General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


How to Use GIMP Photo Editor

Posted: 11 May 2015 02:28 PM PDT

GIMP LogoBasic photo editing with GIMP

If Microsoft Paint isn't enough for your photo-editing needs, GIMP is the next logical step. It's totally free, open-source, and can go toe-to-toe with Photoshop—at least in terms of basic image manipulation. Need to crop a photo? Look no further. Want to add some basic filters or effects? GIMP has you covered. 

Despite being free, it's actually surprisingly intuitive for anyone familiar with image-editing software. If you're comfortable with any feature-rich photo editor, the learning curve for GIMP should be fairly short. Regardless, whether you're a Photoshop pro or an image-editing newbie, we'll hold your hand while you learn the ins and outs of GIMP. 

Getting Started

Single-Window Mode

Keep calm and turn Single-Window Mode on.

Before you even import an image, we recommend setting GIMP to Single-Window Mode. It'll consolidate all of the controls and sub-windows into a single, unified window. For beginners, it's a life saver and will help keep you organized. The main downside here is that you can only manipulate one image at a time, although GIMP provides a handy tab-view to easily switch between images. 

Layer Dialog

That big white circle is in its own, distinct layer and hasn't changed the original image.

You'll also want to be familiar with the Layers Dialog, which displays all of the different layers of an image. This is one of GIMP's (and most other powerful photo-editing software's) greatest features because it you lets separate images into multiple parts that you can manipulate individually. If you want to annotate an image or edit only parts of it, you can create a new layer (right-click in the Layer dialog and select New Layer) to keep your drawings separate from the original image. Click the eye icon beside each layer to toggle visibility—this is handy for quick A-to-B comparisons. Also keep in mind that the order of layers matters. The uppermost layers are literally overlaid on top of the lower layers.

Tool Options Dialog

The Tool Options dialog gives you immediate access to tool-specific settings like size.

We haven't gone over specific tools yet, but it's important that we introduce the Tool Options dialog. It automatically updates with options specific to whatever tool you've currently selected. If you're on the Paintbrush Tool, it will present you with options for settings like Size, Opacity, and Brush types. 

As with most programs, basic hotkeys are all functional in GIMP. Ctrl+Z lets you undo the last edit, Ctrl+S lets you save the image, and Ctrl+O lets you open an image. We'll cover tool-specific hotkeys later in the guide.

Tools

GIMP Full View

Here's GIMP is all of its open-source glory.

The heart of any photo-editing software is the toolbox or toolbar. GIMP presents this by default as a three-by-eleven set of colored icons on the left side of the window that denote the essential tools and functions of the software. We won't cover everything, but we'll go over all of the basics. 

The most important tool is probably the Rectangle Select Tool. It's the first one on the toolbar and lets you select portions of your image by clicking and dragging an expanding rectangle—think Windows desktop style. Once you've drawn a selection box, a square will appear in each corner. Grab a square and drag in or out to expand or shrink the selection box. Once you've got a section selected, you can copy, cut, fill with colors, or do pretty much anything else you'd like. The Ellipse Select Tool should be self-explanatory at this point—it does the same thing, but with ellipses instead of rectangles. At any point, Ctrl+Shift+A will deselect everything and Ctrl+A will select everything in the image. If you want to make multiple selections, hold Shift as you draw your selection box. Hold Control if you want to remove parts of your selections. 

Free Select and Fuzzy Select Tools

The Free Select Tool is on the left and the results of the Fuzzy Select Tool are on the right.

Next up are the Free Select Tool and the Fuzzy Select Tool. Just like the aforementioned tools, their names are fairly descriptive. The former lets you connect lines to select a region defined by a limitless number of straight lines. Simply click anywhere to drop an anchor point and click somewhere else to connect that point with another. Think of it as a game of connect the dots. Once you're done, you simply click the first circle you created to finish up the selection. At any point you can also press Enter to finish the selection. The Fuzzy Select Tool will use a built-in algorithm to select sections of the current layer on the image by color. Click an area of the image that's yellow and the Fuzzy Select Tool (or Magic Wand) will grab everything that's yellow. If you aren't getting acceptable results, try tweaking the Threshold setting in the bottom left Tool Options window. Increasing the threshold increases the sensitivity of the tool and will usually expand the area selected. 

