Latest News - Page 2692

Two homes caught fire during the week, with faulty Samsung washing machines to blame. There are over 83,000 additional Samsung-made washing machines in Australia, with homeowners now worried.

Thankfully, some tradespeople that were in the building working were able to extinguish the fire, but another fire took place at 5pm on Wednesday elsewhere in Granville, New South Wales with firefighters putting out the fire. Another blaze occured on Wednesday in Corlette, but in this occasion, resident Jacquie Briskham turned off her mains power, containing the fire with her garden hose until firefighters arrived.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Fire & Rescue NSW fire investigator, station officer Michael Forbes urging anyone who owns a top loader washing machine made by Samsung to check their appliance "as a matter of priority". Forbes added: "These products are typically left unattended while in use, so the risk to people and property if the machine fails is high. If you notice any smoke or smell coming out of the washing machine, turn it off at the power point. If a fire does occur, get out, stay out and call Triple Zero (000)".

With AMD on the verge of unveiling its new Fiji XT-based Radeon R9 390X powered by HBM, NVIDIA isn't just waiting around sitting on its hands. NVIDIA is reporting preparing to roll out its new GM200-based GeForce GTX 980 Ti, with 6GB of GDDR5.

NVIDIA's rumored GeForce GTX 980 Ti will be made from feature the GM200 GPU, the same one that was found in the Titan X, except that the 980 Ti will feature 6GB of framebuffer, versus the 12GB found on Titan X. As for pricing, WCCFTech's source had it listed at around $954 USD, but we should expect NVIDIA to release it much cheaper than that, especially to compete against AMD.

After the price, the second big question is: when will the GeForce GTX 980 Ti arrive? Rumors have pegged NVIDIA at releasing a new product before Computex, but then there's some that say during Computex, and even into July. NVIDIA has the power of waiting right now, especially with NVIDIA owning 76% of the discrete GPU market.

Gaming peripheral and hardware company Razer has introduced has launched the Firefly hard gaming mouse pad, which has customized color options due to the Chroma lighting feature. Lighting is supported along the left, right and bottom borders of the mouse pad, which can be synced to other Razer devices featuring Chroma.

The Firefly has a non-slip rubber base, micro-textured finish, optimized surface coating for highly responsive tracking. It is available for pre-order with a $59.99 MSRP price, and will launch sometime in June.

"The Razer Firefly opens up a new category for the Chroma family," said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer. "We've designed the Razer Firefly with the best components for a gaming mouse mat, along with the new, fully-customizable Chroma lighting. No one said you can't win with style."

We went through it last year with Ubisoft and Watch Dogs, but it appears that CD Projekt Red has pulled the same thing on PC gamers with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. During an interview with Eurogamer, the studio talks about how it had to water down the graphics on PC because of consoles, because without consoles "there is no Witcher 3".

Gamers have noticed stark differences between the footage that CD Projekt Red showed off back in 2013, and the footage from recently, against the actual in-game graphics now that the game is out. The studio is quite frank about it all in the interview with Eurogamer, with company boss Adam Badowski saying: "If you're looking at the development process, we do a certain build for a tradeshow and you pack it, it works, it looks amazing. And you are extremely far away from completing the game. Then you put it in the open-world, regardless of the platform, and it's like 'oh shit, it doesn't really work'. We've already showed it, now we have to make it work. And then we try to make it work on a huge scale. This is the nature of games development".

The bigger issue comes from the fact that CD Projekt Red didn't talk about it until just now, which is where the consoles get involved. Company co-founder Marcin Iwinski explains: "If the consoles are not involved there is no Witcher 3 as it is. We can lay it out that simply. We just cannot afford it, because consoles allow us to go higher in terms of the possible or achievable sales; have a higher budget for the game, and invest it all into developing this huge, gigantic world". He continued: "Developing only for the PC: yes, probably we could get more [in terms of graphics] as there would be nothing else - they would be so focused, like if we would develop only on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. But then we cannot afford such a game".

