| Luma Wants to Blanket Your Home in a Mesh Network for Better Wi-Fi Posted: 05 Nov 2015 12:32 PM PST Breathe wireless like into those Wi-Fi dead spots  Pesky obstacles like walls and doors can impede a wireless signal, especially the further away you are from your home's router. Luma's solution is to use multiple routers to create a mesh network that's customized to your specific dwelling. Not everyone needs that kind of coverage. Maybe you live in a studio apartment or one-story ranch style home with few obstructions. If so, Luma says you should still consider its self-named Wi-Fi router, just purchase a one-pack instead of a set of three. If you do purchase multiple Luma routers, you can place them throughout your home where needed to kill off those dead spots where fast connections are typically tough to come by. During setup, it will even tell you where to put each one to get the strongest signal. Beyond better coverage, Luma promises an easy setup, strong security, and parental controls. It's similar to the approach Google is taking with its OnHub line of routers, and like those models, the Luma router is designed in such a way that you might not feel the need to hide it from view. One of the neat things about Luma is granting access to guests without having to give them a password. When they want access, you'll receive an alert on your mobile device to either let them in or deny entry. Using the mobile app, you can see what devices are connected to your network and boot ones off at will. You can also set time limits, temporarily disable (pause) Internet access (maybe it's dinner time), and restrict access to G or PG level websites. Luma is being cagey about some details. The company says it's a dual-band 802.11ac router, but isn't divulging what speeds it supports. Another vague detail is the "quad-core processor" inside, which we imagine is an ARM-based chip. There are two GbE LAN ports and a single USB 2.0 port on each Luma Wi-Fi router. Luma's taking pre-orders for its router -- $99 for one (down from its retail price of $199), or $249 for three (down from $499 retail). Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Rosewill Quark 1200W PSU, Asus GeForce GTX 960, and More! Posted: 05 Nov 2015 10:40 AM PST |
| Nvidia Rolls Out Game Ready Drivers for Call of Duty: Black Ops III Posted: 05 Nov 2015 10:11 AM PST Drivers optimized for Black Ops III  As Nvidia is prone to do, it has new WHQL-certified drivers available just in time for a new game, this one being Call of Duty: Blacks Ops III. The newly available GeForce "Game Ready" 358.87 drivers come with the promise of delivering "the best possible experience" in Black Ops III, both "when battling foes and capturing game play footage with GeForce Experience and ShadowPlay," Nvidia says. Churning out Game Ready drivers is something Nvidia has been doing for the past couple of years now. "Prior to a new title launching, our driver team is working up until the last minute to ensure every performance tweak and bug fix possible makes it into the Game Ready driver. As a result, you can be sure you'll have the best day-1 gaming experience for your favorite new titles," Nvidia says. In addition to delivering tweaks and performance optimizations for Black Ops III, the 358.87 drivers add and update several SLI profiles, including Act of Aggression, NBA 2K16, StarCraft II, Sword Coast Legends, and Triad Wars. The new drivers also introduce several fixes, almost all of which apply to Windows 10. Here's a look: - [GeForce Experience] Unable to overclock GPU memory with GFE Beta installed.
- [GeForce Experience] After Diablo III is game streamed from MS Hybrid to Shield for some time, streaming ends abruptly with error code 8004000c
- [Ashes of the Singularity, DirectX 12] TDR and application crash occurs in full-screen mode if MFAA is enabled.
- [358.50, G-SYNC, GM200] Performance drop observed when any application is run in G-SYNC windowed mode.
- [G-SYNC, SLI, GTX 950, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag] System hard hangs on default launch of the application.
- [SLI, Tomb Raider] Application crashes when launched with DSR resolution applied.
- [G-SYNC] If window mode G-SYNC is enabled and Vsync is off, severe stuttering occurs after a switch to border-less window mode.
- A 1 × 2 tiled display portrait surround setting in the Configure Surround, PhysX page results in the current resolution not being.
