Nvidia's GTX 650 Ti makes too many compromises for a $170 games-oriented graphics card Specifications for the next graphics card in Nvidia's Kepler-based lineup, the GTX 650 Ti, have leaked. Last week saw the introduction of two new Kepler graphics cards from Nvidia with the GeForce GTX 650 and GTX 660. Those cards filled in the massive void between the nearly-integrated-graphics-equivalent $99 GT 640 and the GTX 660 Ti at $300. Both cards were alluring for gamers as they offered up decent budget gaming performance for the prices. ExtremeTech
Nixeus NX-VUE27 27" monitor: high resolution for the masses The price model for 27" IPS displays has been turned on its head recently by imported models from Korea that you can buy on eBay. Selling for as little as $350, these are stripped down models that lack inputs beyond DVI, have no OSD, have very minimal stands, and often have very little in the way of support. They also use A-grade panels where tolerances for stuck pixels and uniformity errors might not be as high as they are with A or A+ panels that are used in most displays. AnandTech
Quantum cryptography: yesterday, today, and tomorrow Quantum cryptography is one of those amazing tools that came along before anyone really asked for it. Somehow there are companies out there selling very high end, and "provably secure" cryptography gear, all based on fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. Yet, despite being fundamentally unbreakable, there have been quite a few publications on more-or-less practical ways for Eve to eavesdrop on people whispering quantum sweet-nothings in darkened rooms. Ars Technica
Branded for life Wherever Joe Tamargo goes, people stare at his forearms. He likes it that way. Years ago, Tamargo, a resident of Rochester, New York, auctioned off space on his arms, transforming himself into a human billboard. "When I tell them the story, they're like, 'Yo, that's pretty cool. I'm going to check out those websites,'" Tamargo, 38, says of people who see him in public. "And then they get there and there's nothing on the website." Tamargo is not just a walking advertisement. He's a walking advertisement for businesses that no longer exist. BuzzFeed
The Internet? We built that Who created the Internet and why should we care? These questions, so often raised during the Bush-Gore election in 2000, have found their way back into the political debate this season – starting with one of the most cited texts of the preconvention campaign, Obama's so-called "you didn't build that" speech. "The Internet didn't get invented on its own," Obama argued, in the lines that followed his supposed gaffe. "Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet." The NY Times
50 years of the Jetsons: why the show still matters It was 50 years ago this coming Sunday that the Jetson family first jetpacked their way into American homes. The show lasted just one season (24 episodes) after its debut on Sunday September 23, 1962, but today "The Jetsons" stands as the single most important piece of 20th century futurism. More episodes were later produced in the mid-1980s, but it's that 24-episode first season that helped define the future for so many Americans today. Smithsonian
Exclusive: A peek inside NASA's Global Hawk hangar Hurricane researchers are enjoying some new capabilities this month thanks to a pair of unmanned Global Hawk aircraft capable of flying for up to 30 hours at a time. Aircraft and satellites have long been used to study and observe hurricanes. The airplanes with pilots and researchers on board are capable of making measurements and getting up close, but only for a maximum of about 10 hours. Wired (also: Royal Observatory picks best astronomy photos of the year)
Microsoft deploys college-kid cool in Windows 8 apps race Microsoft Corp. is forging a future in tablets with students like Joe Shapiro, a computer science major who had never crafted applications for the company's Windows software until he won an internship to try it out. Shapiro, a senior at Brown University, spent the summer in the Foundry paid internship program at Microsoft's New England Research & Development Center, known as NERD. Businessweek
Will Apple's tacky software-design philosophy cause a revolt? By now it's almost inevitable given the company's track record: No matter what Apple unveils tomorrow at the Yerba Buena Center (an iPad Mini? iPhone 5?), pundits will herald the company for its innovative thinking and bold hardware design. But the elephant in the room will be Apple's software, which many inside the company believe has evolved for the worse in the last few years. Fast Company
How much tech can one city take? Last year, when Mayor Ed Lee heard that Twitter was planning to move its headquarters out of San Francisco and down to the peninsula, he quickly consulted with his digital experts – his two daughters, Brianna, 27, and Tania, 30. Was the company important enough to make a top priority? "Of course it's important, Daddy!" they told him. "We tweet all the time. You have to keep them in town." San Francisco Magazine
Now Facebook wants you to grass-up friends not using their real name My friend and IT, IP and Media Law researcher specialising in privacy and autonomy Paul Bernal has a very good blog on what seems at first glance to be a crazy move from Facebook in their ongoing war on pseudonyms. Facebook has, from multiple independent reports, started asking friends to snitch on friends not using their real names on Facebook: Computerworld UK
Blizzard is "looking at free-to-play" for Starcraft 2 multiplayer Blizzard is considering ways to implement a free-to-play model in its wildly popular real-time strategy game Starcraft 2. When asked about Starcraft 2 going free-to-play at a Valencia eSports Congress panel, lead designer Dustin Browder responded that Blizzard is "looking at free to play as an option for the multiplayer," according to a report at PCGamesN. Eurogamer
Microsoft Project Austin: A new Windows 8 note-taking app inspired by Courier The app allows users to add pages to a notebook, delete or move them, use digital ink to write or draw and add photos. Notes created in Austin can be shared with other Windows 8 apps, like e-mail and SkyDrive. Users can choose different types of "paper" and view the pages in a variety of ways, including leafing through them like a paper book. ZDNet
Meet the new boss: big data When looking for workers to staff its call centers, Xerox Corp. used to pay lots of attention to applicants who had done the job before. Then, a computer program told the printer and outsourcing company that experience doesn't matter. The software said that what does matter in a good call-center worker – one who won't quit before the company recoups its $5,000 investment in training – is personality. The WSJ