Nintendo NX controller to include virtual buttons on touchscreen

Chris Smith | Gaming | Dec 14, 2015 12:15 AM CST

Due to the uncovering of some recent patents, more plans for the Nintendo NX have been revealed. This time around it's about the controller, revealing that a patent from June secured the rights for this technology giant to create a controller featuring virtual buttons on a touchscreen.

Nintendo NX controller to include virtual buttons on touchscreen

The image above makes the controller look something similar to a smartphone-emulated Nintendo title, with the NX controller being published on the US Patent and Trademark office website in the last 48 hours. The image above isn't an official release from Nintendo as it's a mock up of the patents laid down by Nintendo, but you could very well be looking at Nintendo's new poster child console controller as it stands in prototype form.

The official patent mentions holes for real control sticks, but will utilize touchscreen technology for the actual buttons. If you're wanting to look at the 'nitty-gritty' of the whole patent, head here.

Continue reading: Nintendo NX controller to include virtual buttons on touchscreen (full post)

Target is restocking Nuka-Cola drinks from Fallout 4 next week

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 13, 2015 10:27 PM CST

If you want to make Fallout 4 look better, you might want to try out these insanely awesome looking mods - but if that makes you thirsty from all of those graphics, you'll want to buy a Nuka-Cola.

Fallout's official Twitter page has teased that a bottle of Nuka-Cola will cost $2.99, versus 50 caps in the game itself. If you've purchased Fallout 4 or the DLC season pass, you'll get your Nuka-Cola for free. Nuka-Cola Quantum IRL was introduced on November 10, but sold out incredibly quick.

Jones Soda makes Nuka-Cola, which is just a repackaged version of its berry lemonade flavor. As Polygon reports, "it does not completely restore all your health", so keep that in mind.

Continue reading: Target is restocking Nuka-Cola drinks from Fallout 4 next week (full post)

Intel teases Skull Canyon, its 'most powerful NUC yet'

Anthony Garreffa | Computer Systems | Dec 13, 2015 8:01 PM CST

According to the latest rumors, Intel is positioning itself for a new NUC launch in Q1 2016. Intel has teased that the new NUC is "the most powerful NUC yet... now with Intel Iris Pro graphics" and that it's "coming Q1 2016".

Now, Q1 2016 is an interesting time frame because we have the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off in early January, but Computex is in Q3. As for the NUC itself, it should rock Iris Pro 580 graphics on the flagship Skull Canyon-based NUC. Intel's Iris Pro 580 graphics features 128MB of eDRAM (which acts as super-quick L4 cache) and houses the 72 Execution Units (EUs) on the die itself.

We're expecting the core clock on the chip to hit 1GHz, but it could change closer to release. If we put this into perspective, we're looking at similar graphics performance to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 750. The new Skull Canyon NUCs should sport Intel's Skylake-U series processors, replacing the Broadwell-U series parts in the current NUC lineup.

Continue reading: Intel teases Skull Canyon, its 'most powerful NUC yet' (full post)

Google's quantum computer is 100 million times faster than today's PCs

Derek Strickland | Science, Space, & Robotics | Dec 13, 2015 5:32 PM CST

Google and NASA revealed on Wednesday that they've found a critical piece to the enigmatic puzzle of quantum computing that could usher in a new generation of ultra-efficient computers.

Google's quantum computer is 100 million times faster than today's PCs

For the past two years, Google and NASA have combined their scientific might via the Quantum AI team to study the mechanics and possible advantages of quantum computing. It's taken quite a while, but the team has finally tapped the power of its D-Wave X2 system to demonstrate just how powerful quantum computing really is.

Using a processing called quantum annealing, the Quantum AI team was able to prove that the quantum computer not only works but represents tremendous gains over traditional problem-solving systems. The scientists discovered a new quantum annealing algorithm that processed and solved complex binary workloads over 100 million times faster (10^8) than methods simulated on single-core non-quantum computers. Essentially this means that Google's D-Wave X2 system can serve as a major tool to understand, define and experiment with the realm of nanoscale quantum computing.

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Star Wars Battlefront 'real life' mod at 4K 60FPS is absolutely insane

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Dec 13, 2015 5:31 PM CST

We've seen previous mods for Star Wars Battlefront which look great, but the "real life" for EA DICE's first-person shooter looks absolutely incredible. YouTuber Jack "jackfrags" Mason has blown us away, but you really need to check out the video that we've embedded below.

Star Wars Battlefront 'real life' mod at 4K 60FPS is absolutely insane

The clip has Star Wars Battlefront running the "real life" mod at 4K 60FPS, so if you've got the display and Internet chops to watch it, make sure you're watching it at 4K 60FPS. The footage itself is absolutely beautiful, with the track behind it also sounding great - with Mason using Maxence Cyrin's piano cover of Pixies' "Where is My Mind", which totally adds to the experience.

Mason said that he used a "modified version of SweetFX" to achieve the look of Star Wars Battlefront "real life", with SweetFX being a bunch of post-processing shader effects like specialized anti-aliasing and sharpening.

Continue reading: Star Wars Battlefront 'real life' mod at 4K 60FPS is absolutely insane (full post)

'Independence Day' returns in first look teaser trailer

Ben Gourlay | Celebrities & Entertainment | Dec 13, 2015 4:32 PM CST

For a time the highest grossing picture in history before being pipped by 'Titanic' a little more than a year later, the aliens of 'Independence Day' have come back to finish the job they started, before being felled by the one-two punch of an Apple-borne computer virus and fighter pilot Will Smith. Twentieth Century Fox has today premiered the first teaser trailer of footage for what looks like one of 2016 biggest blockbusters in the making.