Crop Tool

All we want are those tires and a bit of the step ladder next to it.

The Crop Tool is super simple and lets you easily crop images by selecting a section of an image with a rectangular selection tool. Press Enter to perform the crop. As with the selection tools, you can use the square in each corner to resize the selection. 

Rotate Tool

13.81 isn't the prettiest angle, but it's fine for demonstration purposes.

As with the Crop Tool, the Rotation Tool is relatively simple and doesn't take much know-how to operate. Simply create a selection or select a specific layer and click-and-drag the item in either direction to rotate it. A window should pop-up with options asking you to confirm the rotation. You can select a specific angle and adjust the Center X and Y coordinates before confirming the rotation. 

Scale Tool

The Scale Tool makes scaling easy.

Image resizing is also a cinch with GIMP's Scale Tool. Select the tool and click your image to resize. A pop-up dialog presents options for width and height in a variety of measurements. Click the link icon to lock the dimensions—this is helpful if you don't want to stretch the image outside of its original aspect ratio. 

Click on to the next page to read about a few more tools and how to get your images out of GIMP.


Tools Continued

Color Picker Tool

The Color Picker Tool is great for finding exact colors.

Another essential tool is the Color Picker Tool (or Eyedropper). As its name suggests, the tool gives you the ability to click anywhere on your image to find the color at that exact point. By default, the tool will set your foreground color as the color that you've clicked on. You can click the white double-sided arrow (see the image above) to swap the foreground and background colors. Click on the foreground or background color to open the Color Selector.

Color Selection

Fine-tune your color selection with specific RGB or CMYK values.

After selecting a color, you can use it in conjunction with the Pencil, Paintbrush, Bucket Fill, Airbrush, and Ink tools to draw on or annotate your images. Keep in mind that if you've got an area of your image selected, your tools will only function within the boundaries of the selection. Use the Eraser Tool to get rid of any marks you've made to the image or to erase parts of the image itself. Make sure you're in the right layer before you start making any marks or erasures.

Text Tool

The Text Tool in action.

The Text Tool is also super useful for adding text to any image. Click anywhere on an image to create an undefined textbox that will expand to fit your text. Click and drag to create fixed text boxes that will wrap text to fit. Type your message or labels and click another tool or anywhere else in the window to finish. When you click on the text, GIMP will automatically re-open the text editing window, which has options for adjusting the font face, size, baseline, kerning, and color. By default, GIMP will create a new layer for each instance of text, so the words won't be permanently added to the image. This means that you're free to move text around the image with the Move Tool (denoted in the toolbar by two intersecting arrows). 

Clone Tool

Behold the glory of the Clone Tool in action.

The Clone Tool is one of GIMP's supremely cool features. It's used to clone a section of an image and overlay that section onto another part of the image. This can be used to correct mistakes, as seen in the image above, or to remove imperfections on photos, such as acne. Simply select the Clone Tool and set a reference point by holding Ctrl and clicking on the image. Then click and hold (as if using a paintbrush) to apply the selection area of the reference point onto the area underneath the cursor. 

Another advanced feature is the Heal Tool. It's a lot like the Clone Tool, but it uses a hidden algorithm to analyze the destination before applying the source area. Use it for jobs where the clone tool just isn't working. This tool works really well for smoothing subtle features like wrinkles and can also remove acne, freckles, or small marks. 

Exporting the Finished Product

GIMP Export Options

We don't even recognize half of the potential output file formats supported by GIMP.

