343 Industries pledges to fix Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Halo: The Master Chief Collection has launched with its fair share of problems, which doesn't seem to be any different to all the other games launching in the last month, with developer 343 Industries pledging to make it right.
"While our team works on continual improvements and towards solutions, my commitment to you is that we will take care of all owners of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Our primary and continued focus is first on fixing the issues at hand. Once we've done that, we will detail how we will make this right with our fans," she continued. She closed her letter with: "Please accept my heartfelt apologies for the delay and for the negative aspects of your experience to date. We're doing everything in our power to resolve it as quickly as possible".
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AU retailer Kogan unveils $329 AUD Windows 8.1-based laptop
Self proclaimed as "Australia's Largest Retailer", Kogan is well known amongst tech savvy Aussie locals as providing a cheaper alternative for devices such as TV's, monitors and camera hardware. However, in latest news they've just released a Windows 8.1 operational laptop for just $329 AUD with decent specifications.
Connectivity is fairly standard on this device, offering up a HDMI port, VGA capabilities, one Gigabit Ethernet port, one USB 3.0 port, three USB 2.0 ports, a headphone and separate microphone port, full-sized SD card reader and provides you with the ability to connect through 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. Reportedly being released with a $15 discount for Office 365, this laptop looks good so far - we're interested to see what the build quality, feel and actual operation are like however.
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Far Cry 4 patch released, fixes various problems with the PC version
Ubisoft is on a roll today, with a patch being released to fix up the performance issues in Assassin's Creed: Unity, warning gamers about early reviews of The Crew, and now, patching up Far Cry 4 to version 1.4.0.
More patches being worked on for the game will fix the odd black shadows, key bindings and mouse acceleration.
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Valve moves to block key resellers - limiting Steam gift rules
Valve has just updated their rules for trade of Steam gifts, said to hinder key reseller businesses looking to on-sell keys in the form of gifts. New game purchases as a gift will be stored in the buyer's inventory for 30 days before it can be sold or traded - meaning that if you're looking to buy a new game and sell it on, or maybe lend a helping hand to a mate, maybe you should forget about it.
This is a bold move by Valve, basically barring any re-seller websites looking to make a living out of key trading - but on the other hand it's a nice move in the fact that many people get burned year after year, purchasing dodgy keys only to have them revoked without refund. Major websites like G2a or Kinguin have not commented on the change as of yet, but they are expected to be hit hardest by these changes.
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Ubisoft doesn't want you trusting early reviews of The Crew
Public service announcement: Ubisoft doesn't want you trusting day one reviews of The Crew, with the company taking to its official blog to warn gamers that they should wait a while before reading, or trusting reviews.
The company added that The Crew is a social game, which requires servers full of gamers to enjoy the game at its best. Ubisoft added: "The Crew was built from the beginning to be a living playground full of driving fans, so it's only possible to assess our game in its entirety with other real players in the world. And by other, we mean thousands and thousands and thousands of players - something that can't be simulated with a handful of devs playing alongside the press".
The Crew launches on December 2 on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC.
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Adobe warns of critical Flash Player flaw, recommends immediate update
Adobe has alerted the public of an urgent update that has just been pushed - designed to patch a major vulnerability that is being exploited by hackers. This isn't the first time that we've seen reports like this issued in 2014, we're happy to see Adobe quickly on the ball to neutralize these threats.
Exploit kits are designed to deliver Malware to website visitors through methods of deception or taking advantage of vulnerabilities. Kafeine discovered this Flash flaw in October this year, with this method becoming implemented in two more exploit kits named Astrum and Nuclear. Microsoft users have received an automatic patch update, through security advisory 2755801 and Chrome has applied this update personally. OS X users should update their Flash Player to version 15.0.0.239.
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Latest Assassin's Creed: Unity patch to fix performance problems
Ubisoft are trying to fix the various problems in Assassin's Creed: Unity as fast as they can, with an upcoming patch that will fix some 90 crashes, bugs, performance issues and more across the Xbox One, PS4 and PC versions of the game.
