Fighting Talk: Can everyone please stop making us buy bigger phones?
News broke this week that Google may, at some point in the very near future, stop making and selling the Nexus 5.
That's no surprise as, in keeping with the general ebb and flow of modern capitalism, existing things tend to stop getting made in favour of newer and better things all the time.
What annoys some people about this development, though, is not that the Nexus 5 is being binned and replaced. It's that the replacement is very nearly six-inches across, diagonally speaking.
Add a bit more on to that for some plastic, and a bit more for a case, and you've got something akin in size to a desk diary to carry around with you, like it's 1985 and all your appointments and contacts have to have a page each and your calendar is… an actual calendar.
At some point in the near-ish future, if you want a Nexus phone -- which Google has been selling as the essential and purest Android experience for many years -- you will have to buy something physically much larger than the older Nexus 5. A phone that wasn't exactly small to start with.
And then we have the iPhone 6, for which Apple has pulled a similar stunt. Was 4 inches really too small? For some people that size was perfect - or at least a size they were comfortably used to - and now Apple's message is: go big or go home.
Fair enough, moaning about this might make us look like out-of-touch denialists, loners afraid of change and unable to accept the fact that "phablet" proportioned phones are extremely popular with lots of people these days, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.
Someone has to speak up, else, by 2017, Google will be selling the Nexus 11.9 as its flagship model. And everyone else will probably have a similar idea.
And isn't five inches just about perfect for most people anyway? Shouldn't Google be aiming the Nexus line at the mass market consumer, with their normal size hands, not just the splinter faction that has to have the biggest as well as the best?
Keep it down
So why the rush to super-size the Nexus range? Is it a reaction to the arrival of the iPhone 6 Plus, with Google wanting to be seen to having an enormous flagship phone of its own?Or is it, more likely, because bigger phones come with bigger price tags, so for each £499 Nexus 6 Google sells directly on behalf of Motorola it's able to channel yet more cash off to the safety of its offshore bank accounts.
If it's not as simple as wanting more upfront money Apple-style, perhaps it's about the failure of advertising to become fully integrated in Google's OS. We've been expecting Android phone prices to come down in exchange for more invasive advertising for years, but that's not yet come to pass.
Even Android, operated by the king of internet advertising, doesn't have much in the way of ads onboard inside the core experience.
Perhaps by releasing a Nexus with a £500 asking price, this is Google admitting that the ad-funded, or at least ad-subsidised model isn't working?
After all, you could fit an awful lot of banner adverts and paid slots atop the search results of a phone display with a 2560 x 1440 resolution output, so it's strange that Google's saved ads on Android for just the odd frame inside Gmail. Maybe they just don't work.
Perhaps the only way to make money from phones these days is to sell them for £500, then leave the advertising and penny pinching to the app developers.
So maybe that's why the Nexus 5 is probably getting the chop. Why would you sell something cheap that can do the same job as something expensive?
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Opinion: Only learning to code can stop technology from being the boss of us
This week, Barack Obama became the first US president to write an app. Well, he wrote some JavaScript. Well, he wrote "moveForward(100);" which drew a line to complete a square.
And that's awesome. He was kicking off Hour of Code 2014, a global movement to get students to engage with coding, and here's what the CEO of Code.org, its parent company, said on Quora about that line of JavaScript: "Drawing one line to finish a square isn't hard, it's not rocket science. And that's exactly the point. That's how computer science starts. You don't write a fully-fledged game when you write your very first line of code, you write something as simple as PRINT 'Hello World'."
You could be forgiven for wondering what you can possibly learn of value in an hour. How much electrical engineering, how much ballet, how much stonemasonry, how much of pretty much any skill can you learn in an hour? But Hour of Code isn't about churning out legions of ready-to-work coders. It's about capturing the attention of the next generation and showing them both that they can control computers as well as just use them, and that they should be neither scared of nor bored by code.
Back to school
In England, we're finally adding mandatory coding to the curriculum for primary and secondary schools - the first country in the world to do so, and you can't be anything other than delighted that we've done that. Some are concerned about exactly what will be taught and how - and those concerns are appropriate and healthy - but it mostly doesn't really matter. What you learn in computer science isn't necessarily Ruby or PHP or JavaScript or Objective-C or .NET. The important lessons are about thinking logically, thinking critically, and working out how to solve problems in efficient, elegant and robust ways.Writing about the renewed focus on digital skills this week, Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries, highlighted both the need to prepare the workforce for the emerging digital economy, and how coding "has given millions of people from all backgrounds a platform to express their creativity and make their ideas a reality." You can't really argue with either point, but there's a subtler, less ploddingly goal-oriented and actually equally important side-benefit to getting kids code-literate.
When computers first appeared on our desktops, by necessity they were things that you had to poke and prod at to get working. You had not only to be proficient in software - writing or at least laboriously copying in programs before your loose assemblage of plastic and metal would actually do anything useful or fun - but also electrical engineering, to assemble it in the first place. This, of course, sounds like hell for most people, and computers after the 70s quickly became much less manual - a necessity if they were to appeal to people who wanted to do things with rather than to computers.
Unlocking the box
We've definitely lost something in that process, though. Computers have become sealed boxes - literally, in the case of most of Apple's hardware, where you can't even upgrade the RAM yourself - and we're in danger not just of ceding a lot of control over our technology, but of having neither the skills nor the attitude to taking back that control. 'So what?' you might ask. 'I'll gladly cede that control if it means I get a simpler, more robust experience. I don't need to know how an Anti-lock Braking System works for me to want it in my car'.It's a fair analogy, but that's all it is, and it breaks down quicker than an old Alfa Romeo. Computers are not cars, and as we pour ever more of ourselves onto the internet, and invite ever more internet-connected devices into our lives, the potential for us to sleep-walk into a world where we've become hugely vulnerable, and desperately reliant on a vast and impossible-to-untangle interconnected jumble of technologies is real. Knowing how computers work will only get more fundamental as we weave technology ever more pervasively throughout our society and culture.
That's why Hour of Code and initiatives like it are so important. Adults today, for the most part, are intimidated by what goes on under the hood of their computers, but we have a chance through education of ensuring that kids are back in charge. Computers have never been easier to use and never been harder to hack, but with coding skills, the next generation can treat technology as an empowering, ennobling playground to be bent to their will rather than the unknowable beast that we're only barely controlling today.
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Review: Thecus N8810U-G
Introduction and design
The N8810U-G is a two-unit rack-mount network storage unit, designed for server cabinets. It's big, since it accommodates eight hard disks, weighs 15kg, and it's over half a metre deep, with dimensions of 90mm x 428mm x 586mm.It accommodates up to eight SAS or SATA disks, which can be configured in many types of storage array, from the basic types including JBOD, and RAID modes 0, 1 and 5, to more advanced configurations including RAID 50 and RAID 60.
Pitched at about £1,500 (around $2,350, AU$2,840), it's not the cheapest NAS on the market but it has more than a few extras to justify the cost. The included 10GbE card accounts for a large part of this price tag, for it offers cutting edge super-fast network speeds, along with software features including full hardware-based AES 256-bit encryption of your data.
Design
The black plastic cover at the front slides down after undoing a pair of thumbscrews to reveal eight drive caddies. An LCD display in the centre provides at-a-glance information about the status of the NAS. Each caddy has a lock on it to prevent removal, although there's no lock on the main drive bay door panel itself.
Two USB 2.0 ports, the power button and indicator lights are placed at the left. On the rear there are as many ports as you would find on a typical desktop computer, because the N8810U-G is basically an x86 PC. There are two USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.0 ports, VGA and HDMI video out, and there's a pair of standard Gigabit Ethernet ports which can be bonded together.
The 10GbE card works as a third Ethernet interface, and is possibly the most important aspect of the N8810U-G, for it provides a faster network backplane than many other NAS units on the market, providing up to ten times as much throughput. It removes what has become a bottleneck with transfer speeds for NAS units that rely on standard Gigabit Ethernet only.
Hardware innards
Undoing a single thumbscrew at the back of the N8810U-G allows the metal cover to slide off, revealing the guts of the unit – a standard x86 motherboard, processor and memory.
The chip used by Thecus is a 2.9GHz Intel G850 Pentium dual-core. It's no Core i7 or Xeon, but there's not a huge need for ultra-fast processor performance. It won't be running any graphics-heavy software, and the majority of work the unit will do will be to manage users, shunt data around and support the underlying OS.
Thecus confirmed to me that upgrading the chip with another LGA 1155 processor is possible if you wish, but it might be worth calling them to check compatibility before you do.
There are four internal fans, all of which are hot swappable, which should minimise downtime in the event of one failing.
The standard configuration ships with 4GB of ECC DDR3 memory, and this can be expanded to 32GB, but that's probably only necessary if the N8810U-G is deployed in an environment with lots of users. Thecus boasts that a single unit can handle 250 users simultaneously without slowdown, indicating that the N8810U-G is well-suited for small-to-medium business environments.
