General Gaming Article

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• HP Summons Envy Spectre to Premium Ultrabook Space
• Samsung Announces Series 5 Ultrabooks and New Series 9 Laptops
• Netgear Announces 2TB Media Storage Router
• The State of GPU Computing: Is the CPU Dead Yet?
• New Android App Helps You Spot SOPA-Supporting Products
• Fusion Garage Finally Dead, Says Leaked Doc
• SD Association Rolls Out Wireless SD Card Standard
• New "Crestron Connected" Initiative Brings Plug-And-Play Cloud Control To Home Theater
• OCZ Shows Off Everest 2 SSD Controller With Improved Write Speeds
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 Cards Go On Sale Today

HP Summons Envy Spectre to Premium Ultrabook Space Posted: 09 Jan 2012 07:46 PM PST Even though the form factor is new, throw everything you know about Intel's Ultrabook concept out the window. Well, almost everything. Hewlett-Packard just unveiled its Envy 14 Spectre, a premium consumer Ultrabook coated with Gorilla Glass on the lid, display, palmrest, and HP ImagePad, and infused with a white glove treatment that includes a concierge service. Seriously. No, someone from HP isn't going to come into your home and help rearrange your living room around the Spectre, but the service does give you direct access to dedicated support agents, as well as next business day shipping of replacement parts if there's an issue that can't be resolved remotely. This is a premium Ultrabook, after all, and that becomes clear at first glance. "Sleek, midnight black glass on the outside and stark contrast silver glass on the inside make Spectre extraordinary, defying conventional notebook design," said Eric Keshin, senior vice president, Strategy and Marketing, Personal Systems Group, HP. "We chose the Spectre name to evoke mystery, and we packed it with the best in entertainment technology to satisfy those who expect the unexpected." The Spectre Envy 14 brings Beats Audio to the Ultrabook party (with an external jogger dial) and rocks out with the latest Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. It has up to 256GB of solid state storage, Intel Rapid Start Technology, support for two ultra fast mSATA SSDs, 4GB or 8GB of DDR3 memory, 802.11n Wi-Fi, USB 3.0, GbE LAN, HDMI and DisplayPort connectivity, and up to 9 hours of battery life. Also included is 2 years of Norton Internet Security 2012, the same one that scored a 9/Kick-Ass in our most recent antivirus roundup. In many ways, the Ultrabook category is still being defined as system builders look to put their stamp on the form factor. At a starting price of $1,400, HP just showed it isn't afraid to attack the premium market with a model that costs more than even Apple's MacBook Air, banking on buyers being enticed by better hardware and a "stunningly sleek" frame. The Spectre Envy 14 will be available on February 8, 2012.

Samsung Announces Series 5 Ultrabooks and New Series 9 Laptops Posted: 09 Jan 2012 03:03 PM PST   Add Samsung to the multitude of vendors announcing new Ultrabook models at CES this year. The company is entering the category with the Series 5 Ultra family, consisting of both a 13.3- and 14-inch model. The design of these thin, stylish portables is clearly influenced by the Series 9 laptop, which itself has undergone an update. The 13.3-inch Series 5 Ultra weighs 3.24 pounds. It comes with a 1.6GHz Core i5 2467M, 4GB of RAM, and either a 500GB HDD or 128GB SSD. Its matte screen has a 1366x768 resolution. The laptop offers one USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, full-size HDMI, an Ethernet port, and a 4-in-1 media reader. It's $900 with the HDD; $1,100 with the SSD.   The 14-inch Series 5 Ultra sports a 1.6GHz Core i5 2467M, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB HDD. Notably, it's the first so-called Ultrabook to feature an optical drive. Nevertheless, it rings in at less than four pounds—3.94 pounds, to be exact. Like the 13.3-inch model, its matte screen is 1366x768. Its port selection, however, differs slightly, consisting of full-size HDMI, VGA, two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, and Ethernet port, and a 4-in-1 media reader. It's priced at $950. Step up to a higher class of thin-and-light, and you get Samsung's Series 9 family—in both 13.3-inch and 15-inch sizes. The new Series 9 models are every bit as stylish and sophisticated as the originals that turned heads last year, but feature some subtle changes. For one thing, they're a bit thinner and lighter. Weighing 2.5 pounds and 3.5 pounds, respectively, the new Series 9 are just .5 inches at their thickest. They full-aluminum unibody construction, 1600x900 screens, backlit keyboards. The 13.3 inch model features a 1.6GHz Core i5 2467M with 4GB of DDR3 and a 128GB SSD. The 15-inch model has the same proc and SSD, but 8GB of DDR3. The price for the 13.3-inch model is $1,400; the 15-inch model is $1,500.

Netgear Announces 2TB Media Storage Router Posted: 09 Jan 2012 02:52 PM PST Wireless routers are not really the most sexy products these days, but Netgear is trying to change that with the just announced WNDR4700. This Media Storage Router has all sorts of goodies that go beyond the routing of network connections. The WNDR4700 comes with a 2TB hard drive and a ton of firmware features to pump up any home network. The drive in the router is user-replaceable if you should need more storage down the road. Also included are two USB 3.0 ports that support mass storage and printers. There is support for PCs and Macs, with the latter having the option to use Time Machine for backups. Functionality can be extended with the addition of apps from the Netgear App Store, as well.  Let's not forget that this is a router, and it's got all the bells and whistles in that department too. This is a dual-band 802.11n device capable of 450Mbps on the N standard. It runs on both 2.4 and 5GHz. Netgear has not revealed a price; that should come closer to the expected summer 2012 release.

