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Total 51 articles, created at 2016-04-21 06:01 1 Lian Li builds a motorized standing desk that doubles as a PC case Lian Li's today announced the DK-04, the world's first standing computer desk. (3.01/4) 2016-04-20 17:41 2KB www.pcgamer.com 2 HTC 10 price, release date, deals and specs Everything you need to know about picking up HTC's new flagship smartphone 2016-04-20 14:12 4KB www.theinquirer.net (2.00/4)
3 Google's EU antitrust battle: A timeline of the five-year case A timeline of Google's EU antitrust case. Read on to see the major milestones of the five- (2.00/4) year European Commission and European Union case against Google regarding alleged abuse of its dominance in the search engine market. 2016-04-20 13:42 863Bytes www.computerworlduk.com
(2.00/4) 4 EU charges Google with abusing Android market dominance The European Union charged Google on Wednesday with abusing the dominant position of its Android mobile operating system, opening a second front against the U. S. technology giant that could lead to large fines. European Union antitrust regulators said that by requiring mobile phone manufacturers to... 2016-04-20 12:04 3KB pctechmag.com 5 Red Hat covers cloud apps with OpenStack and Cloud Suite Red Hat's latest OpenStack Platform release wraps up the cloud for easier deployment, but Cloud Suite will likely claim a broader audience 2016-04-20 11:40 4KB www.infoworld.com (2.00/4)
6 Microsoft's Xbox 360 to be discontinued after 10 year run Microsoft's Xbox 360 to be discontinued after 10 year run. Phil Spencer caps off the Xbox 360's ten year run with the news it'll be discontinued 2016-04-21 04:00 1KB feedproxy.google.com 7 Migrating, Managing, and More: Real IT Pros. Real Advice It is not a question any more whether or not businesses are moving applications to cloud platforms, but how quickly IT can 2016-04-21 02:42 1KB www.itworldcanada.com 8 The Division has a new and potentially game breaking exploit It's basically god mode. 2016-04-21 00:36 1KB www.pcgamer.com 9 The PC Gamer Show: Mirror's Edge: Catalyst and special guests from Duelyst We're joined by the founders of Counterplay Games for a sneak peek at what's coming to Duelyst! 2016-04-20 23:47 1KB www.pcgamer.com 10 Playable or not? Analysing the latest Hearthstone nerfs in detail Simon “Sottle” Welch looks at each of the forthcoming card changes and evaluates the likely impact. 2016-04-20 23:14 16KB www.pcgamer.com 11 The first Dark Souls comic plays it too safe So far, the Dark Souls comic isn't quite the Dark Souls of Dark Souls comics. 2016-04-20 22:42 5KB www.pcgamer.com 12 John Romero and Adrian Carmack team up for another teaser We're getting the band back together! 2016-04-20 22:19 1KB www.pcgamer.com 13 Job Simulator studio drops the price to help 'share the joy of VR' Anyone who purchased the game at the original price will be granted a refund. 2016-04-20 21:40 2KB www.pcgamer.com 14 Sous weed: Gorgeous ganja grub to tempt your tastebuds (pictures) Unofficial pot holiday 4/20 means a lot of people will get the munchies. Elevate your weed cuisine with these sublime sous vide dishes from cannabis chef Monica Lo. 2016-04-20 21:52 786Bytes www.cnet.com 15 Rocket League's new 'Hoops Mode' and NBA DLC is coming next week The new game mode is being released as a free update. 2016-04-20 20:58 1KB www.pcgamer.com 16 Total War: Warhammer adds Bretonnia as a multiplayer faction The Bretonnians won't be playable in the Grand Campaign, but they will be available for custom and multiplayer matches. 2016-04-20 18:57 1KB www.pcgamer.com 17 Microsoft Upgrades FastTrack To Help Partners Accelerate Cloud Adoption Microsoft on Tuesday announced new updates to Microsoft FastTrack, its service enabling customers making a move to cloud services like Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility Suite. 2016-04-20 17:21 3KB www.crn.com 18 Uber and Twitter have jacked up their spending on political lobbying Uber and Twitter significantly expanded their attempts to influence members of congress through political lobbying in the first three months of this year. 2016-04-20 17:19 2KB www.itnews.com 19 Guest View: Why pricing for IoT is so confusing IoT pricing follows a very tricky curve; here's how to negotiate it 2016-04-20 16:12 4KB sdtimes.com 20 Check Point CEO Says Security Vendor Is Starting To See Benefits Of Shift To Subscription Services CEO Gil Shwed said on the company's Q1 earnings call that Check Point's push toward a recurring revenue model is starting to gain traction. 2016-04-20 15:36 3KB www.crn.com 21 Polycom Partners Eager For News On Channel Leadership, Foresee Some Executive Departures Saying that executive departures are often part of a merger-and-acquisition process, Polycom partners also emphasize it will be more important to see who stays on the channel side. 2016-04-20 15:14 2KB www.crn.com 22 10 Partner Takeaways From Intel's First-Quarter Earnings Intel announced massive layoffs as part of a restructuring effort before its first-quarter earnings report Tuesday. Following are 10 takeaways from the earnings call on what the company upheaval means for partners. 2016-04-20 15:11 1KB www.crn.com 23 Apple Gave Up User Data In 82% Of Feds' Requests Despite its high-profile challenge to the FBI's iPhone data request in the San Bernardino terrorist shootings, Apple complied with 82% of data requests from US government authorities. 2016-04-20 15:06 4KB www.informationweek.com 24 SAP Reports 33 Percent Q1 Cloud Revenue Growth The software giant consolidates management of SMB application products under a single organization. 2016-04-20 14:34 3KB www.crn.com 25 Feeling angry and betrayed, IT workers mount protest On the sidewalks next to EmblemHealth's midtown offices, protesters yelled "Protect U. S. jobs," "Keep jobs in the U. S. A. " and, to the people passing by: "It's our jobs now, your jobs next" 2016-04-20 13:45 3KB www.infoworld.com 26 GitHub updates Atom, with focus on Windows dev Version 1.7 of the Atom text editor helps developers build in the Visual Studio 2015 IDE and features tab improvements 2016-04-20 12:47 3KB www.infoworld.com 27 Razer launches Turret 'Lapboard,' Mouse combo Razer launches Turret 'Lapboard,' Mouse combo. How do they work? Magnets. 2016-04-20 12:47 2KB feedproxy.google.com
28 Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile Build 14327 adds texting via PC, strips out Skype A new test build of Microsoft's Windows 10 Mobile allows you to send texts from your Windows 10 PC via your phone. 2016-04-20 12:34 2KB www.itnews.com 29 Apple's emphasis on security makes ARM-powered Macs 'inevitable' Apple's focus on security means it will eventually offer Macs equipped with an ARM processor, Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bavarian said. 2016-04-20 12:22 4KB www.computerworld.com 30 Surface Book, Surface Pro 4 updates throw 800f0203 error, blue screens InfoWorld's own Windows blogger had problems with a Surface Book and couldn't get it to install the patches; the recommended fix doesn't work in all cases 2016-04-20 12:14 6KB www.infoworld.com 31 Public cloud review: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Joyent The top five public clouds pile on the services and options, while adding unique twists. 2016-04-20 11:44 1KB www.computerworld.com 32 Save 40% on the TP-LINK Wi-Fi Smart Plug - Deal Alert Turn On/Off Your Electronics From Anywhere. Works with Alexa as well. 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from 250 reviewers. 2016-04-20 11:27 1KB www.itnews.com 33 Intel's tablet adventure looking more like its netbook disaster Intel's rise and fall in tablets are starting to resemble the company's misadventures in netbooks less than a decade ago. 2016-04-20 11:26 5KB www.itnews.com 34 Google.com is 'partially dangerous', says Google But there's a perfectly logical explanation 2016-04-20 11:24 2KB www.theinquirer.net
35 Oracle security update includes Java, MySQL, Oracle Database fixes Several vulnerabilities in Oracle's quarterly patch release are considered critical and could be remotely exploited 2016-04-20 11:17 7KB www.infoworld.com
36 Microsoft kills off its Xbox 360 gaming console, but Xbox 360 games will live on thanks to the Xbox One Microsoft announces it will cease production of the Xbox 360, but don't despair: all of its services will continue uninterrupted. 2016-04-20 11:14 2KB www.itnews.com 37 68% off Amir 3 in 1 Cell Phone Camera Lens Kit - Deal Alert The kit fits most cell phone models and includes fisheye, macro and super wide angle lenses. High quality and professional looking pictures from your cell phone's camera, for just $12.88 with this 68% off deal. 2016-04-20 10:59 1KB www.computerworld.com 38 Chrome turns 50 and stands at a crossroads Google Chrome has done plenty of good for the Web, but its future looks uncertain as it hits version 50. 2016-04-20 10:50 4KB www.itnews.com 39 Apple’s New And Improved MacBook Unveiled Apple Inc. on Tuesday released a set of updates to its ultra-thin and light laptop line, including; an extra hour of battery life (11 hours of battery life), newer processors, better graphics card, and faster flash storage, CNN Money Reports... 2016-04-20 10:46 1KB pctechmag.com 40 4 ways to apply SLAs to shadow IT IT can harness the power of shadow IT services and solutions and mitigate associated risks by wrapping formal SLAs around them. 2016-04-20 10:31 4KB www.itnews.com 41 San Francisco to require solar panels on new buildings The San Francisco Board of Supervisors this week voted to require solar panels on all new buildings with 10 stories or less. 2016-04-20 10:17 2KB www.itnews.com 42 This is how Elon Musk built his Empire – Infographic When Elon Musk was young, he run out of books to read at the library and ended up reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. He used to read for approximately 10 hours per day, and was able to finish a 6 months course in 3 days. At the... 2016-04-20 09:08 1KB pctechmag.com 43 The Upgraded PlayStation 4 is Codenamed NEO, Has Upgraded CPU, GPU, RAM Earlier this year, rumors began to fly that Sony would release an upgraded version of the PlayStation 4, a console often called the "PS4.5 or the PS4K" by fans and the press. As of yesterday, multiple sources confirmed to Giant Bomb; the largest... 2016-04-20 09:06 1KB pctechmag.com 44 Humble Devolver Bundle discounts Ronin, Dropsy, Shadow Warrior, more The latest Humble Bundle isn't clowning around. 2016-04-20 09:00 1KB www.pcgamer.com 45 Twitter, iHub partner to present Smart City Challenge in Nairobi Twitter and the iHub have partnered to host the #SmartCityNairobi challenge for the developer community in Nairobi, which will be launched at Nairobi Tech Week. The iHub and Moringa School have partnered to host the Nairobi Tech Week at Strathmore University from 27 - 30 April 2016... 2016-04-20 07:26 1KB pctechmag.com 46 Construction giant Dewalt unveils smartphone Construction giant Dewalt has entered the smartphone market with a tough Android- powered handset designed for building industry workers. The $544 (about 1.8 million UGX) device is designed to survive a 2m drop on to concrete and can operate in temperatures ranging from -20C to 60C... 2016-04-20 07:05 2KB pctechmag.com
47 Chatbots land on Skype's Mac client and web app Now you can chat with Skype's bots on more platforms including Macs and the web version. 2016-04-20 07:01 1KB www.itnews.com 48 Nvidia pulls out the silicon chainsaw to make the Quadro M2000 Nvidia has pulled out the world's smallest chainsaw again. Last time we heard of this mythical tool, Nvidia split the GM204 inside... 2016-04-20 06:56 1KB techreport.com 49 Get $25,000 for building Telegram Bots In a quest to get ahead of Facebook and Microsoft, Telegram is giving away $1 million to developers that build bots for its chat app. The cash will be given out as a grant at $25,000 per bot and all you have to do is... 2016-04-20 06:19 1KB pctechmag.com 50 Zanzibar gets its first 4G LTE Network Last week, Zantel launched its 4G LTE network in Zanzibar. The Tanzanian operator become the first cellco to offer the technology on the island. The service was officially launched on 14 April, with Zantel CEO Mr Benoit Janin announcing the expansion of Zantel’s 2G and 3G network coverage across... 2016-04-20 06:13 1KB pctechmag.com 51 Job Opportunity: Senior Mobile Web Developer – Numida Technologies About Numida Technologies: Numida Technologies is a digital financial services company based in Kampala, Uganda. Our goal is to unlock financing to the 22 million African small businesses who need it. We are building a mobile application that helps entrepreneurs keep track of their finances for... 2016-04-20 06:08 1KB pctechmag.com Articles
Total 51 articles, created at 2016-04-21 06:01
1 Lian Li builds a motorized standing desk that doubles as a PC case (3.01/4) Lian Li has been known to release some funky case designs, such as the oddly appealing snail shaped PC-777 Memorial Edition and the train inspired PC-CK101. With that kind of portfolio, it's no surprise that Lian Li is now the first to market with a standing desk chassis, the DK-04. You can adjust the desk anywhere from 67.5 cm to 116 cm by pressing the up and down arrows on the front panel. There are four presets that you can configure and the desk will automatically adjust to the height you input with the press of a button. This isn't Lian Li's first stab at a standing desk. It's gone through several iterations , with this latest version featuring a slimmer frame that tapers toward the user for better leg room. The legs are made from steel and can support loads of up to 100 kg. To make building inside the desk easier, the DK-04 has a removable motherboard tray. Lian Li also made sure to leave ample elbow room inside the desk to help with piecing together a PC. You'll find anchored cable clips along the way to help with snaking cables in an organized fashion. The DK-04 has eight expansion slots. It supports full size ATX and micro ATX motherboards, along with VGA cars up to 320mm in length, CPU coolers up to 140mm tall, and ATX power supplies up to 210mm. There are four stacking drive racks with rubber insulation in the DK-04. That gives builders the ability to install a total of eight 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives with vibration dampeners. There's also a 5.25-inch bay on the front panel for an optical drive, fan controller, or audio breakout box (or even a cup holder, if you can still find one in stock), along with four USB 3.0 ports, HD audio inputs, and slots for the RGB controller (for optional lighting). To keep your components from frying themselves, Lian Li includes four 120 mm intake fans in the front of the chassis and four 120 mm exhaust fans in the back. If you prefer to liquid cool, you can swap the front fans for a 480mm radiator and the rear fans for two 240 radiators. A brushed aluminum finish gives the DK-04 classic styling that Lian Li is known for, and a tempered glass top panel lets you show off your setup. There's some debate as to whether using a standing desk can lead to better health than a sitting one. Either way, you'll pay a premium for the luxury of being able to stand up, at least in this case. The DK-04 will be available May 10 for $1,499. Lian-Li DK-04 case doubles as a powered standing desk techreport.com
