| Microsoft Yanks Two Patch Tuesday Updates After Problems Arise Posted: 12 Dec 2014 10:24 AM PST  Buggy updates caused problems with some Windows rigs
It's been a bit of a rough month for Microsoft and various Windows users, at least in terms of software updates. It started with Microsoft telling Windows 10 Preview users to uninstall Office prior to applying Patch Tuesday updates or else the installer would fail. However, it's not only uses of pre-release software who ran into trouble. Microsoft has gone and pulled two security patches because they were causing problems for some users. According to InfoSecurity, the first incident involves KB 3004394, a patch that prevented some Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 machines from being able to install future updates. Those affected are advised to install an update title KB 3024777, which will remove the original patch from their systems. The second issue involves Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 8. A day after it was released, Microsoft had to pull it offline while it works on putting out a new version. "The issue impacts the ability of Outlook to connect to Exchange, thus we are taking the action to recall the RU8 to resolve this problem," Microsoft said. "We will deliver a revised RU8 package as soon as the issue can be isolated, corrected, and validated." Microsoft bundles security fixes and bug patches into a monthly roll out on the second Tuesday of every month known as Patch Tuesday. Typically they fix a bunch of issues, but every so often, they cause trouble themselves, as is the case here. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Free to Play This Weekend on Steam Posted: 12 Dec 2014 09:57 AM PST  Steam gives gamers a taste of CoD:AW and knocks 25 percent off the price
It seems Steam is always cooking up a sale, and come next week, rumor has it the Winter Sale will kick off. In the meantime, you can still find discounts all over the place, though if you'd rather not spend any money at all, be advised that Steam is making Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare multiplayer free to play for the next couple of days as part of its weekend deal. If you end up getting hooked, you can purchase the title for 25 percent off ($44.99, or $79.99 for the Digital Pro Edition). Free multiplayer ends on Sunday, December 14 at 1PM Pacific (4PM Eastern), while the 25 percent discount will disappear on Monday, December 15 at 10AM Pacific (1PM Eastern), Valve announced. Not a bad deal all around, and a good warmup to the Winter Sale that will presumably kick off on December 18th. As our sister site PC Gamer points out, this isn't confirmed -- it's based on a supposed email from PayPal Japan to a Reddit user. However, Steam's Winter Sale started on the Thursday before Christmas last year, which was the 19th. This year, that day falls on the 18th. You may not care after what's been a busy holiday shopping season up to this point -- there have been lots of sales, including game discounts through GOG and Steam. Of course, the Winter Sale is typically bigger with more games being added to the mix compared to previous sales. The hard part is finding time to play them all. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Corsair Coughs Up Pricing Details for Neutron XT SSD Series Posted: 12 Dec 2014 08:53 AM PST  High performance drives at mid-range price points
It's been about a month since Corsair first began showing off its Neutron XT solid state drive family, and at the time, the company wasn't ready to talk about pricing details. That's a secret Corsair can't keep forever -- the drives are reportedly supposed to launch to public in the coming weeks -- so last night, Corsair spilled the beans on how much its Neutron XT SSD line will street for. According to Legit Reviews, Corsair let it be known that the Neutron XT 240GB will go for $150, which breaks down to about $0.62 percent gigabyte. The 480GB and 960GB capacities will go for $270 and $540, respectively, both of which check in at around $0.56 per gigabyte. The prices compare favorably to Samsung's new 850 Pro SSD line available in 1TB ($.60 per gigabyte), 512GB ($0.66 per gigabyte), and 256GB ($0.68 per gigabyte) capacities, and offer similar performance metrics. Corsair's Neutron XT line uses a new Phison PS-3110-S10 controller paired with Toshiba A19nm MLC NAND flash memory. The combination results in up to 560MB/s read and 540MB/s write performance, along with 100,000 IOPS read an 90,000 IOPs write. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Facebook Puts Thought into "Dislike" and “Sympathize” Buttons Posted: 12 Dec 2014 08:14 AM PST  Does Facebook need more buttons?
Just about anyone who's ever used Facebook has wished for a "Dislike" button at one point or another. Unless you're willing to rid your Friends list of all your friends, family, and co-workers, then you've seen an inane post that made you question how well you really know Uncle Bob or your buddy Bill. Or maybe someone posted a spoiler to The Sons of Anarchy's series finale. Well, the good news is Facebook is at least "thinking about" a dislike button. The bad news? A "sympathize" button is more likely to appear. This is a topic that Zuckerberg's probably addressed a million times behind the scenes, though now that he's holding public Q&A sessions, you can bet it's one of the things people inevitably ask about. Such was the case during Zuckerberg's second time fielding questions from the general populace. "We're thinking about it," Zuckerberg replied to a question about adding a dislike button, though he's cautious it could cause more harm than good. "I don't think there needs to be a voting mechanism on Facebook, whether posts are good are bad," Zuckerberg added. "I don't think that's socially very valuable or good for the community. But the thing that I think is very valuable is that there are more sentiments that people want to express than just positivity or that they like something." One of those sentiments popped up in reports a year ago, that sentiment being a "sympathize" button. It's one of many that could appear on the site before or in place of a dislike button. You can catch the 1-hour Q&A session by going here. Image Credit: Flickr (Marcin Wichary) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
