Bioshock Infinite Season Pass: Thinking Inside the Box

Subject: General Tech | February 26, 2013 - 02:54 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: 2K, bioshock, bioshock infinite

So it was announced just a couple of days ago that Bioshock Infinite will be boosted with three pieces of expansion DLC. What will they be? Who knows! Rest assured, the marketers have declared there will be “new stories, characters, abilities, and weapons.”

Phew! I was worried that I would only get a soundtrack or something... wait, no I wasn't.

Give me more money, or I cut you.

Publishers, these days, have been looking for new methods to increase the price of games and prevent their discs from being resold on the used market. We seem to be escaping the dark era where single-player games were condemned as fiscal black holes from which your capital would never be seen again. The view was that a solo experience would be completed before they finished monitoring their sales figures and the used market would eat the rest of their sales curve. The solution clearly was to toss even more capital at those games to tack on a multiplayer component that no-one played and make the loss look really bad on paper and further justify your fears of used sales and piracy.

And really we are part of the problem as consumers when we expect the $50 or $60 price-point. Of course, we expect that price-point because we have been conditioned to expecting that value fairly across-the-board. We have begun to see games, mostly indie titles, come in at lower launch prices in particular with digital distribution platforms.

The biggest problem is this: publishers do not need to find the largest value customers would pay for their content; publishers need to find the largest product of any given price and its corresponding probability of purchase for all potential buyers. On Steam you see this explode with sales where a moderate price reduction yields a massive sales increase with even a halo effect when the price returns to its norm.

So what about Bioshock?

In this case, honestly, the game will probably be worth more than its $60 price tag when speaking from a development effort versus the risk in finding its audience standpoint. As such, the publisher will add some attach rate of slightly extra content for a moderate price addition. This is one more example of how members of the industry continue to avoid risks. In this case, they want to spread the risk out over multiple products.

At least they didn't, you know -- be Irrational (heh heh heh), and toss that development money going after the used sales boogyman. At least they will get the money they expect.

AZiO's moddable keyboard and ambidextrous mouse

Subject: General Tech | February 25, 2013 - 04:06 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: input, gaming keyboard, gaming mouse, AiZO, L3VETRON GM2000, L3VETRON Mech5, L3VETRON

At a glance, AiZO's L3VETRON Mech5 keyboard has a lot of extras for gamers, with a keypad that can be relocated to the left side of the keyboard as well as a 6 key macro pad which can be attached almost anywhere and be assigned up to 12 functions.  There is also a volume knob and a switch to disable the Windows key for those games which just don't like losing focus.  Unfortunately, while these extras did function reasonably well Overclockers Club thought the overall design felt rather cheap and not what they expected from a keyboard that costs over $100. 

The GM2000 mouse came out a bit better, in part because it costs around $40, but also thanks to the light weight and DPI features.  On the other hand they ran into problems with button response and from other reviews of this mouse they are not the only ones who did.  Still, it is reasonably priced and will get you in the game quickly.

"Mechanical switches are becoming the typical switch in most gaming or enthusiast builds – at this point just having the mechanical switch isn't enough to warrant such high dollar signs. That is where I feel the L3VETRON Mech5 was a major let down. It reminded me of the toy that looked super in the box until you saved up your money to buy it and find out what crap it actually was. The features of a movable number pad as well as the little Macro keypad do deserve some merit in the overall review. Although I'm not big on using macros the ability to choose to have them is nice while not massively increasing the standard layout of the keyboard. The removable ability and varied placement of the number pad was by far my favorite part of all of the AZiO products today. Just the ability to customize my layout in a LEGO sort of manner was like being a kid all over again – loved it."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• AZiO Levetron GM-2000 Mouse Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Zowie AM - Ambidextrous Mouse @ eTeknix
• Logitech Bluetooth Easy-Switch Keyboard Review @ Legit Reviews
• Cooler Master CM Storm Sentinel Advance II Gaming Mouse @ Modders-Inc
• Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse Review @ Legit Reviews
• Func MS-3 Mouse and Surface 1030XL Mousepad Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• SteelSeries Free Mobile Wireless Controller Review @ Madshrimps
• Rosewill Gaming Keyboard RK-8100 @ Benchmark Reviews
• Gigabyte Aivia Osmium Mechanical Keyboard @ Benchmark Reviews
• Das Keyboard Model S Professional @ Benchmark Reviews
• CM STORM TRIGGER Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review @ NikKTech
• AZiO Levetron Mech5 Modular Mechanical Keyboard Review @ Neoseeker

