Iran successfully copies the CIA's RQ-170 drone, test flights soon
Back in 2011, the Islamic Republic took down one of the United States' Lockheed Martin Sentinel RQ-170 drones, but between that event and now, Iran has been working on making a copy of the US spy drone, something the country just started showing off.
During a broadcast on Iranian TV, an officer said: "Our engineers succeeded in breaking the drone's secrets and copying them. It will soon take a test flight". When Khamenei looked at the drone, he said: "This drone is very important for reconnaissance missions". The United States used its Sentinel RQ-170 UAV during covert operations in Afghanistan from 2005-2007. It was used as it is one UAV that is hard to detect with long range radar thanks to its special stealth coating - making it visible from a distance of around 40km.
Back in 2011, Iran claimed that it found the UAV flying over Iranian airspace, something that the US military acknowledged. The US filed a formal request for Iran to return the RQ-170, but Iran refused, instead demanding that the US apologize for its intelligence operation over its territory. While the United States hasn't confirmed it, Iran has said that it used its advanced radio electronic warfare skills and vulnerabilities in the RQ-170's GPS receiver, tricking it into landing on Iranian territory.
The reason why this makes sense, is that the RQ-170 drone that Iran captured, does not have any visible damage - something it would, if it crash landed or was taken out of the sky by surface-to-air missiles. Since 2011, Iran has been hunting down other UAVs, spotting two RQ-11s and one ScanEagle that had penetrated Iranian airspace from the Persian Gulf.
Hossein Salami, the Lieutenant Commander General of Iran's Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution said: "All the memories and computer systems of this plane have been decoded and some good news will be announced in the near future not just about the RQ-170 and the optimizations that our forces have done on the reversed engineered model of this drone, but also in area of other important defense achievements".
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Unreal Tournament 2014 could see the return of original composers
When the news broke about the return of Unreal Tournament, it had most fans of the series excited - but what about the return of the composers from Unreal Tournament? They're wanting to come back, to score Epic Games' latest entry in the hopefully reinvigorated Unreal Tournament franchise.
Unreal's Project Leader, Steven Polge, said that the UT team "would be thrilled to have you back. The music you guys made always invokes tremendous nostalgia for me". What do you think? Would you like to see the original composers back on UT 2014?
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Samsung rumored to release a 'super-tablet' in its Galaxy Tab S range
It has been rumored for a while now that Samsung was set to unveil a new range of high-end tablets, which will arrive as the Galaxy Tab S. SamMobile has the scoop, teasing some shots of the purported Galaxy Tab S.
The rumor continues, stating that we should expect an 8.4-inch model of the Galaxy Tab S, too. The design looks similar to that of the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Tab 4, which isn't a bad thing.
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MSI launches its Z97 XPower AC motherboard, aimed at enthusiasts
During the last week we've seen a variety of motherboards launched using Intel's new Z97 chipset, all before Computex kicks off for another year in June. MSI broke out of the gate with some delicious motherboards, launching its new OC Series of motherboards.
The MSI Z97 XPower AC sports 10 x SATA 6Gbps ports, an M.2 slot, 12 x USB 3.0 ports, AudioBoost audio with a built-in headphone amp, 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet - something that is powered by an Intel-made controller. On top of this, we also have a slew of OC features, something that includes a coolant channel for watercooling the CPU VRM, voltage measurement points, on-board OC/voltage fine-tuning buttons, and a redundant BIOS.
You can get the MSI Z97 XPower AC motherboard on Amazon for $399.99, which is not a bad price for a feature-packed motherboard.
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Walk With Dinosaurs in our Blu-ray giveaway from 20th Century Fox
To celebrate this week's release of Walking With Dinosaurs: The Movie on home video formats, our friends at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Australia have supplied us with copies of the film on Blu-ray to give away to three lucky readers.
The feature film adaptation of the BBC television seriesWalking With Dinosaurs is a CG animated powerhouse which will entertain young dinosaur fans on Blu-ray with a fan-friendly collection of bonus features, including an alternate cut of the film.
Name the dinosaur breed of the film's hero Patchi
To enter, simply 'like' this post and share via Facebook or Twitter and send your answers, along with your postal address to ben at TweakTown.com before the competition closes on May 16th. The total prize pool is approximately $119.85.
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Huawai boss says QHD screens on smartphones are "stupid"
We're beginning to hear more and more about upcoming 2560x1440 panels on smartphones, otherwise as QHD, something we should expect with LG's upcoming flagship smartphone, the G3. The G3 is said to feature a 5.5-inch 538ppi QHD panel.
The Huawei executive continued: "We can [put a QHD display on a smartphone], but it's very bad for power consumption and it doesn't offer anything in return. You eyes cannot see the difference, so why should we do that? I think it's a stupid thing".
