Latest News - Page 2801

3DMark has been a staple of PC enthusiasts all across the world for over a decade, but the company behind it, Futuremark, has just been acquired by Underwriters Laboratories. Underwriters Laboratories is a safety testing organization, based in the US with offices in 46 countries, which analyzes the safety of technological products and their components.

General Manager of UL's Consumer Technology Division, Stephen Kirk, talked about the acquisition: "Embedded software is now an important part of product design. With an increased focus on mobility, we see more and more products being connected, making the Internet of Things a reality. Consequently, software quality is a significant driver of product safety and performance; and we believe that benchmarking is an important way to help our customers to improve the performance of their products". He continued: "This acquisition provides us with an opportunity to build a new business line in testing a wide variety of technological devices so they offer the performance, safety and privacy that consumers expect".

What does UL have planned for future Futuremark products? We should see more professionally-orientated packages, similar to what PCMark's suite offers. Futuremark's Chief Executive, Jukka Mäkinen, said: "In recent years, we've expanded on to new platforms, our software has been adopted by the European Commission and national governments, and we've welcomed more of the world's leading technology companies into our Benchmark Development Program. We've accomplished a lot on our own, but with UL, we're in an even better position to achieve our goals".

The North Korean military is still likely years away from successfully launching a ballistic missile with nuclear capabilities, but the country now has a Soviet-era submarine that can fire ballistic missiles. South Korean and US military experts are concerned North Korea continues to develop a nuclear weapons program, and utilizing ballistic missiles is an important step in that process.

"While the potential threat from a future North Korean capability to launch ballistic missiles from submarines should not be ignored, it should also not be exaggerated," said Joseph Bermudez, a military analyst. "While the development of submarines carrying ballistic missiles could provide North Korea with a survivable second-strike nuclear capability... it also assumes that Pyongyang would entrust an operational nuclear-armed missile to the captain of a submarine who would, in time of war, most likely be out of communication with the leadership."

It appears North Korea is a step closer to the miniaturization of nuclear warheads that could be fitted to ballistic missiles - but whether or not the country could accurately aim these missiles towards South Korea or Japan - remains a frightening unknown. However, fitting a nuclear weapon aboard a submarine opens up new challenges to South Korea, Japan, and the United States, with launch tubes and installation of a fire system possible within the next two years.

Enmotus has announced the general availability of their FuzeDrive server software, which provides software-defined storage acceleration for server-side SSD and NVDIMM deployments, which are becoming more popular in clustered servers and hyper-converged architectures. FuzeDrive's MicroTiering storage algorithms load-balance data across devices, and allows the use of standard SSDs to provide seamless caching for server-side flash deployments.

Andy Mills from Enmotus demonstrated the actual use of FuzeDrive software for us at the 2014 Flash Memory Summit. FuzeDrive provides easy management capability integrated into the operating system's native file browsing tools. FuzeDrive also allows for file-pinning in the cache, which keeps desired data constantly in the SSD cache to deliver maximum performance acceleration for critical files. Users can also use a real-time at-a-glance visual mapping tool to monitor performance. FuzeDrive differentiates itself from caching solutions by providing low-impact acceleration that doesn't eat CPU cycles. In come configurations caching software can chew up to 50% of the host CPU cycles running cache management tables and algorithms, and also have limits on the amount of addressable flash capacity. Enmotus is currently working with a select number of solution and channel partners to make the technology available.

Marrying the capacity of HDDs with the performance of flash is one of the most common use-cases for server-side flash deployments, specifically because it can reduce network traffic, or even take the SAN out of the picture entirely. Samsung recently purchased Proximal Data to expand its base of technology, and other players in this space have already made significant investments in various caching/tiering software companies. It wouldn't be entirely surprising to see Enmotus acquired in the near future.

Rising electronics powerhouse Xiaomi plans to invest $1 billion in providing more online TV content to subscribers, which will complement Xiaomi TV and the company's set-top box.

China has more than 600 million Internet users, with a growing number watching online video via smartphones - and Xiaomi wants to compete against Alibaba, Tencent, and others in the growing market. The country was the second largest movie market in 2012, trailing the United States, with continued growth expected over the next several years, analysts predict.

Here is what Chen Tong, a recent Xiaomi hire and former Chinese Sina Internet company executive said: "We want to repeat the success of Xiaomi's hardware integration model in the television industry."