A graphical description of market woes from Jon Peddie

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | February 25, 2013 - 01:32 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: jon peddie, graphics, market share

If last weeks report from Jon Peddie Research on sales for all add in and integrated graphics had you worried, the news this week is not gong to help boost your confidence.  This week the report focuses solely on add in boards and the drop is dramatic; Q4 2012 sales plummeted just short of 20% compared to Q3 2012.  When you look at the entire year, sales dropped 10% overall as AMD's APUs are making serious inroads into the mobile market, as are Intel's, with many notebooks being sold without a discrete GPU.  The losses are coming from the mainstream market, enthusiast level GPUs actually saw a slight increase in sales but the small volume is utterly drowned by the mainstream market.  You can check out the full press release here.

"JPR found that AIB shipments during Q4 2012 behaved according to past years with regard to seasonality, but the drop was considerably more dramatic. AIB shipments decreased 17.3% from the last quarter (the 10 year average is just -0.68%). On a year-to-year comparison, shipments were down 10%."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• 3DMark Review @ OCC
• Trendnet N300 Easy-N-Range Extender @ Rbmods
• NETGEAR ProSafe GS110T Gigabit SmartSwitch @ Benchmark Reviews
• Quantum computer one step closer after ‘true’ quantum calculation @ The Register
• Microsoft brings Azure back online @ The Register
• Understanding Camera Optics & Smartphone Camera Trends, A Presentation by Brian Klug @ AnandTech
• MWC Sunday roundup: HP Slate, Ascend P2 and Firefox phones @ The Inquirer
• AMD releases Firepro R5000 with remote display technology @ The Inquirer
• The TR Podcast 129: PlayStation 4, Titan, and more

Deals for February 25th - Logitech G710 USB 2.0 Wired Gaming Mechanical Keyboard for $127

Subject: General Tech | February 25, 2013 - 12:47 PM | PCPer Staff
Tagged: deals

Top deal

Logitech G710 USB 2.0 Wired Gaming Mechanical Keyboard for $127.49 with Free Shipping (normally $150 - use coupon code: 8LG7XLCVX7VL21).

Computer Components

Western Digital 4TB My Book Essential USB 3.0 Desktop Hard Drive (WDBACW0040HBK) for $164.00 with Free Shipping(normally $720 - use coupon code: DIG5).

Mobile

Canon PowerShot A2300 16MP Silver Digital Camera for $79.99 with Free Shipping(normally $140).

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V 18.2MP Digital Camera for $334.95 with Free Shipping(normally $500).

Freebies

Electronic House Magazine (Digital Issues)

Vistaprint: 250 Free Business Cards

Gadgets

Technine LM Pro Flat Snowboard Magoonies for $359.96 (normally $450).

Star Wars Darth Vader Bank for $19.27 (normally $30).

Timex Im Global Trainer GPS S+D Watch for $190.95 with Free Shipping (normally $300).

Chromebook Pixel Not a Joke, Just Its Price.

Subject: General Tech, Systems | February 25, 2013 - 02:18 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: Chromebook Pixel, Chromebook

We have covered many Chrome OS-based devices, even a pair of reviews, but we have never seen the platform attempt to target the higher-end of the price spectrum. As you could guess by my ominous writing tone, that has changed.

The Chromebook Pixel.

