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AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1920X (12-core/24-thread) - $799-Amazon - $800-Newegg
Remember, Wolfenstein is a single-player, story-driven game, so it might not be the best idea to indulge yourself with these, but if you must, Bethesda has posted three extensive developer playthroughs on their "21 Things You Need to Know" blog entry, which lays out a number of interesting tidbits surrounding the game’s characters and settings. The first video, "The Reunion," takes you through the opening mission, while "Roswell" and "Zitadelle Boss Battle" teases some action around Area 51.
Microsoft is releasing a new Xbox One Wireless Controller Adapter next week that is 66% smaller than the original: I have mine connected to a PC tower, so the size never did bother me, but those who game on a laptop should prefer the diminutive footprint of the new one. It’s capable of connecting up to eight controllers at once.
The new and improved Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows 10 enhances your controller connection when gaming on Windows 10 PCs and tablets. It’s 66 percent smaller than the original Xbox Wireless Adapter for a smaller form factor and to fit better next to other USB devices you may have plugged in nearby. The Adapter offers wireless stereo sound support and the ability to connect up to eight controllers at once. The new Wireless Adapter for Windows 10 will be available in select markets for $24.99 USD starting in August. You can also choose to get the adapter bundled with the Xbox Wireless Controller for $79.99 USD.
Bitcoin has been split in a technical maneuver called a "hard fork," and now there’s a new currency to worry about: Bitcoin Cash. The point is to combat high transaction fees and a bitcoin size limit that made mining larger blocks invalid. Those who have a Bitcoin account may see a second account with the new currency as early as today, but skeptics say that "Cash" is going to increase confusion and become a hurdle to BTC's wider acceptance.
The bitcoin network can only support around seven transactions per second, compared with thousands per second piped through conventional financial networks such as Visa. Bitcoin Cash is a variation on bitcoin’s design incorporating much bigger blocks, allowing for more transactions in a given time. Supporters say their project is necessary because planned changes that could expand bitcoin’s capacity are not sufficient. "At this point, it seems that the differences are irreconcilable and a split is unavoidable," says Amaury Sأ©chet, an ex-Facebook engineer who has developed code to implement Bitcoin Cash.
Cloud Imperium has opted to delay the release of build 3.0 to sometime in September. Alpha 3.0, which was supposed to debut this month, will allow players to land on moons and play around in planetary rovers and outposts. The developer is blaming the delay on stability issues, reminding everyone that the game has become a huge undertaking.
...support manager Will "Soulcrusher" Leverett posted a message on the Star Citizen forums explaining that the studio "has pushed far past the technological boundaries that were previously considered impossible," and that has inevitably created some unforeseen headaches. "The entire company is working feverishly to get you 3.0. Our goal is to provide you with the most amazing gaming experience ever. We’ve learned that we can deliver something better than the original 3.0, something bigger, something pretty groundbreaking, something magnificent. That doesn’t always keep to a schedule, but we think it’s ok to take the time to do it right."
Facebook is creating a video chat device featuring a laptop-sized touchscreen and smart camera technology that will supposedly make people feel like they’re in the same room. The idea may not sound exciting in itself, but it should give us an idea of what the company is capable of in the hardware space: it’ll be the first major product from its experimental Building 8 lab, which is rumored to be working on a smart speaker as well.
The new devices represent a new phase in Facebook’s hardware ambitions. Though the company sells the Oculus virtual reality headset, it acquired its maker and didn’t create the original product. Last year, the Building 8 lab was set up to help Facebook develop its own hardware and keep consumers locked into its ecosystem -- the news feed, Facebook live, video calling and more.
Nintendo has taken to Facebook to reassure everyone that pre-orders for the SNES Classic will open late this month, following the Walmart fiasco in which a "technical glitch" made the console available ahead of its on-sale date. The miniature system will be available on September 29 and cost $80 (but who knows what the scalpers will charge).
We appreciate the incredible anticipation that exists for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition system, and can confirm that it will be made available for pre-order by various retailers late this month. A significant amount of additional systems will be shipped to stores for launch day, and throughout the balance of the calendar year.
Mozilla has launched an updated version of Firefox Test Pilot, which includes three new features: "Voice Fill," "Notes," and "Send." The first brings speech recognition to Firefox, letting users input text by voice, while the second comprises a built-in notepad that can be synced. The last, "Send," is actually a website that allows users to send files through a safe, private, and encrypted link that automatically expires.
The Test Pilot program is open to all Firefox users and helps us test and evaluate a variety of potential Firefox features. To activate Test Pilot and help us build the future of Firefox, visit testpilot.firefox.com. These Test Pilot experiments are available in English only. If you’ve experimented with Test Pilot features before, you know that you might run into some bugs or lose some of the polish in Firefox, so you can easily enable or disable features at any time.
