In light of the cryptocurrency craze, Micro Center is taking action to help gamers acquire graphics cards at a “discount”: a GPU can be had at “MSRP or close to MSRP” when purchased alongside core components, such as a CPU and motherboard. Some customers say they got a discount even without buying additional parts, however.
Given that pretty much all retail channels are selling graphics cards for huge price hikes, it’s nice to see some retailers implement blocks so that gamers can still buy what they need. Both Amazon and Newegg are selling graphics cards for well above MSRP, but right now it looks like Best Buy is still selling cards at either MSRP or close to MSRP.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Micro Center Will Sell You a GPU at MSRP If It’s for Gaming, Not Mining
Monthly Archives: January 2018
Ask Engadget: What's the best way to unify my music collection?
The support shared between readers in the comments section is one of the things we love most about the Engadget community. Over the years, we’ve known you to offer sage advice on everything from Chromecasts and cameras to drones and smartphones. In f…
Source: Engadget – Ask Engadget: What’s the best way to unify my music collection?
This Tiny Replica Video Store Offers Tiny '90s Nostalgia
Ah, yes, the good old days. Where forgetting a movie on your coffee table could cost you, and a Blockbuster card was essential cultural currency. The days of the local video store may be long gone (well, mostly), but one prop creator has built the perfect memorial.
Source: Gizmodo – This Tiny Replica Video Store Offers Tiny ’90s Nostalgia
Two More Gamers May Be Charged in Fatal Kansas 'SWAT' Shooting
A newly-released affidavit reveals that money was at stake in a game of Call Of Duty: World War II which led to the fatal real-life police shooting of Andrew Finch. The Wichita Eagle reports:
Investigators learned that Shane Gaskill, who lives in Wichita, was involved in an online video game with other people when he accidentally [virtually] shot and killed one of his teammates in the online game. The teammate who was killed in the game became “extremely upset” and began talking trash to Gaskill, the affidavit says. The dispute escalated until the teammate, who the document identifies as Casey Viner of North College Hill, Ohio, threatened via Twitter to “SWATT” Gaskill, according to the affidavit. Gaskill replied, “Please try some s—.” He then posted the address…
Viner “is considered a suspect in several ‘swatting’ incidents in Cincinnati,” reports the Los Angeles Times, adding that prosecutors are still deciding whether these two gamers should also face criminal charges.
Meanwhile, Kansas officials have been informed that the third gamer who actually made the phone call, 25-year-old Tyler Barriss, matches the voice on a fake 2015 bomb threat, and is already the subject of an open investigation by an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Two More Gamers May Be Charged in Fatal Kansas ‘SWAT’ Shooting
Microsoft Building "Modern" Version of Windows 10 for PCs with Windows Core OS
Microsoft is building a lighter, more battery-efficient version of Windows 10 called “Polaris” that will leave behind legacy components and features. Polaris will not be able to run Win32 programs natively, although it may be able to do so via virtualization. It is expected to release in 2019.
Polaris will become the new “mainstream” version of Windows 10 for the Average Joe. That’s why Polaris is so important. The Windows 10 shipping today is bogged down by legacy components that the average user doesn’t even know about or need, and it’s getting harder for Microsoft to compete with more lean, modern operating systems like Chrome OS or iOS.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Microsoft Building “Modern” Version of Windows 10 for PCs with Windows Core OS
All the Ways You Can Upgrade Your Smartphone's Keyboard
You spend a lot of time working with the keyboard on your smartphone, so any little improvements or tweaks you can apply here can make a big difference to your mobile life. If you’ve never ventured beyond the confines of your phone’s default keyboard, here are a few of the upgrades you’re missing out on. It’s time,…
Source: Gizmodo – All the Ways You Can Upgrade Your Smartphone’s Keyboard
Saturday's Best Deals: Dyson V6, Noise-Canceling Headphones, OLED TVs, and More
Thousands of digital comics, OLED TVs, and a cordless Dyson vacuum lead off Saturday’s best deals from around the web.
Source: LifeHacker – Saturday’s Best Deals: Dyson V6, Noise-Canceling Headphones, OLED TVs, and More
Recommended Reading: The making of Elton John's VR retirement party
How Elton John’s
VR retirement
announcement hit
your headset
Emma Grey Ellis,
Wired
If you haven’t heard, music legend Sir Elton John announced his retirement and final tour this week in the most 2018 way possible: VR. Wired goes behind the scenes…
Source: Engadget – Recommended Reading: The making of Elton John’s VR retirement party
System76 Eyeing Disk Encryption By Default
Ubuntu-focused Linux PC vendor System76 who has also been working on their own Pop!_OS distribution is looking at enabling disk encryption by default…
Source: Phoronix – System76 Eyeing Disk Encryption By Default
Review: Near and Far, a story-driven board game that almost works
Enlarge / Saddle up, heroes, there’s adventuring to be done. (credit: Owen Duffy)
Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com.
When I was five years old, I discovered The Legend of Zelda on my cousin’s state-of-the-art Nintendo Entertainment System. It was unlike anything I’d played before. Where other games laid down unambiguous missions and linear levels, this one handed me a sword and a handful of hit points, then asked: “So what are you going to do?”
I’ve appreciated that sandbox sense of freedom in games ever since, and it’s something that Near And Far, a campaign-driven board game from designer Ryan Laukat, strives to emulate. A sequel to his 2015 release Above and Below, Near and Far casts players as heroes embarking on perilous quests across a series of fantasy realms. While that might sound like the premise for at least a million other tabletop adventure games, Near and Far comes with a level of style, imagination, and originality that elevates it above the generic orc-stomping titles on the market.
Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Review: Near and Far, a story-driven board game that almost works
Holy Crap These Leech Cocoons Are Incredible
Nature’s beauty can originate from the most unlikely places. Take leech cocoons, the sacks in which leeches lay their eggs. They have an incredible solid-foam surface, as the image below shows:
Source: Gizmodo – Holy Crap These Leech Cocoons Are Incredible
KWin Developer's Response To The GNOME CSD Initiative
KDE KWin window manager / compositor maintainer Martin Flöser has penned a brief response to the recent GNOME developer’s CSD Initiative in trying to get all applications to pursue client-side decorations and abandon title bars in favor of header bars…
Source: Phoronix – KWin Developer’s Response To The GNOME CSD Initiative
Blizzard Is Now Policing Toxic Overwatch Players On YouTube
As the popularity of online gaming increases, so too does the number of nefarious players that prefer to be vitriolic and dampen everyone else’s fun. Fortunately, when this happens to a game as popular as Overwatch, which is run by a company that cares a lot about everyone’s experience with the game, the situation isn’t as bad as it could
Source: Hot Hardware – Blizzard Is Now Policing Toxic Overwatch Players On YouTube
Libvpx 1.7.0 Released With AVX Optimizations & More
Google’s WebM folks quietly released libvpx 1.7.0 earlier this week as the latest version of their VP8/VP9 encoder/decoder library…
Source: Phoronix – Libvpx 1.7.0 Released With AVX Optimizations & More
KDE-Focused Netrunner Rolling 2018.01 Released
For those still in search of a KDE-focused Linux distribution that’s rolling-release and desktop-friendly, Netrunner Rolling 2018.01 has been released…
Source: Phoronix – KDE-Focused Netrunner Rolling 2018.01 Released
Many glaciers letting rivers run low, others are falling apart
Enlarge / A large portion of these two Tibetan glaciers suddenly collapsed in 2016, breaking apart and sliding downslope. (credit: Google Maps)
The melting of glaciers around the world is one of the hardest to ignore impacts of climate change (unless you don’t believe your eyes). While worries about rising sea levels are focused on the massive ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, the loss of small mountain glaciers comes with its own consequences. A pair of studies published this week highlight two such impacts—one extremely common, one extremely unusual.
Peak runoff
The first study, by Matthias Huss and Regine Hock, looks at the effect shrinking glaciers have on local water supplies. Glaciers help sustain rivers downslope through the drier months by providing a constant stream of meltwater, like a frozen water tower that collects in the winter and rations it out over the summer.
For a while, a shrinking glacier will contribute even more meltwater runoff to the river, but there comes a point when a smaller glacier can’t keep up. Once it produces less meltwater, it’s downhill to “peak runoff” from there. This process has already been observed at a number of glaciers, but a global picture had not yet been painted.
Read 14 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Many glaciers letting rivers run low, others are falling apart
Tesla Employees Say Gigafactory Problems Are Worse Than Known
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Tesla’s problems with battery production at the company’s Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, are worse than the company has acknowledged and could cause further delays and quality issues for the new Model 3, according to a number of current and former Tesla employees. These problems include Tesla needing to make some of the batteries by hand and borrowing scores of employees from one of its suppliers to help with this manual assembly, said these people. Tesla’s future as a mass-market carmaker hinges on automated production of the Model 3, which more than 400,000 people have already reserved, paying $1,000 refundable fees to do so. The company has already delayed production, citing problems at the Gigafactory. On Nov. 1, 2017, CEO Elon Musk assured investors in an earnings call that Tesla was making strides to correct its manufacturing issues and get the Model 3 out. But more than a month later, in mid-December, Tesla was still making its Model 3 batteries partly by hand, according to current engineers and ex-Tesla employees who worked at the Gigafactory in recent months. They say Tesla had to “borrow” scores of employees from Panasonic, which is a partner in the Gigafactory and supplies lithium-ion battery cells, to help with this manual assembly. Tesla is still not close to mass producing batteries for the basic $35,000 model of this electric sedan, sources say.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Tesla Employees Say Gigafactory Problems Are Worse Than Known
Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS Delayed Due To Spectre & Meltdown
Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS had been scheduled to ship mid-February as the latest point release for this Long Term Support release, but unfortunately that is not going to happen as planned due to the Canonical kernel developers being overloaded by Spectre and Meltdown mitigation work…
Source: Phoronix – Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS Delayed Due To Spectre & Meltdown
Foundry Giant TSMC Breaks Ground On 5nm Chip Fab With 2020 Production Target
TSMC has broken ground on a new 5nm fab that will be used to produce the world’s first 5-nanometer chips starting in 2020. TSMC builds chips for numerous manufacturers, including NVIDIA, Qualcomm and many others. The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile chips coming this year are built on the TSMC 7nm technology. With TSMC promising the first
Source: Hot Hardware – Foundry Giant TSMC Breaks Ground On 5nm Chip Fab With 2020 Production Target
Coincheck Hot Wallet Hack Largest On Record: $530M In Crypto Coins Stolen
A cryptocurrency exchange in Asia called Coincheck has announced that it was the victim of a massive hack that saw hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen in what is the largest heist of its kind in history. Coincheck doesn’t call the heist a hack, it says that the coins were sent “illicitly” outside of the service.
The
Source: Hot Hardware – Coincheck Hot Wallet Hack Largest On Record: 0M In Crypto Coins Stolen