Lian-Li's wild motorized standing desk doubles as a case for formidable PCs itnews.com 2016-04-20 17:41 By Paul www.pcgamer.com
2 HTC 10 price, release date, deals and specs (2.00/4) THE HTC M10 is finally official, following months worth of speculation and rumours surrounding the One M9 successor. The smartphone sets its sights firmly on the likes of the Huawei P9 and Galaxy S7 with its premium design and 'market-leading' camera set up, and HTC is no doubt hoping that the handset will boost its fledling position in the smartphone market. We've rounded up everything you need to know about picking up the HTC 10. If you're still unsure, check out our HTC 10 hands-on review. Release date According to HTC's listing on its website, the HTC 10 is now in stock. While HTC says that the handset has started shipping, Carphone Warehouse is listing that orders will be dispatched on 6 May. Price HTC has started taking pre-orders for the smartphone. It's only offering the 32GB HTC 10 model at present , and has slapped that with a £569 SIM-free price-tag. Carphone Warehouse has also opened up orders , and is offering the HTC 10 on tariffs with EE, O2, Vodafone and its own iD network. Pricing starts at £40 per month, a 24 month Vodafone contract that comes with unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 2GB monthly data. EE and Three have also confirmed that they will be offering the HTC 10 on its respective networks, but have yet to cough on pricing details. Tesco Mobile has yet to start taking orders, but has told us how much it'll cost. The HTC 10 will be available for free from £35.50 per month with 1,000 minutes, 5,000 texts and 1GB data. Specs Much like the Huawei P9 , the HTC 10's camera set-up is touted as the big selling point. The handset has only one rear-facing camera, compared with the P9's dual Leica-certified set-up, but HTC claimed that the 12MP 1.55um UltraPixel camera, which features the "world's first optically stabilised, larger aperture f/1.8 lens", is the best quality on the market with a DxOMark score of 88. The camera shoots 4K video and features the world’s first stereo 24-bit Hi-Res audio recording, capturing 256 times more detail than standard recordings. This is paired with HTC's new and improved HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi Edition speakers. There's a 5MP optically-stablised f/1.8 camera on the front of the HTC 10 with an iPhone-style 'screen flash' for illuminating your duck-face when taking selfies. Like its HTC One M9 predecessor, the HTC 10 features a unibody metal design with chamfered edges making it just 3mm thick at its skinniest point. There's a fingerprint sensor, which HTC claims unlocks in 0.2 seconds, a USB Type-C port on the bottom, and a 5.2in 2560x1440 Super LCD screen. HTC claimed that the display is 30 per cent brighter and 50 per cent more responsive than on last year's model. It's also tougher, according to HTC, which said that the phone is as tough as the Galaxy S7 , having been subjected to 168 hours of extreme temperature tests ranging from -20C to 60C, plus over 10,000 drop, bend, scratch and corrosion tests. The smartphone uses a Snapdragon 820 processor, despite analysts blaming lacklustre sales of last year's model on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 chip. This new, and not-so-hot chip comes with Boost+, a feature which HTC claims will make the phone faster. For example, a feature called 'game battery booster' slurps less juice during gameplay, while a new PowerBotics system shuts down apps that use excessive power, improving battery life by 30 per cent. The HTC 10 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow topped with HTC's Sense UI. HTC said that it worked with Google to make the skin less heavy, binning duplicate apps and the usual bloatware on HTC devices. It's also more customisable, according to HTC, as the new 'Freestyle Layout' means you no longer have to stick to a grid layout. This lets you put apps and widgets wherever you want them, while removing those that you don't want. The new App Lock functionality makes it more secure, allowing users to unlock any app they choose. The HTC 10 has a 3,000mAh battery that charges to 50 per cent in 30 minutes with HTC's 3.0 Rapid Charger, and 32GB or 64GB of storage expandable by an additional 2TB via microSD slot. The HTC 10 will be available in four colour combinations: Carbon Grey, Glacier Silver, Topaz Gold and Camellia Red. µ DJI Phantom 4 release date, price, specs: the drone that can fly itself and avoid obstacles pcadvisor.co.uk
iPhone 7 release date, specs, price and rumours theinquirer.net 2016-04-20 14:12 Carly Page www.theinquirer.net
3 Google's EU antitrust battle: A timeline of the five-year case (2.00/4) The new Commissioner needs time to decide on next steps as the matter is complex The matter will be handed over to the next Commission in November Commissioner Almunia wants a deal before he leaves office next year, says expert
EC slaps Google with formal antitrust complaint in Android app bundling case theinquirer.net 2016-04-20 13:42 Matthew Finnegan www.computerworlduk.com
4 4 EU charges Google with abusing Android market dominance (2.00/4) The European Union charged Google on Wednesday with abusing the dominant position of its Android mobile operating system, opening a second front against the U. S. technology giant that could lead to large fines. European Union antitrust regulators said that by requiring mobile phone manufacturers to pre- install Google Search and the Google Chrome browser, the U. S. company was denying consumers a wider choice of mobile apps and stifling innovation. Google is already facing EU charges over the promotion of its shopping service in Internet searches at the expense of rival services, in a case that has dragged on since late 2010 despite three attempts to resolve the issues. The stakes are higher for Google in the Android case as it made about $11 billion last year from advertising sales on Android phones through its apps such as Maps, Search and Gmail, according to estimates by financial analyst Richard Windsor. “A competitive mobile Internet sector is increasingly important for consumers and businesses in Europe,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. “We believe that Google’s behavior denies consumers a wider choice of mobile apps and services and stands in the way of innovation by other players,” she said. Internet Explorer-browser maker Microsoft Corp declined to comment. Suppliers of browsers including Mozilla, which is behind Firefox, as well as Apple, with its Safari browser, and Norway’s Opera Software were not immediately available to comment. The European Commission said about 80 percent of smart mobile devices in Europe and the world run on Android, the operating system developed by Google. Google, which has 12 weeks to respond to the charges, said in a statement that Android was a remarkable system based on open-source software and open innovation. “We look forward to working with the European Commission to demonstrate that Android is good for competition and good for consumers,” Google’s general counsel Kent Walker said. FairSearch, the lead complainant, said Google had launched Android as an open source project, but was now hindering the development of versions that might lead to new operating systems able to compete with Android. The Commission alleges Google has breached EU antitrust rules by making phone manufacturers pre-install its search function and Chrome browser, and by preventing them from selling mobiles running competing operating systems based on the Android open source code. The EU also charged the U. S company with giving financial incentives to manufacturers and network operators to pre-install Google Search exclusively on devices. [ Reuters ] Europe charges Google over Android licensing conditions itworld.com 2016-04-20 12:04 PC Tech pctechmag.com
5 Red Hat covers cloud apps with OpenStack and Cloud Suite (2.00/4) With its two latest releases, Red Hat makes good on its previously stated plans to extend open source out of the data center and across the entire dev stack. Red Hat OpenStack Platform 8 and Red Hat Cloud Suite provide contrasting methodologies for building and delivering hybrid cloud apps on open source infrastructure. Cloud Suite is an all- in-one package of Red Hat's cloud technologies. OpenStack Platform, meanwhile, adds value and ease of use with both Red Hat and third-party hardware. OpenStack is complicated to deploy and maintain, so Red Hat and other third-party vendors tout ease of use and management as selling points. As Matt Asay pointed out , Red Hat's mainstay is to simplify complex technology (like open source infrastructure apps) for enterprise settings. Red Hat's previous incarnations of OpenStack were built with this philosophy in mind, and the current version ramps it up. Upgrading OpenStack components, long regarded as thorny and difficult, is handled automatically by Red Hat's add-ons. CloudForms , Red Hat's management tool for clouds, comes as part of the bundle, providing yet another option to offset OpenStack's management complexities. OpenStack has been trying to solve these problems as well, as shown with its most recent version, code-named Mitaka. It features tools like a unified command line and a more streamlined setup process with sane defaults. But Red Hat's OpenStack uses the previous Liberty release, so it will be at least another release cycle before the changes find their way into Red Hat's work. Red Hat also has been trying to sweeten OpenStack's pot via a strategy explored by several other OpenStack vendors: hardware solutions. Red Hat and Dell have previously partnered to sell the former's OpenStack solutions on the latter's hardware. The latest generation of that partnership provides yet another means of putting OpenStack into more hands: the On-Ramp to OpenStack program. All of this is meant to broaden OpenStack's appeal and to make it more than the do-it-yourself cloud favored by a few large companies and telcos. (OpenStack Platform 8 has "telco-focused preview" features.) As Asay noted, while individual OpenStack customers are large, the overall field remains smally because for many enterprise customers, OpenStack looks like too much of a solution for not enough of a problem. That didn't start with Red Hat, and so far it's unlikely Red Hat alone can change that. For that reason, Red Hat isn't depending on OpenStack alone, as its second big release today, Red Hat Cloud Suite , shows. It's aimed at a broader, and likely more rewarding, market: Those building cloud applications with containers and who want to concentrate on app lifecycle rather than the deployment infrastructure. Cloud Suite also uses OpenStack, but as a substrate managed through Red Hat's CloudForms software. On top of that is the part users will deal with most directly: Red Hat's OpenShift PaaS for managing containerized applications in Docker. (OpenShift got high marks from InfoWorld's Martin Heller for being "robust, easy-to-use, and highly scalable. ") CloudForms treats OpenStack as one of many possible cloud layers that can be abstracted away. To that end, the apps deployed on OpenShift can run in multiple places -- local and remote OpenStack clouds, Azure clouds, and so on. This part of Red Hat's strategy for hybrid cloud echoes Google's ambitions , in that it allows the user to work with open source software and open standards to deploy apps to both local and remote clouds. OpenStack was regarded as the original method to pull that off. While Red Hat hasn't abandoned OpenStack, its focus remains narrow. Cloud Suite, due to its flexibility and emphasis on applications rather than infrastructure, seems likely to draw a broader crowd.
Red Hat powers cloud-scale DevOps with the general availability of Red Hat Cloud Suite and Red Hat OpenStack Platform 8 sdtimes.com 2016-04-20 11:40 Serdar Yegulalp www.infoworld.com
6 Microsoft's Xbox 360 to be discontinued after 10 year run I'm not crying, you're crying Microsoft have announced they plan to discontinue the 10-year old Xbox 360, with Xbox chief Phil Spencer commenting that the venerable console has had “an amazing run”. He continued to highlight how much the Xbox 360 means to everyone at Microsoft, and spoke of how "The Xbox 360 helped redefine an entire generation of gaming at Microsoft.” But while the Xbox 360 has had an amazing run, Spencer revealed Microsoft are now calling time on it, as “the realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us”. The solution, it appears, is to stop manufacturing new Xbox 360 consoles. Microsoft will continue to sell their existing Xbox 360 consoles but when they’re gone, they’re gone. The Xbox One launched all the way back in November 2013, and there’s speculation that a new and improved Xbox One will be revealed at E3 in June as an answer to the PS4.5 recently leaked. The Xbox 360 sold more than 80 million units during its lifetime, and, for me personally at least, was a massive part of my teenage years and then university. The Xbox Live servers will continue to support the Xbox 360 and regular users shouldn’t notice too many changes to their online gaming and party functionality. What were your favourite Xbox 360 games? I’m tempted to put a roundup together of some of the best Xbox 360 games, send the ol’ beast off in style. 2016-04-21 04:00 Published on feedproxy.google.com
7 Migrating, Managing, and More: Real IT Pros. Real Advice It is not a question any more whether or not businesses are moving applications to cloud platforms, but how quickly IT can manage the migration. Business applications are no exception. Competitive pressures are driving IT professionals to take advantage of cloud infrastructures and to integrate cloud on top of their existing environments. IDG Research Services, in conjunction with Microsoft, recently surveyed 55 IT pros—from a wide range of industries—who have deployed enterprise business applications to a public or hybrid cloud to produce this insightful eBook. All respondents are deeply involved in the purchase or implementation of third-party cloud solutions.
2016-04-21 02:42 www.itworldcanada.com
8 The Division has a new and potentially game breaking exploit The Division hasn't had a great run since its most recent patch. The new Falcon Lost Incursion introduced at least one major exploit, which turns the mission's high level item drip feed into a veritable hailstorm. Ubisoft Massive is working on a fix, and is currently figuring out how to punish those who have exploited the glitch. It looks like the studio has another problem on its hands though, and this one could arguably be bigger: a player has found a way to increase their weapon damage enormously. As the video below by YouTuber Simplified demonstrates, it's possible to one-shot high level enemies using the exploit. Imagine the kind of damage you could do in the Dark Zone with this. I won't spell out how to use the exploit – I don't wanna ruin anyone's fun – but the trick is pretty simple and it's in the video description. To get an idea of how powerful it is, check out the video below. It's safe to say that when Ubisoft decides how it will punish exploiters , those using this one will be first against the wall.
