It’s easy to say your product is VR capable but, as we’ve seen in our testing time and again, that isn’t always the case. That’s why the crew at VR Jive decided to take the MSI GE62VR laptop out for a spin to see how well it handled VR gaming.
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Source: [H]ardOCP – Can You VR On A Laptop?
Monthly Archives: December 2016
Amazon Alexa Goes Horribly Off Rails With Foul Mouthed X-Rated Echo Dot Search Results In Front Of A Child
Anyone who owns an Amazon Alexa-powered device can usually tell you that it’s quite useful to keep around, which is why they bought it in the first place. However, with “smart” IoT devices, there’s always a chance that something will go awry, and we’re not just talking about the usual device lockups or software quirks.
One family found
Source: Hot Hardware – Amazon Alexa Goes Horribly Off Rails With Foul Mouthed X-Rated Echo Dot Search Results In Front Of A Child
The 100 Most Popular io9 Posts of 2016
To paraphrase Charles Dickens, 2016 was the worst of times, and the pretty good of times. It was a year of wonder (Game of Thrones) and disappointment (Walking Dead), amusement (Deadpool) and aggravation (Suicide Squad), delight (a few things) and loss (too many to count). Relive the year that was with io9’s 100 most-read posts of the year, and then let us never speak of 2016 again.
Source: Gizmodo – The 100 Most Popular io9 Posts of 2016
Firefox 52 Borrows One More Privacy Feature From the Tor Browser
An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla engineers have added a mechanism to Firefox 52 that prevents websites from fingerprinting users using system fonts. The user privacy protection system was borrowed from the Tor Browser, where a similar mechanism blocks websites from identifying users based on the fonts installed on their computers, only returning a list of “default fonts” per each OS. While sabotaging system font queries won’t stop user fingerprinting as a whole, this is just one of the latest privacy-related updates Mozilla has added to Firefox, taken from Tor. Back in July 2016, Mozilla engineers started the Tor Uplift project, which aims to improve Firefox’s privacy features with the ones present in the Tor Browser.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Firefox 52 Borrows One More Privacy Feature From the Tor Browser
Super Mario 3D World Hack Is Totally Normal, Don't Worry About It
Yep. That’s good ol’ Mario, alright. Our favorite plumber would never kill us in our sleep.
Source: Kotaku – Super Mario 3D World Hack Is Totally Normal, Don’t Worry About It
How to Choose and Buy Your First Kettlebell
If you’d rather not fight for kettlebells at the gym or just want to work out at home, one well-chosen kettlebell is versatile, compact, and pretty cost-effective. You just have to sift through the myriad sizes, brands, styles, and weights. Here’s how to tell what matters and what’s useless.
Source: LifeHacker – How to Choose and Buy Your First Kettlebell
Thermaltake Adds RGB Lighting to Toughpower Grand Gold PSUs
Thermaltake has introduced a new lineup of high-end PSUs featuring RGB lighting. The new Toughpower Grand RGB Gold power supplies are equipped with 256 colors ‘Riing’ RGB fan, featuring five lighting modes as well as all the regular attributes of advanced PSUs, including a modular design, flat black cables, a “smart” fan, as well as a 10-year warranty.
The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB Gold lineup of PSUs are compliant with the ATX 12V v2.4 and EPS v2.92 specifications, carry the 80 Plus Gold spec badge and are designed for full-size desktops/workstations (in fact, the 850 W model even has two 4+4 CPU power connectors and thus can handle dual-socket systems). Like other high-end PSUs, the Toughpower Grand RGB Gold power supplies feature a modular design, Rubycon capacitors (rated for 105°C/221°F), a high amperage single +12V rail design (see the table for details) as well as a 140 mm fan that can shut itself down completely when the load is below 20% (it is possible to keep the fan on at all other times). Thermaltake also indicated that the PSUs feature a very strict voltage regulation circuitry (set for no more than a ±2% variation) with a very low 30 mV ripple noise.
| Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB Gold Series Output Specifications | ||||||||
| TPG-650AH3FSG-R | TPG-750AH3FSG-R | TPG-850AH3FSG-R | ||||||
| Rated | Combined | Rated | Combined | Rated | Combined | |||
| +3.3V | 22 A | 120 | 22 A | 120 W | 22 A | 120 W | ||
| +5V | ||||||||
| +12V | 54.2 A | 650 W | 62.5 A | 750 W | 70.9 A | 850 W | ||
| -12V | 0.3 A | 3.6 W | 0.3 A | 3.6 W | 0.3 A | 3.6 W | ||
| +5Vsb | 3 A | 15 W | 3 A | 15 W | 3 A | 15 W | ||
| Total Power | 650 W | 750 W | 850 W | |||||
One of the key selling points of the Toughpower Grand RGB Gold is its Riing 14 RGB fan with a hydraulic bearing as well as multiple LEDs that can work in five modes: 256-color RGB cycle, solid red, solid green, solid blue or solid white. The modes can be set using a single button and then the PSU will remember them even after a shutdown.
