Few computer-related acts bring the full Maximum PC ethos to bear as much as extreme overclocking. Damn the torpedoes; give ‘er MOAR POWER! and so on. Fridays are always slow news days, and the Friday between Christmas and New Year’s seems to be doubly so, so why not take advantage of the lull and shine on a spotlight on a pair of overclocking feats that showed up on the radar over the past couple of days?

It looks like AMD's claims of HD 7970's extreme overclocking capabilities weren't the usual PR hoopla. A confidential company document revealing the non-reference models Sapphire has in the works, got leaked to the web, and it is a bundle of surprises. To begin with, Sapphire plans no less than six non-reference Radeon HD 7970 models apart from the vanilla AMD reference design card. Among these, the top-of-the-line cards are codenamed "Atomic RX" and "Atomic WC". One can guess that the "RX" is an air-cooled card, and the "WC" a water-cooled one. It packs blistering clock speeds of 1335 MHz core, with 5735 MHz (1433 MHz actual) memory.

(Reuters) - Mobile phones, long seen as safe amid rising threats to computer security, have become a key target for hackers and an increasing worry for corporate IT departments.

While the first mobile virus dates back to June 2004, risks from hackers remained limited because of the relatively small size of the market.

But this has changed recently with the surge in the smartphone segment, which this year outgrew the PC market, and the new dominance of Google's Android software.

On Thursday, wireless telecom giant Verizon Wireless said it would begin charging consumers a $2 "convenience fee" for some bill payments starting January 15. That decision, which Verizon said was necessary to cover the costs of processing some payments, caught the attention of the Federal Communications Commission. Verizon then decided the fee wasn't such a hot idea after all.

In a press release posted Friday afternoon, the wireless provider announced that customer feedback had led to a change in plans. “At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time,” said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless in a statement.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today the federal government can be sued for the National Security Agency's warrantless "dragnet" of Americans' telephone conversations and e-mails.

But in a separate opinion, another three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based court upheld the 2008 law that gave telecommunications companies immunity for aiding the NSA in its hunt for terrorists.

A USA TODAY investigation revealed in May 2006 that the NSA had been secretly collecting call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth. Operating out of a secret room in an AT&T office in San Francisco, the NSA compiled what was described as "the largest database ever assembled in the world."

QNAP Monthly eNewsletter - December, 2011

QNAP new V3.6 NAS beta firmware is now online! Try it out!

The New V3.6 NAS beta firmware includes highly-anticipated features such as VPN Server, LDAP Server, and Proxy Server, cloud music and photo sharing with a web browser, enhanced backup features, and much more. Users can also enjoy the new version of MyCloudNAS 1.2, QPKG center and an increased range of compatible IP camera and UPnP routers. Learn More...

Discover how QNAP NAS helps enhance business productivity

FrightTown, one of the biggest and most haunted attractions in North America, has acquired a QNAP Turbo NAS to solve their data backup worries and devote more time to creativity and innovation in their business. Learn More...

Taiwan-based vendor Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology aim to ship 10.0 million and 8.0 million motherboards, respectively, in the China market, together accounting for 60% of a projected 30.0 million motherboards to be sold there in 2012, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

(Reuters) - Verizon Wireless, which this month angered customers with three separate data service problems, said on Thursday it will add a $2 fee for one-time telephone and online bill payments.

The planned change, to take effect on January 15, was greeted by a storm of criticism.

Consumer blog Engadget said charging customers to pay was "downright ludicrous." Another tech website, cnet.com, said the move "made little sense."

Your momma always said your handsome mug would take you places. Now it might allow you to access your iPad. An Apple patent application released today describes a facial recognition system that requires minimal computing power, and works whether you're indoors or out -- we don't use our tablets and phones in a photo booth, after all. The technology works by comparing a current image of your mug to a reference model user profile made using "high information" portions of the human face, like eyes and mouths. Translation: it'll take a picture, compare it against the pictures associated with various user accounts on the device and decide if the two images are similar enough to grant you access. Because this is just an application, it's safe to say we won't be seeing this kind of facial recognition in iOS anytime soon, but let's hope it works better than the ICS version if it does.

A brainless, primeval organism able to navigate a maze might help Japanese scientists devise the ideal transport network design. Not bad for a mono-cellular being that lives on rotting leaves.

Amoeboid yellow slime mold has been on Earth for thousands of years, living a distinctly un-hi-tech life, but, say scientists, it could provide the key to designing bio-computers capable of solving complex problems.

Toshiyuki Nakagaki, a professor at Future University Hakodate says the organism, which he cultivates in petri dishes, "organises" its cells to create the most direct root through a maze to a source of food.

He says the cells appear to have a kind of information-processing ability that allows them to "optimise" the route along which the mold grows to reach food while avoiding stresses -- like light -- that may damage them.

Sharkoon USB3.0 Front Panel series for 3.5 inch bays: two or four USB3.0 front ports for mainboards with external or internal USB3.0 interface

MSRP starting at 14.99 euros | internal USB3.0 Adapter: MSRP 5.99 euros

Sharkoon advances the USB3.0 standard even further. Concretely: on the case's front. The case and accessory specialist presents three front panels with SuperSpeed connections, which can be comfortably accessible to the front of the PC from the mainboard. The series embraces models for the mainboard, which provides USB3.0 externally exclusively on the PC backside, and also for newer mainboards, equipped internally with one or two USB3.0 pin headers. All front panels allow quick and easy installation for a 3.5 inch bay and are equipped with a black front panel.

