Thermaltake Commander G41 Review
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Turtle Rock's Evolve Pushed Back to February 10, 2015
Take-Two Interactive Software published its fiscal first quarter 2015 financial report today, and in it listed all the games currently on the docket. Grand Theft Auto V, Battleborn, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, WWE 2K15, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and NBA 2K15 are all still right on schedule, but apparently Turtle Rock's Evolve is not. No explanation was given, just an unceremonious sentence that said: "The title is now planned to launch globally on February 10, 2015." This past weekend was a big alpha stress test for the game, which may have impacted the decision to push the game back, but again, no reason has been provided.
UPDATE: The Evolve Facebook page has confirmed the new release date.
Source: Take-Two
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Sony Abandons E-Readers
Sony has revealed that it does not currently have any plans to develop a successor Reader model, effectively ending its efforts to successfully grab and maintain a portion of the e-reader market. The announcement comes a few months after the company made its last batch of Reader devices, the PRS-T3, outside of Japan. As such, the PRS-T3 will continue to exist as long as supplies remain within Europe. Sony Reader owners within North America can continue using Kobo for book purchases, while owners located in Japan can continue to make use of the Sony Reader Store.
Source: BBC News
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Open-Air Acoustic Bottle Developed
For years now, people have been fascinated by metamaterials, which can make light and sound waves do the unexpected, including creating invisibility cloaks. The fact that these are actual devices though limits their effectiveness, so researchers have been looking for ways to replicate the results without special mediums. Those at Berkeley Lab have recently discovered how to create an acoustic bottle in open air.
An acoustic bottle, like the name suggests, is a bottle of sound with the sound waves travelling around a space, instead of passing through it. As the center is pressure neutral, whatever is in it will not interact with the sound waves, like how an invisibility cloak works. To achieve this without a metamaterial for the sound to pass through, the researchers used an array of speakers and carefully tuned the sound's phase profile across it. Phase is a property of waves that represents the position of the crests and troughs, and by changing it one can control how waves will interfere with each other. In this instance the interaction creates a high pressure wall around a space that will actually pull sound waves into the wall, and around from the space.
Potentially acoustic bottles could be used for routing sound waves around objects, cloaking an object from sonar detection or avoiding obstacles to ultrasound imaging. Also it could be used for achieve acoustic levitation, which can manipulate millimeter-sized objects.
Source: Berkeley Lab
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The Original Resident Evil is Being Remastered (Again) for PC and Consoles
The Resident Evil series has sold over 61 million units to date, but the last few iterations of the franchise have been a far cry from the original ones, which defined what true survival horror was all about. Originally released way back in 1996, the original Resident Evil was actually remade in 2002 "from the ground up with new visuals, gameplay elements, environments and story details while retaining the survival horror atmosphere the series had become synonymous for." Today, Capcom announced that it will be revisiting the classic once again, remastering the remaster.
Planned for release in early 2015 for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, Resident Evil will feature upgraded visuals, with increased resolutions and textures, enhanced 3D models, and 1080p support for the new-gen consoles. Sound effects are also being fully remastered with 5.1 surround support. Most interestingly, players will be able to toggle between two visual options and two control scheme options at any time. Visually, you can try out the classic 4:3 ratio or switch to the stunning 16:9 widescreen mode. For controls, "Purists can choose to play with the classic control scheme or enjoy a new alternative scheme in line with current standards where the character moves in the direction of the analogue stick."
If you got into the Resident Evil series late and never experienced where it all began, soon you'll be able to do so without your eyes bleeding! The screenshots below are from the PS3/360 version, not PC or new-gen. Here's hoping Capcom plans on giving the remaster treatment to Resident Evil 2, my favorite survival horror game of all-time.
Source: Press Release
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Comcast Reworks its Internet Essentials Program
Comcast has been offering its Internet Essentials program, which provides 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds to low-income families, for just under two years. While it has successfully connected 350,000 eligible families since its launch, Comcast is looking to bring more of the 2.6 million people that are eligible nationwide onboard. Today the company announced that it is reworking Internet Essentials by making it even more enticing for those who have not signed up for the program. Comcast is providing new subscribers that sign up between today and September 20, 2014, with six months of complimentary service. The company is also providing families with an amnesty program, in which outstanding bills owed to Comcast that are more than one year old are forgiven, allowing even more low-income families to be eligible for Internet Essentials.
Comcast plans to utilize many public service announcements to promote its six months complimentary offer while also engaging parents, teachers, non-profit partners, and elected officials about the Internet Essentials program.
Source: Press Release
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Assassin's Creed Rogue Infiltrating PS3 and 360 on November 11
When Assassin's Creed Unity was announced for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, word got out that a last-gen Assassin's Creed game was also in the works, codenamed Comet. Today, Ubisoft has officially announced Assassin's Creed Rogue, coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 worldwide on November 11 (two weeks after Unity). Whereas Unity takes place in 18th century Paris during the French Revolution, Rogue concludes the North American trilogy, transporting us to new locations across North America during the Seven Years War, also in the 18th century. These locations include "the frozen North Atlantic, the Appalachian River Valley and New York," and the game will feature a naval component with a new ship called the Morrigan.
