A mosaic image packed with 83 million pixels is providing an unprecedented view of the Sun and its tumultuous outer atmosphere.
Source: Gizmodo – New Image of the Sun Is Unlike Anything Seen Before
Monthly Archives: March 2022
DirectStorage speeds up load times in PC game demo, but hardware matters most
Enlarge / Microsoft’s DirectStorage API makes a measurable, if minor, difference when it comes to loading PC games. (credit: Luminous Productions via The Verge)
Microsoft’s DirectStorage API promises to speed up game-load times, both on the Xbox Series X/S and on Windows PCs (where Microsoft recently exited its developer-preview phase). One of the first games to demonstrate the benefits of DirectStorage on the PC is Square Enix’s Forspoken, which was shown off by Luminous Productions technical director Teppei Ono at GDC this week. As reported by The Verge, Ono said that, with a fast NVMe SSD and DirectStorage support, some scenes in Forspoken could load in as little as one second. That is certainly a monstrous jump from the days of waiting for a PlayStation 2 to load giant open-world maps from a DVD.
As a demonstration of DirectStorage, though, Forspoken‘s numbers are a mixed bag. On the one hand, the scenes Ono demonstrated do clearly demonstrate DirectStorage loading scenes more quickly on the same hardware, compared to the legacy Win32 API—from 2.6 seconds to 2.2 seconds in one scene, and from 2.4 seconds to 1.9 seconds in another. Forspoken demonstrated performance improvements on older SATA-based SSDs as well, despite being marketed as a feature that will primarily benefit NVMe drives—dropping from 5.0 to 4.6 seconds in one scene, and from 4.1 to 3.4 seconds in another. Speed improvements for SATA SSDs have been limited for the better part of a decade now because the SATA interface itself (rather than the SSD controller or NAND flash chips) has been holding them back. So eking out any kind of measurable improvement for those drives is noteworthy.
On the other hand, Ono’s demo showed that game-load time wasn’t improving as dramatically as the raw I/O speeds would suggest. On an NVMe SSD, I/O speeds increased from 2,862MB/s using Win32 to 4,829MB/s using DirectStorage—nearly a 70 percent increase. But the load time for the scene decreased from 2.1 to 1.9 seconds. That’s a decrease which wouldn’t be noticeable even if you were trying to notice it.
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Source: Ars Technica – DirectStorage speeds up load times in PC game demo, but hardware matters most
Why You Should Make a Packing List After Your Trip
Do you have something you’re always forgetting to bring on your travels? For a while I was always forgetting to bring a purse on work trips—I always had a laptop bag, but who wants to carry that just to go out to dinner?—and I keep forgetting to bring a screwdriver when I go camping, to detach the little handle my…
Source: LifeHacker – Why You Should Make a Packing List After Your Trip
The Oscars, Ranked
Fans across the globe have been patiently waiting for this week. The week to celebrate all that is great in film and television. Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between, it’s Oscar week.
Source: Gizmodo – The Oscars, Ranked
Elden Ring: The Kotaku Review
I spend too much time, at least for someone with only 33 years on his odometer, thinking about legacy. I find myself overly concerned with what I’ve accomplished and what I’ll leave behind, especially in comparison to other people—both successful and otherwise. As such, while playing FromSoftware’s Elden Ring over the…
Source: Kotaku – Elden Ring: The Kotaku Review
Google's CTO of Android Tablets Sees Tablet Sales Passing Laptops 'in the Not Too Distant Future'
An anonymous reader shares a report: After seemingly forgetting that Android tablets existed for a while, Google is suddenly very invested in the market. Android 12L is in development to support larger-screened devices, and one of the platform’s co-founders, Rich Miner, has rejoined the team with the title “CTO of Android tablets.” Now, speaking to developers during an episode of Google’s The Android Show, Miner explained the opportunity the company is seeing. […] The other reason he cites is that tablets can be “very capable, less expensive than a laptop.” That spurred Google’s work on Android 12L to optimize its system UI for use on bigger devices, as well as the way it formats apps to fit on big screens.