The State of GPU Computing: Is the CPU Dead Yet? Posted: 09 Jan 2012 02:27 PM PST Massively parallel computing engines inside GPUs make them ideal for a wide range of tasks in addition to graphics. But where are the applications? In the dark ages of PC gaming, the CPU took care of most of the graphics chores. The graphics chip did just the basics: some raster operations, dedicated text modes, and such seemingly quaint tasks as dithering colors down to 256 or 16 colors. As Windows took hold, the graphics equation began to shift a bit, with some Windows bitmap operations handled by "Windows accelerators." Then along came hardware like the 3dfx Voodoo and the Rendition V1000, and accelerated 3D graphics on the PC took off. Now it's coming full circle. Today's GPUs are fully capable of running massively parallel, double-precision floating-point calculations. GPU computing allows the 3D graphics chip inside your PC to take on other chores. The GPU isn't just for graphics anymore. The Fermi Die - GPU compute pioneer Nvidia advanced the cause with its Fermi architecture, which features 512 CUDA cores primed for computational chores. GPU computing has its roots in an academic movement known as GPGPU, short for "general purpose computing on graphics processing units." Early GPGPU efforts were limited due to the difficulty of trying to get pre-DirectX 9 GPUs to work effectively with floating-point calculations. In the DirectX 11 era, GPU architectures have evolved, taking on some of the characteristics of traditional CPUs, like loops and branches, dynamic linking, and large addressable memory space, among others. The new age of GPU compute is also more open. DirectCompute built into DirectX 11 supports all the major DirectX 11-capable hardware. OpenCL supports multiple operating system platforms, including mobile. We'll look at each of the major hardware manufacturers and APIs for GPU computing, as well as some applications that utilize the technology. State of the Hardware If we stick with GPU hardware, there are currently just two developers shipping GPU compute-enabled hardware: AMD and Nvidia. They'll soon be joined by Intel, however, with the integrated GPU in the upcoming Ivy Bridge CPU. Let's take a look at each of them in turn. Nvidia: Tesla and CUDA The first attempts at GPGPU used Nvidia GPUs. There were some early experiments with machine-vision applications that actually ran on very early GeForce 256‑series cards, which didn't even have programmable shaders. However, efforts began to blossom when DirectX 9's more flexible programmable-shader architecture arrived. Nvidia took note of these early efforts, and realized that GPUs were potentially very powerful tools, particularly for scientific and high-performance computing (HPC) tasks. So the company's architects began to think about how to make the GPU more useful to general purpose programming. Until then, GPUs were great for graphics, but trying to write applications that were more general was difficult. There were no loops or returns, for example, and shader programs severely restricted the number of lines of code permitted. Part of the issue, of course, was the lock DirectX 9 had on GPU hardware architecture. Back in the DirectX 9 era, any implementation of features to make life easier for non-graphics applications would be outside of the DirectX standard. Given the raw floating-point and single-intruction, multiple-data (SIMD) performance, however, graphics processors looked like good candidates for certain classes of supercomputing tasks. The first iteration of Nvidia's CUDA GPU computing platform ran on the 8800 GTX. In order to further the GPGPU movement, Nvidia created a more compute-friendly software development framework. CUDA 1.0, as Nvidia dubbed the architecture, was the first version of Nvidia's CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) software platform. Programmers could now use standard C, plus Nvidia extensions, to develop applications, rather than have to work through the more cumbersome shader language process. In other words, general purpose apps didn't have to be written like graphics code. CUDA worked with 8800 GTX and related GPUs. That generation of graphics processors spawned the first products dedicated to GPU compute, the Tesla 870 line. Since the early days of the 8800, Nvidia continued to build in architectural features to make the GPU a better general purpose programming tool. The goal isn't to make the GPU a replacement for the CPU. CPUs still excel at linear or small-scale multithreaded applications. However, GPUs are potentially excellent at large-scale parallel programming applications involving hundreds of threads operating on large volumes of separate but similar data. That programming model is ideal for a certain class of scientific and high-performance applications, including financial analysis. It's significant that Nvidia positioned its latest Fermi architecture as a GPU compute platform before launching it as a graphics processor. The Fermi architecture brought substantial hardware enhancements to make it a better general purpose processor. These include fast atomic memory operations (which means a single memory location won't be corrupted by accesses from different functions), a unified memory architecture, better context switching, and more. Since Fermi's launch, Nvidia has also updated its CUDA software platform several times, which we'll discuss shortly. Nvidia didn't just see GPU compute as something for oil exploration and academic computing. Nvidia acquired PhysX several years ago, discarding the dedicated hardware but keeping the broadly used physics API, so the GPU can accelerate physics calculations. The company has also worked with game developers to incorporate GPU compute into games, for water simulation, optical lens effects, and other compute-intensive tasks. Finally, it has worked with a number of mainstream companies like  ArcSoft, Adobe, and CyberLink to enable GPU‑accelerated video transcoding in both high-end and consumer-level video applications. All the work of Fermi as a compute platform has paid off, as Nvidia's Tesla compute hardware sales topped $100M last year. Fermi doesn't get the attention that the desktop graphics or mobile processor divisions have been getting, but its existence has enabled Nvidia to remain at the top of the heap for GPU compute. Still, competitors are nipping at its heels. AMD: The Mainstreaming of GPU Compute AMD was a little late to the GPU compute party, but it has been working feverishly to catch up. ATI Stream was the company's equivalent to Nvidia's CUDA. The first AMD FireStream cards for dedicated GPU compute were the model 580s, built on the Radeon X1900 GPU, which saw fairly limited pickup. It wasn't until the Radeon HD 4000 series shipped that AMD really had competitive hardware for GPU compute. The HD 5000 improved on that substantially. The latest Radeon 6000 series has significant enhancements specifically geared for general purpose parallel programming. Philosophically, though, AMD has taken a slightly different road. At first, the company tried to mimic Nvidia's CUDA efforts, but eventually discarded that approach and fully embraced open standards like OpenCL and DirectCompute. (We'll discuss the software platforms in more detail next.) AMD is taking GPU computing mainstream by building in Radeon-class shader cores into the CPU die, as seen in this Fusion die shot. Recently, AMD has shifted its GPU compute focus more to the mainstream. While AMD ships dedicated compute accelerators under the moniker FireStream, the company is trying to capitalize on its efforts to integrate Radeon graphics technology into mainstream CPUs. The Fusion APUs (accelerated processing units) are available in either mobile or desktop flavors. Even the high-end A3800, sporting a quad-core x86 CPU and 400 Radeon-class programmable shaders, costs less than $150. AMD calls its approach to mainstream GPU compute App Acceleration. It's a risky approach, since the mainstream applications ecosystem isn't exactly rich with products that take advantage of GPU compute. The few applications that exist can run much faster on the GPU side of the APU, but the modest performance of the x86 side of the equation makes it difficult to compete with Intel's x86 performance dominance. AMD is betting that more software developers will take advantage of GPU compute, shifting the performance equation for the APUs. Intel: Bridges to GPU Compute Intel has been watching the GPU compute movement with some understandable concern. The company tried to get into discrete graphics with Larrabee, but that project died on the vine. The technology behind Larrabee is now relegated to limited use in some high-performance parallel compute applications, but you can't go out and buy a Larrabee board. On the other hand, Intel has made waves with the integrated graphics built into its current Sandy Bridge CPUs. The Intel HD Graphics GPU is pretty average for Intel graphics, but the fixed-function video block is startlingly good. Video decode and transcode are very fast—even faster than most GPU-accelerated transcode. Of course, it's a fixed-function unit, so it isn't useful with non-standard codecs. But since a big part of the consumer GPU compute efforts from Nvidia and AMD focus on video encode and transcode, Sandy Bridge graphics stole a little thunder from the traditional graphics companies. The GPU in Sandy Bridge is fairly mediocre—except for the fixed-function video engine, which is purely awesome. Intel's upcoming 22nm CPU, code-named Ivy Bridge, may actually change the balance. The x86 CPU itself will offer modest enhancements to Sandy Bridge, but the GPU is being re-architected to be fully DirectX 11 compliant. When asked if GPU compute code could run entirely on the Ivy Bridge graphics core, the lead architect for Intel said it would. Performance is unknown at this point, but if Intel can couple a GPU core that's equal to the AMD GPU inside Fusion APUs with its raw x86 CPU capabilities, then it may signal a sunset on the era of entry-level discrete graphics cards. The API Story If you can't write software to take advantage of great hardware, you essentially have really expensive paperweights. Early attempts to turn GPUs into general purpose parallel processors were bootstrapping efforts, requiring programmers