Patriot Viper 4 16GB PC4-24000 Review
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Microsoft Sees Windows 10 as a Way to Reconnect with PC Gamers
Microsoft seems rather excited about its upcoming Windows 10 release and what it means for consumers on all platforms, but it is also admitting a past mistake. The company was once a go-to for PC gamers, with Microsoft-created games and hardware among some of the popular products of the day. However, once the Xbox arrived everything at Microsoft shifted to that, and PC gamers, quite frankly, got the shaft. During GDC 2015, Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, stated the company lost its way with the PC gaming crowd and sees Windows 10 as a way to get back in their good graces (and possibly DirectX 12, too). One part of that is Microsoft's snazzy new HoloLens will be out during Windows 10's lifespan and Spencer sees it as a "full Windows 10 device." Playing games in augmented reality sounds like a solid way to get back our support, but that's not all Microsoft intends to do.
The company will also bring Xbox Live to Windows 10, with developers getting a toolkit to implement Xbox Live into their Windows 10 games. Spencer said Xbox no longer refers to just the console, but "gaming with Microsoft" as a whole. Games should be able to work across the devices, regardless if its a PC, tablet, smartphone (maybe), or Xbox One, with gamers being able to see their friends list and play against each other. It is an ambitious plan, and hopefully the reality is far better than the company's last attempt, Games for Windows Live. GFWL tried to do the friends list aspect and the occasionaly play together across PC and Xbox 360, but it was horribly bloated, buggy, and downright frustrating. Combine those with the fact that GFWL was initially a paid service to access the best features, and we have the issue of PC gamers suddenly being charged to do what they've done for free for years.
Hopefully Microsoft acknowledging it has lost its way with PC gamers and Spencer's comments about integrating Xbox Live into Windows 10 proves successful. None of us want a repeat of Games for Windows Live, and luckily it seems there is hope on the horizon. Microsoft's Larry Hryb a.k.a. Major Nelson recently said Xbox Live on Windows 10 will be free. It really was the only course available to Microsoft, and it is fantastic to see that's the case. After all, upgrading to Windows 10 within a year after it arrives will be free, so why not have Xbox Live follow suit? Console owners aren't overly happy about it, as to be expected, but at least PC gamers won't have to pay for features other services (Steam, Origin) provide for free. It is a step in the right direction for Microsoft and PC gaming as a whole, and hopefully one that pans out in the long term.
Source: Business Insider and PC World
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New Device for Correcting Quantum Errors
We are approaching a revolution in computing, when the first quantum computer is built and allows new kinds of algorithms to be run. Much has to be done before then though, including error detection and correction schemes. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have recently developed just such a scheme that is the first capable of correcting its own errors.
At the heart of quantum computer's capabilities are the qubits it uses to store and process information. Unlike traditional bits that can represent a 0 or 1, a qubit, or quantum bit, is able to exploit superposition to represent 0 and 1 at the same time. Superposition, like other quantum phenomena, is very fragile, so qubits are prone to flip or losing their information, hence the need of systems to prevent that from happening. The California researchers' solution was to build a device of nine qubits that protect the data each other holds. By repeating the error detection and correction process, the data can be preserved for longer than a solitary qubit can.
While this is definitely an important tool, more work is needed including ways to guard against other kinds of error, such as one call 'phase flip.' The researchers also want to see what happens when the error correction cycles are made to run for greater amounts of time, and if this results in new kinds of behavior.
Source: University of California, Santa Barbara
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Finding New Ways to Improve Energy Storage
Electrical energy storage is a big deal as so many technologies are completely reliant on batteries and/or capacitors. This is why so much work is being done to better understand how the storage systems work, to hopefully improve current technologies, or develop new ones. Now researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have discovered how graphene-based supercapacitor electrodes change when in use.
The environments within many energy storage systems can be very hazardous, which has limited our ability to peer inside and see what is going on. Only recently have techniques been developed to watch how electrodes and electrolytes behave while in operation. Now the LLNL researchers have created an X-ray adsorption spectroscopy method to see how the interfaces between electrode and electrolyte in a graphitic supercapacitor behave while charging. This kind of supercapacitor was used because it is stable and very well understood both experimentally and theoretically.
The researchers were able to observe the changes to the electronic structure of the electrodes, while in operation. Potentially these changes could be used to tailor more efficient electrochemical energy storage systems.
Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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NVIDIA’s HBAO+ Gains Traction Amongst Developers
As video games continue to advance, lighting and shadows remain a critical component for maximum realism within a virtual environment. NVIDIA has recognized this in the past with its release of HBAO+, an advanced form of ambient occlusion that successfully accentuates small surface details and adds soft shadows to a scene. The advanced form of ambient occlusion by NVIDIA is gaining traction amongst the game development community, as it continues to be utilized in games built with CryEngine, Dunia 2, IwGame Engine, Source, Unreal Engine 3, Unreal Engine 4, and other proprietary game engines. WhiteMoon Dreams, the developer of Unreal Engine 4 title Warmachine: Tactics, successfully implemented NVIDIA’s HBAO+ in roughly an hour, and World of Warcraft even supports the most advanced form of SSAO after a recently released patch.
Due to HBAO+ being middleware, the ambient occlusion technology is easy for developers to implement within their titles. As such, NVIDIA is expecting a wealth of upcoming games to support it, especially since HBAO+ works on GPUs from NVIDIA and its competitors.
Source: NVIDIA Blog
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Google Launches Auto Insurance Comparison Service in California
Earlier this year, it was reported that Google would likely launch an auto insurance comparison tool in the United States. After various delays, Google has announced that it has officially brought its auto insurance comparison tool to fruition for a limited number of Americans. Known as Google Compare Auto Insurance, the server, which can be accessed from a quick Google search for “car insurance,” takes information such as vehicle details, driving history, and physical location, and provides coverage details and quotes from various providers. Unfortunately, Google Compare Auto Insurance is only available to California residents at this time and does not offer quotes from GEICO or Progressive. According to Google, the list of providers that it supports is set to grow in the future, and the company plans to bring the auto insurance comparison service to additional states sometime this year.
Source: PCWorld
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GIGABYTE Unveils X99 Gaming 5P Motherboard
GIGABYTE, a pioneer in the motherboard industry, has officially rolled out the X99 Gaming 5P, the company’s latest addition to its vast motherboard lineup. The X99 Gaming 5P is quite similar to the already available X99 Gaming 5, but differs in that it offers native support for DDR4-3200 XMP profile, includes a different brand of chokes for the CPU VRM, and features a "CPU mode" switch between 2011-pin and 2083-pin socket modes. The X99 Gaming 5P is also an E-ATX form factor motherboard, while the X99 Gaming 5 is an ATX motherboard.
Pricing and availability of the X99 Gaming 5P has not yet been announced by GIGABYTE.
Source: TechPowerUp
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Intel Makes Several Gaming Related Announcements at GDC
Intel was at the recent Game Developers Conference and it showed off a number of "programs, tools, utilities and games that will take advantage of the latest Intel technologies." The company unveiled the first 5th generation Core processor with integrated Iris Pro graphics. The chip is expected to be available midway through this year and will operate at 65W, with partners such as Acer hard at work on small form factor systems utilizing the new CPU. Intel has also contributed to the development of the next generation of graphics by "helping define and support new programming models like DirectX 12 and Vulkan." Intel has targeted mobile gaming by working directly with Ubisoft to optimize the Cosmos mobile engine for x86 processors.
A partnership with the Raptr gaming utility was also announced, and will bring support for Intel Graphics to the service for the first time. The Achievement Unlocked program seeks to "help game developers succeed when creating games that target Intel Graphics hardware, Intel Core processors, and Intel Atom processors." Developers in this program will have improved technical assistance and communication with Intel. Intel is also working with developers Codemasters, Flying Mollusk, and Funcom to improve the performance of their games when used with Intel hardware.
Source: Intel
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Black Phosphorus has Great Potential for Optical Communication
Even since the discovery of graphene, many have been searching for other two dimensional materials and what special properties they may possess. In the case of black phosphorus though, it has been known about for over one hundred years, but only recently has its potential been explored. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered that it could be a new wonder material for optical communications and more.
The characteristic that perhaps most sets black phosphorus apart from graphene is its tunable band gap. While graphene lacks a band gap, making it a conductor, black phosphorus is actually a semiconductor, and the size of its band gap is dependent on its layer count. This opens up possibilities for use in computers and in optics, as the band gap influences how a material interacts with light. Because the band gap is tunable, so are the frequencies black phosphorus can absorb or emit. To test its real-world potential, the researchers built a photodetector using black phosphorus and succeeded at transmitting data at three billion (3,000,000,000) bits per second. As this is the first time such a photodetector has been built, you can expect that speed to increase.