Setup and software
Assembling the unit is reasonably straightforward. A massive bag of screws is provided for securing your hard disks directly into the underside of each bay, and they fit in without any trouble. There's no need for plastic sliders to attach to each disk.A nice addition is the complimentary rail mounting kit, which is usually an extra cost when installing enterprise NAS units like this. It's provided in a separate box, as a set of rails and extra screws, with typically IKEA-like awful assembly instructions.
Another neat feature is the dual redundant 400W PSUs. If one packs up, as they are prone to do, the other will kick in, another way to minimise data downtime.
If only one PSU is in operation, either because you've only connected one of them, or more importantly, if one has failed, the unit warns you with a very loud beeping noise. This is worth remembering, since in a cabinet with lots of other computer hardware, it might not be obvious that the beeping noise is being caused by the N8810U-G's PSU.
With the unit assembled and plugged in, you have to log in remotely to finish the setup and build the array, for the video output is only enabled after installing a separate software module.
Software
Up until this stage I was pretty impressed by the N8810U-G. Plenty of thought has gone into making the hardware extremely flexible and resistant to downtime.But in many ways, the software isn't as impressive. For a start, the overall faux-3D look of the user interface is dated. It's absolutely functional, but the system isn't the most attractive or intuitive on-board software I've used.
The operating system has been designed so changing most settings can be done without rebooting the unit, which is only to be expected given the focus on minimal downtime. Changing any low-level networking settings, such as IP address configuration, does require a reboot though.
The software provides plenty of useful bits of additional information. When creating the RAID array, hard disks are listed with their firmware versions clearly displayed.
The three Ethernet connections are managed individually, and can be configured with or without static IP addresses.
Hardware AES 256-bit encryption is provided as standard across the entire array. There's also free Acronis system backup and McAfee antivirus.
The list of extra features seems comprehensive. There's Active Directory integration, iSCSI thin provisioning, remote backup, FTP, user quotas, and software expansion modules for BitTorrent downloads and Plex. The N8810U-G is also VMWare 5.5 certified, so you should be able to easily use it as an ESXi datastore.
As with most NAS devices, additional functions are available via downloadable modules. This is an area where competitors seem to have a bit of a leg-up on Thecus.
Messy modules
Installing modules involves visiting the website, browsing the list of available software, downloading it and installing via your browser. You have to check compatibility with the N8810U-G, and while this is all listed on each module page, it feels messy.A better way would be to integrate the software store with the NAS operating system directly, and only show modules that are 100% guaranteed to work with the N8810U-G.
Some of these modules vary in quality. I quickly installed the BitTorrent module and the interface really wasn't great. It seemed a bit of a chore to upload files and it used quite simple controls, at least compared with the third-party downloader plugins offered on other NAS units.
But despite these small issues, I don't want to criticise the software on the N8810U-G too much. It's no looker, but it's solid and functional.
Performance
Since the N8810U-G is a 10GbE device, testing at full speed required a 10GbE card installed in my PC. Thecus kindly lent me a C10GTR PCI-Express card for testing, while Netgear sent me a ProSafe XS708E switch. An evaluation of these products is best saved for another time, but this was sufficient to test the full speed of the N8810U-G.I used eight WD Red 6TB hard disks, and chose RAID 5 for the array, assuming it would be the most popular choice, combining redundancy and performance, without sacrificing too much capacity.
Although 48TB of capacity was installed, it's important to recognise that this is in decimal, while Windows and other operating systems use the binary TiB to measure capacity, so it looks like less. Overall the usable capacity came to 38TiB, with one disk as a spare.
I performed three tests. To and from the N8810U-G and a RAM drive, with a file transfer of a folder containing 3.5GB of small files, and then with 5GB of large files. I then measured the speeds with Teracopy, which seems to give lower speeds than a direct file transfer. I also used the Intel NAS Performance Toolkit software, for a broader performance overview. This score can be easily compared between NAS devices.
It's also worth bearing in mind that the maximum possible transfer speed over 10GbE is 1.25GB/sec, and no device can go faster. Of course, with faster, pricier enterprise disks than the WD Red 6TB you should get some better speeds, although this will increase the overall cost of the unit.
Promising results
In all three tests, write speeds were faster than read. With the Teracopy file transfer tests, I measured exactly 60MB/sec read and 121MB/sec write. While this result for writing is exponentially higher than you get from a typical two-bay NAS, the read speeds are only around 25% higher.Large file transfer speeds were much better. In Teracopy I measured 368MB/sec write and 152MB/sec read. This is reasonable, but not quite what I was expecting.
When using file transfers in Windows 8.1 I recorded far better scores. Reading averaged at 432MB/sec, while writing results came in at 642MB/sec, which is very impressive.
The Intel NAS Performance Toolkit showed some interesting speeds. File Copy To NAS came to 428.3MB/sec, HD Record levelled off at 357.8MB/sec. The tough Photo Album test, which really pushes a lot of tiny files to the NAS, measured at 31.8MB/sec, which sounds awful, but is still three times higher than a two-bay Zyxel NSA 325 I had previously tested. It's as if this test is down to the device CPU rather than raw throughput.
Overall then, promising results, but perhaps not the very best you can get from a 10GbE NAS. Indeed, while I haven't got a lot of results to reference, a quick look online shows other NAS units managing higher read and write speeds, pushing 800MB/sec in some cases over 10GbE.
But nevertheless, it's still awesome to see such speeds from a piece of copper Ethernet cable.
Verdict
We liked
The N8810U-G may not be maximising the performance of 10GbE but it performs very well.Thecus has gone to great lengths to provide redundancy. The N8810U-G will stay online even if there's a PSU, Ethernet, fan or disk failure, with plenty of hardware to fall back on. It definitely deserves brownie points for stress relief.
I also really like the easily accessible innards. Want to add more memory? No problem. Swap out the Ethernet card? Sure! Even changing the CPU or its fan is possible.
We disliked
Big and hefty are relative terms, but that is exactly how I would describe the N8810U-G. It's server hardware, and not for home use at all. That's only a criticism if you were thinking of it for this use. Unless you keep a server rack in your downstairs cupboard, there are alternative, more compact eight-bay NAS units that might be easier to manage.The N8810U-G is also very noisy. It's not a device you would want to put under your desk.
The software is a bit of a let-down. It definitely needs a lick of paint, the plugin system could do with a redesign and perhaps a better navigation system. While it works fine, the operating system seems to lack the attention to detail Thecus has provided on the hardware front.
Final verdict
The N8810U-G is a solid, well-performing piece of server storage hardware. Considering it supports pricey 10GbE for superfast network speeds, it's not bad value for money.Its trump card is redundancy. Thecus has put a great amount of effort into this area, with dual PSUs, hot-swappable fans and user-replaceable system components. That's great to see.
The software is merely okay though. It's fully functional but nothing exciting, and messy in parts. Thecus isn't the only networking company that could do with giving its software a more modern redesign, but it's more irksome when forking out for a £1,500 (around $2,350, AU$2,840) device.
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Boxing Day Deals: Boxing Day and January Sales: how to pick up a bargain this year!
Boxing Day Sales
The Black Friday bruises have barely begun to fade and Amazon's already bringing out the bunting for its Boxing Day DealsAnd in typical Amazon style, it's going for a whole week of Boxing Day deals instead of a single day.
Yep, no longer confined to highstreet stores, this year's Boxing Day sales promise to be the most exciting ever, as online retailers slash prices across the board in an attempt to clear stock.
So what should you be looking out for this Boxing Day? What deals can you expect to find? And how can you find them?
You guessed it... TechRadar will be on hand once again to help you get the best deals on everything from games consoles, to phones, tablets, TVs and more!
Here's everything you need to know about Boxing Day and January sales until the big day arrives...
Where do retailers put their Boxing Day deals?
Retail websites always have dedicated pages for things like this, and you can find some of them here:- Amazon Boxing Day deals
- Very Christmas deals
- Currys Christmas deals
- PC World Christmas deals
- Tesco Christmas deals
- John Lewis Christmas deals
Zavvi Christmas deals
GAME Christmas deals - Carphone Warehouse Christmas deals
- More to come!
Why Boxing Day and January sales became a big deal
The tradition of post-Christmas sales came about for a very simple reason: after Christmas, shops were stuffed with things that took up valuable space and that nobody wanted to buy. While setting fire to it and pretending that villains were responsible sounded tempting, retailers realised that insurers would see right through such tomfoolery. So they put away their matches and came up with the idea of sales instead - and it turned out that sales were brilliant.They really were. Sales helped shift unwanted stock to make room for spring/summer ranges. Sales got people to go shopping when they wouldn't normally bother. And sales often resulted in people coming in for the bargains and then paying for other, profitable, items and accessories.
