General Gaming Article |
- D-Link's Red Alien AC3150 Ultra Wi-Fi Router
- Newegg Daily Deals: ASRock Z170 Pro4S Motherboard, iBuyPower Desktop, and More!
- Microsoft's Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows 10 Now Supports Win 7 and 8.1
- Steam Steps Up Security to Address 77,000 Monthly Account Hacks
- EVGA Announces 700B Bronze Power Supply for Thrifty Builders
- Synology Launches 2-Bay DiskStation DS216
- The Potential Applications for HoloLens
| D-Link's Red Alien AC3150 Ultra Wi-Fi Router Posted: 11 Dec 2015 01:38 PM PST Thanks to our need to stream this and that over the Internet, we keep looking for more speed to feed our growing habits. D-Link says its new AC3150 Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-885L/R) serves up both range and speeds. And no, it's not really called the Red Alien–but it'd be fitting. The alien-shaped AC3150 Ultra comes packed with plenty of bandwidth to keep your video feeds from buffering, offering speeds of up to 2,167Mb/s on the 5GHz band and a surprising speed of up to 1,000Mb/s on the 2.4GHz band. But keep in mind your speeds will never reach these heights, especially with just one client. You'll need multiple connected clients and then it's still just total aggregated speeds. This is of course, if you don't have any walls or other forms of interference. The router is also backed by a dual-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz, which should make it not only fast on the bandwidth front but quick at handling a high number of connected clients. The usual router fair is also supplied: a single USB 3.0 port on the back, four gigabit LAN ports, a gigabit WAN port, and a WPS button and a router/extender switch for changing the device's mode. D-Link packs in a number of bells and whistles such as SmartConnect, which the company says automatically chooses the best possible band for optimal performance, QoS for optimizing traffic, and beamforming technology. D-Link also mentions that its new red bug also fully supports the DD-WRT open source firmware. Price tag? $280 big ones, which puts it in the upper class of routers. At these prices, we expect the AC3150 to pummel through our walls without breaking a sweat. If we get a unit in for review, we'll let you know how it actually performs. |
| Newegg Daily Deals: ASRock Z170 Pro4S Motherboard, iBuyPower Desktop, and More! Posted: 11 Dec 2015 12:13 PM PST Top Deal: Looking for a reason to upgrade to Skylake? We'll keep it simple -- just check out today's top deal for an ASRock Z170 Pro4S Motherboard for $80 with free shipping (normally $110). The discounted price is easy to swallow, yet you still get support for Skylake, an Ultra M.2 socket, two SATA Express ports, half a dozen SATA 6Gbps ports, and lots more. Consider it a cost conscious holiday gift to yourself. Other Deals: DIYPC S280-W White USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case for $60 with free shipping (normally $74) Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset for $20 with free shipping (normally $28) iBuyPowerDesktop PC ARC Series NE621FX AMD FX-Series FX-6300 (3.50 GHz) 8 GB DDR3 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit for $540 with $10 shipping (normally $570) G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory for $80 with free shipping (normally $86) |
| Microsoft's Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows 10 Now Supports Win 7 and 8.1 Posted: 11 Dec 2015 12:03 PM PST Better late than neverMicrosoft took its sweet little time bringing a wireless PC adapter for Xbox One controllers to market, and when it finally arrived, the Redmond outfit said it would only support Windows 10 because of, well, reasons. Users who haven't upgraded to Windows 10 can stop pounding sand over the snub. Microsoft's Major Nelson (Larry Hryb) announced on Twitter that in addition to Windows 10, the adapter now supports Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. The wireless adapter is about the size of a portable flash drive. It plugs into a USB port and supports up to eight wireless controllers, plus up to four chat headsets or two stereo headsets. Once binded to a wireless Xbox One controller, users can enjoy the same gaming experience on their PC as they do their console, including in-game chat. So, why the restriction to Windows 10 in the first place? Good question. Barring any technical hurdles that we're unaware of, it seemed to be an arbitrary limitation to nudge users to upgrade to Windows 10. Or maybe Microsoft just needed some additional time to write proper drivers. Whatever the reason, Microsoft's over it, and you can be too if you pony up the $25 asking price. |
| Steam Steps Up Security to Address 77,000 Monthly Account Hacks Posted: 11 Dec 2015 10:25 AM PST Beefing up securityHacking Steam accounts isn't a new phenomenon, it's something that's been going on since its inception. However, it's now more common than ever before and "essentially all Steam accounts are now targets," Valve stated in a blog post talking about security. Valve pegs the number of Steam accounts that are hijacked and pillaged each month at 77,000 and points out they're not new or inexperienced users. "These are professional SC:GO players, Reddit contributors, item traders, etc. Users can be targeted randomly as part of a larger group or even individually," Valve said, adding that hackers are more than willing to "wait months for a payoff, all the while relentlessly attempting to gain access." So what's going on with the surge in hacker activity? It dates back to the introduction of Valve's Steam Trading platform four years ago. Since then, account hacking has increased twenty-fold to become the top complaint among users, and it's becoming more of a problem. Valve says that enough money now moves around the system that stealing virtual Steam goods is a full fledged business for skilled hackers. And with nearly every account making up part of the economy with items or trading cards, hackers have found more than enough value to make pillaging worth their time. "What used to be a handful of hackers is now a highly effective, organized network, in the business of stealing and selling items," Valve said. "It would be easier for them to go after the users who don't understand how to stay secure online, but the prevalence of items make it worthwhile to target everyone." Kudos to Valve for acknowledging the problem, but what is doing about it? According to Valve, it's worked to beef up security by closing loopholes, improving how and when it messages users that their accounts are at risk, and added things like self-locking and two-factor authentication. The problem for Valve is that not everyone is using the security tools at their disposal, and specifically two-factor authentication. Valve considered removing Steam's trading feature, but rather than go that route, it's going to push two-factor authentication hard. Specifically, here are the changes Valve is rolling out:
Valve says user who haven't enabled two-factor authentication can still trade, but they'll have to wait up to 3 days for the trade to go through. It's Valve's hope that the waiting period will give Steam and users enough time to discover shenanigans and stop potential theft. |
| EVGA Announces 700B Bronze Power Supply for Thrifty Builders Posted: 11 Dec 2015 09:41 AM PST An economical solution EVGA believes its latest power supply, the 700B (the "B" is for "Bronze," as in 80 Plus Bronze certified), strikes the right balance between power and affordability. At $50 after mail-in-rebate, it's hard to argue with that claim. As required to be 80 Plus Bronze certified, EVGA's newest 700-watt PSU promises over 85 percent efficiency under "typical" (50 percent) loads. The more efficient a power supply is, the less energy is wasted, which can result in a lower power bill. The savings typically aren't anything to get overly excited about, but just as important, certified PSUs tend to be higher quality all around than their non-certified brethren (there are exceptions, of course). See here for more on power supplies. In any event, EVGA's 700B uses a single +12V rail design that supports up to 56A. As for its connectors, it includes:
All of the cables are permanently attached to the PSU (it's not modular) so cable management might get a little tricky. In exchange, EVGA keeps the price affordable, at least if your timing is right. At present, the 700B's product page lists a normal selling price of $75, which has been reduced to $65. There's also a $15 mail-in-rebate available (PDF), hence the aforementioned $50 price tag (the rebate is valid on purchases made by December 16, 2015 and postmarked within 30 days of purchase). EVGA backs the 700B with a 3-year warranty. |
| Synology Launches 2-Bay DiskStation DS216 Posted: 11 Dec 2015 04:39 AM PST Having a NAS in a home or office is important, as it not only stores files, but protects memories. While one-disk storage solutions are useful for transferring files from one PC to another, you really need a two-disk solution or greater so that when one drive fails, the data is still intact. Synology offers such a product with the launch of its new DiskStation DS216. The DS216 provides two empty drive bays that support up to 16TB of storage (2x 8TB). The device is backed by a 32-bit dual-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz and 512MB of DDR3 memory. Yes, that's not a lot of memory, but this device also isn't trying to act like a makeshift PC, thus you won't find an HDMI port on the back. According to the company, the DS216 has an average read and write speed of 111MB/s under a RAID 1 configuration in a Windows environment. There's also a built-in floating-point unit that can speed up thumbnail creation, and a hardware encryption engine that offloads encryption calculation tasks, freeing up the processor to do other tasks. The DS216 comes with one USB 2.0 port on the front, and two USB 3.0 ports and a gigabit Ethernet port on the back. Why do you need USB ports? Just in case you want to transfer files stored on the NAS to another computer. The USB 2.0 port could be used to connect a printer while the USB 3.0 ports could be used to quickly transfer data to an external drive, for instance. The company boasts that the DS216 can act as an all-in-one server, including playing host to up to 30 websites via Web Station. The NAS is powered by the Synology's awesome DiskStation Manager platform (DSM), which allows the user to download and install "apps" designed for business, personal, and entertainment needs. This interface can be accessed locally through a web browser and through mobile apps for iOS and Android. "DS216 will quickly become your best work partner, providing multiple handy office applications, assisting on improving productivity at work." said Jason Fan, product manager at Synology Inc. The company doesn't say how much the new NAS costs, but says it's available now through these Synapse resellers. |
| The Potential Applications for HoloLens Posted: 11 Dec 2015 12:00 AM PST The future will be augmentedMicrosoft's upcoming product, the HoloLens, is thought by many to be the true future of personal computing. Not only does it augment reality (a feat formerly reserved for the likes of hallucinogens and sweat lodges), but it supports voice commands and gesture recognition as well. This combination of features will make any developer weak in the knees, and early previews from the Holographic Academy Microsoft hosted in April were overwhelmingly positive. By showcasing Unity 5 and Visual Studio as the primary development environments, Microsoft is intent on catering to the needs of the indie crowd. Not only does the app creation experience seem surprisingly elegant, but the included support of the Unity 5 game engine will allow new developers to take an almost drag-and-drop approach to bringing 3D models to life. Despite this intriguing peek into HoloLens development, it is important to frame our expectations for the device within the capabilities of the hardware. While virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift have the luxury of being tethered to powerful gaming rigs, the HoloLens is designed to be completely self-contained. Even if Microsoft were to somehow fit a GTX 970 (recommended GPU for