The development commentary video could have been an Apple advertisement. We will embed it below, but it definitely had that whimsical tone we all know and groan. The Pixel was heavily focused on design and screen quality.

The display is quite small, just under 13”, but it has a higher resolution than professional-grade 30” monitors. It leapfrogs Catleap. When trying to visualize the use case, the first thought which comes to mind is a second PC for someone to take with them. If you can get a really high resolution experience with that, then bonus. Right?

The specifications, according to their Best Buy product page, are actually quite decent for a web browser-focused device.

• Ivy Bridge Core i5
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• 32GB SSD
• Intel HD 4000 Graphics
• With the low cost of RAM

The downside? The price starts at $1299 USD and goes up from there. You can get a larger SSD and LTE for just 150$ more, at the $1449 price point if you can wait until April.

Once you factor in the price, and a mighty big factor that is too, it makes it really difficult to figure out who Google is targeting. The only explanation which makes sense to me is a high-end laptop which is easy for IT departments to manage for executives and students.

Lastly, 4GB of RAM is ridiculously cheap nowadays. Could it have killed them to add in a little extra RAM to get more headroom? Also, what about the lack of connectivity to external displays? (Update: Sorry, just found mini displayport on the product tech specs.)

Triangles beat voxels when you are constructing a building

Subject: General Tech | February 22, 2013 - 12:23 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: nvidia, jen-hsun huang

NVIDIA will have a new nerve center across the street from their existing headquarters as from what Jen-Hsun told The Register they are almost at the point where they need bunk-desks in their current HQ.  The triangle pattern that the artists concepts shown not only embodies a key part of NVIDIA's technology but is also a well recognized technique in architecture to provide very sturdy construction.  Hao Ko was the architect chosen for the design, his resume includes a terminal at JFK airport as well as a rather tall building in China.  For NVIDIA's overlord to plan such an expensive undertaking shows great confidence in his companies success, even with the shrinking discrete GPU market.

"Move over Apple. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang wants to build his own futuristic space-station campus – and as you might expect, the Nvidia design is black and green and built from triangles, the basic building block of the mathematics around graphics processing. And, as it turns out, the strongest shape in architecture."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• TSMC supply of 28nm chips remains tight @ DigiTimes
• AMD and The Sony PS4. Allow Me To Elaborate @ AMD
• Google reveals Glass details in patent application @ The Register
• Build your own dumb USB power strip @ Hack a Day
• ARM and Synopsys tape out a Mali-T658 GPU at 20nm @ The Inquirer
• Philips Gioco review: Ambiglow on your desk and much more @ Hardware.Info
• Win a MSI GTX 670 Twin Frozr Power Edition OC 2GB @ eTeknix

Facebook Inplementing Cold Storage Media Archive In New Datacenter

Subject: General Tech | February 22, 2013 - 07:31 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: servers, facebook, exabyte, data centers, cold storage, cloud computing

Facebook is planning to construct a new cold storage facility to house archived and less-frequently-used media files. The new data center will reside in a new 62,000 sq. ft. building on the company's existing 127-acre property in Prineview, Oregon.

As cold storage, the data center will house servers with up to 3 Exabytes of total data capacity. The machines will be in a sleep state the majority of the time, but will be automatically turned on to serve up media files when accessed on the social network. Because the servers are normally in a lower-power sleep state, there will be a slight delay when users request files. According to Oregon Live, Facebook has stated that the delay will be as much as a couple of seconds and as little as several milliseconds.
The new cold storage facility will enable Facebook to save a great deal on electrical usage and hardware wear and tear (though primarily power bill savings). The company claims that its users upload 350 million photos each day, but that 82% of the social networking site's traffic focuses on a mere 8% of available photos.

Err, not quite the cold storage Facebook has in mind...

Considering Facebook's existing Prineview data center used a whopping 71 million Kilowatts of power in the first 9 months, moving to a new cold storage system for infrequently accessed files is an excellent idea. The photos will still be available, but Facebook will save big on the power bill--a fair compromise for retaining all of those lolcat and meme photos, i think.