HGST has added another design win to the long list of FlashMAX design wins. StoneFly, a leading supplier of SAN systems, has announced integration of the HGST FlashMAX II into the flash-based version of their USS Hyper-Converged appliances. StoneFly's USS solution can be configured as iSCSI, Fibre Channel, or NAS (CIFS/SMB and NFS), and the hypervisors allow multiple VM's to run on a single physical host.

StoneFly runs all control logic as a software-based service on HGST FlashMAX II SSDs. The virtual storage controllers run on each cluster node to improve scalability and resilience. StoneFly USS appliances can begin with a single node configuration and then nodes can be added in increments as small as 2U (12 drive bays) to 4U (24 Drive bays). Each appliance can be scaled up to support a total of 256 drives per node. Cluster nodes and their expansion nodes can be seamlessly added one at a time with zero downtime. This provides a time to value deployment of under 30-minutes, with no disruption to ongoing operations.

The HGST FlashMAX II is a great fit for this type of deployment, we recently posted in-depth competitive performance analysis in our HGST FlashMAX II 2.2TB Enterprise PCIe SSD Review. One of the strongest features of the FlashMAX II lies in their enhanced software offerings that radically redefine typical expectations from a PCIe SSD. Advanced software features provide a host of new capabilities, which we cover in great detail in the article.

Memblaze has just announced their latest and greatest, the behemoth 8TB Eblaze4. Memblaze is one of the world's largest PCIe SSD suppliers, but their focus on the China market has kept them out of the limelight in North America. The release of the EBlaze4 continues the introduction of more Memblaze products into the North American and European markets. This PCIe SSD comes in the standard HHHL form factor and also is available in a 2.5" design. We recently took a close look at the PBLaze3L and found it to offer great performance and a wide variety of capacities to fit any environment.

The new EBlaze4 has a feature set geared specifically for SDS and hyperscale deployments. The EBlaze4 provides greater control through customization and programmability that manages the device down to a granular level. Users can tailor certain functions, such as garbage collection and wear leveling, to preferred settings, tying them closely to application requirements.

The EBlaze4 comes in 500, 700, and 900 Series and sports the NVMe interface. The 500 and 700 Series offer up to 3.6 and 3.2TB of capacity, respectively, and sequential speeds weighing in at 2.5/1.8 GBps read/write over a PCIe 3.0 x4 connection. The 500 Series offers 500,000/40,000 read/write IOPS, and the 700 series expands that to 500,000/150,000 read/write IOPS. The mammoth 900 Series brings a whopping 8.0TB onto a single device with blistering sequential speeds of 4.5/2.5 GB/s read/write. Yes, you read that right, 4.5 Gigabytes per second of read speed, easily the fastest on the market.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson still plans to be a passenger on the first tourist flight into space, even though SpaceShipTwo suffered a "serious anomaly" and exploded during a test flight. The company plans to move ahead with construction on another aircraft which could be done before the end of 2014.

Even with the recent SpaceShipTwo test incident, the 800 passengers that have signed up for the $250,000 ride have reportedly voiced their support. In fact, two more people signed up and paid for a trip on a future Virgin Galactic flight, Branson said.

Here is what Branson recently told CNN: "There is no way I would ask others to go on a Virgin Galactic flight if I didn't feel it was safe enough myself. They want to see this happen, and they want to show their commitment."

NVIDIA and Ubisoft have teamed up for a new gaming development partnership that will give consumers who purchase new NVIDIA desktop GPUs or gaming laptops a free video game. NVIDIA also is promoting its GameWorks technologies, including HBAO+ used for realistic shadows, TXAA for smoothness, and 4K support, which developers can include in future video games.

The "Pick Your Path" promotion allows gamers who purchase a new GeForce GTX GPU, from the GeForce GTX 980, 970, 780 Ti, or 780 video cards - or a gaming laptop with GeForce GTX 980M or 980M - will receive a free copy of Assassin's Creed Unity, Far Cry 4, or The Crew.

"NVIDIA has worked hard, hand-in-hand with our development teams, to help provide the best experience for our PC players," said Jean-Francois St. Amour, Ubisoft Montreal Lead Graphics Programmer, in a press statement. "Their support and insight is even more important now, as we make a big technological leap into the next-generation of Assassin's Creed games."

Former California Highway Patrol officer Sean Harrington, based out of the Dublin, California office, surrendered to authorities on Monday. Harrington faces two counts of felony theft of computer data for stealing private photos from smartphones of people in police custody, and he recently resigned from the CHP. Harrington admitted to taking photos from around a "half dozen" female arrestees, with photos and commentary shared among several other officers.

