Latest News - Page 2518

The Raspberry Pi is a fantastic developer platform for all skill levels. The amount of amazing projects you can create is just staggering, but it's been somewhat limited by the meager processor under the hood. And the underused GPU. Experimental GPU acceleration has just been added to the latest release of Raspian, extending the possibilities immensely. Install at your own risk.

The Pi already had some fantastic gaming chops and was a natural choice for a small retro console. Those graphics you'd be running, from the SNES, NES, Genesis and Jaguar era's aren't terribly demanding. But opening up the GPU gives you more emulation possibilities. Not to mention the ability to play actual 3D games.

Not to mention all the other great sciency things you can now do more quickly with that otherwise unlocked GPU. It could potentially mean using a farm of Pi's (despite the relative inefficiency, but it has the cool factor) to compute novel things. They do warn, however, that installing the experimental driver could break other GPU functionality, and might even prevent the camera module from working properly. Not to mention messing up video playback support. But this is just the beginning stages of something quite nice that adds to the value of the minuscule devices.

NASA has announced that it will be providing MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) with one of its huge 6-foot, 290-pound humanoid robots. MIT will use it to test and develop for future space missions to Mars, and beyond.

CSAIL Principal Investigator Russ Tedrake will work on algorithms for the robot, which is known as "Valkyrie" or "R5". Tedrake's work will be part of NASA's upcoming Space Robotics Challenge, with its missions to create more dexterous autonomous robots that will help, or one day replace humans on "extreme space" missions.

NASA says that it's interested in humanoid robots because they can assist, or replace humans working in extreme space environments. For future missions, humanoid robots can do tasks that humans simply can't do - like out in space itself, where humans die with a lack of oxygen - and that little thing called gravity.

Most people would love to own a Tesla, but their price keeps them away from the average consumer - which is why the electric car maker is working on the Model 3.

According to Bloomberg, the Model 3 could be found as low as $25,000 when it arrives, after tax subsidies drops it from its starting price of $35,000. Tesla spokeswoman Khobi Brooklyn told Bloomberg: "We can confirm it's $35,000 before incentives. We haven't changed our minds".

If we consider the average American wants to spend $31,000 on a new car (according to an analysis by Salim Morsy of Bloomberg New Energy Finance), the $35,000 starting price on the Model 3 from Tesla is getting very close to that point. Adding in tax subsidies and hitting $25,000 - well then, it's looking very good for consumers.

We all know the pain of crappy battery life on our smartphones, as it doesn't matter if you own an Android smartphone or an iPhone, the battery barely lasts a day (100% brightness, heavy use). But, this could soon change thanks to fuel cell technology.

British fuel cell developer Intelligent Energy Holdings has pumped $7.6 million into developing a fuel cell small enough to be crammed into a smartphone. How does fuel cell technology work? Well, it converts hydrogen into electricity, with the only byproduct remaining being water vapor. This leads fuel cell to be environmentally friendly, too.

Julian Hughes, the acting Managing Director for Intelligent Energy's Consumer Electronics team, said: "Embedding fuel-cell technology into portable devices provides a solution to the current dilemma of battery life. With consumers demanding more and more from their phones, battery innovation has not kept up".

Uber is getting feisty in Foggy London Town, with plenty of London taxi drivers looking at Uber and seeing them as a threat to both their profession, and reputations. Well, Uber has been smartly sidestepping multiple roadblocks in the UK, and wants to work with taxi drivers and the taxi industry as a whole.

The company launched an UberTAXI option, something that helped taxi drivers find new passengers - and today, the company is now waiving the fee that it would take for each Uber-sourced passenger. This fee is 5%, and it will be dropped for the next 12 months.

Uber's Regional General Manager for the UK, Jo Bertram, said: "For Londoners it means they can order a traditional black cab at the push of a button and pay electronically through their phone, rather than worrying about cash. For taxi drivers it's a chance to get a fare when there are no passengers on the street or they're waiting in a long queue at a rank".

Micron has updated us on the status of GDDR5X, with the company receiving their first samples back from their fabrication plant, earlier than expected.

These samples are 100% operational at data rates passing 13Gbps, with the company still testing its GDDR5X production line, with GDDR5X samples being sent to partners in the spring (over the next few months). Right now, the 13Gbps-capable GDDR5X chips don't consume any more power than the current GDDR5 chips, so in certain scenarios, GDDR5X-based cards will actually use less power, when maximum VRAM bandwidth isn't required.

GDDR5 has an 8Gbps data rate, so the huge 13Gbps that GDDR5X has hit before it's even in volume production is a huge achievement by Micron. The company is hoping to reach 14Gbps, but hasn't said when this will happen. Micron explained on their blog: "Compared to GDDR5, these ultra-high data rates were achieved at an improved power consumption per transmitted bit due to VDD/VDDQ of 1.35V, while not gating maximum speed of the device. We also added features to improve system signal integrity: a new package with reduced ball pitch enables shorter PCB traces, which improves electrical performance".

