Announcement

Total 28 articles, created at 2016-07-20 06:00 1 Businesses are blindly rushing into IoT Two-thirds of companies are now using or planning to use IoT, according to a global survey by research firm Strategy Analytics. (1.02/2) That’s up from just 32 percent last year. 2016-07-19 17:54 3KB www.computerworld.com 2 Microsoft's Azure cloud revenue doubles, but phone sales plummet

(1.02/2) Microsoft's cloud push continues to pay off for the company, which reported on Tuesday that its Azure cloud revenue for the second calendar quarter of 2016 had more than doubled compared to the same period in 2015. 2016-07-19 16:36 2KB www.infoworld.com 3 10 best monitors and displays on the market 2016 (0.02/2) Pick a panel that's good for you 2016-07-19 21:14 5KB feedproxy.google.com 4 You've gotta see what's in these bizarre Japanese vending machines If you think American vending machines are amazing, stop talking. Look at this instead. 2016-07-20 04:34 700Bytes www.cnet.com 5 Here's how to install an Android tablet in your car I shoehorned an Nvidia Shield Tablet into my Jeep, and it's awesome 2016-07-20 00:20 10KB feedproxy.google.com 6 Get Battleborn, plus skins and currency, for $15 in the latest Humble Bundle The new 2K collection seems designed to boost the online FPS. 2016-07-19 22:30 2KB www.pcgamer.com 7 I am Setsuna review A beautiful JRPG that captures the spirit of the genre's early hits while playing things a tad too safely. 2016-07-19 22:29 7KB www.pcgamer.com 8 Breach & Clean is basically Rainbow Six but for housekeeping The creator of Nuclear Throne has made cleaning hotel rooms just as frantic and challenging. 2016-07-19 22:16 4KB www.pcgamer.com

9 Twitch suspends popular CSGO skin gambling streamer Phantoml0rd Twitch warned you. 2016-07-19 22:11 2KB www.pcgamer.com 10 The new Earth Defense Force is dumb fun and runs at 60 fps on PC EDF is still silly and still budget, but it runs nicely on PC. 2016-07-19 21:58 3KB www.pcgamer.com 11 Deezer to rival Spotify and Apple Music's paid music streaming services There's no 'free' version in the US, however 2016-07-19 21:10 1KB feedproxy.google.com 12 The 10 best graphics cards in the world Upgrade your gaming rig in a huge way 2016-07-19 20:43 7KB feedproxy.google.com 13 Obduction, the spiritual successor to Myst, is delayed to August Scheduling launch dates is hard. 2016-07-19 20:15 2KB www.pcgamer.com 14 Surface Pro 5 release date, news and rumors Plus, what we want to see in the fifth Surface 2016-07-19 20:15 7KB feedproxy.google.com 15 Hands on: HP DeskJet 3720 All-in-One Printer review This MFP is lighter than a laptop 2016-07-19 20:10 6KB feedproxy.google.com 16 Seagate unveils world's biggest consumer hard drive 10TB of GoPro videos you haven't edited 2016-07-19 20:08 2KB feedproxy.google.com 17 Xbox One S vs PS4.5 Neo vs Nintendo NX: how the new consoles are stacking up Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are shaking up their hardware, but which one is right for you? 2016-07-19 19:35 4KB feedproxy.google.com

18 EMC Vice Chairman Teuber: China Approval Of Dell Merger 'Can't Come Fast Enough' - Page: 1 Since the Dell merger was announced last October, William Teuber has been in front of customers making sure they understand the rationale for the deal, as well as the mechanics of completing it. 2016-07-19 16:20 1KB www.crn.com 19 Now you can ask Twitter directly to verify your account Twitter opens up the verification process for everyone. 2016-07-19 15:47 1KB www.itnews.com 20 Microsoft closes out its fiscal 2016 with strong cloud growth Microsoft released its financial results for its fiscal Q4 and its entire fiscal 2016 today. The company took in $20... 2016-07-19 15:45 1KB techreport.com 21 Hackers who pwned Zuckerberg's Twitter account also broke into Minecraft The same hacking group that took over Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter account has now found a way to break into accounts connected to the hit game Minecraft. 2016-07-19 14:52 2KB www.computerworld.com 22 Asus PG248Q G-Sync display pushes frames at 180Hz Today's high-end graphics cards can push tons of frames per second at lower resolutions, and Asus' PG248Q provides a lightning-quick... 2016-07-19 14:30 1KB techreport.com 23 Facebook brings high-speed laser communications into focus Facebook says it has developed a laser detector that could open airwaves to new high-speed data communications systems that don't require dedicated spectrum or licenses. 2016-07-19 13:37 4KB www.computerworld.com 24 IT career checkup part 4: Face-to-face interviews -- the 'eyes' have it, then the ears Like judges for the TV show, Dancing with the Stars, IT recruiters, hiring managers and their teams want a great performance. The difference for IT? Don't dazzle your audience so much as put it deftly at ease. 2016-07-19 13:30 4KB www.computerworld.com 25 Review roundup: GTX 1060 impresses at its price point Greetings, fellow gerbils. Welcome to today's episode of the 2016 Graphics Card Wars... 2016-07-19 13:27 4KB techreport.com

26 AT&T sees cost savings with drone inspections of cell towers AT&T expects to save money by using drones instead of workers to inspect its 65,000 cellular transmission towers nationwide. 2016-07-19 13:15 5KB www.computerworld.com 27 Electric Cloud brings rolling deployment to DevOps teams Electric Cloud adds push-button support for rolling deployments to its DevOps platform ElectricFlow 2016-07-19 09:00 2KB sdtimes.com 28 The quick guide to updating all your current Apple devices Apple has just released software patches for every device it currently sells 2016-07-19 06:01 2KB www.computerworld.com Articles

Total 28 articles, created at 2016-07-20 06:00

1 Businesses are blindly rushing into IoT (1.02/2) Companies are rapidly adopting IoT even though many don’t know if they’re getting a good return on their investment. Two-thirds of companies are now using or planning to use IoT, according to a global survey by research firm Strategy Analytics. That’s up from just 32 percent last year. But 51 percent of those aren’t sure whether the new technology is paying off, said Laura DiDio, an analyst at the firm. That doesn’t necessarily mean the internet of things isn’t saving them money or improving their businesses, DiDio said. But many organizations evaluate and deploy new technologies in such a fragmented way that they don’t know the full effects of their actions. It's actually better with IoT than with most other new technologies, where an even higher percentage can't measure the benefits, she said. But a disorganized approach isn't helpful in any case. IoT comes in so many forms that it can fly in under the radar. In building management, for example, it may just come as an added feature for an existing system and never get labeled as IoT. Or one department will seek out IoT on its own. In other cases, the CEO hears about IoT and and dictates that the company will adopt it without even examining the costs and benefits, DiDio said. That’s not the best way to go about it. “You have to get all the stakeholders involved from the get-go, and often that doesn’t happen,” DiDio said. Any localized IoT deployment can have broader implications because of things like data security, which was the top technical challenge of 56 percent of survey respondents. And while data analytics is a common motivation for deploying the technology, many companies aren’t ready to make use of what they’re collecting. The survey showed that 42 percent found they had too much data to analyze it all efficiently. Meanwhile, 27 percent weren’t sure what questions to ask about the information, and 31 percent simply don’t store any IoT data. “We’re still very much at the early stages of the learning curve,” DiDio said. “It’s challenging.” Though a majority of companies have some IoT now, only 25 percent have an end-to-end deployment. Most companies will need vendors, systems integrators or consultants to help them get there, DiDio said. Big IT players are doing their part to cover the bases by forming partnerships and buying smaller, specialized companies. The survey results came from 350 respondents, including small, medium and large enterprises. They’re using IoT for tasks that include video surveillance, smart building controls and health care.

Business are rushing into IoT like lemmings itnews.com 2016-07-19 17:54 Stephen Lawson www.computerworld.com

2 Microsoft's Azure cloud revenue doubles, but phone sales plummet (1.02/2) Microsoft's cloud push continued to pay off last quarter, with revenue from its Azure services more than doubling from the same period last year, the company reported Tuesday. Overall revenue for the quarter was down, however, thanks partly to a steep decline in Microsoft's handset business. Total revenue for the three months ended June 30 was $20.6 billion, Microsoft said, down from $22.2 billion last year. Net profit was $3.1 billion. Microsoft's retreat from the smartphone market hurt its device sales significantly. Phone revenue sank 71 percent, after the company back pedaled from its Nokia acquisition to focus on a few models of Windows phone. The news came shortly after Microsoft announced that it would miss its goal of having 1 billion devices running Windows 10 by the middle of 2018, in part because its smartphones aren't selling well. Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud business, which includes Azure services and on-premises server software, performed better, with revenue up 7 percent to $6.7 billion. Azure compute usage more than doubled year over year. Microsoft doesn't break out a dollar figure for its Azure sales, however, so it's hard to know exactly how large that business is. Search revenue also grew, by 16 percent. More than 40 percent of search revenue in June was driven by Windows 10 devices, Microsoft said. That may have something to do with the fact that Cortana, the virtual assistant bundled with Microsoft's new operating system, uses Bing to run web searches. Microsoft's productivity software business also grew significantly. The number of commercial seats of Office 365 sold grew 45 percent year-over- year, as more companies migrated to the subscription-based suite. All in all, the quarter seems to be something of a validation for CEO Satya Nadella's focus on the cloud, with Office 365 and Azure posting strong growth. That said, the company's revenue declines still haven't leveled off, despite the rise in its newer businesses. Microsoft's Azure cloud revenue doubles, as phone sales plunge computerworld.com 2016-07-19 16:36 Blair Hanley www.infoworld.com