'Independence Day' returns in first look teaser trailer

While Will Smith is absent this time round, returning starts Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch and Vivica A. Fox will be joined by newcomers Liam Hemsworth, Maika Monroe and Jessie Usher in welcoming the alien hoarde back to Earth. Expect explosions and general mayhem as the future of the planet is decided.

'Independence Day: Resurgence' hits 2D, 3D and IMAX cinemas worldwide in June 2016.

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Mr. Robot's second season to be directed by series creator Sam Esmail

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | Dec 13, 2015 7:33 AM CST

If you haven't watched Mr. Robot, I highly suggest you do, as it was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. The show is very unique, with a 'Fight Club' vibe to it, but deeply entrenched in the world we live in today that is dominated by corporations, governments, spying, and technology.

The second season of USA's hit show will debut next year with the show's creator, Sam Esmail, set to direct every single episode. Variety is reporting that Esmail plans to direct every episode of the second season, which will show massive confidence in Esmail from USA as a writer-director. Esmail earned great acclaim from the first season of Mr. Robot, as he also directed three episodes, and now proven himself as a film director with 'Comet'.

As for Mr. Robot's second season, it was teased earlier this year at New York Comic Con that the second season will "get really f***ing dark" - which is interesting to hear, as the first season was pretty damn dark as it was. Rami Malek, who plays the main character Elliot on the show, said that when it comes to preparing for the second season, he said it's "going to be tough". Not only that, but series creator Sam Esmail added: "We should learn more about Elliot's relationship with his sister and follow fsociety member Darlene, and how that relationship fits in with the origins of the now infamous hacker group society".

Continue reading: Mr. Robot's second season to be directed by series creator Sam Esmail (full post)

Intel's 20-threaded CPU based on 14nm technology to debut at Computex

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Dec 13, 2015 5:16 AM CST

We've heard about Intel's incredible new Core i7-6950X processor, which features 10 x CPU cores joined by 10 x Hyper-Threaded cores for a total of 20 threads, but it looks like we'll get a better look at Intel's new CPUs at Computex in June 2016.

Intel's new 14nm Broadwell-E offerings will arrive next year with a slew of different SKUs, ranging from the 12-threaded CPUs to 20-threaded CPU beasts. The Core i7-6950X will lead the pack with 20 threads of 14nm CPU goodness, with a Base frequency of 2GHz, 25MB of cache and support for DDR4. It'll feature a 140W TDP, and up to 3.5GHz on Turbo Boost.

The Core i7-6900K will feature 16 threads at 3.2GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) and 20MB of cache, with the Core i7-6850K featuring 12 threads of CPU power at 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) with 15MB of cache. The last CPU to be unveiled should be the Core i7-6800K with 12 threads at 3.4GHz (3.6GHz Turbo Boost) with 15MB of cache.

Continue reading: Intel's 20-threaded CPU based on 14nm technology to debut at Computex (full post)

Elon Musk joins other big names to stop AI from taking over the world

Anthony Garreffa | Science, Space, & Robotics | Dec 13, 2015 1:28 AM CST

We all know that Elon Musk has some doubts about artificial intelligence, with the SpaceX and Tesla founder saying that AI could be "more dangerous than nukes" back in April 2014. In October 2014, Musk warned the world about AI once again, saying that it's like "summoning the demon". It was only earlier this year that Musk said that AI would treat us "pet Labradors", a future that I don't want to live in.

These are some strong warnings from Musk, who has joined forces with some of the world's brightest minds, creating OpenAI. OpenAI, as explained on Medium, is a nonprofit that was funded by people like Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel and Amazon Web Services - just to name a few. These people are collectively pledging more than $1 billion to counteract large companies, or even governments that might gain too much power in the world of artificial intelligence.

As it stands, companies like Google are pretty open with their research into AI, but Y Combinator CEO and OpenAI founder Sam Altman says that as we get closer to the level where AI surpasses human intelligence, there's a large concern over how much these companies will share. OpenAI promises to make its results public, offering its patents royalty-free.

Continue reading: Elon Musk joins other big names to stop AI from taking over the world (full post)

Live in the UK? You might need permission to take photos of your stuff

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 12, 2015 11:22 PM CST

If you live in the UK, you might want to be careful of what photos you take... inside of your own house. Thanks to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 ready to roll through, it will include an extended form of copyright for designer objects - you know, like furniture - for 70 years after the designer has died. This means you'll need a license to post photographs of your own belongings.

We shouldn't see the average UK citizen being affected, because a large portion of Britons would be thrown in court straight away. As BoingBoing reports, it's "law that everyone is guilty of is a law that is ripe for abuse, because it allows rightsholders' estates -- often capricious corporate entities -- the right to ruin the lives of anyone they dislike, for any reason".

Who is the law being targeted at? It looks like it'll hit commercial photographers, of which the UK government seems to have "no sympathy for", reports BoingBoing, adding: "The Government considers that photographers and image libraries already bear costs for time and administration when assessing whether they need to obtain clearance when photographing". But more people will be hit by the law, with publishers of books with pictures of design objects, will feel the pain. The Digital Reader had a chat with Natalie Kontarsky, an Associate Director for Legal and Business Affairs at Thames & Hudson, a popular art publisher, where she said: "The government has actually said 'you are collateral damage' in a very sanguine, offhand way. The dark end of the spectrum would be to take books out of circulation and have to pulp. Obviously no one wants to look at that".

Continue reading: Live in the UK? You might need permission to take photos of your stuff (full post)

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