Miner is making the pitch for developers to look at their apps and consider taking advantage of the tools Google’s building to improve tablet support or even building apps that approach the market as a tablet-first experience. He points to 2020 sales data, where “tablet purchases actually started to approach the number of laptop shipments… I actually think there’s going to be a crossover point at some point in the not too distant future where there are more tablets sold annually than there are laptops. I think once you cross over that point, you’re not going to be coming back.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Google’s CTO of Android Tablets Sees Tablet Sales Passing Laptops ‘in the Not Too Distant Future’
Check your disk space use with the Linux df command
Two related commands that every system administrator runs frequently are df and du. While du reports files’ and directories’ disk usage, df reports how much disk space your filesystem is using. The df command displays the amount of disk space available on the filesystem with each file name’s argument.
Source: LXer – Check your disk space use with the Linux df command
Kirby Devs Pulled Some Sneaky Sleight Of Hand To Make The New 3D Action Work
With Kirby and the Forgotten Land debuting on Switch this week, a group of devs from Nintendo and HAL Laboratory recently got together to discuss some of the tricks they used behind the scenes to help the eponymous pink puffball gracefully transition from his 2D origins to the long-running franchise’s first-ever 3D…
Source: Kotaku – Kirby Devs Pulled Some Sneaky Sleight Of Hand To Make The New 3D Action Work
Windows vs. Linux Benchmarks For AMD Ryzen Server Performance
As a follow-up to last week’s article looking at how AMD is making an interesting case for budget-friendly Ryzen dedicated servers and not only in Europe but throughout the world more hosting providers are offering cost-conscious AMD Ryzen powered dedicated server options, here is a look at how various Linux distributions run on an ASRock Rack based AMD Ryzen server up against Microsoft Windows.
Source: Phoronix – Windows vs. Linux Benchmarks For AMD Ryzen Server Performance
Your iPhone and iPad Could Be Your Next Subscription
In the future, you don’t own anything—maybe not even your iPhone or iPad.
Source: Gizmodo – Your iPhone and iPad Could Be Your Next Subscription
Is Gardening Really Cheaper Than Buying Fruits and Vegetables?
With food costs rising, many people are contemplating starting a garden. This makes sense, since human beings have been growing their own food for thousands of years. The stuff just comes out of the ground and literally grows on trees. Gardening offers a lot of benefits: It can be spiritually and emotionally…
Source: LifeHacker – Is Gardening Really Cheaper Than Buying Fruits and Vegetables?
Toshiba Faces Unclear Future
Toshiba shareholders on Thursday voted down competing proposals — one presented by management and the other backed by activist shareholders, leaving the future direction of the embattled Japanese conglomerate uncertain. From a report: Management’s plan to spin off Toshiba’s devices unit and the separate call to seek buyout offers had both failed to gain the required 50% of the vote. The untidy outcome ensures there will be no immediate end to a four-year scandal-filled battle between management and foreign activist hedge funds, while underscoring deep divisions among Toshiba shareholders. Opposition to Toshiba’s plans to break up the company had been widespread and included proxy advisory firms, and its failure comes as no surprise. But the outlook for Singapore-based 3D Investment Partners’ proposal that Toshiba solicit private equity buyout offers or a minority investment had been less clear cut. Although 3D and Toshiba’s other top two shareholders had supported the quest for a buyout offer, proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) had advised against it, saying the proposal “appears overly prescriptive and premature.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Toshiba Faces Unclear Future
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Launching Soon? Five Ada Lovelace GPUs Break Cover
Popular hardware diagnostic tool HWiNFO is updated regularly to add support for new and upcoming devices. Apparently, the next update for HWiNFO is going to add support for NVIDIA’s Hopper, Ada Lovelace, and Blackwell GPUs. This news comes courtesy of HWiNFO itself, which listed the GPU codenames in its “Upcoming Changes” list.
