| Steam Posts Minimum System Requirements for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Posted: 20 Oct 2014 11:58 AM PDT  Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare needs 6GB of RAM
If you've been wondering what it takes to run Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, you'll be happy to know that Steam has now posted minimum system requirements. All in all, you'll need a fairly respectable system to run the game -- among the requirements are 6GB of RAM and 55GB of free hard drive space, and that's just to get your foot in the door. What else do you need? According to Steam's listing, you'll need an Intel Core i3 530 processor clocked at 2.93GHz or an AMD Phenom II X4 810 clocked at 2.8GHz, Nvidia GeForce GTX 450 or ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, DirectX 11, broadband Internet connection, and Windows (Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8 64-bit, or Windows 8.1 64-bit). As for recommended system requirements, Activision is still mum on that front. CoD: Advanced Warfare releases to the public on November 4. Unlike previous CoD games, Advanced Warfare won't make use of a traditional heads-up display and will instead use holographic projections from whichever weapon you have equipped. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Globalfoundries is Buying IBM's Chip Business for Negative $1.5 Billion Posted: 20 Oct 2014 11:20 AM PDT  Say what now?
Think you could sell ice to an Eskimo? Hey, that would be an impressive demonstration of your ability to make a sale, though it pales in comparison to Globalfoundries deal with IBM. As odd as it may sound on the surface, IBM today announced that it's offloading its semiconductor business to Globalfoundries, along with $1.5 billion in cash to be paid over the next three years. You read that right -- IBM is essentially paying Globalfoundries to take control of its chip business. On top of that, IBM will go through with its previously announced $3 billion investment over five years for semiconductor technology research, of which Globalfoundries will have primary access to. It's an unusual move, and on the surface, one would be excused for thinking IBM had gone and lost it marbles. However, IBM can justify the transaction because of two reasons. "While IBM has world-class technology and intellectual property, the company has lacked scale," IBM stated in a regulatory filing. "As a subscale business, IBM's microelectronic business has been generating losses." The semiconductor business had become a burden on IBM. By getting rid of it, IBM plans to further focus on fundamental semiconductor research and the development of future cloud, mobile, big data analytics, and secure transactions-optimized systems. As part of the deal, Globalfoundries gains all kinds of intellectual property, including thousands of patents. "This acquisition solidifies Globalfoundries' leadership position in semiconductor technology development and manufacturing," said Dr. Sanjay Jha, CEO, Globalfoundries. "We can now offer our customers a broader range of differentiated leading-edge 3D transistor and RF technologies, and we will also improve our design ecosystem to accelerate time-to-revenue for our customers. This acquisition further strengthens advanced manufacturing in the United States, and builds on established relationships in New York and Vermont." IBM posted a profit of $3.5 billion for its fiscal third quarter of 2014, down 17 percent from $4.1 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Straight and to the point, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said "We are disappointed in our performance," noting a marked slowdown in client buying behavior during the month of September. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Google's Third Quarter Profit Misses Target as Advertising Growth Slows Posted: 20 Oct 2014 10:41 AM PDT  Sultan of search reported $16.52 billion in Q3 revenues
Google enjoyed another overall strong quarter for the period ended September 30, 2014, with consolidated revenues reaching $16.52 billion, a healthy jump of 20 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. However, some other numbers were down year-over-year. On a GAAP basis, Google reported $3.72 billion in operating income, or 23 percent of revenues, versus $3.76 billion, or 27 percent of revenues a year ago. Non-GAAP operating income came to $5.36 billion, or 32 percent of revenues, compared to $4.62 billion, or 34 percent of revenues in the third quarter of 2013. The search giant's profit was down on a GAAP basis ($2.81 billion versus $2.97 billion a year ago) and up on a non-GAAP basis ($4.37 billion versus $3.28 billion a year ago). Either way, Google came up short of what analysts were expecting. Though revenue was up for the third quarter, the cost per click (average price Google receives each time a user clicks on an ad) dipped 2 percent compared to the previous quarter, and was flat compared to last year. Cost per click for Google sites dropped 1 percent sequentially and 4 percent year-over-year. The primary problem is that users are spending more time with mobile phones and less time on the desktop. Google's also invested money in its workforce -- the search company now home to 55,030 full-time employees, up from 52,069 full-time workers a year ago. Image Credit: Flickr (mename comunicacions) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Addresses Inequality and Other Topics in TV Interview Posted: 20 Oct 2014 08:55 AM PDT  Satya Nadella's first TV interview since being named CEO of Microsoft