If you're wanting to buy a new Oculus Rift-ready gaming PC, pre-orders for Rift-ready gaming PCs bundled with an Oculus Rift start on February 16 at 11AM Eastern, or 8AM Pacific.

As for the companies offering the Oculus Rift-ready gaming PCs, we have Alienware, Dell and ASUS - which will be selling their gaming PCs through Amazon, Best Buy and the Microsoft Store. If you do pre-order any of these gaming PCs, you'll get your PC sometime in April (with the first batch of Rift headsets shipping on March 28, this works out well).

The PCs on offer are normal desktop gaming PCs that meet the Oculus Rift specification, but you'll score yourself a discount if you've already pre-ordered an Oculus Rift (between $100-$200 off). Considering the cheapest Rift-ready PC is $949 after the discount, you can get into VR gaming for less than $1K, which is great.

Microsoft has been pretty secretive about the contents of its Windows 10 updates, but that's no longer the case as of today. The company has launched a new section of its website which details all updates in changelog form, starting with two updates released today (one for each Windows 10 branch).

"We're committed to our customers and strive to incorporate their feedback, both in how we deliver Windows as a service and the info we provide about Windows 10," they write. "In response to this feedback, we're providing more details about the Windows 10 updates we deliver through Windows Update. You'll see a summary of important product developments included in each update, with links to more details. This page will be regularly refreshed, as new updates are released."

Today's update includes some minor quality of life changes alongside some potentially major security improvements. For the details on it and future updates, hit the source.

As reported last week, JRPG Tales of Symphonia is in pretty bad shape on PC, sporting a default rendering resolution of 720p and 30FPS lock, among other issues. Fortunately modder Kaldaien has come to the rescue again, releasing a fix similar to the one for Tales of Zestiria.

At present, TSFix gets rid of the framerate limiter, adds a fullscreen borderless windowed mode option, integrates Durante's neat character outline mod, matches the rendering resolution to the resolution you've chosen, and cures crashes. Not too shabby for version 0.1.1.

Download the mod at the source. Note Kaldaien is busy modding Dragon's Dogma and also says Symphonia's VMProtect DRM is making modding the game more difficult than it should be, so don't expect too much more to come, or at least not quickly.

ViewSonic had quite the lineup of gaming monitors at CES, breaking into that segment with quite the bang. Some of those monitors, of the FreeSync variety, are already available in stores even.

The star, of course, is the XG-2700-4K, a 27" 2160P, UHD, monitor that packs FreeSync compatibility with a 60Hz refresh rate. Around back it has a DisplayPort 1.2a connection, mini DP as well as one HDMI 2.0 and 2 HDMI 1.4a inputs FreeSync is only supported via DisplayPort, but with the announcement of FreeSync over HDMI, it's possible to provide that functionality with a firmware update. Beyond that, ViewSonic has their SmartSync technology that seems to a platform agnostic, scalar-integrated, method of keeping the best refresh rate based on what's being input. It does sound a lot like AdaptiveSync, however.

The panel they're using is what they've termed a SuperClear IPS panel that has a light anti-glare coating on top. It's likely an 8-bit + FRC LG panel. Input lag is supposedly very low allowing for the FreeSync to have a much more pronounced effect, even with it "only" being 60Hz. ViewSonic is also touting their Black level stabilization technology, which controls the contrast and makes darker scenes more easily visible. And what else is there?

A few days after learning Samsung's Galaxy S7 Edge (concept picture below) would feature a 3,500mAh battery comes an FCC filing confirming the original rumor was close but not quite on. Rather than 3,500mAh, the Edge will feature a 3,600mAh battery, according to a screenshot included in the filing.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy S7 doesn't feature such a screenshot, so we can't confirm the previous 3,000 mAh battery rumor.

If you are looking forward to the S7 or S7 Edge, be sure to mark your calendar for February 21, when Samsung will reveal both phones officially.

Bethesda has just rolled out Fallout 4's newest update on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which significantly boosts in-game performance and squashes pesky bugs.

Since consoles don't have access to mods (yet), Fallout 4 gamers are pretty much at Bethsoft's mercy for any kind of alterations or fixes. While the new v 1.3 update doesn't add any new content perse, it does inject a host of significant visual and stability overhauls to the game. Now Fallout 4's draw distances and object fading have been dramatically increased on both systems, making the Commonwealth look much better.

Sure the PS4/XO flavors won't get the new HBAO+ ambient occlusion setting on PC, but it's still great to see that Bethsoft is still making huge visual tweaks for consoles. As for actual mod support, the studio says an announcement will be made "soon". Let's hope that the news comes sooner rather than later, and console players aren't stuck waiting until Bethesda's E3 2016 showcase.

Final Fantasy IX is finally out on iOS and Android after being teased back at the end of December. We were unsure whether it would be a staggered Japanese then western release, but it looks like it's now available worldwide.