to figure out how to write a graphics shader program that would do something other than graphics. As the hardware evolved, a strong need for standard programming interfaces became critical. What happened is a recapitulation of graphics history: proprietary technology first, then a steady shift to more open standards. CUDA Nvidia's CUDA platform was one of the first attempts to build a standard programming interface for GPU compute. Nvidia has always maintained that CUDA isn't really "Nvidia-only," but neither AMD nor Intel has really taken up the company's offer to accept it as a standard. Some of Nvidia's third-party partners, however, have chipped in, enabling support for Intel CPUs as fallback for some CUDA-based middleware. CUDA started out small, consisting of libraries and a C compiler to write parallel‑processing code for the GPU. Over the years, CUDA has evolved into an ecosystem of Nvidia and third-party compilers, debugging tools, and full integration with Microsoft Visual Studio. CUDA has seen most of its success in the HPC and academic supercomputing market, but CUDA has a broader reach than just deskside supercomputers. Adobe used CUDA in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, and later to accelerate high-definition video transcode and some transitions. MotionDSP uses CUDA to help reduce the shaky‑cam effect in home videos. We'll highlight a few GPU‑accelerated apps later in this article. ATI Stream We'll just mention AMD's Stream software platform briefly, since AMD is no longer pushing it, choosing to focus instead on OpenCL and DirectCompute. Stream was AMD's attempt to compete with CUDA, but the company obviously feels that the greater accessibility offered by standards-based platforms is more appealing. DirectCompute DirectCompute shipped with Microsoft's DirectX 11 API framework, so is available only on Windows Vista and Windows 7. It will also be available on Windows 8 when that OS ships. That means there's no support for DirectCompute on non-Microsoft operating systems. DirectCompute won't run on Windows XP, either, nor on Windows Phone 7 or the Xbox 360. DirectCompute works across all GPUs capable of supporting DirectX 11. Today, that means only Nvidia GTX 400 series or later and AMD Radeon HD 5000 series or later. Intel will support DirectX 11 compute shaders when Ivy Bridge ships in 2012. DirectCompute's key advantage is that it uses an enhanced version of the same shader language, HLSL, for GPU compute programming as it does for graphics programming. This makes it substantially easier for the large numbers of programmers already facile in Direct3D to write GPU compute code. It also runs across graphics processors from both AMD and Nvidia, giving it broad graphics hardware support. On the downside, DirectCompute has no CPU fallback. So code specifically written for DirectCompute simply fails if a DirectX 11-capable GPU isn't available. That means programmers need a separate code path if they want to replicate the results of the DirectCompute code on a system running an older GPU. OpenCL Early on, OpenCL was developed by Apple, who turned over the framework to an open standards committee called Khronos Group. Apple retained the name as a trademark, but granted free rights to use it. OpenCL runs on just about any hardware platform available, including traditional PC CPUs and GPUs inside mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Care must be taken with code designed for multiplatform use, as a cell‑phone GPU may not be able to handle the same number of threads as gracefully as an Nvidia GTX 580. In fact, Intel has even released an OpenCL interface for the current Sandy Bridge‑integrated GPU. Support for OpenCL has been quite strong. AMD is so enamored of OpenCL that it dropped its ATI Stream SDK in favor of a new Accelerated Parallel Processing SDK, which exclusively supports OpenCL. OpenCL has also come to the web. A variant of OpenCL, called WebCL, is in the prototype stage for web browsers, which allows JavaScript to call OpenCL code. This means you may one day run GPU compute code inside your browser. On the other hand, OpenCL is still in its infancy. Supporting tools and middleware are still emerging, and for the time being developers may need to create their own custom libraries, instead of relying on commercially available or free middleware to ease programming chores. There's no integration yet with popular dev tools like Microsoft's Visual Studio. The API Wars The GPU compute API situation today resembles the consumer 3D graphics API wars of the late 1990s. The leading development platform is CUDA. Despite Nvidia's protestations to the contrary, CUDA remains a proprietary platform. It has a rich ecosystem of developers and applications at this stage, but history hasn't been kind to single-platform standards over the long haul. This chart sums up the state of the GPU compute APIs in a nutshell. You could argue that DirectCompute is also proprietary, since it's Windows-only—and even lacks support on pre-Vista versions of Windows. However, Windows is by far the leading PC operating system, and DirectCompute supports all existing DirectX 11–capable hardware. That's where the support ends, however, since there's no version for mobile hardware, though we may see that change with Windows 8. OpenCL offers the most promise in the long run, with its support for multiple operating systems, a wide array of hardware platforms, and strong industry support. OpenCL is the native GPU compute API for Mac OS X, which is gaining ground in the PC space, particularly on laptops. But OpenCL is still pretty immature at this stage of the game. There's a strong need for integration with popular development platforms, more powerful debugging tools and more robust third-party middleware. The Applications Story To see what kind of strides GPU compute has made, we're going to focus on consumer applications, not scientific or highly vertical applications. GPUs should do well in applications where the code and data are highly parallel. Examples include some photography apps, video transcoding, and certain tasks in games (that aren't just graphical in nature.) Musemage Musemage is a complete photo editing application available from Chinese developer Paraken. When running on systems with Nvidia GPUs, Musemage is fully GPU accelerated. Musemage uses the CUDA software layer to accelerate the full range of photographic operations. Musemage is the first photo editing application to be fully GPU accelerated. Musemage lacks a lot of the automated functions built into more mature tools like Photoshop, but if you're willing to manually tweak your images, most of the filters and tools act almost instantly, even on very large raw files—provided you've got Nvidia hardware. Adobe Premiere Pro CS5/5.5 Adobe's Premiere Pro is a professional-level video editing tool. One of the tasks necessary for any video editor is previewing projects as you assemble clips, titles, transitions and filters into a coherent whole. Adobe's Mercury playback engine uses CUDA to accelerate the preview. This is incredibly useful as projects grow in size—you're able to scrub back and forth on the timeline in real time, even after making changes. In addition, a number of effects and filters are GPU accelerated, including color correction, various blurs, and more. A complete list can be found at the Adobe website. Adobe is investigating porting the Mercury engine and other GPU-accelerated portions of Premiere Pro to OpenCL, but we haven't heard whether a final decision has been made. Given the relative immaturity of the tool sets and drivers, OpenCL may need a little more time before major software companies like Adobe commit to the new standard. Interestingly, Intel has recently delivered a plugin for Premiere Pro CS5.5 that can speed up HD encoding if you use Adobe Encoder. It does require an H67 or Z68 chipset. With a Z68 system, you can use an Nvidia-based GPU to accelerate the Mercury playback engine and QuickSync to perform the final render. Video Conversion A number of video transcoding apps exist that are GPU accelerated. One of the first was CyberLink's Media Espresso, which first used Nvidia's CUDA framework, then OpenCL. The latest version of Media Espresso takes advantage of Intel's QuickSync. Transcoding with QuickSync can be faster than using a GPU, but only if you use a QuickSync-supported codec. Higher-end tools, like MainConcept, also use GPU encode. MainConcept offers separate H.264/AVC encoders for Nvidia, running on CUDA, and AMD, which uses OpenCL. Games When we think of games and GPUs, it's natural to think about graphics. But games are increasingly using the GPU for elements that aren't purely graphical. Physics is the first thing that comes to mind. Usually when we think of physics, we think of collisions and rigid body dynamics. But physics isn't just about stuff bouncing off other stuff. Film effects like motion blur and lens effects like bokeh and volumetric smoke are handled via GPU compute techniques rather than run on the CPU. GPU compute also handles cloth simulations, better-looking water, and even some audio processing. In the future, we might see some of the AI calculations offloaded to the GPU; AMD already demonstrated GPU-controlled AI in an RTS-like setting. As more GPU compute capability is integrated into the CPU die, it's possible for the on-die GPU to handle some of these compute tasks while the discrete graphics card takes care of graphics chores. The ability for the on-die GPU and CPU to share data more quickly—without having to move data over the PCI Express bus—may make up for the fewer shader cores available on-die. Parallelism is the Future CPUs will never go out of fashion. There will always be a need for linear computation, and some applications don't lend themselves to parallel computation. However, the future of the Internet and PCs is a highly visual one. Digital video, photography, and games may be the initial drivers for this, but the visual Internet, through standards like WebCL and HTML5 Canvas, will create more immersive experiences over the web. And much of the underlying programming for creating these experiences will be parallel in nature. GPUs, whether discrete or integrated on the CPU die, are naturals for this highly visual, parallel future. GPU computing is still in its infancy.

