In 1982, video game score-chaser Todd Rogers supposedly set a world record time of 5.51 seconds in the Atari 2600 racing game Dragster. Last year, speedrunners called that score into question. After a lengthy arbitration process, Rogers’ score was removed from Twin Galaxies, an organization that tracks video game…
Source: Gizmodo – Infamous Atari Player Disqualified From World Record After 35 Years
Say hello to Mansourasaurus shahinae, a 14,000-pound titanosaur that rumbled across the African landscape during the final days of the dinosaurs. Its discovery is answering a long-standing mystery about dinosaur evolution at a time when Earth’s continents began drifting further and further apart.
Source: Gizmodo – New Species of African Titanosaur Solves Cretaceous-Era Mystery
In 2016, haptic technology company Immersion filed two rounds of lawsuits against Apple. Both alleged that the tech giant had infringed upon some of Immersion’s patents with the first focusing on the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s and 6s Plus as well as Watch,…
Source: Engadget – Apple settles with Immersion over haptic feedback licensing
It’s a new year (and a new you? Maybe?) and we’re all trying to clean up our acts. For the first episode of the Upgrade’s second season, we’re taking a closer look at alcohol—why we drink, what it does to us, and how to quit, if we’re so inclined. We’re joined by author Annie Grace, author of the book This Naked Mind:…
Source: LifeHacker – How to Drink Less, With Author Annie Grace
Dog parents rejoice! You can now bathe your dog without having to hunch over the bathtub with this Bissell Barkbath. Like a water jet and vacuum cleaner in one, this product sprays a shampoo/water mixture while sucking up dirt and excess hair in one stroke.
Source: Gizmodo – Make Bathing Your Dog Less Ruff With This 0 Bissell Barkbath
Say what you want about Elon Musk, but the dude has a sense of humor. Either that, or Musk knows something about some sort of flammable C.H.U.D. creatures thanks to the folks at The Boring Company. Musk tweeted that The Boring Company flamethrower is real and that it is for sale.
You can order one up while supplies lasts for $500 plus tax
Source: Hot Hardware – Elon Musk’s ‘Boring’ Flamethrower Coming To Borderlands 3 If You Can’t Swing The Real Deal
After hitting the RC phase a few weeks ago, OPNsense 18.1 has been officially released as the latest version of this pfSense-forked network/router-oriented BSD operating system…
Source: Phoronix – OPNsense 18.1 BSD Firewall/Network OS Released
The Trump regime is considering a plan to nationalize at least part of the 5G wireless network that’s currently being developed by American telecom companies, according to a report by Axios. And while Reuters says it has confirmed the basics of the report (while noting it’s mostly just an internal spitballing session…
Source: Gizmodo – US Government Considers Nationalizing Part of 5G Network, But Trump’s Own FCC Chairman Objects
This is a video of a worthless excuse for a human attempting to steal three UPS packages off somebody’s front porch, all captured by the homeowner’s Nest home security camera. Almost immediately after picking up the packages she slips and…I don’t think ankles are supposed to bend that way (make sure you have the volume on to hear the agony). The getaway driver, who apparently decided to disguise himself as a very unconvincing Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, manages to carry his dearly beloathed back to the car before coming back for the packages himself. When reached for comment about the incident, the real Russell Wilson said he’d really wished they’d been Cowboys or Patriots fans instead. Also, to call around to all the local clinics to see if any of them have reported a human shaped turd admitted with a broken ankle.
Keep going for the whole video. Heist of the century (aka Ocean’s Two) starts right around the minute mark.
