Raidmax Scorpio V Review
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Patriot STELLAR 64GB USB/microUSB 3.0 OTG Flash Drive Review
Patriot STELLAR 64GB USB/microUSB 3.0 OTG Flash Drive Review
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Goodwill Industries May Have Suffered Payment Card Breach
Federal authorities, including the United States Secret Service, are investing a possible payment card breach at United States based Goodwill retail stores, according to Goodwill Industries International. Lauren Lawson-Zilai, Goodwill’s director of public relations, noted that the company was notified about the possible breach last Friday. If a breach is discovered following the completion of the ongoing investigation, Goodwill revealed that it will take appropriate and prompt action in remedying the situation. In the meantime, Goodwill wants customers to know that their data is being properly safeguarded and that the security of payment information is its top priority.
Source: PCWorld
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Subscription-based MMO Market Pulled in Nearly $2.9B Worldwide in 2013
Free-to-play business models may be on the rise, but subscription-based models are still holding strong thanks largely to that $1 billion juggernaut called World of Warcraft. It also helps that even subscription-based MMOs are making a killing with microtransactions. So despite the MMO subscription market shrinking year-over-year since 2010, part of the decline has been offset by microtransactions, nearly doubling from 14% to 27% in the past five years. In fact, though the market has shrunk from 30.6 million monthly active subscribers to 23.4 million, the average revenue per user has actually risen. The user base may be lower, but the ones that remain are loyal and willing to spend.
World of Warcraft unsurprisingly tops the 2013 list with 36% of the market, raking in worldwide revenues of $1.041 billion. What may be surprising to some is that the next four contenders all earned more than $100 million in 2013: 1998's Lineage captured 9% of the market and earned $253 million; TERA: Online captured 8% of the market and earned $236 million; Star Wars: The Old Republic captured 6% and earned $165 million; and Lord of the Rings Online captured 4% of the market and earned $104 million. Not too shabby at all. In total, subscription-based MMOs earned $2.882 billion in worldwide revenues in 2013.
It'll be interesting to see how 2014 plays out with two big new entries in the subscription market, Bethesda's Elder Scrolls Online and NCsoft's Wildstar. Elder Scrolls Online boasts a subscriber base of 772,374 as of June, likely helped by its multi-platform release. Meanwhile, NCsoft not only has Lineage under its publishing arm, but it also has three other MMOs in the 2013 Top Ten (Aion, Blade and Soul, and Lineage II) – so there are certainly big expectations for Wildstar as well. While free-to-play is certainly on the rise, it doesn't seem like subscription-models are going away any time soon, even if some are merely optional.
Source: SuperData Research via GamesIndustry International
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be quiet! Reveals Silent Base 800 Computer Chassis
be quiet!, a manufacturer of power supplies and cooling solutions, has decided to join other manufacturers and enter the market of computer chassis. The company has just revealed pictures of its latest product that will enable this business decision, the Silent Base 800. The Silent Base 800 computer tower is comprised of premium components, focusing on silent and cool operation while featuring plenty of cable management and water cooling slots.
The be quiet! Silent Base 800 will be offered only in black and will be officially released in October of this year. While the case only comes in one color, three different accenting colors including black, silver, and orange will be available.
Source: Press Release
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Kingston Announces 1TB Solid State Drive
Kingston will be adding its largest capacity solid state drive to date to the SSDNow V300 series with the V310, a 1TB drive. The drive is powered by a Phison 3108 controller capable of read and write speeds up to 450MB/s. The Kingston Value series is a great SSD for users looking to migrate from traditional drives without breaking the bank, and the large 1TB capacity provides a drive large enough for most users. SSD Business Manager Ariel Perez said, "Since 2009, our V ‘Value’ series solid-state drives have delivered the best price to performance ratio as possible to enable consumers on a budget or entry-level users to experience the benefits of SSD technology. Our new V310 continues that along with providing the biggest capacity ever in a Kingston SSD."