PSA: anyone who hasn’t already disabled SMBv1 may want to do just that, as another vulnerability has been found by security researchers at RiskSense: "SMBLoris" can lead to DoS attacks affecting every version of the SMB protocol and all versions of Windows since Windows 2000. Microsoft isn’t bothering to patch it, as they plan to remove the SMBv1 protocol in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, but everyone running older versions of Windows will remain affected.
RiskSense discovered the SMB vulnerability when analyzing EternalBlue, the leaked SMB exploit that is the source of the recent ransomware attacks. They disclosed the security flaw to Microsoft in June, but the company said that it won’t fix it. "The case offers no serious security implications and we do not plan to address it with a security update," a Microsoft spokesperson told Threatpost. "For enterprise customers who may be concerned, we recommend they consider blocking access from the internet to SMBv1."
What’s funny is the claim that store associates asked for this: GameStop will be open this Thanksgiving, throwing away any respect for its workers and families. The only good news is that unlucky associates may be granted an increased holiday pay rate. How many people still leave the house for Black Friday sales?
In 2014, GameStop CEO Paul Raines said the move to keep its stores closed on Thanksgiving was "out of respect for our associates and their families." He added at the time: "Sometimes, we have to not let the pressure from other retailers distract us from our values." In recent years, GameStop was closed on Thanksgiving Day but opened at midnight for the Black Friday shopping bonanza. GameStop will presumably compensate Thanksgiving Day employees with an increased holiday pay rate, though this is not confirmed.
Vic Gundotra, who was largely responsible for the failure called Google+, has insisted that anyone who truly cares about great photography owns an iPhone, and not an Android. Part of the problem, he claims, is that Android is open source, which prevents innovations from surfacing immediately, and that Google has lagged behind with computational photography. Many smartphone camera tests out there beg to differ, however (not to mention that anyone who really, really cares about photography has a DSLR or similar camera).
Gundotra's comments are particularly interesting because the Google Pixel showcased what the company could achieve through software processing. We conducted a blind camera test between the Galaxy S8, LG G6, Google Pixel, and the iPhone 7 earlier this year, and after 53,000 votes, the Galaxy S8 came out on top as the best overall shooter, followed by the Pixel. Even though the likes of the Galaxy S8 and Pixel hold their own next to the iPhone, it looks like the former Google SVP won't be picking up an Android phone again for photography.
Amazon is suspending sales of Blu handsets due to a "potential security issue" after security firm Kryptowire determined that a particular model, the R1 HD, contained spyware that would transmit user data to a server in China. The phones were allegedly transmitting a list of apps installed, apps used, unique device identifiers, including the MAC address and IMEI number, the phone number, and cell phone tower ID.
...at the Black Hat security conference last week, Kryptowire demonstrated that Adups was still transmitting users' private data and featured a command-and-control server capable of installing apps, taking screen shots, recording the screen, making calls, and wiping devices without the user's permission. Kryptowire had singled out the Blu R1 HD, which is available for $60 on Amazon, for harboring Adups software. According to Kryptowire co-founder Ryan Johnson, Adups replaced its firmware with "nicer versions" but said further analysis in May of another Blu model found Adups was still making the same mistakes, describing it as a "huge invasion of privacy".
Microsoft is making it easier to own a Surface: the company is introducing the Surface Plus Program, which includes benefits such as the option to spread the cost of new devices over two years. Customers can also upgrade to the latest Surface after just 18 months and get dedicated service and support, alongside Microsoft Store perks. If only there was a "no backlight bleed guaranteed" benefit…
Surface is designed to help people better create, collaborate, learn, and get things done. Beginning today at 9:00 a.m. PT, we’re excited to announce the availability of Surface Plus and Surface Plus for Business; flexible financing options designed to help more people and businesses take advantage of the power of Surface. [It’s] available exclusively in the US at Microsoft Stores and online at Microsoft.com.
SteelSeries has redesigned its Sensei and Rival gaming mice with an exclusive new optical sensor, the TrueMove 3, which they claim is the first to offer "true 1-to-1 tracking," up to 3500 CPI (counts per inch, or the number of pixels your mouse moves in a single inch). From 3,500 to 12,000 CPI, the sensor uses a new and advanced jitter reduction technology, while its SROM reduces response time and increases accuracy.
"1-to-1 tracking was pretty big for us, to make sure that as we worked with pro gamers and they move their mouse from point A to point B, there's going to be no artificial delays or jitter that's going to be introduced," Christian explained. "And also increasing what we call true 1-to-1 up to 3500 CPI, where some of the sensors we track, like even the 3360, will only go up to about 2100 CPI, in our findings, of what we call real 1-to-1 tracking, before some kind of jitter reduction sometimes is introduced. So we have the widest range of 1-to-1 tracking, up to 3500 CPI, of any mouse on the market right now."
The official launch of the Note 8 is still a couple of weeks away, but Evan Blass is already providing a definitive look at Samsung’s upcoming handset. He originally tweeted out the face of the Midnight Black version but followed it up a couple of hours ago with side and back profiles, along with the gold version of the phone. I still think they could have done better with the camera and fingerprint design on the back.