Apple is set to unveil its next generation iPhone later this year, with images of the purported iPhone 6S popping up... with dual rear-facing cameras. We've previously heard that the new iPhone would feature a "DSLR-like" rear-facing camera, but this is an interesting beast.

The images turned up at 9to5Mac, so this isn't just any leak. We've heard rumors of dual rear-facing cameras on the new iPhone before, so that's not new. But, with no major redesign planned for the new iPhone 6S, Apple will need to do as much as it can inside of the phone, while adding an additional rear-facing camera isn't that much work for the company.

The bigger question remains: what will Apple do with the dual rear-facing cameras on the iPhone 6S? This is of course just a rumor for now, but what would Apple do with those cameras? What do you want to see happen?

Slightly Mad Studios has been, well, slightly mad over accusations of deliberate performance gimping when it comes to AMD Radeon cards. But where did all of this start?

A very detailed post on Reddit is the source of all of this, with the user summing up his post with "The entire Project Cars engine itself is built around a version of PhysX that simply does not work on AMD cards". Slightly Mad Studios has said that this is wrong, claiming that the users accusations are "erroneous".

The studio said that it didn't favor NVIDIA or AMD when it came to performance in Project Cars, but it has said that it has a "good working relationship" with both chipmakers. PC Gamer spoke with Slightly Mad Studios, receiving a lengthy statement that started with: "For the past few days, erroneous information posted on Reddit and other websites has spread misinformation with regards to Project Cars' performance on systems using AMD GPUs".

Indian CS:GO pro player Krishna "kriSSh" Salecha from Team NeckBREAK has been handed an automatic ban through Valve's Anti-Cheating service (VAC) recently on his main gaming account.

This Steam ban has seen an official Facebook reply, including a statement that read "my account was logged in from an unknown computer at 12.10 PM for five minutes. I have contacted Steam to get info on the IP address from where my accounted was logged in," coming after playing a tournament match on local internet cafe computers.

It's obviously quite common for CS:GO players to deny their bans once they have taken place, however Salecha believes the internet cafe may have compromised his account, commenting that the ban has been appealed and is awaiting a response from the official valve team.

In the lead up to COMPUTEX, SilverStone has been pushing out a few more cases to increase their range of SKU into the market.

TweakTown covered the FRZ01 slim form factor chassis recently and now there's the SG12 on offer adding to the, SilverStone SUGO series. Looking old school in design, this case has a little flavor of Thermaltake from the 2000's in the overall aesthetic, seeing a blue strip line the front and center of the front-facing panel.

Featuring support for coolers up to 82mm in height, a built in handle for transportation and capabilities for Micro-ATX motherboards and full ATX power supplies, this case is seemingly targeted at LAN participants.

Did you know that it has been nearly 6 months since AMD released a WHQL-certified Catalyst driver? With NVIDIA constantly refining and fine tuning its GeForce driver with a constant stream of Game Ready WHQL releases, even for Windows 10 with DirectX 12 support, AMD has fallen behind the ball, big time.

We used to see monthly releases of Catalyst drivers back in the day, which added performance improvements for new games, increased support for features like CrossFire and Eyefinity, and even support for new GPUs as they were released. But it has been over 18 months since AMD released the Radeon R9 290X, and 12 months since the Radeon R9 295X2.

The last WHQL-certified Catalyst drivers were released on 9/12/14 in the form of the Catalyst 14.12 Omega WHQL, and since then, AMD has released just two Beta drivers, with the Catalyst 15.4 drivers helping out with Grand Theft Auto V, and adding support for FreeSync. With the impending release of an entire new architecture with HBM memory in the form of the Radeon R9 390X, we should hopefully expect AMD to not just release a kick ass new driver, but to keep up with monthly releases to better compete against NVIDIA in the software side of its products.

If you're looking to invest in something a little different, Streacom has just announced the release of its new F12C ATX case.

Being first ATX case on offer by this brand, this ultra-minimalistic design will be shown off at the upcoming trade show known as COMPUTEX in Taipei, Taiwan. Sporting 4mm thick aluminum on the exterior, the latest press release claims that these have been sandblasted for a top notch finish.