Source: Press Release
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Verizon FiOS Gets an Upload Speed Boost
Verizon has announced that it is upgrading the upload speeds of all current and future customers to match download speeds. Current plans had much higher download than upload speeds. Verizon has also increased the speed of the entry level package to 25/25 Mbps, an increase from the current entry level 15/5 Mbps plans. The service starts at $64.99, but unfortunately users currently at the 15/5 level won't be upgraded to the 25/25 level. The new symmetrical speed tiers could give Verizon a boost compared to cable companies, "which generally offers slower download speeds than fiber along with even lower upload speeds," but doesn't offer much of an improvement compared to other fiber services such as Google Fiber.
Source: Ars Technica
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ROCCAT to Debut Two New 'Future Ready' Products at Gamescom
Taking place in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom is the biggest gaming convention in the world – yes, bigger than E3. As such, it's no suprise that Germany-based manufacturer ROCCAT likes to go all out for the event. This year is no different, with ROCCAT "bringing an entire gaming city" called ROCC-City. Aside from a cosplay competition, daily raffles twin ROCCAT products, and allowing attendees to face off against professional gamers, the highlight of ROCC-City is two new products ROCCAT are calling "Future Ready".
The first is a new gaming mouse that apparently allows you to alter the actual button layouts. According to ROCCAT's René Korte, "We asked the questions, 'What would it be like if you could do more than change a button assignment? What if you could physically change the button itself? What if you could make your own buttons from scratch?' We had to find out, and what we discovered upon creating this was a mouse that can be fully adjusted to any gaming genre fluidly." Color me intrigued.
The second product is a new keyboard with full smartphone integration. According to René, "Smartphones do so much these days. They're a second-screen experience for many gamers in a variety of ways, but we wanted to offer more than the next step in integrating smartphone and keyboard. We wanted to take the next ten steps. A keyboard designed not only to integrate your phone fully into the gaming realm, but one that takes the standard functionality of a phone, communication, and seamlessly weaves it into your gaming experience. Taking calls, texting, everything. Why can’t you have it all? We plan on giving that to the world, and showing you what that looks like at Gamescom."
Source: Press Release
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Enhanced Social and Mobile Features Coming to Xbox One
Microsoft has revealed that the latest Xbox One update, which will be available to early access individuals next week and all other Xbox One owners next month, will bring enhanced features to the gaming console. One of the major features that the August Xbox One update will provide is support for 3D Blu-ray functionality. Some of the social and mobile improvements coming to the Xbox One include activity feed improvements, an expanded friends area on the home screen, and information on when friends were last seen online. The latest update will also usher in support for mobile purchases, a low battery pop-up notification for controllers, the ability to disable notifications during videos, and OneGuide for Brazil, Mexico, Austria and Ireland.
Source: Xbox Wire
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Google Maps Updated to Version 8.2
Google has just pushed an update for its Maps application for Android, bringing Google Maps to version 8.2. One of the major features of this latest version is the availability of elevation information for biking routes, allowing users to choose various paths based on elevation differences. Google has also incorporated new voice actions, such as estimated arrival time and when to make an upcoming turn. Users can even ask Google Maps questions involving these new voice actions during navigation mode. Another feature available in version 8.2 of Google Maps is My Places, which is accessible from the navigation menu and provides search history, saved places, and offline maps.
While Google has officially released version 8.2 of Google Maps, it will more than likely take a few days before most users have access to it since it is being rolled out in a staggered format.
Source: Greenbot
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Dell Now Accepts Bitcoin
Dell is following in the footsteps of other major companies, such as DISH and TigerDirect, by announcing that it is now accepting Bitcoin as a valid form of payment through its online marketplace Transactions between customers and Dell that involve Bitcoin are made possible by a partnership with Coinbase, an international digital wallet that allows users to buy, use, and accept Bitcoin. Consumer and small business shoppers will be able to use Bitcoins on the Dell website within the next two weeks, according to Laura Thomas, the Chief Blogger for Direct2Dell.com
An Alienware promotion has also been revealed along with the Bitcoin acceptance announcement, where consumers can save 10 percent off of a new Alienware system purchase. The savings for this promotion are capped at $150, however.
