Monthly Archives: June 2016

2016 Volvo V60 Polestar T6 Review – Swedish mettle

Volvo should not make this car. That the Swedish automaker, beloved for its traditionally boxy style and obsessive approach toward safety, is responsible for the V60 Polestar, a wagon not so much of the “light the blue touch paper and stand back” variety but more “douse the place with gasoline and torch it, while cackling like an unhinged Batman villain”, is equal parts oddity and triumph.

You may very well never have heard of Polestar. Until recently, it was a Swedish racing team and independent tuner, specializing in taking nearly-finished Volvos from the nearby production line and breathing akvavit into them, much in the way that Alpina fettles monstrously powerful BMWs.

In July 2015, though, Volvo sensibly acquired the tuning arm – and branding – of Polestar. The racing side is still independent, but those responsible for taking sensible sedans and wagons and coaxing far more power than you’d need for the school run or antiquing are now under Volvo’s own roof.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/2016-volvo-v60-polestar-t6-review-swedish-mettle-30441915/

Samsung Gear Fit 2 specs on GPS, water resistance and more leak

Second gen Fit tipped to have more features than older gen devices

Samsung Gear Fit 2 specs reportedly leak

The Gear Fit2 leaks just keep on coming. Last we saw, the next-gen Samsung tracker was apparently shown off in promotional photos and now it seems like the specs are the latest bit of rumor to pop up.

The biggest feature addition, which was reported before, will be onboard GPS so you can track activities like running without piggybacking off your smartphone GPS.

That also means it’s going to be more of a direct rival for the Microsoft Band 2, which is one of the few fitness tracker/smartwatch hybrids to pack GPS.

Read on to find out what we know so far about the Gear Fit2 features, release date and jump to the specs section to see what rumors are new.

Read full post here:
https://www.wareable.com/samsung/samsung-gear-fit-2-review

Asus ROG RX800 May Be World’s Most Powerful Laptop

Putting water cooling on a laptop is ridiculous enough, but at Computex 2016, Asus took crazy to a whole new level by shoehorning a second desktop-level GPU into its beastly 18.4-inch ROG RX800.

rx800 back 675403

The madness doesn’t end there though, because while the demo unit Asus showed off in Taiwan featured two Nvidia GTX 980 GPUs, by the time this $6,000 behemoth — no, that’s not a typo — is ready to ship late this summer, it will pack even more beastly Nvidia GTX 1080 graphics cards.

Asus says that the RX800 will also be the first laptop on the market to feature a 4K 18.4-inch screen with Nvidia’s G-Sync display technology. In short, the RX800 looks like it’s going to be the most powerful gaming laptop in the world.

Read full post here:
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/asus-rog-rx800-specs-price

2016 CSC RC3 Review

What do you think of when you hear “Chinese motorcycle?” Cheap, ugly, and under-performing? Those observations would be largely correct, as the majority of Chinese motorcycles to come to these shores (that’s the United States, for our international readers) were exactly that. Let’s face it: the words “Made In China” aren’t held in high regard.

But maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to judge. CSC is looking to change how we think about Chinese motorcycles. Its first attempt (outside its line of Mustang mini cruisers) was the RX3 250cc adventure bike, which impressed the hard-to-please Tom Roderick in this review. Now with the RC3, a sportbike built on the same bones, CSC is looking to impress a different group of riders.

Read full post here:
https://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/csc-manufacturer/2016-csc-rc3-review.html

DZOptics KERLEE 35mm f/1.2 Lens Announced

DZOptics has announced the development of a new KERLEE 35mm f/1.2 lens for full-frame cameras, the lens will be available in Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony E, and Pentax K mounts. The lens has 14 aperture blades for smooth rounded bokeh, and an ED lens element to reduce chromatic aberrations.

KERLEE 35mm f/1.2

The lens is said to be the first 35mm f/1.2 ultra-bright aperture lens for full-frame camera in the world for DSLRs, with the only other 35mm lens that is this bright, being the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 for Leica M cameras.

The lens features manual focus, and a manual aperture ring, with the ability to switch the aperture clicks on or off, making it suitable for smooth aperture changes during video recording. The 35mm f/1.4 is due to be available in July on Amazon, and pricing information is yet to be confirmed.

You can find more information about this lens on the DZOptics website.

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https://www.ephotozine.com/article/dzoptics-kerlee-35mm-f-1-2-lens-announced-29419

INTEL CORE I7-6950X EXTREME EDITION REVIEW

The Core i7-6700K is often thought as quickest Intel chip, but performance seekers know the true limit of modern consumer CPU power is found in the Extreme Edition, a special set of Intel hardware that runs on its own, separate chipset. Now, the latest Extreme Edition is here, in the form of the massive Core i7-6950X.

With ten cores, this chip beats Intel’s old record for core count on a consumer CPU by a pair. Yet the clockspeed still sits at a comfortable 3GHz base clock, with a 3.5GHz Turbo Boost maximum. It’s packed to the brim with new features designed for enthusiasts and high-end gamers, like Turbo Boost 3.0, granular overclocking controls, and four channel DDR4-2,400MHz support.

But like its predecessor, the Core i7-6950X carries an extravagant price tag. This time around it falls around $1,800, almost twice the price of last year’s top-end chip.

Read full post here:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/processor-reviews/intel-core-i7-6950x-extreme-edition-review/#:G57ff9UVHOIJlA

HORIZON HOBBY CHROMA 4K REVIEW

When most people think of the drone industry, companies like DJI, Yuneec, or perhaps Parrot tend to be the first to come to mind. But what about Horizon Hobby? A global hobby company located in Illinois, Horizon Hobby is a jack-of-all-trades RC specialist that’s now trying to elbow its way into the unmanned aerial vehicle fold. Having recently launched its Chroma line of drones, we decided to put its newest release through its paces to see how it stacked up against the industry’s elite.

It is worth noting that as soon as we unsheathed the Chroma and picked up its ST-10+ touch-screen controller (sound familiar?), it was apparent Horizon Hobby has kept a keen eye toward its competition — in particular, Yuneec. Similarities aside, the Chroma is a solid drone that wasn’t just a blast to fly but one that also provides an inexpensive entry point for anyone looking to get into aerial photography or videography.

Read full post here:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/drone-reviews/horizon-hobby-chroma-4k-review/#:w1VHbTTG9nyuOA

Moon by Simaudio Neo 230HAD Amp/DAC Review

The More Affordable Neo
Moon by Simaudio is the brand name of a Quebec-based company founded in 1980 as Sima Electronics and now known as Simaudio. It boasts a substantial range of Canadian-made products including stereo integrated amps, power amps, preamps, phono preamps, streaming players, and even a disc transport. Our home theater oriented readers may be interested in the MC-8 power amp, configurable for two to seven channels. Moon has its own streaming and music library technology, called MiND (MOON Intelligent Network Device). And its Neo series includes two headphone amp/DACs.

The one reviewed here, the Neo 230HAD ($1,500), is the smaller sibling of the Neo 430HA ($4,300). The 230HAD is single-ended, while the 430HA is a fully balanced differential design. The step-up model offers a balanced headphone input, more output power, and selectable gain. But other specs, connectivity, and format support are the same or similar. The company says the 230HAD offers about 80 percent of the top model’s performance at about a third of the cost.



Read full post here:
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/moon-simaudio-neo-230had-ampdac-review-specs#Q20wjhi3H36S0CP3.97