| MSI GT60 and GT70 gaming laptops get NVIDIA GTX 680M graphics, available now from $1,899 Jul 24th 2012, 22:57  MSI introduced the GT60 and GT70 notebooks in March, and the latter has already received an upgrade to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 675M GPU. Now both laptops are taking another step up, this time to the GeForce GTX 680M, NVIDIA's latest GPU, with 4GB of dedicated memory. The refreshed 16-inch GT60 and 17-inch GT70 are available in the US today for $1,899 and $2,599, respectively. Specs remain the same aside from the revved-up GPU; both models come standard with an Intel Core i7-3610QM CPU, a 1,920 x 1,080 display, HDMI output, a Killer E2200 LAN card and three USB 3.0 ports. For more info, head to the press release below the break. Continue reading MSI GT60 and GT70 gaming laptops get NVIDIA GTX 680M graphics, available now from $1,899 Filed under: Gaming, Laptops MSI GT60 and GT70 gaming laptops get NVIDIA GTX 680M graphics, available now from $1,899 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  MSI (1), MSI (2) | Email this | Comments | | Hacker finds flaw in hotel locks, can ruin your vacation with $50 DIY gadget Jul 24th 2012, 22:34  Admittedly, the headline is designed to get your dander up. You're in no immediate danger of a technologically-gifted thief plugging a couple of wires into your hotel door and making off with your sack of souvenirs from the Mall of America. But that's not to say it's impossible. Cody Brocious, who was recently brought on by Mozilla to work on Boot to Gecko, is giving a presentation at the annual Black Hat conference in Vegas where he demonstrates a method for cracking open keycard locks with a homemade $50 device. The hack only works on locks made by Onity at the moment, and real life testing with a reporter from Forbes only succeeded in opening one of three hotel doors. Still, with between four and five million Onity locks installed across the country (according to the company), that is a lot of vulnerable rooms. The attack is possible thanks to a DC jack on the underside of the lock that's used to reprogram the doors. This provides direct access to the lock's memory, which is also home to the numeric key required to release the latch -- a key that is protected by what Brocious described as "weak encryption." Ultimately the source code and design for the Arduino-based unlocker will be published online alongside a research paper explaining how these locks work and why they're inherently insecure. The hope is that manufacturers will take notice and improve the security of their wares before the world's ne'er-do-wells perfect Brocious' technique. Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Hacker finds flaw in hotel locks, can ruin your vacation with $50 DIY gadget originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Ubergizmo | Forbes, Black Hat | Email this | Comments | | Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) MDP benchmarks blow away the competition Jul 24th 2012, 22:07  As mentioned earlier, we've just gotten our hands on Qualcomm's latest development platform to see how its first quad core chipset fares. And boy, that APQ8064 really doesn't disappoint, but it should be no surprise -- we've already seen how the top dual core S4 chipsets already beat their quad core competitors in certain aspects, so it's only natural for the quad core S4 Pro to annihilate them. As you can see in our chart after the break, the APQ8064-based MDP easily beat the Tegra 3-based One X and Nexus 7, as well as the Exynos 4412-based Galaxy S III. And partly thanks to the Adreno 320 graphics core, the MDP even scored an astonishing 132fps in our GLBenchmark test, while the quad core Galaxy S III with Mali-400 graphics came second with 99fps, with the remaining devices lingering around 60fps only. Obviously, the question remains how big of a trade-off there is on battery life in exchange for those two extra cores and the more powerful graphics chip. That said, we have a feeling that Snapdragon's Krait architecture and asynchronously clocked cores will again prove that Tegra 3's 4-PLUS-1 design isn't the best solution for battery efficiency -- as many of you might already know. We shall see when APQ8064-based products become available later this year. For now, take a gander at our numbers and photos. Myriam Joire contributed to this mind-blowing hands-on. Continue reading Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) MDP benchmarks blow away the competition Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) MDP benchmarks blow away the competition originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Ford C-Max Energi pricing: $29,995 after a federal tax credit, available this fall Jul 24th 2012, 21:24  Ford already spilled the beans on its $25,995 C-Max Hybrid (shown in the vid just after the break), but those anxiously awaiting more surrounding the C-Max Energi can finally start saving a precise amount of pennies. The automaker's first production plug-in hybrid will go on sale this autumn for $29,995 after a federal tax credit, and according to Ford, that's "more affordable than the Prius plug-in hybrid." For those in need of a memory jar, the Energi is expected to deliver 550 miles of total range, representing a 95 mpg equivalent (MPGe) and an electric-only top speed higher than the Prius plug-in. As the Prius bashing continues, Ford is also quick to point out that its Energi will boast 60 more horsepower than Toyota's rival. Those intrigued can visit the source links to see the newly launched "build-and-price" website for the car, and those who reside in the state of California will likely qualify for an extra $1,500 in tax credits. Continue reading Ford C-Max Energi pricing: $29,995 after a federal tax credit, available this fall Filed under: Transportation Ford C-Max Energi pricing: $29,995 after a federal tax credit, available this fall originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Ford (1), (2) | Email this | Comments | |
