Latest News - Page 2779

Razer has just announced their launch of a Stream Viewer through their VoIP messenger program named 'Comms'. The press release issued explains this new advancements purpose is to "seamlessly integrates popular streaming providers such as Twitch, the world's leading video platform and community for gamers, to enhance the social experience of gaming".

Razer further explains that the three main issues of stream viewing today include; discovery of new streams, being alerted when streamers go live and social interaction on streams due to the amount of spamming in the popular channels. They plan to rectify these issues through various different methods, with their new software integration allowing stream recommendations to users based on interest, alongside friends being able to suggest streams to their peers.

The main features offered by the Stream Viewer integration with Razer Comms include:

Even after the release of Final Stand, the fifth piece of DLC for Battlefield 4, DICE has said that they're not finished with the game. The developer has said that it wants to see gamers continue to tell them what they'd like to see in the form of future DLC for the first-person shooter.

DICE said in its latest Battlelog update: "With Battlefield 4 Final Stand released, we hope and believe that you will enjoy it together with the rest of the game for a long time. However, there is one thing we want to assure you: there is more content coming for Battlefield 4". We don't know what that will arrive as exactly, but DICE did add: "rest assured that we'll get back to you on the future of Battlefield 4 when the time is right".

Polygon reports that we could expect more reimagined maps, which are maps from the older Battlefield 4 games, remade in the well-powered Frostbite 3 engine. EA and DICE will have to do something with BF4, as there's no flagship Battlefield game coming out until 2016, with Battlefield 5 promised for two years from now. Battlefield: Hardline is coming next year, being developed by Visceral Games, but it's not a "true" Battlefield 4 successor. Bring on 2016.

Some users have noticed that The Pirate Bay has been down for a much longer time than the normal sporadic downtime bursts. At 12 hours, and counting, many have suspected the worst. Google recently moved against apps made for Android devices that accessed the popular site, and many had speculated that Google may have had a hand in The Pirate Bay's disrupted service. It turns out Swedish police are the culprit. The Pirate Bay, deemed "The galaxy's most resilient BitTorrent site", had its apocalyptic safe haven in Sweden raided by the police.

The raid was conducted by Fredrick Ingblad, a specialized inspector in intellectual property crimes. A specialized forensics team and local police seized servers and computers, effectively bringing the popular torrent site to its knees. The Pirate Bay has been under fire for years and the original founders ended up in jail for their efforts. The scrappy site was spread out amongst the wind and managed to continue to thrive for several years, though eventually the website was changed from thepiratebay.org to thepiratebay.se.

The server room was found in a rock shelter in Nacka, Sweden. This is likely the secure Swedish Datacenter AB. This datacenter is housed inside a five-story building inside a gigantic rock cavern. The converted nuclear shelter has concrete walls and the requisite blast doors to hold back the worst of catastrophes, but it couldn't stop the Swedish police. It's hard to believe that one of the largest websites in the world, currently ranked 88 worldwide and 55 in the US, can be kept off-line for long. An employee was arrested during the raid, and there are apparently interrogations underway. We will keep an eye on the status of the site, and shout a joyful "Hallelujah!" if they manage to bring it back online.

The pressing need for more storage at an affordable price point has just been addressed by Seagate. Numerous online vendors have begun posting pricing and shipment information for the new Seagate Archive 8TB HDD. This new drive will be available to Amazon customers on Jan 7th, 2015, and comes with a shockingly low price tag of only $267 each. Seagate has claimed that their new Archive series 8TB will offer the industries best cost per GB and watt, and from the current pricing it seems they will deliver.

The SATA 6Gb/s Archive HDDs come in 5, 6, and 8TB capacities and offer 1.33TB of storage per platter. These drives are geared for storage over performance and feature a spindle speed of 5,900 RPM. Another key point with these drives is the SMR technology that delivers astounding density. SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) overlaps tracks on the platter to produce more storage capacity. Due to SMR architecture there are a few drawbacks, notably in performance and compatibility. There are two flavors of SMR coming to the forefront, drive-managed and software managed. Software-managed products require an associated API or software to allow proper function, but drive-managed offerings handle all SMR processing internally. The Seagate Archive HDD features a drive-managed format that delivers excellent out-of-the box compatibility. The Seagate DiskWizard software allows installation of the massive drives in Windows even without an UEFI BIOS.