3 10 best monitors and displays on the market 2016 (0.02/2) Just a few years ago, a monitor was nothing more than an item essential for all your computing needs. Without one, you wouldn't be able to surf the web or even access any of your files. But with PC sales on the decline , monitors are now becoming more of a luxury item than a necessity. Even so, when it is time to buy that shiny new display, how do you decide which one to purchase? Having to take in consideration screen resolution, response time and even panel weight, shopping for a new monitor can be an arduous process. Luckily, we've rounded up the 10 of the best monitors on the market to help you determine which is right for you. See more Philips Brilliance BDM3490UC deals Philips' Brilliance BDM3490UC should be your top pick if you're looking to watch movies or work from home. Its IPS display is bright and inviting, effectively emulating the movie theater experiencing (just make sure you bring the popcorn and close the curtains). The 21:9 curved display can be a bit disorienting, however, if you're accustomed to standard flat screen displays. Still, this one takes the cake for gaming. In the absence of both G- Sync and FreeSync, though, don't forget to tick the vertical sync box in all your games. Plus, as long as you're set on a 21:9 cinematic panel, the Brilliance is competitively priced as well. A gaming monitor with attitude See more Acer Predator X34 deals Cinematic monitors are a great alternative to 4K ones when it comes to gaming. In fact, you might say they're even better due to their ultrawide 21:9 aspect ratio. The Acer Predator X34 certainly looks the part, featuring an eye-catching aluminium bezel and angular, crow's foot-shape stand. It comes with a number of gaming mod cons in tow, including Nvidia's G-Sync frame-smoothing tech, an immersion-boosting curved shape and fantastic color reproduction that brings games to life. Short of strapping on a virtual reality headset, the Predator X34 is about as immersive as gaming gets. Thin bezels feature on this well-connected QHD monitor See more Philips 258B6QJEB deals In terms of price, size and sharpness, QHD often hits the sweet spot, and Philips' 258B6QJEB is one of the most stylish 25-inch models arouund. Packing a pixel-resolution of 2,560 x 1,440, it provides more than enough room on the desktop to get productive, and because the monitor is compact it won't take up much room on your desk. It's versatile too thanks to its built- in rotate and height adjustability Philips loaded the 258B6QJEB with an abundance of connectivity options that include two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports (one with a high-current output), VGA, DVI-D, DisplayPort, HDMI, a 3.5mm audio-in and headphone output sockets. Get ready for ultra high-def on your desktop See the best Samsung UD590 deals A 4K display that's factory-calibrated for great colour accuracy and image quality, which makes it ideal for digital designers, CAD/CAM engineers or videographers who aren't put off by the high-price tag. Great for work, games, and movies – but it's costly See the best LG UltraWide 34UC97 deals The LG's curved design, high resolution and huge diagonal make it a high quality replacement for single 4K panels or a pair of 1080p screens, and the form factor means it's tempting for work, games and movies. A bezel-less beauty See the best Acer S277HK deals A gorgeous IPS screen and bezel-free design make the S227HK a stunning display by itself or an even more impressive and immersive member of a multi-monitor setup. What this professional monitor lacks in style it makes up with exceptional picture quality See the best Viewsonic VP2772 deals A rich set of features, great picture quality out of the box and hassle-free setup make the VP2772 an attractive monitor. A superb display, but you're paying through the nose for a mere 24-inches See the best Dell UltraSharp UP2414Q deals A fantastic monitor that's a little ahead of its time in terms of GPU and operating system support. An almost bezel-less beauty See more Viewsonic VX2776 deals Whether it's laptops, monitors or smartphones, bezels just aren't fashionable anymore. Viewsonic's VX2776 is an eye-catching 27-inch monitor with a bezel that measures just millimeters along the top and sides. This helps anything you're doing with it - from watching movies to playing games or viewing photos - really 'pop' out of the frame. It's all helped by impressive color accuracy. On the downside, the VX2776 isn't as feature-packed as other 1080p panels in its price bracket, so don't expect adaptive frame syncing tech, or even a VESA wall mount. But if you're simply after a monitor that's rocking a thin design with minimal bezels and offers solid picture quality, the VX2776 is worthy of your consideration. Aimed at CAD/CAM professionals, this feature-packed 27-inch monitor delivers See the best BenQ BL2710PT deals A feature-packed and well-connected monitor that offers plenty for the asking price. It may not be exciting to look at and the menu controls suffer from a lack of labeling, but these are minor caveats that don't detract from an overall worthy investment. Article continues below 10 best gaming laptops 2016: top gaming notebooks reviewed feedproxy.google.com

15 best laptops you can buy in 2016 feedproxy.google.com 2016-07-19 21:14 By Kane feedproxy.google.com

4 You've gotta see what's in these bizarre Japanese vending machines Enter for your chance to win* a game hardware bundle One lucky winner will walk away with a gaming monitor, keyboard and mouse. Two lucky runners-up will score a gaming headset.

2016-07-20 04:34 Leslie Gornstein www.cnet.com

5 5 Here's how to install an Android tablet in your car Ever since the original Nexus 7 came out, I always wanted to install a tablet in my car. However, there were some issues I couldn't resolve on a budget, like retaining steering wheel controls, offline navigation, clean installation and seamless operability like a regular car stereo. That was a couple cars ago, but with my most recent vehicle acquisition, a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, I decided it was finally time to install a tablet in a car. The Jeep is a project car I'm tricking out to use as a rig to take my family camping and driving off the beaten path. So far, it's mostly stock save for a new set of Yokohoma Geolandar A/T-S 30-inch tires, 15 x 8 wheels from a Jeep Wrangler and 2-inch coil spacers for a mild lift. I got the Jeep from my dad, which included a Chrysler Infinity IV CD player and Infinity Gold premium sound system. Chrysler and General Motors (GM) used 1.5-DIN sized radios in the '80s and '90s, which prevented me from installing a double DIN Android Auto and Apple CarPlay ready head unit, like the JBL Legend CP100 . Luckily, I had an Nvidia Shield Tablet LTE, an external DAC and 4-channel car amplifier collecting dust – all of which I could install in the car. There are many ways to mount a tablet for easy access from the driver's seat. There is suction cup, wedge, cup holder and CD slot mounts available from companies like RAM Mounts. Any of the those mounting solutions are easy and work well, if you don't mind how they look. I'm anal about clean and stealth installations, so I mounted my Shield Tablet the hard way by modifying an interior panel to fit the car. It wasn't an easy process, but I used a tablet case as a starting point. The first and failed attempt It took two attempts, because the first case I used, a cheap $11 ProCase Ultra Slim Hard Shell case didn't work too well as a template. I figured I could cut the top cover off, mold it into the interior panel and easily pop out the tablet as I needed. Unfortunately, this didn't work out, because the case covered the back of the tablet and didn't leave much of a lip to smoothly mold into the interior panel. After the first failed attempt, I decided a rugged hard case would work better as a template and ordered a Poetic Revolution rugged hard case. The case has a plastic front bezel that tightly attaches to the Shield Tablet without the back cover on – exactly what I needed. The second attempt in-progress Now, I'll admit I'm not the handiest person when it comes to customization work that goes beyond simple bolt-on products. But, molding the tablet into the dash was a fun learning process that involved J-B Kwik Weld, Bondo body filler, Bondo-Glass reinforced body filler and a lot of sanding. I used JB Kwik Weld to hold the Poetic case bezel in place at each corner and reinforced it from the back with Bondo-Glass. Bondo was used to fill in the front and sanded with 220, 150 and 80 grit sandpaper before painting. The Poetic case has cutouts for the front-facing Shield Tablet speakers and camera, so I could retain the use of it. It has a screen protector, too, but I removed that since I didn't need the extra protection. After a little bondo The result wasn't too bad for my first attempt. It's not perfect but suits the personality of a 20-year-old car. I also didn't have too much patience to sand it down perfectly, either. Micro USB has been the charging standard for mobile devices for the last five years, so it was easy to find a hardwired charger for the car. I ordered an E-Kylin right-angled charger that claims to provide 2.1-amps from Amazon for just $10. I wired the adapter to the car's switched 12V power, so it only turns on when the car is on and won't drain the car battery. Connecting the Shield Tablet to the audio system isn't much of a challenge. The stock Infinity Gold premium sound system has an amp below the rear driver-side seat, which I ripped out and replaced with an Alpine KTP-445U four-channel amp I had laying around from my previous car. The Alpine KTP-445U supports direct input from portable devices and powers all four speakers from a stereo input – no splitters needed. I opted to use Bluetooth to transmit audio to the Alpine amplifier via a Creative Labs Sound Blaster E5 portable headphone DAC. The DAC provides a cleaner output, with higher voltage than the Shield Tablet's headphone jack, and simplifies the wiring process. It automatically turns on and connects to a paired Bluetooth device when it receives power from the micro USB port, which makes it less of a hassle. I wired another micro USB power adapter to a switched power source, so that it only turns on with the car – it turns off automatically when idle, too. While Nougat promises to bring the Android Auto user interface to your smartphone this fall, the Shield Tablet runs Marshmallow. Luckily, BitSpice Automate, one of the 11 best apps to use in your car, gives you an Android Auto-style user interface with plenty of control over your connectivity and power options. AutoMate also works with a variety of navigation and music apps. I opted to use Here Maps for navigation because I can download maps for the entire US and Canada without manually selecting an area, since I do not have data connectivity for it yet. The most important feature of AutoMate is the ability to automatically execute commands when certain events are triggered. I configured AutoMate to automatically wake the tablet, turn on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and resume music playback when the tablet receives power via micro USB (when the car turns on). When I turn the car off, AutoMate shuts off the screen, turns off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and music playback to conserve the tablet's battery. Volume control was another concern I had, but AutoMate lets you swipe up to adjust the volume. I can launch the Sound Blaster Central app if I needed greater control of the audio features, too. There is one caveat with my setup, however. If the Shield Tablet battery completely dies, I'd have to remove the interior trim panel to access the power button. Nvidia doesn't have a provision to automatically power on the tablet when plugged into charge, which is a feature you can enable on the Nexus 7 and some Samsung tablets. I just installed the tablet in the car yesterday with a full charge and haven't encountered a dead battery yet. The other downside to my setup is the lack of hands-free calling support. I cannot pair my Samsung Galaxy S7 to the Shield Tablet and use the car for hands-free calls. It's not a feature I'm concerned about, as I rarely make calls in the car anyway. My workaround for it will be to add the tablet to my AT&T account and use Google Hangouts to make calls from my Google Voice number, unless Nvidia miraculously adds support for NumberSync. I used the Alpine KTP-445U and Sound Blaster E5 DAC because I had them laying around. There are other products that would make the install a lot simpler and cost-effective. If your car already has a factory amplifier, the JL Audio MBT-RX is a $50 Bluetooth receiver you can easily hardwire into a car. There's also the $100 JL Audio MBT-CRX that provides Bluetooth streaming capabilities with physical controls for volume and track selection. If you're looking for an all-in-one amplifier and Bluetooth solution, Harman International makes the Infinity K4 and K5 four and five-channel amplifiers with built-in Bluetooth connectivity. The Infinity amps start at $550 MSRP for the four channel. JBL offers the similar GTR-104 and GTR-7535 starting at $500 MSRP for the four channel. Both the JBL and Infinity amps feature Harman Clari-Fi technology, like you would find in the new Kia Sportage and Kia Optima , that cleans up poor-quality audio sources. Most importantly, the JBL and Infinity amps include a control pod with built-in microphone for hands-free phone calls. There's a party mode that lets your passengers connect their phones and control the playlist, too. Ultimately, the Infinity K5 is the amp I will eventually install in the Jeep when the funds permit it. I'm particularly fond of Harman brands because the first premium sound system I was impressed by was an Infinity Gold system in an early '90s Plymouth Voyager, which lead me to purchasing aftermarket Infinity components for my cars. You can retain steering wheel controls with a tablet or phone installed in the car, but it isn't cheap. Nav-TV makes the SteerBlue interface that translates steering wheel controls to Bluetooth for $300. The SteerBlue adapter still requires a separate $50-$100 adapter from iDataLink, PAC Audio or Metra to translate the vehicle bus to a standard the SteerBlue understands. Nav-TV also sells the StreamBlue for $100 more, but it's an all-in-one device that supports Bluetooth audio streaming. Luckily for me, my Jeep doesn't have steering wheel controls, so it's not something I'll miss. If your car doesn't have steering wheel controls, there are Bluetooth buttons that add playback control buttons. I picked up a simple Bluetooth button from Satechi for $30 (£23 or AU$40) that sticks onto your dash with double- sided sticky tape or attaches to the steering wheel with an included mount. The media button is powered by a single replaceable CR2016 battery that claims to last up to two years. It's small enough that you can put it anywhere. I stuck it in a blank spot where seat heater controls would typically be, which my car does not have. Installing a tablet in a car can be either very quick or all-too time consuming, depending on how you want it installed. It's not the most economical solution either, but I'm a geek and love tinkering. You can make things work like a normal car stereo with the available hardware and software solutions. My Nvidia Shield Tablet setup would have cost around $900 if I had to buy everything, but if your car has an aux input and you don't mind suction cup tablet mounts, it shouldn't cost that much. Would I have spent $900 to buy everything purely for a car install? The answer is no, but my Shield Tablet was collecting dust and I could detach my Sound Blaster E5 when I need to hop a flight, so I'm not losing much and the tablet gets used. Plus, now I can play Doom 3, Borderlands: The PreSequel and classic SNES games in the car while waiting for my wife outside the craft store, which is pretty damn cool. Article continues below

