Valve Sets Dates for The International 4
The International is the yearly showcase of Dota 2 put on by Valve, and it has provided some of the largest prizes in competitive gaming along with some of the best gameplay. The International 4 has now been announced and the event will be moving to a new month and a larger venue. Taking place from July 18-21 at the Key Arena in Seattle, WA it will showcase 16 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world fighting for a prize pool that could be even larger than last year. Eleven teams will receive direct invites with the remaining five spots given to the winner of four regional qualifiers. Three levels of tickets will be available with sales beginning this Friday.
Source: Valve
Read More ...
FCC Increases Wireless Spectrum Availability
The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, has announced that it has freed some wireless spectrum in the 5GHz band in order to provide accelerated growth and expansion of Wi-Fi technology. In total, 100MHz of spectrum has been freed, which will allow for wireless networks to become even faster than what they are today. Outdoor and public Wi-Fi are targeted with this announcement, and the wireless networks could see speeds of up to one gigabit per second due to the increased spectrum availability. With the additional 100MHz of the 5GHz band now available to unlicensed wireless networks, 802.11ac networks will likely see major benefits due to how the wireless technology standard delivers data.
Source: FCC
Read More ...
Republic Wireless Receives Moto Maker for Moto X
While Republic Wireless has offered the Moto X for some time, customers that bought the device have not had the option to customize its appearance through Moto Maker, which is available on other cellular carriers. Republic Wireless and Motorola have set out to change that, as the MVNO has announced that customization is going to be available for the Moto X starting tomorrow. Customers can use Moto Maker to customize the appearance of the Moto X, changing its overall finish and accent colors. Moto Maker for the Moto X also provides options for memory upgrades, wallpapers, and accessories.
For the first 2,000 customers who visit the promotional webpage for Moto Maker on Republic Wireless and enter their email address, a coupon code for a free wood finish will be provided with the purchase of a customized Moto X.
Source: Press Release
Read More ...
Department of Transportation Passes Rule on Backup Cameras
While many cars include backup cameras as standard or optional equipment, automakers are not mandated by the federal government to offer them in their vehicles. Today that changes however, as the United States Department of Transportation has unanimously passed a rule that mandates backup cameras must be installed on all road-legal vehicles weighing less than 10,000 pounds. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notes that the mandate will help alleviate 210 fatalities and 15,000 injuries per year due to backup related accidents. The rule calls for rearview cameras to provide visibility of 10 feet wide and at least 20 feet back, allowing drivers to have a clear view of the space directly behind their vehicle.
Although the rule has been announced today by NHTSA, automakers will have until May 1, 2018 to comply by the requirements.
Source: CNET
Read More ...
Metro Redux Will Bring Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light to PS4 and XBO
You may have heard rumors and seen leaked images about a title called Metro Redux – and so did Deep Silver. Instead of stating it doesn't respond to speculation, the publisher decided to take a different, fairly unusual approach: come clean. In "a short letter to the Metro fans - past; present; and future...", Deep Silver confirmed that Metro Redux is indeed real, but what was leaked were old documents containing "a lot of hypothetical ideas and place holder material."
If the leaked images are accurate, Metro Redux is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and will contain Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light, along with all the DLC for both. However, Deep Silver isn't quite ready to provide details or an official reveal, but has promised an announcement prior to E3 2014, which takes place June 10-12, 2014.
Source: Official Site and All Games Beta
Read More ...
Thermaltake Announces New Portable Power Banks
Thermaltake uses the LUXA2 brand of products to market consumer products that don't quite fall into the PC enthusiast market that other products are sold in. The latest addition to this lineup is the EnerG portable power bank series. The EnerG line will have power banks in capacities of 6600mAh, 8800mAh, and 10400mAh. Users will be able to choose the appropriate level of charge based on the number of USB enabled devices that need charging. Examples of compatible devices include smartphones, phablets, and tablets.
Source: Press Release
Read More ...
Self-Healing Paint Developed to Prevent Corrosion
While many of us may primarily see paint as a cosmetic product, it can be critical to a material's long life. One example would be the steel hulls of Navy ships, which are constantly exposed to harsh elements, including sea water. Since 2008, researchers at the Office of Naval Research and John Hopkins University have been working on an additive to allow paint to heal itself, and extend its protection.