Source: Geekologie – Maybe The Universe Is Trying To Tell You Something: Front Porch Package Thief Receives Instant Karma
Football is fraught. You may want to enjoy the Super Bowl—for the sport or the snacks or the halftime show—but also really hate a lot of what the NFL, or your team, stands for. Chronic brain injuries, disrespect and disregard for peaceful protest, the sweeping of domestic violence under the rug, support for…
Source: LifeHacker – Donate Whenever Your Super Bowl Team Scores
It turns out former Verizon lawyer turned FCC chairman Ajit Pai’s loyalties reside not with the president, but — surprise! — with the telecom industry. Pai has come out against the proposed government-run 5G network that’s been floating around lowe…
Source: Engadget – FCC chairman opposes Trump’s proposed state-run 5G network
Once again being punctual with their releases, the GNU Linux-libre volunteers managed to release the GNU Linux-libre 4.15-gnu kernel a short time after Linus Torvalds on Sunday released the official Linux 4.15 kernel…
Source: Phoronix – GNU Linux-libre 4.15-gnu Deblobs Two New Drivers, Drops More Upstream References
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple could be working on three new Mac models for this year. From a report: All three of them could feature an ARM coprocessor to improve security. Apple isn’t switching to ARM chipsets altogether. There will still be an Intel CPU in every Mac, but with a second ARM processor. Currently, the MacBook Pro features a T1 chip while the iMac Pro features a T2 chip. On the MacBook Pro, the ARM coprocessor handles the Touch ID sensor and the Touch Bar. This way, your fingerprint is never stored on your laptop’s SSD drive — it remains on the T1 secure enclave. The Intel CPU only gets a positive response when a fingerprint is validated. The iMac Pro goes one step further and uses the T2 to replace many discrete controllers. The T2 controls your stereo speakers, your internal microphone, the fans, the camera and internal storage.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Apple Could Use ARM Coprocessors for Three Updated Mac Models
As iTunes creaks and wheezes its way into its 17th year of existence, for a lot of music lovers it’s fallen from favor as the go-to application for managing a local library and cranking out the tunes. If you’re looking for something that can provide a simpler, more intuitive way of playing music from your computer,…
Source: Gizmodo – 7 Apps You Should Ditch iTunes For
Start off your week with deals on an LG 4K TV, an Anova sous vide circulator, smart light bulbs, and more.
Source: LifeHacker – Monday’s Best Deals: LG 4K TV, Sous Vide Circulator, Smart Light Bulbs, and More
Deadspin Tom Brady Cuts WEEI Interview Short Because Host Called His Kid An “Annoying Little Pissant” | Jezebel Alec Baldwin Claims Dylan Farrow Is Trying to ‘Shame’ Public Into Believing Woody Allen Abused Her | The Root California Woman Sues Walmart for Locking Black Beauty Products Behind Glass | Earther How Much…
Source: LifeHacker – Deadspin Tom Brady Cuts WEEI Interview Short Because Host Called His Kid An “Annoying Little Pissant
A short-lived and relatively unknown cryptocurrency project built on Ethereum called Prodeum disappeared this weekend—along with the money a small number of hapless investors sunk into it. All that remained of its website was a white page with the word “penis” written on it.
Source: Gizmodo – Cryptocurrency Scam Site Disappears, Leaving Only the Word ‘Penis’ Behind
After the page table isolation (K)PTI support was added late in the Linux 4.15 kernel cycle in light of the Meltdown CPU vulnerability, improvements to this code are on the way with Linux 4.16…
Source: Phoronix – Spectre / Meltdown Code Gets Cleaned Up, Improvements For Linux 4.16
I guess we could look at this as a good thing, right. NVIDIA is even cranking out Game Ready Drivers for games we have never heard of? Maybe this is just not my genre? Maybe I live under a rock? Who knows.
What have all those in common you ask? Right, all three are essential in Kingdom Come: Deliverance! How will you solve your quests? With clever diplomacy skills or the sharp end of your blade? No matter how, don’t forget to save with a sip of some precious Saviour Schnapps! In the new video Warhorse introduces the main features, skills and strategies you need to survive in Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – New NVIDIA Game Ready Driver for a Game I have Never Heard of
This month, NEC has introduced its first 2018 LaVie notebook: The LaVie Note Mobile. The LaVie line is known due to its design philosophy of being lightweight: when we had a chance to hold the LaVie Z back in 2015, it was so light it felt like picking up an empty shell of a system. For 2018, the Lavie Note Mobile is the newest member of the family, being updated from the previous model. This design has a 12.5-inch screen, and since Intel has not released any new ultra-low-voltage CPUs recently, NEC had to retain usage of Kaby Lake-Y SoCs. Despite featuring a larger LCD, the new 2018 Lavie Note Mobile still weighs in the range of two pounds (~900 grams) and is rated to work for nearly 12 hours on one battery charge.
