Sharp teases an 85-inch 8K TV that will cost up to $133,000

Anthony Garreffa | Displays & Projectors | Sep 16, 2015 1:03 AM CDT

We're not even comfortable with the 4K TVs that are here, and now we're being teased with 8K TVs throwing an insane 7680x4320 resolution into the mix. Sharp has started teasing its first 8K TV, with an 85-inch 8K TV set to be released next month.

The new 85-inch 8K TV will feature Sharp's IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) backplane, as well as a slew of other technologies. The mammoth 8K TV will be aimed at commercial and specialized applications, including content creation, digital signage, museums, professional, military, healthcare, and other industries.

But what about 8K content, you ask? Good question. NHK will begin broadcasting 8K super hi-vision content sometime in 2018, which is when we're to expect consumers to start snapping up 8K TVs. But, outside of that, we have no idea what type of content there will be for 8K TVs, as gaming is going to require an insane amount of horsepower to drive that resolution. But with technologies like NVIDIA's Pascal architecture right around the corner, as well as the shrink down to 16nm and HBM2, we should be good as gold.

Continue reading: Sharp teases an 85-inch 8K TV that will cost up to $133,000 (full post)

The MU-MIMO revolution begins, according to Moor Insights & Strategy

Most people probably haven't even heard about MU-MIMO, but it's about to be a huge upgrade to Wi-Fi technology and speeds. We've been living with 802.11 a/b/g/n for a while, and even through the 5GHz upgrade, the overall speeds didn't leap near Gigabit, or 10GbE Ethernet.

The 'MU' in MU-MIMO stands for 'Multi-User', with it being the new Wave 2 specification of 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology. The big difference is that multiple data streams can be taken into consideration, with multiple antennas on the base station and client device blasting out data all at once. If there's four antennas on the base station, and four on your Wi-Fi card, then you can expect four streams of data simultaneously.

Anshel Sag, Staff Technologist and Technical Writer, took MU-MIMO for a spin in his research paper on MU-MIMO and 802.11ad Wi-Fi, with some interesting results. Sag reported: "In our own lab testing at Moor Insights & Strategy using off the shelf equipment at retail stores, MU-MIMO smartphones when paired with a MU-MIMO access point, experienced a 75% TCP (transmission control protocol) download performance uplift going from 260 Mbps bandwidth with three smartphones to 455 Mbps with three MUMIMO enabled smartphones. In fact, overall network bandwidth utilization actually increased as we added devices to the network, rather than decrease, which it did in the case of nonMU Wi-Fi which can partially attribute to the poor Wi-Fi performance in crowded areas".

Continue reading: The MU-MIMO revolution begins, according to Moor Insights & Strategy (full post)

Halo 5 aiming for 'dynamic resolution' of 1080p at 60FPS

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 15, 2015 7:19 PM CDT

With the release of Halo 5: Guardians getting closer and closer, we're receiving more details on what will make the game tick. 343 Industries, the developer behind the game, has let out some information on the visual side of the game.

A post on the Xbox Wire blog from Josh Holmes says "framerate is king" for the team. Dinges added that "Gameplay is defined by the way that players experience the game from controller to screen. We want the connection between you and the game to feel seamless and instantaneous. From the beginning, we set ourselves the goal of delivering consistent 60fps gameplay across all modes of play. Delivering on this goal meant re-engineering the gameplay systems at the core of our engine. It required sustained commitment from the entire team as we continually optimized the experience, and the difference it makes to the play experience is immediate and obvious".

He continued: "60fps gameplay is supported by a new progressive resolution system that allows us to dynamically scale the resolution at which we render the game (up to 1080p) based on the needs of the scene. This enables us to deploy resources where they have most impact across a diverse series of experiences throughout the game while delivering the most visually stunning Halo game ever".

Continue reading: Halo 5 aiming for 'dynamic resolution' of 1080p at 60FPS (full post)

Sony slashes PS4's retail price in Japan

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 15, 2015 6:02 PM CDT

At this year's annual Tokyo Game Show, Sony announces a pretty hefty price drop for the PlayStation 4 across the Japanese market.

Sony slashes PS4's retail price in Japan

Starting October 1, the PlayStation 4 will be marked down from ¥39,980 to ¥34,980 in its home country of Japan, which equates to ~$291 or €258. Sony Computer Entertainment Japan and Asia President Atsushi Morita iterate the price cut will "provide an opportunity for users who have not yet been exposed to this device to dive into the world of PlayStation 4."

Considering the console retails for $399 in the U.S. that's a pretty significant cut and if you're in the market for a new console it might be worth shipping it overseas. It's worth mentioning that this price drop is just for the base console and excludes bundles--it ships with the 500GB PS4 and a DualShock 4 controller only.

Continue reading: Sony slashes PS4's retail price in Japan (full post)

Robot professional seeks ban to stop development of sex robots

Robot ethicist Dr. Kathleen Richardson doesn't want to see robots developed for a primary function of sexual interaction with humans. In her public campaign, Dr. Richardson said developing robots for this use is unnecessary and undesirable, as more advancements progress.