2016-07-20 00:20 By Tuan feedproxy.google.com

6 Get Battleborn, plus skins and currency, for $15 in the latest Humble Bundle A new Humble Bundle has appeared, and this time around it's 2K Games as far as the eye can see. For the minimum price of $1, you can be the proud owner of The Darkness 2, Duke Nukem Forever, and Spec Ops: The Line. Or you can go all the way to the top and pick up the online shooter Battleborn, and a good chunk of in-game currency, for $15. I'll admit that the Duke isn't the big draw he once was, but The Darkness 2 is a well-regarded supernatural FPS, and the military third-person shooter Spec Ops: The Line is outstanding. It's also been around since 2012 and so the odds are good that you've played it already, but on the off-chance you haven't, take my word for it: It's not to be missed. “But wait!” he shouted at the small, inattentive crowd gathered around his booth, a wicked half-grin exposing just the slightest malevolent glimmer of nicotine-stained teeth. “There's more!” Beating the average price, currently just shy of $7, will also get you Sid Meier's Civilization 5, NBA 2K16, Mafia II: Digital Deluxe Edition, and the Battleborn Summer Skins Pack. Going all- in at the $15 level (or more) tacks on Battleborn and 230 platinum Battleborn in-game currency, and also Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. It's perhaps not a great sign for Battleborn, which only came out a couple months ago, that it's already being offered in a Humble Bundle. But if you've ever been curious as to what it's all about, this is a good opportunity to jump into the action without having to eat the $60 price that's somehow still holding on Steam. The Humble 2K Bundle 2 is live now and will be available until August 2. More games will be added to the bundle at the mid-point of the sale.

2016-07-19 22:30 Andy Chalk www.pcgamer.com

7 I am Setsuna review What is it? A gorgeous retro- styled JRPG channeling the glory days of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy X. Expect to pay: $40/ £30 Developer: Tokyo RPG Factory Publisher: Square Enix Reviewed on: Windows 10, 16GB RAM, GeForce GTX 980 Multiplayer: None Link: Official site It was the snow that first led me to admire I Am Setsuna, specifically through a promotional screenshot I encountered at my desk during E3. The busy, hectic shots of war and realism from other games had started to bleed together into one generally forgettable mess, but I was arrested by this image from a JRPG depicting a field of snowy emptiness interrupted only by a lonely tree with leaves aflame in the colors of autumn. Was it dying? Who was the shadowy figure beside it? For all the snow, was this just the last gasp of autumn? Its serene simplicity affected me more than most things I saw in June, and that image remained my desktop wallpaper for the duration of the show. And now it's here, and I know it for what it is. There's a lovely symbolism to the fresh-fallen snow, as it turns out, as I Am Setsuna channels the glory days of the simpler Japanese RPGs of the early '90s, when roleplaying games in general weren't so pressured to cram their releases with convoluted features. Set alongside it, Final Fantasy XV comes off as garish and vulgar. In most cases this devotion to simplicity works well, particularly in the piano-dominated soundtrack where notes fall as softly as the snow; at other times it fails, as in the gruff, tight-lipped primary playable character of Endir. Regardless of the title, this is really Endir's tale, as he's the one escorting Setsuna to her doom after first being hired to kill her. I Am Setsuna's other characters boast personalities that let them flourish in meaningful contrast to the snowy wastes around them, but Endir, the leader, might as well be the ice beneath their boots. Perhaps the lesson is that he's the right hero for a world as bleak and sad as this. Setsuna herself is a girl whose purity matches that of the surrounding snow, but she's willingly chosen to bow to local tradition and sacrifice herself at a faraway altar so the world can live in relative safety from monsters. As Endir, along with some other somber guards, you must escort her through the beasts and snowfields of the world so she may do her duty. There's not a one among her companions who isn't flawed and tragic and some way, but there are some standouts who thankfully remind us that our existence is one worth fighting for. I especially enjoyed the scenes with poor Nidr, a swordsman who battles both with the monsters in his past and those in abandoned villages, as well as the roguish spellcaster Aeterna, who looks after Setsuna as though she were family. At the tail end of Setsuna's 23 or so hours I felt a weariness of setting I haven't felt since reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I never learned much more about these folks aside from the what the main story imparted, and it sometimes seems a shame that the storyline never really wavers from its focus. Some sidequests exist, but they're almost as rare as palm trees in the arctic, and the treks across the map grow lonely as no random encounters pop up while the fellowship tromps through the drifts and (later) coasts over them in an airship. Eventually I came to appreciate the single track as a further embracing of the purity of that first image. It emphasizes that nothing is more important than Setsuna's grim duty. Much as in the sumi-e artwork that first image so richly evoked, the surrounding chalky void highlights the characters and their quest, lending an urgency and meaning that might have been robbed with detours to help troubled farmers. I get it. But given enough time, the appeal of even this gorgeous setting begins to melt away. Such intensity of focus is fine for a stationary artwork designed for static contemplation, but at the tail end of Setsuna's 23 or so hours I felt a weariness of setting I haven't felt since reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I realize now why I've never really tired of the scenes at The Wall in Game of Thrones, as Martin has the good sense to punctuate those scenes with the bickering greenery of the sunny south. It doesn't help that there's no world map, as getting lost brings the torment of finding your bearings among the same models of trees, the same buildings, and (but of course) the same snow. But it's also true that I Am Setsuna starts to lose its way whenever it strays from the lessons the simplicity of the snow imparts. It embraces them in some unexpected ways, such as how gear stays limited to weapons and amulets, thus minimizing the time you spend in menus min-maxing. It extends to combat, which starts only when you actively engage an enemy you found bobbing around the dungeon maps, and which unfolds with the "Active Time Battle" system that maintains the action even when you're digging in menus for specific spells and potions. And then it muddies that fluidity with some unnecessary complications. Skills are called "techs" as in Chrono Trigger, and some of them even share the same names. But in order to equip a tech you first need to have the appropriate "spritnite," and then you can only improve them with the help of "fluxes. " The business of brawling is also more complicated than it was in the days of JRPGs past, as there's now a "momentum" system that rewards waiting for the action bar to fill up and executing perfectly timed button presses, sometimes resulting in a random "singularity" that grants your whole party, says, a boost to the number of points you're getting to build more momentum. Save for the niceties of its combat, it's the classic JRPG stripped to its barest essentials. On the bright side, it's easy to get into the proper rhythm to pull this off just by playing the characters naturally. (Get too good at it, I found, and it can even trivialize some boss encounters.) As in the best of the old JRPGs, there's a great sense of purpose in play once you learn to get every party member performing the way you want to, and reaching the far-flung save points in higher dungeons begins to feel more like a deserved reward than a frustrating trial. All this takes fewer than 24 hours to complete. The pleasant side effect of I Am Setsuna's unwavering focus on its story and setting is that it remains an agreeably paced adventure from start to finish. And that finish is a bittersweet wonder to behold, much like that shock of autumnal colors beneath that snow-smothered tree that first attracted me to this whole affair. Save for the niceties of its combat, it's the classic JRPG stripped to its barest essentials (even down to post-combat themes to gently echo those from Final Fantasy), and two decades later, it shows there's still plenty of joy in such a pure design.

2016-07-19 22:29 By Leif www.pcgamer.com

8 Breach & Clean is basically Rainbow Six but for housekeeping Rami Ismail, co-founder of Vlambeer—the studio behind Nuclear Throne , Ridiculous Fishing, and Luftrausers —seems to live his life in transit, squeezing in game development between talks and conferences around the globe. So it makes sense that during the recent Castle Game Jam in Sweden, a professional hotel-hopper of his caliber would devise something like Breach & Clean —a game about high-speed hotel-room cleaning framed like something out of a James Bond film. You play a humble cleaner tasked with tidying up hotel rooms while the guests are still in them. Your job is to get in and get out before they start complaining, like some frenetic hybrid of John Wick and Mary Poppins. Armed with your trusty cleaning cart, you go from room to room flushing toilets, replacing dirty towels, and mopping up puddles of some mysterious substance probably best left unknown. Some rooms will be locked, requiring you to blow the door with the titular breaching charge, an act just as goofy and satisfying as it sounds. The clock is always running, and if you spend too long in an occupied room, the guests will lose their patience and it's game over. For as easy to grasp as the game is, it's surprisingly compelling. Turning a filthy, trash-littered room into a model of cleanliness and hearing the jubilant ditty that accompanies your success filled me with the pride of a job well done. It may not be especially deep, but when you're frantically hurling empty soda cans and soiled towels into your cart's trash bag while a guest hurls gibberish abuse at you, it can get pretty intense. As the result of a mere week of furious coding, Breach & Clean is a solid foundation begging to be expanded upon. I could see denser rooms with more things to tidy, along with more interesting ways to interact with a mess than simply carrying stuff to and from the cleaning cart. The run-based structure would be well-suited to a progression system too, with higher floors of the hotel offering up sprawling penthouse suites and a greater number of guests to avoid. Think about the upgrades you could unlock: industrial strength vacuum cleaners, cleaning assistants, armies of Roombas. Breach & Clean is a solid foundation begging to be expanded upon. Despite the simplicity of Breach & Clean's mechanics, the attitude they embody is refreshingly deep. You are a cleaner, your only purpose is to better the lives of hotel guests. Instead of leaving a trail of blood and bodies in your wake, the world is definitively brighter for you having passed through it. That's not something you can say about a lot of games these days. I've always got a soft spot for games that eschew violence as their primary means of interaction. A game doesn't have to be bloody to be fun, and Breach & Clean reinforces that. It's still fast-paced, it's still frantic, and it's still challenging. Even better, by taking something as mundane as cleaning and injecting a hearty dose of action, Breach & Clean highlights the excitement that lurks within our day-to-day lives. It's like the imaginary scenarios you invented as a kid to spice up your chores, shooting garbage into the trash can like an eco-conscious Michael Jordan, or drawing crop circles in your front yard with the lawn mower. The fact that Ismail was able to take something as humdrum as mopping floors and turn it into a fast and furious game of tactical hygiene is wonderful. Such bizarre ideas defy convention and capture the true meaning of fantasy. Sure, sometimes I want to be the mighty hero saving the world, but I also want to be the bored hotel cleaner who decided to spice up their job with breaching charges and a scoring system. So next time I have to roll up my sleeves and pull out the mop and bucket, it won't be so bad. I'll just set up a stopwatch, put on some rockin' music, and see if I can't set a new Personal Best. I'm sure my cats won't mind at all. You can download Breach & Clean for free at Itch.io .