- Improved general Framerate on PS4 by lowering the priority of the online services thread
- Fixed FPS drops while Arno climbs on the RHP building of Palais de Justice
- Fixed FPS drops when in climbing and pressing the Left Stick towards somewhere that is not climbable in certain areas
- Fixed FPS drops in Sainte Chapelle
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GTA V will have 'just for PC' features, including a video editor
Grand Theft Auto V launched for the previous generation consoles last year, and only last week for the Xbox One and PS4, but it looks like Rockstar has a few tricks up its sleeve for the PC version of the open-world fun-a-thon.
Grand Theft Auto V launches on the PC on January 27, 2015.
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VR device 3DHead has evaporated - has no ties to Oculus
Voted in my personal top five worst advertisements of all time, the 3DHEAD was seen popping up around the internet in recent times - consistently claiming to be much better than what Oculus had to offer, the title even including the words "Oculus killer". Featuring amazing specification as a 2K resolution, the ability to use it in conjunction with controllers on your PC and the ability to make your voice one of the most annoying things on the planet - what's not to love?
How crazy could he be? Billionaires often make silly technology investments without knowing the full information, surely! Alongside David offering millions of dollars to Chris Brown and Drake to fight in a boxing match, he also once tried to convince news outlets that he had aired the first assisted suicide live on the internet as publicity for his website.
Naming a product a "killer" is apparently nothing new to David. Aereo was service designed to deliver broadcast television signals over the internet to paying subscribers and for some reason, David held a grudge against them. He reportedly created a product called the "Aereo Killer", claiming he was going to bury and destroy this company with a new service offering by yours truly.
David's money is said to come through a massive soda/bottling empire, seeing him live life as an "attention seeking millionaire" as quoted through our sources information. He's not known to follow through with his projects, this being yet another one of them.
Some have claimed that this is an Oculus ploy to increase their marketing exposure, unfortunately it isn't. Without going into too much details ourselves, you can read the full spiel provided here.
I'll leave you with one more crazy marketing video developed by David, featuring himself this time.
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Senator wants Visa, Mastercard to 'recommit' efforts to fight piracy
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) wants Visa and Mastercard to "recommit their efforts" in the evolving fight against illegal activity online. And the focus isn't on counterfeiting or gambling - it's dedicated to online copyright infringement.
Here is what Leahy said (via press statement):
"In recent years, strides have been made to help reduce online infringement-and payment processors have played a role in that progress. But more can and should be done.
The cyberlockers listed in the NetNames report bear clear red flags of having no legitimate purpose or activity. I ask Visa to swiftly review the complaints against those cyberlockers and to ensure that payment processing services offered by Visa to those sites, or any others dedicated to infringing activity, cease. I also urge you to continue working with copyright owners to develop methods and practices for the efficient investigation of sites alleged to engage in infringement. Voluntary agreements, developed and refined over time between the relevant stakeholders, hold great promise for addressing the problem of infringement online."
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Xbox One designer responds to critics that say the console is too big
The Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 game consoles are selling extremely well - but that doesn't necessarily mean everyone is happy. Carl Ledbetter, who was project manager behind the Xbox One's physical design, recently responded against criticism of the Xbox One's bulkiness.
"Everybody gets frustrated, because what we want is for everything to be wafer thin, not get hot and just be a snap to put together," Ledbetter said. "But the reality is that there are very real issues around cooling when you're pushing some number of watts in the processor, therefore the thing has to have some size to it. There's always an interesting dynamic between engineering and design, and constraints around performance.
It's called designing with constraints, and constraints create very real things for people to after and solve. Blue sky can get a little tough because it is limitless and it's boundless. The engineering doesn't really become a barrier - engineering is necessary, just like the design and technology. It's a combination of everything that creates the product."
Research and development of next-generation hardware - consoles included - is a tireless process that teams take seriously. There were around 200 different Xbox One controller prototypes made, with 500 hours of testing done to help pick the right one.
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Cyber espionage remains a major objective for Russian government
Russian cybercriminals, largely backed by the Russian government, have growing coordination as their attacks victimize the United States, UK, and Western European nations. The Energetic Bear, APT28 and Uroburous - three Russian-based malware families - are being used to conduct cyberespionage, rather than conduct data theft purely for financial gain.
"China has economic objectives," said Christopher Ahlberg, co-founder and CEO of Recorded Future. "Russia wants to show the world they are strong politically. Energy is incredibly important to them [as well]... They also want to sell gas to Western Europe - there's more of a focus on commodity markets and geopolitical [interests."