Source: Dell Community
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Ubisoft Bringing Parkour to San Diego Comic Con with the Assassin's Creed Experience
If you're able to make you way to San Diego Comic Con, July 24-27, you can partake in a one of a kind experience. With the help of Ubisoft's Chief Parkour Officer Michael "Frosti" Zernow and Tempest Freerunning, Ubisoft is setting up a special parkour course entitled the Assassin's Creed Experience, allowing anyone to experience what it's like to be their favorite Assassin's Creed characters, minus the assassinating – because that's illegal. If you watch the video or take a look at the mockup below, you'll see that the course is being designed to emulate the obstacles and parkour maneuvers present in the Assassin's Creed games. And yes, that includes the most iconic move of them all, a 25-foot Leap of Faith!
If this all sounds like a bit much for a layperson to handle, there will be professionals from Tempest Freerunning (including Zernow) to provide tips and advice. Completing the course (or maybe just attempting it?) will reward you with an exclusive t-shirt. Bonus points if you complete it in Assassin's Creed cosplay?
Assassin's Creed Unity will release on October 28, 2014, for Windows PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: UbiBlog
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NVIDIA Launches the Ultimate Quest, Culminating in a New Product Launch July 22
Do you want to win a mysterious new NVIDIA product launching on July 22? Well, you're going to have to work for it! Today, NVIDIA launched an interactive tweet-based text adventure entitled Ultimate Quest: Journey to the Far Side of Possible by internationally renowned interactive fiction author Emily Short and featuring illustrations by Silvio Aebischer (Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Iron Man 2). According to NVIDIA, "The challenges are surprising, the images are beautifully-crafted and this is a unique foray into a forward-thinking world of social gameplay."
Ultimate Quest takes place over the course of five days, July 18-22. Each day, a new episode will unfold and you'll have to participate every day in order to win. "New pieces of the story reveal new ways to interact with the game, including on social media, and solving a variety of unusual and perplexing problems brings the story forward." If you progress through all five days and you're the first person to beat the game on that fifth day, you'll win NVIDIA's new, unannounced product launching that very same day. A new video card? A new SHIELD? A new tablet? Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll want it, so get to work now at the official site!
Source: Press Release
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Subscription Service Now Available for Kindle
Amazon has now confirmed what has been rumored for some time, and previewed earlier this week, a subscription service is now available for the popular Kindle e-Reader. The Kindle Unlimited service will cost $9.99 per month, with a 30 day trial included, and will give users access to more than 600,000 titles including such popular titles as "The Hunger Games" and "Flash Boys." A number of large publishers including HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster are currently absent from the offerings, but Amazon is also including its selection of audiobooks with the service. Kindle Senior VP Russ Grandinetti described the service saying it is, "by far the most cost-effective way to enjoy audiobooks and e-books together."
Source: NY Times
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Styx: Master of Shadows Gets a Summer Trailer and Official Site
Announced all the way back in January, with its first trailer in February, Styx: Master of Shadows finally has its own official site. But more importantly, the debut of the official site brings with it a brand new Summer Trailer, which explains a little bit of the story while showing us some more gameplay. After watching the new trailer, be sure to go back and watch the E3 Gameplay Video from last month, which shows nearly fifteen minutes of unedited gameplay.
Source: Press Release
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Decreasing Queue Length in Data Centers
Most every time you visit a website, a host of servers somewhere have to run the right operations to gather the data you need, and then send it to you. As some websites use large data centers, with the servers working for you spread out, the latency between the servers can impact performance. Currently decentralized communication protocols are used to manage communication in a data center, but researchers at MIT have recently designed a new, centralized system that can offer better performance.
Decentralized protocols enable each node in a network to send and receive information without instruction. Provided the routers transmitting the information do not get overwhelmed, this approach can work well, but in some data centers they are being overwhelmed, causing large queues to form, leading to congestion. One would not expect a solution to come from sending requests to a central arbiter server, which takes 40 microseconds, but the MIT, Fastpass system not only reduces the congestion, but does so by a very significant amount. The Fastpass system takes advantage of parallel programming to divide the work of scheduling communication across multiple cores. The first core looks at the pending requests, schedules one for a slot, and then passes to the next core all of the requests involving either the source or destination node of the schedule request.
The researchers found that by using this approach, the Fastpass system is able to handle a network transmitting at 2.2 terabits per second, with just eight cores. In experiments to be presented in August, the researchers will show that Fastpass cut the average queue length in a Facebook data center by 99.6%, and the average latency from 3.56 microseconds to 0.23 microseconds.
Source: MIT
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