The new data center will be rolled out in three phases, each measuring 16,000 sq. ft. in the Prineview facility. The first phase of cold storage servers should be up and running by Q4 2013. There is no estimate on the power savings, but it will be interesting to see how beneficial it will be--and whether other cloud service providers will adopt similar policies.

Also read: Amazon Glacier offers cheap long-term storage.

Mozilla Rolls Out Firefox 19 Web Browser With Built-In PDF Viewer

Subject: General Tech | February 22, 2013 - 05:11 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: web browser, pdf viewer, mozilla, firefox

Mozilla recently rolled out Firefox 19 to its stable browser channel, bringing several new features and bug fixes to the masses. The most prominent new feature is a new built-in PDF reader that is now enabled by default. Using the PDF.js javascript libraries, the reader converts PDF files into HTML5 web pages. It is nice to see Mozilla incorporating the reader in the browser by default, eliminating the need for users to use Adobe Reader or other browser plug-ins (like this one we covered previously).

Additionally, Mozilla has fixed several bugs and improved performance. The browser will now start-up more quickly than previous versions, and a WebGL drawing operation error has been corrected, for example. Further, Firefox 19 now recognizes more CSS features including @page and support for fixed-width text transformations. A new debugger has also been added to Firefox 19, which should help add-on developers test their code. Also in interesting news, mobile users running Firefox for Android will also be pleased to know that Mozilla has relaxed the CPU clockspeed requirement to a mere 600 MHz–allowing the mobile browser to run on even more Android devices.

The new version is available for download from the Mozilla website.

Linaro Forms Linux Networking Group to Collaborate on Open Source Software for ARM Networking Hardware

Subject: General Tech | February 22, 2013 - 02:16 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: oss, open source, networking, linux networking group, linux, linaro, arm

Linaro, a non-profit engineering group, announced a new collaborative organization called the Linux Networking Group at the Embedded Linux Conference in San Francisco this week. The new group will work on developing open source software to be used with ARM-based hardware in cloud, mobile, and networking industry sectors. Of course, being open source, the software for ARM SoCs will be used with Linux operating systems. One of the Linux Networking Group’s purposes is to develop a new “enhanced core Linux platform” for networking equipment, for example.

The new Linux Networking Group is currently comprised of the following organizations:

• AppliedMicro
• ARM
• Enea
• Freescale
• LSI
• MontaVista
• Nokia Siemens Networks
• Texas Instruments

The new cooperative has announced four main goals for 2013:

1. "Virtualization support with considerations for real-time performance, I/O optimization, robustness and heterogeneous operating environments on multi-core SoCs.
2. Real-time operations and the Linux kernel optimizations for the control and data plane.
3. Packet processing optimizations that maximize performance and minimize latency in data flows through the network.
4. Dealing with legacy software and mixed-endian issues prevalent in the networking space."

Reportedly, Linaro will have an initial software release within the first half of this year. Further, the organization will follow up with monthly software updates to improve performance and add new features. More collaboration and the furthering of ARM-compatible open source software is always a good thing. It remains to be seen how useful the Linux Networking Group will be in pushing its ARM software goals, but here’s hoping it works out for the best.

The full press release can be found below.

Javascript + Adobe; you got your exploit in my vulnerability ...

Subject: General Tech | February 21, 2013 - 12:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Adobe, firefox, pdf, javascript, fud

What could possibly go wrong by combining two of malwares most favourite security holes into one?  With FoxIt recently sprouting leaks and Adobe's continual duct taping of it's Reader, reading PDFs online is a great way to catch something nasty. Then again, there is always malformed Javascript commands and links which are another very popular way to give your PC a cybernetically transmitted disease.  The new Firefox combines the two in their latest version, 19.0, which is currently in beta testing and it uses an open sourced Javascript add on to open PDFs online, which will likely improve the responsiveness and loading time of PDF links.  The real question won't be answered until use of this new add on becomes commonplace and we find out if the two combine into some a gaping new hole into your PC or if somehow mismatched vulnerabilities will combine to create an actual secure way to read PDFs.  Then again, maybe it will not introduce anything new at all.  More at The Register or grab the latest Firefox and try it yourself.