"It's like a post-Christmas Christmas!" retailers thought. "Let's do it every year!"
So they did.
Why Boxing Day sales seem to start in September now
We're exaggerating, but only a little bit. Faced with the question of how their sales could stand out when everybody else was doing it, retailers decided there was only one solution: start before everybody else. In 2013, some retailers kicked off their Boxing Day and January sales the week before Christmas. This year they might have already started.
Boxing Day and January sales: online versus the High Street
Some retailers start their sales early, but only online - so you can expect to see some websites unveil deals on Christmas Eve that you won't be able to get in-store for another few days. And of course, online-only retailers from gadget emporiums to Steam are keen to get a slice of that sweet sales-frenzy pie, so they'll be running their own offers too.
Should I queue overnight for Boxing Day sales?
We wouldn't. So-called "doorbuster" deals tend to be very, very limited, and chances are you'll be way behind the organised eBay Tout Massive who know exactly what they want, what Buy It Now price they'll put on it and how to kill you with a single blow if it looks like you'll get to it before they do.We'd recommend staying in bed until a reasonable hour, having a nice breakfast and then relying on a trusted technology website - hello! - to tell you where the best deals are online.
Have Boxing Day sales been overshadowed by Black Friday?
Tesco certainly thinks so: it's reported that it expects its Black Friday sales to be higher than its Boxing Day ones, although given Tesco's recent track record in reporting important numbers - something that's seen heads roll and the financial cops called - then we should maybe take that with a pinch of salt. We're sure Boxing Day 2014 and the January sales 2015 will be just as frenzied as they've always been - maybe more so, given the current climate of austerity.
Can you really get a great bargain on Boxing Day or in the January Sales?
Yes, sort of, maybe, if you know what you're doing and watch out for the tricks of the trade. And there are quite a few tricks to watch out for.The most common trick is what the Consumers' Association calls "pseudo-sales"; that is, sales that look like sales and quack like sales but that aren't really sales. They exist because of retailers sticking to the letter of the law rather than the spirit.
Here's how it works. UK law says that retailers can claim to have discounted goods provided they've been at full price for 28 consecutive days in the last six months, so some firms simply double their prices to ridiculous levels for a month, drop them back to normal again and stick a SUPER HUGE MEGA DISCOUNT sticker on them. That, amazingly, is perfectly legal, and it's why every single Christmas tree in the world appears to be half price in December: they were twice the price throughout August, when nobody buys Christmas trees (if you did, you were robbed. Sorry. Why are you buying Christmas trees in summer anyway?).
TechRadar will only be promoting genuine deals on the day so if you're unsure, check back with this page!
Boxing Day Sales: what's TechRadar doing?
We'll be on hand on Boxing Day to unearth all of the best Boxing Day sales deals on the web, and we'll be listing them right here for you on this page. If you came to us on Black Friday, it's the same deal - we'll be regularly updating as more deals hit the web!We'll be continuing this throughout the January sales with deals of the day so if you stick with us it'll be almost impossible to not find a bargain or two!
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In Depth: Logitech looks to the pros to perfect its peripherals
This is the second article from the author's time spent on a tour of Logitech's testing facilities in Switzerland.
Seated in Logitech's Lausanne, Switzerland testing facility and sporting a brimless baseball cap emblazoned with a big blue "G," former professional gamer Andy Dinh offered a first-hand account of what it's like to test products for the peripheral maker.
"We have a really good relationship ... they really take our feedback seriously," he said.
Based on Dinh's choice of head wear - the "G" is the logo for Logitech's line of pro-grade gaming peripherals - you could be forgiven for dismissing his remarks as those of another sponsored eSports athlete singing the praises of their perks-giving partner.
I was a bit skeptical when Logitech invited me, along with other journalists, to its Alps-surrounded headquarters for a tour of its labs and a chance to speak with some of its engineers and sponsored pro-gamers. Members of Cloud9, an e-sports team competing in everything from Counter Strike to Super Smash Bros., Halo to Hearthstone, and Team SoloMid, which specializes in League of Legends, were on hand, though Logitech sponsors a dozen teams in total.
After talking with the professionals who rely on these products to help make their income, however, I came away with the sense the company's mantra of "Gamers are our focus" was more than just a marketing-spun line spawned to sell more mice.
It's not just about the perks
Dinh, the 22-year-old captain of Team SoloMid, and Jason Tran, a.k.a. "WildTurtle," one of the eSports athletes on Dinh's team, revealed how they help design Logitech's gamer-centric products."There's a whole process of testing," began Dinh. "They send a team and products to our house in Santa Monica way in advance for testing. We test, say, a mouse for months and tell them what we like and don't like about it. They value our feedback ... it's actually more of a partnership, where we help them develop the products.
"They give us prototypes and let us see everything, then we test it," added Tran. "They make equipment based on the feedback we give them."
When pressed for a specific example of where Team SoloMid's extensive testing may have resulted in a peripheral being tweaked with their tastes in mind, Tran offered this: "The G302 model [Logitech's Daedalus Prime, a dedicated MOBA mouse] used to be a lot smaller ... it felt really uncomfortable sometimes. Now it feels great ... it fits in your palm perfectly."
When I spoke with Logitech's senior director of engineering, Maxine Marini, later in the day, he cited the same example, but added the goal was also to make the G302 a peripheral pro players could use for at least 10 hours a day (the average time an eSports athlete practices) without experiencing any discomfort.
Marini offered another example regarding a mouse he declined to name, when the professionals' feedback led to a halt in development shortly before the peripheral was to hit the production line.
"We changed a mouse that was too heavy just a few weeks before mass production; we stopped everything and decided we needed to cut 8-10 grams from its weight. My team had to do plenty of overtime, but we listen to the pros, and if we need to change something, even right up to the last minute, we change it."
Not every Logitech G product needs to get the pro-gamer seal of approval before hitting store shelves, of course. And while eSports competitors certainly enjoy some pampering and perks courtesy of their sponsors, they also act serve as a resource for Logitech, one it considers when designing and producing its products.
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Review: Intel Core i7-5960X
Intro and technology
Intel's Core i7-5960X is its first ever eight-core processor for the general public. You could have bought a vastly more expensive octocore Xeon to drop into an old PC, but this is the full Core monty.And it's a bit special.
There sure is a lot of silicon given over to the graphical components of most of today's other processors though. Intel's standard Haswell architecture throws millions of transistors at its HD graphics component, and AMD's latest Kaveri chips are only a couple of percentage points from being a complete half-and-half split between processor and graphics.
For us enthusiast-type folk, though – more used to strapping a big shiny graphics card to our motherboard than relying on weak-heart integrated GPUs – that's a lot of redundant die space we're paying for.
It also sounds like an awful lot of space we could be shoving extra CPU cores into, doesn't it?
And that's exactly what Intel's high-performance CPU range has been doing for the last few years. The Extreme line of Intel's processors represents the pinnacle of its desktop chips, cramming in more cores than any desktop chip available. For the most part, anyway.
But despite shrinking in production process, even the Extreme range has been stuck fast at six cores for a long while. That's despite AMD already banging the octo-core drum – albeit to little effect – and Intel's own server parts rocking six cores and 12 threads over four years ago.
Finally though, Intel has decided to up the ante on its Extreme consumer chips and is giving us a bona fide eight-core processor with the top end of its new Haswell-E processors.
The Core i7-5960X is that chip, and is the first octo-core chip with Intel's powerful Core architecture squeezed inside.
Well…kinda.
You could have actually gone super-extreme with the previous Sandy Bridge E generation of Extreme chips and dropped a super-expensive eight-core Xeon directly into a standard X79 desktop motherboard. We're going to copyright the term 'super-extreme' by the way; some enterprising marketing exec is bound to try and tack that on to some stupidly expensive component some day, and we need a way to stop them.
Anyway, the old Xeon E5‑2687W was a 32nm mega-chip.
It gave us our first taste of eight proper Intel cores in one chip back in 2012, and in doing so engendered the disappointment of last generation's Ivy Bridge E chips, still stalling on six cores.
Two and a bit years later we've finally got the i7-5960X and its unlocked multiplier giving us the full desktop eight-core, 16-thread monty. It's running on the latest Intel Haswell Core architecture, the new micro-architecture design for the 22nm production process first displayed by the Ivy Bridge processors.
Haswell debuted over a year ago, and in the intervening time has frimly cemented its place in the top desktop PCs around, especially after the recent Devil's Canyon refresh.
Now, though, Haswell E is set to take our high-end desktops to the next level, offering unprecedented processing performance.
Sweet sixteen
Let's take a closer look at this new CPU, then.We already know it's rocking eight Intel cores, and because this top chip is taking advantage of Hyper-Threading that translates into a full 16 threads of processing power. We couldn't help but break into a great big geeky grin watching the Cinebench test split over 16 chunks and chew through the benchmark faster than anything we'd seen before.
