| Parts of Reddit Go Dark, Petition Seeking CEO Dismissal Reaches 22,000 Signatures Posted: 03 Jul 2015 10:50 AM PDT Turmoil at reddit  You may have noticed that some of the subreddits you frequent are inaccessible at the moment. No, the site wasn't hacked, though it is turning on itself in protest of the firing of Victoria Taylor, a high ranking administrator and Director of Talent who coordinated the sometimes complicated process of reddit's Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions. Known by the user handle /u/chooter, it appears that Taylor was fired without given notice. This prompted moderators from several other subreddits to lock things down by making them private, thereby disabling access by the Internet community at large. Considering the large amount of traffic that reddit enjoys on a daily basis, this is a big deal. Taylor played a crucial role at reddit. While running AMA might not seem like that big of a deal, she had several responsibilities, such as booking talent, verifying that celebrities were legit, making sure that AMA guests answered questions themselves rather than handing things over to a third-party (like a PR person), and helping computer illiterate folks, both by phone and sometimes in person. It's a process, and Taylor worked behind the scenes to make sure everything went smooth. There were rumblings that an AMA with Jesse Jackson that turned bad was the cause for her termination, but it appears that's not the case. According to TechCrunch, a deleted answer on Quora provided some insight into her dismissal. If the answer on Quora is true, then a clash with management is what sparked this whole thing. Apparently reddit management was pushing Victoria to do a bunch of commercial things around AMAs, like adding video. Supposedly Victoria resisted certain ideas, so management decided to abruptly fire her and eliminate her position altogether. "They really underestimated how much moderators relied on her and cared about her," the Quora answer read. After that, all hell broke loose. It eventually led to reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian telling moderators that their message was heard loud and clear with a promise to communicate better in the future, and that it's time to turn the subforums back on. Most reddit subforums have been made public again, such as /r/gaming and /r/technology, though some remain dark (at the time of this writing) like /r/movies. There's also a petition circulating on Change.org for reddit CEO Ellen K. Pao to step down from her position. It currently has over 22,000 signatures of the requested 25,000. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Microsoft's Edge Browser Ditches Silverlight Support Posted: 03 Jul 2015 09:58 AM PDT Pushing Silverlight over the Edge  Microsoft will not support its own Silverlight web plug-in in Edge, the next generation browser that was formerly known as Project Spartan. Instead, the company is going all-in with HTML5 specifications, the company confirmed in a blog post. "Support for ActiveX has been discontinued in Microsoft Edge, and that includes removing support for Silverlight. The reasons for this have been discussed in previous blogs and include the emergence of viable and secure media solutions based on HTML5 extensions," Microsoft said. The Redmond outfit said it will continue to support Silverlight and that non-browser apps can continue to use it. In addition, Silverlight will continue to be supported in Internet Explorer 11 so that sites will still have Silverlight options in Windows 10. However, Microsoft is encouraging companies that still use the Flash alternative to transition to DASH, MSE, EME, and CENC based designs, all of which Windows 10 and Edge support natively. "This support allows developers to build plug-in free web video apps that runs across a huge range of platforms and devices, with each MSE/EME implementation built on top of a different media pipeline and DRM provider," Microsoft explains. Microsoft isn't alone here. Google's also begun removing support for Silverlight in its Chrome browser, which runs via the NPAPI plug-in. You can manually switch on support by going under the hood, but according to The Inquirer, even that option will be removed come September. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Asus Unveils Armor Protected Strix GTX 980 Ti Graphics Card Posted: 03 Jul 2015 09:41 AM PDT Low noise, high performance  I have to admit, even though I'm rocking a pair of very capable GeForce GTX 780 Ti graphics cards, some of the fancy GeForce GTX 980 Ti options have me thinking about upgrading. Specifically, EVGA earlier this week announced its dual-BIOS GeForce GTX 980 Ti Classified that's built for overclocking, and now Asus is flaunting its factory overclocked Strix GeForce GTX 980 Ti with DirectCU III technology. DirectCU III is Asus' newest generation air cooling solution for graphics cards. According to Asus, it boasts a 220 percent bigger cooling surface area for better heat dissipation and runs 30 percent cooler when compared to reference. It's also supposed to be quiet courtesy of its wing-blade 0dB fan technology. "The new and improved technology helps increase air pressure on the fans by 105 percent, ensuring that hot air is quickly and effectively moved through the fins of the heat sink," Asus explains. "Since the card is so effectively cooled, the fans on the card will not spin up unless the card reaches 65C or higher, allowing for absolute 0dB silence when it's below that." The Strix GTX 980 Ti sports a 12+2 power phase design (reference cards are built with 8+2 power phase designs) and high quality "Super Alloy Power II" components to reduce power power and buzzing under load.  