Razer takes a moment to Vent, announces Razer Comms

Subject: General Tech | April 26, 2013 - 02:46 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: razer, Comms, Teamspeak, Ventrillo

The Steam overlay makes text communication easy between any combination of friends in game and out. Despite the popularity, just about every team has a voice over IP (VoIP) solution to coordinate within a match. Talking is simply superior to typing while simultaneously attempting to not get yourself killed, crashed, or otherwise not-winning. Teamspeak and Ventrillo are the two most popular solutions for clan voice communication; while both are free applications for clients, some uses require server license fees over and above the actual server cost itself.

Razer found a niche it wanted to fill.

Razer Comms is a free service, currently in beta, for text and audio chat. Using the overlay metaphor, the application tries to be very unobtrusive to the game it rests upon. The service apparently uses good-quality codecs, according to the little hear-say I overheard the last couple of days. They also advertise that the service, since it is not owned by the clans which use it, will hide each user's IP address. While there is very little you can do to someone by knowing their IP address, and most of that could be circumvented by powercycling your modem, it does have some limited advantages.

In terms of a business model, unless the service develops some way of gaining revenue, the only way I can rationalize Razer funding this project is boosting their brand power. Razer already has some level of infrastructure from their Synapse projects and it is possible that the company is willing to eat the loss with the expectation of increased hardware sales. If this service will continue to be both free and ad-free, I cannot see any other reason for Razer to bother besides: eat the loss, make gamers happy, and wait for them to want a new mouse or tablet.

I can also see a slim chance, a very very slim chance, that Razer hopes to contiuously expand this service into a full gaming platform as Valve did with Steam. A fun thought, but nothing I would actually expect at this point.

Razer Comms is currently only available for English Windows users, although other languages will arrive soon.

Can 3,000,000 Surface buyers be wrong?

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 02:43 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: winRT, win8, surface, microsoft, sales, Surface Pro

Believe it or not, according to The Inquirer's sources Microsoft managed to sell three million Surface and Surface Pro tablets, accounting for 7.5% of sales in the first quarter of 2013.  In comparison Apple accounts for a hair under 50% of branded tablet sales, with Android tablets making up the rest of the market.  For a company not generally associated with hardware, apart from the Zune, Microsoft has made a definite impact on tablet sales with their new OS and hybrid machines.  They do not define the split between Surface and Surface Pro, nor mention how many buyers did not realize the limitations of WinRT, regardless this is good news for Microsoft if not for some of their traditional partners such as ASUS and Acer.

"TABLET UPSTART Microsoft managed to capture 7.5 percent of the global 'branded' tablet market in the first three months of the year."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Fusion-io buys NexGen @ The Register
• Microsoft to unveil new Xbox console on May 21 @ The Register
• Western Digital profits down despite revenue rise @ The Register
• MySQL Founders Reunite To Form SkySQL @ Slashdot
• Another blow for Flash as Unity gaming engine kills support @ The Register
• SECTOR Pilot Master R3273679025 Review @ NikKTech
• Sony NEX-VG30 @ Hardware.info
• Ninjalane Podcast - The Tech of Concerts

Podcast #248 - AMD HD 7990, CrossFire Frame Rating improvements, 4K TVs and more!

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 02:13 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: video, Xe, seiki, raidr, podcast, nvidia, Never Serttle, hd 7990, GA-Z77N-WiFi, frame rating, crossfire, amd, 4k

PC Perspective Podcast #248 - 04/25/2013

Join us this week as we discuss AMD HD 7990, CrossFire Frame Rating improvements, 4K TVs 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

