General Gaming Article |
- Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair Gaming K70 Keyboard, OCZ Trion 150 480GB SSD, and More!
- Microsoft is Ticking People Off with Automatic Windows 10 Upgrades
- Tim Sweeney Returns with Another "Stop Microsoft" Op-Ed [DONE]
- Microsoft Banishes Bitcoin Payments for Windows App Store
- Hackers Bring Down DDoS Security Firm, Taunts Target with Sarcastic Tips
- Digital Storm Equinox Review
| Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair Gaming K70 Keyboard, OCZ Trion 150 480GB SSD, and More! Posted: 14 Mar 2016 12:08 PM PDT Top Deal: Think about all the typing you do in any given day, whether it's hammering out reports and emails or mashing buttons in a frenzied online battle. You're only as good as your tools, and if you're still using a squishy membrane or dome-switch keyboard, it's time for an upgrade. Mechanical key switches are where it's at, and that's what's featured for today's top deal—a Corsair Gaming K70 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Cherry MX Brown for $110 with free shipping (normally $144). Not only do you get a high-quality mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Brown key switches, but this deal also comes bundled with a Corsair Gaming MM300 anti-fray cloth gaming mouse. Other Deals: OCZ Trion 150 2.5-inch 480GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive for $120 with free shipping (normally $140; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) WD Black 6TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 128MB Cache 3.5-inch for $270 with free shipping (normally $308) Asus Gaming Laptop 6th Generation Intel Core i5 6200U (2.30 GHz) 8 GB Memory 1 TB HDD 128 GB SSD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M 2 GB 15.6-inch Windows 10 Home 64-Bit for $720 with free shipping (normally $899) Corsair 600W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply for $65 with $4 shipping (normally $65; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Microsoft is Ticking People Off with Automatic Windows 10 Upgrades Posted: 14 Mar 2016 10:24 AM PDT Force feeding Windows 10 Head over to Twitter or Reddit and you'll discover a whole bunch of angry users raging against Microsoft for supposedly upgrading their systems to Windows 10 without their consent. "Wtf. I left my computer unattended and when I came back it was installing Windows 10. I'm 100 percent sure that no one accessed my computer when I was away. Did it install automatically? Without me agreeing?," a user on Reddit questioned. "Tell me why my PC auto-restarted and is now updating to Windows 10. I didn't ask for this," a Twitter user posted to Microsoft's Gabriel Aul. This isn't the first time Microsoft has appeared overly aggressive in rolling out Windows 10. Back in September of last year, it decided to push out Windows 10 upgrade files to PCs to anyone who chose to receive automatic updates through Windows Update. "We help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they'll need if they decide to upgrade," a Windows rep said at the time. "When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device." Three months later, Microsoft made it seem like upgrading to Windows 10 was mandatory by splashing Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 users with a pop-up prompting them to "Upgrade now" or "Start download, install later." So, what's going on this time around? There are a few things at play, as ZDNet points out. One of them is that a recent Internet Explorer 11 update is causing some users to see a "Get Windows 10" banner, though that wouldn't explain the bulk of complaints. What's more likely happening is that Microsoft is pushing out Windows 10 as a Recommended Update rather than an Optional one. Microsoft warned last October that it planned on reclassifying Windows 10 as such starting in early 2016, and that all started happening on the first day of February. It now appears that Microsoft is being more aggressive about the matter. Some users report getting a notification that their PC is scheduled to be updated. The initial pop-up is supposed to appear three to four days in advance, followed by a second (and final) pop-up that appears just 60 minutes in advance. Several of the people complaining on social media say they left their PC for a period of time—sometimes leaving it running overnight—only to return to find that Windows 10 was either installed or in the process of installing. It's hard to say if they ignored the initial message days in advance or if perhaps it never came, but either way, Microsoft isn't winning users over with this approach. If you're not interested in upgrading to Windows 10, pay attention to any pop-ups or offers to upgrade. You could also err on the side of caution (as it pertains to avoiding an unwanted upgrade) by unchecking the "Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates" in the Windows Update section of the Control Panel. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tim Sweeney Returns with Another "Stop Microsoft" Op-Ed [DONE] Posted: 14 Mar 2016 10:03 AM PDT Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney is back at it again with another shot at Microsoft and its Universal Windows Platform (UWP). He says that the industry must fight the company, which is accused of attempting to "monopolize and control" the PC gaming market with the new platform. He and other developers feel that UWP is basically a "walled garden," although Kevin Gallo, corporate vice president of Windows at Microsoft, says differently. "The Universal Windows Platform is a fully open ecosystem, available to every developer, that can be supported by any store," he recently told The Guardian. "We continue to make improvements for developers; for example, in the Windows 10 November Update, we enabled people to easily side-load apps by default, with no UX required." Even Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, chimed in on the debate on Twitter. "UWP is a fully open