2016-04-21 00:36 Shaun Prescott www.pcgamer.com
9 The PC Gamer Show: Mirror's Edge: Catalyst and special guests from Duelyst Welcome back to The PC Gamer Show , our weekly livestreamed podcast. You can catch the show live on Wednesdays at 1 pm PDT on our Twitch channel , or after the fact at any of the links below. We'll also be talking about our hands-on time with Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, Ken Levine working on an interactive Twilight Zone movie, and lots more—including some exclusive reveals about Duelyst's upcoming patch63 and our usual Twitch chat Q&A. Download the MP3 directly Subscribe on iTunes Grab the podcast RSS feed Watch it on YouTube: Part 1 (discussion) , Part 2 (Duelyst demo and Q&A) (or in the embeds below) Last week's episode Tom Marks Special guest: Keith Lee - CEO of Counterplay Games Special guest: Emil Anticevic - CTO of Counterplay Games
2016-04-20 23:47 By PC www.pcgamer.com
10 Playable or not? Analysing the latest Hearthstone nerfs in detail Normally, the excitement surrounding a Hearthstone expansion comes from seeing what crazy new effects the designers have come up with and theorycrafting innovative decks to play once the cards arrive. The launch of Whispers of the Old Gods , and with it the introduction of the Standard format , however, has almost been overshadowed by the promise of numerous nerfs that will be made to cards from the Classic and Basic sets in order to prevent them from dominating the game in perpetuity, or limiting future design space. And so, over the past month, almost every single Hearthstone player will have said something along the lines of: “Man, I hope this nonsense gets nerfed in Standard”. Today the wait is over, and the juicy info is at our fingertips. In this gallery I'll take a look at the likely impact of each of the changes, and try and expand on Blizzard’s thinking as to why these cards (and not others) had to feel the sweet kiss of the nerfhammer. To the surprise of precisely nobody, we start with Druid. Ancient of Lore is objectively one of the highest value cards in the game. The issue with Druid decks is that they often dump their hand to get a criminally unfair advantage thanks to playing Innervate and Wild Growth early on, and then use Ancient of Lore to refill too effectively. With this change, Druids will find drawing more difficult—so if you can overcome their fast starts, starving them out of the game becomes a more viable strategy. When the board state was closely contested, Ancient of Lore often tipped the balance in the Druid player’s favour by allowing them to out-resource you in the late-game. Even today, Druid decks often run additional card draw effects like Azure Drake in order to support the inclusion of low Mana cards like Living Roots. If those players hope to continue with that strategy, they’ll need to find a new source of card draw. In a vacuum, Ancient of Lore is still just about playable. The Healing effect remains powerful and needed in many situations, and with the removal of Antique Healbot from the format, Druid doesn’t have many great alternatives outside of awful cards like Healing Touch and Tree of Life. Rejoice fellow cardslingers! The Druid combo is dead! For far too long players have suffered at the hand of the dreaded 14 damage from an empty board, but the angry trees are about to be thrown into a wood chipper. In the past Blizzard has shot down various other combo decks on the basis of them being “not fun or interactive” , but somehow Druid skated along unharmed. That changes next week. Choosing to address the Force of Nature half of the package over Savage Roar makes a lot of sense, because losing the latter might have been too damaging to the class overall. At various points in Hearthstone’s history we’ve seen other midrange decks flirt with dominance in the meta, but the likes of Dragon Priest and Midrange Paladin suffered from the lack of explosive finishers when it came to closing out games. Keeping Savage Roar intact will continue to reward Druid for maintaining board control during the midgame, but removes the idiocy of dying from an empty board. The new Force of Nature is a reasonable card—6/6 of stats in an awkward distribution is acceptable value for 5 Mana—but its overall weakness to standard AoE spells like Consecration and Holy Nova will probably be enough to rule it out from serious play. Even the lowly Silver Hand Knight arguably represents a stronger stat distribution overall. A severe nerf to a powerful card. Silence has been hit hard in Standard with Ironbeak Owl also finding itself in the firing line. Amazingly, Spellbreaker seems to have escaped unnoticed. So, when comparing Keeper and Spellbreaker, the question becomes is the flexibility of a 2 damage Battlecry worth a -2/-1 drop in stats? The answer is probably not. The most useful matchups for the instant damage from Keeper were against aggro decks where the 2/4 body could go on to contest multiple minions. Now, with its subpar stats, it’s not going to stick around to fight for board control. The upshot is that if you feel like Silence is necessary in your deck, you’ll probably just end up running Spellbreaker. In combination, these three nerfs to Druid class cards will go a long way towards reducing the power of the Midrange Druid archetype which had clearly become too much of a terror to the game, and has seen little innovation over the course of multiple card sets. This is important to note because Druid is being given some strong new options in Whispers of the Old Gods, including Mire Keeper and some excellent C’Thun-related cards. That probably means Druid decks will have to polarise in one direction or the other, resorting to outright Aggro or extreme late-game Control. Farewell, sweet feathery friend. Clearly there is a feeling on the Blizzard design team—and which is echoed by many competitive players—that having supposedly powerful buff effects, Deathrattles and Taunts made instantly irrelevant by a hoot-hooting 2-Mana card isn’t much fun and shouldn’t remain in the game. However, the strange part of this nerf is again the cost comparison with Spellbreaker. The need for a cheap Silence effect in your deck is lessened by the fact a lot of the cheap Deathrattles are being removed from Standard. Right now, Ironbeak Owl for 2 Mana is excellent against Hunter and Zoo, since it trades evenly with almost all of their 2 Mana options. With that factor removed, and with the increased Mana Cost, there seems little reason not to just run Spellbreaker in your deck instead. Even in Face Hunter—a deck that can often take advantage of the Ironbeak Owl’s Beast tag as a Kill Command activator—the increased cost probably hurts too much. Ironbeak Owl, Kill Command and Hero Power will cost 8 Mana, meaning that on any turn before eight, the Beast tribe effect is mostly irrelevant since you will be forced to miss out on a Hero Power anyway. Here’s the most correctly predicted nerf of them all. Almost every experienced Hearthstone player could see the problem that Big Game Hunter presented, both in terms of maintaining the fun feel of the game, and limiting future design space available to the designers. Big Game Hunter essentially forced any huge late-game minion you wanted to include in your deck to impact the board immediately, otherwise getting hit by a BGH on the following turn was often game-losing. Increasing the cost of BGH to 5 Mana means that the Tempo swing from destroying a huge target will be much less severe, and gives players a lot more freedom to put huge minions in their decks. This seems particularly important with the Old Gods theme of the new expansion introducing multiple 10-Mana monstrosities. The hits being taken by these key neutral removal cards has some serious potential implications. BGH costing 5, and the nerf to Ironbeak Owl, means that there will rarely be a solid answer to a huge Edwin Van Cleef made early on in the game by Rogue players. Similarly, a big double-Innervate play from a Druid will have no on-curve answer outside of class removal spells like Hex, Polymorph and Execute. Those scenarios don’t occur that often, but could still cause issues down the line if left unchecked. Another card that is the cause of much frustration, Hunter’s Mark continues the theme of Blizzard addressing cards that are resoundingly anti-fun. Interactions between huge minions is (from Blizzard’s perspective, at least) one of the most enjoyable parts of the game, and something that newer players generally thrive on. The feeling of putting your newly unpacked legendary minion into your deck only to have it removed effortlessly is terrible, and so it’s no surprise to see Blizzard taking steps to deny huge tempo cards like this, especially in a meta in which tempo is so important. Hunter is a class that thrives on tempo overall, so whilst a card like this might be fine in a class like Warrior (See: Execute), it’s incredibly destructive in a class that is built around gaining advantages from pushing board advantage. Gaining a 5-6 Mana advantage from removal via Hunter’s Mark, and then playing minions, might be a recoverable situation against many classes—but against the relentless aggression of Hunter, it spells certain doom. Again, the new expansion is heavily themed around decks that build towards the focal point of playing a huge minion. If these huge creatures can be removed from the board too efficiently, then the whole set has the potential to fall flat on its face. And no one wants another Grand Tournament whiff. In Face Hunter, Hunter’s Mark is almost certainly superior to paying for the new overcosted Silence effects if it was left at 0 Mana. At a price of 1 Mana, there will be heavy experimentation to see what the correct solution for aggressive decks is. Blade Flurry was not a card that many people were expecting to get hit. It was clear to the eagle- eyed observer that Rogue would have to see some adjustments since it was losing very little in the new format. Personally, I expected any changes to centre on Preparation. Prep is a zero- cost spell, which is always a warning sign, and the engine that enables a lot of the most destructive Rogue plays. The huge early Edwin Van Cleef mentioned earlier is usually only possible by comboing Prep with another spell. Blizzard have seen things a different way, though, and chosen to alter Blade Flurry instead. Although the nerf seems severe at first—it removes the burst damage potential from hitting face, and doubles the card’s cost—it’s somewhat understandable with a little mental gymnastics. Because of all the efficient Deathrattle minions leaving the game, Blade Flurry is an almost guaranteed win condition against aggressive board flooding decks like Zoo. If you were to get off one big blade flurry they would likely never be able to recover. On top of that, the threat of Blade Flurry dramatically limits the potential for Rogue’s weapon synergy cards. Right now, I still think this nerf seems heavy handed, but we may see some big new Rogue weapon-related cards revealed that will make it more understandable. Possibly the most despised card in all of Hearthstone, Knife Juggler has been the subject of unbridled hatred from players—pro and casual alike—for as long as anyone can remember. The decision to only nerf the stats might seem strange at first, since it leaves the most frustrating part of the card completely intact, but lowering the attack on the card does weaken its power significantly. Previously, a turn two Juggler demanded the utmost respect from the other player. Premium removals like Crackle, Slam, or Forgotten Torch would be thrown at it without regret because the card represents so much total damage overall. The 2/2 body makes it not only easier to stall against, but also much easier to contest using other 2-Mana minions that have 3 Health or more. What has not been changed, however, is the insane synergy that Knife Juggler has in later turns. That said, it needs to be made clear that the removal of many Deathrattle minions from Standard, along with token generating spells, already nerfs Knife Juggler significantly. Haunted Creeper, Muster for Battle, Imp-losion, and others are all on the way out, with only Unleash the Hounds remaining as a genuinely devastating midgame play. The combination of these factors may be enough to see some of the heat taken off Juggler, but its ability to decide games early on at random remains, and Aggro decks will almost certainly still run the card. This is a change that I was almost certain we would see happen. The removal of Zombie Chow from the format meant that there was not a neutral solution to contesting a Leper Gnome on turn 1, making it far too powerful to leave around in its previous form. My real surprise is that Abusive Sergeant has escaped attention, since that card also seems far too efficient in comparison to the tools that Control decks have to counter it with. Especially in a meta that includes Brann Bronzebeard to double the Battlecry effect, making Abusive’s buff still relevant in the mid-late game. Is the almost guaranteed 2 damage Deathrattle from Leper Gnome still worth including in an Aggro deck? It feels like Worgen Infiltrator may now be the superior choice, and the untouched Abusive Sergeant is almost certainly a superior card. The saving grace for Leper Gnome is that most pure Face decks want to play more 1-drops than just those four, which means that there may still be room for our icky little friend in the face of no superior options. Face Shaman, which already has access to a superb 1-drop in the form of Tunnel Trogg, will probably choose to omit this card completely in favour of Worgen Infiltrators from hereon. This is one of the more bizarre changes to me. It’s clear from Blizzard’s ongoing actions and statements that they are very, very afraid of the effect Charge minions have on the game. The potential for burst combos that cheap Charge minions enable is a scary thing to manage, and we’ve already experienced the destructive power of Arcane Golem in various Warlock control and combo decks. With all that in mind, I understand why Arcane Golem needed attention, but the card we’ve ended up with here is appalling. It’s just a bad card. It seems that the standard solution to a problem with a Charge minion is simply to give it the Warsong Commander treatment and delete it from the game. As a 4/4 for 3, Arcane Golem is only barely above the accepted stats for a 3 Mana minion, which currently stands at 3/4. In order to justify including this in your deck, you have to be comfortable with providing your opponent with a free Wild Growth, just for the benefit of one additional stat point. That is not a good exchange in anyone’s book and we will simply never see this card played again. I personally expected to see all of the Giants adjusted in some way. With the expected nerf of Big Game Hunter coming to fruition, by extension, the ability to generate huge 8/8s “unfairly” becomes a serious issue as well. Mountain Giant can be played on turn four, which now means it can come down before a possible BGH can answer it, and we have seen the destructive power of Sea Giant recently in new Zoo decks that often play them for as little as 2 Mana. With the removal of many Deathrattle and token minions, Sea Giant becomes harder to use effectively, but the threat of the two untouched Giants definitely remains. Molten Giant specifically was a huge concern for more aggressive decks when playing against Warlock decks. The potential swing turns that were possible were extremely destructive, and the higher Mana cost will mean that Molten Giants are an even riskier proposition than they were before. You now need to be as low as 5 Health before you can play a free Molten Giant, which means that even if you create a huge Taunt wall with them, you are still extremely vulnerable to dying from direct damage. People are in one of two camps with this one. Either you’re incredibly confused that a card that is never played is receiving a nerf, or this was the one card you were 100% certain was going to be on this list. Blizzard have hinted numerous times that Master of Disguise might be targeted, and the reasoning is fairly straightforward. The issue of design space is one that Blizzard have to constantly consider, and by leaving a card in the format forever, they need to be extremely confident that it is not too damaging to the game at any point down the line. Master of Disguise is simply too destructive an effect to be left unchecked, and even though the right game-breaking combo using it hasn’t been found yet, it was only a matter of time before a minion comes out that when given permanent stealth created an unbeatable play. The fact that this card isn’t used currently only serves to make this nerf even safer. They can happily adjust the card to the point where it will not be broken down the line without having any sort of impact on people’s enjoyment of the game right now.
2016-04-20 23:14 By Simon www.pcgamer.com
11 The first Dark Souls comic plays it too safe You’d expect the Dark Souls comic , which released April 20th from Titan Comics (story by George Mann and art by Alan Quah), to be a series of washed out, sad monsters and silent knights postured among intricate weather-worn medieval architecture. But after reading the first issue, I’m taken by surprise: the panels are detailed and colorful, the characters are chatty, and the plot is far from convoluted. It doesn’t adhere to subtler methods and isn’t necessarily worse for it, but tonally, the comic feels out of touch with the restrained nature of the games. Our adventure begins with Fira, a knight who sets out to find a way to save the kingdom of Ishra from descending into an age of darkness. There’s a dangerous cave, the curse of the Undead, ancient knights, and dragons involved. Sound familiar? It’s the same basic plot from every Dark Souls game, but set in a different time and place. The series is all about the repetition of cycles and how people interpret light and dark in spiritual and moralistic ways as their particular doomsday approaches. I’m curious to see Ishra carve out its own identity and I hope Fira’s story puts a unique spin on a plot we’ve seen three times so far, but even after the first issue it’s hard to see where everything is headed. The whole of her first issue adventure feels like the sequence in a movie before the opening credits: intriguing and action-packed, but low on characterization. We only know that Fira left her distressed people to seek a different means for their salvation, but by the end, all we know is that she’s juggling the guilt of leaving with her long term intentions. Whether or not Fira resolves that guilt and accomplishes her goal (and at what cost) remains to be seen, but since the comic starts in the middle of her adventure, I found little reason to care about her problems beyond her supposed ties to a few familiar Dark Souls characters. Fira is accompanied by a scryer named Aldrich, a notable name to players of Dark Souls 3. Enough hints are dropped to safely assume that this Aldrich is the same Lord of Cinder who, upon consuming too many men, transformed into a sentient puddle of goo. But in the comic, he’s a solid human person with hazy motives. His character bio says that he saw Ishra’s redemption in a prophecy of “dirt and fire and blood and bone” which led him to team up with Fira. Whether or not his intent is to help Ishra or to use her for some nefarious means is unclear, but it’s the biggest hook the comic set by a long shot, even if his inclusion is troubling. I’m excited to see such an important character explored in detail, and my hopes are that the series covers his descent into cannibalism, maybe his appointment as a Lord of Cinder. It’s rare to have outright answers in a Souls game–but, the mystery of Dark Souls’ lore is key to its intrigue. Without an endless stream of questions, so goes my investment, especially if Aldrich’s characterization is flat. I have an existing idea of who Aldrich was based on the information peppered throughout Dark Souls 3, and I’m worried that meeting the expectations of my imagination will be impossible, like falling in love with a novel and then reading the casting news for the movie adaptation. (Tom Cruise as Aldrich? What were you thinking, Michael Bay?) And based on my impressions of the writing and art, I’m not exactly hopeful. Dark Souls characters don’t say much, and with good reason. Swerving into melodrama is easy in such a bleak world composed of familiar medieval imagery, so when the dialogue is deployed, it’s meant to hit hard—most often as a sad, insightful elegy for the world and its inhabitants, and rarely as casual conversation. Which is why the constant talk between Fira and Aldrich lack the levity I’m accustomed to. The writing humanizes them, but simultaneously slips into a swashbuckling Dungeons and Dragons tone from time to time. Instead of a quiet battle with an impossible foe, the comic climaxes with a chatty finale; two combatants discussing hits and expository one-liners in equal measure. The art in Dark Souls speaks for itself instead of relying on text-heavy bouts of storytelling to explain it away. In the comic, the opposite is true. I don’t think the art is poor, but I’m not entirely sure why Quah chose to represent Dark Souls’ bizarre dreamlike fantasy world in such a traditional way. There’s very little mystery to its strong lines and bold colors, even if there’s plenty to admire. The Sandman series from Vertigo or Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth both come to mind; the former maintains a good balance of grounded scenes and experimental collages that illustrate the dreamier sequences, while Asylum uses black space to convey the mystery and tightness of its dark corridors. Nearly every environment in a Dark Souls game can be studied and dissected for its narrative meaning. The comic is mostly a series of bland crystalline backgrounds that don’t serve much purpose beyond disorienting the reader. That said, the intent may be to keep it straight and clean for the first issue, then to mirror the series’ slow descent into wonder and awe by experimenting with style as the issues release. Knowing who’s who and what’s what is strange for Dark Souls, but if the story Mann is setting up can stay interesting on its own while tying into the greater Dark Souls lore in a meaningful way, then I’ll keep reading. I just hope they take bolder steps in their attempts to capture the slow-drip horror and sublime beauty that the games owe their successes to.