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Meet the Sonim XP7 Extreme, the 'world's must rugged' Android phone
Sonim has just unveiled the "world's most rugged LTE/Wi-Fi/Android smartphone" with its new XP7 Extreme, featuring a 4-inch 800x480 "glove touchscreen" and oh-so-much more.
The Sonim XP7 Extreme is also drop and impact resistant, surviving drops up to 6.5 feet onto concrete, from any angle. It can be used in temperatures ranging from -4C to 131F, can survive in extreme pressures of up to one metric ton, is resistant to oils and chemicals, and is also puncture resistant. But don't worry, Sonim (even with all these technologies keeping it safe) still offer a 3-year comprehensive warranty, covering accidental damage.
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Employers on high-alert of temp workers being targeted by scams
Cybercriminals will likely increase attacks against small and midsize retailers that hire temporary works to help augment staff ahead of the holidays. Cyberattacks don't peak during November or December, but criminals change their tactics to focus on companies that might hire additional staff and have focus on other day-to-day business operations.
The financial impact of a data breach - or other cybersecurity problems - have been a painful lesson for companies throughout 2014. However, many companies struggle in their efforts to
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Slumping enterprise demand hurts Hewlett-Packard's Q4 revenue
Hewlett-Packard saw a 2.5 percent drop in its Q4 revenue, as it saw lackluster sales for enterprise computing hardware to businesses. The company's revenue fell from $29.13 billion earlier this year to $28.41 billion in Q4, with net income dropping from $1.41 billion down to $1.33 billion year-over-year.
The US economy is recovering, but the PC market has struggled - and while HP does have tablets it offers to consumers and business users - the company has struggled to compete against the Apple iPad and Google Android-powered devices. As such, HP relies heavily on its value-added resellers (VARs) to drive sales of PCs, servers, software, and other products to their business partners.
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Intel learns painful lessons in the mobile industry, as it looks ahead
Hardware maker Intel wanted to rely on its desktop, laptop and server CPUs, and missed the mobile boat when the smartphone and tablet markets began to soar. The company has managed to get its CPUs in tablets, giving away millions of chips to manufacturers, and will continue to expand its offerings in 2015.
Despite dropping growth in the tablet market - as saturation continues to increase - the mobile market will remain a viable goal for hardware manufacturers. Even though Intel has greatly struggled trying to enter the space, profitability in smartphones, tablets, and other devices can be achieved.
However, trying to break into the smartphone market has been extremely difficult for Intel. The Silicon Valley company hopes its Smart or Feature phone with Intel Architecture (SoFIA) platform will be able to compete with Qualcomm and Mediatek in the future. SoFIA included a dual-core Atom Silvermond CPU in the 28nm system-on-chip (SoC) design, and an LTE 4G quad-core version will be available soon.
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BlackBerry willing to offer $550 if consumers switch from their iPhone
Willing to give up your Apple iPhone in favor of the BlackBerry Passport? If so, BlackBerry is ready to hand over up to $550. Starting next month, BlackBerry will offer up to $400 in cash and a $150 prepaid gift card, depending on iPhone model and condition. The promotion will run from Dec. 1 until Feb. 13.
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Gartner: More than one-third US smartphone owners use video calling
Smartphone video calling is growing in popularity throughout the United States, and it appears 50 million adult smartphone owners in the US currently embrace video calling. The statistics top 60 million when researchers include people aged 17 and younger.
"Based on these survey findings, we believe one of the use cases that has seemed marginal for some time now warrants much greater attention - and that is video calling," said Atsuro Sato, Gartner senior research analyst. "Person-to-person video calling, especially using smartphones, has reached very high numbers in the U.S., particularly among the younger demographics. Although the U.S> results were ahead of Germany, we believe they show the direction that other markets will follow, with important implications for product managers and marketers of smartphones."
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US Army looks to test bug-inspired robot able to assist soldiers
The US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is working with robotic systems that provide a wide-field of vision that can improve 3D mapping and motion estimation for future technologies. Carnegie Mellon University is helping participate in the Micro-Autonomous Systems Technology Collaborative Technology Alliance (MASTCTA), with more partnerships in the works.
The US military wants increased collaboration from the private sector, in an effort to provide soldiers on the ground increased battlefield awareness.
