MangaGamer, a localizer of adult visual novels, wanted to reward customers who’d bought games through their website with free Steam keys. Two years into the promotion, a hacker allegedly used stolen credit cards to fraudulently buy hundreds of games. The scam cost MangaGamer tens of thousands of dollars. Why’d the hacker do it? To sell keys on the controversial marketplace G2A.
Source: Kotaku – G2A Scammer Explains How He Profited Off Stolen Indie Game Keys
The question of the day is “does esports need regulation?” I think that it does need some form of regulation if it ever wants to be taken seriously. Your thoughts?
Triple-A publishers are investing heavily in the space. And the prize pools are growing in size, with players competing for massive piles of cash. As these sums grow, so does the pressure and desire to win. To this end, we’ve seen reports of players using drugs such as ADHD medication Ritalin to aid focus, or utilizing software to hamper their opponents. Thus the question of whether pro-gaming requires regulation has arisen.
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Source: [H]ardOCP – Does eSports Need Regulation?
There is an announcement in the Bioware forums today that says, come the 26th of next month, the majority of the company’s forums will be closed. You will still be able to read them until the 25th of October but the servers will be taken offline after that. The forums for Dragon Age and Mass Effect are among the forums being shuttered.
So it is with a heavy heart that we will close our public forums on August 26, 2016. We will maintain some private boards, and may use these in future for beta feedback or other special projects. Because we know there is a lot of information on there you may want to keep, the public boards will remain in a read-only state until October 25, 2016. After that date, they will be taken down.
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Source: [H]ardOCP – BioWare Shutting Down Its Forums
The most recent cyberattacks against the Democratic Party, revealed today, also included attacks on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Reuters reports. It’s unclear if any data was actually compromised, and the Clinton campaign didn’t offer up…
Source: Engadget – Clinton’s campaign was also hacked in breach of Democratic Party
In a news report that could easily be the plot of a cult horror movie, an anthrax outbreak has swept the remote Yamalo-Nenets district of western Siberia, killing 1,500 reindeer since Sunday. According to NBC News, authorities think the outbreak began when some zombie anthrax thawed out of an infected reindeer corpse and woke up.
Source: Gizmodo – The Horrifying Reason Siberia Is Dealing With an Anthrax Outbreak
Samsung started to ship its PM1633a SSD with 15.36 TB capacity to select customers in March and recently it began to supply the drive to select resellers as well. The enterprise-class SSD is now offered by two U.S.-based retailers and can be purchased for ~$10,000, which makes it one of the world’s most expensive commercial solid-state drives. Meanwhile, Samsung officially expanded its PM1633a family of SSDs with many lower-capacity models and has begun to ship the 7.68 TB version to at least one reseller.
The Samsung PM1633a drives are based on the company’s third-generation 256 Gb TLC 3D V-NAND memory chips introduced last year. Samsung stacks 16 of such ICs to form a single 512 GB package and then uses 32 of them to build its flagship 15.36 TB SSD, leaving about 1 TB of NAND flash for overprovisioning. Typically, high-capacity SSDs do not provide very high performance, because of peculiarities of their internal architecture and limitations of contemporary controllers (which cannot simultaneously access many high-density chips, or multiple controllers in a RAID-0 stripe configuration). To speed up its most spacious PM1633a drive, Samsung had to develop a new proprietary controller that can concurrently access large amounts of high-density NAND flash with the help of a special firmware. For its flagship PM1633a 15.36 TB SSD, the manufacturer declares sequential read performance up to 1200 MB/s as well as sequential write performance up to 900 MB/s using the SAS-12Gbps interface. As for random read and write operations, the 15.36 TB SSD can deliver up to 195,000 and 31,000 IOPS respectively (which is slightly lower than the company advertised back in March).
When Samsung announced its PM1633a SSD earlier this year, it only introduced one model with 15.36 TB capacity. Since then, the company has officially expanded the PM1633a family with 480 GB, 960 GB, 1.92 TB, 3.84 TB and 7.68 TB models (see flyer for details). The expansion of the lineup demonstrates Samsung’s confidence that its third-generation V-NAND TLC memory is reliable enough for enterprise usage scenarios. In fact, the PM1633a series consists of six SKUs, whereas the PM1633 family based on the second-gen 32-layer V-NAND includes only four configurations (up to 3.8 TB capacity, but they are faster than the PM1633a). Both lineups are aimed at enterprise storage applications with SAS 12Gbps interface.
