. “Many customers have moved to wide-format screens because of their ability to allow the viewing of multiple applications simultaneously. This practice is proven to increase productivity in the workplace.”

The AS241W includes the following features:

• 24-inch, 16:9 TN panel with LED backlighting
• Slim and light design
• 1920 x 1080 full HD resolution
• 1000:1 typical contrast ratio
• 300 cd/m² brightness
• 5ms Rapid Response time
• DVI-D and VGA inputs
• User-friendly On Screen Display (OSD^®) controls
• Tilt adjustability
• ECO Mode, carbon footprint meter
• ENERGY STAR^® 5.1 and TCO 5.2 compliant
• EPEAT^™ Silver

The AccuSync AS241W ships with a 3-year limited parts and labor warranty and will be available in February 2012 at an estimated street price of $239.

“The new 2.5″ SATA3, 6Gbs, drive is the nice addition to our existing portfolio of SSD products. The Pro-V MAX is based on the SF-2281 controller with the optimized firmware (the Golden FW). With Read and Write transfer rate at 560 MB/s and 520 MB/s, respectively, and the burst IOPS at 87K while sustained IOPS over 60K, has a super score of over 770 in AS SSD Benchmark, the drive is designed to deliver exceptional performance over the life of it with no performance degradation over time. The Pro-V MAX is ideal for use in gaming machines, HPC & datacenter servers,” said Amy Wang, VP of Strategies and Business Product Development of RunCore.

The Pro-V MAX series features RAISE technology for enhanced reliability and DuraWrite technology. Also supports SATA 6 Gb/s and compatible with 3 Gb/s and 1.5 Gb/s support NCQ (up to 32 commands) and SMART Command and many Operating Systems such as Windows, Linux, Unix, Solaris, Mac OS.

With this launch ADATA is continuing its tradition as an industry leader in DRAM product line-up. These 8GB Premier Series DDR3-1600 single piece memory modules allow users to boost system performance over the limitations of memory slot availability.

The Premier Series 1600Mbps DDR3 240-Pin (Unbuffered DIMM) are standard pin design modules operating at 1.5 volts, with bandwidth up to 12.8 Gb/second (PC3 12800). The memory modules are made of cutting edge high density 4Gb DRAM, so they operate faster, consume less power, and hence operate at cooler temperatures. All the modules are in accordance with JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council, JEDEC Solid State Technology Association) and RoHS design and production standards, simultaneously ensuring compatibility with all computer systems adopting the same standard, and are ecologically sound products. ADATA Series memory modules come with lifetime warranty and service¹, providing consumers the best protection.

Launched last week in a closed beta, the Steam app allows gamers to chat with Steam friends, browse community groups and user profiles, view screenshots and user-generated content for their favorite games, read the latest gaming news, stay up to date on unbeatable Steam sales, and more.

Want to check it out? Simply download the Steam app (free of charge) and log in to your Steam account via the mobile app.

Steam is a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC and Mac games with over 40 million accounts around the world and over 1,800 titles offered.

For more information, please visit http://store.steampowered.com/mobile