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IDC: Tablet boom is over as sales drop, with first year of iPad drop
The tablet market has seen massive deceleration this year, and while year-over-year growth still accounted for 7.2 percent, the figure is down from 52.5 percent in 2013, according to the IDC research group. There will be 235.7 million tablets shipped in 2014, and is a clear indicator consumers need full functionality of PCs and smartphones.
"The tablet market continues to be impacted by a few major trends happening in relevant markets," said Ryan Reith, IDC Program Director. "In the early stages of the tablet market, device lifecycles were expected to resemble those of smartphones, with replacement occurring every 2-3 years. What has played out instead is that many tablet owners are holding onto their devices for more than 3 years and in some instances more than 4 years. We believe the two major drivers for longer than expected tablet lifecycles are legacy software support for older products, especially within iOS, and the increased use of smartphones for a variety of computing tasks."
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StoreDot pioneers battery technology that charges phones in 30 seconds
StoreDot specializes in nanotechnology, and their latest advancement in battery technology will ultimately result in phones that charge in 30 seconds and hold enough power for an entire day. This same technique is also applicable to electric vehicles, which StoreDot claims will be able to charge in minutes. The key to the new battery technology is nanodots consisting of bio-organic peptide molecules.
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Microsoft offers gamers pre-Black Friday deals for Xbox 360, Xbox One
Microsoft doesn't want Xbox 360 and Xbox One gamers to wait until Black Friday and Cyber Monday to begin shopping for Christmas. The pre-Black Friday offering is available now until Monday, December 1.
Xbox 360 and Xbox One game console deals kick into effect later this week, along with controllers, Xbox Live memberships, and Xbox Video deals launching soon.
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AMD backs away from the tablet market amidst yet another restructuring
AMD is reportedly stepping away from the tablet chip market as they enter into yet another restructuring period. AMD has struggled financially over the last several years, and the low-margin tablet market isn't likely to provide them much relief. Tablet sales are declining, and the market is awash in Apple and economically-priced Chinese tablets. The beleaguered AMD is changing their focus to the low-wattage CPU space and custom chips for their customers, such as the Microsoft XBOX and the Sony PlayStation 4.
The tablet market is continuing to decline, in large part due to competing smartphones that offer incredible performance and ever-larger screen sizes.
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Intel to release computers as small as USB thumb drives next year
Intel is planning to release diminutive thumb-sized computers next year. These Small PC's are fanless designs that are roughly the size of a USB thumb drive, and Intel actually demonstrated one of the devices at their recent investor conference. Intel didn't speak to the actual performance of the unit, but we do know that some Atom processors are small enough to fit into such devices.
Intel did reveal they can be plugged into smart TV's and monitors and provide an instant computing solution. This may foreshadow Intel trying to penetrate into devices such as Amazon's Fire TV stick and Google Chromecast designs.
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FTC rips Sony, and some PlayStation Vita gamers will get cash back
Sony received harsh criticism from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and it looks like some PlayStation Vita gamers will receive money back. Sony promised "game-changing" features that simply weren't true, so the FTC made the Japanese electronics company stop making those claims.
The problem specifically mentioned the Vita "cross-platform" gaming features so gamers can link their PlayStation 3 or 4 game console to the Vita - being able to pause game play on the Vita and resume while using a console.
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Princeton researchers create semiconductors with 3D printing process
3D printing is gaining popularity in manufacturing and for home users, but its application is pretty limited. Applying 3D printing technology to semiconductors could be a whole new way of revolutionizing products we use every day. A team of researchers at Princeton University has created Quantum Dot LEDs with a 3D printer.
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Google offers 1Gbps Internet service in Austin for $70 per month
Google has announced they will make a 1Gbps internet package available in Austin, Texas, for only $70 per month. Users will pay a one-time construction fee of $300, but that fee can be waived if customers sign up for a one-year contract. The plan also includes a massive 1TB of free cloud storage with other Google services, such as Gmail, Google+ photos, and Google Drive.
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Security industry wasn't proactive in disclosing Regin malware
After details of the sophisticated Regin malware was published online, there was concern that security companies didn't do enough to protect Internet users from the threat. Since it was released years ago, it took some time before Symantec reportedly identified - and included it in detection systems in December 2013.
