Thermaltake Frio Advanced and Frio Extreme Review
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Layoffs Hit BioWare Austin - Studio Behind Star Wars: The Old Republic
The news just has not been that great for BioWare's entry into the MMO world. Earlier in the month, EA reported Star Wars: The Old Republic has lost nearly 25% of its subscribers since March, which put the total at 1.3 million instead of 1.7 million. EA vowed to increase the subscriber amount, but it may have a tougher time with this latest news. BioWare Austin, the studio behind SWTOR, has been hit with some layoffs that see members of the development team being moved to other projects or being let go entirely. BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk says the studio is saying goodbye to some talented people who made Star Wars: The Old Republic a reality, but says the development team for the game is still "substantial." This could just be a cost-cutting move as a smaller staff is needed to maintain the game instead of build it, but still this is something you never want to hear. Hopefully BioWare and EA can do more to build up the subscriber base and turn SWTOR into of the best MMOs around, but the task may be just a little harder now.
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Metallic Glass for Advanced Microscale Manufacturing
Researchers at University College Dublin, as reported by Elseveir, may not be through the looking glass yet, but they are definitely peering into a new world of possibilities. Many materials we are familiar with on a daily basis, have regular molecular structures, which means they are a kind of crystal. Those materials with random and irregular molecular structures are considered glasses, and have some interesting properties.
Bulk metallic glasses (BMG) maintain the strength and durability of their crystal counterparts, but can be considerably more malleable. For example, heating up a BMG can make it behave like a plastic and they can be machined to a smaller size than is possible with regular metals. Normal metals have grains to them, which results from being a crystal. This limits the detail of a material like tool steel to 10 micrometers. Thanks to the chaos within a BMG though, details smaller than 100 nm can be machined in.
The researchers see this as a possible way to mass produce, very cheaply, plastic components with exact details molded into them. Potentially BMG molds could be used to create lab-on-a-chip devices, because the surface features of the molds are on the same scale as the smallest viruses and human cells. This could also lead to a new kind of data storage, provided they can optimize the technology to reach down to the tens of nanometers. If they do achieve this, the memory could be considerably cheaper than current technologies because of the mass production capabilities BMG molds offer.
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Next Guild Wars 2 Beta Not Happening This Weekend
A few Guild Wars 2 beta players might relish the thought of a long weekend spent stress-testing Arenanet's awesome MMO sequel, but that sadly won't be the case, as a post on Arenanet's Facebook page announced that there will be no beta this weekend. The team are instead hard at work on installing more hardware in their datacenters, in light of Guild Wars 2's last Beta Weekend Event. "Our BWE1 was super successful, we exceeded our expectations. As some of you might have experienced first hand, this lead to some technical issues, " said the devs. While players might miss out on some Guild Wars 2 fun this weekend, Arenanet assures fans that this is all for best. "We are not withholding a date intentionally, we want to make sure that BWE2 will be a really great experience for all of you."
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Hardware Roundup: Thursday Edition
Today is a good day to check out some video cards from AMD with reviews on mid-range products from PowerColor and XFX. The folks over at Neoseeker have a look at the PowerColor HD 7850 PCS+, a factory-overclocked card with an improved cooling solution. We also have a review covering the XFX Double D Black Edition HD 7850 and HD 7870 video cards. For Ivy Bridge builders, we also have a roundup review of ASUS Z77 chipset boards.
Gadgets
Cooler Master ARC Macbook and iPad Stand @ Benchmark Reviews
Motherboards
Asus Z77 Roundup @ LanOC Reviews
Trade Shows/Conventions
Extreme Overclocking Session III ( EOS ) Event 2012 @ Madshrimps
Video
XFX Double D Black Edition HD 7850 and HD 7870 Review: Kings of the Midrange? @ PC Perspective
PowerColor HD 7850 PCS+ @ Neoseeker
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ITC Judge Says Xbox 360 Should be Banned in the United States
Motorola Mobility and Microsoft have been engaged in a legal battle for some time now, with the former claiming various patent violations by the latter. Earlier this month, the German courts ruled in favor of Motorola and ordered Xbox 360 consoles banned in the country, but Microsoft won a preliminary injunction staying that order. Now, an International Trade Commission judge says 4GB and 250GB Xbox 360 S consoles should be banned in the United States and has even recommended the move to the rest of the ITC. These consoles are currently manufactured in China, and if the ban becomes true, then no new 360s would arrive in the US. Consoles currently on sale would be hit with a cease-and-desist notice, and Microsoft would have to pay Motorola seven percent of the value of any unsold console still in the US.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is not that concerned with the ITC judge's remarks and is confident the ITC will rule in its favor. Microsoft says it hopes Motorola will have to make its patents available on "fair and reasonable terms," and that it does not expect any problems when the ITC concludes its investigation on August 23rd.