New Android App Helps You Spot SOPA-Supporting Products Posted: 09 Jan 2012 02:26 PM PST Up in arms about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)? Well, you're not even close to alone, and a new Android app can help the more passive opponents do their part to express their rage. The Boycott SOPA app allows users to leverage their phone's camera to make sure they aren't buying any products that come from companies supporting SOPA. Other barcode scanning apps just tell you how much a product is selling for online, but Boycott SOPA measures something different. Just scan a barcode, and Boycott SOPA reaches out to its product database and lets you know whether or not the item comes from a company that supports the bill. If the answer is 'yes,' the app will pop up a warning that the item is "intimately related to a SOPA supporting company." There is a history screen with a list of all your analyzed products with an icon reminding you how it fared. This might not stop Congress from  making SOPA or Protect IP law, but you can at least put a little hurt on those who don't stand for the stability and freedom of the Internet.

Fusion Garage Finally Dead, Says Leaked Doc Posted: 09 Jan 2012 02:07 PM PST After an uncertain few months, it looks like JooJoo/CrunchPad maker Fusion Garage is going under. According to a leaked document sent to Business Insider, creditors are preparing to force the company into liquidation. The total owed to investors by FusionGarage is said to be in the neighborhood of $40 million.  Fusion Garage was originally set to be the OEM that brought then-TechCrunch-editor Mike Arrington's vision of a $200 web-only tablet to life. The two had a falling out, and the renamed JooJoo ended up being a flop when Fusion Garage released it in early 2010. Then just a few months ago, Fusion Garage reemerged with a new platform based on Android along with plans for tablets and phones. The Grid 10 tablet was another monumental failure.  At the tail end of 2011, there were rumors that Fusion Garage has closed down without communicating to customers, or its partners. The company CEO later said they were simply trying to get the business in order, but now it looks like that effort has failed. No word on what will happen to Fusion Garage's few customers, and the money they've spent.