Jon Fortt at CNBC sat down with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for his first TV interview since becoming boss of the Redmond outfit. Nadella answered questions about Microsoft's cloud strategy, why he opposes a spinoff, and yes, he addressed recent controversial comments that were made in regards to women in the workplace, and specifically the issue of a pay discrepancy between men and women. The controversial comments came when Nadella was a guest speaker at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Speaking to a mostly female audience, Nadella suggested that women workers rely on karma for raises. "It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along. Because that's good karma. It'll come back because somebody's going to know that's the kind of person that I want to trust," Nadella said. His comments were later criticized on the web. Fortt asked Nadella if he understands why what he said upset so many people and if he could elaborate on that. In response, Nadella said he spent several days reflecting on what's been a "very humbling experience," admitting that he was "completely wrong" in his answer to how women should promote themselves. "I basically took my own approach to how I approached my career and sprung it on half the humanity, and that was just insensitive," Nadella said. On the topic of cloud computing, Nadella said that any major company that's not already spending "four or five billion dollars each year to just grow your cloud, probably it's a little too late to enter the market." That's what Microsoft is doing, as are Amazon and Google, which are really the big three in that category. And what of splitting the Microsoft's consumer business from its enterprise efforts? Nadella is against the idea, choosing instead to focus on what he calls "dual-use," such as people using Windows and Office for their personal use, and taking it to work." There's a lot more to digest here. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Mozilla's Matchstick Dongle Nearly Quadruples Funding Goal, New Features in Sight Posted: 20 Oct 2014 08:17 AM PDT  Local Play and Ad Hoc Mode are next
It only took 24 hours for Mozilla's Matchstick HDMI dongle to reach its targeted $100,000 funding goal on Kickstarter, and since then, the project has skyrocketed to more than $390,000 with 9 days still to go. However, this is where things interesting, as they often do on these crowdfunded sites. If Matchstick hits $500,000 in pledges, Mozilla will implement two frequently requested stretch goals -- Local Play and Ad Hoc mode. To quickly recap, Matchstick is the first HDMI stick based on Firefox OS. You plug it into your TV, connect to it via Wi-Fi, and stream and interact with the web. It's similar to Google's Chromecast dongle, except that Matchstick is a completely open hardware and software platform with no approval or oversight system in place. There are hundreds of apps in the Mozilla app store, and as the developer program ramps up, many of those existing ones (and lots of new ones) will become available on the Matchstick app store. At launch, the Matchstick team promises to deliver a core set of content through apps like YouTube, HBO Go, Pandora, and others. Should the project raise another $110,000 within the next 9 days, Local Play and Ad Hoc will join the party. Local Play will allow Matchstick to stream content from your own local media servers (located on the same LAN). "We will provide an app for you to access content on your local media servers (NAS, SAMBA, NFS) in a list view so you can navigate to the exact content you want to fling. Of course, APIs are available for those of you who want to develop your own apps to access you local content," Mozilla explains. Local Play is one of the most requested features, though not as much as Ad Hoc mode, or peer to peer playback. This will allow you to play any content you have local, on your device, without a connection to the cloud -- just connect your phone or tablet directly to Matchstick and start streaming. If this sounds like something you want to support, or if you simply want to learn more, hit up the project's Kickstarter page. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: AMD FX-6350 Vishera Processor, Asus R9 290X Graphics Card, and More! Posted: 20 Oct 2014 06:26 AM PDT |
| Report: Microsoft Smartwatch Announcement Imminent Posted: 20 Oct 2014 12:14 AM PDT 
Only a matter of weeks now Microsoft, which first flirted with smartwatches through its Smart Personal Object Technology (SPOT) initiative all the way back in 2004, is rumored to be on the verge of re-entering the smartwatch market. A new report suggests that the company could launch a wearable device within the next few weeks. This report comes to us from Forbes, which was also the first to report back in May that a "sensor-rich smartwatch" capable of syncing with iPhones, Android phones and Windows Phones was in the works at Microsoft. According to the latest report, Microsoft is getting ready to unveil the device in the next few weeks. Forbes has further learned from sources close to the development effort that the plan is to make the device available soon after the launch so as to make the most of the coming holiday season.
Other than cross-platform compatibility, the device is said to be capable of lasting two days on a single charge despite constantly tracking the wearer's heart rate — this monitoring functionality reportedly relies on company's extensive optical engineering know-how. Image Credit: BizJournals Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
| Are Chrome and Android About to Merge? Posted: 19 Oct 2014 10:42 PM PDT 
Recent management change suggests so Talk of Android and Chrome OS merging into a single platform is nothing new. It has been around since the day Google first lifted the curtain on the cloud-based operating system, with even Google co-founder Sergey Brin admitting as far back as 2009 that the two appeared likely to "converge over time". Now, per the Wall Street Journal, such a merger is looking more and more likely in light of a recent management change inside the software behemoth.
Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice president of engineering at Google's Android division, has now also been entrusted with the task of overseeing the Chrome engineering team. Google previously had Linus Upson in this role. This move shouldn't be viewed in isolation. We have now finally begun to see some synergy between the two platforms, with Google last month bringing the first batch of Android apps — Duolingo, Evernote, Sight Words, and Vine — to the cloud OS. These apps run on Chrome using using the App Runtime for Chrome (beta), a project the company announced at Google I/O in June. The company is now "working with a select group of Android developers to add more of your favorite apps so you'll have a more seamless experience across your Android phone and Chromebook." To us, it looks more like the "Androidifcation" of Chrome than a merger. What do you think? Image Credit: Chrome Story Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