Apparently, Harrington and several other officers thought it was a "game" to share photos of women, sending the photos to one another. In the most recent incident, a 23-year-old woman was arrested for suspected DUI and provided the officer her phone password so he could retrieve a phone number for her. While using her phone, Harrington sent photos to an officer, which the arrested female discovered when using her iPad after she was released from jail.

Here is what Michael Rains, Harrington's attorney, said to the local media: "You talk about paying the price for something you once called a game. You can't pay too much of a price for that, and frankly, it's not over. The women who were victimized by this deserve to be angry and upset because it's not a game, it's a serious matter."

Facebook-owned Oculus VR doesn't plan to release a consumer headset until motion sickness-related issues are resolved, according to company officials. Some users said they suffer from motion sickness while wearing the headset and playing video games or watching movies.

"We're really looking forward to this as an industry that takes off... A number of companies will come in, even companies we haven't heard of yet two or three or five years down the road," said Brendan Iribe, Oculus VR CEO. "At the same time we're a little worried about some of the bigger companies putting out product that isn't quite ready. That elephant in the room is disorientation and motion sickness. We're encouraging other companies, particularly the big consumer companies, to not put out a product until they've solved that problem."

Without naming Sony directly, it would appear Iribe is speaking of the Japanese electronics giant - which unveiled Project Morpheus earlier this year. Virtual reality isn't necessarily a new technology, but only recently became a realistic goal, as hardware and software makers look to the budding market.

Here we are, living in a world of Apple only just reaching 1920x1080 on its latest iPhone 6 Plus, while Japan's Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) working with Nokia on some truly groundbreaking OLED display prototypes. Back in June, the two unveiled a 5.9-inch 1280x720 (720p and 249 PPI) display that could be folded in two, or in three - with two different prototypes being used.

Well, SEL are back, showing off a new 8.7-inch AMOLED, with the resolution cranked up to 1920x1080 (1080p and 254 PPI). These new panels are touch-capable, and can be tri-folded with the single prototype. SEL has done this by utilizing their CAAS-OS (C-Axis Aligned Crystalline Oxide Semiconductor) backplane, as well as a WRGB structure. The panels themselves are less than 100μm thick, weighing just 6 grams.

SEL was also teasing their new super-high-resolution AMOLED display, which was just 2.8 inches, with a resolution of 2560x1440 - this provides the tiny little OLED display with a PPI of 1058. The company had a large viewfinder on-hand to better show off its incredible technology.

PAX AU 2014 - Oculus VR is a company I just have to meet at any trade show I go to, with PAX Australia 2014 being no exception. The now Facebook-owned VR startup was showing off four different titles at the show, where we jumped on two them: Alien: Isolation and Superhot.

The crowd at Oculus VR was absolutely huge, and it never slowed down. Other than the League of Legends crowd, Oculus had the biggest crowd.

Alien: Isolation was just the tech demo that was shown off at E3 2014, with Oculus Rift support baked in, but it worked incredibly well for something that wasn't built for the VR headset from the ground up. Superhot is similar, in the way that it wasn't built for the Rift, but worked incredibly well.

Amazon, Inc. is facing issues when doing business in China and India, but assured that they won't shut down its operations. According to reports, Amazon India is having a tough time dealing with Indian laws that result in an impact on its business.

Earlier, many reports pointed out that operations in these countries may shut down. But Amazon India assured that though they are facing issues, they aren't shutting down their operations. The company has also said that it will be investing $2 billion in India (12,000 crore INR in local currency) for its business, with around $1 billion invested in the country so far.

Amazon India said that they are already facing unique risks. Currently, the retail giant is facing tax issues with the Karnataka government. According to sources, the government wants the company to pay value-added tax since they're storing goods at the company's warehouse. There's also a problem for Amazon where the Indian government restricts the ownership of Indian companies by foreign companies when it comes to multi-brand retailing online and via retail stores.

PAX AU 2014 - After falling in love with the Kuven Devil A1 headset, I had to stop by and say hello to the good people at Tesoro while I was at PAX Australia 2014 to check out the rest of their gear.

They had quite a spacious place on the show floor, showing off their range of gaming peripherals, ranging from gaming keyboards, to mice and headsets. We took a walk around the place checking it all out in the video above, while we have individual pictures available below.

Here we have the Durandal Ultimate keyboard, with 'G mode' or 5 instant profile keys, full Cherry MX Key Switches, 128KB of on-board memory, and a detachable comfortable palm rest.