SD Association Rolls Out Wireless SD Card Standard Posted: 09 Jan 2012 11:36 AM PST It's increasingly becoming a wireless world, folks. Just check out the headlines from the past week or so. On top of the omnipresent smartphone/tablet chatter, we saw the launch of next-gen "5G Wi-Fi" chips capable of streaming 1080p video without a hitch, and now, today's news: even your SD card is going wireless. Seriously. The SD Association's new Wireless LAN SD standard mixes storage with wireless IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n, according to the organization's press release (PDF). No longer will you need to whip out a USB cable or yank your SD card out of your phone or camera to transfer files back and forth between your device and your computer; it's all over the air, baby. The same press release tosses out a few ways users will be able to use the new standard to their advantage: Upload family, vacation or sports photos and video wirelessly from a camera or video camera to a computer or server for sharing or backup. Wirelessly download pictures from servers with cameras and video cameras using Wireless LAN SD memory cards. Consumers can share pictures and videos without email or physical card transfers, including peer-to-peer picture and video transfers from cameras to smart phones and tablets wirelessly without an access point. Use Wireless LAN SD memory cards as wireless control points for other devices, such as TVs, in a home network. Nifty, eh? The new standard can apply to both full-sized and micro SD/SDHC/SDXC cards, but there's no word on when we'll see the first ones. It'll probably be a while, though. If you need your wireless SD fix today, Eye-Fi's been doing it for a while now.

New "Crestron Connected" Initiative Brings Plug-And-Play Cloud Control To Home Theater Posted: 09 Jan 2012 11:16 AM PST Who needs a universal remote? Actually, we do – juggling receiver, TV, Xbox 360 and Blu-ray player controllers is a pain in the ass – but if a company called Crestron has its way, universal remotes may just become a thing of the past. The company is working with consumer electronics manufacturers to roll out its newly announced "Crestron Connected" standard, which allows users to monitor and control their Creston Connected devices from anywhere in the world using a web-based interface. Creston's targeting home theater products like Blu-ray players and HDTVs for its new control platform. Creston Connected devices will have Ethernet ports for quick n' easy network integration – no word on Wi-Fi capabilities, however. All Creston Connected devices will also be fully plug and play with automatic setup. Controlling and managing your devices requires the company's Fusion RV software, which is available for iOS and Android as well as traditional PCs.    "We need to evolve from a traditional hardwired, centralized control scheme to a distributed, cloud-based architecture," VP Fred Bargetzi said in the company's press release. "Crestron Connected is an important first step toward enabling different products to talk together to create smarter homes and buildings. This new technology allows for easy, fast, and affordable implementation regardless of the size and complexity of your environment." If it ends up being widely adopted, Creston Connected could wind up eliminating the need to have dozens of different home control apps for your various electronics and services. Whaddaya say – is Creston Connected intriguing? Image credit: electronichouse.com

OCZ Shows Off Everest 2 SSD Controller With Improved Write Speeds Posted: 09 Jan 2012 10:41 AM PST After OCZ snatched up SSD controller-maker Indilinx back in March of 2011, it took them nearly nine months to work the company's speedy new Everest controller into an actual product. (The Everest-sporting OCZ Octane launched back in the beginning of November.) It's going to take them less time than that to roll out an Everest update; at CES, OCZ is showing off its new Everest 2 controller, which doubles up on the first-gen's random IOPS performance and should hit the streets in June. According to Anandtech, OCZ's claiming that the Everest 2 will hit 550MB/s read, 500MB/s write and a whopping 90K 4KB random write IOPS. We're assuming that's via SATA 3.0; for comparison, the OCZ Octane's claimed SATA 3.0 numbers are 560MB/s read, 400 MB/s write and 45k random IOPS. Indilinx clearly spent time focusing on write speeds, and Everest 2 achieves the higher numbers thanks to a brand-spankin' new firmware architecture. It sounds impressive and hey, now Flag Day's not the only thing we have to look forward to in June.