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Total War: Shogun 2 Receives Free Map Editor
The Creative Assembly have been keeping owners of Total War: Shogun 2 happy with a steady stream of updates and DLC over the past year. Today you can try your hand out at creating map as a free map editor has been released for Total War: Shogun 2. The Total War Battle Map Editor tool will let you create and share Land, Naval, and Siege Battle Maps to be used in multiplayer or single player (Custom Battle Mode). Now you can create the perfect battleground to test your strategy and let others experience the creation. You can shape the terrain however you see fit and then add towns, forests, castles, and anything else you want to make the map truly unique. The Total War games have always had a rather vibrant modding community, and now The Creative Assembly are making things a little easier. You can access the map editor from the Tools section of Steam and start creating immediately.
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Using a Network Firewall to Steal User Info
A fact of technology security is that the more popular a device or piece of software is, the more malware will be made for it. This is why Macs have had so little malware in the past and why smartphone malware is growing in number. Researchers at the University of Michigan have recently discovered a way to use a defense mechanism, meant to protect smartphone users, to set up an attack to steal login and password information.
Some cellphone networks employ a middlebox firewall to secure data sequences. Information sent on the network is not sent in one big piece, but multiple small packets. These packets are numbered, so the receiver knows where to put each one in the larger sequence. A middlebox firewall checks these sequence numbers to make sure only packets with correct numbers get through. The researchers realized this can be used to redirect a phones data flow and found that 32% of the 150 networks tested across the globe are susceptible to the kind of attack they devised.
The attack works by sending packets with different sequence numbers. Those outside of the range of what the middlebox is accepting will be blocked, but any within that range will get through. Using a binary search, a hacker can be guaranteed a valid sequence number in just 32 steps, which takes seconds to achieve. Once a data packet gets through, a piece of malware already installed on the smartphone by the user, can then be activated and respond to the hacker, indicating a packet got through. At this point the hacker will have the ability to redirect the smartphone's traffic to a spoof site, such as Facebook or Twitter, where an unwitting user will type their username and password into a field for the hacker.
Worth noting is that this attack method circumvents the practice of sandboxing applications. It does not require one app does anything to another on the phone. The researchers have actually made an Android app to test if your Android smartphone is vulnerable to this attack, but at the time of my writing this, the app's page is down. (Perhaps this is because the app is considered malware by Google.)
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Diablo 3 Sets PC Game Sales Record
Activision Blizzard has revealed that the long awaited Diablo 3 has broken two PC game sales records in the week since it launched. The game sold 3.5 million copies within the first 24 hours, and finished the week at 6.3 million copies. This number doesn't account for 1.2 million copies that were given out as a bonus for purchasing a one year World of Warcraft subscription. Modern Warfare 3, also from Activision Blizzard, holds the record for the fastest selling game across all platforms with 6.5 million copies purchased in the first 24 hours of availability. If you excuse me, I am now off to continue the fight against the demons.
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Sapphire Giving Away Custom Gaming PC
Sapphire is currently running a contest until June 15 that will reward the winner with a gaming PC customized by Tom "Snail" Portsmouth. The system was built around a Lian-Li PC-U6 case, which has a unique, snail-like, shape. In addition to the eye-catching case, an Intel 2500k CPU, Sapphire H67 motherboard, and Sapphire HD7950 GPU are also included. For full details on the PC, have a look at the build log. The contest is open to members of the Sapphire Select Club in Canada, the European Union, the USA, and Malaysia.
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Algorithm to Improve Stability of Fast Moving Networks
Some situations call for the creation of Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) because the devices in the network are moving very quickly. For example, military and emergency-response situations require MANETs. Unfortunately, having the nodes of a network rapidly changing direction makes it difficult for them to efficiently transmit information. In the time it takes to transmit a signal after the closest node is identified, the nodes may have moved apart. Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed an algorithm to address this issue.