"Mozilla's Firefox web browser now includes a built-in PDF viewer - allowing users to bin plugins from Adobe and other developers.

The move to run third-party PDF file readers out of town comes after security holes were discovered in closed-source add-ons from FoxIt and Adobe. The new built-in document viewer is open source, just like Firefox, and is written in JavaScript."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Seagate joins OpenStack foundation and Open Compute Project @ The Register
• BlackBerry squashes W-TIFF-F bug that's ripe for malware squirters @ The Register
• Nikon D7100 hands-on preview @ Hardware.info
• Giveaway at Rbmods together with Cm Storm

Podcast #239 - NVIDIA GTX TITAN, PlayStation 4 Hardware, SSD Endurance and more!

Subject: General Tech | February 21, 2013 - 02:58 AM | Ken Addison
Tagged: titan, Tegra 4i, tegra 4, ssd, ps4, podcast, nvidia, Intel

PC Perspective Podcast #239 - 02/21/2013

Join us this week as we discuss NVIDIA GTX TITAN, PlayStation 4 Hardware, SSD Endurance and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath and Allyn Malventano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI!

Program length: 0:59:53

Podcast topics of discussion:

1. Week in Reviews:
   1. 0:01:20 Crysis 3 Live Game Stream - Win Free Stuff!!
   2. 0:03:20 Gigabyte GA-F2A85X-UP4 FM2 Motherboard Review: Overkill for Trinity?
   3. 0:09:25 NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Preview - GK110, GPU Boost 2.0, Overclocking and GPGPU
   4. 0:24:15 Taking an Accurate Look at SSD Write Endurance
2. 0:27:20 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI!
3. News items of interest:
   1. 0:28:50 AMD wants to set the record straight on its future GPU strategy
   2. 0:36:05 A Crowd Funded Mini-ITX Case, the NCASE M1
   3. 0:38:30 Sony's Fourth Playstation (PS4) Specs Revealed
      1. Next Generation Consoles Likely Not Compatible
   4. 0:45:15 NVIDIA Releases Tegra 4i: Mini-Me!
4. Closing:
   1. 0:49:00 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
      1. Ryan: Excel 2013.. or not.
      2. Jeremy: WobbleWorks $75 Pen-Sized 3D Printer on Kickstarter
      3. Josh: Sweet lookin Monitor... not without quirks
      4. Allyn: Gunnar

1. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
2. http://pcper.com/podcast
3. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
4. Closing/outro

Be sure to subscribe to the PC Perspective YouTube channel!!

Sony's Fourth Playstation (PS4) Specs Revealed

Subject: General Tech, Systems | February 20, 2013 - 06:53 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: sony, ps4

We're currently in the middle of Sony's Playstation announcement and right off the bat they discussed system specifications.

(Update 2: Press conference was over a few hours ago, and we now have an official press release.)

The Playstation 4, as it will be titled, is very similar to a mid-range gaming PC. When discussing with developers, they requested for Sony to stick with a typical x86-based architecture. Of course that does not stop Sony from describing it as a “Supercharged PC architecture”. Still, they do seem to have quite a decent amount of hardware in this box.

• 8-core x86 CPU
• 2 Teraflops GPU integrated on same die (update: chip).
• I did not hear AMD mentioned, but it totally is.
• 8GB GDDR5 RAM (shared)
• Stereo Camera on the controller with a light bar, like the Wii, to judge distance to TV.
• Also touch sensor in the controller.
• (Update/correction: At least a ...) Spindle-based Hard Drive

While these specifications have been sufficiently leaked in the recent past, we have not been able to pin down exactly how much RAM is provided. We found the development kit contained 8GB of system memory. The problem is that development kits require more RAM than the system it pretends to be to account for development tools and unoptimized assets.