It's also completely unlocked – as any good Extreme Edition CPU should be – and contains a full 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes. What's more, there's a huge 20MB of cache. The only real let-down when you take a first look at the specs, then, is that operating frequency.
With a baseclock of just 3GHz and a Turbo speed of up to 3.5GHz, it looks a little off the pace when you compare it with the 3.6GHz/4GHz configuration of the last Ivy Bridge-E processor.
We've also just had Intel itself releasing the i7-4790K processor with a baseclock of 4GHz, which also serves to make this brand new, hyper-expensive CPU look somewhat lethargic in the clockspeed department.
But that's a little unfair, really – being able to run all eight of those cores at a Turbo of 3.5GHz is nothing to be sniffed at and the lower baseclock is likely a result of making sure Intel can produce reliable yields of these 22nm CPU dies, with all eight cores running stably.
With a chip requiring more functional physical cores in a die, there's a greater chance of it dropping out of the manufacturing process with one of them functioning sub-optimally. Pulling the clockspeed back a touch, then, means Intel has better odds of producing these expensive parts in a decent volume.
As we've said, the new Haswell-E chips are all unlocked, and if you're lucky you'll be able to get a hefty performance boost by upping those clockspeeds in your motherboard of choice.
And the new motherboards play a pivotal role in this new high-performance story too; the processors themselves are only one part of it.
Haswell-E is a whole new computing platform, offering a genuinely different proposition over the standard quad-core setups and even over the last generation of Extreme Intel platforms.
Accompanying the new Haswell-E processors is the X99 platform and with that comes support for new storage interfaces and a brand new standard in system memory: DDR4.
The new memory standard remains in the same quad-channel configuration as Intel has used with the other LGA 2011-based platforms, but offers a considerably lower operating voltage than DDR3. Most quad-channel kits are running at 1.5v, but the modules we've been testing this month are more than happy running at serious speeds with just a 1.2v base. With the X99 chipset, DDR4 RAM also starts out with a 2,133MHz baseclock, which is a good deal quicker than the 1,866MHz of the Ivy Bridge-E generation of processors.
Performance and benchmarks
As a platform then, the new Haswell E setup can become the base for a desktop machine with more power in it than ever before possible. And that's borne out by the benchmarks we've thrown at our test system this month.Running the Core i7-5960X against the previous Ivy Bridge-E champion-chip, the Core i7-4960X, we're seeing at least a 25 per cent boost in multi-threaded applications.
We've never seen the X264 benchmark completed so quickly: we used to have time to go off and make a cup of tea while waiting for it to finish...
Compared with the latest Devil's Canyon i7-4790K we're looking at a performance uplift of well over 50 per cent. Of course you'd kind of hope for some extra performance considering the extra core count, but as the 5960X is also running almost a full 1GHz slower that's still pretty impressive stuff.
And when you start to level up the clockspeeds, with a little judicious waving of the overclock stick, the new Haswell-E chip really pulls away from either of the older processors.
With all three CPUs running at their maximum overclock there's a much bigger difference between their relative performance.
Using the Cinebench rendering benchmark, the Core i7-4960X is now 38 per cent slower than the top Core i7 Haswell-E and even running at a breakneck 4.7GHz the Core i7-4790K is a staggering 85 per cent slower than the new king.
So what did we manage to hit with our i7 5960X, then?
It took a little work, but we were able to get a rock-solid system running with the Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard at 4.375GHz. Try as we might though, we couldn't get it stable at anything higher.
But we're not professional overclockers, not by any stretch of the imagination, and we're confident you'll be able to find some 5960Xs going quicker in the wild.
One of the really impressive things outside of the raw performance of the Haswell-E is the fact that it manages to do it all within such a comfortable power and thermal envelope.
At stock speeds – thanks to that lowish baseclock – the i7-5960X runs almost 20°C cooler than the top Ivy Bridge-E CPU with both at 100 per cent load. It also operates with a peak platform power draw some 30 watts lower than the 4960X.
That levels off when you start overclocking, where the Haswell-E starts to get a bit more power hungry at peak performance, but impressively it still manages to run cooler than the 4960X when both are at their maximum frequency.
Gaming beast?
For a productivity machine, then, chewing through raw image and video files or doing any other form of brutal number-crunching, the Core i7-5960X is the pinnacle of desktop processors. It may be super-expensive, but the time it could save you rendering scenes and such might just prove worthwhile.But as the best setup for gaming?
That's a tougher ask. Intel's supporting materials talk about performance boosts from the extra multi-threading capabilities of the Haswell E octocore, but when it comes to firing our game testing suite across its bows we've barely noticed any improvements over the standard Haswell platform.
That wasn't necessarily a big surprise when it comes to the Unreal Engine 3 likes of BioShock, but we were hoping for a bit of multi-threaded lovin' from Battlefield 4's Frostbite 3 engine.
The Core i7-5960X does have a slight edge when you start to throw multiple GPUs into the mix, but certainly not enough of an edge to make a hardened gamer suddenly think the extra £500-600 was worthwhile for a new CPU.
Benchmarks
CPU rendering performanceCinebench R15 - Index score: higher is betterCore i7-5960X - 1387
Core i7-4960X - 1079
Core i7-4960K - 880
CPU video encoding performance
X264 v4.0 - Avg FPS: higher is better
Core i7-5960X - 81.82
Core i7-4960X - 65.19
Core i7-4960K - 53.28
Peak overclocking performanceCinebench R15 - Index score: higher is better
Core i7-5960X - 1719
Core i7-4960X - 1238
Core i7-4960K - 927
Peak platform power
100% CPU load - Watts: lower is better
Core i7-5960X - 219
Core i7-4960X - 252
Core i7-4960K - 195
DirectX 11 1080p gaming performance
Battlefield 4 - (Min) Avg FPS: higher is better
Core i7-5960X - (58) 93
Core i7-4960X - (83) 104
Core i7-4960K - (59) 94
DirectX 11 1080p gaming performance
Metro: Last Light - (Min) Avg FPS: higher is better
Core i7-5960X - (19) 52
Core i7-4960X - (18) 52
Core i7-4960K - (11) 52
The only really surprising result is the single-threading performance of the stock-clocked i7 5960X.
Running with only one core, the CPU frequency bounces around like a freebasing kangaroo, though turning off Speed Step in the BIOS results in performance at the same level as an Ivy Bridge-E.
Obviously it's the octo-core's multi-threading performance that really steals the show though, especially in its overclocked state, running just shy of 4.4GHz.
Verdict
So, no, the i7-5960X isn't the gaming messiah chip we might have been hoping for.But that isn't necessarily it for the Haswell-E platform in terms of gaming, because there is another option.
Traditionally the lower end of the Extreme range has been a quad-core, offering not much else above the standard platform, but with Haswell-E that bottom chip is a hex-core CPU costing not much more than a 4790K.
The i7-5820K could be a contender for the absolute best gaming CPU around – stay tuned for more on that one.
As it is though, the 5960X is an outstanding processor.
The last eight-core chip we saw in an Intel desktop was a pretty middling Xeon that cost £1,500; this chip is around half the price and a good deal quicker too. You still have to pay through the nose for this sort of processing power, of course, but if you think you can make good use of those 16 threads, the i7-5960X is worth every penny.
We liked
The multi-threading performance of the Core i7-5960X is quite unprecedented, as is its cool-running too. That helps us manage to push the clockspeed up on all eight cores with a little simple overclocking.The X99 platform also gives us our first taste of the new DDR4 memory technology. Previously it's been limited to the server side, where it arguably makes more sense, but the low-power, high-performance kits we've seen so far are looking good.
We disliked
As normal for an 'Extreme' edition chip from Intel the price is seriously high. We're used to the top Core i7s costing around $1,000 (£800), but that doesn't stop it from sticking in our craws.It's also a shame that the extra multi-threading performance doesn't really translate into any gaming boost, but that's not Intel's fault, that's down to the devs.
Verdict
The Intel Core i7-5960X is an astoundingly quick, relatively low-powered processor. It's beyond the financial reach of most of us, but we sure are glad this technology exists. It's surely only a matter of time before it trickles down.
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Interview: Peter Molyneux on what went wrong with Godus - and how to save free-to-play
When we met with Peter Molyneux a year ago, he was enthusiastic, optimistic and excited. He beamed with that child-like wonder that only Molyneux can. Now the Theme Park creator talks with a tone of caution, even regret.
The last 12 months have been trialing. Molyneux's hasn't only ventured into the bold new world of mobile gaming, he's also walked the precarious path of free-to-play. The reception to Godus, his 'reimagining' of Populous, has been a mixed bag all the way from its early Kickstarter birth to its launch. That's not to say he regrets making it. But it's safe to say that in the space of a few months, Molyneux has learned some invaluable lessons.
