I know what you’re thinking—here come sleek, black smartphones with neon green accents (that may or may not go bad in a couple of months). Hold that thought, though: while the gaming hardware company has acquired the guys behind the Robin phones, Nextbit suggests that it will “operate as an independent division inside Razer, focused on unique mobile design and experiences.” Despite this statement, Razer’s influence on the products will probably be inevitable, but that might actually lead to great things—recently, they have been showing us pretty creative stuff, like the Valkyrie laptop and Ariana lighting system.
…it’s clear the company is refocusing its efforts to some degree. Nextbit says it has stopped selling the Robin and accessories, and that it will continue to fulfill warranties for six more months. Given the phone was released in July 2016, that pretty much means that only the earliest adopters will receive their full year-long warranty. On the software end, Nextbit will provide updates and patches through February 2018. While the Nextbit purchase doesn’t guarantee Razer will begin to make smartphones, the emphasis on “mobile design and experiences,” certainly suggests that will be the case. Nextbit was founded by former HTC and Android employees, after all so their experience building smartphones is likely their most valuable asset.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Razer Buys Nextbit To Enter The Smartphone Market
Monthly Archives: January 2017
The FDA Is Cracking Down On Rogue Genetic Engineers
David Ishee’s plan was simple, if not exactly free of complication. From the shed that functions as his laboratory in rural Mississippi, he hoped to use genetic engineering to rid dogs of the types of terrible disorders caused by decades of high-end breeding.
Source: Gizmodo – The FDA Is Cracking Down On Rogue Genetic Engineers
Fox Sports will broadcast Super Bowl 51 in a 'VR suite'
Sure watching boxing, basketball and tennis in VR are cool, but what about the biggest TV event of the year? Come Sunday, Fox Sports will fix that gap in its lineup by teaming with LiveLike to beam the Super Bowl into your Gear VR or Cardboard headse…
Source: Engadget – Fox Sports will broadcast Super Bowl 51 in a ‘VR suite’
Playing With Conan Exiles' NSFW Character Creation
Before you step completely naked (server settings willing) onto the hot sands of Conan Exiles’ barbaric wasteland, there are a few adjustments to be made. Here’s a not safe for work trip through the game’s NSFW character creation, dick sliders and all.
Source: Kotaku – Playing With Conan Exiles’ NSFW Character Creation
Alleviate Anxiety With This Do-Anywhere Grounding Exercise
Mindfulness and meditation are well-known ways to combat anxiety and stress, but they can be hard to fit into a busy schedule. If you need a quick way to curb a stream of anxiety-inducing thoughts, try this grounding exercise that you can fit in no matter where you are.
Source: LifeHacker – Alleviate Anxiety With This Do-Anywhere Grounding Exercise
Ireland votes to divest public money from fossil fuels
Ethics might be the driving force, but if ‘carbon bubble’ fears play out, it’s likely to be a sound economic move too.
Source: TreeHugger – Ireland votes to divest public money from fossil fuels
Today's Best Deals: KitchenAid Mixers, IZOD, Vinyl Printer, Mechanical Keyboard, and More
A discounted KitchenAid stand mixer, IZOD clothes for the guys, Madden NFL 17 Super Bowl edition for Xbox One, and more lead Tuesday’s best deals.
Source: LifeHacker – Today’s Best Deals: KitchenAid Mixers, IZOD, Vinyl Printer, Mechanical Keyboard, and More
Google Chrome For iOS Heads To Open Source Chromium Repository
It’s been a long time coming, but Google today announced that the iOS version of Chrome has now joined its Chromium open source project. Chrome doesn’t have nearly the same penetration rate on iOS that it does on other platforms, but it provides a safe haven for users that prefer Google services and are partial to Apple hardware.
In case
Source: Hot Hardware – Google Chrome For iOS Heads To Open Source Chromium Repository
A look at the new battery storage facility in California built with Tesla Powerpacks
Megan Geuss
ONTARIO, CALIF.—East of LA, a natural gas peaker plant surrounded by fields of cows got a new, futuristic neighbor. Under a maze of transmission lines, a 20MW battery storage facility made of nearly 400 closet-sized batteries sitting on concrete pads now supplies 80MWh to utilities.
