Latest News - Page 2364

We're beginning to hear more and more on the successor to the HTC Vive, with Valve now recommending a new chip for future SteamVR-based headsets and accessories. The new chip will deliver improved performance and huge power consumption reductions compared to the first-gen solution, and it should also be cheaper, too.

The chip in question is the TS3633 integrated circuit from Triad Semiconductor, a US-based company that specializes in custom analog and mixed signal integrated circuits. Valve worked with Triad on the architecture of the chip itself, with Road to VR reporting that the chip "sits next to the photodiode as an interpreter of the raw signals from the Lighthouse basestations".

The original HTC Vive uses a discrete circuit sensor that has 41 individual components, while the new TS3633 has only 9 components, resulting in a simplified manufacturing process. Triad's VP of Marketing & Sales, Reid Wender, explained that the new chip is cost-optimized for high volume manufacturing. For the full system consisting of the VR headset and controllers, there are around 80 sensors, with the chip reducing component placements by 2560 over the 41 component per-sensor design of the current Vive.

Netflix has completely changed itself over the last few years, and that change isn't stopping with company CFO David Wells saying during the week that there is a big change in the balance between licensed content and Netflix's own original shows.

The company was already "one-third to halfway" towards reaching this goal, but Wells explained that it was all part of a "multiyear transition and evolution toward more of our own content". Netflix is now on a path towards its half-original goals, while reducing the cost of production, and increasing the number of bidders in the streaming business make it both cheaper, and easier to take bigger chances on shows and movies versus traditional TV networks.

Wells explained: "You have supply and demand settling out. We don't necessarily have to have home runs. We can also live with singles, doubles and triples especially commensurate with their cost".

After years of talk, the live-action 'Ghost In The Shell' feature is finally coming to cinemas next year, and today Paramount Pictures have released five 10 second teaser trailers to amp fans up.

Based on the 1989 manga which was turned into the 1995 animated film, the 2017 'Ghost In The Shell' stars Scarlett Johansson as The Major and Pilou Asbæk as Batou in the live-action version which is helmed by 'Snow White and the Huntsman' director Rupert Sanders. If you're keen to see more, hit up Paramount's YouTube channel for the remaining four teasers.

'Ghost In The Shell' is set to hit cinemas worldwide in March 2017.

North Korea made the technological leap to land a man on the sun a few years ago, but it seems they're lacking when it comes to diversity with their websites.

GitHub released a full list of North Korean websites that can be accessed by outsiders, with just 28 websites on the list. How did they get their hands-on the list of domains? They explain: "On Sept 19, 2016 at approximately 10:00PM (PST), one of North Korea's top level nameservers was accidentally configured to allow global DNS zone transfers. This allows anyone who performs an AXFR (zone transfer) request to the country'sns2.kptc.kp nameserver can get a copy of the nation's top level DNS data".

They created the TL;DR project, with 28 websites using the .KP top level domain, and some of them aren't even working. Here's the full list:

Samsung SSD Summit 2016 - Samsung has unveiled a bunch of new SSDs and teased technology at its own SSD Summit 2016 in South Korea, with our storage guru Jon Coulter on the ground in Psy's home country. We have the keynote of that speech here:

During the Samsung SSD Summit 2016, the company unveiled its new 960 Series M.2 NVMe drives that feature 48-layer V-NAND and up to a huge 2TB in capacity.

There was also the world's fastest SSD unveiled with 2.1GB/sec writes in the new 960 PRO and 960 EVO drives from Samsung, as well as the massive 15TB SAS drive, and the new PM1725a which arrives at up to 6.4TB and can churn out an insane 6GB/sec for enterprise environments.

Hot damn, those self-lacing shoes we all loved from Back to the Future II are nearly here, with Nike set to release their HyperAdapt 1.0 shoes at "select" retailers by appointment only, starting November 28.

Nike had the folks at Wired over to check out the behind the scenes of the HyperAdapt's development, with a massively detailed and great article to read right here. Wired got to try Nike's new HyperAdapt 1.0 shoes on, with the company teasing that "all you have to do is step into it", and once your foot is inside of the HyperAdapt shoes, an "electric whizzing noise" can be heard, and it - as Wired puts it "embraces my foot in a gentle kind of hug".

The team of designers and engineers at Nike have put over a decade of work into the HyperAdapt 1.0 shoes, with the series of sneakers being a breath of fresh air for Nike, which has always been a company that stays ahead of shoe innovation. Wired added that the person trying the shoes on had broken their ankle previously, with their right foot still swollen. Well, after the HyperAdapt 1.0 shoes were put on, the right shoe laces were "visibly looser, but the grip is no less secure".