As it turns out, the system itself will contain 8GB of GDDR5 shared between the CPU and GPU, which is quite a lot. Developers will need to finally push the PC platform past the 4GB RAM+VRAM 32-bit barrier in order to keep up with the next generation consoles.

Most of our gaming limitations were due to art assets being limited by memory constraints. Thanks to the new Sony console, PC releases could finally be taken off the 512MB-long leash of Sony and Microsoft.

(Update 2, cont.: The press release has official tech specs as below but are "subject to change")

So clearly Sony was slightly rounding up when they claimed it was a 2 Teraflop GPU. Still, this looks to be a healthy computer.

We now have the official confirmation we needed that AMD Jaguar cores will power the PS4. Given AMD's big wins in the console platforms, I would wonder if game developers would be able to take some of the tricks they will learn in a few years and be able to start optimizing PC gamers for AMD CPUs.

GPUs too for that matter... this could mean a lot for AMD's PC gamers.

JDSLabs O2+ODAC for the discerning audiophile

Subject: General Tech | February 20, 2013 - 05:50 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: audio, JDSLabs, O2, ODAC, amp

If swappable op-amps, an Objective DAC for proper analog sound and a frequency range of 10hz - 19Khz not only makes sense to you but gets you a bit hot and bothered, JDSLabs has an interesting product for you.  Built around the open source Objective2 amplifier this pre-amp and DAC is designed to attempt to produce professional quality sound without the price tag attached to that level of gear.  The suggested price is $285 which might seem high for a headphone amp but is actually much less expensive than professional level kit.  TechPowerUp were very impressed with the quality of the sound and the tweaks possible to make to the DAC but thought that perhaps a bit more thought could have been put into the aesthetics of the device.

"JDSLabs's O2+ODAC combination combines two designs by NwAvGuy with excellent build quality and a sturdy enclosure. The O2+ODAC sells at just $285 which, performance considered, is a bargain. We test whether this amplifier and DAC combination is really the giant slayer it is made out to be!"

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Audio Corner

• Eagletech Arion Foldable Bluetooth 3.0 Headset Model:ARHP200BF @ TechwareLabs
• ASUS Orion Pro Headset Review @ Neoseeker
• House of Marley Redemption Song On-ear Headphones Review @ TechwareLabs
• Razer Star Wars: The Old Republic Gaming Headset Review @ Madshrimps
• AZiO Levetron GH808 Gaming Headset Review @ Custom PC Review
• Asus Orion Pro @ LanOC Reviews
• Mad Catz F.R.E.Q.5 Red Stereo Gaming Headset Review @ NikKTech
• HiFiMAN RE-400 In-ears @ techPowerUp
• Ineo Alienvibes S101 2.0 Desktop Speakers Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Wavemaster Moody 2.1 Speaker System @ eTeknix

Torment: Tides of Numenera lives!

Subject: General Tech | February 20, 2013 - 02:47 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: planescape, torment, numenera, gaming

Planescape:Torment 2, aka the Tides of Numenera now has a website to whet your thirst for this project.  It will not be a direct sequel or clone of the first game, it will not even use AD&D rules, instead being an adaptation of the existing Numenera RGP which you can check out here.  Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN has been following the early development of this game, from its first crowdfunded inception to the latest and greatest news from the developers.  Check out the new webpage and news at Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN.