The project is an anomaly not just because it’s one of the largest energy storage facilities on the grid in California today, but because it was built in record time—the project was just announced in September when regulators ordered utility Southern California Edison to invest in utility-scale battery storage, a year after a natural gas well in Aliso Canyon, California sprung a leak and released 1.6 million pounds of methane into the atmosphere. The leak prompted a shutdown of the natural gas storage facility, one of the largest west of the Mississippi. Regulators were concerned that such a shutdown would cause energy and gas shortages, although that worry has not come to fruition entirely, and SoCal Gas has begun tentatively withdrawing gas again in recent weeks.
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Source: Ars Technica – A look at the new battery storage facility in California built with Tesla Powerpacks
Libratus, the poker-playing AI, destroyed its four human rivals
The Steve Miller classic profoundly states that “you’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em,” and for the first time, an AI has out-gambled world-class players at heads-up, no-limit Texas Hold’em. Our representatives of humanity — Ja…
Source: Engadget – Libratus, the poker-playing AI, destroyed its four human rivals
Netgear Exploit Found in 31 Models Lets Hackers Turn Your Router Into a Botnet
An anonymous reader shares a report: You might want to upgrade the firmware of your router if it happens to sport the Netgear brand. Researchers have discovered a severe security hole that potentially puts hundreds of thousands of Netgear devices at risk. Disclosed by cybersecurity firm Trustwave, the vulnerability essentially allows attackers to exploit the router’s password recovery system to bypass authentication and hijack admin credentials, giving them full access to the device and its settings. What is particularly alarming is that the bug affects at least 31 different Netgear models, with the total magnitude of the vulnerability potentially leaving over a million users open to attacks. Even more unsettling is the fact that affected devices could in certain cases be breached remotely. As Trustwave researcher Simon Kenin explains, any router that has the remote management option switched on is ultimately vulnerable to hacks.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Netgear Exploit Found in 31 Models Lets Hackers Turn Your Router Into a Botnet
ICYMI: Reptile robots in the wild
Today on In Case You Missed It: BBC One’s nature show, “Spy in the Wild,” partnered with a robotics division in order to design and produce two remote-controlled robot reptiles. Using bio-informed robotics, the team closely reproduced the creatur…
Source: Engadget – ICYMI: Reptile robots in the wild
Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Celebration Has No FF7 News, But Pretty Art
In case you were wondering how the Final Fantasy VII remake was coming along, here’s the only bit of the game shown at the Final Fantasy 30th anniversary event in Japan earlier today. Looks like the key art department is on point.
Source: Kotaku – Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Celebration Has No FF7 News, But Pretty Art
Make Fritters Out of Any Vegetable With This Easy Formula
In what I’m calling “very good news,” the kind souls over at The Kitchn have devised a formula for turning almost any vegetable into a crispy, cheesy fritter. Given the fact that the easiest ways to get me to eat my veggies are to crisp them up and add cheese, I’m pretty delighted.
Source: LifeHacker – Make Fritters Out of Any Vegetable With This Easy Formula
Driving the Tesla Model S through the countryside—watch out for autopilot
Sebastian Anthony
Reading about the Tesla Model S has become rather repetitive. Yes, it’s an electric car. Yes, supercharging is free (well, for those who bought a car before 2017). Yes, autopilot is really cool (but really quite scary on country roads). And yes, the P90D (now the P100D) 0-60mph acceleration is truly insane.
But, when you get right down to it, how important are those things for everyday use, and how many of them are just technorgiastic concepts that drive lots of headline clicks?
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Source: Ars Technica – Driving the Tesla Model S through the countryside—watch out for autopilot
Netgear Posts Firmware Updates After 31 Router Models Found Vulnerable To Password Hijacking
Now might be a good time for Netgear to start doubling down on security for its networking products. The folks over at Trustwave found that 31 Netgear router models are susceptible to a security vulnerability that exposes the devices’ web GUI password to nefarious parties.
