Here a roundup of today's reviews and articles:

10 Apps you must try in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Amazon Fire TV Stick review - Half the price half the joy?
Case Mod Friday: Project SEVEN
Corsair K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE Review
Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 Z170 mITX Motherboard Review
NZXT Kraken X41 Review
Oculus Rift CV1 Unboxing
QPAD DX-20 Pro Gaming Optical Mouse Review
Seagate NAS 8TB (ST8000VN0002) Hard Disk Drive Review
Tesoro Ascalon Spectrum Optical Gaming Mouse Review

10 Apps you must try in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" is released. As with all LTS (long-term support) releases, this one is expected to be the most stable and reliable of them all. But we will find more about that in the review later. Let's discuss the top apps you could install after downloading and installing the latest Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.10 Ubuntu Apps You Must Try after installing 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" The apps you use in your desktop vary from user to user. So take this list with a pinch of salt. I have tried to make it as broad based as possible, but they are still very much based on my use-case and might be biased. Let's take a look at the apps that I use the most, my personal favourites for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.My Favourite Ubuntu Apps for 16.04 LTSUnity Tweak Tool, in my opinion, is an absolute must-have for new and experienced users alike.

Read full article @ Tech Drive-In

Amazon Fire TV Stick review - Half the price half the joy?

The brave, new digital world: Here's a review of the Amazon Fire TV Stick media streaming appliance, covering unboxing, specifications, initial setup, content availability, big network connection problems, comparison to Fire TV and competitors, other considerations, and more. Enjoy.

Read full article @ Dedoimedo

Case Mod Friday: Project SEVEN

Welcome to another Case Mod Friday showcase! This week we have SevenSix Mods "Project SEVEN" build. Here is what he had to say about it: I have finished my project "SEVEN".  For the time being, I would like to again thank Alphacool International GmbH and Thermaltake Germany for the sponsored hardware.  Also another big thank you to Modworkx, Gosumodz and PayFrog Custom for the support of the project.  Over 200 hours of planning and work on this project.

Read full article @ ThinkComputers.org

Corsair K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE Review

This is where the K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE gets a twist. Remixing the formula for 2016, Corsair have a timed exclusive deal with CHERRY to outfit their keyboards with the latest MX Speed switches. Featuring a 45cN actuation force and a 1.2mm actuation distance, they are the fastest and most precise switches available from CHERRY. That isn't their only improvement, they are optimised for SMD LEDs with high output luminosities to give a brighter and more vivid experience.

Read full article @ Vortez

Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 Z170 mITX Motherboard Review

When I first built a computer, I asked Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Kwan what size of motherboard I should be going for. As this would be for my daily driver, and initially my test machine, he suggested I get a standard ATX. This would mean better options for expansion ports, while also providing more I/O such as USB ports. In addition, having the capability to SLI or CrossFire was something I was interested in, although I have yet to use more than one GPU at a time. Even though it is denoted as the standard size, the motherboard seemed relatively big to me. The desktop I used right before this, a Dell Inspiron 530, was an OEM build and it used a smaller micro ATX board. When I received today's review unit of the Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5, I opened it up, and its size, or lack thereof, shocked me. I had never held such a small motherboard before. My first reaction was, "Oh my goodness, this is cute!" I realized I was probably one of the few people to call a motherboard, or any sort of PC component, cute. I told the Editor-in-Chief, and he mocked me for it. After seeing all these sizes, I truly have to wonder if the name motherboard is correct in denoting the sizes. Rather, I think the ATX is more of a "father"-board. Meanwhile, the mATX is a "mother"-board, which is probably what the "m" in mATX stands for, haha. So, by the same logic, the mITX could be called a "baby"-board. In all seriousness, however, the Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 is one tiny board, and yet it is marked under Gigabyte's gaming lineup. Therefore I will ask: What makes this tiny motherboard a "gaming" motherboard? Can this David-sized board keep up with the Goliath challenges ahead? Read on to find out!