Nvidia only mentions a single fix for previous versions of Windows (Windows 8.1 down to Vista): - [358.50, G-SYNC, GM200] Performance drop observed when any application is run in G-SYNC windowed mode.
There are some known issues, including a few for Batman: Arkham Knight. They run the gamut from "severe stuttering" when running a 4K resolution with Gameworks settings turned on, to random flickering with SLI enabled. Getting back to Black Ops III, Nvidia put together a short guide with recommended GPUs for gaming at 60 frames per second. According to Nvidia, you'll want a GeForce GTX 970 or higher for gaming at 1920x1080, GTX 980 or higher for 2560x1440, and nothing short of the GTX 980 Ti for 3840x2160. You can download the new drivers here. As for Black Ops III, it releases to PC (and consoles) tomorrow, November 6. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Samsung Announces 4K Ativ Book 9 Pro and Flexible Ativ Book 9 Spin Posted: 05 Nov 2015 09:42 AM PST Two new premium laptops  Samsung on Thursday updated its portfolio of laptops with two new models, one of which is the Ativ Book 9 Pro, the company's first notebook to boast a 4K resolution display. That 3840x2160 resolution is packed into a 15.6-inch touch panel with real time HDR enhancements. It supports an "Outdoor Mode" that delivers up to 500nit brightness for better viewing in direct sunlight or otherwise bright environments, Samsung says. The Ativ Book 9 Pro takes advantage of Intel's Skylake architecture by pairing a Core i7-6700HQ processor with 8GB of DDR4 RAM. A discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M with 2GB of GDDR5 memory add graphics muscle to the setup, while a 256GB solid state drive keeps data transfers and load times from bogging down the operation. It's a thin laptop that measures just 0.70 inches high. Nevertheless, Samsung found room for four 2W speakers, a 720p webcam, three USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a single USB 3.1 Type-C port, HDMI output, headphone/microphone combo port, and an SD card reader. The Ativ Book 9 also features 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, a backlit keyboard, and up to 6.5 hours of battery life (measured with MobileMark 2014).  Samsung also announced the Ativ Book 9 Spin, a 13.3-inch laptop with a QHD+ display (3200x1800). Like the Pro, it sports real time HDR enhancements and supports an Outdoor Mode, with brightness cranked up to 700nit. The standout feature is a 360-degree hinge that gives the Spin its name -- it supports three orientations, including that of a traditional laptop, a tented mode, and tablet when folding the display all the way back. Skylake arrives courtesy of a Core i7-6500U processor with integrated Intel HD Graphics 520. It also has 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, two 2W speakers, 720p webcam, three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, microSD card slot, headphone/microphone combo port, power and volume buttons, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, a backlit keyboard, and up to 7.3 hours of battery life. Both systems come with Windows 10 Home. "Our new laptops show Samsung's continued dedication to providing the best options for consumers so they can stay fully connected and productive from anywhere," said Gary Riding, senior vice president, Mobile Computing at Samsung Electronics America. "The Pro and Spin both feature gorgeous touch screens, lighter designs, and seamless connectivity within the Samsung ecosystem and represent our continued effort to innovate in the PC market." Samsung says the Ativ Book 9 Pro and Spin will be available this month for $1,599 and $1,399, respectively. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Google Engineer Warns Against Shoddy USB Type-C Cables on Amazon Posted: 05 Nov 2015 09:11 AM PST Holding cable makers' feet to the fire  Listen up folks, not all cables are created equal. You might already know that, but to drive the point home, an engineer at Google has begun leaving user reviews on Amazon for a variety of USB Type-C cables. His name is Benson Leung and he has a vested interest in weeding the market of crappy Type-C cables. Among the items he helped create are two Pixel products that use the Type-C connector and take advantage of its related technologies like Power Delivery, Alternate Mode, and USB 3.1. "It really is an amazing little connector," Leung says. "However, now that there are more and more Type-C products rolling out from Nexus, One Plus, Nokia, and more, this I have found painfully true: USB Type-C will only be as good as its ecosystem, and more specifically, the worst of its ecosystem." Leung said he decided to review USB cables on Amazon because, quite frankly, he's "fed up with the early cables