Streacom has added water cooling support and additional fan options alongside the ability to support 310mm long expansion cards all contained within the 420x320x184mm structure.

In an open letter to President Obama, more than 140 civil society groups, tech companies and tech leaders signed a statement showing concern regarding the US government's desire to view decrypted smartphone data. Both the FBI and Justice Department claim they support encryption, but want to create backdoors so law enforcement can gain access - but that seems unlikely without creating avenues that cybercriminals and foreign governments can also exploit.

Not surprisingly, law enforcement complain they will lose access to data and communications as more data can be encrypted - with Google and Apple providing ways to prevent outside snooping.

"Strong encryption is the cornerstone of the modern information economy's security," the open letter reads. "Encryption protects billions of people every day against countless threats - be they street criminals trying to steal our phones and laptops, computer criminals trying to defraud us, corporate spies trying to obtain our companies' most valuable trade secrets, repressive governments trying to stifle dissent, or foreign intelligence agencies trying to compromise our and our allies' most sensitive national security secrets."

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht was the mastermind of a billion-dollar online drug ring, according to the US federal government. He was convicted earlier in the year and could face life in prison for his crimes, with prosecutors still quiet on what type of prison term they are seeking at the May 29 sentencing.

Joshua Dratel, Ulbricht's lead defense attorney, has issued a statement saying Silk Road made it safer to purchase and sell drugs. Using the Dark Web, customers could sell or purchase everything from marijuana and hash to cocaine, heroin or LSD - and despite reported overdose deaths - this is an argument that is rather unique.

"In contrast to the government's portrayal of the Silk Road website as a more dangerous version of a traditional drug marketplace, in fact the Silk Road website was in many respects the most responsible such marketplace in history, and consciously and deliberately included recognized harm reduction measures, including access to physician counseling," Dratel said in a recent court filing.

Even though there is new concern that artificial intelligence may lead to robots taking over, it's plausible to think that robots will always need humans.

"Pilots, physicians and other professionals routinely navigate unexpected dangers with great aplomb but little credit," states a recent editorial published by he New York Times. "Even in our daily routines, we perform feats of perception and skill that lie beyond the capacity of the sharpest computers."

While that is true, some have wondered if that will begin to change when AI is able to learn - and adapt - to daily life. No one is really sure what is lies ahead for mankind and robotics, however, humans can work to ensure there are proper boundaries in place that robots must adhere to.

Konami is facing management in-fighting and other problems, which led to the cancelation of Silent Hills, and it looks like Guillermo del Toro's foray into video games could be over. Hideo Kojima has reportedly left the company - though was helping with the Silent Hills project - but the budding friendship between Kojima and del Toro had to be placed on hold.

"Well, you know, I've tried twice and I don't know if I'll ever come back to the form," del Toro recently said when asked by reporters. "In one instance, the company went down, and in the second, the completely unexpected happened, which was Kojima and Konami separating. It's kind of left me reeling."

It's a shame that Konami seemingly can't keep its act together, as Norman Reedus, Kojima and del Toro were all reportedly "super happy" with the progress made in Silent Hills. However, del Toro's Crimson Peak will be released in theaters this October, so he has plenty to help keep him busy outside of gaming.

The PC rumor mill is buzzing yet again, with unconfirmed reports published by DigiTimes indicating Lenovo is interested in purchasing the MSI gaming notebook unit. MSI isn't at the top in gaming laptops, but largely releases affordable products that have decent specs - but that doesn't mean MSI wants to get rid of its mobile gaming business.

"In regards to the rumors circulating about [a] Lenovo and MSI acquisition, MSI is not in talk with Lenovo to sell the MSI Gaming Notebook business," said Andy Tung, president of MSI, in a statement to the media.

Even though the deal would make logical sense for Lenovo, which has been unable to break into gaming, MSI apparently isn't happy about the rumors - and has threatened possible legal action. "We are currently seeking the source of this false information and reserve the right to take any legal action," Tung confirmed.

