Kingston DataTraveler 2000 32GB Encrypted USB Drive Review
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Supergiant Games Announces Pyre With Trailer
Supergiant Games is the Indie studio behind popular games Bastion and Transistor. It has now announced its next project, "a party-based role-playing game called Pyre," with announced availability for PC and PS4. From the trailer, it appears the new game will "carry on the tradition of the company’s previous titles in terms of art style, atmosphere, and focus on storytelling," and this is good news for anyone that enjoyed the first two games. Players appear to be tasked with leading a small team of characters through the land of Downside as they compete against other groups in an effort to clear their transgressions. More details on the story are currently unavailable, but the game will make an appearance at PAX East, where we should learn more about it.
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Kingston Announces Industrial Temperature microSD Card
Kingston has announced a new microSD card, the Industrial Temperature, which as the name suggests was designed to withstand a wide range of temperatures. The card is rated for operation and storage from -40°C to 85°C and is also waterproof, shock/vibration proof, and X-ray proof, certified by IEC, MIL-STD, and ISO standards. The cards are UHS-I Class 10 with read and write speeds up to 90MB/s and 45MB/s, respectively. The Industrial Temperature cards will be available in capacities of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.
Source: Press Release
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Hardware Roundup: Wednesday, April 20, 2016, Edition
We have arrived at the middle of the week, with several items along the way to get you over the hump. The AMD Athlon X4 880K CPU, featuring a 4GHz core clock and a budget-friendly price for enthusiasts, gets reviewed to see how something without an integrated GPU (for once) performs. The Fnatic Gear RUSH G1 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is complete with Cherry MX Red switches and red backlighting to provide a solid experience for any games, thanks to its pro gamer testing. For those using something much smaller, the Datamancer Oaken 60% Case is a snazzy way to carry around your 60% keyboards without getting them damaged. Wrapping things up is the Creative Sound BlasterX G5 7.1 HD Audio Portable Sound Card, a convenient way to boost your audio on the go while also providing a headphone amp.
CPUs
AMD Athlon X4 880K @ Neoseeker
Keyboards/Mice
Fnatic Gear RUSH G1 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ Benchmark Reviews
Datamancer Oaken 60% Case @ LanOC Reviews
Sound Cards
Creative Sound BlasterX G5 7.1 HD Audio Portable Sound Card @ Madshrimps
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Single-Atom Heat Engine Created
Heat engines have been around for a long time and are used to convert thermal energy into mechanical force. Now thanks to researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University, a single atom has been turned into a heat engine, which could have applications for studying thermodynamics and quantum thermodynamics.
The core of this heat engine is a single calcium atom that has been electrically charged to be held in a trap. It can then be heated with electrically-generated noise and cooled with a laser beam, which results in it going through a thermodynamic cycle. That means the atom moves back and forth within the trap, just like the strokes of a heat engine. While the single atom only generates 10-22 watts at 0.3% efficiency, scaling the engine up to match the mass of a car engine, the output would be comparable.
Chances this design will not be used to actually generate power, but instead be used to study the thermodynamics of single-particles and if the operating temperatures can be lowered sufficiently, it could become a window to thermodynamic quantum effects. It is also possible to reverse the cycle to make it a single-atom refrigerator for cooling nanosystems.
Source: Johannes Gutenberg University
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Further Information Available About PlayStation 4 Update
Rumors began to swirl last month about a new version of the PlayStation 4 with support for 4K resolutions. Giant Bomb is now reporting from "multiple sources" that the new PS4 is codenamed NEO and will feature updated hardware and functionality. The original PS4 had an eight core CPU at 1.6 GHz, 18 GPU cores at 800 MHz, and 8GB of GDDR5 at 176 GB/s. NEO will have eight cores at 2.1 GHz, 36 updated GPU cores at 911 MHz, and 8GB of GDDR5 at 218 GB/s. Sony will begin requiring developers to ship games with a "Base Mode" and "NEO Mode" in October. Base Mode will run on current systems and will run the same on the NEO, while NEO Mode will utilize the additional hardware to provide "increased and more stable frame rate and higher visual fidelity, at least when those games run at 1080p on HDTVs." The NEO will support 4K output but will not require games to support native 4K resolution. The NEO is expected to have an MSRP of $399 and the new model could potentially drive down the price of current models.