AMD Radeon HD 7970 Cards Go On Sale Today Posted: 09 Jan 2012 10:16 AM PST It's CES time! You know what that means: a ton of new, awesome looking tech is going to be unveiled this week, some of which will never actually see the light of day, and the things that actually end up launching won't hit the streets for a while yet. Before we dive too deeply into the future, let's take a look at something that's actually in the here and now. Today, Radeon HD 7970 graphics cards actually started shipping. Early adopters rejoice! In case you missed it, we've already taken a look at the AMD Radeon HD 7970 and found it pretty impressive. So far, Gigabyte, Club 3D, XFX, Asus, PowerColor and HIS all have 7970 cards up for sale on Newegg.  Actually, those companies had models up for sale on Newegg; every single one is already out of stock on that site, even with their $550 to $600 price tags. A quick Google Shopping check shows that cards are still available elsewhere on the web, but usually carry even higher sticker costs.  So are you in the market for a Radeon HD 7970? Know anywhere you can pick one up? Let us know in the comments!

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Tribes Ascend updates with new map and more Posted: 09 Jan 2012 10:39 AM PST Friday brought a new update to Tribes Ascend’s closed beta, bringing an early version of a new map and over a dozen tweaks and fixes. The Arx Novena Capture the Flag map made its debut, although not yet in its final art or design state, to get early testing feedback from players. Also making its debut in this patch is a “Target Practice” mode in the Training menu, a bot-filled version of the Crossfire map for personal practice. Improvements include adjustments to vehicle handling, stuttering, warm-up period, flag bounce physics, damage on certain weapons, and game stability and performance. Tribes Ascend is published by Hi-Rez Studios, which also publishes Global Agenda. Arx Novena – Capture the Flag Tribes Ascend Gameplay Screenshot Source: Patch Notes for January 06, 2012 Tribes Closed Beta Version 0.1.669.0 Server downtime: The Tribes Servers are expected to be down for several hours on FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2012 while the patch is deployed. Watch the Server Status on the game loader for latest availability information. Major Highlights An early version of the Arx Novena Capture the Flag map has been released. This map is in an early state and is not at its final intended art or design quality. Added a new "Target Practice" mode under the Training menu. This is a variant of the Crossfire map that contains a variety of bots in it. These can be used to practice shooting. Improved vehicle handling in high-latency situations. This is most noticeable on the Shrike. Reduced stuttering when skiing/jetting. By default, damage numbers appear above a players hit when you damage them. This can be turned off through the Settings menu. The game warm-up period has been extended, in order to allow more users to load into the game prior to match start. Adjusted flag bounce physics to help prevent punting a flag too far from a large impulse. Balance Items Lowered the damage on the Sentinel’s BXT1 Rifle when the rifle is not fully charged (damage is the same as previous at full charge). Slightly reduced damage on the Ranger's Thumper D. Increased damage on the Technician's TCN4 SMG. Increased fire rate modestly on the Infiltrator's Rhino SMG. Fixed a previous configuration error that was causing the credits earned from the Flag Killer and Flag Return accolades to be more than their intended value. Additional Items Some general improvements for performance and stability. Further improvements are planned for future patches. Fixed issue where a passenger entering a vehicle was not properly getting an indicator that a missile was incoming. Fixed issue where vehicle drivers and passengers weren't having the proper animations applied. Fixed issue with upside-down Beowulf's being unable to be flipped back over. Fixed issue with force ejection of Beowulf driver and passenger where they were falling out of the level and dying. Added bullet impact and flyby sounds for bullet-based projectiles (chaingun, SMGs, ARs, etc). Added footstep particle systems under players when walking around. This is not visible on yourself when in first-person view. Fixed gunner caret not showing up when mousing over the Beowulf. Players are no longer auto-balanced when driving a vehicle. Fixed switching between first-person and third-person causing loss of audio on some weapons. Fixed vehicle ammo indicator not showing at times. Fixed Infiltrator's SN7 not being able to fire at the maximum rate possible. Fixed driver and passenger health bars not properly showing on vehicles. Fixed issue with Doombringer's Saber Launcher lock-on sound staying on when you have a lock then enter a vehicle. Fixed response issues with Beowulf turret and gunner positions. Fixed an issue in which username and password were not being saved properly for some users. Removed confusing message about entering and exiting a vehicle on vehicle purchase. All device particle systems now have proper levels of detail. This should help low end systems in high action environments. Spectator Changes Increased performance on spectator HUD Known Issues The above-head damage indicators may report incorrect damage on shotgun weapons in some conditions. The actual damage amounts applied are correct.

Mythos Global announces open beta Posted: 09 Jan 2012 10:09 AM PST T3Fun has announced that Mythos Global will begin its open beta on February 2. The open beta will also make the game available to (most) European players. Leading up to the open beta, Mythos will feature special news stories, interviews, mini-games, quizzes, and more on its website. This will include week-long features on races, and special events including lotteries and contests to help players prepare for the opening of the game’s next beta test. T3Fun also publishes Hellgate and CardMon Hero. Mythos Gameplay Screenshot Source: Mythos Global Open Beta Coming Soon, Now Available for EU Players LOS ANGELES – January 9, 2012 Hanbitsoft and T3Fun are happy to announce the open beta for their highly-anticipated online action RPG, Mythos Global. Beginning February 2, 2012, the fantasy world of Uld will be teeming with danger and adventure. T3Fun has good news for European players. The OBT for Mythos Global will also be available to most of Europe. Mythos' loyal supporters have been heard and now European fans will also be able to join in the action once the server opens for the open beta test. To lead up to the launch of the open beta, the Mythos team has prepared a full month of activities for the fans. Every week in January, there will be new stories, exclusive interviews, mini-games, quizzes and more. Visit the Mythos Global website, forums, and fan page to take part in this month-long series of events. Keep checking back to discover what's new each week before the open beta begins next month. For more information about Mythos Global, please visit: http://mythos.t3fun.com/Home/Home.aspx