2016-07-19 22:16 By Matt www.pcgamer.com

9 Twitch suspends popular CSGO skin gambling streamer Phantoml0rd Allegations were raised earlier this week that James "PhantomL0rd" Varga, a Twitch streamer who according to PCGamesN has—or had— nearly 1.4 million followers, is also the owner of CSGO skin gambling site CSGOShuffle, which he heavily promoted on his channel without any sort of disclosure. The claims came to light after a hacker who was actually trying to rip the site off discovered Skype logs of conversations between Varga and CSGOShuffle coder Duhau Joris, which he provided to YouTuber Richard Lewis. There's no photo of Varga standing over a body with a smoking gun in his hand, but Lewis says the exchanges between him and Joris “heavily suggest, almost to a degree of certainty, that PhantomL0rd is the owner of CSGOShuffle, and on top of that, he has gambled exclusively with 'house money' taken from the business.” The logs he presents in his video would appear to bear that out: Varga makes some rather large payments to Joris, seeks help winning bets, and appears clearly to be the man in charge. The whole thing has powerful echoes of the recent CSGO Lotto fiasco , in that it appears all but certain that Varga was using his channel to promote a gambling site that he has a financial interest in. This is not allowed by either the FTC or Valve, and Twitch recently clarified its own position on the matter, which is basically that if a streamer breaks a third-party's terms of service, he also breaks Twitch's, and will be punished accordingly. And that's what appears to have happened to Phantoml0rd, whose Twitch channel has been closed “due to terms of service violations.” Specific reasons for the shutdown aren't provided, and Varga himself seems to have gone to ground: He hasn't tweeted or posted a video to his YouTube channel since July 16, when he proclaimed—ironically, as it turns out—that his channel was about to undergo a big change. The CSGOShuffle website is also currently down. I've reached out to Varga for comment, and will update if and when I receive a reply.

2016-07-19 22:11 Andy Chalk www.pcgamer.com

10 The new Earth Defense Force is dumb fun and runs at 60 fps on PC Sometimes you just need to shoot giant insects for awhile. That’s the thesis of Earth Defense Force, anyway, a B-tier Japanese arcade shooter channeling B-tier horror flicks, which basically means there are big rig-sized ants all over the place and you’ve got a lot of bullets to introduce them to. The series is known for being fun but shaky on consoles—when dozens of enemies are on screen at once, the framerate takes a dive well below 30 fps. I spent a couple hours with the PC version of EDF 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair to see if performance is better on PC, and I came away with a constant 60 frames per second in the first few missions of the game. I played EDF on fairly powerful PCs: one with an older i7-3960X paired with a GTX 980 playing at 2560x1440, and another with a i5-4670 and GTX 970 playing at 1920x1080. The game’s early missions never budges from 60 fps on either system. For a harder test, I ran the GTX 980 at 4K resolution, too, and didn’t see any frame drops. Even in an online match with massive transport ships flying and falling above my head, I didn’t drop from 60 frames. I wouldn’t expect performance quite this smooth on older graphics cards, especially as even more enemies and explosions appear on screen in late- game missions. But any recent card should get you a near-flawless 60 fps, and even older rigs should easily outperform the console version. According to posts on the Steam forums, older GPUs like the 560 Ti and 750 Ti can run the game without trouble. In terms of settings, EDF 4.1 is about as basic as PC ports get. There are no graphics options and only three image quality options: anti-aliasing (on or off), shadows (on or off), and anisotropic filtering (up to 16x). Resolution settings are present and you can downsample using Nvidia’s DSR, but only if you increase your desktop resolution (the game won’t scale higher than desktop). Setting the resolution to aspect ratios other than 16:9 will stretch the image, but there is a letterbox option if you’re playing on a 16:10 monitor and want to preserve the aspect ratio. Support for mouse and keyboard controls is surprisingly good. Aiming with the mouse feels great and the default keybinds are intuitive (R for reload, spacebar for jump). The game also fully supports the Xbox gamepad, though annoyingly you have to back out to the title screen, then activate which control method you want to use. On the bright side, there’s local splitscreen which supports one player on keyboard/mouse and another on a gamepad. That’s a rarity in PC games these days. EDF 4.1 is a simple port of a budget game, but I'm glad that it runs much better than it does on consoles. Launching at $50 (£30) on Steam feels steep , but a 30 percent discount until July 25 brings that down to a better $35 (£21).

2016-07-19 21:58 Wes Fenlon www.pcgamer.com

11 Deezer to rival Spotify and Apple Music's paid music streaming services Looking for a little more variety with your music streaming? Giants like Spotify and Apple Music are due for fresh competition in the form of Deezer , which made its official debut in the US today. The US version of the streaming service, revealed courtesy of Deezer's Twitter , opens up over 40 million tracks and tens of thousands of podcasts to users in the 'States - unlimited, ad-free, and downloadable for offline listening. The premium Deezer subscription also includes Flow - a music recommendation feature that follows your listening habits - and access to your library across smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and even certain HiFi speaker systems. However, these features come at a cost. Once the 30-day trial is over, there is no free or ad-supported tier to downgrade to, Engadget reports. If you decide to stick with Deezer in the US, be prepared to pay $9.99 a month. Founded nine years ago in Paris, France, Deezer has been a major name in music streaming abroad - making the US among 180+ over countries joining its fold. The decision to limit service tiers in the US is odd - as Deezer does offer a free, ad-supported Discovery tier in other regions - but it has its reasons. According to TechCrunch , this was an intentional decision to compete directly with Spotify and Apple music - concerning themselves with offering a competitive premium product first, then possibly introducing the Discovery tier later down the line. Article continues below

2016-07-19 21:10 By Parker feedproxy.google.com

12 The 10 best graphics cards in the world As PC gamers, we know the importance of a capable graphics card. Sure, your monitor and even your mouse matter. But nothing determines how high you can bump your visual settings up quite like the GPU. Problem is, there are so many different cards to choose from with each one claiming pixel-pushing perfection, even when that's drastically untrue. The simple solution is to go for the best of the best, the cream of the crop. In other words, the most expensive. For those of us whose money in fact does not grow on trees, this means shooting for the best bang-for-buck deal on a set budget. Keep in mind that you'll need to choose the rest of your parts wisely once you've found your perfect match GPU. If you have a 4K, or even 1440p, monitor for instance you're going to need a high-end graphics card to make the most of it. But, equally, there's little point unloading on the finest GPU money can buy if it's being bottlenecked by an old CPU or feeding a feeble screen. With all that in mind, here's our guide to the fastest cards for the dollar money can buy. And, if you want to see how your own card compares, check out our benchmarking guide! Unparalleled performance EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition If you want proper entry into 4K gaming, the Titan X no longer reigns supreme. With the launch of Nvidia's Pascal architecture, you can get the performance of two 980Tis for a fraction of what you'd spend on an EVGA Titan X SuperClock. Of course, no graphics card is perfect. This GTX 1080 falls prey to an early adoption tax in what Nvidia calls the "Founders Edition" model, based on the reference set by the company and manufactured by EVGA. Though you may want to wait for the inevitable launch of more affordable, more powerful GTX 1080 GPUs from third parties, the GTX 1080 is undoubtedly the best in its class right now – as if it's even a contest. Nearly 1080 power without the 1080 cost Zotac GeForce GTX 980Ti AMP Extreme Edition Though it can't match the GTX 1080 in terms of video memory (6GB versus 8GB GDDR5X), the GTX 980Ti offers a higher clock speed. And, with the right amount of overclocking, it can even beat that card. Cards with the "AMP" moniker usually mean business, and this card lives up to its name. It'll let you game in resolutions up to 4K, even if can't reach that glorious 60 fps standard at that pixel count. The 980Ti AMP Extreme Edition may be better value than the GTX 1080 Founders Edition, but it's far from cheap, costing around the same as a budget (or entry level, mid-range) gaming PC. Uses an all-in-one liquid cooling system and new High-Bandwidth Memory Gigabyte Radeon R9 Fury X If you're urging for a GPU that does it all, the R9 Fury X is the best AMD has to offer. Hauling an all-in-one liquid cooling system and the latest high- bandwidth memory technology may seem like a heavy workload, but Gigabyte's Radeon R9 Fury X pulls it off all the same. There is a catch, however, to what appears to be a future-proof gaming spectacle. Not only will you need space for an extra radiator-fan combo a la the liquid cooler, but 4GB of HBM memory is awfully limited compared to the 8GB of GDDR5X you can get with the GTX 1080 for a similar price. On the upside, the Fury X can easily handle anything at 1080p and in most cases even 1440p. Throw a 4K game in the mix, though, and it's a different story altogether. Tiny graphics card packs a big punch See more Sapphire Radeon R9 Nano deals Building a small PC no longer means passing on power thanks to new graphics cards like the Sapphire Radeon R9 Nano. AMD's dinky video card is short enough to squeeze into the smallest of PC cases without sacrificing the raw grunt that you get from high-end cards. Highly efficient for a Fiji GPU, it has the same 4GB of 4096-bit HBM memory found in the Fury X, with an identical number of texture units and ROPs. The clock speed is 5% lower, but on the plus side you won't need as huge power supply to go with it due to the power envelope dropping to just 175W. Titan X performance at a GTX 980 cost See more MSI GeForce 1070 Gaming X deals We all know that 1440p is the new 1080p, and so does Nvidia. That's why it's taken the new Pascal architecture and devised the GTX 1070, complete with a 1,607MHz base overclock and 8GB of 8,108MHz, GDDR5 RAM. What's more, this VR-ready card is more powerful than a Titan X for a fraction of the price. Still, while you'll be able to play everything at the highest settings at humblebrag-worthy frame rates at either 1080p or 1440p resolution, the £410 (around $584 or AUS$792) price tag of the MSI's 'Founders Edition' Gaming X card is notably more expensive than what we'll see in the coming months from AIBs, or add-in boards. AMD's card has the GTX 980 in its sights Sapphire Radeon R9 Tri-X 390X When it comes to cost, the Radeon R9 Tri-X 390X sits somewhere between Nvidia's GTX 970 and 980 cards. It often gets the better of the former card, though the 970 performs better in some games. The Tri-X 390X produces blistering frame rates at resolutions up to 2,560 x 1,440 with all graphic details dialled up to 10. Featuring 2,816 stream processors and a core clock speed of 1,055MHz, it doesn't quite pack the muscle required for 4K gaming unless you're playing lesser demanding titles. Value meets performance in Nvidia's capable card MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition A variant of one of the most popular graphics cards around, the GTX 970 Gaming edition is a 1080p monster. You could even get away with gaming at 2,560 x 1,440, though you'll have to temper expectations when it comes to 4K. Featuring 1,664 stream processors, a core clock of 1,140MHz and 4GB of memory, the GTX 970 offers the mainstream performance you may be looking for without breaking the bank. Consoles beware, the OC STRIX delivers stunning 1080p performance Asus Radeon R9 380X OC STRIX In a similar vein to the MSI GTX 970 card above, the Asus Radeon R9 380X OC Strix handles 1080p gaming with ease, and can deliver impressive frame rates at QHD too. AMD's mid-range card is closer positioned to the GTX 960 in terms of raw performance, which is impressive considering the cost. And because it uses Asus' STRIX cooling design, the card stays relatively quiet when being put through its paces, with the fans only kicking in when it tops 60 degrees C. One of Nvidia's best price-to-performance cards ever See more Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 deals Though it might bear resemblance to the GTX 1070 and 1080, the £275/$300 GTX 1060 Founder's Edition is more aligned with Nvidia's more expensive GeForce 980. Thanks to AMD's competitively priced RX 480, which promises both 1080p and VR gaming at an aggressive price point, Nvidia was hurried into launching a similar offering. Enter the GTX 1060: a mid-range graphics card that can handle just about anything at a full HD resolution and even some titles at 1440p without too much of an impact on the frame rate. With most of us still clinging onto sub-4K resolution TVs and monitors, the GTX 1060 gives PC gamers a sweet spot absent the need to upgrade your displays. A graphics chip that's super (and super cheap) EVGA GeForce GTX 750Ti SC Based on Nvidia's Maxwell architecture, the GTX 750Ti SC is an affordable card that still packs the latest technology. This entry-level offering is still up to the task of playing the latest games if you're happy with playing on Low or Medium quality settings at 1080p resolution, and because it's small it's easy to drop into a basic PC to give it some extra graphical grunt. Just don't expect it to work miracles.