Instead of having the transmitting node just identify the nearest node at the time, and hoping the closest node will still be in range when transmission starts, the algorithm determines which node will be closest when the transmission starts. The algorithm also determines how quickly the information should be transmitted. If the transmission is too fast, the data can be corrupted, and if the transmission is too slow, there is a loss of efficiency.
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XCOM FPS Delayed - Could Arrive in 2014 at Latest
Yesterday we learned that XCOM: Enemy Unknown will arrive on October 9th or 12th depending on where you live. The tactical revival of the X-COM series will be available for the PC, PS3, and 360, but there will also be an FPS entry in the series. The news for the FPS, known simply as XCOM, is not that great as it has been delayed to Take Two's 2014 fiscal year. That year stretches from April 2013 to March 2014, so XCOM could arrive at any time in that window. The FPS was originally supposed to have released last year, but Take Two delayed it to 2013. Now it may not arrive until the early part of 2014, which does not bode well for the 2K Marin-designed game. There is no telling why XCOM is being delayed yet again, but maybe we will learn more at E3 or another gaming convention this year.
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Room Temperature Infrared Sensors with Nanotubes
For any kind of sensing technology it is important to have a large signal to noise ratio, so interference is at a minimum. Generally this means minimizing the amount of whatever you are sensing that is not coming from the targeted source. Shielding helps most of the time, but for some sensors, like infrared sensors, the detector itself heats up and distorts its own observations. As reported by the Optical Society of America, researchers at Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Duke University have developed a new kind of sensor that practically defeats this problem.
Current infrared sensors are based on a semiconducting alloy made of mercury, cadmium, and telluride, and rely on liquid nitrogen or electric cooling to keep the alloy's heat from interfering with the sensor. What the researchers developed is a carbon nanotube infrared detector. Carbon nanotubes react very strongly to infrared radiation, making them ideal for the infrared sensors, but they have another characteristic that makes their use truly beneficial. Nanotubes conduct heat very well, so even when they normally would heat up during use, the temperature speeds away and the signal remains clear.
This discovery could advance devices used in the military, optical communications, and science, to name a few. There are likely other uses not yet thought of too, because of how limiting the need for extra cooling equipment has been in the past.
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Enough Bullshit - Get the Facts Straight!
Rumors come and go, with some being so off the mark you have to wonder just what the person who created it was thinking. Recently, a "rumor" started going around that NVIDIA would recall all the Kepler GPUs for no real reason. A tiny site by the name of pnosker started the rumor and then a bunch of other tech sites ran with it as fact. Other sites said the rumor "probably wasn't true," but did not have very nice things to say about NVIDIA regardless. The only problem is no one has ever heard of this pnosker website before, yet the rumor still spread like wildfire. What gives? The "author" at that site gave no substantial information for a source other than someone at Taiwan Semiconducting Manufacturing Company (TSMC), but then had to rework his original story by using another source at an unreliable site. The author then categorizes a minor issue from EVGA into a massive recall to add more fuel to the fire.
A tiny site decided to drum up some completely insane rumor, call it fact, and then it gets picked up by other sites in order to bring in traffic. Not exactly the best tactic in the world, but some people think resorting to it will help. The thing is, there is no evidence NVIDIA will ever issue a recall on the Kepler GPUs and you can be sure a "source" at TSMC would never leak something so substantial. OverclockersClub will always talk to NVIDIA anytime rumors start to make sure they are just that, but other sites do not always seem to follow our lead. It does not take long to place a phone call or email the NVIDIA reps, so why not try to clarify these rumors directly at the source? This is how lies and falsehoods get spread, people, so check your facts before posting some insane story!
NVIDIA has no problems with the Kepler GPUs aside from keeping the cards in stock. The GTX 670s and 680s sell like hotcakes as soon as stock comes in, but you can head to Newegg right now to find several GTX 670s available to buy. The Kepler cards are some of the most powerful ones around, and considering any one of them puts a hurting on AMD, you would be hard pressed to find an issue with them.
So, moral of the story is to check your facts and make sure what you are saying actually has some basis. Do not just come up with some bullshit to bring in traffic, when talking to NVIDIA or any company will go a long way to clear things up. Being proactive goes a long way to making sure your facts are actually straight!
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