"If I had my time again I wouldn't do Kickstarter at the start of development, I would do it at the end of development or towards the end of development," he tells us. "I'm not saying I would never do Kickstarter again, but if I was to do Kickstarter again I would say 'Look, we've done half the game, you can download this demo, you can play the game. You know what the game's going to be, now we're going to take it from this point to this point."
"I think what ends up happening, and what ended up happening with Godus, is that people get a view of what the game is going to be like from what you've said here, and that view quite often from what the final game is. And there's this overwhelming urge to over-promise because it's such a harsh rule: if you're one penny short of your target you don't get it. And of course in this instance, the behaviour which is incredibly destructive, which is 'Christ, we've only got ten days to go and we've got to make a hundred thousand, for f**ks sake lets just say anything'.
"I think what i've also learned, is that doing Kickstarter and Steam Early Access before you've got something which is defined and playable is a hugely risky undertaking that can be very destructive to the final quality of the game."
Freemium has become a dirty word. You might think that companies like EA would be the ones setting a good example, but go tell that to anyone who had their childhoods ruined by Dungeon Keeper earlier this year. Even Apple has changed the dialogue of its app store so that the little button that once read 'Free' now reads 'Get' on games with in-app purchases.
"For certain genres of game, the free to play model has got a bit fairer," argues Peter. "If you look at how [Supercell's] Boom Beach has evolved it, and what's been happening on some of the other apps, it's not nearly so harsh. It's far less 'you need to introduce five friends' or 'you need to spend 50p or you can't go any further'. That's got fairer. The disappointment however, and I include Godus in this I think, is that the free-to-play model hasn't evolved and spread out to other genres. So that free to play model is great for certain games, it's great for car battle games, it's great for world builder games like Clash of Clans - it's just not as good for open-ended open world games like Godus.
"These games have got a very simple model. If you look at things like Candy Crush, you pay money if you want to carry on playing, if you feel so obsessive. And I think that's a good thing to stop people just spending endless hours. You pay money for that and you pay money if you're struggling to get past a level. That hasn't really translated into other areas."
"I think it needs to be simple and it needs to be understandable. And the thing I've learned from Godus is that the game and monetization need to be together, they need to be part of the flow of the game. It needs to be feel not like a requirement, like a gate."
We need to talk about PC
The thing is (as Peter points out) these free-to-play Facebook-y type games, which have infested our mobiles, are based on a model that pre-dates smartphone gaming entirely. The difference is how that model is being exploited.Take Hearthstone, a game in which you can never spend a dime and you'll never feel punished for it. Sure, in-game purchases will help you build that extravagant deck even faster, but you can comfortably earn it without opening your wallet if you're willing to put in a bit of extra time and effort. To put it more simply, it never feels pay-to-win.
"The model I'm absolutely fascinated with, and we don't talk nearly enough about this - the press doesn't talk enough about it, and I don't think the gaming community do - is the PC," says Peter. "It's Team Fortress 2, and League of Legends 2, and Dota. They're all quietly going on and refining their model in a much more interesting and a much more mature way.
"I think we're not talking about it because there's not the data in your face like there is here [on phones]. I don't think they need the press, they don't need to talk about their numbers, so we don't see it so much. In places like Korea and Taiwan, PC gaming is massive… that's totally invisible to us. I'm very inspired by what's happening in those markets that have been using free to play, or the equivalent of free to play, for many many years, many more years than free to play has been on phones. And if you look at that stuff, it seems fairer, it seems more interesting, it seems more integrated with the game itself."
Peter Molyneux is a passionate man. And while he's earned an unfortunate reputation of over-promising and under-delivering, no one could ever accuse Peter of not loving what he does. With Curiosity: What's inside the cube? Peter proved that thousands of people would happily tap away at a screen to pursue an invisible prize, but with Godus, he explains, he was also out to prove something to himself.
"I proved to myself that making the transition from console to mobile is possible, but it's very, very difficult. It's not just about an idea, and thinking 'OK I'm going to be dealing with a new audience of people, and I'm going to be dealing with a new audience of people that want to use their phones to relax more than they want to use it to be excited'. It's far more complex than that because there are so many skills that you have to learn from the base up."
If you head over to Peter's 22Cans site right now and click on 'about us', you'll see the following message:
"Peter's dream was to hand-craft a team of the 22 most talented, passionate and creative individuals with which to make the defining games of his career.
22 Cans create games for the world, and the journey has only just begun."
Indeed, it feels like Molyneux is far from done. He'll take his lessons from Godus with him to his next mobile game, The Trail - "I think the next IP is an interesting step" - but we can't help but ask him if through the trials and tribulations of Godus, there was ever a moment he longed to be back on the lavish green pastures of Microsoft.
"I had a fantastic time there. I'm not sure it was the most sensible thing for me to do to leave in terms of life. I had a very comfortable existence there, a very defined existence, I knew what tomorrow would be. And I left the luxury cruiseliner to get into the lifeboat with a big hole in the side. Creatively speaking, I'm at my most creative when I'm most in peril. Necessity is the mother of creativity, it's being forced to do something. If you don't create now you're going to sink.
Then you tend to come up with better ideas."
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Week in Gaming: Special PlayStations, Morpheus drip and a final Odyssey
We tend to like to start our weekly roundups on a positive note, but this week's most saddening occurrence was the death of a true pioneer of the gaming world we love.
The death of Ralph Baer robs us of a man often called the 'father of video games' due to his role as the inventor of the first commercial video console - with his brown box being manufactured and sold as the Magnavox Odyssey.
And, because true genius doesn't rest on its laurels, Baer not only lays claim to the first cartridge game and first analog controller but he also invented the first light gun and 'Simon' the 'Simon Says' toy that anyone over the age of 30 probably had in their Christmas stocking.
So RIP Ralph Baer - it may be game over, but what a legacy to leave behind.
Onto happier things, as we spent some time getting a glimpse of just what games would define PlayStation in 2015. TL;DR? Lots of awesome, no sight of Half Life 3. But we live in hope.
Sony's PlayStation stole most of the headlines this week, our head was turned not only by the 20th anniversary special edition PS4 but also by the chance of getting one for cheap.
But, despite movement in both Oculus Rift and Google's Cardboard, we found out that you shouldn't be holding your breath for a Project Morpheus VR just yet.
Basically kids, don't hold your breath for any piece of kit without a hard release date, it's just stupid.
We also took the time out to update our big preview of E3 2015 - explaining just what we want to see - and our list of the best android games in 2014.
Meanwhile, over on GamesRadar+ they picked out their games of the year. We won't spoil who made the cut - but only because we got distracted by some Star Wars news and we saved it to read in our lunch hour.
Last, but not least, if you want to take sneak peak at what games and gaming kit some of the TechRadar team across the globe would like to find in their stockings - you can take a look at our Christmas Wishlist.
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The most powerful supercomputers in the world – and what they do
Introduction and top ten
We live in the computer age so it's no surprise that a nation's international importance is often measured on the number and the size of supercomputers it runs.After three wins in a row, it was no surprise that Tianhe-2, a supercomputer at China's National University of Defence Technology in Guangzhou, was hailed once again as the world's most powerful system, clocking 33.86 petaflops.
The 44th Top 500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers, revealed during November's International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) in New Orleans, contained only one new entry – a 3.57 petaflops Cray CS-Storm system installed at a secret US government facility.
Does Tianhe-2's domination mean China is taking over?
"China is also among the most populated nations," points out George K. Thiruvathukal, Member of the IEEE Computer Society and professor of Computer Science at Loyola University Chicago. "They have a hundred cities with more than a million people. If anything, it reinforces the importance of the UK and US continuing to make investments in supercomputing and advanced computational methods in general."Thiruvathukal thinks that the austerity measures now in place in many Western democracies could leave them trailing behind the likes of India and China, but that it's really not about money, but efficiency.
"When India launched a probe to Mars at a tenth of the cost of an equivalent mission in the USA, there is a growing feeling that spending money alone is not going to allow the UK and US to remain ahead," he says. "That said, not spending money is a certain path to falling behind the curve."
China actually only has 61 supercomputers in the Top 500, down from 76 since June's list, compared to a whopping 231 in the US. However, the US has never had fewer in the Top 500 – a year ago it had 265.
The Top Ten
Here's the rundown of the top ten supercomputers – what these machines can do in a single day would take the average PC about 20 years.1 – Tianhe-2: Holed-up in China's National University of Defence Technology in Guangzhou, Tianhe-2 is the world's top system with a performance of 33.86 petaflops. Achieving quadrillions of calculations per second, Tianhe-2 uses Intel Xeon Phi processors and is named after the Milky Way.
