IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 12/4/2014

League of Legends finals saw 27 million people tuning in
Riot Games has announced that over 27 million tuned into the League of Legends finals, and even with that astonishing number of people checking in, it is still down from the 32 million the developer saw tuning in last year.

The drop is a 15% dip in viewership, but for those who did tune into the finals, they stayed around longer. Riot noted that fans averaged around 67 minutes, while last year the average was just 42 minutes. The developer also saw a larger peak, with 11.2 million people watching at a single time during the showdown between Samsung White and Royal Club, compared to the peak of 8.7 million in 2013.

Over the entire Season Three World Championship, over 70 million hours were watched online, which spanned stages from Taipei to Seoul. Riot streamed over 100 hours of live content across 15 days, in 19 languages through 40 broadcast partners.


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Samsung rumored to launch its first Tizen-based smartphone next week
We've been hearing about this Tizen operating system for what feels like years now, but according to the latest rumors, the reality could soon be right around the corner. Samsung is rumored to unveil the Z1 smartphone, a Tizen-based handset, on December 10.

Samsung's Z1 handset would compete directly against Google's Android One initiative, which has the Mountain View-based search giant to get Android into the developing markets through cheaper handsets. VR World is reporting that Samsung could launch its Z1 handset with a 4-inch display with a resolution of 800x480, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor manufactured by Spreadtrum, which is a company Intel works with (and Intel being involved with the Tizen OS, too by the way).

Rounding up the specifications of the Z1, we have 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal flash storage, a 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera, dual-SIM capabilities, and more. We should expect Samsung to unveil the Z1 on December 10, so keep your eyes peeled to TweakTown.


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World of Warcraft is experiencing further network issues
Just three days ago, we reported on Blizzard Entertainment's apparent DDoS/Lag issues happening within their game servers globally - seeing some players being unable to log in for up to 30 minutes, reports of friend lists not functioning and customers experiencing up to 5,000ms of in-game latency.

This issue was fixed just mere hours after the story was reported, however in today's news, Blizzard have issued multiple statements across their Customer Service Twitter account alongside their Battle.Net client claiming of Authentication and log in issues - mainly based around their North American server cluster.

Their Twitter reports issues ranging from in-game latency problems to authentications and log in services failing.

Usually we don't see too many issues with Blizzard's offerings - however since the release of their latest expansion, Warlords of Draenor, there have seemingly been more and more problems popping up. Let's hope this doesn't become a staple for Blizzard as we'd hate to see them tarnish their good reputation.

We will continue to report as the story may develop.


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Ubisoft working on Assassin's Creed: Victory, arrives in 2015
It doesn't look like Ubisoft has learned anything from the recent release of Assassin's Creed: Unity and all of its issues, as rumors are now arriving about the next game in the series, Assassin's Creed: Victory.

The story came from Kotaku reporting that the new game would be set in 19th century London during the Victorian era, according to "a person familiar with the game" reported Kotaku, a game that would arrive in fall 2015 for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Ubisoft Quebec is the studio working on the game, unlike Ubisoft Montreal which worked on the currently still a work-in-progress Assassin's Creed: Unity.

There was also seven minutes of "target gameplay footage" which was shown, which was being rendered in real-time by the Assassin's Creed engine, and not pre-rendered. Personally, I think Ubisoft needs to be very, very cautious with this release. I think we should see a demo of the game released, so that the faith can be restored into the series, as I think over half the audience of the series would be very unsure of trusting Ubisoft again with another Assassin's Creed game following the recent train wreck that was the AC:U launch.


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New on the scene - Sceptre announce 27-inch LED monitor
A relatively new player to the monitor market, Sceptre has announced the features and availability of their E275W-1920 Full HD 1080P monitor. Thanks to a press release delivered to us by Max Borges Agency, we've got the full information to you.

Although claiming them as rather new, Sceptre has actually been around since 1984 - providing the market with LCD and LED monitors. However, they've been recently seen pushing themselves harder into the market.

This new monitor comes with the ability to tilt 15 degrees backward and 5 forward, alongside built-in speakers, a 5ms response time, a net weight of 12.61 lbs and an Energy Star V6.0 rating.

According to their Vice President of Operations, Cathy Chou, this monitor provides an optimum viewing experience for all involved: "With such a high resolution, this monitor offers a lifelike picture, ideal for movies, video games or every day usage."

The monitor is now available for purchase form most large-scale online retailers including Amazon, Best Buy and Newegg.