Asus also includes what it calls a GPU fortifier and strengthened backplate to protect the GPU and keep the card from bending over time. And for what's it worth, the company brags about the manufacturing being fully automated. "Strix GTX 980 Ti benefits from Asus' exclusive Auto-Extreme technology, the industry's first 100 percent automated manufacturing process that removes human fallibility from the production line for consistent perfection — making it ultra-reliable in all scenarios, from general everyday use to hardcore gaming and overclocking.," Asus says. "Auto-Extreme technology eliminates flux to minimize dust buildup and oxidization, and makes the rear side of the graphics card's printed-circuit board totally smooth, increasing comfort for system-builders and enhancing overclocking capability by freeing space to add POSCAP capacitors. This new manufacturing process is also environmentally friendly, eliminating harsh chemicals and reducing power consumption by 50 percent." In OC mode, the Strix GTX 980 Ti runs a base clockspeed of 1,216MHz and boost clockspeed of 1,317MHz, up from 1,000MHz and 1,075MHz on reference. That's 216MHz faster for the base and 242MHz for boost. It's also faster than the aforementioned EVGA card, which runs at 1,190MHz (base) and 1,291MHz (boost). Asus says the Strix GTX 980 Ti will be available sometime this month. No word yet on price. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Yes, There's Yet Another Windows 10 Technical Preview Build Available (10162) Posted: 03 Jul 2015 09:12 AM PDT Three builds in a week  Windows Insiders who signed up to the Fast ring for Windows 10 Technical Preview builds probably thought they'd at least have time to exhale in between new releases, and for most part, that's been true. However, after releasing two builds back-to-back earlier this week, Microsoft has now made available its third Windows 10 build in just four days. In case the build numbers are starting to get confusing, here's a look at the past three builds, including the newest one released on Friday: What happened to Builds 10160 and 10161? We imagine they're locked in a crate somewhere, sitting alongside Windows 9 and Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies. To recap, Build 10158 included updates to the Microsoft Edge browser, general improvements, refinements to the user interface, and a few other things. Microsoft also noted there were no "significant known issues." In the absence of any significant issues, Build 10159 included over 300 bug fixes (presumably minor) and "one very interesting change," that being a revised login screen with a new hero image for the OS. So, what does Build 10162 bring to the table? "We just released Build 10159 with our new wallpaper and logon UI on Tuesday, but this is a holiday weekend in the U.S. and we thought that some of you might want to get an even fresher build on your PCs to play with over the long weekend. Build 10162 is another great one. In fact, our testing and internal telemetry metrics show it has better reliability, performance, battery life, and compatibility than any Windows 10 Insider Preview build so far," Microsoft's Gabe Aul stated in a blog post. While we thought Build 10158 might be the last Technical Preview before Microsoft releases Windows 10 on July 29, it now looks like a few more might be in the cards. "We find ourselves in a great situation, with an abundance of build candidates. We're deciding how long to let each build stay with Windows Insiders so you can really exercise them and send feedback on any problems that you're hitting," Aul added. "I know many of you have said you'd love daily builds, but it is actually important sometimes to get a few days on a build so that all of the code that does deferred work (like OneDrive sync, search indexing, background updating, etc.) can run and we can get feedback and error reports." As for Slow ring users, Microsoft says it hasn't forgotten about them and that Build 10162 looks to be a candidate unless any issues emerge in the Fast ring. If not, it will be published to Slow ring users with ISOs early next week. Windows 10 releases in final form on July 29, though you may not receive it right away. Microsoft will perform a staggered roll out, starting with Windows Insiders and those who reserved a space in the release schedule. In between waves, Microsoft will "listen, learn and update the experience for all Windows 10 users" as appropriate. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
