| The 11 Best Videogame Water Posted: 11 Aug 2014 03:36 PM PDT Virtual water so beautiful, you'll be able to drown in it Your fancy GPU maybe be able to render billions of pixels and triangles a second, but you're not showing off its full technical power unless there's something pretty to look at. You know what's pretty to look at? Videogame water, specifically good videogame water. 
We've reached a point where videogame water is looking so wonderful and realistic, that it seems like you could drink from it, nay, drown in it even. Not all videogame water is created equal, however. To suss out which virtual H20 is worth your GPU's rendering time, we've compiled a list of the 11 best videogame water. In addition to the pictures and descriptions below, make sure to check out the links for videos to see what the water looks like in action. What's your choice for best videogame water? Let us know in the comments below! Follow Sean on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Intel Previews 14nm Core M Broadwell Architecture for Thin Form Factors Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:35 PM PDT 
A look at Intel's newest microarchitecture After seeing Broadwell appear on a number of leaked roadmaps, Intel today finally provided some technical details about its 14nm manufacturing process and what the future holds. The first Broadwell chip to be based on the new microarchitecture will be Intel's Core M chip, which the company expects to power a broad range of products, everything from the infrastructure of cloud computing and devices that fall within the Internet of Things (IoT), to personal and mobile computing products. This represents a "tick" in Intel's tick-tock cycle, the last "tock" being Haswell. Broadwell essentially represents a die shrink of Haswell to 14nm, along with various optimizations, though Intel also baked in a few new goodies. Broadwell-based Core M chips use Intel's second generation Tri-gate (FinFET) transistors, which lead the way in performance, power, density, and cost per transistor. Intel said it was able to achieve a greater than two times reduction in the thermal design when compared to a previous generation of processor while providing similar performance and better battery life. "Intel's integrated model – the combination of our design expertise with the best manufacturing process – makes it possible to deliver better performance and lower power to our customers and to consumers," said Rani Borkar, Intel vice president and general manager of product development. "This new microarchitecture is more than a remarkable technical achievement. It is a demonstration of the importance of our outside-in design philosophy that matches our design to customer requirements." On the consumer side, you can expect to see Core M show up in tablets and new form factors, including thinner systems that run silent and cool. Part of that is made possible by the fact that the Broadwell-Y platform sports a 25 percent smaller board area compared to Haswell. Broadwell also features a 50 percent smaller package size and 30 percent thinner Z-height compared to its predecessor. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Origin PC Wants You to Trade In Your Alienware Laptop Towards an EVO15-S Posted: 11 Aug 2014 11:42 AM PDT  Boutique builder promises "fair market value" for your Alienware laptop
Origin PC may have just started a war with Dell by offering to give you store credit for your "thick, slow, and heavy Alienware branded laptop," which you can then apply towards a thin and light EVO15-S gaming laptop or any Origin system. Why is Origin PC targeting Alienware owners? We're not sure, though we surmise it's because Alienware is the only actively promoted boutique brand owned by a major OEM. Hewlett-Packard still owns the rights to Voodoo PC, but it's not really doing anything with the brand. That leaves Dell and its Alienware brand as the main targets, and it appears Origin PC is ready for a fight. "Origin PC receives requests frequently from customers that want to trade in their older and heavier laptops for a state of the art, thin and light EVO15-S model which is half as thick as the Alienware branded 14-inch laptop from Dell. Our Trade-Up program is the perfect solution," said Kevin Wasielewski Origin PC CEO and co-founder. "Once you compare the specs of an Alienware branded 14-inch laptop from Dell to our EVO15-S, the numbers speak for themselves and with our standard FREE Lifetime 24/7 US based support, there is no denying the overall value and superior performance of our EVO15-S thin and light laptop." Unfortunately Origin PC doesn't give examples of trade-in value, saying only that it will offer users fair market value for their Alienware laptops, which is dependent on the specs and overall quality of the machine. Once you receive a trade-in offer, it's valid for 14 days. While you can use the credit towards any Origin PC, the company is pitching hard for its15.6-inch EVO15-S laptop. It starts at $2,200 and comes standard with a 1920x1080 resolution (3K upgrade optional) Intel Core i7 4710HQ processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M graphics, 16GB DDR3L-1600 RAM, dual 128GB M.2 SATA SSDs in RAID 0, 1TB 7200 RPM HDD, Intel PRO Wireless AC7260 + BT Wireless LAN combo, USB 3.0 connectivity, media card reader, 720p webcam, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. You can learn more about Origin PC's trade-up program here. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Microsoft Launches Super Cheap Nokia 130 Handset Posted: 11 Aug 2014 11:16 AM PDT  An ultra-affordable mobile phone that isn't destined for the U.S., though maybe it should be
Wouldn't it be ironic if Microsoft's best selling mobile phone didn't run the company's Windows Phone platform? Hey, it could happen -- Microsoft today unveiled the Nokia 130, a super affordable mobile phone intended to bring the "digital experience" to millions of users in developing and emerging territories. It's only 19 euros (around $25 in U.S. currency) to own the phone outright with no service contract. At that price, it's not meant to compete with high-end or even most entry-level handsets. It has a 1.8-inch Quarter-QVGA (160x120) color display, USB connectivity, microSD card slot with support for up to 32GB, built-in video player, MP3 player, FM radio, Bluetooth, flashlight, and a few other basic essentials available in single- or dual-SIM form. As for the software, it runs on Series 30+. "As demand in the affordable mobile segment continues to grow, Microsoft remains committed to delivering market-leading mobile innovation at each and every price point," said Jo Harlow, corporate vice president for Phones, Microsoft Corp. "It is estimated that at least 1 billion people in the world still do not have a mobile phone, while at the same time there is increasing demand for reliable backup phones in both mature and high-growth markets." Microsoft is only releasing the Nokia 130 in select markets, including China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. However, we're in agreement with Geek.com that this would make a sensible handset for the U.S. market as well -- not for high-end users, obviously, but for kids or when traveling someplace where you don't want to risk losing an expensive smartphone. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drives Move Big Data in a Small Package Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:27 AM PDT  Don't be fooled by the Ultra Fit's small size