This is one game that has been long in the making, much anticipated and actually wanted. From what can be gathered, it's not just any old port, but the controls have been sufficiently optimized to allow for some good mobile gaming, and the graphics are all nicely upgraded to be high resolution. Some cheats are also available if you need them, like turning off random encounters or even a fast-forward button.

RPG's with savestates make for great on-the-go games because you can theoretically easily pick up where you left off. If you can put it down. And if you can't, I don't think anyone would blame you.

For around five hours yesterday, Australia's biggest mobile network was thrown into disarray courtesy of an "embarrassing human error" courtesy of a technician who "reconnected the customers to [a] malfunctioning node rather than rather than transferring them to the nine other redundant nodes". While the problem is now fixed, the company has announced plans to offer an apology to customers, whether they were affected by the outage or not.

The company last night announced a plan to offer customers free data for one day, this Sunday the 14th February. The post states that "customers don't need to do anything to receive the free data, it will happen automatically for all of our mobile customers.", whilst also offering a layman's description of what caused the outage in the first place.

Despite the inconvenience, I guess Telstra's customers will be feeling the love this Valentine's Day. In turn, I'm sure they'll be loading up some torrents in appreciation.

A new Far Cry Primal trailer takes you on a quick exploration of all the possible dangers that you'll cross paths with in the developing world. And it looks like you'll have some horrible odds against you as you try to save humankind.

Primal isn't just an inconsequential label to describe the time-period. When they appended that to the title they meant it in every way. Everything in the world is against you and even the flora presents a deadly challenge. But with time and patience, you might be able to be the victor against all odds.

The trailer has a great husky voice-over that guides you through some of the various challenges you'll encounter, from different tribes to the wildlife itself. From all appearances, Ubisoft hasn't held anything back in designing this game to be mostly true to the period it's set in.

Ubisoft is opening up new doors to help ensure fluid performance for The Division on consoles. According to a Ubisoft dev, the game will let players adjust particular in-game settings to enable more responsive controls and FPS.

In a recent preview Q&A session, a Ubisoft dev revealed that PS4 and Xbox One users will be able to scale back certain graphical and visual settings in order to boost frame rates. "You can disable certain lighting aspects to improve frame rates in the console versions. I don't know of another game that does that. So if you want to choose frame rate over visuals, you can if you want."

Mad Catz is in trouble. That is, they likely didn't quite meet the financial expectations for this fiscal quarter, so as a result, the CEO, Darren Richardson and the company chairman, Thomas Brown, have decided to step down from their positions.

The peripheral company has had declining profits for some time though they were waiting on the wider release and potential success of Rock Band 4 before making any large internal changes. Rock Band 4, however, wasn't quite the huge success they had hoped for despite being number 10 in the UK in October. This necessitated the change in leadership.

Karen McGinnis, the former CFO of Mad Catz, is entering the role of president and CEO while Tyson Marshall, a former attorney for the company, has been placed in the vice president of business affairs role. John Nyholt, another veteran of the company, is now the chairman. All of these changes come just days before they're expected to report their fiscal results for the first quarter of 2016.

Metal Gear Online is getting its first DLC campaign sometime in March of 2016. The DLC pack will include three brand new maps and the ability to actually play as Quiet. All for the low low price of $3.99.

The new DLC is called Cloaked in Silence and also has an Appeak Action feature, which is something that triggers unique action poses for your characters. You can have up to five different poses preset to use. All of those poses can be individually purchased in the store as Appeal Packs.

A new Sabatoge mission type is being added, where you'll have to destroy an enemy missile before the round is up. There'll be terminals that you have to hack in order to make the would-be projectile ready for destruction first, though. Quiet will be a particularly good addition for this, with her ability to move about stealthily, able to sneak up on your enemies silently from behind.

World of Tanks is getting a pretty hefty update soon. Wargaming.net showed off the progress their making and what they're working on with version 9.14.

Like always they're hard at work meticulously recreating new tanks to bring into the fight. For this version they plan on introducing us to the mighty M41 from Germany (showed above) as well as some new Russian, French and British tanks. They slowly add in new tanks and replace others it keep things interesting and to add some flair. The level of detail is astonishing as well.

But this isn't just about adding new vehicles. They're improving the movement physics and improving sound-effects to make it sound and feel a bit more like you're actually driving a huge hulking piece of metal around. Module research will be simplified for the starting stages, to help make it easier for beginners to get into the game. And of course there's more.

In an attempt to woo developers, Amazon has released a brand new cloud-connected games engine to go up against established suites like Unity and Unreal. And the best part is that it's totally free.

Amazon's new engine is called Lumberyard, it's completely free with full source code, and it's a fully-realized suite of tools that can power high-end AAA games. Lumberyard is partly based on the CryEngine so it's able to create games for a smattering of platforms including PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Amazon even promises that VR support is in the pipeline, along with mobile integration.

Unlike most game engines, Lumberyard has a secret weapon that gives it a distinct advantage: full cloud integration with Amazon Web Services. Devs can tap the power "the vast compute and storage of AWS Cloud" for an extra computational boost and to optimize server-side processes in a variety of games.