2 – Titan: A Cray XK7 system at the US Department of the Oak Ridge National Observatory at Harvard, Massachusetts, it uses Nvidia Tesla GPUs and AMD Opteron CPUs to create a 17.5 petaflop system for a range of science projects. Titan will be replaced in 2018 by IBM's Summit.
3 – Sequoia: A former top-ranker, this monster-sized computer at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, concentrates on extending the life of ageing nuclear weapons and conducting experiments on nuclear fusion. It can sustain 17.1 petaflops via its 96-rack IBM Blue Gene/Q system.
4 – K computer: Japan's highest-ranking HPC, Fujitsu's K computer sits in Kobe, Japan's RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science, where the machine uses its 10.5 petaflops to "solve the energy, sustainability, healthcare, climate change, industrial and space challenges facing society today".
5 – Mira: Another IBM Blue Gene/Q machine, the Mira supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, is owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE). It's among the most energy efficient, and gets to 8.58 petaflops.
6 – Piz Daint: Named after a mountain in the Swiss Alps and housed at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre, this mighty Cray XC30 system uses its 6.27 petaflops primarily for climate and weather modelling, though also for astrophysics, materials science and life science.
7 – Stampede: This Dell-made 5.1 petaflops system at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, Austin, makes its 10 trillion operations per second available for open research, with projects including drug molecule construction to weather forecasting to astrophysics passing through its 462,462 cores.
8 – Juqueen: With its 458,752 cores, this IBM BlueGene/Q example boasts 5 petaflops and does neuroscience, computational biology, climate research and quantum physics at the Forschungszentrum Juelich. It's Germany's only entry in the top ten.
9 – Vulcan: Almost identical to the Juqueen, this Sequoia IBM BlueGene/Q system runs 4.29 petaflops at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California. The LLNL just inked a contract with IBM, Nvidia and Mellanox for a new supercomputer called Sierra for 2017, which will improve nuclear weapons modelling and do away with the need for underground testing.
10 – *Top secret*: We know it's based on a Cray CS-Storm system and achieves a paltry (for the top ten, anyhow) 3.57 petaflops, but this US government-owned supercomputer lacks the usual kooky name, and its whereabouts isn't publicly known. It's the most efficient HPC yet.
Supercomputer trends
In supercomputing, is bigger better?
"For some, supercomputer size remains the key factor in determining standing in the high-performance computing world – the larger the supercomputer, runs the argument, the more realistic the simulations, comprehensive the data analytics and innovative the scientific enquiries," says Andy Grant, director of High-Performance Computing and Big Data at Bull Information Systems, an architect of supercomputers."This made sense back at the dawn of the supercomputing era over half a century ago [when] the technology was used primarily for specialist applications ranging from weather forecasting to complex telephone switching systems and nuclear weapons testing."
With the arrival of cloud-based supercomputing – sometimes called HPC-on-demand – that's all changing. "The continuing emphasis on size merely acts as a distraction from what really matters," says Grant. "HPC-on-demand can drive 'time to insight', shortening the time taken between the presentation of the problem and reaching an understanding of how to solve it."
The result, thinks Grant, is faster innovation, more accuracy and efficiency, and a greater understanding of complex issues. "The focus needs to change from the size of the computer to the economic benefit that the whole HPC infrastructure can deliver."
What are the trends in supercomputing?
Power efficiency is the big one, with supercomputer sellers often presented with a 'power envelope' by their customers. The challenge is to configure a system with a given maximum power draw per node."That means achieving the maximum possible server and memory density, it means designing in components that are frugal in electricity consumption and efficiency terms, and it also means taking account of heat production and disposal at the stage of system design," says Jason Coari, Director of International Marketing, EMEA/APAC at SGI, who says that cooling and climate control are being closely looked at. That's not surprising since for each 100W of power that a server consumes to do its job, it needs about 70W for cooling. The key figures for CPUs are therefore the output per watt.
"There are components or technologies – such as flash memories – that enable us to develop systems with a much smaller footprint and which consequently take up far less space for the same power," says Coari. "The virtualisation of servers, storage and desktops presents computing centre operators with another viable means of saving electricity."
New at number 11
Our favourite supercomputer of all was a new entry at number 11 in the Top 500. It's got to be NASA's delightfully-named (aren't they all?) Pleiades – named after the most beautiful stargazing sight of all, the Seven Sisters. Upgraded in October using an Intel Xeon E5-2680 v3 processor-powered SGI ICE X system, this supercomputer at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, is now using its newly-found 3.37 petaflops for nothing less than perfecting the future of human and robotic space exploration.When it comes to 'grand questions', supercomputers have it sewn up.
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Updated: LTE-ready Nexus 9 is now up at T-Mobile, AT&T and Google Play
T-Mobile said today that it's the first carrier to launch the LTE version of HTC's Nexus 9 tablet, but AT&T wasn't far behind.
The un-carrier is offering the Nexus 9 online via its Underground store for its usual scheme of $0 down and a monthly fee spread out over two years - in this case $24.99, for a total of $599.76. On top of that they'll let you add the Nexus 9 to an existing Simple Choice plan for $10 per month, matching your existing data up to 5GB for use specifically on the tablet.
And naturally the Nexus 9 is also eligible for T-Mobile's 200MB per month "free data for life" deal.
AT&T and Google Play too
AT&T meanwhile wants users to spend the full $600 on their LTE Nexus 9, with a meager $100 bill credit for those who grab a two-year contract too. But its data plans, too, start at $10 per month.Lastly Google Play also put the LTE Nexus 9 up for sale today, so if you don't mind paying full price and you don't want to be locked to a carrier then that's probably the way to go.
The HTC-built Nexus 9 is a beast of a tablet, with Android 5.0 Lollipop, an 8.9-inch display and a Tegra K1 chip.
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Microsoft's Xbox head will 'talk about gaming' at Windows 10 event
Microsoft announced yesterday that it will reveal the future of Windows 10 at an event in January, and they said at the time that Xbox head Phil Spencer will take the stage in some capacity.
Now the Microsoft executive has revealed that he'll be discussing Windows gaming at the event.
"I'll be focusing more on what we are doing on Win10 in January," he said in a tweet on December 11. "It's time for us to talk about gaming on Windows."
Windows gaming is 'critical'
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will head the Windows 10 event, while other executives from the company's operating systems group, including Spencer, will be on hand as well.Microsoft's efforts to invigorate Windows gaming have fallen universally flat in recent years, but Spencer has said in the past that the company wants to bring Windows gaming back into the spotlight, as Polygon points out.
"Gaming on Windows is critical to Microsoft's success," he reportedly said at E3 this year, and it seems that statement may finally pay off in January.
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In Depth: Building a better mouse: inside Logitech's Swiss testing facility
Touring the testing grounds
Before beginning my tour of Logitech's Lausanne, Switzerland testing facility, Ujesh Desais, general manager of the company's gaming-focused Logitech G products, cracks wise about the irony of testing mice in the basement.Despite Desais' joke, though, the research and development that goes into creating Logitech's mice and keyboards here in Switzerland is anything but funny.
The visit to the tech campus, where Logitech crafted their very first mouse in 1981, along with other journalists wasn't meant to sell us on a specific peripheral or branded product, but instead to give an inside peek into the engineering and science behind their line of gaming mice and keyboards.
The company's gaming devices may sport sleek designs and pretty, shiny lights, but Logitech wants its customers to know there's much more to their products than cosmetic appeal. To drive this point home, they led us on a lengthy, behind-closed-doors tour that occasionally felt more like a visit to a mad scientist's laboratory.
One of our first stops, a room filled with robotic fingers hovering over keyboards, was essentially a torture chamber for WASD keys. Testing the endurance and lifespan of Logitech's Romer-G switch - a new key developed with the pro-gamer in mind - the machines punish the peripherals, jabbing the keys 13 times per second, until they'd survived 70 million clicks.
According to Logitech's standards, the last press should feel just as comfortable and responsive as the 70th million.
The next room, which happened to contain a monitor looping a video of a keyboard being run over by an SUV, housed a turntable that didn't look unlike the type you'd place a vinyl record on.
Rather than playing your old LPs, though, the device spins discs of various surfaces. With a mouse placed on the disc, Logitech's engineers can quickly test its sensors for things like latency, speed and acceleration on just about any imaginable surface. My query as to whether they had a "Mountain Dew-stained desk" surface disc was met with only a smile.
While the turntable didn't look out of place among Logitech's walls, the Katapult 2.0 had my wondering if I'd maybe wandered into a NASA testing facility.
Powered by compressed air, the machine sports a large mechanical limb that swipes over a semi-circle at speeds my eyes couldn't keep up with. The point of this rigorous test, in layman's terms, is to mimic mouse swipes at extremely high speeds. Acceleration, trajectory and latency are also monitored by the device.