There are secure models available to meet data security requirements, and the Archive series is geared to address online archiving, object storage, big data cold storage, and web-scale archiving requirements. The drives feature 128MB of cache, a maximum sustained data rate of 190 MB/s, and an average of 150MB/s. The two high density 6 and 8TB models have 12 heads and six platters, and the 5TB model packs eight heads and four platters. The drives features all of the usual Seagate datacenter-specific trimmings, and feature a low power draw of 7.5W operating and 5.0 Watts Idle. Sleep and standby power draw is lower than 1 watt, which is perfect for the target audience. Data reliability weighs in at 1 per 10E14 and the drives feature a workload rating of 180 TB per year with an 800,000 hour MTBF.

Previously known as HL2: Wars, this Real Time Strategy (RTS) mod is currently in BETA and functions as a free multiplayer Source Engine modification for Alien Swarm set in the Half-Life 2 universe.

Self-described on its Steam store page as "the war between mankind and their brutal Combine overlords to a traditional real-time strategy (RTS) setting" it has many Half-Life fans foaming at the mouth.

With only 36 current reviews on record and 930 followers on Twitter, it's quite early days for Lambada Wars - however there's barely a negative thought to be seen surrounding all of its online media. Taking a quick browse through the user reviews you can see responses such as "Reminds me of starcraft II more than Company of heros, which I like. I know RTS's are not for everyone, but try it." and "EPIC! It's like HL2 Mixed with Command and conquer! Also there is sandbox mode. The gameplay is fun and exiting, and there are different gamemodes including Multiplayer. 10/10!".

After being ripped from Apple Store shelves not too long ago, Bose audio products are rumored to be making a return. iGen.fr, a French Apple website, has a source that said some Apple retail stores have been receiving shipments of Bose products, with orders from management to get them onto the shelves next week.

We still don't know why Apple removed Bose products from their shelves in the first place, but it most likely has something to do with its acquisition of Beats Electronics. Not only that, but the patent infringement that Bose pulled on Beats back in July, which would now obviously affect Apple.

After Apple acquired Beats, Beats and Bose decided to settle the patent dispute between them. This could have filtered down enough that Bose is now on talking terms with Apple once again, maybe.

LG's display arm has just created a new division off-shoot, these engineers have been tasked with developing OLED panel technology and promoting this display more aggressively than previously seen. As most companies haven't yet put too much effort into OLED, LG are jumping feet first into this technology.

LG's Chief Technology Officer Yeo Sang-Deog will be spearheading this advancement, with his main task said to be to increase OLED panel production up to four times this month alone - helping reduce the costing of OLED TVs to the consumers. Reports claim that pricing is one of the main issues stopping consumers going down the OLED route, seeing LCD TV's hit the market for half the price at around double the size. If you head into any big-brand technology store, expect to see 70-inch LCD's listed for as low was $1,300 when compared to the LG 55-inch OLED sitting at over $2,700.

OLED also suffers the burn-in effect as was seen with CRT's in the 90's and early 2000's - LG claims that its research team is working to rectify this issue, but as it stands it seems that OLED isn't quite worth the extra investment to most.

Robots aren't yet taking over, if you want to enjoy your time in your house before this happens - maybe the Ninja Sphere is for you.

Developed as a small Australian start-up, Ninja Blocks has proudly presented the second installment of their product - said to help you control simple house functions with ease, expanding the controlled devices to almost anything that you wish (compatibility required however).

The Ninja Sphere can be placed as a center piece on your lounge room coffee table, stylish in design and not too big in structure this new device can turn on and off the lights with a simple tap, swiping your hand over the surface will allow you to change which device is controlled, tap again and this piece of technology will now be told by the sphere to turn on or off.

We've spoken about it before and I'm sure we'll report on it again - Australia is extremely behind the 'eight ball' when it comes to provision of high-speed internet to its residents. It seems the government is too busy dodging wild crocodiles and drop bears to work on a viable internet solution together.

Just recently, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has finalized a new line technology, said to be able to provide broadband service speeds of up to one gigabit per second functional over Australia's old copper phone line network. One gigabit per second sounds really good, so what are we complaining about?

There's a few possible issues. The ITU explains that this new G.fast standard has begun shipping to vendors and will be available in the market by December 2015 - meaning we're going to have to put up with our 3 Mbs download and 0.85 Mpbs upload that most Aussie gamers have been living with for the past few years. This technology, said to "combine the best aspects of fibre and DSL" will only provide fibre-like speeds up to 400m away from a distribution point. Setup in a fibre-to-the-distribution-point type structure, this new advancement will see distribution points being laid around various cities, towns and streets. However, they haven't made it clear where or exactly how many of these distribution points will exist.

