Bullets Used to Solve Computer Rage
All computer users have undoubtedly experienced frustration with their machines at one point or another, due to system crashes, slow performance, or simply the inability to complete a certain task. While most users tend to deal with the frustration in a nonviolent manner, one man decided that using a gun to end his personal frustration with his Dell computer was the best option available. Lucas Hinch, 37, placed his computer in a Colorado Springs alley and shot it a total of eight times, rendering the machine completely useless. While Hinch may have gotten what he wanted in disabling his computer, he was issued a citation by Colorado Springs police for discharging a weapon within city limits; the penalty for the citation has yet to be decided by a judge.
Source: The Gazette
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3D Printed Graphene Aerogel May Improve Various Technologies
Aerogels are a fun class of materials as they are unbelievably light and have some unique uses, such as collecting dust from a comet's tail. By making them out of different materials, one can get special properties, but some materials are harder to work with than others. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have recently managed to create an aerogel out of graphene by 3D printing, which is something many have tried and failed to do before.
Aerogels sometimes referred to as 'liquid smoke' and are made by replacing the liquid component of a gel with a gas. Attempts at making one from graphene have more or less failed because the pore structure has been so random, making it impossible to control its mass transport and mechanical properties. The LLNL researchers solved this problem though by turning to a kind of 3D printing called direct ink writing. The ink in this case was an aqueous solution of graphene oxide, mixed with silica, and it was extruded from a micronozzle to form the 3D structure. This allows for the necessary control over pore structure and physical properties.
The resulting aerogel is electrically conductive, lightweight, has a high surface area, and demonstrates supercompressibility. The material could end up finding uses in energy storage, sensors, nanoelectronics, catalysis and separations, and more thanks to the ability to print almost any complex structure desired.
Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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Paid Mods Come to the Steam Workshop, Starting with Skyrim
Valve is adding a new feature to the Steam Workshop today, one that is a little different than past rollouts. Mods are now available to purchase and sell, so whether you're looking to make a little cash from your creation or support a favorite modder, now you're able to. The paid mods are debuting with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's Workshop, which Valve says has some 24,000 free mods already available. A total of nineteen paid mods are arriving today, with prices ranging from $0.25 to $5.99 (so far) for things like weapons, armor, followers, and even new towns. A bundle for $28.68 can be bought to grab the mods in one fell swoop, or you can pick and choose. Prices can be set by the creator or you can pick what price to pay, if the mod allows. All the mods can be returned within 24 hours after purchase if it doesn't work right or is broken/buggy/conflicts with other mods.
More games will be supporting paid mods down the road, although which ones from the Workshop weren't yet mentioned. Neither was the exact split of profits, although it stands to reason mod creators will get about 25-30%, as with items for Dota 2 and the like. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has a free weekend on now for anyone who hasn't played it yet, with the game 75% off if you decide to buy. You can grab plenty of free mods through the Workshop or at places like the Skyrim Nexus, so you don't have to pay for any mods if you don't want to, like always. While places like the Nexus probably would have liked to know in advance that paid mods were coming to the Workshop, those sites will still do what they can to support the many thousands of mods on them.
So, how does Valve's decision to launch paid mods sit with you? Good idea, bad idea, or something in between? With the abundance of free mods already available, some quite extensive, it is curious to see why there needs to be a paywall.
Source: Valve and Nexus Mods
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G.SKILL Announces 128 GB DDR 4 Memory Kit at 2800 MHz
Besides higher speeds, DDR 4 memory also allows for higher capacity chips, allowing a system to sport as much or more RAM than some of my computers have had as storage. G.SKILL is proving that capability by announcing the world's first DDR4 128 GB (16 GB x 8) 2800 MHz memory kit, which runs at 1.35 V.
The memory chips are made on the latest 20 nm fabrication process by Samsung and the modules have already been validated on an ASUS X99 Rampage V Extreme with Intel Haswell-E CPUs. The modules also support Intel XMP 2.0 for the Intel X99 platform. The memory will be available in kits of up to eight modules and at frequencies from DDR4-2133 MHz to the aforementioned DDR4-2800 MHz. As usual it is backed by G.SKILL's limited lifetime warranty.