powering the Rift) inside the headset, the human brain does not make for an ideal passive cooling solution. Microsoft hasn't released an official specs list for the headset just yet, but the company claimed it will have significantly more "computing power" than the average laptop. While that could mean the CPU and GPU performance will compete with high-end laptops, it is more likely a nod to the inclusion of the custom holographic processing unit (HPU). This chip is responsible for converting the constant flood of sensor data into a simplified stream of spatial information. In doing so, the HPU should not only ease the burden on the CPU and GPU, but Microsoft claims you won't need a PhD in physics to make sense of the chip's output. Keeping in mind the importance of factors like heat dissipation, weight, and battery life, it wouldn't be surprising to see a chip similar to the Intel Core M filling the CPU role within the headset. Combined with the aforementioned HPU and next-gen Intel HD graphics, Microsoft's computational power claim would still technically hold true. After all, in terms of raw computing power, the average laptop doesn't have (or need) a holographic processing unit. There are laptops out there that already show that Intel's low-power components can perform competently on passive cooling, and the form factor of the headset will demand parts that run cool and sip power. While this configuration might not be capable of pushing enough pixels for modern games, when used within the HoloLens it probably won't have to. Unlike a desktop gaming experience that has to render an entire virtual world, the novelty of the HoloLens lies within its ability to render a select number of virtual objects within the real world. Simply put, developers will likely forego modeling detailed environments, and instead just find ways to make use of real surroundings. This bring us to a particularly impressive depth sensor used within the HoloLens. With the release of the Kinect 2, Microsoft managed to engineer a time-of-flight sensor that is capable of mapping an entire scene with a single pulse of light. The HoloLens will reportedly be using the same technology, but with a wider field of view and lower power consumption. Because we've had our hands on the Kinect 2 development kit since last July, we can make a few fairly safe assumptions about the HoloLens. In terms of limitations, the Kinect 2 sensor had a depth range of about 15 feet [PDF] and though it performed well in most lighting conditions, it did sometimes struggle with dark clothing (objects of low reflectivity). Even if Microsoft managed to bump up the resolution of the sensor in the HoloLens, we should expect there to be similar restrictions in our augmented world. Still, real-time spatial mapping is no small feat, and this is an area that Microsoft is likely far ahead of its AR competitors. Technical details like these will ultimately determine what kind of augmented reality experiences developers will be able to create in 2016. While most VR headsets are focused on revolutionizing 3D gaming, the HoloLens hardware seems better fit to revolutionize basic personal computing. Even Microsoft is touting the headset as a business/enterprise solution that will neatly fit into its own mobile-centric universal app platform. As we learn more about the HoloLens, it becomes clear that Microsoft isn't attempting to compete with VR, at least not yet. What becomes less clear is how developers will choose to leverage the hardware. What should we expect to see in the first wave of augmented reality applications? Will it be enough to push the technology forward? We can only speculate at this point, which is why we've come up with the following list of augmented reality experiences we would realistically expect to see following the release of the HoloLens. The Facebook Wall – Social media will always have a strong influence on which tech reigns supreme, and augmented reality should have no issue enhancing the experience. In other words, your Facebook wall could begin to take on a very literal meaning. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi – Though we still don't have the droids we're looking for, we are about to get a legitimate form of holographic chat. The depth sensor inside the Kinect 2 already made capturing holographic video possible, and with the HoloLens we finally have a way to project it onto our coffee tables. Personal HUD – Have you ever wanted to feel like Master Chief as you strut the halls of your apartment? The HoloLens will allow you to pin all sorts of information to your peripheral vision, no matter how useless or distracting. Tabletop Gaming – Blizzard has reported that over 30 million people have played Hearthstone, their massively popular virtual card game. So making the jump to a platform that supports actual tabletops seems like a no-brainer here. 2.5D Gaming – It's doubtful that the HoloLens will have the chops necessary to play games like the latest Call of Duty, but that doesn't mean it can't augment your current 2D gaming experience. Once the headset identifies the surface of your television, it could communicate with your console to bridge the gap in very interesting ways. Try Before You Buy – There is nothing more disheartening then spending an entire Saturday building an Ikea dresser only to find out it's too large. The HoloLens could make holographic shopping a reality, and allow you to preview an endless amount of holographic décor in the process. Relocate – Feeling claustrophobic in your tiny, windowless studio apartment? Let the HoloLens open it up a bit by pinning a few holographic windows to your walls. It won't be long before popular destinations around the world become available, and Microsoft has already demonstrated the ability to peer into your own Minecraft realm. Get Smart – An obvious adaptation for augmented reality, education might stand to benefit the most from the HoloLens. Whether it's bringing a textbook to life or performing holographic dissections, it's clear that the younger generations will have it better than we did. |
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