Being that CrossFire was non-existent during AMD’s media briefing and in RX Vega marketing materials, GamersNexus supposes that the company is giving up on their multi-GPU technology. While RX Vega 64 and RX Vega 56 will support CrossFire, AMD did note that the industry is moving away from these configurations and developer support is limited.
...AMD has minimized its marketing focus on multi-GPU for RX Vega and, although the cards can technically function in multi-card arrays, AMD noted that the value is rough when considering limited developer support. This aligns with NVIDIA’s decision to begin slowly winding-down SLI support during the Pascal 10-series launch event, where discussion of keyed 3-way SLI would be required (something later changed, though there’s no official support of >2-way SLI in games on 10-series cards).
Competition is a great thing, but you have to ask yourself, "How do you speed up an application by 300%?" Thank you AMD. I am sure that new Radeon Pro cards had nothing to do with this.
Our latest driver - available today - delivers 3x more performance in applications like Maya to help you create and design faster than ever.
Now if we can get NVIDIA's marketing team to learn how to name and label its high end cards so it is not a totally confusing flustercuck. Also interestingly, NVIDIA has refused our requests for a review card.
Some potentially bad news for fans of ARK:Survival Evolved. Announced by developer Studio Wildcard, the game has been delayed from its planned launch of August 8 and pushed to the end of the month on August 29 as certification took longer than expected. The game is releasing as a final product from its Early Access state and will be priced at $59.99. A big update named Ragnarok was expected sometime in August, but is now scheduled for August 29 also allowing more time for the developers to increase its size.
"Over the next few weeks, you will see a lot of priority placed on the PC and multiplayer versions of the game," added Jat, "now that we're completely wrapped up with our gold master. We are planning some immediate patches to take care of community concerns, as well as some mid-month goals and more going forward."
For those who have patiently waited, it's time to rejoice. One of the best RPGs ever, Morrowind finally receives multiplayer support --in the form of a mod. Using the fan-made OpenMW engine, a couple of modders were able to solve an old issue that many Bethesda games' multiplayer mods have struggled with which is NPC Sync; when computer-controlled characters interact with all players at all times. One of the developers notes "there are still significant problems and missing or unfinished features."
Check out the video.
A speedrunner has set the new world record for a non-TAS (tool-assisted speedrun) in Portal without the use of any portals in just 48 minutes and 57 seconds. Going by the name of Icy, the player has over "1300 hours logged into the game, two mice with broken scroll wheels, and wrists that I need to go to the doctor for." Apparently, he used a glitch early in game that allows him to go through the seams of the levels and explore his way around its designs. Pretty cool stuff, especially working around the main gameplay mechanic of the title.
Check out the video (warning language NSFW).
Coming to a GIF real soon, targeted ads! According to Tech Crunch, some close associates of Giphy are suggesting the GIF search engine will soon begin testing of sponsored GIFs in its messaging tab. Similar to the way sponsored searches are on Google, users searching certain terms such as "morning" will get served up a nice Starbucks GIF. That same source has also said Giphy is getting about 200 million daily active users between the API and website with close to 250 monthly active users on the site alone. The company currently has its own teams working on producing "live-gifs" for events.
While many believe that P2P native content will be a huge part of the future of advertising, it hasn't become immediately clear what a successful version of that will actually look like. But, in a relatively short time, Giphy has become an ingrained part of the way we communicate, whether it's in iMessage, on Twitter, Tinder or Slack.
Exclusive RX Vega Interview with Chris Hook - We tracked Chris Hook down in the hotel lobby at Siggraph 2017 and talk availability, TDP, bundles, and RX Vega with Sr. Director, Global Marketing and Public Relations. Nothing Earth shattering, but it certainly sounds like RX Vega Nano is surely a consumer product to come!
Android Police is reporting that both versions of Chrome Canary and Chrome Dev are in the wild now that have Google's new native ad blocking working. I did download both these versions on my Pixel XL and neither had the option available, so your mileage may vary. Google's hope in all of this is that these native ad blockers will dissaude people from using adblockers that simply remove all ads that are impacting many content creators, like ourselves. Nearly 65% of our readers now block all our ads, our primary way of paying the bills. If you do, please consider Patreon.
It may seem strange that Google is introducing an ad blocker to its browser, given that its core business is in online advertising. It actually makes a lot of sense, as the ads that will be blocked will be the intrusive ones that have nothing to do with Google. The standards will be agreed upon by members of the Coalition for Better Ads, including Google. By blocking the offending ads, the company hopes to dissuade users from installing third party blocking software that does impact its business.
While Raja Koduri only showed off one specially built RX Vega Nano to Tim Sweeney at Capsaicin at Siggraph, Raja did mention that he would be sending Tim more Nano cards in time. I would highly doubt that AMD would tease this with no thoughts about production later on.
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