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MMO Updates

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• Mythos Global open beta starts February 2nd
• Funcom kicks off The Secret World's Illuminati week
• God save the green: Deal makes Jagex a US company
• Black Gold Online alpha footage released
• Flameseeker Chronicles: ArenaNet talks PvE vs. PvP
• MV Guide: January 9-15, 2012
• The Daily Grind: Do you play in self-enforced hardcore mode?
• MMO Week in Review: No power in the 'verse
• EVE Evolved: Development on EVE in 2012
• The Anvil of Crom: Quality-of-life improvements for 2012
• Rise and Shiny recap: The Kingdom of Loathing

Mythos Global open beta starts February 2nd Posted: 09 Jan 2012 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Mythos, Free-to-play The on-again-off-again saga of Mythos is apparently on again. HanbitSoft and T3Fun have issued a press blurb trumpeting the open beta for the rechristened Mythos Global. The preview period kicks off on February 2nd, and the devs say that the test will "be available to most of Europe." There's no word on an American server as of yet, but the release does promise a full month of lead-in activities to the Euro beta including "new stories, exclusive interviews, mini-games, quizzes, and more." Mythos originally launched in April 2011 before shutting down in October and announcing its impending return in late November. Mythos Global open beta starts February 2nd originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Mythos Global PR

Funcom kicks off The Secret World's Illuminati week Posted: 09 Jan 2012 09:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, Lore, MMO industry, New titles, News items, The Secret World Still having a hard time settling on a secret society when it comes to The Secret World? Fear not, as Funcom is bringing you another theme week detailing one of the game's three factions. This time around, it's the Illuminati in the spotlight, and over the next few days we'll be on the lookout for new artwork, screens, videos, a developer Q&A, and more. Funcom's version of the (in)famous Illuminati group casts its members as "invisible puppet-masters and corporate manipulators" who seek "power and wealth by any means necessary." Head to the official Secret World website to check out the latest Illuminati-themed art, and don't forget to take the initiation test to see which faction is right for you. [Source: Funcom press release] Funcom kicks off The Secret World's Illuminati week originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

God save the green: Deal makes Jagex a US company Posted: 09 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST Filed under: MMO industry, RuneScape, Free-to-play, Legal, Miscellaneous, Transformers Universe Jagex is trading up the Union Jack for the Stars and Stripes, as controlling interest in the studio has changed hands to a US firm. Insight Venture Brothers, a venture capital firm from the US, completed a deal last year to increase its ownership to 55% of the UK-based company. Previously, the firm had 35% interest in Jagex. Now that the scales have tipped to the new ownership, this technically makes Jagex a US-controlled company and has US investors leading its board of directors. While revenues were up 2% for Jagex in 2011, both operating and net profits were significantly down from the previous financial year. Jagex is a major player in the MMO free-to-play market, with RuneScape, Transformers Universe, and 8Realms as part of its project portfilio. Develop reports that the controlling interest was made possible by Jagex co-founder Andrew Gower selling off his ownership claims to the firm for $115.65 million. As part of the deal, Jagex paid $3.85 million in expenses. The studio will remain in Cambridge while its controlling firm is in NYC. God save the green: Deal makes Jagex a US company originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: City A.M., Develop

Black Gold Online alpha footage released Posted: 09 Jan 2012 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play A good steampunk MMO is sort of a holy grail for some of us Massively folk, so we're excited to bring you the news of another one in the works. Black Gold Online is the title in question, and it's currently being developed by Snail Games. If that name doesn't ring a bell, consider that the firm is behind the upcoming Age of Wulin Wushu free-to-play martial arts MMO. According to MMO Culture, Black Gold will pit two rival factions against one another in a struggle for control of a world divided between nature lovers and technologists. We don't know a whole lot of gameplay details yet, but we'll keep our eye on this one. Don't forget to check out the Russian server alpha footage after the cut. Continue reading Black Gold Online alpha footage released Black Gold Online alpha footage released originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: MMO Culture

