Intel to launch its next-gen Haswell-E platform in September

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Jun 21, 2014 9:54 PM CDT

Intel will reportedly launch its next-generation high-end desktop (HEDT) processors in mid-September, with the new Haswell-E chips arriving with the new X99 desktop platform too. We should see Intel officially launch its Core i7-5960X, the Core i7-5930K and the Core i7-5820K on the 14th of September.

On the same day, we should expect the chipmaker to launch its new X99 chipset, designed to power the new CPUs. One of the exciting new things about Haswell-E and X99 is that it supports DDR4 RAM, and that the top of the line Core i7-5960X is a 16-theaded CPU (8 cores, 8 HT threads = 16 threads total). The Core i7-5960X will arrive with a base clock of 3GHz, 20MB of L3 cache, support quad-channel DDR4 RAM up to 2133MHz, and will be an unlocked part for overclockers to have some fun with.

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RIAA copyright take down notices topped 50 million sent to Google

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Jun 21, 2014 8:27 PM CDT

The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been busy submitting reporting pirate links for removal on Google, recently topping its 50 millionth URL. The RIAA and music studios report millions of links each month - most of them directed to Google - with the filestube.com search engine receiving two million requests alone.

Google acts quickly to remove infringing links from the massive search engine's index, but the RIAA has voiced numerous complaints about the process. It's a difficult battle to deal with for the RIAA, because foreign websites ignore takedown notices, or slightly alter the URL and go back online immediately.

Just a few months ago, the RIAA take down requests number sat at 10 million, with the trade group always scanning for online music piracy locations.

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Nintendo says that the Wii U has a 'very long life' ahead of it

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jun 21, 2014 7:39 PM CDT

Nintendo has been seeing great headlines lately, with a 400% surge in Wii U sales thanks to Mario Kart 8. Not only that, but Mario Kart 8 has helped Nintendo push Sony up against the wall in Japan when it comes to console sales.

There was a rumor that Nintendo was poised to unveil a next-gen console at E3, something that never happened, but now we have the Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime affirming that Nintendo is sticking to the Wii U. The Nintendo America boss says that the Wii U "has a very long life ahead of it. It's got great content coming that will help define the platform".

Nintendo has Sony as its only next-gen competitor in its home country of Japan, as Microsoft hasn't launched its Xbox One in the country just yet. The Xbox One lands in Japan on September 4, which isn't too far away. Nintendo seems to be doing better this year with the help of Mario Kart 8, but the company still has Hyrule Warriors, Super Smash Bros. and Splatoon to reach the Wii U, something that Fils-Aime says will have similar sales effects to the Wii U that Mario Kart 8 had.

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MPAA wants to invest $20,000 for 'unbiased' piracy research reports

Michael Hatamoto | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Jun 21, 2014 2:57 AM CDT

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the leading movie copyright group in the United States, wants to invest $20,000 in research towards an "unbiased" report focused on online piracy. Following past published reports that claimed piracy harms sales, there was a public backlash that the trade group reportedly wasn't expecting.

"We want to enlist the help of academics from around the world to provide new insight on a range of issues facing the content industry in the digital age," said Chris Dodd, former U.S. Senator and MPAA CEO, in a statement. "We need more and better research regarding the evolving role of copyright in society. The academic community can provide unbiased observations, data analysis, historical context and important revelations about how these changes are impacting the film industry and other IP-reliant sectors."

It's refreshing to hear the MPAA wants to better analyze the current state of online piracy - a shift in strategy, when just a few years ago the MPAA was hesitant to embrace online solutions. However, past efforts to crack down on piracy only led to confusing legal legislation and ineffective, costly strategies.

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Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare on PC 'is not a port' from consoles

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jun 20, 2014 11:12 PM CDT

After a week of Ubisoft fighting a losing battle about watering down the PC version of Watch Dogs, EA is on the offensive for PC gamers. First, offering up Titanfall for free for 48 hours, second - unlocking all of the weapons and gadgets in its beta of Battlefield: Hardline, and now - stating that the PC version of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is not a console port.

Justin Wiebe, the game's Creative Director, took to PopCap Games' (which is owned by EA) developer diary today, where he explains: "It's not a port. Everything from our UI to how the mouse-driven controls are going to work - everything has been looked at from PC gamers' POV". When Garden Warfare launches on PC, it will include a new map, Jewel Junction, which features a world event that affects gameplay.

In this map, a train runs down the middle of the map, which should be an interesting turn for the game. Jewel Junction will be a timed exclusive for PC. Right now, you can pre-order Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare on Origin - with the Standard Edition costing $29.99, while the Digital Deluxe Edition costs $34.99. Garden Warfare launches in just three days time, on June 24.