2016-04-20 22:42 James Davenport www.pcgamer.com
12 John Romero and Adrian Carmack team up for another teaser Two days ago, we learned about Hoxar Inc , a purported tech start-up that in reality is linked somehow to a new FPS being developed by Romero Games, an indie studio founded by Doom and Quake co-creator John Romero. Today, Romero let slip another, more overt tease, featuring an appearance by fellow famous name from the Doom days. Adrian Carmack—no relation to John—was one of the four co-founders of id Software, where he worked as lead artist. He left the studio in 2005 (he later claimed in a lawsuit that he'd been forced out) and has had effectively nothing to do with the industry since, which is what makes his potential return so interesting. Call it nostalgia if you like (and okay, fine, it is), but this kind of “getting the band back together” stuff is absolutely up my alley. The Nightworkgames.com website linked in the video doesn't reveal much about what's going on, except that “a new First-Person Shooter is being built at Night Work Games Ltd. in Galway, Ireland,” and that the studio itself “is the dark and violent subsidiary of Romero Games Ltd.” It's not even certain that this is related to the Hoxar thing, although separate teases for separate projects in this kind of proximity seems awfully unlikely to me. All will be revealed, apparently, on April 25. If I hear something ahead of that, I'll let you know.
2016-04-20 22:19 By Andy www.pcgamer.com
13 Job Simulator studio drops the price to help 'share the joy of VR' It's been all of two weeks since Job Simulator , a game which despite its wholly unappealing title is actually pretty good , debuted on Steam. That short span of time makes the recent announcement of a permanent, 25 percent price drop seem more than a little odd. The reason for the cut is a bit unusual too, but it's a good one: “This will allow even more people to experience the mind blowing moment when you realize your hands can truly work in VR—and then be used to throw a stapler at your boss.” The game was expensive to make, developer Owlchemy Labs explained, because of the size of the team and the length of the development period—15 people working for a year and a half— and the fact that it was built from the ground-up for VR, which the studio said is a “much more intensive process” than conventional game development. Based on that, and "the culmination of our thoughts on the VR market at launch,” the price was initially set at $40. “With the launch of a brand new platform, no one quite knew what to expect, so we had to use whatever metrics we had available to us. " “We knew that the initial market for VR would be something that would grow over time, but as it takes a long time to get this brand spanking new hardware into consumers hands, we knew it would be a slow start," the studio said. "In order to recoup our costs for the smaller audience, we placed what we believed to be a competitive, but fair, price on the game. " But while the Steam user reviews are “very positive,” a number of comments in the “ Pricing Discussion ” forum are less than enthusiastic about the expense—enough to prompt the reduction. “The point of Job Simulator was always to share the joy of VR with as many people as we could convince to put their hands (both gloved or un-gloved) on it! So we’re lowering the price,” Owlchemy said. “The community has been sincere and honest with their feedback, and so we’re responding.” Job Simulator is one of two games that come bundled with the HTC Vive headset, which may have helped facilitate the change, but for those looking to buy it separately, it now carries a permanent $30/£23 price tag on Steam. Anyone who purchased the game at the original price has until April 26 to claim a refund , regardless of how many hours are into it, and then (presumably) re-purchase it at the lower cost. Thanks, Gamasutra .
2016-04-20 21:40 By Andy www.pcgamer.com
14 Sous weed: Gorgeous ganja grub to tempt your tastebuds (pictures) Cuba's King of Batteries In the spring of 1943, Ernesto Cuadra believes he is a man. But when a submarine surfaces in the dark sea, and four German soldiers kidnap him, he discovers how little he knows. 2016-04-20 21:52 Amanda Kooser www.cnet.com
15 Rocket League's new 'Hoops Mode' and NBA DLC is coming next week
Rocket League , the game that blends colossal soccer with physics-defying automobiles, will soon give players the option to hit the court and shoot some hoops instead. Developer Psyonix announced today that the b-ball-inspired Hoops Mode will be added to the game, for free, on April 26. Spiritually similar to the hockey-themed Snow Day update that came out last year, Hoops Mode will be accompanied by a new “Dunk House” arena, which like the new game mode will be given to all players at no cost. Those of you determined to throw money at it will be able to pick up an officially-licensed NBA Flag Pack, which will cost $2 and contain the logos of all 30 NBA teams. All players will be given one NBA logo flag for free when they update the game. The announcement is light on details, but the trailer gives a pretty good idea of what's in store: Goliath basketball, in cars, with little regard for the laws of gravity. Shots obviously won't need to be as precise as they are in real hoops, but the elevated, horizontal net will be a big change from the usual “aim-and-fire” across a flat plane. Psyonix said more information about the update will be released throughout the week.
2016-04-20 20:58 By Andy www.pcgamer.com
16 Total War: Warhammer adds Bretonnia as a multiplayer faction Creative Assembly has announced that the colorful human kingdom of Bretonnia will be a playable faction in custom and multplayer battles in the upcoming dark fantasy strategy game Total War: Warhammer. The Bretonnians rely heavily on powerful armored units and overwhelming charges in battles, the studio said, backed by heavy trebuchet artillery and masses of archers. Think medieval France, essentially. They don't bring much to the table in the way of massive monsters, but their Enchantresses can unleash powerful offensive magic as well as buffs that greatly fortify the abilities of their knights. Interestingly, it was almost exactly one year ago that we mentioned the absence of the Bretonnians, who “seem to have fallen out of favor with Games Workshop these days,” in our breakdown of the Total War: Warhammer factions. They haven't been totally absent from the action, however: They're also a playable faction in the fantasy sports sim Blood Bowl 2. To demonstrate how the Bretonnians will play, Creative Assembly posted a 25-minute gameplay video pitting them against a Vampiric invasion of the city of Couronne. I won't tell you who wins, but it looks pretty fantastic. Total War: Warhammer comes out on May 24.
2016-04-20 18:57 By Andy www.pcgamer.com
17 Microsoft Upgrades FastTrack To Help Partners Accelerate Cloud Adoption Microsoft on Tuesday raised the curtain on new updates to Microsoft FastTrack, its service enabling customers to make a move to cloud services like Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility Suite. The Redmond, Wash.-based company said the FastTrack upgrades are proof of its focus on helping partners align their competencies with customers' cloud-first, mobile-first needs for the workplace. "Through Microsoft FastTrack, we're here to help [partners] accelerate cloud adoption and offer customers a seamless onboarding process," said Gavriella Schuster, general manager of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Group, in a post. "As we continue to improve FastTrack, we're aiming to make it easier than ever before … to engage with service experts, help customers envision business goals, identify key scenarios relevant to those goals, and drive critical usage. " [Related: Microsoft: Sweeping Competency Changes Will Help Partners Capture Cloud, Mobile Opportunities ] As part of Microsoft's updates, the FastTrack Center now provides partner guidance, content and best-practice advice to help speed up customers' time to value, as well as increase user adoption of Office 365. Microsoft has also streamlined Success Plan creation and created new scenarios that help customers set a vision for success with Office 365. According to Schuster, this guidance will provide tips on how partners can help any customer find the next workload they should adopt and suggestions on how partners and customers can jointly proceed together. Ric Opal, vice president of Peters & Associates, a Microsoft partner in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., praised the updates to FastTrack, stressing that it is vital for Microsoft partners to embrace and leverage cloud services to drive profitability. "This is exciting news for those who have figured out how to leverage the FastTrack Center as a very viable benefit to accelerate customers to the cloud," said Opal. "All partners are on a journey -- we're all in the midst of transformation. There's a lot of data out there that says partners who are leveraging and transacting in the cloud are a lot more profitable, period. " Microsoft has made sweeping changes to its partner program to keep up with customers' changing business needs, the company said, as more customers focus on cloud and mobile solutions. The company recently said it will retire 12 competencies in its partner network and add new ones in an effort to simplify the program and drive partner profitability. According to a report from research firm IDC, 48 percent of partners have already adapted their business models to offer project services, managed services and IP. Microsoft has introduced an array of tools to further help partners transition, including an Interactive Microsoft Partner Network Evolution Guide to guide decision processes and identify which competencies are the best fit for partner businesses.
2016-04-20 17:21 Lindsey O www.crn.com
18 Uber and Twitter have jacked up their spending on political lobbying Uber and Twitter both significantly expanded their efforts to influence members of Congress through political lobbying in the first three months of the year, new data reveals. The companies stood out among their peers in the tech industry, who generally reported only a modest increase or reduced spending on lobbying compared to the first quarter last year, according to disclosure statements filed on Wednesda y. Uber almost tripled its spending last quarter, to $320,000 from $110,000 last year, setting a new record for the company. Twitter's spending almost doubled to $170,000, from $90,000 in the first three months of 2015. The amount companies spend tends to rise and fall depending on the legislative efforts underway that might help or hinder their businesses. The telecommunications industry has been among the biggest lobbyists in recent years, but Internet companies are fast becoming major players too. Facebook increased its spending by 14 percent from the first quarter last year to $2.8 million, a record for the company. It named immigration reform, government surveillance, Internet advertising and child online protection among the areas in which it lobbied. The biggest tech spender was AT&T, which pumped $4.5 million into its D. C. lobbying efforts, up 2 percent from last year. Google wasn't far behind at $3.8 million, a drop of 25 percent, and Verizon spent $3.6 million, up 7 percent. Oracle hiked its spend by 39 percent to $2.6 million and Microsoft spent $2 million, up 7 percent. Apple spent $1.1 million on lobbying during the quarter, down 9 percent, on issues including patents, corporate tax reform, energy efficiency, the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, mobile payments and safe driving.
2016-04-20 17:19 Martyn Williams www.itnews.com
19 Guest View: Why pricing for IoT is so confusing There’s a pattern in technology pricing, and the signs are that this pattern is emerging again for many of the technologies associated with the Internet of Things (IoT). Cambashi calls the pattern the “Henshell Curve” because it was a discussion with Cambashi associate Dr. Richard Henshell that crystallized our thinking into the price development trend curve shown in the diagram. There are four phases: RISK: In this first phase, the technology might come from a university for free or it might cost a fortune if you commission a development team to create it for you. Each vendor in the market (and there are many) offers a different bundle of functions at a different price. We call this the risk phase, because the chosen provider may not stay the course, or the technology may not develop in the way it was planned, and these changes could leave your investment stranded. There are no benchmarks to measure against. Throughout this phase, the top priority for the buyers and users of the technology is to manage risk, and make sure their vision of the potential benefits is a reasonable balance for this risk. This phase draws to a close as the market converges around one definition of price and function. (Related: IBM and Pfizer work on an IoT project to research Parkinson’s ) FUNCTION: Many (but not all) vendors survive into this second phase. The survivors make money, because the market grows fast and the price tends to rise, so quite a large population of vendors can prosper. The key competitive factor for the user now is function, and the leading vendors invest to deliver new functions to beat the competition. The signal for the end of this phase is the appearance of a new entrant offering 80% of the function at 20% of the price. PRICE: In this phase, functional bundles are well defined and well understood, and price becomes the main competitive weapon. Part of the market discovers that the 80% offer is all it needs. Market leaders come under pressure and prices start to fall. This is a very challenging phase for larger companies, which have to find leaner business models in order to stay in the business. BRAND: After the price wars, the survivors have a technology that is accepted at a price point that leaves a small profit margin. The technology tends to be treated as a commodity item, and the key competitive factor is brand. Vendors use strategies such as portfolio planning and add-on services to smooth out their revenue and profit curves as one or more technologies progress through these phases. Each phase attracts different types of customers, from the adventurous, experimenting with the new technologies during the risk phase, to the very cautious, who buy only from respectable brands after the price battles are over. The specific piece of research that triggered this article was some work we had done to look at “cloud providers for IoT.” This category fits into one of the six layers we use to segment IoT technology. There are of course some category gorillas—for example, Amazon Web Services for IoT; IBM Cloud (integrated into its Bluemix environment, which addresses IoT and other environments); PTC’s Axeda cloud offer alongside ThingWorx; Microsoft’s Azure IoT Suite. But you don’t have to look at this category for very long to find there are many providers, all offering something special, all with their own local or industry focus points. The available editions and pricing plans fill the shaded area in the risk phase. Some, but not all of these providers are destined for greatness, there are too many to list here, so apologies to those I haven’t included. Is this true across the whole of the technology and tool stacks you need for IoT? No, not entirely. For example, software development tools largely follow well-defined functionality bundles. But the picture is never static: There’s always room for a new entrant, whether it’s at the left-hand side of the diagram (introducing a new technology), or as the disruptor, offering 80% of the results at 20% of the price and forcing the market into the price phase. That’s why this is a market that is fun to watch!
2016-04-20 16:12 Peter Thorne sdtimes.com
20 Check Point CEO Says Security Vendor Is Starting To See Benefits Of Shift To Subscription Services Check Point Software Technologies is continuing its push toward a recurring revenue model with its software blades -- a push that CEO Gil Shwed said is starting to gain traction with customers. "We are going in the right direction, in terms of moving more and more revenue into an annuity business," Shwed said on the Tel Aviv, Israel-based security company's first-quarter earnings call Wednesday. Software blade subscriptions for the quarter were up more than 18 percent over the same period last year, to 88 million. That growth brings software blade subscriptions to more than 21 percent of the company's total revenue for the quarter, up from 19 percent in the same quarter last year, the remainder coming from products and licenses. [Related: Check Point Software Technologies Revamps Entire Platform Under Single Management Console ] "I think the blade strategy has been very successful for us. … I think we are doing very well," Shwed said. "All of that is new business and new technology and new annuities. " Total revenue for the quarter, which ended March 31, were $404 million, up 9 percent year over year. Net income for the quarter was $167 million, up nearly 4 percent from $161 million in the first quarter of last year. CFO Tal Payne highlighted the launch of multiple new products in the quarter as a big driver for the company's revenue growth. Most recently, in January, Check Point launched its 15000 Series and 23000 Series appliances, which focus on providing advanced threat protection and platform security to data center and high-end enterprise clients. Check Point has also recently launched new threat-prevention appliances for small businesses and branch offices, the 1400, 3000 and 5000 series, as well as a new security management platform called Check Point R80 . The new appliances are bundled with the company's next-generation threat-prevention capabilities, which Payne said have "great potential to increase customer security and renewals. " Shwed said the products are currently seeing a "small percentage of adoption. " "I think, overall, I'm very happy with the strategy," he said. "The nice thing about the strategy is that it has evolved. Every year we bring new blades to the marketplace, and there's different opportunities to grow with these blades. " Check Point will continue to expand its portfolio in the coming months and years, Shwed said. In particular, he said, the company will look to expand into "nontraditional markets," including critical infrastructure security, the Internet of Things and national security.