After purchasing the 'Star Wars' brand back in 2012, the Disney corporation made it clear that it wanted to continue the feature film franchise immediately, starting with Star Wars: Episode VII and then continuing with stand-alone features such as this year's 'Rogue One'. But how much life does the series have beyond Episode IX? Potentially a lot.

In a new article published in Variety, Disney Chief Bob Iger confirms that he's recently met with the keeper of the 'Star Wars' flame, Lucasfilm CEO Kathy Kennedy to "map out 'Star Wars' movies from 2021 and beyond" and that the studio is "looking beyond that date [2021] for ways to exploit the Jedi Knights and space adventurers that populate the fantasy film series". In the same article, it's revealed that Iger recently confirmed to a Goldman Sachs investor conference that they've found the writer for the as-yet unnannounced, but could-be Boba Fett standalone feature which is planned to hit cinemas in 2021.

For fans of that Galaxy far, far, away, it seems the stars shine quite brightly.

Following the release of NVIDIA's new GeForce 372.90 drivers tuned for Forza Horizon 3, AMD has released their new Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.9.2 drivers that also have support for Forza Horizon 3.

There are a bunch of fixed issues as well, as well as known issues that AMD are aware of. The new RSCE 16.9.2 drivers fix a "small amount of corruption" in the lower right hand corner of the display on Radeon HD 7000 series cards in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and some stuttering issues with CrossFire mode in DX11 in Mankind Divided.

Here's the full list of fixed issues on RSCE 16.9.2, which you can grab here:

Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara lends even more credence that Nintendo's mysterious new NX system will be a handheld console hybrid.

Pokemon exec Ishihara already confirmed that Pokemon games will be coming to the NX, and it's highly likely that the studio has access to a Nintendo NX devkit. While Ishihara doesn't outright reveal key details about the NX, he does lend even more affirmation that the NX will be a cross between a handheld and a console.

"The NX is trying to change the concept of what it means to be a home console device or a hand-held device. We will make games for the NX," Ishihara said in an interview with Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki.

Microsoft will give developers the freedom to choose how to leverage Project Scorpio's 6TFLOPs of "monster" GPU power, including enhancements for HDTVs like 1080p 60FPS, as well as u native 4K at 30FPS, 4K upscaled 60FPS--or all three.

A bit ago Microsoft confirmed that Project Scorpio will be capable of rendering games in native 4K, and its first-party games would all support native 3840 x 2160 resolution. Now Redmond has stepped in to say that native 4K won't be a requirement for all developers and games--just their first-party studios and titles--and that devs will have tons of options and choices on how to best utilize Project Scorpio's higher-end hardware.

"When we thought about what spec we wanted for Scorpio, we were very clear we wanted developers to take their Xbox One engines and render them in native, true 4K. That was why we picked the number, that's why we have the memory bandwidth we have, that's why we have the teraflops we have, because it's what we heard from game developers was required to achieve native 4K," said Xbox exec Albert Penello in an interview with Eurogamer.

UPDATE: Webdush Securities analyst Michael Pachter claims that his quotes were severely misrepresented in the Daily Star interview, and has given the following statement to Tech Raptor to clarify:

"I am a PC gamer, I like PC gamers, and I merely referred to them as insular. I in no way intended to call them out as 'deplorables', and I think that the reporter overstepped the bounds of propriety in making it appear that I said such a thing with venom. In any case, I've given THOUSANDS of interviews without offending an entire group of people, and somehow this guy ended up with a "gotcha" moment. It's time to move on."

Original story is as follows.

Rumors indicated Apple has been in talks for months to acquire supercar maker McLaren in a bid to accelerate its self-driving electric vehicle developments. However, McLaren, who initially declined comment on the matter, has since denied any such proposition to Reuters.

The deal -- which was never described a sure thing -- was said to be valued at $1.3 billion or more.

Battle.net, the name of Blizzard's online multiplayer service, is no longer called "Battle.net".

Blizzard has made the strange decision to re-name one of PC gaming's most iconic online services in a confusing bid to make things more easily understandable. The Activision-owned publisher won't be calling their online service "Battle.net" any more, and will instead refer to it as "Blizzard tech." At the time of writing, the Battle.net address is still up and the service is still called the same.

Why the company would choose to forgo decades of an instantly recognizable and iconic name still isn't clear to me, and I'm actually concerned about this move--ever since Blizzard moved from the awesome Battle.net servers that powered Diablo 2, Starcraft and Warcraft to the horrible lobby-less "Bnet 2.0" system, I understood how Activision's meddling would affect the future of Blizzard. Now more than ever it seems I was right on the money.

Patch notes for Star Wars Battlefront: Death Star are now available, with the expansion now live for season pass holders and will be avaliable to everyone on October 4.

This DLC expansion feature is fully packed with five additional Death Star-themed maps, a new Battle Station game mode, and character updates such as Chewbacca and Bossk.