2016-07-19 20:43 By Kane feedproxy.google.com

13 Obduction, the spiritual successor to Myst, is delayed to August Ob duct ion , the very Myst- like adventure that's currently in the works at Cyan, is going to take a little bit longer than planned to see the light of day. It was set to come out next week—July 26, to be precise—but today the studio announced that it's been pushed back to August 24. Cyan has been working hard to get the game done, Producer Ryan Warzecha said on the Obduction developer blog , and it was close enough to complete that it could have been released on schedule. “But we came to the unanimous decision that if we shipped it was driven mainly by the deadline—not because we were satisfied,” he wrote. “Obduction is a product that we’re very proud of, and we don’t want to let unpolished edges get in the way of an amazing immersive experience.” Warzecha said it's actually “a bit of a relief” that the studio decided to take the extra time with the game, even though some people are bound to be disappointed. “We realize that there are a few folks that will think this is just another '20 minute gate delay' of a plane that will never depart. We really do understand the skepticism,” he wrote. “We wish you could be here with us, play Obduction, see how good it is, and how close we are. We think it would change your mind.” To clarify, the blog post says Obduction will be out “the week of August 22,” but Cyan said in an email that it will be August 24. Either way it's a letdown, but I've been looking forward to Obduction since the Kickstarter and if it takes an extra month to get it right, then I'm happy to wait. In better news (although it's not really “new” at this point), the first track of the Obduction soundtrack, composed by original Myst maestro Robyn Miller, was posted to Soundcloud earlier this month, and it's pretty good. We also got a chance to speak to Myst creator Rand Miller at E3 last month. Enjoy!

2016-07-19 20:15 Andy Chalk www.pcgamer.com

14 Surface Pro 5 release date, news and rumors The impressive, if a bit troubled , Surface Pro 4 is only a few months old, so naturally we technology lovers are already thinking about the fifth edition of Microsoft's laptop-killing tablet. And with the Surface Pro 4 having sold nearly 10 times more than its younger (but bigger) sibling, the Surface Book , Microsoft is undoubtedly planning a sequel. In fact, rumors of a Surface Pro 5 release date are already floating around the internet. The keyword there is "rumors", as none of those reported are citing trustworthy sources, if any at all. Not to mention that folks are also clamoring across message boards, like Reddit, for their most desired features and improvements. (Can you guess the most popular one? It rhymes with "flattery. ") Microsoft's Panos Panay unveiling the Surface Pro 4 in October 2015 Unfortunately, all we have to go off of, as far as published reports are concerned is evidence indicating that we might not see a Surface Pro 5 this year at all. As reported earlier this year, the second major update to Windows 10 was delayed until Spring 2017 to correspond with a new hardware launch, purportedly the Surface Pro 5, Surface Book 2 and the yet-to-be-confirmed Surface Phone. This would actually make sense, too, considering each of the previous two Surface Pro iterations came later in the product cycle than the last. Plus, with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update rollout just around the corner, if a Surface Pro 5 were coming in the fall we most likely would have already heard about it. Moreover, Intel's confirmation that its 14-nanometer Kaby Lake processors won't come out until the tail-end of 2016, according to Tech Times. Given Microsoft's history with Surface Pro launches, it wouldn't be out of character for Redmond to push back the hardware a few months, allotting itself time to get comfortable with the Kaby Lake architecture. Regardless of when it finally arrives, you don't need to wait for the next iteration to get your hands on a Surface Pro as Microsoft recently revealed a subscription program that lets you upgrade to new hardware as it's released. We doubt the Surface Pro 5 will look terribly different from the previous In case you haven't noticed in the phone market, the prices of later iterations of modern tech products doesn't change all that drastically – if at all – between releases. Applying that logic to the eventual Surface Pro 5, it's likely that the device will start at $899 (£749, AU$1,349) and escalate from there depending on the configuration and accessories you choose. Is there any chance that the final price will differ? Of course, there is. Would it be smart for Microsoft to deviate too far from the standard it has set? Nope. Regardless, the ball is in Microsoft's court here, and the company will naturally preserve its bottom line if pricier new features are implemented as standard. Image Credit: Patently Mobile One piece of the puzzle regarding every new Surface is how Microsoft will upgrade its Surface Pen stylus accessory that comes bundled with each tablet. Patently Mobile recently uncovered a patent filed by Microsoft for a stylus that features a rechargeable battery system. Specifically, the patent details a magnetic charging dock built to give the new Surface Pen its juice, seemingly with connectors meant for a Surface Dock mounting. Such a venture makes a lot of sense for Microsoft, as the iPad Pro 's Apple Pencil currently has this exact edge over the Surface Pen, able to charge by awkwardly connecting to the tablet via its Lightning port. Microsoft's Panos Panay revealing the Surface Pro 3 in May 2014 Look, as much as we've been impressed by the Surface Pro 4, firmware issues aside, there will always be room for improvement. (That would be the case even if it had earned our Editor's Choice award.) From the screen size and resolution to the hardware inside, we have a few ideas for how Microsoft could craft an even better Windows 10 tablet. This is a bit of low-hanging fruit, but countless customers have lamented the Surface Pro 4's battery life – regardless of issues with its "Sleep" mode. We rated the device for 5 hours and 15 minutes of video playback. That's well below Microsoft's promise of 9 hours of video playback, but we all know that few, if any, laptops actually meet their promised longevity. Our video playback figure is in line with the average laptop, though it's a far cry from what its nemesis, the MacBook Air , can produce. Ideally, and realistically, we'd like to see at least 7 hours of battery life reliably from the next Surface Pro tablet. That would put it closer in line with the MacBook Air as well as competing tablets, like the iPad Pro. Can the screen get much sharper? Why yes, it can With the Surface Pro 4, Microsoft managed to oust countless rivals in both the laptop and tablet spaces when it comes to screen resolution. With a razor-sharp 267 ppi (pixels per inch) already at 2,736 x 1,824 pixels within a 12.3-inch screen, it's not as if the Surface Pro 5 needs to be much sharper. However, if the next Surface Pro were equipped with, say, a 4K (3,840 pixels wide, at least) screen, that would rip its productivity and entertainment capabilities wide open. Film and photo editors could work at the native resolution that's increasingly becoming the norm, while average Joe's (teehee) could finally watch Netflix in 4K on a tablet. That said, the realm of super sharp resolutions might be reserved for the Surface Book range at this point. So, why not up its size a bit? The Surface Pro 4 is big enough for almost all tasks, but it's still not the established default size for most laptops: 13.3 inches. Understandably, the point is for the Surface Pro to straddle both sides of the ever-eroding line between laptop and tablet. However, maybe the iPad Pro is onto something with its 12.9-inch display. Plus, granted the resolution doesn't bump up too much alongside a size increase, the extra space could allow for a battery life boost. Now, imagine if the next Surface rocked USB-C We saw the latest Google Chromebook Pixel and MacBook be two of the first devices to adopt the latest in USB technology, only for a growing number of smartphones, tablets and laptops to hop on board since then. The reversible, versatile port (or two?) may be just what the Surface Pro 5 needs to alleviate the product line's slight input/output problem. A single USB 3.0 port and a proprietary charging port aren't going to cut it for much longer. It helps that Microsoft has already well-tested the USB-C port within its new Lumia phones, so it's practically a no-brainer to apply that same tech to the Surface line. If scuttlebutt is to be believed, we're about seven months out from a release – plenty of time for the rumor mill to fire up. Stay tuned to this space in the coming months for the latest on things Surface Pro 5. Article continues below