As for connectivity, the Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB Gold PSUs come with four or six 6+2-pin PCIe power plugs for graphics cards (so, the 850 W model can handle three AMD Radeon R9 Fury graphics cards or two highly-custom EVGA Kingpin GPUs that need three power connectors), 9 or 12 SATA power connectors, Molex connectors and 4-pin plugs for floppy drives and other peripherals such as fan controllers. All cables are flat and black.
| Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB Gold Series | |||
| Connector type | 650 W TPG-0650F-R |
750 W TPG-0750F-R |
850 W TPG-0850F-R |
| ATX 24 Pin | 1 | ||
| EPS 4+4 Pin | 1 | 2 | |
| PCIe 6+2 Pin | 4 | 6 | |
| SATA | 9 | 12 | |
| 4P Molex | 4 | ||
| Floppy | 1 | ||
The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB Gold series PSUs are already available from multiple retailers, including Amazon. The top-of-the-range model costs $119, whereas the 650 W and 750 W PSUs cost $89 and $99, respectively. Apart from the Toughpower Grand RGB Gold lineup, Thermaltake is also working on more affordable Smart Pro RGB Bronze PSUs, which are expected to hit the market in 2017. The Smart Pro RGB Bronze PSUs will feature the same RGB fan as the Toughpower Grand RGB, modular design and premium components, but the Bronze rating and a seven-year warranty.
Related Reading:
- Thermaltake Releases New SFX PSUs: 450W and 600W, rated at 80 PLUS Gold
- Best PC Power Supplies: Holiday 2016
- The Zalman ZM1200-EBT 1200W Power Supply Review
- NZXT Unveils Fully Customizable Aer RGB LED Fans
Source: AnandTech – Thermaltake Adds RGB Lighting to Toughpower Grand Gold PSUs
Consumer Reports Stands By Apple MacBook Pro Snub Despite Backlash Over Battery Life Findings
It seems as though the hits keep coming for Apple with regards to its 2016 MacBook Pro notebooks. The notebooks were announced in October, and customers began taking delivery shortly afterwards. It didn’t take long for customers to start complaining about poor battery life, which shouldn’t be too surprising given the fact that Apple dramatically
Source: Hot Hardware – Consumer Reports Stands By Apple MacBook Pro Snub Despite Backlash Over Battery Life Findings
Microsoft thinks AR could help you find your lost keys
You may think RFID tags are a pretty decent way to track your property, but Microsoft is trying to patent a much higher-tech system. A Hololens-like augmented reality device would scan your surroundings and keep tabs on objects like keys, wallets or…
Source: Engadget – Microsoft thinks AR could help you find your lost keys
Lame Airline Fires Pilot Just Because He Was Totally Drunk
We all do stupid things when we’re drunk—like call our exes or buy something we don’t need on eBay. But a pilot for an Indonesian airline was just fired for doing something with the potential for much deadlier consequences. He tried to fly a plane while drunk off his ass. And he nearly succeeded.
Source: Gizmodo – Lame Airline Fires Pilot Just Because He Was Totally Drunk
The most dramatic patent and copyright cases of 2016
Many of the biggest legal disputes in technology relate to “intellectual property,” a broad term used for laws relating to everything from copyrights to patents, trademarks to trade secrets. This year saw significant changes in the copyright and patent landscapes. “Patent trolls” who sue technologists for fun and profit got smacked down by courts more often—and harder—than ever before. At the same time, universities were filing patent lawsuits at an increased rate, and often winning.
In the copyright realm, the Oracle v. Google trial dominated the spring. A jury was left to decide the murky rules about when using an API could be “fair use.” That legal uncertainty led to the two tech giants clashing over the ethics of each others’ business practices and the history of the smartphone industry.
In two very different cases in 2016, copyright issues led to criminal charges being filed. US authorities are seeking to extradite and put on trial a man named Artem Vaulin, who they say made $16 million annually by running a massive online storehouse of pirated films and songs. And more than three years after they were condemned by a federal judge, lawyers behind a vast array of copyright lawsuits, a firm known as Prenda Law, were arrested and accused of fraud. Here’s a look back at 2016’s most dramatic IP cases.