Chip manufacturer ARM and humanitarian aid group UNICEF are teaming up to deliver wearables in developing countries. ARM and UNICEF hope to increase education and improve health standards in countries that are in need of assistance.

As part of the Wearables for Good Challenge, manufacturers and designers have the chance to help create low-cost, efficient and sustainable wearables and sensors. Both ARM and UNICEF will work together to choose which countries should receive immediate help, with trials expected over the next year.

"It feels to me like the pace of innovation has increased, the cost of innovation has come down and we are in a world where people want to partner," said Simon Segars, CEO of ARM, in a statement to CNET. "So if some good comes from this, then that will be great."

God of War fans are going to wait to stand up, with God of War III: Remastered set to arrive on July 15 in the US, and two days later in the UK and Ireland.

In order to get the hype train rolling faster, Sony has unleashed a new trailer for God of War III: Remastered in 1080p 60FPS. It shows off the Kratos vs Hades Boss Battle on the PlayStation 4. Some new features such as Photo Mode will let God of War gamers to freeze the action in the middle of the action, where a camera can be used with creative options like lighting changes, and then sharing that image with friends.

The developer continues: "It's been ten years since Kratos took the throne as the God of War. With the God of War III Remaster on the horizon, we are eagerly looking forward to reliving the legend and we hope you are too. For those PS4 players new to Kratos' epic tale of betrayal and revenge, welcome. You're in for one hell of a ride".

SolarFall games has just unveiled a new video for Umbra, its new CryEngine 3-powered RPG that makes great use of Quixel's more-than-impressive Megascans technology.

The studio explains: "This video shows some of the environments of Umbra, and how it impacts the gameplay. You can modify it, or use it as a weapon. On the technical side, our game is fully Physically based, and we are the first indie studio to use the Megascans library". Umbra has both single and multiplayer sides, where you have no limits on your character development, with gamers having the choice of creating their own weapons, armor and spells.

SolarFall Games continued: "​Umbra melds much-loved hack-and-slash gameplay with state-of-the-art graphics, and underpins it all with a truly modern AI. Inspired by the classic Diablo 2 game, Umbra aims to deliver an intense and rich action RPG game. Personalization of your character build is free, deep and highly customizable, and many secret are hidden in the world".

During an interview with WorldsFactory, Pisces Interactive, the developer behind Magicka 2 talked about DirectX 12. The studio said that DX12 will have large improvements over DX11, but teased that the Vulkan API could be even better.

The studio said: "DX12 is a big improvement over DX11, it enables games to move to the next generation of graphics. But we're also eagerly awaiting the official release of OpenGL Vulkan, which might even be better than DX12. Currently we are only experimenting with the API's but we will of course support them eventually".

When it comes to the Xbox One version of Magicka 2, Pisces Interactive added: "Paradox has been focusing on PC only for many many years. And this is Paradox first game on the new generation of consoles so we start slow and begin with PlayStation 4. We will see if and when a Xbox one version would be possible. Currently we also have an exclusive deal with Sony".

GIGABYTE has just unveiled its latest workstation motherboard, the MW70-3S0, which can handle two CPUs that fit into Intel's 2011-3 socket. The new workstation motherboard has the usual high-end technologies, such as SAS 12Gbps storage support, as well as support for 3-way GPUs.

The new GIGABYTE MW70-3S0 can handle three NVIDIA GeForce or AMD Radeon GPUs with full x16 PCIe speeds, but it also supports a fourth card where the full x16 speeds aren't required. GIGABYTE has attached a high-end LSI SAS 3008 controller, which supports up to eight SAS drives running at 12Gbps through two mini-SAS HD connectors.

Not only that, but the controller is capable of aggregating any SATA and SAS drives into the full 12Gbps data stream courtest of LSI's DataBolt technology. This means that users can simply tie in their SATA 3Gbps or SATA 6Gbps drives into the 12Gbps bandwidth, and enjoy increased speeds depending on the configuration used.