I think that right now, as it stands, high-resolution panels aren't being utilized to their full potential, which does make them kind of useless. With the upcoming next-gen version of Android, known as Key Lime Pie (or Android 5.0), I think we'll see Google provide a refreshed UI that better handles higher-than-1080p displays. But, with rear-facing cameras that are capable of shooting 4K video, it makes perfect sense to give a close-to-4K screen up front to view your Ultra HD content with.
Not only that, but handset manufacturers have had to fight a dirty fight against the word "Retina" and that fight is done with much higher resolutions than a "Retina" display.
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Microsoft to unveil Halo 5, Battletoads, and much more at E3 2014
E3 is just weeks away, and with Microsoft seemingly lagging behind its competitor in the next-gen console wars, the Xbox maker wants to make a big splash at the biggest game expo, E3.
When it comes to multi-platform games, Microsoft will not just be showing off Fallout 4, but the incredible looking The Division, the new Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, an unnamed EA game, and more. We will also reportedly see Epic Games showing off an Xbox One exclusive based off of its beautiful "Samaritan" demo from back in 2012. Not only that, but we should see Gears of War: Lazarus, Fable Legends, Quantum Break, Sunset Overdrive, and another surprise: a new Crackdown game.
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Gamer uses a Logitech G35 steering wheel to play Counter-Strike
Someone has given themselves quite the challenge, where a gamer has used nothing but a Logitech G35 steering wheel to play the first-person competitive shooter, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The video is below, but turn your speakers or headphones down before you click play.
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The Wayback Machine now has over 400 billion indexed websites
Just how many webpages does The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine include? Well, from late 1996, right up until just a few hours ago, over 400 billion indexed webpages sit on its servers. The Internet Archive has celebrated this milestone by providing a list of highlights for The Wayback Machine over the years:
- 2001 - The Wayback Machine launches.
- 2006 - Archive-It launches, allowing libraries that subscribe to the service to create curated collections of Web content.
- March 25, 2009 - The Internet Archive and Sun Microsystems launch a new datacenter that stores the whole Web archive and serves the Wayback Machine. This 3 petabyte data center handled 500 requests per second from its home in a shipping container.
- June 15, 2011 - The HTTP Archive becomes part of the Internet Archive, adding data about the performance of websites to the collection of website content.
- May 28, 2012 - The Wayback Machine is available in China again, after being blocked for a few years without notice.
- October 26, 2012 - the Internet Archive makes 80 terabytes of archived Web crawl data from 2011 available for researchers, to explore how others might be able to interact with or learn from this content.
- October 2013 - New features for the Wayback Machine are launched, including the ability to see newly crawled content an hour after it's archived, a "Save Page" feature so that anyone can archive a page on demand, and an effort to fix broken links on the Web starting with WordPress.com and Wikipedia.org.
- Also in October 2013 - The Wayback Machine provides access to important Federal Government sites that go dark during the Federal Government Shutdown.
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PowerColor's R9 295X2 Devil13 needs four 8-pin PCIe power connectors
We've tested some SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 290X's in CrossFire, with some massive power consumption numbers, but I don't think they compare to what PowerColor is teasing with its upcoming Radeon R9 295X2 Devil13 GPU, something that requires four 8-pin PCIe power connectors.
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Self-healing plastic is capable of clotting like blood
Scott White from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been working on something quite incredible: a plastic that is lined with something similar to an artificial vascular system, just like the veins and arteries that see the blood flow through your body, that can repair for larger breaks.
Once the plastic is fractured, the vascular system is damaged, with the two liquids pouring out. The liquids mix together, forming a restorative gel. This gel can fill a 4mm hole with 35mm of surrounding cracks within 20 minutes, hardening in a 3-hour span of time. The patch that is created is around 60% as strong as the original plastic, so we're not talking about a complete 100% strength, but this is an incredible feat nonetheless.
The researchers working on this new liquid have said that it is possible to create giant sheets of plastic with cross-crossing channels, which would see entire structures capable of recording from damage. One of the researchers, Jeff Moore, explained to New Scientist: "You pay the price for being able to repair this damage, but it is certainly one that nature has figured out how to tolerate. If you just look to things like bone or trees, they are all vascularised".
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Watch Dogs on PS4 will be enjoyed at 1080p and 60FPS
According to a summary of Watch Dogs on PlayStation.com, we can expect Ubisoft's open-world hacker game to run at 1080p and 60FPS on the PS4. This is a huge win for Sony's next-gen console, as Watch Dogs is set to be one of the biggest games of 2014.
This could be one of the reasons Ubisoft delayed the game for six months, getting its performance up. The last time we saw it was in Montreal last year for the NVIDIA Editors' Day, where we noticed some inconsistant performance. Watch Dogs launches on multiple platforms, including the PS4 and PC on May 27.