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Exclusive statement from PAX Aus regarding their early ticket release
Just yesterday we published an article outlining PAX Australia's 2015 ticket sales going live, seeing their event announced for the 30th of October 2015.

We covered that even though PAX Australia has a stellar reputation in the local market, with a total PAX culture being born only two years into its existence. Many fans are purchasing tickets even though no companies, titles, personalities or attractions have been announced to the public - with them claiming confidence in the fact that PAX will likely put on a great show no matter what.

We were able to get into contact with Guy "Yug" Blomberg, PAX Australia's Content & community manager, regarding a personal statement about the purpose for these early ticket sales. Guy provides some understandable and seemingly correct thoughts on the matter, with his full statement reading:

"Actually, tickets for the last PAX Aus went on sale even earlier than, so it shouldn't be a huge surprise (plus we tried to give people a decent heads up via social media). Fact is, for 2015 at least, PAX Aus runs pretty close to the Melbourne Cup, so the sooner people can sort out their flights and accommodation, the cheaper it will be."

Have you purchased your tickets yet? I will certainly be attending along with Anthony Garreffa - we will see you there!


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Social media's face fines for offensive material and harrasment
An anti-trolling legislation is set for implementation on the 3rd of December by the Australian federal government in a bid to fight against cyber-bullying throughout various big-name social media platforms.

If websites like Facebook and Instagram refuse to take down offensive material and harassment, they could face fines of up to $17,000 per day - that is if Australian children are involved.

This new anti-bully legislation is targeted directly at protecting Australia's youth with the parliamentary secretary for communications, Paul Fletcher, claiming that $17,000 fines will be issued to any offending social media platform "for each day that the services does not act in response to the Commissioner".

The various laws implemented in different countries must certainly provide a headache for Facebook's management, as these type of 'social justice' cases vary from place to place. Working around each new law and legislation would provide them with something to help occupy them in their spare time.


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Nintendo, Philips end patent disputes, and sign patent agreement
The legal war between Philips and Nintendo is now over, with both companies creating a new patent license agreement to cross-license select portions of their intellectual property portfolios. Philips originally dragged Nintendo into a legal battle over the Japanese company's use of motion and gesture-tracking systems.

Philips originally filed a complaint against Nintendo in May, saying the game company infringed on two patents it owns in the United States. Later in the year, a UK judge ruled the Wii, Wii U, Wii remote, Nunchuk, Wii Motion Plus controllers, Balance Board, and GamePad violated Philips-owned patents in the UK.

"We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Nintendo," said Brian Himnan, Philips Chief Intellectual Property Officer. "It demonstrates that both companies recognize the importance of intellectual property rights. It also shows the value of our extensive IP portfolio and our commitment to protect our significant investments in research & development."


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Amazon's Jeff Bezos admits Fire Phone was 'bold bet' that didn't work
Amazon's first effort in the smartphone market, the Fire Phone, was an expensive endeavor that largely underwhelmed - but Amazon doesn't regret its decision, according to CEO Jeff Bezos. Even though the Fire Phone didn't work, the company is learning from its mistakes and will not shy away from experimenting to see what does and doesn't work.

"People love to focus on things that aren't working," Bezos recently said. "That's fine, but it's incredibly hard to get people to take bold bets. And if you push people to take bold bets, there will be experiments... that don't work."

The unlocked 32GB Fire Phone was recently given a price cut and is now available for $199, as Amazon wants to try to liquidate its large supply of the smartphone.


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Report claims Iranian hackers focused on airlines, energy utilities
Iranian hackers continue to develop their cyberattack capabilities, and have breached some of the leading energy infrastructure and transport companies, potentially leading to physical damage, the Cylance cybersecurity firm warned.

As part of the widespread campaign, companies in the United States, China, Israel, Germany, France, India and Saudi Arabia have been hit - with industries ranging from aerospace research companies, universities, energy firms, telecommunications operators and hospitals being compromised.

"We believe that if the operation is left to continue unabated, it is only a matter of time before the team impacts the world's physical safety," the Cylance report claimed.

Although China and Russia receive most of the blame for organized cyberattacks against foreign companies, Iran, North Korea, and India have shown increased interest in cyberespionage operations. If the nations do not have the capabilities to launch these types of attacks, they will provide financial banking to a group willing to hack companies on their behalf.


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Stephen Hawking concerned artificial intelligence might end mankind
Professor Stephen Hawking is concerned that artificial intelligence development will evolve to the point of AI being able to not only match - but surpass - human capabilities, opening up the door to potentially aid in the end of mankind.