Program length: 1:16:34

1. 0:01:20 Update on Indiegogo: You guys rock!
2. Week in Review:
   1. 0:06:30 AMD Radeon HD 7990 6GB Review
   2. 0:15:30 Frame Rating: AMD previews prototype driver
   3. 0:27:30 Gigabyte Z77N-WiFi Mini ITX Motherboard
   4. 0:29:30 AMD Releases Latest Generation of G-series Embedded Products
3. News items of interest:
   1. 0:37:40 Seiki 50-in 4K 3840x2160 TV Preview
   2. 0:48:45 ASUS RAIDR Teases keep happening
   3. 0:52:00 Western Digital Xe HDDs SAS
      1. WD mobile Blue Series 5mm thin
   4. 0:57:15 Hook Retina display up to your PC
   5. 0:59:00 Raja Koduri returns to AMD
   6. 1:01:30 More Never Settle games??
   7. 1:02:45 Sound Blaster still a thing?
4. Hardware/Software Picks of the Week:
   1. Ryan: Seiki 4K TV - more support from enthusiasts! and wet puppies
   2. Jeremy: This is not news people, NFC is a feature but if you are paranoid you can check with this app
   3. Josh: The hoarder in me wants one!
   4. Allyn: Put your bits on an ioSafe. Put your 'papers' here.
   5. Tim: BT Sync, it's in public alpha now so go grab it!
5. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
6. http://pcper.com/podcast
7. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
8. Closing/outro

Deal for April 25th - Dell UltraSharp U2913WM 29" 2560 x 1080 @ $495

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 02:11 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

Today only you can get your hands on the Dell UltraSharp U2913WM we featured back on the 19th at an even lower price.  For a total of $495, shipping is free, you can upgrade your display significantly.  Before you sneer at the 2560 x 1080 resolution, realize that you would be able to run multiples of this monitor without needing a triple TITAN SLI rig.  For those of us who's eyes have been around the sun many dozens of times, the slightly larger resolution is also welcome.

Dell UltraSharp U2913WM panoramic 29" 2560 x 1080 LED-backlit LCD Monitor
Dell Works is offering 29-inch UltraSharp U2913WM 2560 x 1080 LED-backlit LCD Monitor for $494.99 with FREE shipping. Use $150 instant savings and extra 10% coupon code: 0Q0C74SWNZC42$ to get final price. Backed by 3-year Advanced Exchange Warranty and Premium Panel Guarantee.

Insync Extending Support for 0.9.x Versions As it Improves The Upgrade Process To Its New 1.0 Client

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 10:00 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: insync, google drive, file sync, cloud storage

Insync -- a service that extends the functionality of Google Drive and (among other things) allows users to sync Google Drive files (and documents) with their local computer for offline access -- has announced that it is extending support for version 0.9.x clients due to users expressing concerns over upgrade issues. The company released a new version 1.0 desktop client last month that added a number of new features, and the older clients were scheduled for end-of-life support.

Unfortunately, in order to upgrade to the new Insync 1.0, users needed to re-download all of their files stored on Google Drive. In an email to users, Insync sympathized with users' concerns over needing to re-download all files (especially those with extensive libraries of files and/or low data caps) of their files simply to upgrade the client-side application.

Insync has announced that it is working on a solution that will allow users to upgrade to the new (and improved) client without needing to re-download files from Google Drive, which is currently necessary to bring the client in sync with the cloud storage service. There is no ETA on the new client, but the company is reportedly hard at work on fixing the issue.

In the meantime, users can continue using their current desktop clients without worrying about file sync and tech support ending.

ARM Details First Quarter 2013 Finances, Company Revenue Up 26% YoY

Subject: General Tech | April 25, 2013 - 01:14 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: SoC, mobile, ARMv8, arm

British chip design company ARM recently released an unaudited financial report with details on its Q1 2013 performance. The mobile SoC giant announced that it saw 2.6 million ARM chips in the first quarter of this year, a 35% improvement over last year and further evidence that ARM still dominates the low-power mobile market.

In fact, the chip designer made $94.9 million in licensing all those ARM chips, which was a big chunk of the company’s total Q1 2013 revenue of $263.9 million. Revenue was up by 26% versus the first quarter of the previous year (Q1 2012), which was only $209.4 million. Further, ARM’s profit (pre-tax) is 89.4 million pounds or approximately $137 million USD.