Three models from Thermaltake and Tt eSPORTS win the

“2012 Taiwan Excellence Award”

Toughpower Grand 1200W PSU - BLACK gaming mouse

Challenger Ultimate gaming keyboard

Taipei, Taiwan December 29, 2011 Victory for the Thermaltake and Tt eSPORTS over the strong competition, both received the honorable renowned award “2012 Taiwan Excellence Award” by The Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan. Thermaltake, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, carrying the corporate mission of “delivering the perfect user experiences”. Three awarded products - Thermaltake Toutghpower Grand 1200W power supply unit, the Tt eSPORTS BLACK gaming mouse and the CHALLENGER Ultimate gaming keyboard stood out of 173 brands and companies and 441 products, received the honorable “2012 Taiwan Excellence Award”. Remarkably, Tt eSPORTS has become the top brand of gaming gears to win this prestigious award in Taiwan!

According to Digitimes, Apple will unveil two versions of its next-generation tablet next month at the Macworld|iWorld conference. Sources at Apple's supply chain partners tell the blog that the new models will target the mid- and high-end markets, while the existing iPad 2 will be positioned to compete with the Amazon Kindle Fire.

The new models will sport 9.7-inch screens instead of the 7.85-inch screen the Taipei-based tech blog reported two weeks ago that the new tablet would "likely" launch with. The screens will reportedly feature QXGA resolution and dual light bars to strengthen panel brightness.

Sources at memory makers expect demand for high-capacity NAND flash memory to outstrip supply in 2012 due to strong demand for SSD and embedded storage applications. However, oversupply will remain in the low-capacity flash memory sector in 2012 as demand coming from the mature flash card and drive market has little room to grow, according to the sources.

As a result, prices for high-capacity NAND flash chips and low-capacity ones will be headed in opposite directions, the sources said.

QNAP Announces New V3.6 Beta NAS Management Software with Support for VPN Server, LDAP Server, Cloud Music and Photo Sharing, Enhanced Backup Features and Much More

Taipei Taiwan, December 29, 2011 – QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced new V3.6 beta NAS management software for its Turbo NAS series, providing highly anticipated features such as VPN Server, LDAP Server, and Proxy Server, cloud music and photo sharing with a web browser, enhanced backup features, and more. Firmware V3.6 beta also includes new version of MyCloudNAS 1.2, QPKG center and more compatible IP camera.

With the shiniest new mobile gizmos now unwrapped, the old and obsolete devices must either be bequeathed to someone else, collect dust, get gutted for parts, or simply be put to rest.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates some 789 million mobile devices are at the end of their life, ready to be recycled.

But only about 11 percent of those now considered "junk" were recycled last year, according to the EPA.

Hard drive makers put most of their eggs in a single basket by building the bulk of their manufacturing facilities in a flood prone section of Thailand, and that strategy came back to bite them on the backside when severe floods earlier this year dismantled their operations. As hard drive makers look to get back on track, they're coming up with various strategies to ensure no more monetary losses.

GIGABYTE Firmware (BIOS)Update on Certain X79 Series Motherboard Models

City of Industry, California, December 27, 2011-- It has come to our attention that certain X79 Series Motherboards (see models below) may malfunction due to excess heat when performing Extreme Overclocking beyond the board’s limit. To address this issue and to ensure our product is being used as intended, we urge existing X79 users to either visit GIGABYTE’s official website to download and update their X79 series BIOS, or contact GIGABYTE’s regional service center.

The GIGABYTE X79 Series Motherboards in question are ONLY limited to the following models: G1.Assassin 2 , GA-X79-UD7, GA-X79-UD5 and GA-X79-UD3. The X79 series motherboards not named above are outside the scope of this statement and not applicable.

(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co, Sharp Corp and five other makers of liquid crystal displays agreed to pay more than $553 million to settle consumer and state regulatory claims that they conspired to fix prices for LCD panels in televisions, notebook computers and monitors.

The settlement is the latest arising from lawsuits alleging the creation of an international cartel designed to illegally inflate prices and stifle competition in LCD panels between 1999 and 2006, affecting billions of dollars of U.S. commerce.

Intel plans to release a total of 25 models of its 22nm Ivy Bridge processors, including 17 CPUs for desktops and eight for notebooks and ultrabooks on or around April 8, 2012, according to PC makers in Taiwan.

Desktop CPUs to be unveiled include quad-core Core i7-3770K, 3770, 3770S, 3770T, and Core i5-3570, 3550 and 3450, with prices ranging from US$184-332. Additionally, the Core i5-3470T will be available in May priced at US$184.

Pushing your PC to its limits has obvious inherent dangers; overclocking your CPU can definitely bust your rig if you push it too far. That being said, reasonable overclocking doesn’t actually carry too much risk – normally. Right before Christmas, one overclocker’s Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 mobo crashed, then burned (literally) in the midst of a lightweight stress test. After he posted the video on YouTube (the fun stuff happens in the last 20 seconds), Gigabyte looked into the problem, and apparently, it wasn’t a case of crap luck. Yesterday, Gigabyte’s Chinese branch announced the faulty CPU VRM is a widespread issue and recalled the GA-X79-UD3, GA-X79-UD5 and G1.Assassin 2 mobos. US users, meanwhile, get a critical BIOS update.

There are some conflicting reports about the BIOS update out there. TechPowerUp reports that the patch will throttle the CPU when it’s stressed to protect the VRM and keep your board from frying, but claims that the throttling also apparently puts the brakes on any adventurous overclocking attempts. A Gigabyte rep told us that this is not true, however.

Whoops! Somehow we ended up with a few extra of some items and with the end of the year coming up and all, our finance guys want us to get rid of it. And to you overstock items, we just want to say it's nothing personal. Our buyer must have had a little too much caffeine when he was creating those POs. You've had a nice stay in our warehouse, but now it's time to go.

Also check out our clearance section for even more great closeout deals!

To all our customers - we wish you the very happiest of holidays and truly appreciate your continued support. We look forward to serving you many more times in 2012!