Read full article @ APH Networks

NZXT Kraken X41 Review

With the Kraken X41, NZXT has an all-in-one watercooler in its portfolio, that comes with the a rather slim radiator and one 140 millimeter fan in the delivery. At a first look the design is looking good while you get a black radiator and a fan with white rotor. Overall we're now rather curious to find out what this cooler can do in terms of cooling and noise levels

Read full article @ ocaholic

Oculus Rift CV1 Unboxing

2016 is the year of VR and KitGuru has published many articles on the topic already – we have discussed the technology, presented AMD technical analysis (with an Nvidia analysis coming soon) and showcased an unboxing of the HTC Vive. News Editor Jon Martindale has had a pre-release version of the Oculus Rift now for a long time, but his CV1 version arrived with him last week. With the latest unboxing video today we get to see what is bundled with the retail headset.

Read full article @ KitGuru

QPAD DX-20 Pro Gaming Optical Mouse Review

I've always enjoyed playing strategy games (ever since the original Warcraft and Command & Conquer RTS back in the mid 90's) and that goes double for space ones (like Homeworld, Haegemonia and Sins Of a Solar Empire) so since lately we've been on the receiving end of several such titles (including Polaris Sector, Fleets Of Sol, Nomad Fleet and more importantly Ashes Of The Singularity and Battlefeet Gothic Armada) once again i decided to spend extra time testing gaming peripherals like keyboards, mice, headsets and even a few mouse pads. Now as many of you know it's been quite a while since i had anything by QPAD on my desk so we got quite a few things from them to test with the mentioned titles including the brand new DX-20 Pro Gaming Optical Mouse.

QPAD built its success on a grassroots commitment to the gaming community. Like you, we thrive in the madness of competition and embrace the free spirit of gaming. Our sponsorship of the Q Tour, King of Nordic, events, communities, cups, tournaments, teams and LAN parties reflects this commitment. The knowledge we've gained has fed into our development of high quality products that deliver great performance and given many a winning edge.

If you've been around for as long as i and some of the guys here have then you should remember the ergonomic Intellimouse 1.1 mouse by Microsoft released back in early 2000. Microsoft gained a serious following because of that particular line (that's also why they updated it a few times) so it was really just a matter of time before that specific design (overall) would also be used by several other brands in the market including SteelSeries (Sensei), Zowie (FK1) and others. The design of the DX-20 Pro Gaming Optical Mouse is also based on that of the Intellimouse 1.1 but everything inside reflects the best of what the industry has to offer today. So under the hood we find an Pixart/Avago PMW-3320 optical sensor (3500CPI/80IPS/20G/3.6MPS/5300FPS), ARM Cortex M3 32-bit processor, 128kb of onboard memory (used to store profiles) and OMRON switches for the primary buttons (rated for up to 10 million clicks). The DX-20 Pro Gaming Optical Mouse also features a thin layer of rubber coating (for improved grip), total of 7 fully programmable buttons and RGB (16.7 million colors) illumination system. The specifications sheet sounds promising so let's not waste more time in introductions.

Read full article @ NikKTech

Seagate NAS 8TB (ST8000VN0002) Hard Disk Drive Review

Just as you wouldn’t use a low-end graphics card for high-end usage, you shouldn’t use the wrong hard disk drive in your storage system either. There is a reason for every product and you should always pick the one suited for the task at hand, especially when you deal with your storage. Today I’m taking a closer look at Seagate’s impressive 8TB NAS HDD and we will take a look at how well it performs.

As said, when you pick your storage, you need to pick the right one for the task and not just grab anything you can find. This is particularly important when we talk about systems that have to run continuously and in environments with a lot of drives closely packed together. The Seagate NAS HDD goes beyond the standard desktop drives in this regards as it is built exactly for these scenarios.

Read full article @ eTeknix

Tesoro Ascalon Spectrum Optical Gaming Mouse Review

Tesoro is one of the coolest gaming brands around, and while you may not think of them first when shopping for a new peripheral, they’ve proven to us here at eTeknix time and time again that they can create competitive, unique and affordable products that would make great additions to any desktop gaming setup. With that in mind, I’m very happy to see their new Ascalon Spectrum Gaming Mouse in the eTeknix office today. It may not be the most high-end mouse ever, but if previous Tesoro reviews are anything to go by, it will no doubt have a few cool tricks up its sleeves.

Equipped with a high-quality 6400 DPI optical sensor, 7 fully programmable buttons, macro recording, and a fast 32bit ARM Cortex CPU, the Ascalon is tuned for competitive gaming, ticking off all the major features you could ask for in a good gaming mouse.

Read full article @ eTeknix