ARM saw revenue from both licensing and royalties increase year over year (YoY) by 24% and 33% which indicates that more companies are jumping into the mobile and embedded markets with ARM chips or licenses to make custom designs of their own. According to the report, the company sold five-times more Mali GPUs, saw a 50% increase in ARM-powered embedded devices, and noticed a 25% increase in ARM mobile devices year over year respectively. ARM has also started moving ARMv8 (64-bit ARM) licenses. Of the total 22 licenses in Q1 2013, 7 of the licenses were for ARM’s Cortex-A50 series processors along with a single ARMv8 license (a total of 9 to date). In Q1 2013, ARM also sold three Mali GPU licenses, and one of those was for the company’s high-end Skymir GPU.

In all, ARM had a good first quarter and is showing signs of increased growth. With ARMv8 on the horizon, I am interested to see the company’s numbers next year and how they compare year over year as ARM attempts to take over the server room in particular. The profits and revenue are modest in comparison to X86 giant Intel's Q1 2013 results, but are not bad at all for a company that doesn’t produce chips itself!

You can find ARM's Q1 2013 report here.

AMD Catalyst 13.4 (WHQL) and AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta

Subject: General Tech | April 24, 2013 - 05:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: catalyst, graphics drivers, catalyst 13.4, Catalyst 13.5 beta

AMD Catalyst 13.4 includes all of the latest performance optimizations and fixes available in AMD Catalyst 13.3 Beta 3, and is Microsoft logo certified.

AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta includes additional performance improvements and fixes not found in AMD Catalyst 13.4

Feature Highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 13.4
Includes support for the for the AMD Radeon HD 7990 Series and AMD Radeon HD 7790 Series

AMD Catalyst 13.4 includes support for the following OpenGL 4.3 features:

• GL_ARB_compute_shader o GL_ARB_multi_draw_indirect
• GL_ARB_shader_storage_buffer_object o GL_ARB_arrays_of_arrays
• GL_ARB_clear_buffer_object o GL_ARB_ES3_compatibility
• GL_ARB_explicit_uniform_location o GL_ARB_fragment_layer_viewport
• GL_ARB_invalidate_subdata o GL_ARB_program_interface_query
• GL_ARB_shader_image_size o GL_ARB_stencil_texturing
• GL_ARB_texture_buffer_range o GL_ARB_texture_query_levels
• GL_ARB_texture_storage_multisample

Performance Highlights of AMD Catalyst 13.4 (vs. AMD Catalyst 13.1): Includes all of the performance improvements found in AMD Catalyst 13.3 Beta 3 on the AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series

• Resolved issue highlights of AMD Catalyst 13.4 (vs. AMD Catalyst 13.1) AMD Catalyst 13.4 includes all of the fixes found in AMD Catalyst 13.3 Beta 3
• Significantly improves latency performance in Skyrim, Boderlands 2, Guild Wars 2,Tomb Raider and Hitman Absolution
• Resolves Texture flickering seen in DirectX9.0c applications.
• Resolves slight corruption seen in Tomb Raider with TressFX enabled for CrossFire and single GPU configurations
• Fixes graphical corruption on objects and textures in Call of Duty - Black Ops 2

AMD’s latest Catalyst Application Profile:

AMD Catalyst 13.4 CAP1 (Can be used with AMD Catalyst 13.4 and AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta – note, the CrossFire profiles are already included in AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta )

AMD Catalyst Application Profiles include support for AMD single GPU, AMD CrossFire, AMD Dual Graphics, and AMD Enduro Technology configurations

• The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct: Fixes image quality issues when enabling Anti-Aliasing through the AMD Catalyst Control Center
• Crysis 3: Improves CrossFire performance in 3 and 4 GPU configurations
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Improves CrossFire performance
• Unigine Heaven: Improves CrossFire performance in 3 and 4 GPU configurations ·
• Hitman Absolution: Resolves application issues when running application at 1680x100 with 8xAA enabled

