For aviation lovers, you can enjoy flying a Boeing on your phone this April, Take Off – The Flight Simulator will realize your dream on Android and iOS devices then.
Neowiz Games unveiled a new wild boss and a new elite dungeon called Ur Tooth Mines for the new generation MMORPG Bless Online and planned to release it on March 19.
Hey, all you League of Legends fans, are you still battling in game now? Come on, it's White Valentine's Day today. Why not go out and have a sweet date? No girlfriend? That's OK. Here comes a group of Miss Fortunes
Telltale Games today anoccunded that Give No Shelter, the second of three episodes in The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries will be available on March 29th.
Blood Bowl: Kerrunch has reached a new milestone with 5 million matches played. To celebrate this achievement, all players are invited to take part in the special events.
Borealys Games today released a teaser trailer for Mages of Mystralia, a new action-adventure game set in a lively fantasy world in which you can design your own spells
At this year's GDC in San Francisco, Daedalic Entertainment and Mimmi Production announced their cooperation on Shadow Tactics - Blades of the Shogun. Which means after years of waitin stealth-oriented real time tactics is finally coming back!
The Pokemon Company today revealed a new mobile game, Pokemon Ko-Master. The aim, Heroz say, is to create the feeling of fighting together with Pokemon. The game is definitely not for kids.
SkyReacher has recently launched a crowdfunding project on Kickstarter that is about an innovational MOBA, titled One Tower.One Tower seems to be a fantasy-themed MOBA running on Unity 5 that attempts to be slightly different from what we are used to.
Have you ever met the problem that when you want to share a song to many friends, but your headset is not enough? The new revealed Japanese headset Song Wig will perfectly solve this problem.
Pros: Exciting strategy, decent graphics, variation of classes Cons: Customization is quite linear, a wider selection of Commander pings would be ideal, the games can snowball quit quickly ———————————- We jumped into the new European/US beta of Affected Zone Tactics from IDC Games, a team orientated turn based PVP strategy game where you control one […]
GAME TYPE: Free to play RPG PLATFORMS: Windows / Web Browser / Android / iOS DEVELOPERS: Playa Games GAME SYNOPSIS Step into the hobnailed boots of a wannabe hero in Shakes and Fidget, a fast and fun hero building RPG set in a medieval fantasy world of orcs, goblins, dwarves and dragons. Accessible on multiple […]
Prepare yourself, brave champion, for in the coming weeks an eerie darkness will weave its way into the tavern, filling its patrons with a spine-tingling uneasiness—and everything will change. Whispers of the Old Gods, the third expansion for Blizzard Entertainment's Hearthstone digital card game , will unleash an ancient evil from deep within Azeroth, bringing […]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Use one root password for all the boxes
Expose PDU's [power distribution units in server racks] to WAN with telnet auth
Never patch, upgrade or audit the stack
Disregard PDO [PHP Data Objects] as inconvenient
Hedge entire business on security theatre
Store full credit card info in plaintext
Write all code with wreckless [sic] abandon
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.
In 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.
The Equinox is thin, light, and relatively powerful.
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
Zero-point
Digital Storm Equinox
Percent difference
Stitch.Efx 2.0 (sec)
962
954
.8%
Proshow Producer 5 (sec)
1,629
1787
-9.2%
x264 HD 5.0
13.5
15
10.5
Bioshock Infinite (fps)
36.1
117.7
106.1
Metro Last Light (fps)
30.4
84.6
94.2
3DMark 11 Perf
4,170
9279
199.8
Battery Life (min)
234
120
-64.4
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
CPU
Intel 2.6GHz Core i7-6700HQ
RAM
16GB DDR4/2133MHz
Chipset
Intel Z170
GPU
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M w/6GB VRAM
Display
15.4 inch, 1920x1080 display (matte)
Storage
250GB SSD, 1TB HDD
Connectivity
2x USB 3.0, headset and mic port, SD card reader, Mini DisplayPort, HDMI port, Ethernet port, USB type C
There are few massively multiplayer games that can invoke a sense of trepidation when the sun sets and the night creeps in. For many years darkness is a thing that developers seem to have bypassed, as yet another obstacle players of the genre shouldn't have to deal with. Having grown used to my eyes seeing as clearly at night as they do in the day, it's with huge relief that Black Desert Online finally brings back a lack of vision.
As part of the AMA with ArenaNet's Mike O'Brien, it was revealed that the Guild Wars 2 Living Story should be making a return in time for the July update. In addition, the team will be focusing on the development of an expansion without sacrificing regular, current game updates as well.
Multiple sites are reporting that the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XV will be heading out to gamers on September 30th. A site called Gematsu indicated that it had "received word" from insiders, later confirmed by three separate individuals, about the game's release for PlayStation 4 and XBox One.
Entrada Interactive has announced a conceptual model of a new sci-fi MMO called Rebel Horizons. The site shows off some interesting concept art and ideas, though no further information has been given regarding funding, how long the game has been in development and what timeline is expected.
The North Face Tonnero Gilet Reduced to clear from £130.00 to £70.00 Free UK Standard delivery with this item Colour : Black Sizes : XS S M L XL The North Face Tonnero Gilet Reduced from £130.00 to £70.00 Essential wear for when the cold weather star
Cadbury Dairy Milk Spring Edition Bar 100g Cadbury 100g Hoppy Bunny Block Delicious Cadbury Milk chocolate with white chocolate bunnies Generous 100g chocolate bar - perfect for sharing with friends and family this Easter Suitable for vegetarians
Not a deal for everyone (heck, I have never paid more than a couple of quid for a pen before) but I just purchased this pen as I wanted something a bit 'nice' for work...this pen is usually in the £75 - £100 range so very surprised to see that the bl
Several B grade 980 Ti's available from Overclockers UK with a 90 day warranty. Not going to find a cheaper 980 Ti in the UK with a warranty than these.
Plastic jar containing 96 Tootsie rolls. Lots on the shelf. Looks a pretty good bargain to me. BBF Date End of March 2016 Probably keep the dentist in work a tad longer ;-)
ShopTo states that they'll commence dispatching on March, 21 so hopefully not too much longer to wait unless it's delayed yet again. Also, it's OK to repost this deal as the last one was posted a month ago.