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Source: Ars Technica – The most dramatic patent and copyright cases of 2016
Precious Angel!: Zoë, A Cat With A Heart On Her Chest
Meet Zoë, a mixed British shorthair cat with a heart on her chest. It’s black like mine. It isn’t a perfect heart though (also like mine), it’s actually the top of a stripe that runs underneath her. Still, very beautiful, and if there was an Instagram for Zoë I would follow it. Oh, there is, I’m following her now. That brings my following total to 117 (mostly cats and a couple turtles), and total followers to…three (my mom and dad both have individual accounts and one joint one). Man, I really think 2017 is going to be my social media year! “Social media sucks.” I want to Russian hack them all so bad.
Keep going for a bunch more shots of the little stunner.
Source: Geekologie – Precious Angel!: Zoë, A Cat With A Heart On Her Chest
Bid Goodbye to 2016 With the Gif Party
It’s the last gif party of 2016, so let’s send this year out with a bang. A bang full of gifs.
Source: io9 – Bid Goodbye to 2016 With the Gif Party
The Nier: Automata Demo Lets Players Kill Themselves By Unequipping An Item
The demo for Nier: Automata released last week. Playing as a super fashionable android, players slice and dice their way through waves of robot enemies. But un-equipping one essential item gives an instant game over.
Source: Kotaku – The Nier: Automata Demo Lets Players Kill Themselves By Unequipping An Item
This Site Helps You Remember All the Things in 2016 That Didn't Suck
Yes, 2016 was full of some awful news. Let’s not forget all the good stuff that happened in 2016, though. Can’t think of anything? This website will jog your memory.
Source: LifeHacker – This Site Helps You Remember All the Things in 2016 That Didn’t Suck
The Most Viewed Linux Kernel News Stories Of 2016
There are just a few more interesting recaps to share before 2016 draws to an end. I figured some of you may be curious about the most-viewed kernel news stories on Phoronix this calendar year…
Source: Phoronix – The Most Viewed Linux Kernel News Stories Of 2016
Governments Shut Down the Internet More Than 50 Times in 2016
An anonymous reader writes: Governments around the world shut down the internet more than 50 times in 2016 — suppressing elections, slowing economies and limiting free speech. In the worst cases internet shutdowns have been associated with human rights violations, Deji Olukotun, senior global advocacy manager at digital rights organisation Access Now told IPS. “What we have found is that internet shutdowns go hand in hand with atrocities,” said Olukotun. “In Ethiopia there’s been consistent blocking this year of social media and internet.” Dozens of people have died in protests in Ethiopia in 2016, “many of them during the kind of blackout where it’s difficult to report on what’s happening,” he said. Several leaders used internet shutdowns to affect democratic processes, including elections. “In Uganda in February 2016 there was a shutdown of social media networks by President Museveni and that again happened in Gambia (in December) surrounding the election,” Olukotun added. In other cases, three governments chose to shut down the internet because they thought that it would stop students from cheating on their exams, he said. “On the whole most governments want to expand internet access,” said Olukotun.
However governments do not seem to have taken into account the potential repercussions of the shutdowns, beyond the limits of free speech. According to an estimate, internet shutdowns resulted in a loss of $2.4 billion in 2015.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Governments Shut Down the Internet More Than 50 Times in 2016
You Don't Need a Hill When There's a Jet Engine Strapped to Your Snowboard
Adding to the near-infinite list of things you saw on the internet that you really shouldn’t try at home, YouTube’s the Hacksmith strapped a couple of jet turbine engines to the back of a snowboard and hit his Canadian snow-covered streets because when you’ve got a jet-powered snowboard, you don’t need a mountain.
Source: Gizmodo – You Don’t Need a Hill When There’s a Jet Engine Strapped to Your Snowboard
Today's Best Deals: Amazon Digital Day, Your Favorite Toaster Ovens, Humidifiers, and More
Amazon Digital Day, your favorite toaster ovens, and stools to help you poop lead off Friday’s best deals.
Source: LifeHacker – Today’s Best Deals: Amazon Digital Day, Your Favorite Toaster Ovens, Humidifiers, and More
Sorry, This Nearby Comet Will Not Strike the Earth and End Our Collective Nightmare
A glowing green ball of ice and rock is zipping past the Earth and on December 31st, it can be spotted near the crescent moon—in a dark sky, with the aid of some good binoculars. But for those hoping this comet will veer off course and take aim straight at our sorry planet? Sorry, 2016 isn’t that merciful.
Source: Gizmodo – Sorry, This Nearby Comet Will Not Strike the Earth and End Our Collective Nightmare