Assassin's Creed Rogue is being developed by Ubisoft Sofia, in collaboration with Ubisoft's Singapore, Montreal, Quebec, Chengdu, Milan, and Bucharest studios. Pre-ordering grants you the Ultimate Hunter Pack (an exclusive collection of Templar weapons and items) and The Siege of Fort de Sable Mission (a bonus fort-raiding mission). The standard edition is priced at $59.99. A collector's edition will also be available with an art-book, three lithographs, the original soundtrack, and two additional single player missions, but pricing was not disclosed. Of course, the real question is, how long before an "HD Version" comes to PC, PS4, and XBO? We all know it's going to happen eventually; it's a matter of when, not if.
Source: Press Release and UbiBlog
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Wireless Communication without Power Consumption
An easy way to extend the battery life of devices like smartphones is to turn off their wireless radios. Broadcasting signals is an energy expensive process, which is one of the reasons we have not yet achieved an Internet of Things that will connect non-traditional devices. Researchers at the University of Washington though have developed a technology that drops the energy required for wireless data transfer to negligible levels by taking advantage of the signals already there.
Traditional wireless communication relies on a transmitter to put out a signal for a receiver to pick up. Previous research has demonstrated that the energy of those signals can be captured and used to power some small devices, but typically the power acquired this way is not enough to send a signal. The Washington researchers solved this problem by not sending signals but by using Wi-Fi backscatter, which alters signals already in the air, instead of producing new ones. Doing this is so much simpler that the device using this technology would not need a battery to communicate.
So far the researchers have demonstrated communication at 1 Kbps with a two meter distance between devices, which they hope to increase to 20 meters. While that is a relatively slow connection, the idea here is not to download webpages and videos but to provide simpler data, like temperature information on a room or your workout statistics to an online spreadsheet.
Source: University of Washington
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Hardware Roundup: Tuesday Edition
We are moving right along with August, with plenty of items for you to check out. There is the ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC video card, which may not have as high stock clocks as a 270X, but that custom cooler could easily help surpass those numbers. If you're into water cooling and reside on the NVIDIA half, we have a look at the EKWB ASUS GTX 780 Ti DCII OC full cover water block that also comes with a rear plate for maximum cooling. To house your computer, and have it look good while doing so, there's a review on the Phanteks Enthoo Luxe, a fancier version of the Enthoo Pro. Thecus' N2560 Dual-Bay NAS gets put to the test to see how well this affordable option performs. If you need a new mouse pad, maybe the XTracGear Ripper is the one for you. Rounding out today's assortment is the ASUS MeMO Pad 7, an Android tablet powered by Intel.
Video Cards
ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC @ Madshrimps
VGA Cooling
EKWB ASUS GTX 780 Ti DCII OC Full Cover Water Block @ Madshrimps
Cases
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe @ ThinkComputers
Storage/Hard Drives
Thecus N2560 Dual-Bay NAS @ PC Perspective
Mouse Pad
XTracGear Ripper @ Benchmark Reviews
Laptops/Tablets
ASUS MeMO Pad 7 @ TechSpot
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New Mortal Kombat X Gameplay Video Walks Us Through Raiden's Character Variations
Last month, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) and NetherRealm Studios surprised nobody by revealing that franchise mainstay Raiden would be in Mortal Kombat X. Today, WBIE released a new video narrated by NetherRealm Studio's creative director Ed Boon, describing Raiden's character variations and play styles, along with some new images:
Mortal Kombat X will be coming to PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in 2015.
- Thunder God — "The Thunder God Variation enhances Raiden's lightning attacks. This allows him to extend and perform combos that are unique only to this Variation. Thus giving Raiden the potential to do more damage."
- Displacer — "In his Displacer Variation, Raiden gains the ability to teleport to multiple attack zones. This tactic can be used to move into close range, attack from behind, or even escape rushdowns, making Raiden difficult to contain and significantly more mobile."
- Storm Lord — "The Storm Lord Variation gives Raiden the ability to create lightning traps. These traps can be used defensively or as a method to corner opponents. They can be used to affect wide areas, allowing Raiden to control the entire battlefield."
Source: Press Release
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Capturing Audio Information from Video
Sound waves can be described as vibrations in a medium, whether that is air, water, or another material. Though you cannot see it with the naked eye, those vibrations can be translated to objects like bags, aluminum foil, and the surfaces of water. Researchers at MIT, Microsoft, and Adobe have recently developed an algorithm that can identify these vibrations in a video and recreate the sounds that caused them.
For the most accurate reconstructed audio, the video needs to have a frequency greater than the audio signal, so the researchers employed high speed cameras to film at 2000-6000 frames per second. They were also able to use video from more typical cameras that record at just 60 FPS by exploiting how some sensors will actually record a row of pixels at a time, instead of recording a full frame. This means that quick movements can be seen as an object moves between recording one row and the next. To overcome the very small size of the vibrations, which are smaller than the size of a pixel, the algorithm watches for color shifts, indicative of a border moving in the image. The pixel covering the border would be a blend of the colors on either side of the border, so if the border moves, the color will shift one way or the other.
As it is now, this technology can capture intelligible audio signals from video of some objects, or provide information concerning how many people are speaking, and their identity. Naturally there are possible applications in law enforcement and forensics, but like any new technology, it could have a variety of uses not yet imagine.
Source: MIT
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