Once you're done working on your image and you're happy with the results, make sure you select Export As… in the File menu—don't click Save or Save as unless you're happy with the original file format. This option provides you with a laundry list of potential file formats. Once you've clicked Export, you'll be presented with some more options that usually include a Quality setting and an estimation of the final file size. 

Learning More

There's a whole host of features and capabilities—most notably: plug-ins—that we haven't even touched on in this crash course. Fortunately, there are resources available for people interested in diving deeper. Head on over to the GIMP website and check out the official User Manual for an abundance of in-depth information.

Already a GIMP power user? Tell us your favorite features or suggest some tips in the comments below!

Newegg Daily Deals: WD Green 4TB Intellipower HDD, Asus GeForce GTX 970, and More!

Posted: 11 May 2015 11:28 AM PDT

 

WD BlackNewegg

Top Deal:

Solid state drives are the sexy storage option these days, but mechanical hard drives still have their place. They're comparatively cheap, capacious, and generally offer superior data retention if you need to unplug it from a power source. If you're looking for a new drive for your expanding data needs, check out today's top deal for a WD Green 4TB Intellipower Internal Hard Drive for $130 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code: [ESCASAW27]). This is a cool and quiet drive with a SATA 6Gbps interface and 64MB cache.

Other Deals:

WD Black Series 750GB 2.5-inch Internal Notebook Hard Drive for $55 with free shipping (normally $62 - use coupon code: [ESCASAW26])

Seagate Hybrid Drive 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s NCQ 3.5-inch Desktop SSHD for $90 with free shipping (normally $100 - use coupon code: [ESCASAW24])

Seagate NAS HDD 3TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive for $110 with free shipping (normally $115 - use coupon code: [ESCASAW25])

Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card for $330 with free shipping (normally $350 ; Free Games: Witcher 3 & Batman w/ purchase, limited offer)

JEDEC: Your SSD Needs a Power Source to Avoid Losing Data

Posted: 11 May 2015 10:55 AM PDT

Intel SSDSSDs without a power source could begin losing data in just a single week

It's more affordable than ever to build a new PC with a solid state drive as the primary storage device, and as capacities increase, some people are using SSDs for storage chores, too. That's fine and dandy if your SSD is receiving a constant or near-constant stream of power, but should you take an SSD out of your PC and set it aside, you risk losing data, the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) warns.

KoreLogic Security took notice of a presentation by Alvin Cox on JEDEC's website titled "JEDEC SSD Specifications Explained" (PDF), and in the presentation is information on data retention when SSDs are powered off. For consumer/client SSDS, the power-off retention period standard is one year, while enterprise SSDs have a power retention period of just three months. These can (and do) vary wildly depending on a number of different factors, including temperature.

One of the more interesting slides is No. 27. It shows the relationship of temperature to data retention and how even just a 5C change can cut the data retention period in half. Here's a look:

  • Client SSD stored at 25C: 105 weeks
  • Client SSD stored at 30C: 52 weeks
  • Client SSD stored at 35C: 26 weeks
  • Client SSD stored at 40C: 14 weeks

Notice that storing a client SSD at 25C (77F) results in a data retention period of just over 2 years, but if the temperature rises 5C to 30C (86F), the data retention period is halved to 1 year.

It's interesting to think about this in terms of legal situations where a PC with SSD storage might be held as evidence. When confiscated, not many are likely to think about active and power-off temperatures, though both are obviously important, especially for a case that might not go to court for a long time. If someone fails to back up the data in a timely manner, it could be bad news.

This isn't just a theoretical thing, either. What prompted KoreLogic Security's investigation into data retention was an imaging job of a laptop SSD left in storage for well over the three-month minimum retention period quoted by the drive's manufacturer.

"Later, I learned that the drive was functioning well when it had been placed into storage. When returned to its owner a couple of months after the imaging, the system would not even recognize the drive as a valid boot device," KoreLogic Security noted.

Something to keep in mind the next time you rip out an SSD for storage.