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Chinese researchers test 'super-Maglev' train capable of 1,800 mph
The current fastest train in the world is the Shanghai Maglev Train, which is capable of hitting speeds of 260 miles per hour (430 kmph), making it the world's fastest passenger-carrying train. But this could all change with the "Super-Maglev".
If the project ends up being successful, a working prototype will be created as the new standard for the future evacuation tube transportation (ETT). Dr. Deng Zigang, who has been developing this technology for the last few years said: "ETT systems might allow HTS Maglev trains to attain speeds in a new order of magnitude, such as super-high 3,000 km (1,800 miles) per hour, which could be applied to some military or space launch systems". This new system could eventually link China with the United States, Canada and Russia - which would truly change the world.
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Capcom is doubling down on its upcoming PS4 exclusive, Deep Down
Capcom is working on a PS4 exclusive RPG, something that the company is putting a lot of faith behind. Deep Down is an upcoming RPG that is looking to make big business for the company.
Moving onto Deep Down, which is a game that bursts outside of those categories. Deep Down is in development internally at Capcom Online Games, being a PS4 exclusive that fits within Capcom's Consumer business. Deep Down is a procedurally generated, free-to-play RPG that is being marketed across the world with a new monetization strategy. Panta Rhei is the engine powering Deep Down, so we should expect some gorgeous things from the game when its released.
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Enermax ETS-N30-HE CPU Cooler Review
Introduction, Specifications and Pricing
Even the most seasoned enthusiast has built a web surfing and email machine, or something for the living room that doesn't need to do much more than to play a movie, or maybe some Flash based gaming. In this sort of a build, cooling is still a consideration, but in reality, there is always the stock cooling option. The issue here is that stock coolers are usually pretty rubbish -unless you are speaking of the AIOs that come with some of the AMD lineup. Otherwise, you have a small chunk of metal to cool the CPU, and they tend to be very noisy for the piss-poor performance that they offer. In these instances, you need a stock replacement cooler that is more efficient, and has less noise from the fan. Also, nine times out of ten, users are looking for something very affordable.
Before Enermax delivered this latest sample to our door, the advice on any forum would have been to go and grab one of the Cooler Master Hyper 212 coolers. While most manufacturers have closed their vision to larger coolers or to adapting to some form of an AIO, it has been years since we have seen anything as affordable (and now even more compact than the Hyper 212 series). Hopefully the new ETS-N30-HE (the HE at the end signifies High Efficiency), is able to stand up to the rigors of our testing, without leaving the CPU to throttle. From what we have already seen, even this early into the review, we can say that while it is a bit old-school, Enermax has something that may just surprise those looking for a stock replacement cooler that can take quite a bit of abuse, and won't hurt the wallet.
Along with the Dow Corning TC-5121 thermal paste that is supplied, we also find a UCHE9P ED922512H-PA, 92mm fan to keep this stack of 43 aluminum fins cool. The chart shows this fan to be capable of delivering 55.4 CFM of airflow, and 4.37 mmH2O of static pressure. With 12V being sent to this fan, it is noted to run with only 28 dB(A) of noise. While this version does not come with any LEDs in the fan, there is the other option in the TAA, but you will lose some airflow and static pressure by opting for the LED fan. Both models offer a plastic clip for the fan to connect to the fin stack; the fan is screwed to the clip, but also offers rubber pads to isolate the fans vibrations.
As far as trying to locate the cooler goes, we are finding that it is still relatively new. Amazon drew a blank at the time of writing this review, as did many other common places to buy from within the U.S. We were able to find it though, and we were really surprised with the pricing we found. At Newegg.com we were greeted with the super-affordable pricing of $24, and shipping is just ninety-nine cents. You read that right: for just $25, you have the opportunity to ditch that stock cooler. And, as you will soon see, what seems like something from yesteryear, still really has what it takes to easily handle the power from today's PC.
If we haven't caught your attention yet, you might need to check for a pulse. There are not many coolers on the market at this price that can do what the Enermax ETS-N30-HE can do, and we already know we will be recommending this cooler for those with the needs we have covered thus far.
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R.I.P.D. (2013) Blu-ray Movie Review
R.I.P.D. (2013)
Having mined and re-mined the collection of well-known graphic novel properties, Hollywood has in recent times committed to digging a little deeper, offering little known graphic novels such as Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy and now this - Dark Horse's 2003 novel series R.I.P.D..Unfortunately, the feature film adaptation of R.I.P.D. is much less Watchmen and more Green Lantern; another piece of crap that un-coincidentally also starred Ryan Reynolds.
R.I.P.D. attempts to channel both Men in Black and Ghostbusters, but despite the noblest of intentions, fails to reach the heights of either. Director Robert Schwentke is no slouch, having previously helmed solid features such as Flightplan and Red, however the scope of such a huge CG feature seems out of his league.