"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race," Hawking recently told BBC. "It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete, and would be superseded."

Despite the concerns shown by Hawking, not everyone is worried about AI: "I believe we will remain in charge of the technology for a decently long time and the potential of it to solve many of the world problems will be realized," said Cleverbot creator Rollo Carpenter.

Cleverbot is able to learn from previous conversations and interactions with humans, able to actually trick people into thinking they are interacting with another human. However, Carpenter admitted the company still has a lot of work before being able to develop full artificial intelligence, but it could happen in the next 50 years.


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Dead Island 2 beta hits Sony PlayStation 4 before PC, Xbox One
Deep Silver's Dead Island 2 beta doesn't have a release date, but it will be released for the Sony PlayStation 4 30 days ahead of the Microsoft Xbox One and PC. Dead Island 2 is scheduled for release on the PS4, PC and Xbox One in spring 2015, but an exact date hasn't been made available.

To be accepted into the Dead Island 2 beta, gamers were required to purchase Escape Dead Island (Xbox 360, PS3 or PC) game title. Unfortunately, Deep Silver hasn't provided details about any other way someone can get into beta testing, though will probably expand entrance into the program as the beta nears launch.


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PMC Flashtec NVMe controllers to power 8TB Memblaze PBlaze4 PCIe SSDs
PMC Flashtec controllers are powering the next generation of Memblaze PCIe SSDs. The Memblaze PBlaze 4 is designed for hyperscale and Open Compute Project architectures. The Flashtec controllers on the PBlaze 4 provide up to 850,000 IOPS for random read workloads, and 265,000 IOPS for random writes. Sequential performance is equally impressive, with up to 3.2 / 2.5 GB/s read/write available. NVMe provides the lowest CPU load and includes a number of architectural improvements for high-performance storage products. We recently took a deep-dive on the new NVMe specification in our Defining NVMe article.

The Flashtec controller can address up to 8TB of flash and features 16 and 32 channel variants. Dual-port functionality provides enterprise-class high-availability features. Memblaze differentiates their products with multiple capacity points and solutions tailored for specific workloads. Memblaze utilizes NAND from several vendors, and Flashtec NVMe controllers provide a flexible architecture that supports a wide variety of NAND vendors.

PMC enjoys a market-leading position in NVMe controllers, and several hyperscale customers are already building their own NVMe SSDs with PMC controllers. Memblaze is currently the #1 PCIe SSD vendor in China and is expanding to the US and European markets, and expects to deliver over 6PB of flash storage this year. We recently took an in-depth look at Memblaze's latest product in the Memblaze PBlaze3L 1.2TB Enterprise PCIe SSD Review. Head to our IT/Datacenter section for the latest in competitive performance analysis of Enterprise PCIe SSDs.


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Seagate releases new 6TB NAS HDD for 4-16 bay NAS units
Seagate has announced the release of a new HDD aimed at 4 to 16 bay enterprise NAS deployments. The stratification of the NAS market has led to varying HDD products to address the different workloads and performance requirements of each segment. The new Seagate enterprise NAS HDD bumps speed up a notch. Typical consumer NAS models spin at 5,400 RPM, but the new Seagate NAS HDD moves up to 7,200 RPM. WD has already released the WD Red Pro, a 7,200 RPM product, to address larger NAS arrays, as outlined in our WD Red Pro 4TB Enterprise NAS HDD Review.

The WD Red Pro tops out at 4TB, but the Seagate Enterprise NAS HDD comes in 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6TB flavors and features Seagate's NASWorks firmware. NASWorks specifically tailors the drive for NAS usage. The drive also features RAID rebuild technology that supports surgical rebuilds to significantly reduce RAID rebuild time. The drive also features a larger 128MB cache in comparison to the WD Red's 64MB, and a faster transfer speed of 216 MB/s. An optional data recovery service also offers users easy data recovery in the event of a drive failure.

The burgeoning NAS market is fueling the rapid expansion of NAS HDD offerings. The SME, SMB, and SME tower and rackmount segment is one of the fastest growing segments, and manufacturers are providing solutions refined for each environment.

Seagate is also offering their Rescue Service for Enterprise NAS HDDs. The plan covers the drive for three years and provides data recovery services for any drive failures, even in the event of user error. This plan is extended out to RAID arrays as well. This service typically has a 90% success rate, and even covers shipping costs. Seagate obviously has a high amount of trust in the new product to warranty drive recovery, and the Enterprise NAS HDD features a 1.2 million hour MTBF. The drive is also rated for an 180TB a year workload. There is an additional charge of $39.99 for the rescue service.