Source: Giant Bomb
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First Image of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Cooler Leaks
An image that appears to depict the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 has surfaced, showing a rather large silver cooler with the name of the card on it. There is no heatsink or PCB visible through the acrylic window, indicating that this is likely just a preview of the cooler shroud. This follows an earlier image with GTX 1070 visible with speculation that it could simply be "the creation of a modder that designed these shrouds for his own personal amusement." It remains unclear at this point if the next generation of cards will even be referred to as the GTX 1070 and 1080 as there has been no confirmation from NVIDIA. The one thing that does appear to be certain at this point is that the new cards will be available sometime this summer, with a potential official reveal at Computex.
Source: WCCF Tech
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Flexible Lens Developed for Future Flexible Cameras
Currently thin is in for many devices, including phones, tablets, and laptops, but in the future we may see flexibility become the physical feature of choice. For some technologies this makes sense, as the flexibility can allow it to be deployed in more places by wrapping around any object. Researchers at Columbia University are working towards flexible cameras and have recently developed a flexible lens array without aliasing artifacts.
One way to create a flexible lens array is to attach rigid lenses with fixed focal length to a flexible material, but it has a significant flaw. As the material is bent, gaps will form between the lenses' fields of view. The researchers solved this problem by making the lenses themselves flexible, so the bending alters the focal length as needed. This prevents any gaps, or aliasing artifacts from forming, and it was achieved passively by optimizing the geometry and material properties of the silicone used, so no special mechanical or electrical systems are needed.
This lens is just half of a flexible camera as a large-format flexible detector also has to be developed. Once that is created though, the new class of cameras will have many new applications not currently possible with rigid cameras, and we could potentially see them made cheaply, like a roll of plastic.
Source: Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science
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Hardware Roundup: Tuesday, April 19, 2016, Edition
Tax day is over and done with, so today people can read some articles without anything hanging over their head. We have a review on the ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+ motherboard, featuring a 12-phase all digital power design and quad GPU support for both NVIDIA and AMD cards. For those needing a new control system, the IOGEAR Kaliber Mechlite Mechanical Keyboard, with its Kailh Blue switches and blue backlighting, might be the answer. Ending things for today is a video looking at the new MSI gaming laptops to see what one is the best for whatever situation you're in.
Motherboards
ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+ @ ThinkComputers
Keyboards/Mice
IOGEAR Kaliber Mechlite Mechanical Keyboard @ Neoseeker
Laptops/Tablets
Video Perspective: Breaking Down MSI's Gaming Notebooks @ PC Perspective
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Mafia III Launching October 7, 2016
After being announced in August last year, we now finally have a launch date for Mafia III as October 7, 2016. It will be available in both standard and deluxe editions for the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The game is being developed by Hangar 13.
Mafia III is set in 1968 New Bordeaux, a reimagined New Orleans that is filled with era-inspired cars, music, and fashion. You will play as Lincoln Clay, a Vietnam War veteran who learned that family is not who you are born with, but who you die for. He wants to escape his criminal past, but after his surrogate family, the black mob, is betrayed and destroyed by the Italian Mafia, Lincoln sets out to build a new family and exact military-grade revenge. Build the right crew and you will be able to make it through the gun fights, white-knuckle driving, and more to reach the top of the city's underworld.
Source: Take-Two Interactive Software
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Amazon Now Offering Standalone Prime Video Subscription
Amazon Prime was the first foray of the company into subscription based services, but it certainly hasn't been the last. Amazon has since expanded its services to include Kindle Unlimited, Prime Video, and Cloud Drive. Prime Video offers a similar service to Netflix and has also recently increased its focus on original programming with popular offerings such as Transparent. Until now, Prime Video has only been available to subscribers of the main Prime service, but Amazon has decided to begin offering a standalone service at a cost of $8.99 per month. For now it seems to make sense to keep paying for your normal Prime subscription and getting the video service included, unless you don't like the two day shipping option.
Source: Tech Crunch
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Intel Announces Apollo Lake x86 SoC Platform
Apollo Lake is the "next-generation family of Atom-based notebook SoCs" from Intel, built on the x86 microarchitecture known as Goldmont. Also built in to the new chips is the graphics core found in Skylake processors with support for DDR4, DDR3L, and LPDDR3/DDR4. Intel envisions that Apollo Lake will make a great choice for a variety of low power or small form factor systems including notebooks, tablets, and all-in-one systems. In order to help accommodate these smaller devices, Intel has provided a list of recommendations to help with size and power restrictions including M.2 SSDs and Wi-Fi that is soldered to the motherboard. More information is expected to become available in the near future, with Computex likely a safe bet.