PAX AU 2014 - After the 'A Chat With Chris Roberts - The Original Wing Commander' at PAX AU, we interviewed the man himself, hitting him up with some questions about Star Citizen.

Roberts said that the big publishers "shouldn't have been ignoring the PC gamers, they're a much more powerful group than you think". He continued, saying that "publishers have been dropping the ball on supporting the PC", and that it "pisses me off when I see a deliberately gimped game on PC, just because we can't make it look better than the Xbox One or PS4 version". When I asked Chris about the 30FPS stories we've been hearing from Ubisoft and others lately, he had much better things to say about Star Citizen. Chris said that he "wants it all", where he wants to see Star Citizen "look as detailed as possible, in the highest resolution, at the highest frame rate" possible.

We asked about the insane level of detail that Star Citizen will feature, where he said that we should expect up to 8K textures, and beyond. Chris said that they're not building a game that is "baked down" as the biggest bottleneck right now is texture memory. The biggest memory hog of Star Citizen right now, are "the textures" according to Roberts. He said that "rivets, panel lines" and more are not in the textures, they're all modelled, freeing up precious texture memory. It needs to be done this way, because there are massive 1km long ships in the game, and if everything was done the traditional way, texture memory would run out very quickly.

Sony has reported a nice $2.77 billion in sales for its Game and Network Services division, which is where the PlayStation just so happens to live. These sales represent an 83.2% increase year-over-year, which is all thanks to the PlayStation 4.

PlayStation 4 shipments totalled 3.3 million for the quarter, reaching a total of 13.5 million. When it came to operating income for Sony's Games and Network Services Division, it was at $195 million, compared to the $43 million for the last quarter, and up from the $37.6 million loss from the same three-month period of 2013.

Sony may be seeing success on the gaming side of its business, the company as a whole isn't doing too well, with operating losses of $766 million. The Japanese company has increased its loss forecast in September, pegging the blame on lagging smartphone sales.

PAX AU 2014 - I'm used to seeing Corsair at events like Computex, but with the company spinning off its gaming division into its own entity, known as Corsair Gaming, the company can now better show off its gaming products at events such as PAX Australia.

Corsair Gaming had a great section to its self at PAX AU, showing off its new gaming mouse, its various keyboards, headsets and more. The star of the show has to be the new Corsair Gaming Sabre RGB Mouse, which is a new super-light, great-looking gaming mouse.

Picking it up in person makes you really appreciate the weight of it, where it would be great for those massive gaming sessions. The Sabre RGB supports the Corsair Utility Engine (CUE) which allows gamers to change up the DPI on the mouse, acceleration and tune the button assignments.

Just how popular is Watch Dogs? Ubisoft has said that it has shipped 9 million copies of the open-world hacking adventure game, detailing the massive number of titles in its recent earnings report.

The company posted a 65% increase in sales year-over-year, with $605 million being made in the first six months alone, compared to the $366 million it made in the same six-month period of last year. Ubisoft said that its back catalogue is still making big money, with games like Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Far Cry 3 and Rayman Legends helping it make $142 million from its back catalogue alone.

In the first week of Watch Dogs' release, Ubisoft sold 4 million copies, and reported that it had sold 8 million copies some three months ago now, so sales of the game are definitely slowing down.

Popular actor Christian Bale has dropped out of an upcoming biopic in which he was expected to play the role of Steve Jobs. The Aaron Sorkin-written film will be directed by Danny Boyle, and they originally tried to recruit Leonardo DiCaprio to take the role, but he's currently involved in a different film project at the moment.

"We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range and that's Chris Bale," Sorkin said when choosing Bale. "He didn't have to audition. Well, there was a meeting."

Seth Rogen is rumored to play Steve Wozniak in the biopic, but without Bale acting as Jobs, it could be extremely difficult to fill the void. It remains unknown who will be tasked with the Jobs acting role now that Bale is no longer interested.

A surprise hit for the joint French / U.S. studio Illumination Entertainment in 2010, 'Despicable Me' has gone on to to become a lucrative new franchise for the fledgling studio, with its 2013 sequel 'Despicable Me 2' grossing just shy of an astonishing billion dollars worldwide.

Now the studio has unveiled the first theatrical trailer for its upcoming spin-off 'Minions' which is focused solely on the diminutive yellow creatures. Based on this first look at the film, which shows the history of the race up until now, it could very well entertain the adults as much as the kids.

'Minions' is released in the US on July 15th, 2015.