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Dead Rising is being made into a 'full-length digital feature'

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jun 20, 2014 8:29 PM CDT

For fans of Dead Rising, you might be surprised that the zombie game is being turned into a "full-length digital feature" That will first hit Sony's service, Crackle. There's no director tied to the project just yet.

Legendary is producing the film, but it will not be hitting theaters, with the company's Chief, Tom Lesinski explaining: "Dead Rising has a built-in fan base and rich characters and plotlines that are ideal for digital storytelling and on target for Legendary's brand. Crackle and Content are adept at distributing cutting-edge digital content and we look forward to delivering a highly engaging and cool series for a global audience".

Once the Dead Rising movie has hit Crackle, it will move on to disc media, TV and VOD. Most people are probably thinking "ugh... why" - but a theatrical release of this movie might have not been that great, a smaller budget and the movie being a "digital feature" might play in its favor. It means that the movie doesn't need to target a mass audience to make its profits, meaning it could be gorier (it is a post-apocalyptic zombie game after all) with all of the things that have made the Dead Rising games so much fun.

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Star Wars Episodes VIII and IX announce a new director

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Jun 20, 2014 7:05 PM CDT

Fresh from the news that Godzilla director Gareth Edwards is to helm the second of the announced 'Star Wars' spin off movies, Looper director Rian Johnson is to direct Episode VIII and IX (that's 8 and 9 for you numeral-haters), which will follow the 2015 release of the as yet untitled 'Episode VII' under director J.J. Abrams.

Whilst Johnson only has three prior features to his name; the little seen 'Brick' and 'Brothers Bloom' alongside the higher profile 'Looper', he also has helmed multiple episodes of TV's 'Breaking Bad' and 'Terriers'.

Episodes VIII and IX have not yet been officially dated, but are expected to launch in 2017 and 2019, respectively. It's crazy to think that over a span of nearly 30 years we only have six 'Star Wars' movies today, yet there's a further five movies in various stages of production. Whatta world.

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Facebook outage cost the site $500,000 in half an hour

Shane McGlaun | Internet & Websites | Jun 20, 2014 6:04 AM CDT

We all know that Facebook is in business to make money. It's easy to forget that the social network isn't there just to let you quote random saying from the web and let you keep in touch with people you probably don't want to see in the real-world. Yesterday Facebook was down for about half an hour, and for some it was the longest half hour of the day.

The short outage reportedly cost Facebook $500,000, which suggests that the site rakes in about a million dollars an hour during normal operation. That $500,000 figure came from Facebook's quarterly earnings report for Q1 that showed $2.5 billion made in ad revenue, working out to about $1.16 million an hour.

Facebook says that the outage was the result of an issue that occurred while updating the configuration of site software. Users who went nuts while Facebook was down can feel a bit better about the potential for this to happen again in the future, the social network vows this problem will never happen again.

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LG isn't making the Nexus 6, so Android Silver will replace Nexus?

We've known for a while now that the new premium Nexus device could be something called the Android Silver experience, but now it looks like this is being confirmed - by the phonemaker behind the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5, LG.

LG's Communications Director, Ken Hong, has said that Google has not contacted LG regarding a new Nexus smartphone. According to Hong, he is the person at LG that would be contacted if Google were to request a next-gen Nexus. So unless Google is going with another company to make its Nexus 6, I think we can expect the Android Silver program to replace it - something I hope we see at Google I/O next week.

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Ubisoft admits Watch Dogs contains 'old, unused render settings'

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jun 20, 2014 2:08 AM CDT

Ubisoft has released an official statement on the website for Watch Dogs about claims that the company gimped the PC version of the game, where it said that "notion that we would actively downgrade quality is contrary to everything we've set out to achieve".

The company has said that the PC version does actually include "some old, unused render settings that were deactivated for a variety of reasons, including possible impacts on visual fidelity, stability, performance and overall gameplay quality". Ubisoft has said that the mod that unlocks the better graphics and settings that were gimped and cut away on the PC version can cause issues.

Ubisoft explains: "Modders are usually creative and passionate players, and while we appreciate their enthusiasm, the mod in question (which uses those old settings) subjectively enhances the game's visual fidelity in certain situations but also can have various negative impacts. Those could range from performance issues, to difficulty in reading the environment in order to appreciate the gameplay, to potentially making the game less enjoyable or even unstable".

Continue reading: Ubisoft admits Watch Dogs contains 'old, unused render settings' (full post)