"Numenera’s Ninth World is a fantastic vision of a world in which massive civilizations have risen and fallen – disappeared, transcended, overwhelmed, or destroyed – and left their cities, monuments, and artifacts behind. As each rose and fell, their achievements became part of the accumulated detritus of eons… but much of it did not decay. And now this assortment of ancient power is there for the taking, ever-present, underfoot. The humans of the Ninth World take and use what they can. They call these wonders (and horrors) the numenera."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Gaming

• Why You Can’t Make A Game About Montreal’s Metro @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• Dead Space 3 @ The Inquirer
• BioShock Infinite goes gold, new trailer released @ HEXUS
• Chris Roberts On Life After Crowdfunding, Games Vs Film @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• Lakes Boil: Ubisoft And EA To Sell Each Others Games @ Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN
• MS-DOS Screenshot Challenge @ Starfield
• Aliens: Colonial Marines Xbox 360 @ Tweaktown

LucidLogix Virtu MVP 2.0 Software Suite Now Available

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | February 20, 2013 - 12:49 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: lucid, virtu MVP, virtu, hyperformance

As promised at CES, Lucidlogix has released their Virtu MVP 2.0 for purchase to anyone who wants to buy it.  Their GPU Virtualization software for SandyBridge and IvyBridge based systems with a discrete card allows you to jump back a forth between the embedded GPU on your processor and the graphics card without needing to move monitor cables or reboot.  That allows you to save your laptops battery life when the discrete GPU is not needed but to instantly enable it the second you fire up a compatible game, the list of which has grown since the release of their original Virtu MVP.  They have also improved their Virtual VSync and Hyperformance features which we reviewed last summer on an Origin laptop. 

The move to selling the product directly to consumers is beneficial as previously you could only get the software and updates from the manufacturer of your motherboard or your laptop.  As anyone who has dealt with the infrequency graphics driver updates from manufacturers is well aware, the updates are few and far between.  It is much better to be able to acquire the software from the vendor who creates it in the first place.  Head over to Lucidlogix to read more and perhaps buy one of the three versions available.

"The optimal system specifications Virtu MVP 2.0 include an Intel® Core™ i5 (Sandy Bridge) on an Intel Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge motherboard with an NVIDIA® Geforce 460GTX or similar or better AIB and 2GB or more memory running Windows® 7 or Windows 8 in either 32-bit or 64-bit modes.

With special launch prices, Virtu MVP 2.0 is now available in three models: Basic with GPU virtualization for $34.99 (USD), Standard with Virtual Vsync for $44.99 and Pro with Hyperformance and Virtual Vsync for $54.99."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Tilera etches '*ss-kicking' 72-core system-on-chip for network gear @ The Register
• Samsung develops a programmable mobile GPU @ The Inquirer
• Canon PIxma MG6320 Review @ TechReviewSource

Western Digital’s WD TV Play Brings Steaming Media to Your Television For Under $100

Subject: General Tech | February 20, 2013 - 12:26 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: western digital, streaming box, media player, DLNA

Western Digital may primarily be a hard drive manufacturer, but it also dabbles in media streaming boxes. Last week, a new product called the WD TV Play joined the existing lineup as a cheaper alternative to both the WD TV Live and Live Hub boxes.

The WD TV Play measures 4.17” x 4.13” x 1.07” and is black with a blue outline. Unlike the other streaming boxes, the Play ditches the rectangular shape for one that resembles a trapezoid (where the base is wider than the top). The WD TV Play has support for a number of streaming media services, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Youtube, Spotify, and Pandora. Notably absent is Amazon Video on Demand and Vudu, but otherwise it is a decent lineup of the popular internet media sources.

Additionally, the WD TV Play can playback local media from a flash drive or from a DLNA server. It support a variety of video and audio formats, but unlike the more expensive WD TV Live it does not support MPEG-2 or DTS Audio. That is the necessary compromise in order to get an approximately $20 cheaper device.

Rear IO on the WD TV Play includes a composite video output, HDMI, Ethernet jack, and Optical audio output. The media player reportedly also supports Wi-Fi and a USB 2.0 port for loading up media files. It comes with an infrared remote control, but you can also download the WD TV app to your smartphone and control the box using your phone's touchscreen.

In fact, the new case design and removal of certain codecs are the only real differences between the new Play and existing Live streaming box. The WD TV Play has an MSRP of $69.99 USD. For comparison, the WD TV Live is $99.99. If you do not need MPEG-2 or DTS audio, the Play can easily save you a few bucks.