2016-04-20 15:36 Sarah Kuranda www.crn.com
21 Polycom Partners Eager For News On Channel Leadership, Foresee Some Executive Departures Polycom partners have told CRN they expect Mitel’s proposed acquisition of the company to result in some executives leaving the unified communications specialist. But which executives stay – or come aboard -- the new channel team is what will more directly impact their business, they added. "It's going to be more important for us to see who stays on the channel side of it," said an executive from a longtime Polycom partner, who declined to be identified. "People leave when a big merger like this happens; it's just the way it works out. … Polycom has had [been challenged by] a revolving door on the channel leadership side. " In September, Polycom’s worldwide channel chief, Mark Arman, left the company and later joined UC competitor StarLeaf in February. [Related: Cisco Partners Scoff At Mitel-Polycom Merger, Say Integration Could Derail Innovation ] In August, Marcy Kawadler , former channel business manager at Polycom and one of CRN's 2015 Women of the Channel, left the company to join Redbooth, another UC competitor to Polycom. And in March, Gary Testa , global vice president for Polycom's Cloud and Service Providers Solutions Group, jumped ship to join competitor Star2Star Communications, a cloud-based unified communications provider. Jim Kruger, chief marketing officer at Polycom, in an email to CRN said Mitel CEO Richard McBee will lead the new combined company as CEO. Mitel CFO Steven Spooner and Terry Mathews, Mitel's chairman of the board, will keep their roles in the new organization. "Further information on the organization's management will be announced following the completion of the transaction," said Kruger. Looking ahead, Gary Berzack, CTO and COO of New York-based eTribeca, a Polycom partner, said it's standard for some executives to leave during a significant merger and he expects the same in this case. "People start looking for the next thing," said Berzack. "An acquisition and merger is an ability for people to have movement --in, out and across. " What a new combined Mitel-Polycom channel program will look like as well as who will be involved in its new leadership team is still unknown at this point.
2016-04-20 15:14 Mark Haranas www.crn.com
22 10 Partner Takeaways From Intel's First-Quarter Earnings Intel Lays Out Layoffs And Restructuring As Company Turns To Data Center And IoT Intel said Tuesday that it will cut 12,000 jobs globally -- about 11 percent of its workforce -- as part of an initiative to "intensify focus in high-growth areas where it is positioned for long term growth," according to a release. After the announcement, CEO Brian Krzanich faced analysts on the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company's first-quarter earnings call to answer questions about the company's long-term goals. Overall, Intel reported first-quarter earnings of 54 cents per share on revenue of $13.8 billion. That beat expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters , who said Intel would report earnings of 47 cents per share on revenue of $13.84 billion for the most recent quarter. Following are 10 takeaways from Intel's first-quarter earnings call for the company's Technology Provider partners.
2016-04-20 15:11 Lindsey O www.crn.com
23 Apple Gave Up User Data In 82% Of Feds' Requests When US government agencies came knocking on Apple's door for access to users' account information and content, the iconic computer and device maker complied with 82% of the requests during the second half of last year, according to Apple's transparency report released this week. Apple turned over data and content from 4,411 accounts, including iTunes, iCloud, to US government officials between July 1 and Dec. 31, fulfilling 82% of US authorities' 1,015 requests to access user accounts, Apple stated in its report. In China, Apple disclosed more data account information than in the US, affecting 5,082 account holders whose information was shared with Chinese authorities largely due to phishing investigations. Apple's compliance with Chinese authorities' 32 account access requests was fulfilled only 53% of the time. When account information is provided to authorities, it can include a user's name, address, and, in some cases, content like photos, documents, contacts, calendar information, and bookmarks held in the accounts. But Apple notes that it will carefully weigh the requests and provide information when a search warrant is provided. In the high-profile San Bernardino terrorist case, Apple said it was willing to comply with the government's request to search Syed Farook's iPhone, but because of its encryption technology, it could not access the contents and data on the phone. The legal battle over the FBI's attempt to get Apple to build a backdoor in its iOS to provide access to the phone ultimately fell by the wayside after the FBI was able to find a third-party to break into Farook's iPhone. Apple's transparency report also details the number of times that various countries request information about its users' devices. Most of these requests center on lost or stolen Apple devices, with authorities requesting customer contact information that is used to register an Apple device. Apple provided Poland with data information on 56,447 devices during the second half of last year, fulfilling 55% of the 22 device requests from Polish authorities. Most of the requests came from Poland's customs and revenue authorities, Apple notes in its report. Requests from German authorities involved 31,360 devices, in which 52% of the 11,989 requests were fulfilled. For South Korea, which filed 119 requests, Apple provided information on 27,922 devices. In fulfilling 60% of South Korea's requests, Apple noted most of them centered on stolen devices. Create a culture where technology advances truly empower your business. Attend the Leadership Track at Interop Las Vegas, May 2-6. Register now! In the US, Apple fulfilled 80% of the 4,000 device data requests that applied to a total of 16,112 devices. The computer maker notes it does not take requests for users' information lightly. In its statement about the way it reviews requests for users' information from government agencies, Apple said: When we receive information requests, we require that it be accompanied by the appropriate legal documents such as a subpoena or search warrant. We believe in being as transparent as the law allows about what information is requested from us. We carefully review any request to ensure that there's a valid legal basis for it. And we limit our response to only the data law enforcement is legally entitled to for the specific investigation. Apple notes that 94% of requests for information center on device requests, with 6% seeking account information. But perhaps a more noteworthy figure is the number of people overall who have been affected by the information requests from authorities from around the world. The computer maker points out that only 0.00612% of its overall customer base has been affected by government information requests.
2016-04-20 15:06 Dawn Kawamoto www.informationweek.com
24 SAP Reports 33 Percent Q1 Cloud Revenue Growth SAP's transformation to a cloud software company continues to accelerate, with the company reporting 33 percent growth in cloud subscriptions and support revenue in its first quarter. The Walldorf, Germany-based company also reported Wednesday that steady customer adoption of its flagship SAP S/4HANA suite of applications, adding more than 500 customers during the quarter -- 30 percent of which were new SAP customers. Altogether, some 3,200 customers have adopted S/4HANA since its launch a little more than one year ago. For the quarter ended March 31, SAP reported total revenue of just under 4.73 billion euro ($5.36 billion), up 5 percent from 4.50 billion euro ($5.10 billion) in the same period last year. After-tax profit soared 38 percent, to 570 million euro ($645.8 million) from 413 million euro ($467.8 million) one year earlier. [Related: Partners See Expanded Business Analytics Opportunities With SAP's HANA Vora ] "SAP's strong cloud growth was at the high end of our guidance range for 2016 and ahead of our midterm aspirations," said CFO Luka Mucic during an earnings teleconference Wednesday. Cloud subscription and support revenue reached 677 million euros ($766.9 million), up 35 percent year over year. New cloud bookings accounted for 145 million euro ($164.3 million) of that number. Sales growth was particularly robust for SAP's cloud-based human capital management, customer engagement and commerce applications, the company said. SAP is forecasting up to 33 percent growth in cloud subscription and support revenue for all of 2016. The accelerated sales growth of cloud services helped offset the slow sales growth of traditional software licenses and related support, which increased just 1 percent year over year to 3.17 billion euro ($3.59 billion). "Our cloud gross margin expanded year over year, which -- along with the successful business transformation -- drove operating profit up 5 percent even with a lower-than-expected license performance," Mucic said. SAP also revealed that as of April 1, it has combined its products for small and midsize customers, including SAP Anywhere, SAP Business One and SAP Business ByDesign, into a single organization under the leadership of executive board member Steve Singh. Those products, especially the Business One applications for small businesses, are popular among SAP's channel partners. SAP said that given the strong momentum in its cloud business, it expects revenue from cloud subscriptions and support to reach between 2.95 billion euro ($3.34 billion) and 3.05 billion euro ($3.46 billion) for all of 2016. The higher end of that range would represent a gain of more than 30 percent from 2.30 billion euro ($2.61 billion) in 2015. The company is forecasting operating profit for the year to be in the range of 6.4 billion to 6.7 billion euro ($7.24 billion to $7.58 billion), up from 6.35 billion euro ($7.18 billion) in 2015.
2016-04-20 14:34 Rick Whiting www.crn.com
25 Feeling angry and betrayed, IT workers mount protest In midtown Manhattan Wednesday, around 25 EmblemHealth IT employees and their supporters held a protest over the firm's decision to shift work to IT services firm Cognizant. On the sidewalks next to EmblemHealth's midtown offices, they yelled "Protect U. S. jobs," "Keep jobs in the U. S. A. " and, to the people passing by: "It's our jobs now, your jobs next. " They waved signs and slowly moved along. The IT employees gathered for the protest outside St. Michael's Church on 34th Street near 9th Avenue, across from EmblemHealth's office. A small contingent of plainclothes security, dressed in suits, watched. There was never any tension or reason for security to become animated. There were a few moments of humor, particularly when everyone made way for a tiny, sunglasses-wearing poodle on a leash that walked by with its owner. What is remarkable is that there was a public protest. IT employees faced with job loss over outsourcing usually keep their anger in the background. But the EmblemHealth employees feel betrayed, and misled by management. One IT employee said the feeling is that the technical staff is being made to suffer because of bad decision making by the firm's management. "Why did they keep all the upper management? " this employee asked. "You kept the people who sunk the ship. " EmblemHealth CEO Karen Ignagni told employees on Tuesday that "several hundred" IT and operations workers will be laid off as a result of a decision to hire services firm Cognizant. Labor attorney Sara Blackwell, who helped to organize the protest , posted the video on YouTube. The picture that Ignagni painted in the video is that the firm didn't have the money or the staff to modernize and automate its IT platform, a claim the workers disagree with. But the IT workers have no choice in the matter. For those employees who are laid off and are rebadged to Cognizant, there's no guarantee of a career, just a short-term job. One employee said he was offered a two-year contract with Cognizant, but in this contract Cognizant has the right to relocate him to another site. He has children and can't afford to take a position that might require a very long commute. One IT employee felt lied to by the company. Even as it was negotiating a contract with Cognizant, employees were told by the CEO to "hang in there" and told things would improve. The goal, this employee said, was to encourage employees not to abandon the firm.
2016-04-20 13:45 Patrick Thibodeau www.infoworld.com
26 GitHub updates Atom, with focus on Windows dev Version 1.7 of GitHub's Atom programmable text editor for cross-platform development is now available, featuring Windows enhancements and tab improvements. GitHub is also offering a 1.8 beta release. To improve the experience on Windows, Atom 1.7 documentation clarifies how to build in the Visual Studio 2015 IDE; Appveyor CI builds are now supported as well. Portable mode is documented in the Atom Flight Manual, and file types now can be easily associated with Atom. "No more need to hunt for atom.exe or deal with broken associations after an update," said GitHub's Michelle Tilley, a software engineer. The new version addresses installation conditions where the path would not be set properly, and pinned shortcuts are updated when Atom updates. Version 1.7's ctrl-tab function switches between the most recently used (MRU) tabs in a window rather than switching to the tab to the right of the current tab. "MRU tab switching was a heavily requested feature, but if you want the old behavior back, you can overwrite the associated keybinds -- using the new keyup syntax -- in your Keymap file," Tilley said. Also, Atom now supports one environment per window. If a developer uses packages that rely on environment variables set for a particular language or project workflows, it is no longer necessary to relaunch Atom to access the correct variables. GitHub changed Atom's crash recovery capability as well. "Crashes are nobody's idea of fun, but in case Atom does crash on you, it periodically saves your editor state. After relaunching Atom after a crash, you should find all your work saved and ready to go. " Tilley also highlighted tree view improvements. "Atom 1.7 brings some changes to the way clicking on files in the tree view behaves, making it easier to select files for operations like renaming and deleting and more closely matching the behavior of other editors. " If developers have pending pane items enabled, single-clicking on an item in the tree view opens the file in pending mode but leaves the focus on the tree view; double-clicking switches the file to permanent mode. Additionally, the Atom keymap file has a new syntax for dispatching events on keyup events. The Atom 1.8 beta, meanwhile, adds the ability to move text left and right by one column. "They are bound to cmd-ctrl-left and cmd-ctrl-right on OS X and alt-shift-left and alt-shift-right on Windows and Linux. " Also featured is enhanced environment handling, in which developers can update a window's environment by executing the same command with an updated terminal environment. Bug fixes are featured as well, affecting emoji rendering on OS X and Git-related issues.
2016-04-20 12:47 Paul Krill www.infoworld.com
27 Razer launches Turret 'Lapboard,' Mouse combo Razer's new Turret combines a 'lapboard' with magnetically- attached mouse for living-room gaming. Razer has announced the launch of a keyboard and mouse combo which it claims is perfect for the living-room gamer: the Razer Turret Lapboard and Mouse. The Razer Turrent, the company claims, was designed with a focus on allowing a full PC gaming experience from a reclined position on a living-room sofa - without having to switch to an entirely different form of input, such as Valve's Steam Controller. Originally unveiled as a prototype back in 2015, the Razer Turret is now ready for retail - and comes with some clever tweaks. The keyboard - or, as Razer would have it, lapboard - appears at first glance to be a fairly standard wireless keyboard featuring island-style keys and a 2.4GHz wireless connection. The area to the right which appears at first glance to be a trackpad, though, is actually a mousing surface for the bundled gaming mouse - which adheres in place using magnets, meaning it shouldn't slip off the edge as the user spams WoW macros. ' The Razer Turret brings the immense world of PC gaming to a previously impossible frontier— the living room—where only consoles have traditionally roamed until now, ' crowed Razer chief executive and co-founder Min-Liang Tan of the launch. ' Finally, we have a perfect solution for gamers to enjoy the unrivalled precision of a mouse and keyboard combination from the comfort of the couch with the durability and reliability that PC gamers demand. ' The keyboard portion of the bundle features 10-key rollover, a dual-function radio for 2.4GHz use with the bundled USB adapter or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) use with a smartphone or tablet, dedicated Android buttons for use in the latter mode, and a 1,500mAh lithium-polymer battery claimed to run for around four months between changes. The mouse portion features a 3,500dpi laser-based optical sensor and a 1,000mAh battery capable of running the device for 40 hours of continuous use. A bundled dock allows both devices to be stored vertically to save space. The Razer Turret bundle is available now, though only in US layout, priced at £149.99 from the Razer Store .