Alongside of maps and characters, the Death Star expansion provides the exclusive upgrade of hero vehicles and armory. The TL-50 Heavy Repeater and the K-16 Bryar Pistol blasters, are amongst some of featured weapons. Whilst two new Star Cards, Luke Skywalker's famous Red Five and the TIE Advanced X1 are also new addtions to the pack.

CEO of The Pokemon Company, Tsunekazu Ishihara, has confirmed that they will be developing Pokémon games for the anticipated new, next-generation Nintendo NX console.

During an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ishihara confirmed the information regarding Pokémon Nintendo NX games to be true, putting all rumors to rest. The affiliation between the two companies has allowed Nintendo to obtain the licensing agreement to Pokémon characters, adding to the evidence that NX will see Pokémon games in the future.

However, it's unclear at this point in time as to whether or not the Pokémon games will be brand new adventures, or simple upgrades from the previous original seen on older generation platforms.

Microsoft has just released a new Minecraft Favourites Xbox One S bundle pack. The game themed offer is available now from Microsoft's official Xbox website and comes with a 500GB Xbox One S console, alongside a digital copy of Minecraft: Xbox One Edition and a wireless controller.

The bundle will set customers back $300, and will also include numerous DLC packs, character skins, updated maps and more! Those who purchase the Xbox One S console bundle will also be given a fee download code for Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta, and a 14-day Xbox Live Gold trial membership.

North America can purchase the Favourites bundle now, whilst Europe will see release on October 11, and Australia and New Zealand on November 1.

The electric car market is heating up, but the mainstream market needs to adopt them, and won't do that until they begin appearing for less than $50,000 - and much less. Chevrolet's upcoming Chevy Bolt electric vehicle will be priced starting at $29,995 after a federal tax credit of $7,500.

General Motors announced the news that its first electric car will be capable of over 200 miles on a single charge, for under $30K. Future owners of the Chevy Bolt will have to pay at least $7,500 in federal income tax in order to be eligible for the full tax credit, as it's not a refundable purchase, reports The Verge.

Before the credit, the Chevy Bolt will cost $37,495 for the LT trim model, while the higher-end Premium trim starts at $40,905. The base trim features a bunch of standards like 10.2-inch touchscreen, a 60kWh battery that should have you driving around 238 miles, and a powertrain that pushes out 200 horsepower, and 266 pound-feet of torque.

UPDATE: Forza Horizon 3 can run with an uncapped frame rate beyond 60FPS on PC if you switch V-Sync off. So, uh - just don't look at the original article!

Forza Horizon 3 launches in the next few hours on the Xbox One and PC simultaneously and the PC version of the game is locked at 60FPS. There's no reason for a frame rate cap in games these days, and especially not from big developers like this with the backing of Microsoft Studios - you know, a subsidiary of Microsoft that made Windows and owns Xbox.

Microsoft has been for years attempting at winning back PC gamers, and with one of their biggest launches of the year in Forza Horizon 3, a brand exclusive to Microsoft's platforms: Xbox and PC, with an even bigger stake in the market with Windows not just being for gamers. Although, Microsoft is pushing Windows 10 onto gamers in a big way with lots of promises from a much more improved API in DirectX 12, but they're gimping nearly every single game in some way.

Ever since Pokemon GO was released, people have been injuring themselves by not looking where they're going - with people even dying while playing, and now someone in New York City was mugged while he was playing, and live streamed the entire thing.

RickeyBot was walking through Central Park in New York where he was attacked from behind, and his live stream you could hear Rickey pleading with the attacker, before the camera moves and we see the criminal run off with his device, which was still streaming.

While the mugger had the phone, people in Rickey's live chat were saying whether they should call the police, how to record the stream, and if anyone knows if the thief had been caught. The stream eventually goes dark, without us knowing the outcome of the mugger. Rickey himself is okay, taking some damage to his jaw - forcing him to drink through a straw for a few days.

Samsung SSD Summit 2016 - Samsung has been unveiling a bunch of new storage goodies at its SSD Summit 2016, with some new enterprise-class drives, the super-quick EVO 960, and now the PM1633a.

Samsung's impressive PM1633a might not sound so impressive by its name, but it's a new 2.5-inch SAS-based drive for enterprise environments, which utilizes the impressive V-NAND 3bit MLC from Samsung. Not only that, but it rocks the REX controller, and has some decent read/write speeds of up to 1.35GB/sec and 1.3GB/sec, respectively.

It's the capacity that Samsung's PM1633a is available in that blows me away, with 480GB/960GB/1.92TB/3.84TB/7.68TB and finally... a massive 15.36TB. Yeah, 15TB of SAS storage goodness all in a single 2.5-inch drive. Crazy stuff.