The potential of black phosphorus extends beyond super-fast downloads because it is a direct-band semiconductor, which means it can efficiently emit light from electrical signals. This one material could potentially be used to both transmit and receive high speed optical signals between computers and within computer chips.
Source: University of Minnesota
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EA Shuts Down Maxis Emeryville Headquarters
The time has come once again for Maxis, as EA has shut down the studio's Emeryville headquarters. Maxis has been moved around before, as its original Walnut Creek, California, studios were closed in 2004, with staff moving to Redwood City and Emeryville. Now the Emeryville location is closed, with all its staff being allowed to seek opportunities in other Maxis locations, namely Redwood, Salt Lake, Melbourne, and Helsinki. The Maxis Emeryville location's most recent work was the rebooted SimCity, which was met with criticism after its 2013 launch and online debacle. No word on just how many employees from Emeryville were layed off, but hopefully they can find new homes before long.
Development on SimCity, The Sims franchise, and The Sims 4 in particular will continue, however it appears some members of The Sims team will be layed off from the Redwood location.
Source: Polygon
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AIDA64 Released for Android
FinalWire, a Hungary-based software development company, has just released AIDA64, a popular PC diagnostic utility that provides detailed information about hardware and software of individual or networked computers, for Android devices. The Android version offers different diagnostics than the PC version, of course, but manages to provide a wealth of hardware, software, and network information to users. The key features of AIDA64 for Android include CPU detection with real-time core clock measurement, OpenGL ES GPU details with real-time GPU clock measurement, screen dimensions and pixel density information, camera information, battery level and temperature monitoring, Wi-Fi and cellular network information, memory and storage utilization, Android OS and Dalvik properties, an Android Wear module, and a complete list of installed applications, codecs, and system directories.
AIDA64 for Android is compatible with devices running Android 2.1 or later and is available to download immediately from the Google Play Store.
Source: Press Release
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DirectX 12 Offers 20 Percent Improvement in Graphics Performance
Gamers have known for quite some time that DirectX 12 will not only be exclusive to Windows 10 and offer improved CPU utilization, but that the latest version of the Microsoft API will also offer increased graphics performance. What has been unknown however is just how much DirectX 12 will improve graphics frame rates, until now that is. According to Microsoft executives, the latest version of DirectX is expected to offer a 20 percent improvement in graphics performance, meaning that games that may be on the verge of being unplayable may actually be enjoyable. Bryan Langley, a principal program manager for graphics with Microsoft, stated an Intel press conference at GDC that the increase in performance is equivalent to getting a free hardware upgrade.
With Windows 10 being a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 users for a limited time after its release, and with DirectX 12 being supported on a plethora of graphics cards currently available, it seems like the increased performance will make its way to plenty of gamers.
Source: PCWorld
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Terahertz Filter for Improved Data Transmission
I would rather not guess how many 2.4 GHz signals are passing through my body right now, with the various wireless devices just within arm's reach. While this frequency has served us quite well, to further increase bandwidth it may be necessary to go to high frequencies. Potentially frequencies in the terahertz range could be used, and researchers at the University of Utah have recently created a new filter that could help bring about the necessary technologies.
As the name suggests, terahertz frequencies are one thousand times greater than gigahertz frequencies, which means they could result in one thousand times more bandwidth. There are some issues to be addressed first, including creating filters for isolating specific frequencies. What the Utah researchers have found is that certain computer-generated designs can be used to print these filters with silver-metal ink from a conventional inkjet printer. Such filters would be necessary for creating the multiple wireless channels our various devices use.
There are still other issues to address though, including terahertz sources requiring line-of-sight and having a relatively short range. However many are still working to overcome these issues and wireless terahertz chips have been used to achieve impressive download speeds.
Source: University of Utah
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G303 Daedalus Apex Performance Edition Gaming Mouse Announced by Logitech
Logitech has officially announced the Logitech G303 Daedalus Apex Performance Edition Gaming Mouse, the company’s latest addition to its extensive line of gaming peripherals. The Logitech G303 successfully combines the stellar weight of the G302 with the amazing sensor found in the G502. Together, these characteristics provide gamers with a lightweight and premium gaming mouse that delivers the best of both products. The Logitech G303 features a massive DPI range from 200 to 12,000, includes an exclusive metal spring tensioning system, offers left and right click buttons that have been tested for 20 million clicks, and boasts full-color RGB lighting.
The Logitech G303 Daedalus Apex Performance Edition Gaming Mouse features an MSRP of $69.99 and is expected to go on sale sometime this month.
Source: TechPowerUp
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