NEC’s Lavie Note Mobile is the company’s most compact laptop lineup. The previous-gen Lavie Note Mobile came with 11.6” IGZO IPS FHD displays, but for the 2018 (NMx50/KA) family NEC decided to update it in three ways: an 12.5” IPS FHD monitor, reduce the system’s thickness to 17 mm, and increase the amount of DRAM on high-end models. The LCD gained nearly an inch of real estate, but lost its IGZO material in the process. Compared with the 2017 model, it is worth noting that the updates cause a couple of minor changes: the 11.7-hour rated battery life is slightly down from 13, and the weight is slightly up by a few grams.
The increase of the display size, reduced thickness and enhanced RAM size will make the new Lavie Note Mobile more competitive against ultra-compact products like Apple’s MacBook, so NEC’s design decisions look rather logical. As for visual aesthetics, NEC also adjusted its Lavie Note Mobile lineup this year: the new notebooks will be available in pink, pearl white and pearl black.
Overall other specifications of the 2018 NEC Lavie Note Mobile range are similar to the 2017 versions: at retail, available systems are based on Intel’s Kaby Lake-Y SoCs: the Core i5-7Y54, the Core m3-7Y30 or the Celeron 3965Y. In order to get the Core i7-7Y75 model, according to PC Watch, the unit has to be bought directly from NEC. The Kaby Lake-Y SoCs feature two cores, Intel’s UHD Graphics 615, and are around 4.5 W rated TDP, which is of course their main feature that enables NEC to use passive cooling. The new Lavie Note Mobile machines are equipped with 4 or 8 GB of dual-channel LPDDR3 memory (up from 4 GB on previous-generation Lavie NM laptops), as well as a Samsung PM871b SATA SSD featuring 64 GB, 128 GB or 256 GB capacity. The higher-end Core i7-based SKU also has a 512 GB PCIe SSD option.
When it comes to connectivity and I/O interfaces, everything looks pretty standard: the NEC Lavie Note Mobile laptops are equipped with a 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.1 wireless module, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a 3.5-mm TRRS audio connector, a Windows Hello-compatible fingerprint reader, an HDMI output, a webcam located under the display, a built-in microphone, stereo speakers, an SD card reader and so on. All the physical ports are located on the backside of the notebook. Some might consider the lack of a USB Type-C port in 2018 a drawback.
A sharp-eyed reader might also notice a rather small space bar that is barely six centimeters long. While this looks like a problem for people using European languages, this is not a problem for Japanese, who do not have to use spaces often, which is why short spacebars are common on laptops for the Land of the Rising Sun.
| The NEC Lavie Note Mobile General Specifications | |||||
| NM550/KA | NM350/KA | NM150/KA | |||
| Display | 12.5″ non-glossy IPS 1920×1080 resolution |
||||
| SoC | Core i5-7Y54 Core i7-7Y75* |
Core m3-7Y30 | Celeron 3965Y | ||
| RAM | 8 GB LPDDR3 | 4 GB LPDDR3 | |||
| Storage | 256 GB SSD SATA 512 GB SSD PCIe* |
128 GB SSD SATA | 64 GB SSD SATA | ||
| Camera | 720p webcam | ||||
| Wireless | 802.11ac Wi-Fi 867 Mbps Bluetooth 4.1 |
802.11ac Wi-Fi 433 Mbps Bluetooth 4.1 |
|||
| I/O ports | 2 × USB 3.0 Type-A 1 × HDMI SD card reader |
||||
| Audio | Integrated speakers 1 × TRRS 3.5-mm jack for headset Yamaha AudioEngine software enhancements |
||||
| Dimensions | 289 × 197.5 × 17 mm | ||||
| Weight | 904 – 925 grams | ||||
| Battery | unknown | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Pro* |
||||
| Fingerprint | Yes | ||||
| Finish | Pink Black White |
||||
| Price | ¥144,800 ($1330) | ¥124,800 ($1148) | ¥104,800 ($963) | ||
| Notes | *Available only directly from NEC | ||||
NEC’s Lavie Note Mobile is already available. The most affordable Celeron-based model costs ¥104,800 ($963), whereas the more advanced Core i5-powered SKU is priced at ¥144,800 ($1330).
Source: AnandTech – NEC 2018 LaVie Note Mobile: Fanless 12.5” Core i7 with 12hr Battery, Under 2 Lbs