| Samsung PM1633a SSD General Specifications | |||
| Capacity | 480 GB, 960 GB, 1.92 TB, 3.84 TB, 7.68 TB, 15.36 TB | ||
| Controller | Samsung proprietary controller | ||
| NAND | Samsung’s 256 Gb 48-layer TLC NAND | ||
| DRAM Cache | up to 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM (15.36 TB model) | ||
| Sequential Read | 1200 MB/s | ||
| Sequential Write | 900 MB/s | ||
| Random Read | up to 195,000 IOPS (15.36 TB model) | ||
| Random Write | up to 31,000 IOPS (15.36 TB model) | ||
| Power Consumption (active/idle) | 11W/4.5W (15.36 TB model) | ||
| MTBF | 2,000,000 hours | ||
| Endurance | 1 DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day) | ||
| Power Loss Protection | Based on tantalum capacitors | ||
| Warranty | 5 Years | ||
| Interface and Form-Factor | 2.5″/15mm SAS-12 Gbps (15.36 TB model) | ||
Back in March, Samsung only began to ship its PM1633a to select clients. We suspect that these clients are those that run large cloud data centers, and require such drives to run their specific workloads. Now,the manufacturer has started to ship its flagship SAS SSD to a broader range of customers. For example, the Samsung PM1633a 15.36 TB drive (MZILS15THMLS) is now offered by CDW for $10,311.99 as well as by SHI for $9,690 on preorder. Both retailers ask to contact them for actual availability, depending on when stock is available (which is not surprising, given the price of the SSD as well as its very special positioning). In addition, CDW also offers the PM1633a 7.68 TB (MZILS7T6HMLS) drive for $5,729.99, which ships within 11–13 days.
The price of Samsung’s PM1633a 15.36 TB SSD may seem excessive, but for large cloud data centers (which always try to maximize their storage capacity) as well as mission-critical storage applications such drives make a lot of sense. For example, Supermicro has 2U machines that can fit in 48 SAS3/12G storage devices (1, 2). Each of such servers can store 737.28 TB of data (if fully populated with Samsung’s 15.36 TB SSDs), whereas storage capacity of a 42U cabinet featuring 21 of such servers will be 15482 TB (15.4 PB). By contrast, a standard 42U storage rack featuring 360 3.5” 10 TB hard drives can store around 3600 TB. Moreover, given very high sequential and random read/write performance of the PM1633a, just one such device can substitute many 10K or 15K mission-critical HDDs (each of which can cost $400 – $700). Hence, there will be numerous customers interested in buying the Samsung PM1633a 15.36 TB for its price-point.
Sources: Samsung, CDW (via PC World), SHI.
The Samsung 850 EVO 4TB SSD Review
Samsung’s 850 EVO 4TB Now Available at $1500
Source: AnandTech – Samsung’s PM1633a Now Available: k for 15 TB, k for 7 TB
Going to space is expensive. Really expensive — which is why every now and then, Congress has the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) perform a non-partisan, independent review of NASA projects. The latest GAO report looks at the space agency’…
Source: Engadget – Orion spacecraft may fall behind schedule, go over budget
When Bluetooth headphones first hit the market in the mid-2000s, it was a good idea to steer clear. The sound was discernibly worse. Connection problems were abundant, and they were expensive. But a decade later, consumer research firm NPD Group says that Bluetooth headphones have finally outsold their wired competition.
Source: Gizmodo – Bluetooth Has Finally Outsold Wired Headphones
(credit: Kurtis Garbutt)
Facebook has formally informed its investors that it could be on the hook for billions more in back taxes if the Internal Revenue Service’s legal efforts are successful.
This notice comes weeks after federal investigators asked a judge in California to force Facebook to open up its financial and business records for 2010—the year that the social networking giant established a subsidiary in Ireland largely for tax reasons.
Facebook and many other tech firms have recently come under increased scrutiny for using this method to drastically—and legally—reduce tax burdens. The “Double Irish” technique was phased out in early 2015, but companies already using it have until 2020 to transition to something else.