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FCC Denies Request to Delay Implementing Net Neutrality Rules

Posted: 11 May 2015 08:13 AM PDT

Application DeniedFCC will forge ahead with new neutrality rules

The Federal Communications Commission wasn't moved by a joint petition filed by a group of U.S. cable companies and telecom providers seeking to delay implementing new net neutrality rules until a court can rule on the matter. For that to happen, the petitioners would have to show that it would likely win its case and suffer irreparable harm if a delay isn't granted, among other criteria. The FCC didn't buy the claims and denied the petitioners' request for a delay.

According to the petition, cable companies and telecoms (including wireless carriers) aren't opposed to the rules that have been laid out, such as not being able to block legal traffic, not being able to throttle traffic, and disallowing paid prioritization (otherwise known as Internet fast lanes). Their collective concern is reclassifying broadband as a utility and what "future conduct" might follow, PCMag reports.

In addition to the above mentioned criteria, petitioners must also show that interested parties will not be harmed if a stay is allowed, and that the public interest would be in favor of the decision.

"We established by looking at the petitions, the opposition, and the language of the Commission's Order that Petitioners have failed to meet the test for this extraordinary equitable relief," the FCC motion said.

Barring anything unexpected, the new net neutrality rules will go into effect on June 12. In the meantime, you can read the Petition (PDF) and FCC Motion (PDF).

Image Credit: Got Credit

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Fixstars Announces World’s First 6TB 2.5-Inch SATA SSD

Posted: 11 May 2015 06:06 AM PDT

Fixstars SSD-6000MSSD-6000M to begin shipping in July

Japanese firm Fixstars may not be a familiar name in the storage space but it is doing everything it possibly can to change that.  In February, it introduced the 3TB SSD-3000M in the States, claiming it to be the world's highest-capacity 2.5" SATA SSD (solid-state drive). But the SSD-3000M is no longer the highest capacity drive in the company's own lineup, let alone in the world. That honor now belongs to the SSD-6000M.

As you may have guessed from the name, the SSD-6000M is a 6TB monster. Like the 1TB 1000M and the 3TB 3000M, it too is a 2.5-inch SATA III offering that uses the company's proprietary SSD controller. However, unlike both those drives, it uses 15nm MLC (multi-level cell) NAND and not 19nm MLC NAND. It is said to be capable of sequential read and write speeds of 540MB/s and 520MB/s, respectively.

"The unparalleled performance of our previous model's (The SSD-3000M) sequential I/O helped propel our SSDs and garner lots of attention. Since many of our customers desire even greater capacity, I am excited to offer a new solution and grow the product line with the inclusion of the larger SSD-6000M," Fixstars CEO Satoshi Miki was quoted as saying in a press release."Since our SSD's capacity is now able to compete with high-end hard drives, we feel our product can draw the attention of data centers as well."

While you can order one now, the price of the drive is only available on request. Judging by the price of the 1TB variant (approximately $820), it is safe to say the 6000M won't be cheap.

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Microsoft: Surface 3 Not Yet Ready for Windows 10 Preview

Posted: 11 May 2015 01:50 AM PDT

Surface 3Preview build lacks key drivers

So you just received the Surface 3 tablet you had pre-ordered a while back and are now planning to install Windows 10 on it? Not so fast. That's not what Microsoft would like you to do — and it has strong reasons for it.

The Surface 3 is, for the time being, incompatible with Windows 10. That's because Intel has yet to release Windows 10-optimized drivers for the Atom SoC (system-on-chip) found inside the tablet.

"Please do NOT try to install Windows 10 on the new Surface 3. There are no drivers for the Intel x5/x7 Atom processors. There are no drivers in the Preview Build because Intel has not yet provided drivers. There is no block/check for these processors in current builds," Microsoft's Barb Bowman wrote in response to a question on the company's Community site, adding that Intel is working on the said drivers but it is unclear when they might be ready.