Flameseeker Chronicles: ArenaNet talks PvE vs. PvP Posted: 09 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Interviews, PvP, PvE, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles "I don't care for PvP, so Guild Wars 2 doesn't really interest me." This is something that I've heard with some regularity over the past year or two, and every time I sort of shake my head in confusion. How could anyone perceive Guild Wars 2 as a PvP-only game? Really, just take a look at what we've seen from the development team and how PvE-centric it is and it seems that you'd get the impression that if anything, there's more of a PvE focus. Of course, I can see where this perception comes from -- Guild Wars 1 holds the same perception for a lot of people, so it carries over. As a huge fan of both games and a pure PvE player, I thought it would be fun to take this week and clear things up. Eric Flannum and John Stumme were kind enough to help, stepping in to answer a few questions about the balance of things both past and present. Curious about what they have to say? Click past the cut and take a look! Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: ArenaNet talks PvE vs. PvP Flameseeker Chronicles: ArenaNet talks PvE vs. PvP originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MV Guide: January 9-15, 2012 Posted: 09 Jan 2012 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Livestream, Miscellaneous, MV Guide MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule! Continue reading MV Guide: January 9-15, 2012 MV Guide: January 9-15, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Do you play in self-enforced hardcore mode? Posted: 09 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Roleplaying, Miscellaneous The permadeath-in-MMOs issue has been debated to death. Most of us have probably either played in a Diablo-esque hardcore mode or gaped at the stones required to publish a true MMORPG with permadeath (hi, Salem). But who says you need game mechanics to make permadeath a reality? I've gamed with roleplayers who took their characters deadly seriously and would delete their characters if they were killed off within the context of the game. (So much for the idea that roleplayers are casuals, eh?) Their web of self-inflicted rules is so complex (maiming? dice rolls? emote-combat?) that playing with such RPers can actually become stressful, especially if you don't want to be responsible for their having to delete and reroll. What about you folks? Do you play or roleplay in a self-enforced hardcore mode? Do you do it because it's fun, because it makes gameplay more intense, or because you like a good challenge? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind! The Daily Grind: Do you play in self-enforced hardcore mode? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMO Week in Review: No power in the 'verse Posted: 08 Jan 2012 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. Miss a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week? You've come to the right post. Browncoat gamers have been pining for a Firefly MMO almost since the day the TV show was canceled, and Multiverse was supposed to make that happen... right up until the project was shut down for lack of funds, taking the sky from both the Firefly and Buffy games, as we reported this week. But no power in the 'verse can stop Firefly fans; almost immediately, a successor group formed up to take over the source code and keep the project flying. Check out the rest of Massively's top MMO stories past the break! Continue reading MMO Week in Review: No power in the 'verse MMO Week in Review: No power in the 'verse originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Evolved: Development on EVE in 2012 Posted: 08 Jan 2012 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, MMO industry, Previews, PvP, Opinion, MMOFPS, EVE Evolved, DUST 514, Sandbox Following the summer drama that came to be known as monoclegate, the past six months have been challenging for EVE Online's players and developers alike. When players learned that cash-shop clothing was priced higher than its real-life equivalent, the quirky story of the $80 monocle swept across gaming blogs like wildfire. The story's tone soon turned a great deal more sinister with the leak of an internal company newsletter titled Greed is Good, and a second leaked memo from CCP's CEO added more fuel to the flames. Ultimately, players spoke with their wallets; subscriptions fell by at least 8%, and with no financial backup plan, CCP was forced to lay off 20% of its staff worldwide. The staff members who remained were faced with the task of turning things around, and with the feature-packed Crucible expansion, they did so spectacularly. In just a few short months, hundreds of high-profile features, graphical overhauls, and quality of life improvements breathed new life into a neglected universe. I think most players recognise that this has been a genuine turn-around from within CCP, but some are still skeptical that the company has really reformed. The question on everyone's mind is whether CCP can really keep up this quality of development in the coming year as it delivers two full expansions and integrates EVE with DUST 514. Perhaps nobody is better qualified to assess that than CSM delegate and former CCP game designer Mark "Seleene" Heard, who recently attended the December CSM summit and witnessed first-hand the aftermath of monoclegate and Crucible's development. In this week's EVE Evolved, I delve into Mark's CSM Summit report to find out how development at CCP has changed, what we can expect in 2012, and how monocle-gate has affected CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson. Continue reading EVE Evolved: Development on EVE in 2012 EVE Evolved: Development on EVE in 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Anvil of Crom: Quality-of-life improvements for 2012 Posted: 08 Jan 2012 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Game mechanics, Lore, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Anvil of Crom This week's Anvil of Crom took a bit of thought because honestly, I haven't felt very motivated to play lately. It's one part burnout and two parts wandering eye, as there are a lot of MMOs out there that I keep hoping Age of Conan will emulate in the interests of becoming a more complete game. It's certainly not a bad game as is; I've been traveling Hyboria for four years now (and writing about it for two), and you don't do that with titles you have to force yourself to play. Like most things, though, AoC could be better. Continue reading The Anvil of Crom: Quality-of-life improvements for 2012 The Anvil of Crom: Quality-of-life improvements for 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rise and Shiny recap: The Kingdom of Loathing Posted: 08 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Culture, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Hands-on, Casual, Humor, Rise and Shiny, Livestream, Miscellaneous The Kingdom of Loathing is no new kid on the block. The hand-drawn indie hit has been around for nine years now. There are fansites and 24-hour radio stations dedicated to the game, and there are even conventions hosted in its honor! Needless to say, the game has a following. I knew that I would be stepping into a huge puddle of "snark" when I decided to take a look at the game this week. I knew darn well that I would be tested, that my limits as someone who cannot stand to chat with anyone who answers everything with the equivalent of "your mom" would be pushed and pushed hard. I had a feeling. Surprisingly, I found some really charming aspects to the game. Unfortunately, the game didn't seem to share my enthusiasm for its quaint design. Because it's existed for nine years, I expected to find some fine-tuned stick figure gameplay, but the game seemed content with sort of rehashing the same stuff over and over. Of course, since this column is all about playing a game enough to form only a first impression, I did not reach the higher levels and might have missed something. I just wish the game would have been more confident in its delivery. Continue reading Rise and Shiny recap: The Kingdom of Loathing Rise and Shiny recap: The Kingdom of Loathing originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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General gaming

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Diablo III Releasing on February 1, Says Best Buy [Update] Posted: 07 Jan 2012 08:39 PM PST Update: The Best Buy display has been called into question, perhaps most notably because it misspells the word "February." However, this isn't a matter of it being a Photoshop -- the store confirmed the display's existence, after all -- but the display has been taken down by order of the store's general manager, Joystiq reports. This wasn't by request of Blizzard, but instead because a date hasn't been announced and it was the store, not Blizzard, that commissioned the display be made.

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MMORPG News

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Fallen Earth: January State of the Game Arrives Posted: 09 Jan 2012 05:11 AM PST Fallen Earth's Marie Croall has posted the latest State of the Game letter on behalf of the development team. In it, she discusses several key features that the team has been working on and some things that will be coming in the future.

General: Undead Labs Spycam Footage Shows Off Game Play Posted: 09 Jan 2012 05:05 AM PST Undead Labs has been cagey about showing off footage for its upcoming zombie-themed MMO but all that has changed with new "spycam" footage posted to the game's official blog. For the first time viewers are treated to some game play footage shot over the shoulders of developers. Check it out!

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