The researchers are working with polyfibroblast, which is a powder made of microscopic polymer spheres. When the spheres are broken, a resin is released and that will form a water-repellant coat over any exposed steal. This is not the first self-healing paint, but unlike those that exist now, it is being designed for tactical vehicles, and not with aesthetics in mind. It has already been tested in a laboratory setting and successfully prevented rusting for six weeks in a salt fog.
Every year the Department of the Navy spends roughly $7 billion dealing corrosion, and the hope is that adding polyfibroblast to the primer could make significant cuts into that. It could also be used to extend the life of a deployed vehicle in the field.
Source: Office of Naval Research
Read More ...
ArcheAge GDC 2014 Demo Illustrates Why its My Most Anticipated MMO of 2014
If you don't keep up with the latest MMO news, you may have never heard of ArcheAge. While the game launched in Korea in the beginning of 2013, it wasn't until E3 2013 that most people, including myself, took notice. That was when American developer and publisher Trion Worlds announced it would be bringing ArcheAge to the West. I was so impressed by what was shown and said, that I actually declared ArcheAge Best MMO of E3 2013, instead of the more well known The Elder Scrolls Online.
At GDC 2014 last week, Producer Victoria "FireCait" Voss and Community Manager Evan "Scrapes" Berman presented a game demo to members of the press in attendance. Luckily, for those that didn't get to attend, they took to Twitch to stream the demo, which is now available for viewing below:
ArcheAge is currently in a Family & Friends Testing, but should hopefully be entering a Closed Beta soon.
Source: Official Site
Read More ...
Free-to-Play Third-Person Shooter Zombies Monsters Robots Coming to PC this Summer
There are games that feature zombies, there are games that feature monsters, and there are games that feature robots; but what about a game that features all three?! Well that's where the cleverly named Zombies Monsters Robots (ZMR) comes in. Duh! "Set in an alternate world where the invention of portal technology has lured cross-dimensional creatures to Earth and humanity finds itself under attack, ZMR pits gamers against a bevy of hostile foes."
ZMR is a free-to-play, third-person shooter developed by Yingpei Games (formerly Epic Games China). It's currently available in China, under the name Mercenary Ops 2, and has over 30 million registered accounts. Last week, TERA publisher En Masse Entertainment officially announced that it will be bringing ZMR to PC this summer, presumably to the rest of the world, but at the very least, to North America. The game includes co-op campaigns and wave-based survival missions for up to eight players, as well as 8v8 competitive (PvP) modes. In addition to "a deep arsenal of customizable guns and gear," the game will feature "dynamic cover, blind fire, dodging, and active reload systems," to provide some strategic gameplay.
Source: Press Release and All Games Beta
Read More ...
Carbon Nanofibers Grown Without Ammonia
It can be easy to forget as we read about any number of products just what went in to creating them. For some products, the materials they contain were mined and for others they were synthesized, but either way there are some costs and risks involved. Researchers at North Carolina State University have recently found a way to reduce the cost and risk of producing vertically aligned carbon nanofibers by replacing ammonia with ambient air.
Typically producing vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs) involves placing nickel nanoparticles on a substrate, within a vacuum chamber. The chamber is then heated to 700 ºC and it is filled with ammonia and a carbon containing gas, such as acetylene or acetone. A voltage is then applied to the substrate and an anode, which ionizes the gas and frees carbon atoms to grow nanofibers beneath the nickel. The purpose of the ammonia in this process is to prevent the nickel nanoparticles from becoming encrusted with carbon, which would stop the nanofiber growth. Even though they did not expect much to happen, the researchers decided to repeat this process, but with ambient air replacing the ammonia. To their surprise, the VACNFs that grew are similar in size, shape, and alignment to those grown with ammonia.
While ammonia gas is not particularly expensive, it is toxic so removing it from the process could make the process of growing vertically aligned carbon nanofibers much safer. Potentially it may even lead to growing them without the use of a vacuum chamber, which would allow them to be grown on a much larger scale than presently possible.
Source: North Carolina State University
Read More ...
Available Tags:Valve , Wireless , PS4 , Thermaltake ,
No comments:
Post a Comment