The particular SoCs she was referring to is a Cherry Trail (codename) Atom x7 part based on the 14nm Airmont CPU architecture. Airmont is basically a die shrink of the 22nm Silvermont architecture, or, in other words, a tick in the company's tick-tock cadence.

As for using Windows 8.1 drivers with the Windows 10 preview, here is what she has to say: "Those are Windows 8.1 drivers, not optimized for Windows 10 - which you can obviously use at your own risk. I can't personally confirm that there will not be issues with these drivers. The 'proper' Win 10 experience would be to have optimized drivers in the build or have the W10 optimized drivers installed via WU during the install process."

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Thousands Flock to Fund $9 Computer on Kickstarter

Posted: 11 May 2015 12:55 AM PDT

CHIPCHIP is a single-board computer that runs Linux

Raspberry Pi is probably the first name that springs to mind when one thinks of single-board micro computers, but if the folks at Next Thing Co. are successful with their latest product the micro PC movement could soon have a new poster child.

Founded last year, the Oakland, California-based startup is soliciting funds from the Kickstarter community for a tiny Linux computer called CHIP. This may not be its first stab at crowdfunding — it  raised over $71,000 for a $249 Raspberry Pi-based animated GIF camera last year — but it is arguably the most ambitious (and coolest) yet.

Believe it or not, CHIP is a $9 computer. That unbelievably low price tag appears all the more incredible when one takes a glance at its specs. There is a 1GHz R8 ARM processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of flash storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a USB port.

And for $49, you can get all of the above in a form you can use on the go. We're talking about the Pocket CHIP (pictured below), a device with a 4.3-inch touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, and 5-hour battery life.

The Kickstarter campaign has been a resounding success so far. The company has already outstripped its original funding goal of $50,000 by more than eleven times and still has nearly four more weeks to add to that figure. Of course, the real test will come when it's finally time for  Next Thing to redeem its pledge. It expects to begin delivering backers their CHIP and Pocket CHIP units in May next year. 

Are you going to chip in? Let us know in the comments section below.

Pocket CHIP

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Image Credit: Next Thing

Lenovo Fesses Up to Hastily Pushing Flawed LaVie Z 360 to Market

Posted: 11 May 2015 12:13 AM PDT

LaVie Z 360Offers buyers a partial refund

Touted as the "world's lightest" 13.3-inch laptop, Lenovo LaVie Z was one of the most talked about products at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, but it has all been downhill since then. When the device began shipping a few days back, it became clear that the Chinese vendor had over-promised and under-delivered on at least two counts: weight and price. Sadly, the unwelcome surprises don't end there.

The fine folks over at Consumer Reports were among those who ordered the LaVie Z 360 (variant with 360-degree rotatable screen) when it came out but were shocked by an email that arrived ahead of the machine. It was a contrite letter from Lenovo North America's web sales manager Steve St. Amant, in which he admitted to the company committing a "couple missteps" in trying to bring the product to market as quickly as possible.

"We showed the product on Lenovo.com as having a Tent Mode and a Stand Mode. You may be used to hearing of these usage modes from our Yoga products. However, in Tent Mode, the image on the display does not auto-rotate, causing the image to present upside down," Amant wrote, adding that it's possible to correct this behavior using Windows shortcuts but that does not make for a great experience.

"In Stand Mode, the keyboard does not deactivate. A user may be okay in Stand Mode with LaVie Z lying down on a table, but if it were on your lap for example, the keys may depress and once again cause an unsatisfactory experience. I am very sorry that this happened and I hope that you can accept my sincere apology."

The LaVie Z 360 product page has been modified so as to not plug the aforementioned modes. The company is now marketing the device as something that can alternate between tablet and laptop mode. Further, it is offering a 5 percent refund on the $1,699 purchase price.

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MMORPG News

MMORPG News


General: Fallout 4 Cinematic Trailer in the Works?