The final stop was the anechoic chamber, a foam-padded room constructed in the deepest depths of the facility. Essentially a soundproof room but for wireless signals, the chamber tests the connections of Logitech's unplugged products by isolating radio frequencies.
In other words, if your wireless products are suffering slow-down due to interfering Wi-Fi signals, you may want to invest in your own anechoic chamber; it'll only run you about $600,000.
While the in-depth, info-packed tour of Logitech's testing site left me with with a bit of a brain cramp, it also provided a close-up look at the research, development and engineering that goes into the gaming peripherals many of use every day. So, next time you nail a head-shot in Counter Strike: GO, you can thank science, not luck, for your match-winning accomplishment.
Head to the next page for a complete photo gallery!
Photo gallery
Below are more photos of my time at Logitech's Swiss testing grounds.
- Are Steam Machines the future of PC gaming?
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The biggest Chromebook yet might launch early in 2015
Chromebooks so far have been fairly limited in size, but Acer might be preparing to launch the biggest one yet.
The Taiwanese company, which is already a prolific Chromebook maker, will launch the 15.6-inch Acer C910 in March, reports a site called OMG Chrome.
They're not saying where they got their info - besides saying a "Chrome Bandit" passed it along - but they seem to have an unusual amount of details.
According to the site, the Acer C910 will be part of a new wave of "rugged" Chromebooks launching in early 2015 that also includes the 11-inch Acer C740.
The 'Teacher's Chromebook'
The Acer C910 Chromebook will reportedly sport a 15.6-inch display with either 1366 x 768 or 1920 x 1080 resolution, an Intel Broadwell or Core i3 chip, 2GB or 4GB memory, 16GB or 32GB storage, and the other usual bells and whistles (Bluetooth, HDMI, USB 3.0, etc.).In addition Acer will supposedly refer to it as the "Teacher's Chromebook," despite the fact that it's apparently launching in March, toward the end of the school year.
There's no way to confirm any of this until Acer makes its announcements, but with the sheer volume of information the report contains we're inclined to at least give it some thought.
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Industry Voice: 3 critical mobility components that help IT managers sleep at night
The enterprise mobility industry is going through a methodology shift in how it approaches and thinks about mobile security. When Mobile Device Management (MDM) initially launched, the industry assumed having the ability to lock down features and functions on a particular device also helped secure the device. However, this configuration management type of approach was deemed unsatisfactory when it comes to providing actual security on top of what the underlying operating system provides.
As the industry shifted from MDM to Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), the focal point also shifted and honed in on securing applications and data to ensure corporate and government data residing on the device remains secure at all times. According to Gartner, in the next three years, 75% of mobile security breaches will result from mobile application misconfiguration. This risk factor, along with the increase in corporate mobile use, presents IT with a tricky challenge.
BYOD-enabled businesses of all sizes are looking for broader EMM solutions to both address end-to-end data security, while providing an elegant user experience that enables stakeholders to work remotely on mobile devices. In order to turn BYOD from an IT nightmare into a business asset, IT managers can look to secure collaboration tools with built-in authentication, authorization and access control, and a strong, supporting ecosystem, as their security lifelines.
Secure collaboration tools
In today’s BYOD environment, it’s essential for employees to access the right information at the right time, from any device and in any location. According to Forrester, employees are beginning to purchase whatever devices and collaboration tools they need, whether company-sanctioned or not. In fact, approximately 32% of employees are willing to purchase collaboration tools to be as productive as possible. To not hinder this new way of working, IT teams must be the guardians that walk the fine line between enablement and control.Expanding further, IT managers must ensure employees are accessing corporate data in a secure manner at any given time, regardless of whether it’s from personal or corporate devices. The combination of unsecured devices and leaky collaboration tools put sensitive data and the company at risk. With Forrester estimating that 15% of employees are accessing sensitive corporate data, such as customer information, nonpublic financial data and intellectual property, from personal devices, this is a wake up call and warning for IT managers.
Unsecured collaboration tools that allow employees to move data around applications and various cloud services present dangers in the corporate environment. To avoid corporate liabilities, collaboration applications must have security (i.e. data-at-rest and data-in-transit encryption), policy management and compliance capabilities built in as a set of core capabilities from the beginning. IT managers will rest better knowing the collaboration tools are embedded with critical security and management capabilities at the application level.
One common way IT managers can ensure high levels of security within collaboration applications is by using a mobile platform that has security as a foundational layer. Security is an enabler. Understanding security and thinking about it early will allow a CISO to say yes to a CIO’s request to enable employee access on mobile devices because the company now has the proper risk mitigation controls in place.
Strong authentication and multi-layer security
It’s highly recommended to have at multi-layered security approach that starts with strong authentication, especially given that passwords have become an antiquated approach that are easily getting compromised. Today, organizations can leverage password alternatives such as one-time password (OTP), smart cards, and biometric authentication, which include facial, voice and fingerprint. All are typically referred to as two-factor authentication; since it’s something we know (i.e. a password or PIN) and something we have, which could be the token, smart card or biometric template. Going one step further, organizations can integrate into their existing identity and access management (IAM) strategy instead of trying to create something completely different for their mobile deployment.Strong authentication is just one layer in what should be a defense in depth approach. Additional risk mitigation techniques should include verification of the underlying operating system where these collaboration tools are installed on. In addition, there should be a verification of the actual applications themselves to ensure that these applications are providing the necessary security, policy management, and compliance controls as advertised.
Open ecosystems
Having flexibility around what authentication method to use or what mobile application to deploy to solve a particular use case is a major benefit and piece of mind to IA personnel and IT managers running the mobile deployment. It also provides a sense of agility in this fast-moving space where mobile deployments provide significant ROI when it comes to increased productivity. An open ecosystem should not only include a plethora of authentication providers and the ability to seamlessly migrate from one to another if the time comes, but also a variety of collaboration and productivity applications. Equally important are abstracted app-independent services that can solve various and often times specific needs for a particular enterprise.For an open ecosystem to succeed, independent software vendors (ISV’s) need to be able to quickly jump on to a particular platform so they can take advantages of all that it offers instead of trying to figure it out themselves. This applies to things like encryption, overall security, authentication, and many other platform capabilities/offerings. The key to a broad open ecosystem is the underlying platform which should create a “If you build it they will come” phenomenon. By leveraging a robust mobile security platform, enterprises can truly crowd-source to solve their needs, whether they build something from scratch or more likely leverage a popular ISV and just have them integrate the underlying platform. As a result of leveraging an open ecosystem, with partners at every turn to help for any category of things a company might want to do, business gets further enabled by increasing productivity and user satisfaction all while reducing overall costs.
An ecosystem, where every application shares the same underlying security methodologies, enables interoperability and unified enterprise policy management, helping meet compliance needs. The ecosystem of ISV’s can focus on making user experience terrific, resulting in a happy end user community. In the past, companies were burdened with incomplete capabilities from one vendor’s offerings, or from non-integrated components sourced from multiple vendors. This was a management nightmare for IT, a laundry list of potential risks for IA and a horrible user experience.
Today, we have the luxury of open ecosystems, which give more choice, flexibility and streamlined and simplified methods to protect data. With 70% of enterprises claiming mobile support to employees will take high priority over the next 12 months, IT managers should be exploring new ways to leverage collaboration tools, strong authentication methods and open ecosystems.
The enterprise mobility industry is refocusing its attention on applications and the mobile data that resides within them. As a result, information assurance personnel in partnership with IT managers must decide how best to protect sensitive corporate data and applications regardless of device type.
- Eugene Liderman is director of public sector technology at Good Technology
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Hands-on review: Samsung Galaxy Tab Active
There are certain things an iPad Air 2 isn't designed to do. For example: you wouldn't want to submerge it in three-feet of water for 30 minutes (it will die in any water). You wouldn't want to expose it to -4-degree or 140-degree temperatures (it can survive 32- to 95-degree temperatures), and you wouldn't want to drop it from up to four feet (it's been known to shatter at this height).
The iPad Air 2 is definitely the best tablet on the market. However, it's not ideal for extremely energetic people or employees with outdoor jobs.
In comes the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active ($699.99, £450, AU$850.00). The recently-released tablet from the Seoul, South Korea-based manufacturer can not only survive the tests I described above, it also provides a thoroughly enjoyable user experience.
Similar to the awesome but expensive Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 ($2,099 AUD $2,358), the Galaxy Tab Active is built for people who are likely to come face-to-face with the elements. Unlike the Toughpad, the Tab Active is much more affordable and built to function for longer than six hours.