ecosystem, available to every developer, and can be supported by any store," he said. Now Sweeney has taken to VentureBeat to write his next op-ed piece about Microsoft's UWP initiative. He begins the article with the history of UWP, reporting that its roots can be traced back to the WinRT APIs found in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. He says that ultimately, UWP is trying to address the problem of sandboxing and application security that leads to malware invading Windows-based computers more so than Apple's operating systems. "By creating UWP, a new set of Windows APIs aimed primarily at consumer applications, Microsoft is starting from a simpler foundation and adopting a modern capabilities-based security model that is easier to secure and to trust," he writes. "Should a given app be able to access the microphone? Access the file system's root directory? Install device drivers? These are problems that UWP and iOS similarly solve." He acknowledges that the idea behind UWP is "a good one," but the current design decisions constrain the ecosystem. He goes on to explain how developers could run third-party UWP apps at the launch of Windows 10 back in July 2015, and how that changed with the release of the Windows 10 "Threshold 2" update in November 2015. He points out that the process is unlike win32 program distribution, which allows developers to compile a program, upload it to a website, and enable consumers the freedom to download and install it without restrictions or limitations. "It is true that Microsoft's process for developers registering and submitting applications for certification are, today, unintrusive compared to platforms like Xbox or even iOS," he writes. "But to make Microsoft the sole arbiter of which developers and apps are allowed on the Windows platform is a dramatic change in status quo. Once Microsoft is in that position, there is no limit to the power they can wield over all of us in the future." Sweeney explains his definition of an open ecosystem as a system where developers and publishers can create and release software without the need for approval or certification from the operating system vendor. He also points out that the Internet is an open ecosystem, allowing anyone to register a domain and maintain a website that anyone can visit. Hey, websites are "code" too! So in the end, Sweeney's op-ed piece suggests that an open UWP ecosystem would mean that every software vendor had "equal footing," including Valve's Steam, Good Old Games, and other digital storefronts. Microsoft would also provide developers with the exclusive operating system features that only UWP apps previously had access to. However, currently there's a "degree of distrust" in the industry over Microsoft's true intentions with UWP based on the company's actions over the last decade. He hopes that Microsoft will make a "clear" commitment on the CEO-level to the open future of the PC and UWP. "I believe it would be foolish for the world's major developers and publishers to adopt this new technology based on mere assumptions about plans that Microsoft has not itself stated with technical clarity," he says. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Microsoft Banishes Bitcoin Payments for Windows App Store Posted: 14 Mar 2016 09:52 AM PDT Jumping off the Bitcoin bandwagon If you were saving up your Bitcoins with plans of going on a shopping spree for Windows apps and games, you'll first have to covert them to U.S. currency. That's because Microsoft has quietly announced that it's no longer accepting Bitcoin currency. There wasn't a big press release or blog announcement, just a simple update to its support indicating that Bitcoin can no longer be used for purchases in the Microsoft Store. "You can no longer redeem Bitcoin into your Microsoft account. Existing balances in your account will still be available for purchases from Microsoft Store, but can't be refunded," Microsoft states. Microsoft also stated that the change applies to Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile, though it didn't give a reason for the change in policy. Previous to this change, Microsoft had been accepting Bitcoin currency since December 2014 "For us, this is about giving people options and helping them do more on their devices and in the cloud," Eric Lockard, corporate vice president of Universal Store at Microsoft, said at the time. "The use of digital currencies such as bitcoin, while not yet mainstream, is growing beyond the early enthusiasts. We expect this growth to continue and allowing people to use bitcoin to purchase our products and services now allows us to be at the front edge of that trend," Bitcoin is perhaps the most popular of all the cryptocurrencies out there, though it still isn't mainstream. That might be why Microsoft decided to stop accepting Bitcoin currency. Another reason could be the various instances of criminal activity associated with Bitcoin, though if that was a concern, it seems odd that Microsoft would have accepted it in the first place. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hackers Bring Down DDoS Security Firm, Taunts Target with Sarcastic Tips Posted: 14 Mar 2016 09:26 AM PDT A "Do'h!" moment for a DDoS protection company A security outfit that prides itself on DoS and DDoS attack protection and mitigation was itself the victim of a DDoS attack late last week and over the weekend. Staminus Communications first disclosed the attack to the public last Thursday in a Twitter post, calling it a "rare event that cascaded across multiple routers in a system wide event, making our backbone unavailable." Service was restored a few hours later but there was no mention of exactly what happened. A day later, the California-based outfit posted an update to its website confirming that it was an "unauthorized intrusion." The attack not only prompted the company to take its system offline, it also exposed sensitive customer data. "Based on the initial investigation, we believe