2016-07-19 20:15 By Joe feedproxy.google.com

15 Hands on: HP DeskJet 3720 All-in-One Printer review The new HP, the one called HP Development Company, hasn't been shy when it comes to trying new things. Between the world's thinnest laptop (the HP Spectre ), a 3-in-1 smartphone (the HP Elite x3 ) and the world's fastest desktop printers (the Officejet Pro range ), the company has had a busy 12 months. HP engineers have now sought to add another Guinness World Record badge to the collection with the DeskJet 3720 (J9V93B), the world's smallest all-in-one (AIO) printer for the home and presumably also for a small office.* And matters started off well enough – we were impressed by the dimensions and weight of the device which is about half the size of its nearest rival with a volume of under 10 litres. Some laptops we've tested recently actually weigh more than the 2.33kg DeskJet 3720. Priced £59.99 at Currys (around $80, AU$105), it isn't expensive, although you are paying a premium for going small. If you don't mind something bigger, the HP Envy 5540 , with its flat scanning mode and duplex printing, may well be a better option. The box this MFP comes in contains a few leaflets, an installation disc, a power cable, and a USB lead – a rarity in this day and age for a cheap printer – along with the printer itself. The printer embraces a bright blue colour scheme, perhaps to distance itself from its blander looking siblings. The first thing you notice is the absence of a flat scanner bed. That had to go in order to reduce the size and complexity of the all-in-one. Instead, you have a fixed sensor and a mechanism that pulls the document to be scanned from bottom to top. The sensor module hosts all the buttons and a tiny display panel. The buttons include an information one, resume/cancel, wireless, start copy colour, start copy black, web services and Wi-Fi Direct. The minuscule ink cartridges are located behind the front flap. As expected, two cartridges rather than four are used with HP indicating that the black cartridge has a cartridge yield of 120 pages, and the tri-colour one is good for 100 pages only. At under a tenner each, they offer moderate value for money. Swap them for bigger cartridges and the average cartridge yield goes up to 480 and 330 pages respectively, a far better deal for cartridges costing £16.95. The printer is one of the many models that support HP's Instant Ink plan where which embraces a subscription model, eschewing the traditional pay-as-you-go setup. The cheapest tier allows you to print 600 pages per year for £23.88 which is ideal if you plan to churn out full-bleed colour prints – in that case it's an absolute no-strings-attached bargain at 4p per page. You get a free three-month trial worth at least £5.97 (or 150 pages) with your printer. Note that you will have to create an HP Connected account to activate that offer. The input and output trays are deployed within seconds; the former can accommodate up to 60 sheets of paper while the latter can handle 20. The printer is not a true plug-and-play affair, so getting the DeskJet 3720 ready to print required us to power it on, connect it to our Windows 10 machine, and fire up the installation software to get the most out of the device. If you don't have an optical drive, then download the software straight from HP's website – the entire package is a nimble 110MB. The printer comes with an embedded web server that, according to HP, accesses and manages printer features over a wired/wireless connection. Essentially, it is a website built into the printer that can be accessed by typing the printer IP address into a webserver. We tried to find that elusive IP address but couldn't do so. It's also worth noting that having a webserver on your printer, one which also has access to your router's settings, could be seen as slightly controversial, especially if vulnerabilities are found later. Printing from a smartphone or tablet – and setting up the wireless connectivity – is easy thanks to the available web services and Wi-Fi direct complemented by HP's own ePrint and AIO Printer Remote app solutions. Just make sure you remember to remove the USB cable when printing over Wi-Fi. The printer can print at 1200 x 1200 dpi in black and up to 4800 x 1200 dpi on HP's premium photo paper. Duplex printing is possible in manual mode and the 3720 has a low monthly duty cycle of 1,000 pages. HP claims that this device can print at up to 19 pages per minute in black and 15 pages per minute in colour (draft mode) but real life testing shows that these are very optimistic numbers. As for scanning, it can process only one page at a time through its document feeder, achieving 600 x 600 pixels, which is more than adequate for most tasks. Nine copies can be made of the original scan with speeds of four pages per minute (black) and 2.5 pages per minute (colour) promised by HP. We printed a 14-page text document in just over 100 seconds which translates into approximately 8.2 pages per minute. We wouldn't suggest using this MFP for anything but rough documents as the quality is sub-par. Scanning a one-page leaflet (with a dash of colour) took around 50 seconds, a speed of 1.2 pages per minute. In both printing and scanning, there was visible banding in areas of solid colour as expected. What was surprising though is that the scanner lacks edge detection, which translates into ugly black lines. Too many corners have been cut in order to reach a reasonable price point and the targeted physical form factor. Sure, HP's DeskJet 3720 is light, well-designed and doesn't take a lot of space, but the compromises that had to be made to achieve this may be seen as a bridge too far for many. That said, it doesn't have any competition if you're looking for a cheap all-in- one printer that can be carried around frequently. With an appropriate inverter, you might even use it on the move, in any vehicle equipped with a cigarette lighter socket. (* For the sake of clarity, it's worth mentioning that HP's claim of smallest AIO printer is for printers costing less than 223 Euros (around £190, $250, AU$325). There's a good reason for that – if you're ready to spend a bit more than that then the Primera Trio, at half the weight and a quarter of the size, nabs that trophy. It has the added benefit of being able to work with a battery).

2016-07-19 20:10 Not yet feedproxy.google.com

16 Seagate unveils world's biggest consumer hard drive Hard drive maker Seagate is pushing the limits of rotating storage yet again by releasing the world's largest consumer hard drive at 10TB of storage. Although most users may not need 10TB of storage, it's nice to have a drive with more than enough space to house all the 40 megapixel photos, 4K videos and 60GB games you'll undoubtedly accumulate in the future. Seagate's BarraCuda Pro 10TB desktop drive spins at 7200 RPM and offers a 220 MBps sustained transfer rate. The BarraCuda Pro will cost a whopping $535 (about £409, AU$713), though the street price should be a bit lower. Seagate also has a 10TB drive aimed at network attached storage (NAS) devices called IronWolf. These drives are different from the BarraCuda drives by providing rotational vibration sensors to combat the intense vibration from having multiple drives in a server rack or NAS box. IronWolf is also optimized for RAID and error recovery, and is rated at 180TB/year workload rate. Expect to pay $470 (about £359, AU$626) for a 10TB IronWolf drive. Last but not least is Seagate's SkyHawk 10TB drive for surveillance systems. SkyHawk will allow up to 64 high-resolution cameras to write to the drive at once. These drives also feature vibration sensors like the IronWolf drives to ensure long lasting operation. Seagate also bundles data recovery services for these drives so you can rest knowing your data's safe. The 10TB SkyHawk drive will retail for $460 (about £352, AU$613). Ironically, Seagate only offers a shorter 3-year warranty on its business focused IronWolf and SkyHawk drives while its consumer BarraCuda drive features a 5-year warranty. The longer warranty period on the BarraCuda drive could explain why it's the most expensive drive out of the three. Article continues below

2016-07-19 20:08 By Lewis feedproxy.google.com

17 Xbox One S vs PS4.5 Neo vs Nintendo NX: how the new consoles are stacking up Announced at E3 2016, the Xbox One S showed off a new iteration of a current console that wasn't quite "next-gen," but still a considerable upgrade for first-time buyers and Xbox One owners alike. It seemed strange at first, this sort of half-step into the next generation of consoles. But the more gamers wrapped their heads around the idea of a system that would be able to upscale past games to 4K, play Ultra HD Blu-rays and render games in HDR, the more they warmed up to this supposed Xbox One-and-a-Half. It isn't just Microsoft who has incremental hardware updates on its mind, however. Both Sony and Nintendo have brand-new hardware in the works as well - inadvertently creating another console war mid-way through the original bout started with the Xbox One , PS4 , and Wii U. We take a look at each of the new machines headed our way in the coming months so you'll know what to expect, starting with the first one to formally debut: For starters, the Xbox One S is 40% smaller than its hunk of a predecessor - making it much more friendly on a crowded entertainment center. The power brick is also built into the console, an extra sigh of relief for those who like clean, clutter-free cable management. It can also stand up vertically - something even a daredevil wouldn't try with their original Xbox One. In addition to improved GPU, processors, and storage (2TB is far more comfortable for the download-happy gamer) the S can also beef up the visuals of your Blu-ray collection, Netflix queue, and Amazon Instant Video library thanks to 4K High-Dynamic Range support. The trade-off? The slimmed-down One no longer natively supports Kinect , Microsoft's once-mandatory but oft-ignored motion controller. For original Xbox One owners, Microsoft is still willing to send a USB adapte r for free, should they want to bring the camera peripheral back from the dead. For everyone else, that compatibility will come at the cost of $40/£30. The 2TB Xbox One S hits stores on August 2 , for the price of US$399 (AU$549/£349). The smaller 1TB and 500GB versions will release at a later date and cost US$349/£299 and US$299/£249, respectively. Availability of the 1TB/500GB Xbox One S in Australia has not yet been announced. While not formally announced - though confirmed in development under the codename Neo - the upgraded PS4 is betting big on Ultra High Definition, earning it the nickname, "PS4K. " The machine is reportedly aiming to bring full-on 4K gaming to the masses - something high-end PC rigs strive for, leave alone current gaming consoles. That said, Sony executive Andrew House assures that the new console won't bisect the market, clarifying that all future PS4 titles will support both platforms. The Neo's boosted hardware is more than just for good looks. Virtual reality hogs a ton of horsepower, making the PS4.5 a superior match with Sony's upcoming PlayStation VR headset than its three-year-old console. No release date has been announced yet, but being a perfect fit for VR gaming, it wouldn't be a surprise for the souped-up 'Station to come out sometime around October 13, when PlayStation VR launches. The real mystery machine due out in the coming months is the Nintendo NX - Nintendo's next card to play, and one kept especially close to its chest. Whatever Ninty is cooking up with its Wii U successor has us on the edge of our seat. Rumors have speculated anywhere from incorporating VR to some kind of handheld/console hybrid. What we know for sure is that Nintendo intends the device to be about games over raw computing power , a philosophy practiced by the company's consoles since the Nintendo 64 - for better or for worse. Nintendo plans to release the NX March 2017 , but such a release date seems awful close given how little has been revealed about the machine - to include even an official name. Also, the mega-success that is Pokémon Go added literal billions to the Nintendo's value, according to The Guardian. That alone could change the entire direction the company previously had for its upcoming console. Fingers crossed that we'll see more of the NX soon - perhaps at Tokyo Game Show in September? Article continues below

2016-07-19 19:35 By Parker feedproxy.google.com

18 EMC Vice Chairman Teuber: China Approval Of Dell Merger 'Can't Come Fast Enough' - Page: 1 So Far, So Good William Teuber has seen plenty of change in his more-than 20-year career at EMC. And as vice chairman of the company's board, he has helped shepherd the company's ever-closer acquisition by Dell Inc., including Tuesday's EMC shareholders' vote to approve the acquisition deal . Between 2006 and 2012, Teuber oversaw all of EMC's customer operations, and since the Dell merger was announced last October, he's been in front of customers making sure they understand the rationale for the deal, as well as the mechanics of completing it. The deal is considered the largest in the history of the IT industry and would create a more-than $70 billion, global IT powerhouse. The closing is expected to happen before the end of October, and according to Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell, it's likely to happen before then. The only remaining hurdle is approval by Chinese anti-trust authorities, and Dell executives have said the deal could close within two weeks of receiving that approval. Teuber spoke with CRN shortly after the special meeting of EMC shareholders Tuesday morning. He said that so far, everything has gone according to plan, and that he and the rest of EMC's board are eager for the deal to close. Here is an edited excerpt of that conversation.