2016-04-20 12:47 Published on feedproxy.google.com
28 Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile Build 14327 adds texting via PC, strips out Skype One of the reasons we keep our phones out at work is to quickly and surreptitiously reply to a text or a phone call. With Microsoft’s new beta build of Windows 10 Mobile, we can put them back in our pockets. With Build 14327 of Windows 10 Mobile for the Fast Ring of Windows Insiders, Microsoft has added its Messaging Everywhere Preview, an early look at a capability to send and receive texts while seated at your Windows 10 PC, rather than via your phone. The only loss in this build is Skype integration in its Messaging app, preparing for you for Skype’s eventual transformation into a separate Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app. Here’s how Messaging Everywhere should work: Download the build, then make sure you’ve signed in with your Microsoft account on both your phone and your PC. You’ll need to confirm your Messaging app on your PC connects to your phone, via the Settings. If it all goes as expected, new texts sent your phone should pop up as Action Center notifications that you can reply to within the notification itself. The only hitch, as mentioned above, is that Skype messaging is no longer integrated into the Messaging app. Microsoft said you can use the previous Skype for Windows Phone app within the Windows Store. The other feature of note within the new build is the addition of Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil) and French (Canada) languages for Cortana. This includes voice input as well. Microsoft has also fixed several bugs, including one where Facebook Messenger wouldn’t launch from the All Apps screen, and another where the phone would become unresponsive if the screen was quickly power-cycled using the power button. The build has also introduced some bugs, including crashing the Camera app when going into your camera roll, a bug that prevents Tweetium from launching, and an apps bug that shows apps hanging on a “Pending” status when in fact they’ve been installed and a usable on the phone.
2016-04-20 12:34 Mark Hachman www.itnews.com
29 Apple's emphasis on security makes ARM-powered Macs 'inevitable' Apple will offer Macs equipped with an ARM processor, the same silicon used in the iPhone and iPad, an analyst said, calling the move "inevitable" because of the company's emphasis on security and encryption. "If Apple truly wants to bring their security philosophy to their products in every part of the ecosystem, they must also do what many predict and make A-series processors for Macs," said Ben Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies, in a piece posted to Tech.pinions Tuesday ( subscription required ). "[Apple] has convinced me even more [that] A-series processors for Macs are inevitable. " Apple's in-house-designed system-on-a-chip (SoC), which powers the iPhone and iPad, are labeled A x , such as the A9 inside 2015's iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, and this year's iPhone 5SE. A variation of that SoC, the A9X, powers the iPad Pro line. Bajarin's prediction was based in large part on a technical briefing Apple held with a small number of analysts last week. During the briefing, Apple focused on security and encryption -- a topic that has put the Cupertino, Calif. firm in the crosshairs of the U. S. government over accessing criminal suspects' iPhones -- by explaining the integration between the 64-bit A- series silicon, the iOS operating system, and the "Secure Enclave" co-processor. In an interview today, Bajarin characterized Secure Enclave as the "heart of every bit of encrypted information" on an iPhone or iPad. The co-processor makes possible everything from secure boot and file encryption to its best-known task, processing the fingerprint data from an iPhone's TouchID scanner to authenticate the user for unlocking the device and authorizing electronic payment via Apple Pay. "Secure Enclave sits in the middle of making all secure bits secure," said Bajarin. "The more I look back on that, it's clear that Secure Enclave plays a much larger role than we have given it credit for. " Apple, not surprisingly, has divulged few technical aspects of Secure Enclave, which it introduced with the iPhone 5S in 2013. When it rolled out that model, it said only that "all fingerprint information is encrypted and stored securely in the Secure Enclave inside the A7 chip on the iPhone 5S. " In September 2015, Apple posted a security white paper that included a few more details of Secure Enclave. Bajarin didn't limit his analysis to Secure Enclave, but instead pointed out the top-to-bottom control that Apple maintains over security on its devices. It crafts the A-series silicon and the Secure Enclave co-processor; it develops and maintains iOS: nothing is off the shelf, and it relies on no outside party. "Security in all of its facets is being thought through every level of the product," Bajarin said in the interview of Apple's approach. "It's built from the ground up. Out of everyone out there, Apple is above and beyond on security. " But if security is at root a critical component of Apple's strategy, Bajarin argued, it surely must expand from the iOS platform to the Mac. That's where ARM, the processor architecture that Apple's SoCs are based upon, comes in. "OS X has its own security story," Bajarin acknowledged. "But given the narrative Apple's trying to tell and how much time they've spent on this philosophy, if they're serious about security they need to bring it to every bit of their product line. " To accomplish on the Mac what it's done on the iPhone, Apple would have to abandon Intel as its processor supplier, and use its own A-series SoC and Secure Enclave. In turn, that would mean OS X would be discarded, at least for those Macs equipped with ARM-based silicon, and replaced by iOS itself or a variation of the operating system. Apple's emphasis on security and encryption, and how they are implemented in the iPhone by Apple's customization strategy, said Bajarin, made it clear: "It signals that it's inevitable that they will do the same for all the products that they can," he concluded. Bajarin published an initial analysis of Apple's security strategy Monday ; unlike yesterday's piece, the first can be read free of charge.
2016-04-20 12:22 Gregg Keizer www.computerworld.com
30 Surface Book, Surface Pro 4 updates throw 800f0203 error, blue screens Yesterday, Microsoft released its ninth firmware update for the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 (Oct. 23 2015, Nov. 2, Nov. 18, Dec. 2, Dec. 17, Jan. 27, 2016, Feb. 17, Mar. 15, and now Apr. 19). The update is immense, with dozens of separately identified driver fixes, and a handful of additional changes. The most recent Surface Pro 3 release lists four driver and firmware updates, all associated with the Surface Dock, which has encountered a great deal of criticism. If I count correctly, that's the 21st firmware patch for Surface Pro 3. You may have received some or all of the updates overnight. If you haven't, keep this admonition from Microsoft in mind: When Surface updates are provided via the Windows Update service, they are delivered in stages to Surface customers. As a result, not every Surface will receive the update at the same time, but the update will be delivered to all devices. If you have not received the update then please manually check Windows Update later. The Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 have been the subject of many deleterious mentions online, including complaints about sleep problems, wakeup problems, screen flickering, Windows Hello not working, Windows Store stuttering, and many other odd mishaps. It's much too early to tell for sure, but it looks like this round of patches has solved many -- but not all -- of the problems... if you can get them installed. I applied the firmware updates to a Surface Pro 3, a Surface Pro 4, and a brand-new Surface Book, and encountered many of the issues that other folks are reporting. Here's what I found. My Surface Pro 3, which doesn't have a Dock, shows no updates available. It isn't clear at this point if that's because the firmware patches are slow to roll out, or if you have to have a plugged- in Dock in order to get the patches. It also isn't clear if you can install the latest Dock patches independently of Windows Update using (for example) the Microsoft Surface Dock Updater. If you've managed to get the Dock patches for SP3 downloaded and installed, please drop a note here in the comments or on AskWoody.com . My Surface Pro 4 took its medicine with no noticeable adverse effects. I had to reboot twice, but encountered no other problems. My Surface Book, on the other hand, hit a series of problems that are now well known and well documented. There's a solution making its way around the Internet, and Microsoft says it's working on solving the problem. When installing the patches, the installer crashed with a blue screen that says, "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (iacamera64.sys).” After an automated countdown, the machine rebooted and came up with the installer running. It worked for a bit, then came back with an update notification that listed "Intel Corporation driver update for Intel(R) Control Logic," and many other Intel driver updates all failing with errors 800f0203 or 80248007. There's a lengthy thread on Reddit , where Microsoft engineers are helping to answer installation questions. This combination seems to be the most common complaint, and it happens on both Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book updates. The Microsoft Answers forum is full to overflowing with questions -- 76 posts and increasing quickly, at last count. Here's the recommended approach to solving the problem (note that it doesn't always work, though): Failed to install device instance Driver package ‘c:\windows\softwaredistribution\download\install….' At the end of that long line you'll see an inf file listed, like this: (oem68.inf) Other people report an inf name of oem90.inf , oem96.inf , oem113.inf , oem135.inf , and many more. Make a note of the inf name. pnputil –d substituting your Inf name for. In my case, I used poputil –d oem68.inf In most cases, that combination will work. There are tough cases, though, including mine. When I ran the poputil command, I got an error: Deleting the driver package failed :One or more devices are presently installed using the specified INF. At that point, I stopped trying to get the updates installed. I didn't want to delete a needed driver, on the off chance that the presently installed devices are critical. The update, for me, will have to wait for another day. Poster GoodThings2Life on the Blackforce UK forum has more of a sledgehammer approach. He writes: I had some extra work to do that may be helpful to others. In my case, one of the Surface Book's firmware controller drivers got stuck in C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\skccontroller.inf_amd64_b8fa66e3cad9164f and this was what was indicated in the log file from the article. Instead of using the pnputil -d command, I had to browse to C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository and manually take ownership, assign full permissions to Everyone, and delete the entire skccontroller.inf_amd64_b8fa66e3cad9164f folder entirely. Hopefully this information will be helpful to others, and I thank you for figuring out this much to get me pointed in the right direction! Several Microsoft devs are actively holding down the fort on Reddit. Zac_l, in particular, has made this magnanimous gesture : Can you upload this file to somewhere I can access it: C:\windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log? PM me the link and I'll reply with recovery steps. These steps will be specific to your machine, so I don't want to post them publicly and have someone else follow them and mess up their machine. I think Niterider4, posting on the Microsoft Surface Forums , hit the nail on the head: Personally, I'm waiting for the day when my Surface Book is more like a dependable computer and less like a technology project that requires frequent monitoring and maintenance. I really want to believe that the latest crop of drivers will work. Guess we'll have to wait until the installer bugs get ironed out.
2016-04-20 12:14 Woody Leonhard www.infoworld.com
31 Public cloud review: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Joyent The message from the cloud has always been simple: Surrender your cares, IT managers, and we’ll handle everything. Forget about skinning your knuckles installing servers, double-checking diesel backups or fretting about 1,000 or 10,000 things that could go wrong. Give us a credit card number and your data. We’ll do the rest. For the last few months, I’ve once again been living the dream, building a vast empire of computers that spanned the globe. Machines everywhere crunched my data into teeny tiny bits, then crunched the numbers even more. Private networks carried my secret scraps of info between the machines so that others could work the data and reform it into pretty graphs. Sure, my desktop is a bit old and could use more RAM, but with my browser I created a worldwide army of machines with about as much ease as the sorcerer’s apprentice in “Fantasia.” To continue reading this article register now Learn More Existing Users Sign In
2016-04-20 11:44 Peter Wayner www.computerworld.com
32 Save 40% on the TP-LINK Wi-Fi Smart Plug - Deal Alert The TP-LINK HS100 smart plug is quite simply a power outlet that you can control from anywhere. Using your smartphone, you can turn devices on & off, set programs to turn them on & off at set times while you're away, or engage a "countdown timer" which powers the switch off after a set amount of time. Installation is simple -- just plug a device into your smart plug and connect to your wifi network. The HS100 is also compatible with Echo, for voice control. Buy multiple plugs and get creative. The TP-LINK HS100 wifi smart plug averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from 250 reviewers ( read reviews ). With a list price of $49.99, this 40% discount puts the HS100 at just $29.95 .
2016-04-20 11:27 DealPost Team www.itnews.com
33 Intel's tablet adventure looking more like its netbook disaster Intel's rise and fall in tablets are starting to resemble the company's misadventures in netbooks less than a decade ago. The company is quickly distancing itself from basic tablets, a market it prized as little as two years ago, to go after detachable devices, hybrids, and high-end tablets that can double as PCs. Intel could also ax some Atom tablet chip lines that brought the company success two years ago. Intel this week laid off 12,000 people as part of a restructuring plan that could also include cuts in some product lines. Tablet chip shipments for Intel were down 44 percent in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same quarter last year, the company said during its quarterly earnings call late Tuesday. That translates into roughly 4 million tablet chips shipped in the quarter, according to an estimate by analyst Dean McCarron of Mercury Research. It's a small number even in a declining tablet market. IDC is estimating worldwide tablet shipments will drop to 195 million this year, falling by 5.9 percent compared to 2015. Intel "had the same thing with netbooks," with the company targeting the market as it rose quickly before collapsing suddenly, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. Netbook shipments exploded in 2008, before starting to decline in 2010 after users started to move to tablets like Apple's iPad. Netbooks were criticized for being slow and small, and Intel's chips for those PCs were slowly phased out by 2013. A market for netbook-like PCs has re- emerged in recent years with Google's Chromebooks. In the tablet market, ARM-based processors offer a better mix of performance and power efficiency, and investing in low-cost Atom chips for tablets isn't worth Intel's time if profits are a priority, McGregor said. The failure in tablets is among a handful of recent short-sighted moves by Intel's management. Intel has invested in a number of failed efforts over the years, including WiMax and a TV service called OnCue, ultimately acquired by Verizon. Intel is now focusing on the Internet of Things, data centers, and connectivity. Intel aggressively chased the tablet market in 2014, and the company said it would sell 40 million tablet chips that year. It subsidized its Atom chips for tablet makers, particularly small Chinese companies, which helped bring tablet prices down. The goal was to catch up with ARM, which dominated the then-hot tablet market. Intel met its goals, selling 46 million tablet chips that year. But it lost money on the chips sold and took billions of dollars in losses in its mobile division. Realizing the blunder, Intel in the following year focused on profitability instead of volume and market position. The results are showing. Intel sold fewer, but higher-priced, tablets, which contributed to a profit for the mobile division in the first quarter this year. Intel is now looking to cut products as it restructures operations, and some low-cost and low- volume Atom tablet chips could be casualties. The company may elect to not release a successor or refresh its current Cherry Trail line of Atom chips, which are used mostly in mainstream tablets and some low-cost PCs. The company hinted as much at IDF Shenzhen, where Intel emphasized its focus on tablet-PC hybrids. A new lineup of upcoming Pentium and Celeron chips called Apollo Lake will succeed the existing Atom X5 Cherry Trail line of chips, said Navin Shenoy, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group, during a keynote. Apollo Lake, which will be released in the second half this year, will primarily serve as a successor to the existing line of Pentium and Celeron chips, called Braswell, for low-cost PCs and hybrids. But by merging the Cherry Trail chips with Pentium and Celeron, Intel may remove the confusion people may have about its low-end tablet and PC chip lines. About 100 laptops and hybrids with detachable tablet screens are being designed using Apollo Lake, said Shenoy, who showed some prototypes on stage. Some of the products being designed may not ultimately ship. Intel's Skylake-based Core M chip is looking more like the company's tablet and two-in-one chip of the future. Atom tablet chips are getting squeezed out as PC and tablet makers prefer the faster Core M chips, which offer close to the same battery life as Cherry Trail. The Core M chips are used in higher-priced tablets, a market Intel is targeting. Cherry Trail is used in Microsoft's HoloLens headset, which delivers an estimated 3.3 hours of battery life. That's a sign that Intel could redirect its future Atom chips to headsets, wearables, and other IoT devices. Intel also makes Atom chips for smartphones, but won't give up on that market considering the company's heavy focus on cloud hardware, McCarron said. Intel's Atom chips are installed in just a few handsets, and the company is trying to catch up with ARM. But there is space for Intel to compete in the smartphone market, with more than a billion units shipped each year.