that usernames, hashed passwords, customer record information, including name and contact information, and payment card data were exposed," Staminus Communications CEO Matt Mahvi stated in a blog post. The attackers weren't able to extract Social Security numbers or tax IDs, though they still collected quite a bit of information about Staminus Communications' customers. "While the investigation continues, we have and will continue to put additional measures into place to harden our security to help prevent a future attack. While the exposed passwords were protected with a cryptographic hash, we also strongly recommend that customers change their Staminus password," Mahvi added. The hackers weren't content to just steal customer data, they saw fit to taunt the security outfit as well. According to Arstechnica, a subsequent data dump titled "TIPS WHEN RUNNING A SECURITY COMPANY" offered up sarcastic suggestions based on several security vulnerabilities discovered during the attack. The 'tips' included:
Luckily for customers of Staminus, no credit card data was contained in the data dump. Nevertheless, Staminus customers might want to request new cards with new numbers to avoid future hassles. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 14 Mar 2016 12:00 AM PDT Portable powerIn order to get a respectable amount of power from a gaming laptop, it's got to be big and bulky. That's been accepted as gospel for quite some time, but now we have notebooks like Digital Storm's Equinox as exceptions to the rule. Armed with a 6700HQ and a 970M, the laptop is extremely thin and defies many preconceived notions about gaming notebooks. Weighing just four and a half pounds and measuring .78 inches thick, it's so thin and light that we thought the box was empty when we opened it. To be fair, the box that it shipped in is a little weird and had some folders and other stuff covering the laptop, but still, that's pretty crazy. Aesthetically, we like the look of the notebook; its simple and clean, and predominately black. It's much sexier than the big, bulky notebooks that we've grown accustomed to in the gaming genre. And its thinness doesn't mean the laptop is lacking in ports. The Equinox features two USB 3.0 ports, a headphone/mic jack, a USB C port, SD card reader, HDMI, and Mini DisplayPort. It's thick enough to just fit its Ethernet port, which is greatly appreciated for LAN events. It also uses a dual-fan thermal cooling design and has both side and rear exhausts. Our only complaint about the chassis is that it's a fingerprint magnet.  Luckily, you won't mind getting your hands on the SteelSeries keyboard since its competent and offers RGB keys with three different color zones. It does have an oddity that takes some getting used to though, in the placement of the Windows button, which is to the right of the space bar. The trackpad, while equally competent, also takes a little getting used to because it's oriented slightly left of center. The laptop's speakers, by Dynaudio, are good and offer decent firepower. The 15.4-inch monitor here uses a PLS panel, which offers better viewing angles than most TN panels we've seen, but can't match the color accuracy of an IPS display. All in all, the 1080p matte panel is good, but not great. It's still capped off at 60Hz and there's no G-Sync support either. In case you were wondering, the monitor is able to bend back roughly 165 degrees and has an approximately one-inch bezel around the display. The laptop's other specs are more impressive than its monitor. Ours came outfitted with a 6700HQ CPU with 16GB RAM, and a GeForce GTX 970M with 6GB VRAM, which is actually a lot of GPU horsepower for a laptop this thin. The Equinox didn't skimp storage-wise either—our unit came with a 250GB NVMe SSD, and a 1TB 7,200rpm HDD for mass storage. Performance-wise, the CPU gains were a mixed bag compared to our Alienware 14 zero-point laptop. It performed roughly even in our Stitch benchmark, about 10 percent better in our multithreaded x264 benchmark, but surprisingly, lost by nine percent in our Proshow Producer benchmark. Things looked a lot more lopsided in the Equinox's favor when it came to GPU performance, where it bested our ZP by 94–200 percent! In short, you should be able to play the majority of games here maxed out at 1080p. We fired up Rainbow Six Siege, which is a moderately taxing game, and were able to garner average fps in the mid 60s. In the graphically demanding Rise of the Tomb Raider, however, we got around 30fps on low settings. Ouch. That stung quite a bit, but is perhaps more of an indication that the game isn't very well optimized for PCs. Still, this isn't a gaming desktop, nor is it using desktop components, so you shouldn't expect that level of performance here. What you can expect, however, is a decent amount of heat and noise. When the Equinox is firing on all cylinders, it can be a bit warm and loud. Nothing extremely offensive, but it won't go unnoticed. Another downside of the laptop's thin design is that it doesn't have a huge battery, and died on us after the 120 minute mark, which is pretty bad. Still, with a laptop this thin, you should expect some concessions somewhere, and the Equinox doesn't make too many of them. This laptop is quite powerful for what it is and is extremely portable. It also offers a decent array of ports and is pretty sexy for a gaming notebook. At $2,000 it isn't cheap, but you're paying for what you get here. Fortunately, what you're getting is great. BENCHMARKS
Our zero-point notebook is an Alienware 14 with a 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-4700MQ, 16GB DDR3/1600, 256GB mSATA SSD, 750GB 5,400rpm HDD, a GeForce GTX 765M, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. BioShock Infinite tested at 1920x1080 at Ultra DX11 settings; Metro: Last Light tested at 1920x1080 at DX11 medium quality settings with PhysX disabled. SPECIFICATIONS
$2,000, www.digitalstorm.com |
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