Here a roundup of todays reviews and articles:

A look back at 2014's top picks
AMD Catalyst Linux OpenGL Driver Now Faster Than Windows Driver In Some Tests
AMD switching 28nm process to GlobalFoundries in 2015
CM Storm Sirus 5.1 Headset Review
Cooltek C3
How to restore the last session in Google Chrome
How to set up a cross-platform backup server on Linux with BackupPC
Kolina K100 + V6 Smartphone Review
Mobile Trends: 10 Predictions For 2015
Samsung Launches the Galaxy Note 4 LTE-A

A look back at 2014's top picks

So it’s 2015, we made it. 2014 was a little crazy at times but a few interesting things happened right? Well here at LanOC every year I like to take a quick look back at the past year and revisit all of the products that I slapped the Editors Choice badge on. It’s not something that I take lightly. I only put the badge on products that stand out and are something that I would like to put to use in my own office. You see, over the past year we have published exactly 100 reviews, there just isn’t any way for all of that to make it into my office. Of those 100 reviews this year, 12 of them ended up with this distinction. So let’s kick back for our new years and take another look at each of them, along with that I will update you guys a little on how things worked out after the reviews and if the product is still that spectacular months later.

Read full article @ LanOC Reviews

AMD Catalyst Linux OpenGL Driver Now Faster Than Windows Driver In Some Tests

Earlier this week I showed benchmarks of AMD's incredible year for their open-source Linux driver and how the open-source Radeon Gallium3D driver moved closer to performance parity with Catalyst. One of the lingering questions though is how does the Catalyst 14.12 Omega Linux driver from December compare to the latest Catalyst Windows driver? Here's some benchmarks looking at the latest open and closed-source drivers on Linux compared to the latest Catalyst Windows release.

Read full article @ Phoronix

AMD switching 28nm process to GlobalFoundries in 2015

A faster alternative to the current TSMC 28nm process. AMD's close ties with semiconductor manufacturing company GlobalFoundries are hardly an industry secret, as just recently a former AMD executive departed to join the GlobalFoundries management team. In a further strengthening of relations AMD is expected to move more production towards GlobalFoundries during 2015.

A new report suggests that AMD will transition additional 28nm production away from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to GlobalFoundries this year. GlobalFoundries' 28nm SHP (super-high performance) process, something AMD has already made use of on its Kaveri APUs, allows higher operating frequencies with the same voltages as TSMC's equivalent. That should enable AMD to release faster GPUs in 2015 without transitioning to a smaller process node, such as 20nm, or adversely affecting power consumption.

Read full article @ Hexus

CM Storm Sirus 5.1 Headset Review

Multi-channel or 5.1 sound has over ordinary stereo sound the advantage that you get a much more precise location of the sound source.
There is for example music that was recorded especially in multi-channel technology and where you can perceive the position of each instrument in the orchestra.
But even in computer games, it gives the gamer a distinct advantage of knowing exactly from direction the enemy is attacking.
For that usually a large room and a potent surround sound system is required, so there are surround sound headsets that should do the job just as well.
One of them we want to present in this test is the CM Storm Sirus True 5.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset.

Read full article @ OCInside.de

Cooltek C3

The Cooltek C3 aims to be an affordable, 100% aluminum chassis, attractive to both HTPC users and those looking for a compact chassis for fairly potent hardware. It also comes in two colors, and you can have your pick of a solid or windowed side panel.

Read full article @ techPowerUp

How to restore the last session in Google Chrome

You can configure the Google Chrome web browser to open the last session, meaning all tabs and windows open the last time you used it, or to open a blank page or set of pages each time you open it.

Read full article @ Ghacks

How to set up a cross-platform backup server on Linux with BackupPC

Just in case you haven't been able to tell from my earlier posts on backupninja and backup-manager, I am a big backup fan.

Read full article @ Xmodulo

Kolina K100 + V6 Smartphone Review

The Kolina K100 + V6 smartphone we have reviewed in this article shares the same SoC with the ThL 5000 and is a slightly overclocked version of the MTK6592, with the letter T at the end for Turbo. This SoC seems to provide decent performances for a mainstream product and is able to run most of the games available on Play Store. This specific terminal is quite an enthusiasts' dream since it has been picked by many ROM makers so we have widely known versions available for it like MIUI, ColorOS and so on. The K100 + V6 SoC is also paired with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory but does not feature a microSDHC card slot for expanding the storage even further.

Read full article @ Madshrimps

Mobile Trends: 10 Predictions For 2015

Twenty-fourteen saw mobile displays go above 1080p, ubiquitous LTE, lots of affordable devices, no new battery tech, Windows RT fading into obscurity and slow 64-bit adoption. Now, as we head in to 2015, it's time to make some predictions for what we might see in mobile tech. Will the market slow down, or will we still see some cool new advancements? Here is our take on where we think the action will be.

Read full article @ Techspot

Samsung Launches the Galaxy Note 4 LTE-A

Today Samsung has announced a new version of the Galaxy Note 4 which will be launching in the South Korean market in January 2015. There are currently two major models of the Note 4, with the main point of differentiation being the processor inside. Most markets received a model with Qualcomms Snapdragon 805 APQ8084 which is a 2.7GHz quad core Krait 450 part. In certain markets, it ships with Samsungs Exynos 5433 which has four Cortex-A53 cores and four Cortex-A57 cores in a big.LITTLE configuration.

The new Galaxy Note 4 adds a third model to this mix. It comes with Qualcomms Snapdragon 810, which is similar to Exynos 5433 in that it sports four Cortex-A53 and four Cortex-A57 cores in a big.LITTLE configuration. However, the point that Samsung is advertising is not the SoC, but the cellular speeds that this new Galaxy Note 4 model is capable of. Snapdragon 810s modem allows for 3x20MHz carrier aggregation, which will enable LTE speeds of up to 450Mbps on future LTE networks that support Category 9 UE. It can also reach peak speeds of 300Mbps on current LTE networks that support Category 6 UE.

Read full article @ Anandtech