from third party vendors that so blatantly flaunt the specification" and he wants to "hold them to task." More than just annoyance, Leung says a poorly made cable doesn't just result in "weird behavior," it's actually "downright dangerous" to use. He notes this in some of his reviews, including a CableCreation USB 3.1 Type-C (USB-C) to Standard Micro USB B Female Adapter, which he states "may cause damage to your USB charger, PC, or hub." Of that particular cable, he says it doesn't correctly follow the USB Type-C specification for power delivery identification. That's because it advertises itself as 3A capable, "but that is not appropriate because this is a legacy host port adapter." Some symptoms he noted in his reviews are less harmful, like not being able to charge the Chromebook Pixel. It's not all bad news (and reviews), though -- some cables pass muster and earned a 5-star rating from Leung, including iOrange-E's 6.6-foot braided Type-C cable. That one actually exceeded his expectations, he says. Go here to check out Leung's reviews on Amazon. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Open Source: A Hub for Everything Posted: 05 Nov 2015 12:00 AM PST This article was published in the December 2015 issue of Maximum PC. For more trusted reviews and feature stories, subscribe here. A repository for more than you'd expect There are several places on the Internet that have become workhorses for free and open-source software projects. GitHub is definitely one of them, and the more I dive into what the service offers, the more I love what it can do. If you're a Linux user, there's a very, very good chance you've heard of GitHub. Hell, if you use any open-source software at all, there's a chance that you downloaded the software from the project's GitHub page. If you're not familiar with GitHub, here's a quick familiarization: GitHub is a web service that hosts repositories for a program called Git. Git is a version control system (like Subversion or CVS) used by developers to check out, branch, and submit code to a project. While you can add binary resources (like images or executables) to a Git repository, the system is meant for plain text files. While GitHub isn't the only Git repository on the Web, it's popular because it offers free hosting to projects that are made public. (Private projects are $7 per month.) Now, if you're not a programmer, you're probably wondering why Git is the bee's knees. So what if it lets developers develop software better? Why do I, as a user, care? Calm down, son. Git has more to offer than just versioning for programmers. As I dove into GitHub's explore feature, I found out that GitHub also hosts Git repos for documentation and books. Yes, you read that correctly, there are books on GitHub. With a quick look, I found a 2010 book published by O'Reilly Media called Open Government. The repository offers the book in ePUB, PDF, and MOBI formats, as well as the source files for each chapter in Markdown or AsciiDoc formats. I also saw programming tutorials for Node.js and C++ in other repos. If you're interested in learning to program, there are plenty of text resources you can use for free that are hosted on GitHub. However, one of the best ways to learn a new API or concept is through code examples. Since you can look at any of the code for projects hosted publicly on GitHub, you can use other projects as case studies. Of course, once you get your coding chops up to snuff, you can always submit code to your favorite project to squash a bug or make it better. If you remember one of my previous columns about using open-source to improve government, there are a few government projects that programmers can contribute to. 
Holy crap! Nobody told me I could find free e-books on GitHub. The Code for America repositories feature projects that include everything from adopt-a-hydrant (a program that lets users sign up to dig out fire hydrants after heavy snowfall) to CutePets (a Twitter bot that tweets information about adoptable pets). The General Services Administration's data.gov source code is also on GitHub, as is NASA's Mission Control Technologies. If government coding isn't your thing, lots of companies and organizations have public repos for code contribution, too. Microsoft, Twitter, Adobe, Square, GNOME, Mozilla, Nginx, and Apache all have GitHub repos for various projects. If you want to learn more about how to use Git, there are plenty of tutorials on the web. The most common way to use Git is through the command line (oh noes!), but don't let that scare you. And just in case you don't trust your project to a third party, you can always host your own Git repo on a local or Internet-facing server.
Alex Campbell is a Linux geek who enjoys learning about computer security. |