SanDisk today released its high-speed Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive family. Available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities, these tiny drives are only small in stature (19.1 x 15.9 x 8.8 millimeters / 0.75 x 0.63 x 0.35 inches (LxWxH) without cap), not performance -- according to SanDisk, you can transfer a full-length movie in 40 seconds using an Ultra Fit drive, which offer speeds up to 10 times as fast as USB 2.0. All three capacities are rated to read data at up to 130MB/s -- certainly respectable, though not record breaking. As for write speeds, SanDisk says the 16GB model can write data at up 5 times faster than USB 2.0, while the 32GB and 64GB drives offer write performance that's up to 10 times as fast as USB 2.0. That translates into about 20MB/s for the 16GB and 40MB/s for the 32GB and 64GB drives. Size really comes down to personal preference. SanDisk describes the Ultra Fit as having a "modern design" for plugging into notebooks, tablets, TVs, gaming consoles, car audio systems, and more, and we can see the benefit on a smaller and thinner items like Ultrabooks and handheld mobile devices. On the flip side, we'd hate to drop one of these in a messy area and go hunting around for it. The SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 line is available now for $40 (16GB), $70 (32GB), and $110 (64GB). Each one comes with SanDisk SecureAccess software offering password protection and 128-bit encryption, as well as a one-year subscription to RescuePRO software to recover lost or corrupted files. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Origin Rolls Out Battlebox Titan Z Systems for 4K Gaming Posted: 11 Aug 2014 08:40 AM PDT  Refreshed desktops offer 4K gaming performance starting at under $4,000
The 4K era is in its very early stages, and though the technology still has room for improvement (especially on the monitor side), you can make the leap if you're determined. Boutique builder Origin PC is all too happy to satisfy your 4K gaming needs with its Nvidia Battlebox Titan Z systems that are now available. These are basically refreshed Genesis, Millennium, and Chronos machines equipped with Nvidia GeForce Titan Z graphics cards. "Whether you're new to 4K gaming or not, each Origin PC Battlebox Titan Z system was designed to provide the best 4K gaming experience right out of the box," Origin PC explains. "With a wide variety of special bundled options for each system, such as the inclusion of a 4K monitor bundled with a Titan Z graphics card, only Origin PC's Battlebox TITAN Z systems can deliver the ultimate 4K gaming experience at an incredible value." All three setups start at under $4,000 with a single Titan Z graphics card. Each one also offers different starting configurations, though depending on the model and config, you can find yourself above the $4,000 starting point in a hurry. For example, the Chronos Z is available with a single Titan Z for under $4,000 or with a Titan Z and Asus PB287Q 4K Ultra HD 28-inch monitor, though in this case, the latter option still stays under $4,000 - it's the other two that bump up above, depending on which setup you start with. The same options are available for the Millennium Z, plus a third configuration consisting of dual Titan Z graphics cards for the price of one. Same goes for the Genesis Z, though it adds a fourth option -- dual Cryogenic liquid cooled Titan Z graphics cards for the price of one. If you're interested, just head over to the special 4K Battlebox landing page on Origin's website. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Asus DirecCU II Radeon R9 280, AMD A10-5800K APU, and More! Posted: 11 Aug 2014 08:19 AM PDT |
| Gmail Makes It Easier to Unsubscribe from Irritating Emails Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:41 AM PDT 
Places unsubscribe link next to sender's email address With most estimates for the total number of spam emails sent daily being in the hundreds of billions, it's no surprise that many unwanted messages often find their way past even some of the best spam filters. To make matters worse, we often find ourselves receiving messages which, although not unsolicited, are no longer relevant to us. Google has now rolled out a new feature to help Gmail users get rid of such unwanted messages a bit more easily. It's a very simple idea. All Google has done is to make the "unsubscribe" link, usually buried at the bottom of most mailing list messages, a bit more prominent. First announced at the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group conference in San Francisco in February, this nifty little addition to Gmail wasn't available to all users until this past Wednesday. "Now when a sender includes an "Unsubscribe" link in a Promotions, Social or Forums message, Gmail will surface it to the top, right next to the sender address. If you're interested in the message's content, it won't get in the way, and if not, it'll make it easier to keep your inbox clutter-free," the company announced in a Google Plus post. "Making the unsubscribe option easy to find is a win for everyone. For email senders, their mail is less likely to be marked as spam and for you, you can now say goodbye to sifting through an entire message for that one pesky link." Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
| Internet Explorer 8 Support to End in Early 2016 Posted: 10 Aug 2014 10:21 PM PDT 
Per one estimate, IE 8 still accounts for over one-fifth of the PC browser market Microsoft detailed its browser support plans in a post on the Internet Explorer Team Blog on Thursday. In its post, the company included a list of operating systems and browser version combinations that will continue to be supported beyond January 12, 2016, and the five-year-old Internet Explorer 8, currently the most popular version of the browser, is not on the list. "After January 12, 2016, only the most recent version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system will receive technical support and security updates," Roger Capriotti, director of Internet Explorer, wrote in the blog post, urging all users to enable automatic updates. "For example, customers using Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 9, or Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7 SP1 should migrate to Internet Explorer 11 to continue receiving security updates and technical support." Apart from Windows 7 SP1, Microsoft will continue to support Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 beyond the said date.
The other versions to which support will continue to flow are IE 9 on Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2, and IE 10 on Windows Server 2012. Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