2016-07-19 16:20 Matt Brown www.crn.com

19 Now you can ask Twitter directly to verify your account Do you have an army of imposters online pretending to be you? Probably not, but now you can still request for a verified Twitter account. On Tuesday, Twitter launched an official application process so that any account can be verified and receive a blue checkmark badge next to its username. Twitter users interested in applying should have a verified phone number and email address, as well as a profile photo that reflects the person or company branding. Verified accounts get to filter their mentions to only see those from other verified accounts. But that seems to be the only real feature or perk that comes from having a blue badge–aside from bragging rights, of course. Additionally, verified accounts can’t be private, and the username must remain the same or you will have to seek verification all over again. If you are rejected, you can reapply after 30 days. Previously, the verification process was never clear-cut, and it seemed to require a direct connection to a Twitter rep. Twitter originally launched these accounts to verify the authenticity of popular users, including celebs like @Oprah and organizations like @CDCGov. According to Twitter, your account will gain verification if the company finds it “in the public interest.” For example, it’s paramount to know that flu season information is coming directly from the CDC, or that it was in fact the real Kim Kardashian who “exposed” Taylor Swift. @Lesdoggg Hi Leslie, following, please DM me when you have a moment

2016-07-19 15:47 Oscar Raymundo www.itnews.com

20 Microsoft closes out its fiscal 2016 with strong cloud growth Microsoft released its financial results for its fiscal Q4 and its entire fiscal 2016 today. The company took in $20.6 billion in revenue and made $3.1 billion in operating income. While Microsoft earned 7% more revenue in the year-ago quarter, it also posted a $2 billion operating loss, so the return to profitability is welcome. Here's a quick tabulation of the company's results compared to a year ago: The More Personal Computing division (responsible for Windows and Surface devices) took in $8.9 billion in revenue, down 4% from a year ago. The company reported a surprising 27% increase in Windows OEM revenue for non-Pro licenses. The company's Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book helped that business grow 9%. Phone revenue was bleak—Microsoft recorded a 71% revenue decline from that business compared to a year ago. The company's Intelligent Cloud division took in $6.7 billion, a 7% increase from a year ago. Microsoft more than doubled its Azure cloud revenue, and it says it has more than twice as many Azure compute resources in use compared to a year ago. Productivity and Business raked in $7 billion, 5% more than a year ago. Microsoft cites Office 365 business client growth of 54% and consumer growth of 19% as part of the reason for the change. For its fiscal 2016, Microsoft earned $85.3 billion in revenue, down 9% from its fiscal 2015, and made $28.2 billion in operating income, up 7% from last year. The company will provide guidance on its next quarter on its earnings webcast at 5:30 PM ET.

2016-07-19 15:45 by Jeff techreport.com

21 Hackers who pwned Zuckerberg's Twitter account also broke into Minecraft The same hacking group that took over Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter account said on Tuesday it had found a way to break into accounts connected to the hit game Minecraft. The group, OurMine, made the claim in a video in which it demonstrated the hack , which was aimed at the user login page run by Minecraft's developer, Mojang. Later on Tuesday, Microsoft, which bought Mojang two years ago, said it had fixed the issue. OurMine didn't revealing details behind the hack. The group said it worked by stealing the Internet cookies from the site, which could be used to hijack any account. All that OurMine needed was the victim's email address. To test the hack, IDG News Service created a user account on Mojang, emailed OurMine and asked the group to break into it, which the group did. To show proof, the group renamed the user profile to "OurMine Team. " The hack could have allowed the group to change the account's password, too, OurMine claimed. But the hacking team said it has no malicious purpose in exposing the vulnerability. "We found this exploit because we don't want other hackers to know it," the group said. The hackers have offered little information about themselves, but they've become best known for taking over the social media accounts of high- profile tech executives, including Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. In emails, the group has said it merely wants to help the public become aware of today's cybersecurity problems, including the use of weak passwords. The Mojang hack highlights the vulnerability of Internet cookies, which can store information like site preferences or user account credentials for site authentication. If those are stolen, a hacker can use the cookies to impersonate the victim's online identities. Security flaws in browsers and credit-card sites have exposed cookies to easy theft in the past. In OurMine's case, the hackers somehow cloned Mojang's user account site as a way to extract the cookies. OurMine says on its website that it sells services where it will examine a user's Internet accounts and websites for weaknesses.

2016-07-19 14:52 Michael Kan www.computerworld.com

22 Asus PG248Q G-Sync display pushes frames at 180Hz Today's high-end graphics cards can push tons of frames per second at lower resolutions, and Asus' PG248Q provides a lightning-quick sink for all those pixels. This 24" 1920x1080 display uses a TN panel to get a fast 1ms gray-to-gray response time, and it gives gamers a choice of Nvidia's G-Sync tech to eliminate tearing or Ultra Low Motion Blur to ensure crisp animation. Most impressively, this screen can run at refresh rates as high as 180 Hz. Like Asus' earlier PG279Q G-Sync display, the PG248Q supports 144-Hz refresh rates out of the box. Gamers will need to head into its menus and "overclock" the panel in order to enable the screen's higher refresh rates. Asus says owners will need a GeForce GTX 1060 or better graphics card to take advantage of that speed, too, suggesting that DisplayPort 1.3 support is on board. This monitor offers DisplayPort and HDMI inputs, but those looking to use Nvidia's G-Sync tech will be restricted to the DisplayPort. Some may gripe about the PG248Q's TN panel, but this display isn't really targeted at folks who need perfect color accuracy and reproduction. Instead, Asus is loud and proud about the PG248Q's gaming chops. This monitor was the official display of ESL One Cologne 2016, and it'll also be featured on stage at The International Dota 2 Championships this year. Asus says the PG248Q will be available this month, though it didn't disclose pricing info.

2016-07-19 14:30 by Jeff techreport.com

23 Facebook brings high-speed laser communications into focus Facebook said it has developed a laser detector that could open the airwaves to new high-speed data communications systems that don't require dedicated spectrum or licenses. The component, disclosed on Tuesday in a scientific journal, comes from the company's Connectivity Lab, which is involved in developing technology that can help spread high-speed internet to places it currently doesn't reach. Getting internet signals to new areas is typically done using wireless, because it's much more cost-efficient than running cables to communities outside of urban areas. But traditional wireless comes with speed limitations and requires radio spectrum that often needs to be purchased from the government. Faced with these limitations, engineers have increasingly eyed sending data from point-to-point over laser beams. They don't need any special spectrum or permission, and multiple systems can work in the same area without interfering with each other. But sending high speed signals using lasers isn't simple. First, to achieve multi-gigabit per second speeds, the photodiodes used to receive the signal need to work very fast. That means they need to be small -- just a millimeter square, or several times smaller than a grain of rice. Laser beams spread out as they travel, so by the time they reach their destination, they can cover an area much bigger than the detector itself and need to be focused using lenses. This reduces the aperture of the system, so a complex pointing and aiming system is required to keep the laser locked onto the receiver. In short, it's an engineering feat to get it working even at low speeds. Getting it to work at higher speeds is a real challenge. Now Facebook thinks it's found a way, by developing a new detector that's much larger but can still operate at high speeds. At 126 square centimeters, Facebook's laser detector is thousands of times larger. It consists of plastic optical fibers that have been "doped" so they absorb blue light. The fibers create a large flat area that serves as the detector. They luminesce, so the blue light is reemitted as green light as it travels down the fibers, which are then bundled together tightly before they meet with a photodiode. A luminescent detector with an active area of 126 square centimeters developed by Facebook's Connectivity Lab. The detector consists of a bundle of fibers doped with organic dye molecules. The fibers absorb incident blue light and emit green light, part of which is guided through the fibers to a circular bundle with a 0.2-square centimeter diameter. It's described in a paper published on Tuesday in the journal Optica . Facebook said there are applications for the technology both indoors and outdoors. Around the home, it could be used to transmit high-definition video to mobile devices. Outdoors, the same technology could be used to establish low-cost communications links of a kilometer or more in length. In tests, the company managed to achieve a speed of 2.1Gbps using the detector, and the company thinks it can go faster. By using materials that work closer to infrared, the speed could be increased. And using yet-to-be developed components that work at wavelengths invisible to the human eye, the speed could be increased even more. If invisible to humans, the power could also be increased without danger of harming someone, further increasing speed and distance. An omnidirectional luminescent detector; the sensitivity of the detector remains constant regardless of the direction of the incoming light. The company also showed a picture of an omni-directional receiver, that is sensitive to light from all directions.

2016-07-19 13:37 Martyn Williams www.computerworld.com

24 IT career checkup part 4: Face-to-face interviews -- the 'eyes' have it, then the ears The most critical phase of any search for a higher rank or new, better job is dynamic, face-to-face interviews with the people who'll likely supervise you or be part of your team if you land the new position you want. But IT is rife with communication challenges , and an interview is the last place you want to experience one. So before you press the flesh and interact in real time, take note of another IT communication challenge first: its acceptance of terse, brief, even blunt speaking habits and its corollary, the easy-going look that's an IT uniform. Face-to-face hiring or promotion interviews are always formal. IT's unique culture, nevertheless, demands a subtle approach to this truism. Investigate the clothing subculture of your potential new employer's industry if it's different from your current one. Observe, if possible, what constitutes formal attire for the rank directly above the one you'll have. Sort through the data to find two or three new ideas to polish your outfit without crossing a line into inauthenticity or awkwardness. Ignore casual Friday. Dress how you would in person if you're conducting an interview on Skype or another similar video chat service from your home office. (Make sure what's behind you is reasonably tidy and attractive and warn interviewers of any potential interruptions by pets, children, deliveries, etc.). When you are interviewing, you want to look your best. For better or for worse, we are judged on our personal appearance. For both men and women, this might be a good opportunity to reflect on your look and make subtle changes, like some new clothes or even a new hairstyle. For male IT pros, if you're sporting a beard or mustache (or long hair), watch how facial hair standards become more conservative as you move up the ladder, industry by industry. As with its standard "geek" clothing, IT gets away with more than its fair share of grooming informality. One final thought: Keep the new you under wraps when your search is a secret. Take blazers, ties, shirts, jewelry, nice shoes, etc. to work in a bag if you'll go from your office straight to an interview outside your company. If your makeover amounts to a big transition, do it slowly and in bits. Waiting patiently for its turn in my career checkup series is humor. IT has a reputation for quirkiness and fun, so why not take advantage of it when you need it most? Aim small; one or two quips, quickly told, are plenty. Here are three tactics for helping your interviewers, and by extension you, become less self- conscious: If the idea of laughter in such circumstances leaves you unsure, recall times you've tapped your funny bone to overcome embarrassment or disappointment or simply to savor others' company. You might be surprised by how often comic relief saved the day. Here's another instance when you must set aside IT's nonchalant, dry tone. Send typed, personalized thank you notes to all your interviewers on quality stationery or email a PDF with a personal letterhead and your handwritten signature. There are no exceptions to this rule. Always confirm the spelling of their names and full titles by referring to business cards or web searches. Rebekah, Jon, Carroll, Marc, Julee, Thom, are you paying attention? Use first names in your salutation if you did so in person, otherwise stick to Dear Mr. or Ms. (often still the case for senior executives outside of the technology industry). No matter what the outcome, remember to thank the recruiter, too, and keep in touch with news about any promotion or interesting new project you handle. If you sensed a specially good rapport with anyone you met, invite them to connect on LinkedIn, Google+ or similar business-oriented social networking service.