More specifically, an attacker is able to take advantage of a router’s
Source: Hot Hardware – Netgear Posts Firmware Updates After 31 Router Models Found Vulnerable To Password Hijacking
LG 5K display must be kept at least 2 meters away from Wi-Fi routers
The spiritual successor to Apple’s Thunderbolt Display, the LG UltraFine 5K monitor, which only started shipping out from the Apple online store this week, appears to suffer from a major fault: when placed within two metres (6.5ft) of a wireless router, the display starts to flicker; move it really close, and the monitor goes black and becomes unusable. An LG Electronics support person confirmed the issue, saying it “only happens for the 5K monitors we have, not other LG monitors.”
If that wasn’t bad enough, 9to5Mac‘s Zac Hall reports that his LG 5K monitor, under the duress of a nearby Wi-Fi router, can freeze the MacBook Pro that it’s plugged into, forcing a reboot to bring it back. When he moved the router (an Apple AirPort Extreme) from beside the monitor to another room, everything went back to normal.
A support rep for LG Electronics confirmed that the 5K monitor can be adversely affected by a nearby wireless router, and said that the issue doesn’t affect any other LG monitors. Hall was asked to place the router “at least 2 metres away” from the monitor, and “to let us know” if the problem still persists after that.
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Source: Ars Technica – LG 5K display must be kept at least 2 meters away from Wi-Fi routers
'It's Tricky': Apple Misses the Deadline To Pay $13.9 Bn To Ireland in Illegal Tax Benefit
Apple has not fully paid the 13 billion euros ($13.9 billion) it owes to Ireland in illegal tax benefits even though the deadline has passed, the European Union’s competition said on Tuesday. From a report: “Well the recovery is not done yet but we have been working with the Irish authorizes and we can see that they are moving forward to do the recovery of the unpaid taxes,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said during a press conference in response to a question by CNBC. “It’s a tricky thing to do because it’s a large sum so of course you have to figure out how to do that. It’s not as an escrow account in some of the other cases where it might be 25 or 30 million euros … and therefore I do respect that it’s a complicated matter and it may take a little more time. Last year, the Commission ruled that Ireland must recover 13 billion euros in “illegal tax benefits” from Apple. It found that the U.S. technology giant paid an effective tax rate of 0.005 percent in Ireland in 2014.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – ‘It’s Tricky’: Apple Misses the Deadline To Pay .9 Bn To Ireland in Illegal Tax Benefit
LG Ultrafine 5K Display Can Become Unusable When Near A Router
Is it time for Apple to introduce a true successor to the Thunderbolt Display? Probably, as LG has allegedly dropped the ball with their Ultrafine monitor, which may bug out when it is used near a router—the author of this article experienced everything from disconnects to system freezes firsthand. How do display manufacturers manage to do it? Aside from typical issues such as dead pixels, banding, and light bleed, I may have to worry about how monitors behave around other kinds of hardware now?
There are other high-resolution external displays that work with new MacBook Pros, but the LG UltraFine 5K Display is the closest thing to a modern Thunderbolt Display for Mac users. The problem is it becomes unusable when positioned within 6.6 feet of a router. I discovered this issue after purchasing my own last week and thinking something was defective with my hardware. Right out of the box, it was hardly usable as it would consistently disconnect and even freeze my MacBook Pro, which made it unusable for work on Thursday and Friday. Connecting it to my MacBook Pro consistently resulted in needing to reboot my machine to continue working.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – LG Ultrafine 5K Display Can Become Unusable When Near A Router
NVIDIA Prepare for Battle Game Bundle Launches
Not sure it is a “bundle” if you get only one, but let’s not argue semantics here. A free game is a free game, and certainly these are two Triple A titles that are on a lot of folks radar. For Honor looks incredible from a graphics standpoint as you can see in the video below.
Anyone buying a GeForce GTX 1080, GTX 1070 GPU, PC Gaming System or Laptop can choose either Ubisoft’s For Honor or Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands for free.
We are also debuting a new easier way to redeem codes through GeForce Experience, it means customers no longer have to tolerate long sign up webpages but can simply enter their code within GeForce Experience itself and have their choice of game automatically added to their Uplay account.
For Honor hits retail on February 14th while Ghost Recon Wildlands comes out on March 7th.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – NVIDIA Prepare for Battle Game Bundle Launches