Source: G.SKILL
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Specs for Batman: Arkham Knight Revealed
Probably one of the more anticipated games this year is Batman: Arkham Knight, which releases June 23. With the release so close we can expect more information to appear for it, including the system requirements, which are now listed:
Minimum System Requirements
- OS: Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1 (64-bit Operating System Required)
- Processor: Intel Core i5-750, 2.67 GHz | AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.4 GHz
- Memory: 6 GB RAM
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
- Graphics Memory: 2 GB
- DirectX®: 11
- Network: Broadband Internet Connection Required
- Hard Drive Space: 45 GB
- OS: Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1 (64-bit Operating System Required)
- Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760
- Graphics Memory: 3 GB
- DirectX®: 11
- Network: Broadband Internet Connection Required
- Hard Drive Space: 55 GB
- OS: Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1 (64-bit Operating System Required)
- Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
- Graphics Memory: 3 GB
- DirectX®: 11
- Network: Broadband Internet Connection Required
- Hard Drive Space: 55 GB
Source: NVIDIA and Gamepur
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Watch How The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Precious Cargo Quest Unfolds
Less than a month remains before we once again step back in the boots of Geralt of Rivia and find out what all awaits us in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. If you just cannot wait to get some information on the game and want to see how it plays out, well we have a treat for you. The "Precious Cargo" quest from the game's prologue has been revealed in a walkthrough, so this is the perfect chance to see what The Witcher 3 is like. Of course, for those wanting to avoid spoilers of any kind, it is probably better you did not watch the video. For everyone else, we get to see how Geralt handles his business. Heading towards the quest sees Geralt riding on a horse, through some rather gorgeous environments, with the sun shining, trees moving in the wind, and workers clearing part of a road. Footage is from the PC version of the game, but played with an Xbox One controller, hence the button prompts.
The man giving the quest calls out to Geralt from a small camp just off the road, and perhaps you pass him by without even stopping. In this case, Geralt stops and hears what the man, a merchant, has to say. Some monsters are afoot and devoured the merchant's horse after he was thrown off. A small box is what is most precious to him, and Geralt can decide whether or not to bring it back. I have to say, Geralt's hair looks pretty good as it moves in the wind, which is nice to see as some games tend to have static hair no matter what. We get a look at the quest and inventory system, with the new quest being made active and a potion put into a quick slot. Then it's off to find the merchant's wares and that small box. Instead of describing it any further, I'll let you watch how it all unfolds below.
Source: YouTube and WCCFtech
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Learn What It Takes to Survive the Wasteland in Mad Max's New Trailer
Yesterday came the news that trailers for both Just Cause 3 and Mad Max would launch today. While the Just Cause 3 trailer is something we're still waiting on, the Mad Max one is here. It is called a "gameplay overview" trailer composed of in-game cinematics and actual gameplay, as it introduces us to the very elements that make up the game, with car combat, melee fights, and more. A narrator starts off by telling us that we start the game with nothing, where everything Max ever cared about is gone, and our will to survive is what sustains us. What we need to do first is get a new car, the Magnum Opus, to help us get around, and it can be customized however we like with a multitude of parts, mods, and weapons. Armor, engines, body kits, and more can all be upgraded and swapped out on the car, with some pretty sweet looks, to boot.
Max himself can also get new armor and weapons to take down enemies, with the armor providing various bonuses to better suit your playstyle. Your gear and abilities also need to be upgraded to take down bigger and stronger foes, with an RPG-like skill system allowing you to pick and choose. There looks to be a good amount of abilities for Max, with ones to increase his health, use melee weapons longer before they snap, and find more ammo when looting. Speaking of looting, as you drive around the Wasteland there will be hidden caches to uncover that hold valuable scrap items to upgrade your car, armor, and weapons, so be sure to get out there and find them!
Surviving in the Wasteland requires a ruthless attitude, as the factions controlling the resources will not go easy on you. Fights are brutal, whether they are from within your car or on foot. Not everyone is out to get you, of course, and it is to these people you can look to form alliances. Helping them get stronger increases the safety and security of their strongholds, and also means easier access to the essentials to survival. You will survive and reclaim what was stolen from you, because after all, you're Max.
Source: YouTube
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Hardware Roundup: Thursday Edition
The week is drawing to its close, but not before a couple of items are on the table. We have a review of the Gigabyte X99-SOC Champion motherboard, an overclocking beast with an orange color scheme that is sure to make your rig stand out. There is also a look at the Tt eSPORTS Challenger Prime gaming keyboard, which is a membrane keyboard with macro keys, three color illumination, and a price tag that is sure to make many people happy.
Motherboards
Gigabyte X99-SOC Champion @ LanOC Reviews
Keyboards/Mice
Tt eSPORTS Challenger Prime Gaming Keyboard @ ThinkComputers
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Forums Can be Good for Well-Being and More
It has been interesting to see how the Internet has changed over the past decade, with social media effectively replacing forums as a means of interacting with others. Despite that change though, forums are still regularly used by many, and are impacting people's lives. That impact may be more than you expect though, as researchers at the University of Exeter have found forum use can significantly improve a user's well-being.
For their study, the researchers surveyed users of forums with stigmatized and non-stigma-related topics, such as mental health issues for the former, and golf for the latter. The survey asked about why people joined the forum, how their expectations were fulfilled, how they identified with other users, their satisfaction with life, and their offline engagement with forum issues. What the researchers found is that those who sought out forums for answers also found them to be sources of support, especially for stigmatizing issues. As the users engaged more, regardless of the nature of the topic, they became more willing to get involved in related offline activities.
As the researchers sum up, by putting more into a forum, the users can get more back. As this also results in more offline engagement and activities, such as volunteering and donating, society can come to be significantly impacted as well.
Source: University of Exeter
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