Posted: 11 May 2015 09:22 AM PDT

Fallout 4 Cinematic Trailer in the Works?

VideoGamer.com is reporting that a LinkedIn post by a contract worker for Guillermo del Torro's production studio seems to indicate that he has been hired to create a cinematic trailer for Fallout 4, a game that has been longed for by players of the iconic series.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: CD Projekt Read Announces 1M Preorders

Posted: 11 May 2015 09:13 AM PDT

CD Projekt Read Announces 1M Preorders

CD Projekt Red has announced over a million fans and players have preordered The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The last in the trilogy of games is set to be released on Tuesday, May 19th.

Guild Wars 2: Making Events More Dynamic

Posted: 09 May 2015 07:18 PM PDT

Making Events More Dynamic

Dynamic Events are a large and important concept in Guild Wars 2. They've helped bring players together, and showed us that a game world could feel alive. But like any other young concept, there is definitely room for growth. And what better way to see dynamic events taken to the next level than through an expansion?

Destiny: The Daily Quest - Would You Play Destiny on PC?

Posted: 11 May 2015 06:57 AM PDT

The Daily Quest - Would You Play Destiny on PC?

It's been a contentious topic since the game's announcement several years ago: why isn't Destiny on PC as well as consoles? Well, there's still the off chance that Destiny will make it to the PC, or at least that it will when the sequel comes out. The question is, would you play it?

General: The Subscriptions Dip

Posted: 09 May 2015 07:08 PM PDT

The Subscriptions Dip

This week we talk about the ever exciting subscription numbers, new Patch 6.2 features and the next Warcraft hero to appear in Heroes of the Storm.

MMOGaming News

MMOGaming News


Dark Fantasy MOBA Sins of a Dark Age Goes Free to Play on Steam

Posted:

Dark Fantasy MOBA Sins of a Dark Age Goes Free to Play on Steam


After more than a year of Early Access, Ironclad Games has launched Sins of a Dark Age as a Free to Play game on Steam

Light of Darkness Introduction and Review

Posted:

Light of Darkness Introduction and Review


Light of Darkness is a new 3D browser MMORPG launched on 6th May 2015 by 3Claws. Download a micro-client is required to launch and play the game on your browser. 2 servers have been opened so far, namely Poseidon and Zeus.

Five Recommended Final Fantasy Series Mobile Games

Posted:

Five Recommended Final Fantasy Series Mobile Games


Final Fantasy has built a big empire in games world, and this empire will continue expanding with no doubts. No matter what platform we play, we can also find Final Fantasy's title. And today we're gonna introduce some Final Fantasy mobile games to you guys, if you are a hardcore fan of Final Fantasy series, playing its mobile versions is definitely a good choice for you guys. Here are five recommended Final Fantasy mobile games below.

Esports is Now Officially in the Dictionary

Posted:

Esports is Now Officially in the Dictionary


After years of struggle and recrimination, the long lexicographic battle is finally over: Esports, and not e-sports, has been added to the dictionary. The word, describing "competitive tournaments of video games, especially among professional gamers," was added to the lexicon at Dictionary.com earlier this week.

Sega to Remove a Bunch of Mobile Games

Posted:

Sega to Remove a Bunch of Mobile Games


Sega has decided that a number of its games on iOS and Android "no longer meet [its] standards," and will therefore remove them from sale over the next few weeks. This will affect games across the iOS App Store, Google Play, the Samsung App Store, and the Amazon App Store. Unfortunately, Sega hasn't announced which games these will be. However, the company did say that "given the right situation, these titles may return in an updated form."

Board-clearing Puzzle Game Tamak Launched for iOS and Android

Posted:

Board-clearing Puzzle Game Tamak Launched for iOS and Android


Pinata Games today announces Tamak, its board-clearing puzzler for iOS and Android devices. Based around the concept of greed, gameplay takes place on a grid-based board using numbered tiles

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