"Symantec has been monitoring Regin for some time," Symantec recently told Forbes. "However, it has taken some time to gather all necessary components so that we can build a good understanding of the threat. We have also been monitoring for any further activity and attacks. Since no further information has come to light we have made the decision to release our findings publicly."
The Regin malware was likely created by the NSA and GCHQ - considering the US and UK priority on surveillance - cybersecurity experts wouldn't be overly surprised if the two countries were behind the code.
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UK police arrest two men behind 'Expendables 3' piracy
Two men were arrested for their role in pirating the Expendables 3 movie, with officials from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU). The US release date for the movie was August 15, but copies of Expendables 3 were found online as early as July 25.
"Today's operation shows you the significant impact intellectual property crime has on our creative industries, with millions of pounds being lost as a result of criminal actions," said Detective Chief Inspector Danny Medlycott, Head of PIPCU. "The public need to be aware that piracy is not a victimless crime. By downloading illegal music, film, TV and books, not only are you exposing your own computer to the risk of viruses and malware, but you are also putting hardworking people's livelihoods at risk as piracy threatens the security of thousands of jobs in the UK's creative industries."
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Sony plans to cut TV, smartphone roll outs, focus on PlayStation
Japanese electronics company Sony will try to cut costs by reducing TV and smartphone product lineups, and spend more in its PlayStation game console line and invest more in image sensors. Sony wants to push its PlayStation video game division, hoping to ramp up sales up to $13.6 billion, as the console industry continues to heat up.
The electronics company has struggled - especially as the Japanese and US economies suffered in recent years - but is taking a closer look at its financials.
"There's a lot of expectations for Sony now, but nothing is sure until there are results," said Akino Mitsushige, Ichiyoshi Asset Management chief fund manager. "Getting out of the mobile market is an option, but they can't do that now, so they will need to make some fundamental changes."
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Super Smash Bros. for Wii U sells 500,000 copies in first 3 days in US
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is off to a fantastic start in the United States, racking up 490,000 units sold in its first three days. The sales numbers overtook Mario Kart 8 as the previous fastest-selling Wii U game, and Nintendo hopes to ride the momentum all the way until Christmas. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said US pre-orders surpassed record numbers, so it's not surprising to hear of early success for the game title.
The Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. will be released in Japan, Europe and Australia next month - preparing Nintendo for potential major success this holiday shopping season.
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PMC scores win with Lenovo ThinkServer SAS partnership
PMC has announced that Lenovo has selected PMC storage solutions for external connectivity in their ThinkServer product line. Lenovo is offering the Lenovo 885E by PMC for 12Gb/s SAS applications. The low-profile MD2 form factor 8885E is an HBA that provides eight SAS/SATA ports for connectivity. HBA's are becoming more popular in the datacenter as new architectures arise to leverage scale-out storage and advanced erasure coding. PMC Sierra has been very aggressive on the SAS front and recently captured the goal of providing the most SAS ports on a single card. This has led to a leading position in the market, and PMC has currently shipped more SAS ports than their competitors.
12Gb/s SAS is gaining in popularity due to the bandwidth limitation of SATA SSDs. SATA is still stuck at 6Gb/s, and there are no plans to increase this in the future. SAS is cooking along at 12GB/s and provides more bandwidth for powerful solid state drives. High-Availability features also provide a more robust architecture, and until NVMe competitors can offer the same type of features SAS will continue to provide administrators tangible benefits. The Adaptec Series 8 adapters feature the PM8063 ROC, and offer great performance in a variety of workloads. We recently took the 8 Series for a test drive with 24 SATA SSDs and 8 12Gb/s SAS SSDs. Head over to our Adaptec by PMC ASR-8885 12Gb/s RAID Controller Review in the IT/Datacenter section for more in-depth coverage.
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SEGA's Total War: Attila will be released in February, pre-order now
SEGA's Total War: Attila will launch on February 17, 2015 for Microsoft Windows PCs and Mac OS X, according to SEGA and Creative Assembly. The game will be available in both physical and digital formats. The game title is a follow-up to Total War: Rome II, which was released in 2013.