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Source: Ars Technica – Facebook: We will fight IRS over billions in possible owed back taxes
Trailrunner7 quotes a report from On the Wire: A federal judge has ruled that robocalls made on behalf of political candidates are protected by the First Amendment and cannot be outlawed. The decision came in a case in Arkansas, where political robocalls had been illegal for more than 30 years. On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Leon Holmes ruled that banning political robocalls amounts to an infringement of free speech protections and also constitutes prior restraint of speech. Political campaigns have been using robocalls for decades, and some states have sought to ban them, arguing that they are intrusive and violate recipients’ privacy. In the Arkansas case, the state attorney general put forward both of these arguments, and also argued that the calls can tie up phone lines, making them unusable in an emergency. Holmes said in his decision that there was no evidence that political robocalls prevent emergency communications, and also said that the Arkansas statute should have banned all robocalls, not just commercial and political ones. “The statute at issue here imposes a content-based restriction on speech; it is not one of the rare cases that survives strict scrutiny. The state has failed to prove that the statute at issue advances a compelling state interest and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest,” Holmes wrote.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Judge Rules Political Robocalls Are Protected By First Amendment
There already have been the main pull requests for the AMDGPU/Radeon DRM drivers for DRM-Next that in turn will land in Linux 4.8 next week. However, today there’s been a last-minute update of more open-source AMD driver changes for this next kernel release…
Source: Phoronix – More Last Minute AMDGPU/Radeon Changes For Linux 4.8
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has been slowly leaking lava onto the surface around it for over three decades now, but only rarely does that lava reach the island’s cliffs. This week, it finally did—and a photographer caught the whole thing from a boat.
Source: Gizmodo – Watch Lava Spilling Over a Cliff into the Ocean
Even though Blizzard’s light-hearted digital card game, Hearthstone, just got a new expansion back in April, rumors of new content just around the corner have been proven true. At an event in Shanghai, China, the studio announced a new adventure, One…
Source: Engadget – Blizzard’s next ‘Heartstone’ adventure is a magical disco party
This was the question I had when briefed by Cooper Standard an automotive parts company that is currently growing about 1.5x the automotive parts industry due to its innovative processes and products. They make automotive weather-stripping, hoses and metal fuel lines for cars (and industrial equipment). But one of the innovative parts is they don’t use Rubber, they use a rubber like substance that doesn’t degrade with age and is protected against rubbing sourced hose failure naturally. But it is their innovation process that causes them to stand out. Let me explain. The 3 Steps Of Innovation…
Source: TG Daily – Cooper Standard: Automotive Hoses Can Be Innovative?
This is a video of a group of old people (affectionately referred to as ‘elders’) reacting to the HTC VIVE virtual reality system. I’m pretty sure the whole thing is actually just a giant ad for the system, but the old people are full of one-liners (i.e. “Am I still in the same room?”, “I absolutely know I’m going to dream about this tonight.”) that make the video worth a watch. They start with Google Tilt Brush and paint in virtual reality, then play Portal themed Aperture Robot Repair, and end with The Brookhaven Experiment, a first-person zombie shooter. I think I like the guy in the green shirt (above) who cusses a lot the best. He really seems like an elder I could get along with. My village elders? They’re impossible. They’re always all “You’re too young to practice magic,” and “You still piss your bedsheets.” I want to run away so bad but the catch is all this only exists in my head so it’s hard.
Hit the jump for the video.
Source: Geekologie – What A Fun Bunch: Old People Reacting To Virtual Reality
Lollapalooza kicked off last night, but things are getting going in earnest today with the likes of Major Lazer, Miike Snow, and Future hitting the stage tonight. Good news too, you can live stream pretty much everything all weekend long over on Red Bull TV.
Source: LifeHacker – How to Stream All the Biggest Lollapalooza Performances This Weekend
Check out this detailed blog post by the team behind Shovel Knight digging into how they localized the game for Japan. So many rad little details. Sleep bubbles!
Source: Kotaku – Check out this detailed blog post by the team behind Shovel Knight digging into how they localized t
I know that a $545,000 fine for using a VPN sounds bad at first but when you consider that, in United Arab Emirates, you can still get stoned to death for adultery. All of the sudden $500k doesn’t seem so harsh.
Last week, UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a new set of federal laws which include one forbidding UAE citizens from using VPNs to mask their digital footprints. As reported by International Business Times, anyone caught using a VPN or proxy server could end up cooling their heels in jail and will face a fine of between $136,000 – $545,000.
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Source: [H]ardOCP – Getting Caught Using A VPN In The UAE Will Cost You Over 0,000
Today is the 17th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day! If you have a sys admin, buy him / her a beer, give them a pat on the back, a much needed hug, a kick in the ass, or all of the above to let them know you appreciate them.
Let’s face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and large piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgement. It’s the least you could do.
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Source: [H]ardOCP – [H]appy System Administrator Appreciation Day!
Deadspin Guess How Sexist Texas A&M’s Event For Female Football Fans Was
| The Slot Jill Stein Thinks There Are ‘Real Questions’ About Vaccine Safety, in Case You Were Voting Green
| Gizmodo What Happened to WikiLeaks?
| Gawker Maybe This Is Bad?
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Source: LifeHacker – Deadspin Guess How Sexist Texas A&M’s Event For Female Football Fans Was | The Slot Jill Stein T