Particular note must be made of the films dreadful visual effects, no doubt exacerbated by the mid-production bankruptcy of firm Rhythm and Hues. Suspension of disbelief is hard to engender when more convincing digital characters can be willed to life on my PlayStation 3.
Ryan Reynolds plays his typically likeable jock character and it's hard to fault him for deficiencies in the film's script. However, veteran Jeff Bridges knows better and his wild-west lawman really rubbed me up the wrong way. Maybe it's because it was so damn hard to make out what he was saying, or the anachronism of his character, but I just really disliked it. And when your leading character is so unlikeable, well - it can only go downhill from there.
R.I.P.D. ultimately fails to make good on its promising theatrical trailer, disappointing comic and general audiences alike and posting a multi-million dollar loss for Universal.
Video
R.I.P.D. is encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression and presented in the intended aspect ratio of 2.40:1.Lensed on Arri Alexa cameras and finalized in a 2K digital intermediate, the specs of R.I.P.D. certainly looks good on paper, but not in person. The image is devoid of any introduced artifacts, nor encoding nasties. For all intents and purposes, this is a perfect presentation of the films zeroes and ones, but this doesn't necessarily mean that it's pleasing to look at. Colors are bright and bold, but a range of poor digital color grading decisions and diabolically sub-par CG effects leaves the film looking like a poor man's Pixar film, and certainly not that of a live action feature.
Audio
R.I.P.D. is presented in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, at 24 bits.Much more pleasing is the film's rousing surround mix, which more than makes up for in bombast what it lacks in subtlety. This is an incredibly aggressive track, which never lets up for a second, filling every spare second of airtime with effects that envelope the viewer and creates a true 360 degree sound field.
There are occasional issues with Jeff Bridges dialogue, but these go back to the film's production and were just as noticeable in the cinema. I didn't notice any audio sync issues or obviously out of place ADR, nor any wider errors or glitches.
The low frequency channel is fully featured and sustained throughout.
Extras
Such is the reputation of the film that Universal failed to include much in the way of extra features, but let's take a look what's here.First up are a number of slickly produced, yet overwhelmingly brief featurettes, including Transferring R.I.P.D., which looks at the original graphic novel, Filming the Other Side concerned with the films maligned visual effects, and Walking Among Us, which shows some of the films creature designs. Bringing the Avatars to Life takes the form of an animated storyboard, Anatomy of a Shootout breaks down the visuals of the films climax, whilst the barely minute long Nick's New Avatars looks at the alternate designs for the reincarnated character.
Next are two Alternate Openings, one of which is clearly superior to what was used in the final film, and to me indicates the films tone was difficult to lock down, whilst a collection of Deleted and Alternate Scenes amounts to around eight minutes of generally superfluous material.
Finally, we have a brief Gag Reel which shows the cast and crew having more fun that the audience ultimately did.
PRICING: You can find the R.I.P.D. Blu-ray for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The R.I.P.D. Blu-ray retails for $14.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The R.I.P.D. Blu-ray retails for CDN$19.99 at Amazon Canada.
Australia: The R.I.P.D. Blu-ray retails for $23.00 AUD at Mighty Ape Australia.
New Zealand: The R.I.P.D. Blu-ray retails for $24.99 NZD at Mighty Ape NZ.
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Luftrausers PS Vita Game Review
Luftrausers does not really have a storyline and is instead set inside what appears to be an alternate World War II. You pilot a number of different planes to take out increasingly difficult aeroplanes being thrown at you by the enemy. Luftrausers is very much a game that fits into the old arcade mould of keep fighting until you die, although it does have an end point, with around one hundred levels on offer.
Getting this right is the key to success in Luftrausers and there really is not one combination that turns into 'press X to win'. Each time we unlocked a new level, we found ourselves having to tinker with the plane multiple times, before being happy with what we had and able to complete the next level. This implements a level of strategy into the game and the ability to customize the craft definitely assists with the longevity. There is also a combo system to keep boosting scores, and to unlock some specific areas of the game, you need to have specific items.
One of the things that somewhat makes it perfect for the PS Vita on the road is that there is no multiplayer to speak of and the developers have focused purely on the single player experience. However, there is a downside to this, and that is we found after about an hour or two or solid play, we wanted to move onto something else.
Luftrausers can be frustrating and it is not an easy game. It is also a game that if you leave and come back to, the first 20 or so minutes will be spent trying to figure out how best to play the game again. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it means there is a layer of depth and complexity, but for a pick up and play travel device, it does limit the ability to play it in short sessions and have a good time.
However, with that said, it is also a game that offers a significant amount of depth, and if you have a bunch of friends playing it, that makes it even better as you try to figure out the best combinations of unlocked pieces to develop your flying death machine.
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