2016-04-20 11:26 Agam Shah www.itnews.com
34 Google.com is 'partially dangerous', says Google GOOGLE'S PRIMARY google.com URL is dangerous, and that's according to Google itself. To be totally accurate, Google's Safe Browsing checker lists, the ones that warn if you're about to go to a site it reckons is dodgy, has the venerable homepage as 'partially dangerous' and warns that "some pages on this website redirect visitors to dangerous sites that install malware on visitors' computers", according to a Reddit user . It also warns: "Attackers on this site might try to trick you to download software or steal your information. " Reddit contributors point out that, ironically, bing.com is not marked as dangerous. A report in The Washington Post said that the problem may well stem not from Google itself (well, duh) but rather the fact that someone is hosting something they shouldn't somewhere in the Google cloud (well, duh again) so the system has marked the whole lot as dangerous. The opportunities to do the same with Bing are limited, hence it escapes the moniker. Some reports said that this has been going on since last November without being fixed, but the most recent reports came on Tuesday, suggesting that it's an intermittent fault. Other domains marked as partially dangerous, according to the Post article, include tumblr.com and github.com, both of which host user-generated content, thus backing up the theory of bad apples in a largely clean barrel. Google has yet to comment on this malarkey, but Safe Browsing has a 24-hour lag for updating so this could have been fixed already for all we know. The INQUIRER wonders, given that Google has shown before that it has more than a passing love for Douglas Adams, as shown by the numbering of the original Chromecast as H2G2-42 (ask a fan), whether perhaps the firm would be happy to upgrade the status from 'partially dangerous' to 'mostly harmless'. µ
2016-04-20 11:24 Chris Merriman www.theinquirer.net
35 Oracle security update includes Java, MySQL, Oracle Database fixes Administrators who support Java applications and various Oracle databases should pay close attention to the latest quarterly security update from Oracle, as more than a third of the security fixes affect Java, MySQL, and Oracle Database Server. Several of these vulnerabilities are considered critical and could be remotely exploited without requiring authentication, Oracle said. Oracle doesn't state in the Critical Patch Update (CPU) whether any of the vulnerabilities are currently being exploited in the wild. However, it warns that attackers continue to target security holes for which fixes are already available. "In some instances, it has been reported that attackers have been successful because targeted customers had failed to apply available Oracle patches. Oracle therefore strongly recommends that customers remain on actively-supported versions and apply Critical Patch Update fixes without delay," the company said in an advisory. Oracle has switched to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.0 scale to indicate the severity of the flaws fixed in the CPU. The advisory is also available with CVSS 2.0 , but going forward, the CPU will rely on the newer scale. The size of this CPU -- 136 fixes -- is actually the second smallest over the past year. Last April's CPU fixed a mere 98 flaws, but subsequent updates have been progressively larger, peaking at 248 patches in January's gargantuan CPU. More than the size of the CPU itself, what's striking is the small number of patches for Oracle Database. Past CPUs have hovered around 10 Oracle Database Server patches, but this month there are only five. Maybe it has something to do with April -- Oracle patched a mere four flaws last April. Of the five security fixes for Oracle Database Server, two can be remotely exploited over a network without the attacker having valid login credentials. None of the flaws applies to client- only installations or cases where the organization does not have Oracle Database Server. The most serious vulnerability is a critical flaw in the Java VM component (CVE-2016-3454) in Oracle Database Server versions 11.2.04, 12.1.0.1, and 12.1.0.2. Oracle assigned a CVSS 3.0 rating of 9.0 (CVSS 2.0 rating of 7.6), and warned that the attack complexity for this flaw was high. A successful attack would likely result in total information disclosure and give the attacker complete control over the targeted system. Considering how many organizations are locked into paying expensive legacy contracts because their critical systems rely on Oracle databases, it's worrying that the bulk of the CPUs for the past few years has fixed issues in nondatabase products. Like any other software, Oracle Database has bugs. And considering the amount of sensitive data that organizations store, the company should focus more attention on finding and patching those issues. The fact that it hasn't been doing so is another indicator Oracle is moving away from its database roots. Oracle's lack of attention on databases may be confined to its flagship database, since the CPU did not neglect MySQL. Of the 31 new security fixes for Oracle MySQL, four could be exploited remotely without authentication. Both critical vulnerabilities in MySQL Server's packaging subcomponent (CVE-2016-0705) and the critical vulnerability in MySQL Server's pluggable authentication subcomponent (CVE-2016-0639) affect versions 5.6.29 and earlier as well as 5.7.11 and earlier. Oracle assigned a CVSS 3.0 rating of 9.8 (CVSS 2.0 rating of 10.0) and warned that the attack complexity for this flaw was low, meaning attackers don't have to meet any special requirements to access the bug. A successful attack would result in total information disclosure and complete control over the targeted system. The other two flaws that can be remotely exploited are not rated critical, but should be considered high-priority. The vulnerability in MySQL Server in the encryption subcomponent (CVE-2015-3194) has a CVSS 3.0 rating of 7.5 and affects versions 5.6.28 and earlier, as well as 5.7.10 and earlier. A successful attack would result in the system no longer being available. The other is a vulnerability in MySQL Server's connection handling subcomponent (CSV-2016- 2047) that has a CVSS 3.0 rating of 5.9. This flaw exists in versions 5.5.48 and earlier, 5.6.29 and earlier, and 5.7.11 and earlier. An attacker who succeeds in exploiting this flaw would be able to modify information on the server. Administrators can reduce the risk of attacks targeting these flaws by limiting the machines that can form a direct connection using the MySQL protocol. Oracle patched nine security flaws in Oracle Java SE, which affects Java applets and Java Web Start applications. All of the vulnerabilities can be remotely exploited without a username or password, but the severity depends on the level of privileges assigned to the user. If the user has administrator privileges -- unfortunately still common on Windows systems -- the severity is much higher than if the user has restricted access, a scenario more common for Linux and Solaris users. Oracle said the attack complexity for the flaws in Java SE's 2D subcomponent (CVE 2016- 3443, base score of 9.6 under CVSS 3.0), in Java SE and Java SE Embedded's hotspot subcomponent (CVE-2016-0687, base score of 9.6 under CVSS 3.0), and in Java SE and Java SE Embedded's serialization subcomponent (CVE-2016-0686, base score of 9.6 under CVSS 3.0), was low. Affected versions include Java SE 6u113, 7u99, 8u77, and JavaSE Embedded 8u77. The three flaws affect Java deployments that load and run untrusted code, such as clients running sandboxed Java Web Start applications or sandboxed Java applet, Oracle said in its advisory. The vulnerabilities do not apply in server-side Java deployments that load and run only trusted code. The attack complexity for the bug in Java SE, Java SE Embedded, and JRockit's JMX sub- component (CVE-2016-3427) is high, meaning the attacker requires perfect timing or circumstances other than user interaction in order to succeed. The vulnerability applies to both client- and server-side Java, as it can be exploited through sandboxed Java Web Start applications, sandboxed Java applets, and by supplying data to APIs not using Java sandboxes (a Web service). The four critical vulnerabilities, if exploited successfully, would result in total information disclosure and give the attacker complete control over the targeted system. Java applets are still around, especially in gaming, remote access tools, and educational software. The good news is that exploit kit writers seem to be ignoring Java vulnerabilities in favor of Adobe Flash. All of the top 10 vulnerabilities targeted by exploit kits during 2015 are related to Adobe Flash, according to NTT Group's latest global threat intelligence report. Even so, don't ignore Java. Oracle pushed out an emergency update back in March for a critical flaw in both the desktop and browser plug-in versions. CVE-2016-0636, which affected Oracle Java SE 7u97, 8u73 and 8u74, scored a 9.3 on the CVSS 2.0. In this CPU, Oracle reminded affected users to apply the fixes if they haven't already done so. It's already been a busy month, what with last week's Patch Tuesday updates from Microsoft and Adobe, the latest warnings about JBoss , and administrators still fixing the Badlock flaw in Samba. Don't delay too long applying all these patches, since attackers will find and take advantage of the security flaw that gets skipped over.
2016-04-20 11:17 Fahmida Y www.infoworld.com
36 Microsoft kills off its Xbox 360 gaming console, but Xbox 360 games will live on thanks to the Xbox One The Xbox 360 is dead. Long live the Xbox 360. Microsoft said Wednesday that the company has ceased production on its last-generation Xbox 360 game console, which launched just more than 10 years ago in November 2005. Microsoft announced the news in a blog post, which noted that Microsoft had simply decided to focus its production on its latest console, the Xbox One. “Xbox 360 means a lot to everyone in Microsoft. And while we’ve had an amazing run, the realities of manufacturing a product over a decade old are starting to creep up on us,” Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox for Microsoft, wrote. “Which is why we have made the decision to stop manufacturing new Xbox 360 consoles. We will continue to sell existing inventory of Xbox 360 consoles, with availability varying by country.” The decision isn’t entirely unexpected; Microsoft said in 2013 that the Xbox 360 was expected to last until 2016. Microsoft said that, collectively, gamers spent 78 billion hours gaming on its console, and 25 billion more hours using apps like Netflix. That itself is noteworthy, given that the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 were the first consoles to be capable of streaming movies and television shows from the Internet in addition to playing games. Ironically, Microsoft allowed streaming and other apps to become the initial focus of the Xbox One , but the company beat a hasty retreat when gamers protested. Finally, Microsoft said that it plans to continue the Deals with Gold and Games with Gold programs; the latter offers one of the best deals in gaming: If a gamer subscribes to the Xbox Live service, he or she receives four free games per month: two for the Xbox One, and two for the Xbox 360. All Xbox 360 games are playable on the One via the backward-compatibility program. With the Xbox 360 being phased out, Microsoft’s focus will now turn to the Xbox One and its integration with Windows 10. Spencer promised that over the next few weeks and months, the company will share more of the company’s plans for gaming on “Xbox One, Windows 10, and beyond.”
2016-04-20 11:14 Mark Hachman www.itnews.com
37 68% off Amir 3 in 1 Cell Phone Camera Lens Kit - Deal Alert With this lens kit from Amir you can take high clarity, professional photos wish fisheye, macro and super wide angle format from virtually any cell phone. These professional HD lenses reduce glass flare & ghosting caused by reflections. A universal clip design makes it easy to attach to most cell phones, iPads and PC's as well. The fisheye lens capture images at 180-degrees, wide angle lens at 140-degrees and the macro lens magnifies 10x with a minimum object distance of 10-15mm. The lens kit receives an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon ( read reviews ). Regular price is listed at $39.99 on Amazon, but with the current 68% discount you can gift this kit to yourself or an aspiring photographer for just $12.88 .
2016-04-20 10:59 DealPost Team www.computerworld.com
38 Chrome turns 50 and stands at a crossroads Google’s Chrome browser has just reached a major milestone, hitting its 50th release. For Google, it’s a moment for positive reflection. To emphasize Chrome’s might, the company points to the browser’s 771 billion page loads per month, 1 billion monthly active mobile users, 9.1 billion auto-filled forms, and 145 million malicious webpages averted. One might also point to Chrome’s ever-growing usage, accounting for 47 percent of all worldwide pageviews, including mobile, according to StatCounter. Indeed, Chrome has become an indispensable tool for many web users, and has served as a leader in the browser world. It introduced the idea of limiting menu clutter around actual webpages, and popularized the syncing of bookmarks, tabs, and browser history across devices. After all these years, it remains PCWorld’s most highly-recommended web browser. Yet for all the good Chrome has done, Google’s browser now stands at a crossroads. Aside from just another way to browse the Internet, it’s unclear exactly what Google wants Chrome to be. In the beginning, Google’s key tenets for Chrome were speed and simplicity. The browser’s minimal menu system (or “chrome,” hence the name) got out of the way, and its JavaScript engine crushed the competition as websites grew more advanced in the late aughts. Those advantages are less pronounced now. Nearly every other browser has embraced restraint with their own chrome, and Chrome is no longer the clear victor in benchmarks. Meanwhile, the ever-increasing demands of the modern web have given Chrome a reputation for being a resource hog and a battery killer , even if other browsers aren’t markedly better. A few years after Chrome launched, Google started broadening its ambitions. It introduced the Chrome Web Store , and eventually the concept of native Chrome apps with offline functionality. A Chrome app launcher followed, along with push notifications from web services and Google Now. These new features were supposed to turn Chrome into a platform-within-a-platform on Windows and Mac, while making Chrome OS into a legitimate desktop operating system. The Chrome app launcher in Windows (RIP). But over the last year, Google has dismantled or abandoned many of those efforts. The Chrome notification center is now dead on Windows and Mac, as Google considers embracing native notifications on those platforms. The Chrome Web Store fell into disrepair years ago, and Google has shown little interest in cleaning it up. The Chrome app launcher got nixed on Windows, Mac, and Linux because no one was using it. As for Chrome OS, its future is far from certain. Although the platform has traction in the education world, and probably isn’t going away , a merged Chrome-Android operating system for consumers seems likely. Chrome OS is still around, but for how long and in what capacity? Amid all these retrenchments, Chrome has introduced no big noteworthy features to its desktop browser. The most interesting browser developments are instead happening on alternatives such as Microsoft Edge (with its page annotation and embedded Cortana assistant) and Vivaldi (with its web panels and tab stacking). Google may arguably be more interested in mobile Chrome, now that smartphone usage has eclipsed the desktop. But in a world of apps, Facebook, and Instant Articles , the idea that users will spend significant amounts of time in a browser seems quaint. Perhaps that’s why Google’s 1 billion mobile user statistic is on a monthly basis, not a daily one. So as Google celebrates Chrome’s 50th release, it should also ask itself what Chrome is now trying to accomplish. Will it recommit to its original focus on speed and simplicity, or will it try to innovate with new features? Is Chrome a platform unto itself, or just a really good way to access webpages? Are the fates of the desktop and mobile versions intertwined, or are they separate? If Google can’t answer those questions, version 100 might not be so celebratory.
2016-04-20 10:50 Jared Newman www.itnews.com
39 Apple’s New And Improved MacBook Unveiled Apple Inc. on Tuesday released a set of updates to its ultra-thin and light laptop line, including; an extra hour of battery life (11 hours of battery life), newer processors, better graphics card, and faster flash storage, CNN Money Reports. The 12-inch MacBook comes with the latest 1.1 GHz Intel Core m3 processor and 256 GB of flash storage at a starting price of 1,299 USD (about 4.3million UGX), whereas the one for 1,599 USD (about 5.3million UGX) comes with a faster 1.2 GHz Intel Core m5 processor and 512 GB of flash storage. The company started selling the new MacBooks via its website starting yesterday and said they will be in Apple’s physical stores and other retail stores on Wednesday.