We've just reported that AMD has launched its new Catalyst Omega driver suite, where we've written up an overview on the slew of new features and technologies it has unleashed, and a look at performance at 1080p, but what about Eyefinity?

AMD increased the abilities of Eyefinity with the new drivers, which now allow 24 monitors to be supported on Windows. You don't need any third-party software, or hardware, with the company providing a new GUI for setting up your new 24 monitor Eyefinity rig. You'll need four Radeon GPUs with six DisplayPort outputs per card, but it can be done.

AMD has just taken the wraps off of its new Catalyst Omega driver suite, which provides additional performance and a bunch of new technologies and features. The features built into the Omega drivers is extensive, but one of those stand out features is support for 5K displays.

5K you ask? What is 5K? 5K is 5120x2880, a mammoth resolution, which AMD now supports through its Omega drivers, even at 60Hz. 5K is achieved by using two DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, which some Radeon cards don't have, so you'll have to make sure you have two DP outputs before you think about buying that Dell UP2715k monitor.

5120x2880 is an incredible resolution, even overshadowing what 4K is capable of at 3840x2160 as it is an insane 14.7 million pixels, providing 218 pixels per inch, or PPI.

Samsung's Gear VR headset is now available for purchase in the US, for $199. The Gear VR had Samsung and Oculus VR, the makers of the Oculus Rift, collaborating together. One thing that the Gear VR does differently, is that it requires Samsung's flagship Galaxy Note 4 smartphone in order to work.

Coined as the "Innovator Edition", Samsung are confidently displaying this fact on their purchase page with reports claiming as the customer you must agree you understand that this is a "device targeted specifically to developers or early adopters of technology." It's not too big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, just a precaution put in place by Samsung to cover their back should anything go wrong.

Last seen at IFA 2014, news outlets reported very positively of this new device besides the fact that it needs a Note 4 for operation. It's a little disappointing that you need to tie this up with another Samsung product for use, especially when compared with the Oculus or 3D HEAD that are both said to be operable without any added features.

Logitech has just unveiled the latest member in its ever-growing UE BOOM range of portable speakers, the new Graffiti Fetish Edition UE BOOM. This is the fifth version of the UE BOOM where Logitech has collaborated with artists for a custom-look on its speaker.

The new speaker is now celebrating "the fusion of two art forms" with music, and graffiti gifs. Logitech explains the new speaker as "art, graffiti, fetishism, and desire collide in the Graffiti Fetish edition UE BOOM, a vivid and vibrant print by London street artist Insa". The new Graffiti Fetish Edition UE BOOM can be purchased directly from Logitech's UE BOOM website for $199.99 sometime later this month.

Markus Boesen has built himself a dream PC gaming setup, the kind that you see on fan websites photo-shopped up as someones dream. Set to provide himself with the best gaming experience possible, Boesen has taken these ideas and brought them to reality.

Utilizing three 3D monitors running at a combined 5760 x 1080 resolution, he's also installed touchscreen inputs, voice recognition, head-tracking and carefully arranged Saitek joysticks to ensure this gaming pad is more of a cockpit than a regular desktop setup.

Elite: Dangerous is the current game of choice, giving a full life-like experience to the gamer - thanks to all of the extras that have been added. The only thing missing here is a seat that pivots and turns with the game play action, but I daresay that it might start to make you sick.

A few months ago, Apple had sneakily removed their Apple iPod Classic devices off their online stores - bringing a silent end to its longstanding history and reign as the first legitimately useful flash portable music listening device.

This came about with their site upgrade thanks to the iPhone 6 release, with speculation stating that the old iPod's are no longer needed in today's market - mobile phones are becoming larger and larger in capacity, people are adding massive SD cards to their Android devices and much of our music is now streamed online. All of these factors start to render our old favorite a little bit useless.

Confirmed by CEO Steve Cook as "a declining business" the iPod Classic saw a swift removal from all online portals. But now they're becoming a bit of a rarity, seeing fans paying up to four times the originally listed price. This is said to be not only just due to their limited nature, but the capacity that they hold.

The 88 second trailer for 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' might be inching towards the most viewed movie trailer of all time, with over 72 million views in a week, but one man in particular hasn't seen it - the creator of the franchise, George Lucas.

Speaking to PageSix, Lucas revealed that he hadn't seen the trailer and won't see any part of the movie "Because it's not in the movie theater. I like going to the movies and watching the whole thing there." Lucas sold the rights to the 'Star Wars' franchise, along with his whole LucasFilm company, back in 2012.

