Snippets: 20 February 2013

HTC One launched, GTX Titan unleashed, spies on Facebook

Snippets: 20 February 2013
Snippets: 20 February 2013

The HTC One arrives relegating the one year old One X to second place. nVidia brings out the Titan which handily trumps the 680 but isn’t really part of the 700 series line up.. or is it? Also, friending your mom and dad on Facebook could be a big mistake, especially if they are American (and you are up to no good). Tired of the cramp and crowded Singapore? Malaysia is just 90 minutes away once this new rail is completed in 2020. Finally, Pakistan shifts control of a strategic port from Singapore’s PSA to China unsettling old foes India.

 

#1: HTC’s New Flagship Phone Arrives

The HTC One X has been out for a year with side upgrades in the One XL and later the One X+. Today HTC announced its successor – the HTC One. It is probably wise that they dropped the array of alphabets for good but the phone is an upgraded version of the One X housed in a metallic body. The phone looks gorgeous and the specs bumped – sporting a 1080p (up from 720p) display and a 2300mAh battery which is a welcome upgrade from the 1800mAh one found in the One X. The phone stays at 4.7″ leaving it at just about the maximum an average sized palm can do for a one handed operation. The exciting part is the camera where Ultrapixel technology is used. This might finally dethrone the Nokia Lumia 920 as camera king. See a proper comparison here. [via Engadget]

 

#2: nVidia Unleashes the Titan

AMD may have washed its hands off desktop GPUs in 2013 but nVidia has literally unleashed the Geforce GTX Titan. I personally am not very sure if this is the GTX 700 series or just a one off. The Titan is more powerful than the GTX 680 with double the transistors and CUDA cores. Whether it will rival the GTX 690 is a good question but nVidia is touting this as a supercomputer rather than a pure GPU. There’s one thing for sure though – you’ll need to fork out a huge amount for this insane beauty. [via Maximum PC]

 

#3: Parents on Facebook are Spying on their Kids

And you thought they were trying to be hip getting on Facebook. The Education Database Online has revealed that half of American parents who are on Facebook are using it to track what their kids do online. It’s not necessarily scary or sneaky since it is in the interest of every parent to protect their kid, especially in the dark murky online social space. Nonetheless, this serves as a warning to all who have friended their parents or have pretty open privacy settings. [via Cnet]

 

#4: From Singapore to Malaysia in 90 minutes

It may take Singapore up to 2030 to lay out extensions to current MRT lines. Thankfully, the new high speed rail link between Singapore and Malaysia will finish a full 10 years earlier. With this new line, you can travel from Singapore to Malaysia in 90 minutes. Say goodbye to the 4 hour drives and the pile ups at the checkpoint. I just wish they would work on our local rail system a lot quicker… or is this a big hint?  [via Yahoo News]

 

#5: China Acquires Strategic Port in Pakistan

India’s old enemy has allowed China the use of its own port. Pakistan’s cabinet approved the transfer of the Gwadar port to China Overseas Port Holdings Limited. Interestingly, this port is currently owned by Singapore’s PSA International and is labelled a commercial failure. While this entire transaction seems completely commercial, India’s is furious. It ain’t best of friends with both Pakistan and China and this move will simply render ties a little frostier. [via Dawn Pakistan]