More information can be found on the WD TV Play product page.

WobbleWorks Launches $75 Pen-Sized 3D Printer on Kickstarter

Subject: General Tech | February 19, 2013 - 05:04 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: drawing, art, 3d printer

3D printers have become much cheaper in the last couple of years with big pushes from systems like MakerBot to bring 3D printers to the home. Those printers are much cheaper than previous designs, but are still into the thousands of dollars. A new company called WobbleWorks has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new 3D printing pen–called the 3Doodler–that costs a mere $75. Resembling a hot glue gun, the 3Doodler can melt ABS or PLA plastic and allows users to draw plastic parts on surfaces or even in three dimensions.

The 3Doodler pen measures 180mm x 24mm and weighs approximately 200 grams. Up to 2ft of 3mm ABS or PLA plastic can be fed into the pen, where the tip heats up to 270°C to melt the plastic. It has two temperature settings and two speed settings that allow it to use either ABS or PLA plastic and feed it through slowly for intricate drawings or faster for filling in areas (like bases for figures and 3D models).

The Kickstarter campaign has a goal of $30,000, but it has blown past that goal with current contributions of $207,734 and 33 days remaining. Needless to say, it has been much more popular than WobbleWorks expected!

The designers have teamed up with a couple of Etsy artists to showcase what the 3Doodler pen is capable of. So far, they have created wire-frame artwork and miniature 3D animal figures. The WobbleWorks team has also created stencils for putting together an Eiffel Tower replica. The Eiffel tower is created by drawing out the various pieces on paper, and then welding them together with more plastic to assemble them into a 3D model. The designers further claim that the pen is capable of drawing in the air, provided you have the patience and steady hand to do so.

As of now, the 3Doodler is expected to launch sometime in October 2013. No word yet on retail availability or price, but if you want a 3D printing pen, you can get in on the Kickstarter for $75 and get a free pen if it launches.

More information is available on the 3Doodler Kickstarter page.

Intel's embedded GPU might finally be 'good enough' according to JPR

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | February 19, 2013 - 01:38 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Q4 2012, NVIDA, jon peddie, Intel, amd

Jon Peddie Research have released their findings on the state of the discrete and integrated graphics market, not counting servers, smartphone nor ARM based systems.  While the overall PC market showed a negligible gain of 2.8% over the final quarter of 2012, discrete graphics sales saw a decline of 8.2%, which JPR attributes to a noticeable increase of purchases of systems with only an Intel or AMD embedded GPU.  When you break the quarter down by manufacturer the news is not good.  For AMD the last quarter did see an increase of less than 1% on desktop CPUs but declines of 19% in laptop CPU sales and 13.6% in discrete GPU sales.  Intel saw desktop CPU sales up 3% but lost over 6% on laptop sales with their overall decline compared to last quarter sitting at about 3%.  NVIDIA was hit the hardest at the end of 2012 with only their discrete GPU sales applying to this survey, a loss of 15% on the desktop and a loss of 18% on mobile GPUs lead to an overall decline of 16%.

Compared to the final quarter of 2011, AMD lost 29.4%, Intel 5% and NVIDIA 4.6%, reflecting the difficulty of making sales in the past year; the total discrete GPU market dropped almost 10% or about 3 million units.  Even with the companies making profits, in some cases significant profits, the entire GPU market is depressed with ARM based devices and smartphones starting to erode the market that is already shrinking thanks to Intel and AMD shipping CPUs with embedded GPUs that are good enough for many users needs.

"The news was disappointing for every one of the major players. AMD dropped 13.6%, Intel slipped the least, just 2.9%, and Nvidia declined the most with 16.7% quarter-to-quarter change, this coming on the heels of a spectacular third quarter. The overall PC market actually grew 2.8% quarter-to-quarter while the graphics market declined 8.2% reflecting a decline in double-attach. That may be attributed to Intel's improved embedded graphics, finally making "good enough" a true statement."

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