AMD Enduro Technology profile updates:

• Alien Colonial Marines – acm.exe
• BioShock Infinite – BioShockInfinite.exe
• Crysis 3 – Crysis3.exe
• GodMode – GodMode.exe
• Grid 2 – grid2.exe
• Hawken – HawkenLauncher.exe
• Neverwinter – gameclient.exe
• SimCity – SimCity.exe
• Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army – NZA.exe
• The Walking Dead Survival Instinct – WalkingDead.exe
• Tomb Raider – TombRaider.exe
• Kapersky Anti-virus - avt.exe

The latest available AMD Catalyst CAP can always be found here:

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

Feature Highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 13.4 Linux Driver:

This release of AMD Catalyst™ Linux introduces support for the following new features: RHEL 6.4 production support OpenCL console mode support Kernel 3.7 and 3.8 support

AMD Catalyst™ 13.5 Beta high-lights (vs. AMD Catalyst 13.4/AMD Catalyst 13.3 Beta) on the AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series.

Download the driver here: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst13-5WINBetaDriver.aspx

· AMD Catalyst 13.5 Beta Includes support for the for the AMD Radeon HD 7990 Series and AMD Radeon HD 7790 Series

Resolved Issues: · Tomb Raider: Corruption is no longer seen on the AMD Radeon HD 7790 when Tress FX is enabled

BitTorrent Releases First Public Alpha of Its Sync P2P Storage Service

Subject: General Tech | April 24, 2013 - 05:17 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: torrent, sync, p2p, folder sync, file sync, cloud storage, bittorrent

BitTorrent took the wraps off of its Sync application yesterday. The new Sync service uses the BitTorrent P2P protocol to sync encrypted files across all of your devices. It is a service that I have been wanting to see for a long time now, in fact, which was why I was ecstatic when I found out about the BitTorrent Labs program. I managed to get into the private alpha a couple of weeks ago, and have been testing it ever since. Being in an alpha state, it is still a bit rough around the edges but it shows promise and while I encourage everyone to read the full review for more details, I think it is something I can at least recommend that you should try out!

BitTorrent Sync creates a folder in your home/user folder called SyncApp, and any files or folders that you place in that folder are synced across your devices. Additionally, you can choose existing folders to sync outside of the default SyncApp folder, which is really nice.

The encryption is a bit complicated, but you are given a secret code (decryption key) when you choose to sync a folder, and you need to enter this code on any devices you want to sync. One cool feature of this setup is that you can also generate secret codes that allow temporary and/or permanent read-only access. The master code will allow read and write access, and temporary codes can also be given write access, which would be good to share files for a limited time when collaborating on a project. Even better, the Sync application will allow you to use a custom (base64 encoded) key that is longer than 40 characters if you feel the default keys are not long/secure enough.

The BitTorrent Sync app for Windows--The SyncApp folder is the folder it syncs by default.

The application will sync over WAN or LAN, with a preferrence towards syncing with computers on the same local network. Changes and file syncs are initiated almost instantly, though the actual transfer speed will depend on your network connections.

It is a free app that allows you to sync as many files and folders as you want securely, and it's worh a look in my opinion. Combined with a VPS that allows P2P applications (Backupsy is one that will make an exception for Sync users), you can create your own Dropbox-like sync solution without those pesky file size limits. (Though, currently, you would be missing out on Dropbox's versioning functionality. I hope to see that remedied in future releases.)

You can find more information as well as download links for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux versions of Sync on the BitTorrent Labs website.

Yes, you may be able to tell from this post that I'm excited about Sync--I am. I'm glad someone that can actually code (as in, not me) has finally put together a program that I've been wanting for a long time, and that it generally works well from what I've been able to test so far. It's just my opinion though, if you do try it out let me know what you think of Sync!