The Enterprise NAS HDD addresses the need for a middle-range NAS HDD offering with enhanced performance. Seagate's NAS HDDs are qualified for use in a wide range of NAS products.

The Seagate Enterprise NAS HDD offers more performance than their consumer-oriented NAS product, covered in our Seagate NAS 4TB HDD Enterprise Review. The Seagate Enterprise NAS HDD is available now, and the 6TB model is retailing for $399.00.


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Huawei exec says "nobody" made money using Microsoft Windows Phone
Huawei won't release any other smartphones powered by Microsoft Windows Phone, as the two handsets it made available running the OS weren't profitable. Instead, consumers want to enjoy Google Android smartphones, which yields a thriving community and jam-packed app store.

"We have tried using the Windows Phone OS," said Richard Yu, Huawei consumer business group lead. "But it has been difficult to persuade consumers to buy a Windows Phone. It wasn't profitable for us. We were losing money for two years on those phones."

Windows Phone now has just over 8.1 percent of global market share - still far behind Android and Apple iOS - but shows that Microsoft is able to continue expanding the OS further.


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CMStorm Mizar Ergonomic Laser Gaming Mouse Review

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Ever since we got our hands-on the Sentinel mouse from Cooler Master when the CMStorm team was still in its infancy, we knew right away they were on the right path, and were more than capable of taking on the big players in the peripherals markets. As time went on, so did the lineup of products, and as far as mice are concerned, we saw the Havok, Reaper, Recon, and even the Sentinel Advanced II. Each time, we were never left with any real issues. We were always left with a comfortable mouse with plenty of software control to get the most out of the CMStorm mice for gaming, and also in day to day usage.

Over time, CMStorm has evolved their designs, as well as the components within. While they all use an Avago sensor, in the early days, primary and secondary switches were not such a concern. As things progressed, we started to find that Omron switches had made their way in, and even the secondary switches were more recognizable. Along the way, some things never did change, but sometimes that is a good thing, especially when it comes to the feel and long term comfort of use with the product. Time and time again, CMStorm has, and continues to deliver mice that anyone would enjoy using.

What has us here today is the latest laser sensor based gaming mouse to be introduced from Cooler Master and the CMStorm team, the Mizar. While more simple in its design, layout, and stylistic additions, the Mizar has proven to be more than capable of handling what current gamers will demand of their mice in our use. We feel that once you see all the Mizar can do, and the cost that is involved, you will be impressed. This new Mizar is well worth your attention, and the time to continue on reading.

The specifications chart provided had to be cropped slightly, and at the top, the SGM-4005-KLLW1 model number is no longer present above the palm grip design of the Mizar. We can see that Soft Touch paint has been applied to the plastic components to give the Mizar its black color, and the CMStorm logo on the heel of the mouse can be illuminated with seven color options. We then dive right into the Avago ADNS A9800 laser sensor used, and its abilities of 8200 DPI, 150 ips of tracking, the 2.1mm of LOD, 1ms polling rate, angle snapping, and 30g's worth of acceleration that the sensor is capable of reading.

Next, we get a look at the capabilities of the Holtek MCU employed in this design. It offers four profiles to program, with 128KB of onboard memory to store settings. The Holtek MCU is also in control of the seven buttons around the Mizar.

The Mizar is USB 2.0 in speed, and other than that, we see the Mizar has a sculpted ergonomic grip design, the braided cable is 1.8 meters in length, weight and dimensions, and this mouse is covered for two years from the date of purchase. Of course, you get a software package to download to deal with profiles, Macros, and storage, as well as all of the basic controls such as DPI, polling rates, and other things of that nature.

What really turned our head is that up until the point of writing this, we never looked at the pricing. When we ventured over to Amazon, the $59.99 pricing listed there to seem like a pretty good deal for what you get. However, if you look around for the best deal out there currently, you may be able to find the Mizar Laser Gaming mouse for as low as $49.99. While $10 may not seem like much, keeping the pricing just below $50 puts this mouse into a whole new category. For everything CMStorm delivers at this price, you will not be disappointed unless you are a left hand mouse user.

PRICING: You can find the CMStorm Mizar 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 CMStorm Mizar retails for $49.99 at Amazon.

Canada: The CMStorm Mizar retails for CDN$61.18 at Amazon Canada.
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