2016-04-20 10:46 Nathan Ernest pctechmag.com
40 4 ways to apply SLAs to shadow IT The risks and costs of shadow IT have been always been a concern for IT organizations. Yet the business clearly values the capability to procure certain IT services to rapidly meet its changing business needs — so much so that these informal IT capabilities are springing up even more often than IT leaders realize. One 2015 report by Cisco indicated that the number of unauthorized cloud applications being used in the enterprise, for example, was 15 to 10 times higher than CIOs estimated. Rather than trying to shut down growing shadow IT operations, however, IT leaders can take a different tack that embraces the benefits of business driven IT purchasing — such as better technology-business alignment, responsiveness, speed, and agility — and address some of the negative aspects of the practice — including unintended solutions overlap, inconsistent IT strategy, lack of integration ad standardization, cyber risk, and fragmented IT vendor management. “Ignoring or trying to close down a delivery model that is liked so much by business consumers is not a great idea, particularly if the core IT function is viewed as a cost item rather than a value enabler,” says Craig Wright, managing director for business transformation and outsourcing consultancy Pace Harmon. “If the shortcomings with shadow IT can be overcome then there is a great deal to learn from it.” IT can harness the power of shadow IT services and solutions and mitigate associated risks by wrapping formal standards around its delivery. “When shadow IT is recognized for its capabilities and the services understood and documented then organizations can establish effective governance across core IT and shadow IT functions,” Wright says. “This is somewhat similar to establishing end-to-end process optimization inclusive of a shared services function like human resources or accounts payable. If the guiderails are established, the touch-points identified, the dynamics of the process aligned, and the repeatability of quality outcomes ensured then measuring and managing shadow IT is a fairly easy step to make.” One way to do that is to take the same types of service-level agreement (SLA) IT uses to manage the performance of IT service providers and apply them to shadow IT. The IT organizations can take several steps to build an SLA framework for technology services delivered outside the IT organization and measure and report on their performance: “If it can’t be measured then it is incredibly hard to govern it,” says Wright. First, IT must take the time to quantify, qualify and determine measures for shadow IT capabilities, ensuring that the true and fully loaded costs are understood and communicated consistently to business stakeholders Next, the IT organization should add shadow IT issues to queues in the IT service management system, establishing minimum standards of performance and measuring compliance with respect to incidents and requests. “[This] will help create the conditions in which shadow IT can also play a significant business advocate role in problem management,” Wright says. By creating specific SLAs for shadow IT and including these non-IT delivered capabilities in operating level standards, IT can align overall goals and targets with shared objectives, such as 100 percent compliance with change and release management procedures. “For external functions (to the extent possible) align SLAs within underpinning contracts to defined outcomes compatible with SLAs,” advises Wright. “And where SLAs are non-negotiable establish responsibilities and supporting organization objectives or OLAs for shadow and core IT to provide an effective bridge from the non-negotiable SLA to the required outcome.” This will go a long way toward increasing transparency into the delivery of all IT services—with shadow IT sitting alongside IT-procured services and systems and highlight where each actually provides the most business value. “Increasing visibility via management dashboards and reviews where all parts of IT — core and shadow — are given an appropriate amount of air time helps increase the recognition of value being delivered by IT into the business as whole.”
2016-04-20 10:31 Stephanie Overby www.itnews.com
41 San Francisco to require solar panels on new buildings The San Francisco Board of Supervisors this week unanimously passed legislation to require all new commercial or residential buildings with 10 or fewer stories to have solar panels. The Better Roofs ordinance was penned by Supervisor Scott Wiener, who said the measure was needed to fight climate change and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Photovoltaic (foreground) and Solar water heating (rear) panels located on rooftops in Berkeley, Calif. The low tilt of the photovoltaic panels is optimized for summer; the high tilt of the water heating panels is optimized for winter. "Activating underutilized roof space is a smart and efficient way to promote the use of solar energy and improve our environment," Wiener said in a statement about the vote. "We need to continue to pursue aggressive renewable energy policies to ensure a sustainable future for our city and our region. " A federal study released earlier this month revealed that installing solar panels on every roof in the U. S. would supply 39% of the nation's total power used. While the U. S. Energy Information Administration doesn't normally track legislation, a spokesperson for the agency said he was unaware of any other states with laws requiring solar on rooftops. Additionally, the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy , a compilation of mostly state-level and significant local-level rules and regulations, had no record of laws requiring all commercial and residential buildings to have solar. That makes San Francisco the first city in the nation to implement such an ordinance. San Francisco's new law, however, does follow a state law: California's Title 24 Energy Standards, which requires 15% of roof area on new small and mid-sized buildings to be "solar ready. " That requires the roof to be unshaded by the proposed building itself, and free of obtrusions. The state law also applies to all new residential and commercial buildings of 10 floors or less. "This legislation will expand our efforts to cover San Francisco rooftops with solar panels and tackle climate change, while also creating good jobs for our community," said Josh Arce, former President of the San Francisco Commission on the Environment and community liaison for Laborers Local 261, a labor organization that trains solar job seekers.
2016-04-20 10:17 Lucas Mearian www.itnews.com
42 This is how Elon Musk built his Empire – Infographic When Elon Musk was young, he run out of books to read at the library and ended up reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. He used to read for approximately 10 hours per day, and was able to finish a 6 months course in 3 days. At the age of 12, he wrote his first Video game Blastar, which he sold for $500 (about 1.6million UGX). Those are some of the facts about SpaceX founder Elon Musk. The infographic below from Funders and Founders gives a summary of how the Billionaire was able to build his massive empire.
2016-04-20 09:08 Ephraim Batambuze pctechmag.com
43 The Upgraded PlayStation 4 is Codenamed NEO, Has Upgraded CPU, GPU, RAM Earlier this year, rumors began to fly that Sony would release an upgraded version of the PlayStation 4, a console often called the “ PS4.5 or the PS4K” by fans and the press. As of yesterday, multiple sources confirmed to Giant Bomb ; the largest video game database online, about the details of the project, which is internally referred to as the “NEO” . Giant Bomb reported that , the NEO will feature a higher clock speed, an improved GPU, and higher bandwidth on the memory. The HDD is the same as that of the Original PS4 (but it’s not clear if that means in terms of capacity or connection speed). Starting in October this year, every PS4 game is required to ship with both a “Base Mode” which will run on PS4 and a “NEO Mode” on the new console. However, games running in NEO mode will be able to use the hardware upgrades to offer increased and more stable frame rate and higher visual fidelity. NEO will also support 4K image output, but games themselves are not required to be 4K native.
2016-04-20 09:06 Nathan Ernest pctechmag.com
44 Humble Devolver Bundle discounts Ronin, Dropsy, Shadow Warrior, more Send in the clowns. Also, send in the ronin, the 'shadow warriors', and a few pigeon-fanciers while you're at it, as all these feature in the latest Humble Bundle. It's dedicated to indie publisher Devolver Digital, and offers A Fistful of Gun, Ronin, and Gods Will Be Watching at the pay- what-you-want tier. But if you beat the average (the average currently stands at just over $4), you'll also get clown-based adventure game Dropsy, gun-based gun-game Not a Hero, and slicing-baddies-up-'em-up Shadow Warrior too. That's quite a good deal, is what it is. As ever, more games for the beat-the-average tier will be revealed in due course, but if you want Titan Souls and Hatofield Boyfriend: Holiday Star thrown in as well, you'll have to fork over $10 or more. There. I finally own all the games that have ever gamed. Can developers stop releasing them for, oh, let's say 30 years please?
2016-04-20 09:00 By Tom www.pcgamer.com
45 Twitter, iHub partner to present Smart City Challenge in Nairobi Twitter and the iHub have partnered to host the #SmartCityNairobi challenge for the developer community in Nairobi, which will be launched at Nairobi Tech Week. The iHub and Moringa School have partnered to host the Nairobi Tech Week at Strathmore University from 27 – 30 April 2016. The hundreds of attendees of Nairobi Tech Week will be invited to take part in the #SmartCityNairobi Challenge where developers will have the chance to participate in a hackathon to create a solution to a problem in Nairobi using Twitter’s API with the support of Twitter’s Developer Relations Team. On the final day of the hackathon, the best 3 ideas will receive a $2,000 cash prize and continue on a 6 week programme which includes ; red membership at the iHub, support and mentorship from Twitter and iHub teams and a final presentation to technology experts to further the development of their idea. At the end of the programme, the winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000, first runner up will win $7,000 and second runner up will win $5000. The iHub said in a statement – “We look forward to seeing what is possible when the best developers in Nairobi use technology to build solutions to make our city economically sustainable, to improve the quality of life, to improve service delivery and so on – possibilities are endless.”
2016-04-20 07:26 Staff Writer pctechmag.com
46 Construction giant Dewalt unveils smartphone Construction giant Dewalt has entered the smartphone market with a tough Android - powered handset designed for building industry workers. The $544 (about 1.8 million UGX) device is designed to survive a 2m drop on to concrete and can operate in temperatures ranging from - 20C to 60C. Rival firm Caterpillar has already established itself as a brand in the physically tougher smartphone sector. “Lots of people in the trade and construction industries, as well as outdoor sports enthusiasts, have realized that just having a thicker case isn’t going to see them through,” said James Booker, purchasing manager at UK firm Tuffphones. To be be certified as a “tough phone”, handsets have to undergo more rigorous physical tests, including being subjected to tumbling – turned over and over inside a device for long periods of time, Mr Booker explained. They also have to be water and dust proof. Because they are sturdier, they can also incorporate a bigger battery, he added – the Dewalt phone claims to offer up to eight hours of talk time. “One of the main things about traditional smartphones is that they are svelte and slim – there’s an obvious correlation with how large a battery they can get in there,” Mr Booker said. While most of its specifications are fairly standard for the sector, Dewalt’s MD501 phone comes with in-built QI wireless charging, which is unusual, he added. Its touchscreen is made of commercially manufactured Gorilla Glass – a highly robust but thin type of glass that works with gloved hands. The handset is a collaboration with Global Mobile Communications, a rugged phone specialist. [BBC]
2016-04-20 07:05 PC Tech pctechmag.com
47 Chatbots land on Skype's Mac client and web app If you’ve been dying to try out Skype bots but don't have a Windows PC, Android, or iOS device to chat on, you’re finally in luck. Skype recently rolled out bot integration to the Mac client and the service’s beta web app. There are only six bots to try out right now, which is to be expected since this is still a preview feature. Despite the small numbers, some of the automated services are fairly useful. Give Bing News some keywords such as “Presidential election” and you get three recent headlines for that topic. Skype’s current bot selection shown on the web app. You can do this for pretty much any news subject, and if keywords feel too artificial the bot accepts natural language as well such as “what are the latest headlines for Intel?” Facebook and Microsoft are each working on bots that offer more than just canned answers. Facebook Messenger has a KLM bot that acts as your personal concierge. Both Messenger and Skype offer news bots that deliver headlines, while Microsoft’s Summarize for Skype tries to give you an automated summary of a webpage. Despite all the excitement, however, it’s far from clear if we, as users, are ready to adopt chatbots into our everyday lives.
2016-04-20 07:01 Ian Paul www.itnews.com
48 Nvidia pulls out the silicon chainsaw to make the Quadro M2000 Nvidia has pulled out the world's smallest chainsaw again. Last time we heard of this mythical tool, Nvidia split the GM204 inside the GeForce GTX 980 to produce the GM206 of GeForce GTX 960 fame. This time, the workstation-oriented GM204GL found inside the Quadro M4000 and M5000 is on the chopping block. When the silicon sawdust clears, we're left with the GM206GL and the shiny new Quadro M2000. AIDA64's patch notes effectively spilled the beans on the lineage of the GPU inside the newest Quadro a little over a week ago. The Maxwell GM206GL GPU in the M2000 has 768 CUDA cores, roughly half of the M4000's GM204GL GPU with 1664. The M2000 ships with 4GB of GDDR5, half of the M4000's 8GB of GDDR5. About the only thing Nvidia didn't cut on the M2000 is the display outputs —both the M4000 and the M2000 have 4 standard DisplayPort 1.2 outputs on board. While these specs are a big step down from the M4000, they should still put it well ahead of the next- cheapest Quadro, the K1200. The 75W Quadro M2000 also doesn't require a six-pin PCIe power input, which could make it attractive to buyers who need more performance than the K1200 but don't have a power supply compatible with the M4000. Nvidia didn't say how much the M2000 would sell for. A listing for a PNY Quadro M2000 is on Newegg now, but at the moment the listing only shows an April 21 release date.
2016-04-20 06:56 by Robert techreport.com
49 Get $25,000 for building Telegram Bots In a quest to get ahead of Facebook and Microsoft, Telegram is giving away $1 million to developers that build bots for its chat app. The cash will be given out as a grant at $25,000 per bot and all you have to do is “create an impressive bot” using the company’s Bot API . The company says the bot can be ported over from another platform but it must be work as fast as a native integration, and must also be “useful” and ideally work in inline mode , a new chat feature outlined in its Bot 2.0 update which reduces the number of actual messages exchanged between human and bot. The giveaway closes at the end of the year and you just need to contact BotSupport , using #BotPrize, to submit.
2016-04-20 06:19 Ephraim Batambuze pctechmag.com
50 Zanzibar gets its first 4G LTE Network Last week, Zantel launched its 4G LTE network in Zanzibar. The Tanzanian operator become the first cellco to offer the technology on the island. The service was officially launched on 14 April, with Zantel CEO Mr Benoit Janin announcing the expansion of Zantel’s 2G and 3G network coverage across mainland Tanzania, with aims to reach more than 80% total coverage of the population in ‘the coming weeks’. The government of Zanzibar has a 15% stake in the Zantel.
2016-04-20 06:13 Ephraim Batambuze pctechmag.com
51 51 Job Opportunity: Senior Mobile Web Developer – Numida Technologies About
Numida Technologies: Numida Technologies is a digital financial services company based in Kampala, Uganda. Our goal is to unlock financing to the 22 million African small businesses who need it. We are building a mobile application that helps entrepreneurs keep track of their finances for the purpose of making evidence based decisions. In addition, these financial track records are channeled to lending institutions in Uganda who are looking to finance small businesses, and who require real business data about prospective borrowers. We are launching a pilot with 200 small businesses in Kampala in 2016 that will test a core set of TrackApp features with our target user. Job Summary: Responsible for implementing improvements to the app user interface based on feedback collected from the business owners who are using TrackApp. The Position: Qualifications, skills and experience: How to apply: Submit a CV, a brief motivation letter, and copy of national ID to [email protected] with the subject line “LAST_NAME, First_name – Senior Mobile Web Developer” in the email subject line. All application materials should be in English, written directly by the candidate. You will only be contacted if you are invited to an interview. Deadline is Friday April 29th 2016 at 11:59 pm Uganda time.
2016-04-20 06:08 PC Tech pctechmag.com
Total 51 articles. Created at 2016-04-21 06:01