Specs
The 8-inch tablet is Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n-enabled with 16GB of storage (compared to 82gb on the Toughpad). Built on the Android 4.4 (KitKat) operating system, the Galaxy Tab Active features a 1.2 GHz, Quad-Core and Qualcomm APQ 8026 processor that's backed by Samsung Exynos.Like the incredible Samsung Galaxy Tab S ($399.99, £319, AU$479.00), the Active Tab features a gorgeous form factor and lightweight design (0.88 pounds without the recommended ruggedized case). However, the Tab Active is built with different requirements in mind - so some of the more impressive Galaxy Tab S features didn't find their way onto the Tab Active, while some of the less impressive Tab S specs have been upgraded to suit the business user's needs.
For example: unlike the Galaxy Tab S and its ridiculous 2560x1600 resolution screen, the Galaxy Tab Active is only 1280x800. It also doesn't come in the larger 10.5-inch format (because enterprise users prefer a one-handed working approach, says Samsung). Camera resolution pales in comparison to the Tab S, which features 8 and 2.1 megapixel front and rear-facing cameras, respectively. On the Tab Active you get 3.1 and 1.2 megapixels on each side, respectively.
The Tab Active does improve upon the Tab S's 12-hour battery life with a built-in 10-hour battery, as well as an easily removable back cover into which you can insert a replacement 10-hour battery. Of course, you'll have to buy the extra battery, but it's worth it, especially if this is part of your enterprise fleet.
Built strong
The Tab Active is IP67 dust and water resistant certified, so you'll be able to handle the device on construction sites, or if you're standing next to a bunch of dudes dirt-bike racing. This isn't an unusual feature for enterprise-grade devices. However, the Tab Active has coverless microphone and micro-USB ports that are designed to keep out dust, debris and water, which means you don't need to worry about flimsy plastic ripping off and decertifying your device.Enterprise users will enjoy using the C-Pen, which is a sister device to the more popular S-Pen. Unlike the S-Pen, which requires electrical charges and is designed for signing documents and design-work, the C-Pen doesn't need to be charged and is meant to provide all-purpose directional navigation - meaning you should use it to do everything on this tablet if you're wearing gloves. It is also compatible with all other Samsung touchscreen devices.
For gloved workers, the Tab Active features physical Home, Back and Forward keys beneath the Gorilla Glass touchscreen.
Underneath the hood
The Tab Active's strengths aren't only skin-deep. The device supports NFC connectivity, POGO charging and Samsung Knox security. It's also Certified Citrix-Ready and SAP-Certified for SAP Work Manager and SAP CRM Service Manager.All you klutzes out there will appreciate the 3-year warranty it comes with, especially if you're prone to dropping things from more than four feet.
First impressions
The processing speed, lightweight design and killer speakers make this device a joy to use. I was able to zip between applications and rotate between horizontal and vertical formats with only one hand.Although the screen resolution and camera specs didn't wow me, I don't expect many people to purchase this device for Netflix binging or selfie snapping. That's what the iPad Air 2 and Galaxy Tab S are designed for.
I absolutely hate the keyboard on the Android 4.4 operating system, so you'll likely want to download another keyboard app, which could be problematic for enterprise deployments. I admit this is a taste preference and not applicable to all my readers. Some people love the KitKat keyboard.
Early verdict
Unfortunately, the device doesn't offer some of the bells and whistles of consumer-friendly devices. The cameras don't pack much pop and the screen resolution isn't on-par with the Galaxy Tab S. The Galaxy Tab Active doesn't offer much storage, so you won't want to use this as a two-in-one device for heavier computing.If you need to withstand the rigors of harsh weather or field environments, you won't find a more equipped tablet. The flapless ports and lightweight build offer you a long-lasting weather-proof tablet that you won't get tired of using. The 10-hour battery life and easily maneuverable replaceable battery compartment will enable you to work all day and all night. For only ($699.99, £450, AU$850.00), the Galaxy Tab Active is a wise choice for business users and outdoor enthusiasts alike.
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Buying Guide: Best in ear headphones: our top 3 reviewed
As much as we love the sound and bass performance of big, hulking over-ear headphones, there are some situations where they simply tend to cause more problems than they're worth.
Whether you're at the gym, traveling, or just hanging out, sometimes you just want something a little more compact, something that won't weigh you down, or maybe even a pair of headphones that's sweat-proof. For these specialties, you're speaking precisely of what in ear headphones have to offer.
We're on a mission to provide you with the best in ear headphones around. As such, we've corralled our top rated reviews so that you can do all your research and make a purchase in one place.
But don't think we're done updating this guide once it's been published. As we review better headphones, the product with the lowest mark will get the ol' boot.
ACS T1
This
next set of earbuds is extraordinary in more ways than one. Our own
James Rivington described his first experience with the ACS T1 as being
thrown into "a lake of narcotic syrup. It flows down your ear holes and
intoxicates your brain." If that isn't a recommendation for a product,
what is?Differing a bit from standard earbuds, the ACS T1 are basically high-quality studio monitors packed into an earbud-sized silicon mold that rests in your ear. And they fit just right, only because you have to go in for a custom molding of your own inner-ear for ACS to build your set.
If that doesn't scare you off, let's get the price out of the way. They're $999 (£649) and that doesn't include the kitchen sink. This may turn you away, but if it doesn't, the ACS T1 might be just for you. They are, indeed, true enthusiast earbuds meant for audiophiles.
Get these if money is of no concern when picking out tech, and if you want unrivaled sound performance and comfort.
- Read our ACS T1 review
Bose FreeStyle
While Bose isn't typically known for flamboyance, the FreeStyle earbuds are a fun departure from the brand's executive tone. Of course, they do this while holding onto what makes Bose products renowned, sound quality.Specifically targeted to gym-goers, the $129 (about £104, AU$156) FreeStyle headphones are stocked with helpful features to help you get the most out of your music during a workout (when you need it the most). It offers a comfy and stable fit and better yet, it's moisture-resistant design means the FreeStyle can kick it with you through your whole workout, inside or out. The only major downside is that the inline controls are only compatible with iOS.
Get these if you're in the market for flashy earbuds that sound fantastic, won't fall out mid-workout, and if money is of little concern.
- Read our Bose FreeStyle review
Bose QuietComfort 20i
The Bose QuietComfort 20i earbuds rock some premo features to make up for the hefty $299 investment. Similar in fashion to its over-ear cousin, the QuietComfort 15, the 20i shrinks that experience down to something you can fit right into your ear without losing crucial features like noise cancellation, comfort and of course, amazing sound quality.Get these if you want earbuds with impressive build quality, active and passive noise cancellation and a great warranty.
- Read our Bose QuietComfort 20i review
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AAA games on Oculus Rift are years away, says dev
It will be years until we see console-style games supported on Oculus Rift according to the designer of upcoming Xbox One/PS4 free-runner Dying Light.
"How long do I think it will take games to adapt to Oculus Rift? Honestly, years," said Maciej Binkowski, Techland's lead designer of Dying Light, to TrustedReviews in an interview.
"To get it to a point where gamers can comfortably play for three hours on a couch, I think it's going to take years. Not just from the technological game perspective, but from the hardware too."
Need more power
One of the most serious issues for the future of Oculus Rift VR games is that frame rates need to be incredibly high to offer a good experience and avoid the insta-nausea effect that many feel on first trying the headset.The Oculus Rift DK2 prototype is designed to run at 75 frames per second to avoid motion blur while some reports suggest the final consumer version will need rates as high as 90 frames per second.
Consider, then, that Techland has just announced Dying Light will perform at just 30 frames per second on console and you can understand Binkowski's lack of enthusiasm about Oculus Rift's future.
"With that level of complexity like Dying Light, I think it's going to take years," said Binkowski.
He suggests that for the time being, Oculus Rift support will be limited to "a certain kind of project [made] especially for Oculus from the ground up."
This is bad news too for the Sony Morpheus, a PS4 virtual reality headset shown off at multiple gaming shows in 2014.
Perhaps we shouldn't be expecting much more than indie curiosities to turn up on VR headsets any time soon. Still, with no firm word on a release date for either headset, there's no guarantee either Oculus Rift or Morpheus is going to land in anything like its current state.
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Google Maps just became an even better sat nav
Google has given its Maps navigation app a little upgrade, with new heads-up notifications on what lane you need to get in to help ensure you don't miss that vital turn-off.
Google Maps is a pretty good freebie sat nav already, but Google product manager Darren Baker has just let us know about this new feature in the service.
Turn-by-turn navigation has been improved, with more sophisticated mapping data letting Maps tell you what lane you need to be in when turning off motorways and the like.
Smarter sat nav
This feature will be available in "Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK and Ireland," according to a post on the Google Europe blog.You'll be directed into the right lane with both a little visual cue and voice commands. Because, as any driver knows, there are few things as frustrating as missing your turn-off on a motorway.
It seems likely this info may spread to some of Europe's smaller countries in time, but for now it's only for the real big hitters.
This marks one of the few neat little features we've seen added since Google altered the Maps interface to fit in with the Android 5.0 Lollipop Material UI back in November.
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