Unless he changes his mind, Lucas will get a chance to check the entire film out when 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' opens worldwide on December 18th, 2015.

The hackers behind the breach into Sony have warned the company of the consequences of releasing its upcoming movie 'The Interview' with Seth Rogen and James Franco.

Sony Pictures Entertainment have been warned about releasing "the movie of terrorism", which depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Over the weekend, the two stars of the movies took to Saturday Night Live, having a laugh at it all. The hackers on the other hand, are quite serious.

They said: "We have already given our clear demand to the management team of SONY, however, they have refused to accept. It seems that you think everything will be well, if you find out the attacker, while no reacting to our demand. We are sending you our warning again. Do carry out our demand if you want to escape us. And, Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War! You, SONY & FBI, cannot find us. We are perfect as much. The destiny of SONY is totally up to the wise reaction & measure of SONY".

The keys to the future of SSDs revolve around the NVMe interface, TLC NAND, 3D NAND, and low power consumption. The 88NV1140 supports both NVMe 1.1b and AHCI through a x1 PCIe 3.0 interface. The controller supports TLC NAND and 3D NAND, along with other types of NAND. This new controller is targeted for the mobile market, such as Chromebooks, laptops, and 2-in-1 devices.

Marvell turns to NVMe 1.1b and the first DRAM-less NVMe controller design to deliver a lower power threshold. DRAM-less designs feature lower power draw and are typically more resilient during power loss events. Tacking on support for the newer NVMe revision 1.1b also leverages improvements in low power state management. Marvell also announced the DRAM-less 88NV1120, which supports the SATA interface in PC systems and leverages DevSlp functionality.

Both controllers are built on a 28nm process and come in a 8x8mm package, allowing for ultra-dense applications such as M.2 2230 designs (30 mm in length). Both controllers use Marvell's NANDEdge LDPC error correction to boost longevity, and it supports 15/16nm TLC and 3D NAND. The controllers have already passed strenuous in-house validation and third-party operating system and platform compatibility testing. The new controllers support development of NVMe BGA or SATA BGA SSDs running on embedded SRAM through multiple-chip-package integration with NAND.

Things just don't seem to be getting better for Sony. Hot on the heels of a shocking data theft at Sony Pictures, a new attack occurred today on the PlayStation store. Suspicions are centered around North Korea for the Sony Pictures hack, and the custom malware designed for that hack is now on the loose, threatening the world at large with a devastating over-write malware.

A group called The Lizard Squad is taking responsibility for the latest attack on the PlayStation Store this morning via a Twitter message that simply reads: "PSN Login #offline". This latest attack appears to be a denial-of-service attack, which overruns the website and prevents users from logging in. However, the full scope of the attack is not yet known, and Sony is currently investigating the breadth of the assault. Word on whether there was a data breach associated with the attack will come forward in the next few days. Sony and The Lizard Squad have a contentious history, to say the least. Earlier this year Lizard Squad issued a warning there were explosives on a domestic flight, resulting in its diversion. There just so happened to be a Sony executive on the flight.

Lizard Squad also claimed responsibility for a recent attack on the PlayStation network earlier this year. This attack was another denial-of-service attack that shuttered the large PlayStation network. The PlayStation network has been the constant target of attacks, in 2011 more than 70 million user accounts were compromised, and the associated data was stolen. Sony has since invested an untold amount of money on reducing their vulnerabilities, but from the looks of it that effort isn't going well.

The initial Google Glass model was loved by all for its functionality and refreshing new take on mobile computing, but many also complained about the clunky design and poor battery life. The original version was more of a proof-of-concept design than anything, and technological advances are already in the works. The slim new design eliminates most of the sidebar and the box that hangs behind the ear.

Recent Google Glass patent applications reveal some of the new changes. News that Intel is going to power the next revisions of Google Glass came about last week, and this will provide Google the flexibility to address the bulky hardware. There is no word if there will be more storage capacity, but new 3D NAND designs could provide amazing density as well. A new processor and chipset will enable better battery life and much smaller designs. The original hardware was based off of a 2011 mobile processor that wasn't the best fit for slim applications. Other new designs (pictured below) break the mold entirely and utilize very tiny components.

Many of the press images released by Google conveniently use people with long hair, touching the side of the device, or clever picture angles, to hide the large bulky portion of the device that hangs behind the ear. Completely eliminating this piece of hardware is a big step on the quest to create a device with wide consumer appeal.