"Sex robots seem to be a growing focus in the robotics industry and the models that they draw on - how they will look, what roles they would play - are very disturbing indeed," Dr. Richardson told the BBC. "We think that the creation of such robots will contribute to detrimental relationships between men and women, adults and children, men and men and women and women."

Some "adult entertainment" companies are implementing robots and electronics into their products, and True Companion is preparing Roxxxy - the first "sex robot" - which is expected to launch sometime in 2015.

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HDPLEX unveils its 8kg crazy-adaptive fanless chassis

Chris Smith | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Sep 15, 2015 6:28 AM CDT

Described as "the world's first 16 heat pipes fanless case" in an exclusive unveiling of the HDPLEX H5 chassis over at FanlessTech, this crazy silent case offers up eight heat pipes for the CPU and eight for the GPU in order to overate without any noise.

HDPLEX unveils its 8kg crazy-adaptive fanless chassis

Suitable for ATX, mATX and mITX motherboards, you're able to throw basically any power supply into this beast, ranging from nanoATX to ATX size options. With two 2.5" drive bays and a single 3.5", other internal options include a 5.25" optical bay and a 12.7mm optical rack.

The exterior is full brushed aluminum and offers impressive fanless cooling up to 95W TDP for your CPU with room for a dual-slot PCIE card and an exterior touch sensitive power button.

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Qualcomm's next-gen Quick Charge 3.0 goes from 0% to 80% in 35 minutes

Qualcomm has just announced its next-gen Quick Charge 3.0 technology, which will charge compatible smartphones from 0% to 80% in just 35 minutes. The new Quick Charge 3.0 tech will debut on the Snapdragon 820 processor, which will arrive next year.

But it's not just the Snapdragon 820 that will receive Quick Charge 3.0, with the Snapdragon 620, 618, 617 and 430 platforms, too. If you don't know about Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology, it's the same micro USB connector that Android smartphones feature, but there's more communication between the processor and charger, so that it can safely and efficiently increase the charge rate.

The idea of going from 0% to 80% in 35 minutes is simply insane, so expect to fully charge your smartphone in under an hour in 2016 on Quick Charge 3.0 compatible smartphones.

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Microsoft should announce its new Surface Pro 4 on October 6

Now that Apple is finished with its media event to unveil the new iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and the iPad Pro, it's now Microsoft's turn to blow the iPad Pro out of the water.

The Redmond-based giant has started sending out media invites for a new event in New York City on October 6, where it will be unveiling new devices running Windows 10. It hasn't said which devices it will be unveiling, but one of those will definitely be the new Surface Pro 4. The Surface Pro 4 will be powered by an Intel processor from the new Skylake family, as well as Windows 10.

Not only can we expect the Skylake-powered Surface Pro 4, but we should see the company two Lumia smartphones codenamed Cityman and Talkman. These two handsets are said to be premium flagship smartphones with QHD displays, a 6-core and 8-core processor model, 3GB of RAM and more. We could also expect Microsoft to unveil a new wearable, apart from its HoloLens headset.

Continue reading: Microsoft should announce its new Surface Pro 4 on October 6 (full post)

EA isn't buying out CD Projekt RED

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 14, 2015 3:21 PM CDT

Earlier today a rumor that EA was planning to buy out popular Witcher developer CD Projekt RED sprung to life, striking fear and disdain into the hearts of gamers everywhere. Now CDPR has fully squashed the rumor and denied the allegations completely.

EA isn't buying out CD Projekt RED

The false rumor was cited by DSO Gaming, who reported that an anonymous CDPR employee revealed that EA was currently meeting up with the studio's top execs to discuss takeover negotiations.

"I'm an employee of CDProjekt Red and I have some bad news to share with you. Our management is probably talking with Electronic Arts about potential take over," the fake employee wrote. "Electronic Arts representatives are currently visiting our studio and meeting with top management. We are not going to release any game soon, so for sure it's not about any publishing deal, so the only possible reason for EA guys being here is that they want to buy us."

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Need for Speed on PC delayed to 2016 in order to 'unlock frame rates'

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Sep 14, 2015 2:37 PM CDT

First EA revealed the Need For Speed reboot would "require an internet connection at all times" to play, then Ghost Games said that the game was capped at 30FPS on PC, leading to massive backlash from PC gamers everywhere. Now Ghost Games has heeded the call and promises to boost the frame-rate...but it's going to take some time.

"For any driving game a steady frame rate is incredibly important, and an unlocked frame rate in Need for Speed is a massive priority for you. We fully agree," Ghost Games said on a new update post. "To deliver this, we've made the decision to move the PC release date to Spring 2016. Our PlayStation 4 and Xbox One release dates will remain the same, starting November 3, 2015 in North America and November 5 worldwide."

The developers continue to affirm that the extra time will be spent "increasing the visuals we can deliver on PC" and maintains that PC gamers will get retroactive access to all of the updates released on PS4 and Xbox One in the interim. Since the game is being developed on the Frostbite engine it's quite odd Ghost Games couldn't maintain 60FPS on PC...especially in a racing game.

Continue reading: Need for Speed on PC delayed to 2016 in order to 'unlock frame rates' (full post)