Reeven Ouranos RC-1401 Review
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Valve Updates Early Access Guidelines
Valve has issued new rules and guidelines to developers that take part in the Early Access program for Steam, confirmed by several developers to Giantbomb. The first rule is that developers must clearly indicate that a game is Early Access when selling Steam keys through other means. Developers must also release on Steam at the same time as other platforms and must also charge the same price across platforms. The guidelines are more recommendations than concrete rules and include "don't launch in Early Access if you can't afford to develop with very few or no sales, make sure you set expectations properly everywhere you talk about your game, and don't launch in Early Access if you are done with development." Hopefully this new guidance from Valve will provide a better Early Access experience for developers and gamers.
Source: Giantbomb
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BadUSB Exploit Targets Firmware of USB Devices
A new exploit known as BadUSB targets the firmware of USB devices rather than simply placing malware on the device, making it extremely difficult or impossible to detect. The exploit was initially developed "to highlight the inherently flawed design of the USB specification," and the code was kept private, though it has now been made available. Flash drives aren't the only devices that can be compromised with USB hubs, webcams, and other storage mediums also potential targets. If there is a bright spot to garner from this news it is that researchers believe that only half of all USB devices are vulnerable, while the initial belief was that all devices were at risk.
Source: Tweaktown
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Corsair Upgrades Carbide 330R With Titanium Edition
Corsair has announced the availability of the Carbide 330R case in the Titanium Edition, bringing a "new attractive dark gunmetal anodized aluminum front panel and a convenient 3-speed fan controller" to the quiet mid-tower lineup. The case supports motherboards from Mini ITX up to Extended ATX and has built-in routing cutouts for cable management. Users can install four hard drives of either 2.5" or 3.5" sizes with tool-free installation. Up to five case fans can be installed as part of the Direct Airflow Path layout, which provides an "unobstructed path between the included 140mm fan and the CPU and GPU." The case is rounded out with included noise dampening material making it a "great choice for media rooms, bedrooms, dorm rooms, or any place where both silence and performance are essential."
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Room-Temperature Terahertz Device Created
In many places, security is of great importance, but it can also be a great hindrance by slowing people down as they go through checks. Naturally many want a security solution that will ease the slowdown, but without compromising any of the checks. One area of technology that may achieve that is terahertz devices, and now researchers at Northwestern University have created a tunable terahertz source that operates at room temperature.
Terahertz frequencies rest between the infrared and microwave sections of the spectrum and are of interest to many because they interact strongly with organic molecules, without damaging them. As many dangerous chemicals, like explosives, are considered organic, a terahertz device would be able to detect them at distance. One difficulty with these frequencies of light though is that they are hard to produce and can even require vacuum chambers and cryogenics, making sources expensive and unwieldy. By mixing nonlinear quantum cascade lasers though, the Northwestern researchers were able to create them in the range of 1 to 4.6 THz, at up to 1.9 mW of power. Using special waveguides they designed, they were able to tune the device between 2.6 THz and 4.2 THz at room temperature.
Of course this new source could have applications in security systems, by scanning for dangerous materials noninvasively, but it would likely also see use in medicine, as a means to probe beneath the skin for issues. The technology could even have applications for deep space imaging.
Source: Northwestern University
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New Polarizer Developed for Improved Displays and Cameras
Polarization is important for many technologies, including displays and cameras. For cameras polarized filters are used to eliminate glare and in displays they are used to control the light that ultimately reaches our eyes. In both cases though, the polarizers can take out 60% to 70% of the light, dimming the result, which is why researchers at the University of Utah have designed a new filter.
Sunlight and ambient light is unpolarized, which means the light oscillates in all directions. When a single polarizer is used, such as to only let horizontally polarized light through, half of the light will be either absorbed by the filter or reflected. For cameras this is a problem for low-light pictures and for displays it means more energy is needed to create a bright image. What the Utah researchers have designed addresses the problem by actually altering the polarization of the light coming in, so more of it will pass through.
So far the researchers have achieved 74% transmission, but their goal is to let all the light through. They expect it may be five to ten years before we see this technology enter the market.
Source: University of Utah
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Battlefield Will Become More Military-Focused After Hardline Release
Battlefield Hardline, which is slated to launch on March 17, 2015, is more of a cops-and-robbers title that falls away from its military roots that the franchise is known for. According to Blake Jorgensen, the CFO at EA, the Battlefield title that will be released in 2016 is expected to be more of a military-style game, with more details to be released in the future. Jorgensen also noted that after seeing the game, the new Battlefield that will launch over a year after Battlefield Hardline is made available to the public is already shaping up to be both fun and new.
Source: GameSpot
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Android Lollipop Encryption Negatively Impacts Performance
Although Full Disk Encryption, or FDE, has been available on Android devices since version 3.0, Android 5.0 Lollipop is the first Android version to enable the security feature by default on new devices. While this would normally be a welcomed decision on the grounds of improved security for mobile devices, it turns out that FDE is greatly hindering the performance of devices that it is enabled on. In a recent test performed by AnandTech, it was found that the Nexus 6 suffered massive performance loss when FDE was enabled. The results show that FDE reduced sequential read speeds by 80.7 percent, random read speeds by 62.9 percent, and random write speeds by 50.5 percent, when compared to a Nexus 6 that has FDE turned off.
With performance hindered so greatly due to FDE, many users are hoping that Google is able to come up with a solution in the near future. The good news is that devices that were upgraded to Android Lollipop do not feature FDE enabled by default, and the encryption feature can be turned off on devices that come with it enabled.
Source: AnandTech
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Steam Fall Sale Kicks Off November 26
Although Valve has yet to officially announce its Steam Fall Sale for this year, it looks like it will be kicking off in just two days, according to a PayPal email that was sent to various PayPal members. The Steam Fall Sale is expected to begin on November 26 and last until December 1, allowing gamers to pick up various products for Windows, Mac, and Linux for incredibly low prices. Some of the best deals will likely take place on Black Friday, but no matter the day gamers have the opportunity to save on thousands of video game titles during the Steam Fall Sale. PayPal customers can even order Steam Wallet Codes through its online gift store in preparation for the sale.
Source: VG247
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