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ATSC lays out path to 100 TB HDDs by 2025
The quest for more storage has led to revolutionary breakthroughs in HDD technology. SSDs get the most attention in the storage world, but the incredible technology that goes into HDDs has created some of the most refined precision instruments in history. HDD density has increased 500 million fold since the initial designs were released in 1956. During the recent MMM (Magnetism and Magnetic Materials) Conference the ASTC (Advanced Storage Technology Consortium) laid out the continuing path of progress on the HDD front. Acronyms aside, the demand for more storage has resulted in billions of dollars in investments in new technology, and these new techniques are pushing us forward on the path to 100TB HDDs by 2025.
These radical new advancements are required because the pace of density increases have slowed as we reach the limits of current HDD recording technology (PMR). According to the ASTC, and several industry sources, HAMR should arrive in 2017. This will speed the annual density growth rate to 30%, which is a considerable increase from the current 15% annual increase. BPMR (Bit-Patterned Magnetic Recording) is the next step to realize incredible increases in density, and that is slated for release in the 2021 timeframe. Combining HAMR and BPMR seems to be a very promising approach that will deliver 10X the density of current HDDs, or 100 TB drives, by 2025.
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Apple iPhone 6 storage tested with MLC and TLC NAND - TLC slower
Apple iPhone 6 models have been the subject of controversy and swirling rumors lately due to constant rebooting issues. Industry insiders opined that the crashing and reboot loops, only present on specific iPhone 6 models, is due to the use of TLC NAND. TLC NAND is denser and marginally cheaper than its MLC counterpart, but suffers from less endurance and lower performance. Apple only uses TLC NAND in select models with a lot of storage, and the 64GB iPhone and the 128GB iPhone 6 Plus are perfect examples. Whether or not TLC is at the root of the issue remains up for debate, and reports are circulating that Apple will abandon TLC entirely. Kbench, a Korean benchmark developer, has released tests of the 64GB iPhone 6 with MLC NAND against the same model with TLC NAND.
The Zero Fill test (at the top of the graphic) shows TLC blowing away the MLC competition. Zero Fill isn't a real-world test, it merely writes zero's to every address on the storage device. What isn't mentioned, however, is that this amazing speed with TLC hints at possible compression technology. SSDs that utilize compression and data reduction technology write Zero Fill data extremely quickly because compression algorithms can compress zero's so well that very little data actually hits the flash. One of the biggest challenges with TLC NAND comes on the endurance front. TLC NAND does not last as long as MLC NAND, and compressing the data results in less data actually written to the NAND, thus increasing endurance. Apple spent an estimated $500 million for Anobit, a company that was brought in specifically to increase the endurance of TLC NAND. Anobit doesn't entirely explain how they accomplish this feat, but adding compression in tandem with other techniques makes perfect sense.
The second graph denotes random write performance of MLC v TLC NAND. We expect lower performance from TLC NAND in random write workloads, and that is exactly what we get. TLC NAND is significantly slower, but the workload might not be representative of actual use-cases with mobile devices. While the results are interesting, they shouldn't be taken as a particularly damning assessment of iPhone 6 TLC performance. Sequential testing would be very relevant, but no information is currently available.
Manufacturers always walk a fine line between cost and performance. If users cannot perceive a difference in performance there is no need to install the fastest storage available. At last check there haven't been any widespread complaints of some iPhone 6 models being slower than others, so the slower performance of TLC may still fall within an imperceptible range to the end-user. Interesting results indeed, we will keep you updated as we receive more information.
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CoinVault ransomware allows victims to decrypt one file for free
The CoinValut ransomware victimizes businesses, encrypting critical work files - but there is an added twist with this particular piece of software. The criminals provide one free decrypt, providing access to a file, trying to provide additional faith in victims.
Ransomware attacks typically rely on employees falling prey to social engineering techniques, designed to trick users into clicking suspicious links or downloading unknown files.
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Intel, McAfee working to eliminate passwords by using biometrics
The future of passwords could be under pressure if Intel-owned McAfee can develop new biometric authentication technology that can be supported. The average user has around 18 passwords, so using some type of biometrics would be able to help reduce that chaos.
Despite passwords being under threat to be eliminated - for several years now - it still remains the most common security procedure for email, online banking, and other user accounts. However, passwords paired with other security procedures prove to be significantly more secure, though consumers are still waiting to learn more before abandoning all of their passwords.
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Survey: Most users believe Internet access is a basic human right
A whopping 83 percent of Internet users believe affordable and stable Internet access should be a basic human right, according to the CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust. More than two-thirds of the world's population don't have Internet access just yet, but there are more campaigns to help people across the world begin to access the Web - largely on mobile devices, such as mobile phones and tablets.