2016-07-19 13:30 Bill Rosenthal www.computerworld.com

25 Review roundup: GTX 1060 impresses at its price point Greetings, fellow gerbils. Welcome to today's episode of the 2016 Graphics Card Wars. Unless you've been living under Stonehenge, you're aware that the GeForce GTX 1060 has been released today. The card's $249 suggested price ($299 for the Founder's Edition) and its purported GTX 980-matching performance are a hard missile lock on the recently-released Radeon RX 480. Our labs have yet to be graced with the GTX 1060's presence, but we've collected some data from around the web to see what other reviewers discovered about the card. Source: Nvidia Here's a quick rundown of the GTX 1060's characteristics. The reference GP106 chip has 1280 stream processors clocked at 1506 MHz base and 1708 MHz boost speeds. 6GB of VRAM sit around the GP106 GPU, and the entire card has an impressively low TDP of 120W. Much like the RX 480, the reference GTX 1060 board is fed by a single 6-pin PCIe power connector. Let's kick things off with the all-important game results. According to PC Perspective and Tom's Hardware , Nvidia's claim of GTX 980-level performance is a little exaggerated, but not completely unfounded. The GTX 1060 loses out to its Maxwell predecessor in the vast majority of games, but does manage to match it in a handful of titles. More important, though, is the comparison to the RX 480. The bottom line is roughly this: the GTX 1060 is a bit faster overall in the majority of tested games, bar a couple exceptions that have historically gone in AMD's favor. It's worth noting that the GTX 1060's lead against the RX 480 is a little higher at 1920x1080 than at 2560x1440, though. Those following the brouhaha over DX12 and async compute (or the lack thereof) and expecting some sort of conclusion will be disappointed, too. In Ashes of the Singularity , both cards are pretty much tied. Hitman does net a win for the RX 480, but ironically enough, its lead over the green team's card is actually higher in DX11 mode. In Rise of the Tomb Raider , the GTX 1060 leads the RX 480 by a healthy margin. The folks over at HardOCP tested the performance of the GTX 1060 and the RX 480 with Doom 's Vulkan renderer and found that the AMD card holds a substantial advantage over Nvidia's latest, however. What's particularly impressive about the GTX 1060 is its appetite for power. The card's load power draw appears to be 30-40W lower than the RX 480's in most sites' tests. The GTX 1060 sticks almost religiously to its 120W TDP, and tests from PC Perspective and Tom's Hardware reveal that the current split between the 6-pin plug and slot is perfectly within spec, too. Noise levels are equally impressive for a reference card: testers reported that even under load, the radial fan's noise profile is smooth and unobtrusive. At first sight, one would be inclined to say that the GTX 1060 is the better option versus the Radeon RX 480. That conclusion may be a bit premature. The first point of contention is the $299 asking price for the Founder's Edition GTX 1060. That's roughly a 25% premium over the reference 8GB RX 480, and we're not convinced the extra performance and lower noise of the GTX 1060 FE can justify that extra $60. That jump is a significant chunk of change in the mid-range graphics card market. If you're looking at a GTX 1060, we'd advise you to go straight for the cheaper third-party versions. The second issue is that third-party card designs of either team tend to be superior in some ways to their reference counterparts. The Radeon RX 480's noise levels might benefit from custom coolers, but the earliest we'd expect to see those cards is sometime next month. On the flip side, non- reference GTX 1060s with pushed clocks are already popping up , and the GP106 GPU appears to be particularly amenable to overclocking. A number of those GTX 1060 custom cards carry $249 and $259 price tags, too—not that big a leap over the 8GB RX 480. Going by other sites' results, the GTX 1060 appears to offer slightly better performance in today's games and significantly better power efficiency than the 8GB Radeon RX 480, all for a bit more money. The 4GB RX 480 continues to rule at the $200 price point, however, and folks who are strongly concerned about the DirectX 12 future may find that both RX 480s are more to their taste if efficiency isn't a concern. Still, it appears Nvidia has delivered a compelling option at the $250 price point, and we'd expect a heated battle in the midrange graphics market going forward.

2016-07-19 13:27 by Bruno techreport.com

26 AT&T sees cost savings with drone inspections of cell towers AT&T expects to save money by using drones instead of workers to inspect its 65,000 cellular transmission towers nationwide. Part of the savings will occur as the cost of deploying drones drops because of new Federal Aviation Administration regulations that expand the use of drones for commercial uses. The service provider wants to hire contractors using drones in all 50 states to inspect the towers. These towers, often more than 100 feet high and with components sometimes out of the reach of workers who climb to the top, require constant refinements and attention, an AT&T official said Tuesday. AT&T is using drones to inspect its cell towers high above the ground and can feed live video to an engineer in a remote office. "With 65,000 cell sites, we are constantly visiting them to upgrade them by adding radios or capability, and those needs are constant. We envision a lot of opportunity for drones," said Art Pregler, unmanned aircraft systems program director for AT&T. AT&T first announced the program in February and offered more details last week in a blog, although Pregler provided more details in an interview. Pregler's primary role at AT&T is director of national mobility systems but he first started working with military drones in the early 1980s with the U. S. Air Force. "Now that drones are transitioning from the military to the commercial side, we'll see more use cases and adoption coming in," Pregler said. "Currently, workers have been climbing towers, and over time we see drone inspections saving us money. " During an initial ramp-up period with drones, AT&T will break even on its costs, he said. The FAA adopted the new Part 107 regulation in June, "those rules are changing the cost component to using drones, with pricing coming down and we see it moving in a positive direction for our costs," Pregler said. He declined to specify the costs. Part 107 will help "harness new innovations safely, to spur job growth, advance critical scientific research and save lives," the FAA said in a statement. The regulations are effective Aug. 29. The rule could generate more than $82 billion for the U. S. economy and generate 100,000 jobs over the next decade, according to the FAA. The rule is designed to minimize risks to other aircraft, as well to people and property on the ground. The regulations apply to unmanned drones under 55 pounds that are "conducting non-hobbyist operations," the FAA said. In addition to cell tower inspections, AT&T is researching the potential for using drones to beef up the service provider's LTE network for disaster relief, sports and other events where smartphone use can crowd cellular capacity. Pregler said drones would be safe to deploy in all those settings. The "Flying Cells on Wings," or COWs, which would respond to natural disasters, could be deployed in a year or so, he said, but it might take several years before drones are used at sporting events while testing is done to perfect the procedure. "Dealing with wireless capacity at a sporting event or venue is more challenging, and that's because of the amount of traffic that would hit the drone," he said. "We might have multiple COWs and other solutions. " AT&T is committed to cordoning off drones at events where crowds would be present so that they aren't hovering directly over people, he said. The devices would probably operate on guy wires for greater control and would only go up and down "and at no point would be overlying people," he said. Part 107 authorizes the use that AT&T intends, he said. Pregler is also a member of an aviation rulemaking committee that is proposing further FAA rules for several categories of drone flights over people. If the FAA accepts those recommendations, AT&T would still "probably not" deploy drones over people, he said. So far, AT&T has received a "very positive reaction from the public" to its ideas for using drones to boost stadium cellular capacity. "Anything we can do to improve venue capacity would be greatly welcomed," Pregler said. So far, AT&T has used rotary drones that work like mini-helicopters to conduct tower inspections. In the future, AT&T might rely on fixed-wing drones to trace the routes of buried fiber-optic cables that could have been damaged in a storm, where trees or poles might have disrupted or broken the cable, Pregler said. "They could fly long distances for inspections," he said. AT&T's current drone inspections of cell towers are still technically in a pilot stage, which is due to go live in September. "We're very comfortable with what the drone technology can provide," he said.

2016-07-19 13:15 Matt Hamblen www.computerworld.com

27 Electric Cloud brings rolling deployment to DevOps teams Electric Cloud wants to give DevOps teams the ability to do zero-downtime deployments. The company announced the latest version of its end-to-end DevOps platform, ElectricFlow, with push-button support for advanced deployments. “One of the things that we believe strongly in, and a point of view we have in the product, is that your first deployment should not be when you deploy into production,” said Anders Wallgren, CTO of Electric Cloud. “The last thing you want to do is get all the way through development to where you are done and you are ready to deploy your product, and then your deployment scripts don’t work because you haven’t run them before.” (Related: LogiGear launches an all new Continuous Testing solution ) The latest release of ElectricFlow aims to address this by providing support for rolling deployments in addition to its already supported blue/green and canary deployments. According to Wallgren, support for rolling deployments is a significant advancement because most rolling deployments are confined to production environments. With ElectricFlow, teams can conduct rolling deployments in QA, staging and pre-production environments without investing in more resources or requiring additional management overhead. “We believe very strongly that you should evolve and maintain your deployment processes essentially alongside your code,” said Wallgren. Other features of ElectricFlow include environment reservation and calendaring to increase visibility and reduce cross-team conflicts; automated environment discovery to eliminate errors and reduce onboarding time and effort; full-stack dependency view, which provides a way for teams to model and visualize dependencies; and a built-in IDE to define, debug, version and store code. “We appreciate the effort it typically takes for Application Support teams to provide superior quality of service and zero downtime for their hundreds or millions of demanding end users,” said Steve Brodie, CEO of Electric Cloud. “This latest version of ElectricFlow fully automates the process of creating and executing advanced deployment strategies, making them error-free, easy to adopt, and simple to use.” The latest version is now available through an invitation program and is expected to be generally available in August. Going forward, the company will look to update ElectricFlow with new microservices and container capabilities.

2016-07-19 09:00 Christina Mulligan sdtimes.com

28 The quick guide to updating all your current Apple devices Apple has shipped important software updates for every single one of its products in the last 24-hours: Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch and Apple TV (and also updated its iOS and macOS Sierra betas). Available now, the updates bring stability and maintenance improvements. The cold, hard truth is that software upgrades do sometimes go wrong , so before installing this or any other upgrade it’s important to backup your device. Some upgrade notes for less advanced users: In a small number of cases some Apple users complain device performance slows after installing software upgrades, particularly major system revisions. This is annoying, but not unusual, and you can usually get your Apple device back on track using these tips: The first thing to do when iOS device performance becomes erratic or slow? A Force Restart. Do it like this: Press and hold both the sleep/wake button and the Home button for at least 10 seconds, or until you see the Apple logo. Force Restart is generally enough to get your iOS device back in shape after an upgrade, but if this doesn't cut it you'll find more suggestions here. To hard reset your Apple Watch you should firmly press both the Digital Crown and Side button at once. Hold these buttons for about 10-seconds, until the Watch reboots. In most cases a forced reboot is all it takes to clean out your system and get it working more effectively again. These instructions should help you maintain device performance following any upgrade, rangingfrom maintenance releases to major system enhancements. Don't forget that with Apple promising to upgrade all its systems this fall you'll be upgrading your devices all over again in a few weeks time.

2016-07-19 06:01 Jonny Evans www.computerworld.com

Total 28 articles. Created at 2016-07-20 06:00