Source: AnandTech
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Hardware Roundup: Monday, April 18, 2016, Edition
A new week is here, bringing with it several different things for you to check out. The Noctua NH-D9DXi4-3U LGA 2011 Xeon Workstation/Server CPU Cooler gets tested to see if this is the solution to keeping your 3U height Intel server from going down in flames. There is a guide covering the best motherboards of 2016 so far, hitting the notes for gamers, enthusiasts, workstations, and those on a budget. If you're in need of a new wireless router, perhaps the TP-LINK AC2600 Dual Band Gigabit Router is for you. Wrapping things up today is the iRULU WalknBook 3 Hybrid Tablet PC, a cost-effective option for those needing a solid and strong tablet PC running Windows 10.
Motherboards
Best Motherboards of 2016: Enthusiast, extreme, workstation and budget picks @ TechSpot
CPU Cooling
Noctua NH-D9DXi4-3U LGA 2011 Xeon Workstation/Server CPU Cooler @ Frostytech
Networking
TP-LINK AC2600 Dual Band Gigabit Router @ Madshrimps
Laptops/Tablets
iRULU WalknBook 3 Hybrid Tablet PC @ ThinkComputers
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New Means of Creating E-Textiles Developed
So many items around us are becoming connected now, and eventually even our clothes will contain electronics. Creating e-textiles has not proven to be easy though, as textiles must be flexible while electronic components are typically rigid and fragile. Several advances have been made over recent years though, and now researchers at Ohio State University have successfully found a new means of embroidering circuits into clothes.
Previously the Ohio State researchers worked with a silver-coated polymer thread that measured about 0.5 mm in diameter, with each thread consisting of 600 smaller filaments. What the researchers have done recently though is switch to a new thread just 0.1 mm in diameter and made of just seven filaments. This new thread has a copper core that is enameled with pure silver, but is still able to be embroidered like a traditional thread. The researchers have already demonstrated this by feeding it into a sewing machine that then embroidered different shapes into textiles, and these shapes were functional circuits and antennas. In fact, a broadband antenna they made, which is able to work over a broad spectrum of frequencies like our mobile devices, showed off near-perfect efficiency from 1 to 5 GHz.
Potentially this antenna design could be allow our clothes to boost the reception of smartphones and tablets. The wire used costs about three cents a foot, and just one antenna takes about ten feet, so that is thirty cents, which is 24 times cheaper than similar antennas the researchers made in 2014. It is also cheaper because the technique has been refined so that only one embroidered layer is needed, saving on time and material.
Source: Ohio State University
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Intel is Reportedly Cutting Thousands of Jobs This Year
According to multiple sources within the company that are familiar with its plans, Intel is looking to cut thousands of jobs throughout this year in an effort to reorganize its business objectives and maintain its healthy profit margins. While the job cuts have not been officially announced within the company or even publicly disclosed, those familiar with the matter note that the reduction in employment at Intel will decrease numbers in some parts of the business by double digits. Additionally, the next round of job cuts at Intel is expected to be larger than the layoffs that occurred last year in which more than 1,100 jobs were eliminated. The reduction in Intel's workforce is supposedly due to the shifting business market as more consumers purchase mobile devices and prolong upgrading their current personal computers. The company is also facing increased costs that are associated with manufacturing more complex and smaller chip designs.
With the recent change in top-level executives at Intel, and the refocus the company is taking on longterm growth, the thousands of job cuts that are expected throughout this year seem rather unsurprising.
Source: Oregon Live
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NVIDIA Releases GeForce Hot Fix Driver 364.96
NVIDIA has recently released version 364.96 of its GeForce hot fix driver, which primarily focuses on providing support for the Doom open beta that commenced just a few days ago. The driver also is said to have fixed some FPS drops that occur on select GPUs after waking up from sleep. Affected titles for this FPS drop issue include Dark Souls 3 and The Division, though some users on the official NVIDIA forums are reporting that Dark Souls 3 is suddenly crashing after installing the GeForce Hot Fix Driver 364.96.
For individuals that have a supported NVIDIA GPU and are still enjoying the Doom open beta throughout the rest of today, it just might be worth downloading the latest hot fix driver from NVIDIA.
Source: WCCFtech
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