"Unless they are brought online, a world of Internet 'have and have-nots' will not only contribute to income inequality, but also stifle the world's full potential for prosperity and innovation."
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AC Ryan unveils their new VEOLO 4K, an Ultra HD media player
AC Ryan has just unveiled their fresh new 4K video player, known as the VEOLO 4K. AC Ryan's VEOLO 4K features a "staunch focus" on its User Experience (UX), with a fresh UI that is easy for users to navigate their Ultra HD media player.
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Next-gen 3DMark will reportedly include DirectX 12 vs Mantle test
It looks like 2015 and 2016 could be the big fight between APIs, and while DirectX 12 might reign supreme, I think that Mantle won't just roll over and die as quickly as most think. Futuremark are getting right into the middle of it, teasing its next-gen 3DMark and its "Farandole" benchmark.
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Government agencies face cyberattacks, largely unable to keep up
Since 2013, there have been more than 25 successful cyberattacks against US government networks, and many federal agencies still haven't prioritized cybersecurity efforts. As China, Russia, Iran, and other foreign governments continue to launch attacks, IT experts believe governments should make a bigger effort to boost network protocols.
"It would be wrong to suspect that the federal government is any better at this than the private sector," said Paul Rosenzweig, visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy aide.
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Michael Brown's family campaigning for police officers to wear cameras
As buildings in Ferguson, Missouri, remain ablaze from a night of chaos related to news that Darren Wilson, the police officer that killed unarmed teenager Michael Brown, wouldn't be indicted, the Brown family wants officers to begin wearing body cameras.
Meanwhile, there are so many fires in Ferguson, fire crews are having trouble to respond to all of them, especially as vandals continue to pose significant safety threats.
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ESPN expanding plans for streaming online video service in 2015
ESPN could begin to roll out online streaming video subscriptions for select programs and live sporting events, giving viewers the chance to watch its broadcasting without needing a cable or satellite TV subscription. The effort could begin as early as February, when ESPN will reportedly offer access to the Cricket World Cup, which is held every four years - and while not a major event in the United States, is one of the largest sporting events in the world.
"We think about, are there sports events we could offer where the consumer would pay us directly - not the content on our current linear networks," said John Skipper, ESPN head, earlier this year. "This has to be new [content], and it would create third revenue stream for us. I do want to be clear: we are not looking to linear channels an the content that's on them now. We're going to acquire new content and new kinds of things to do direct-to-consumer."
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castAR has shipped its first set of AR glasses, more on their way
Jeri Ellsworth has taken to Twitter to announce that the Technical Illusions team is finally shipping their first pair of castAR glasses. You might remember the startup took to Kickstarter to raise $1 million, spearheaded by ex-Valve engineers Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson.
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Lexar Professional Workflow DD256 256GB Portable SSD Hub Review
The Lexar Professional Workflow DD256 hub is one of those custom designed products aimed at consumers that want top tier performance in a compact solution. This solution carries marketing specifications indicating 450 MB/s read and 245 MB/s writes. Compatibility extends to modern Windows operating systems and OS X.
MSRP of the Lexar Professional Workflow DD256 is set at $149.99 with a two-year warranty.
Consumers that want both an aesthetically pleasing and high performance solution will certainly love the Workflow. Its small form factor adds to the overall package, enabling space savings in sometimes-tight working environments. Build quality like with most Lexar Professional products is top notch - in fact, when taking images, I found the plastics to fit so well together I couldn't find a place to open the unit.
Performance as you can see above was quite good. While it didn't touch marketing numbers in our read testing due to the use of incompressible data, it did manage 338 MB/s, while write performance was able to touch near marketing numbers at 242 MB/s.
PRICING: You can find the Lexar Professional Workflow DD256 256GB USB 3.0 Storage Drive External SSD LRWDD256CRBNA 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 Lexar Professional Workflow DD256 256GB USB 3.0 Storage Drive External SSD LRWDD256CRBNA retails for $129.95 at Amazon.
Canada: The Lexar Professional Workflow DD256 256GB USB 3.0 Storage Drive External SSD LRWDD256CRBNA retails for CDN$139.99 at Amazon Canada.
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