Specifically,
Source: Hot Hardware – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Launching Soon? Five Ada Lovelace GPUs Break Cover
What's New on HBO Max in April 2022
April is nostalgia month at HBO Max, with the streamer premiering two new crime dramas that seem to be striving to recapture the grit, style, and cultural relevance of…a pair of old crime dramas.
Source: LifeHacker – What’s New on HBO Max in April 2022
High Gas Prices = Time for an Electric Car? It Could Be Hard to Find One
If you’re tired of skyrocketing gas prices and are thinking about the benefits of an electric ride, chances are you’re not alone. But even though switching to an electric vehicle may seem like a no-brainer, there are some significant obstacles—including new problems caused by the conflict in Ukraine—facing the EV…
Source: Gizmodo – High Gas Prices = Time for an Electric Car? It Could Be Hard to Find One
Meghan Markle's first Spotify podcast series will confront female stereotypes
Meghan Markle hasn’t wasted much time setting expectations for her first Spotify podcast. As The Hollywood Reporternotes, Spotify has revealed that the Duchess of Sussex’s initial series is Archetypes, an exploration of the “labels that try to hold women back.” The teaser indicates Markle will hold “uncensored” discussions with historians and other experts as they explore the origins of stereotypes and define female lives.
Spotify had already announced that Archewell Audio, the production company founded by Markle and Prince Harry, would release their first full podcast series in the summer. Until now, the duo had only released a one-episode holiday special.
The announcement helps wind down a tense chapter for Spotify. The streaming service landed a deal with Harry and Meghan in December 2020, but the two quickly grew concerned about Spotify’s apparent tolerance of COVID-19 misinformation. The couple said they’d raised issues starting in April 2021, and those worries only became more prominent when Neil Young and other creators started pulling or pausing content in protest to Spotify’s apparent comfort with Joe Rogan allowing false medical claims on his show. Harry and Meghan had a change of heart after they met with Spotify to discuss and shape its anti-misinformation strategy.
This doesn’t end the complaints about Spotify’s approach to bogus claims. Even one of its own podcasts, Science VS, fought the service by fact-checking misinformation from other productions. However, it does give Spotify a chance to focus more on promoting exclusives and less on damage control.
Introducing Archetypes, a new podcast from Archewell Audio hosted by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex.
Join us for a thorough investigation into the labels that try to hold women back. Coming this summer. Listen to the teaser now, only on Spotify. 🎙✨ https://t.co/qJ5b0dm5iR
— Spotify Podcasts 🎙 (@spotifypodcasts) March 24, 2022
Source: Engadget – Meghan Markle’s first Spotify podcast series will confront female stereotypes
On Star Trek: Picard, Connection's Not Always a Good Thing
Star Trek has always been about the power of unity and standing together, but as of late it’s been on a bit of a connective kick. Discovery’s most recent season was a paean to reaching out and understanding each other to negotiate hardship, and even Picard’s first season, when it finally decided what it was about,…
Source: Gizmodo – On Star Trek: Picard, Connection’s Not Always a Good Thing
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 Has Infectious Good Energy
GameStop refused to pay $30 million bill from consulting firm, lawsuit says
Enlarge / GameStop branch in Munich, Germany on November 23, 2021. (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto )
GameStop has refused to pay $30 million in fees to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the consulting firm alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
BCG said that GameStop has “unpaid fees of approximately $30,000,000” but added that the exact amount “is undetermined at this time” because GameStop executives have refused to attend mandatory meetings or “furnish the data necessary to determine certain profit improvements.” The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the District of Delaware, and it seeks financial damages for breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
The complaint says that GameStop and BCG signed a contract in August 2019 in an attempt to turn around the game retailer’s business. “Once a highly profitable company, GameStop’s profits and financial prospects had fallen precipitously by the mid-2010s and by 2019 GameStop was on life support,” the lawsuit said. “Hemorrhaging customers and unable to grow its business, GameStop reported net operating losses of almost $800 million in 2018, including a $970.7 million ‘goodwill impairment charge’ to account for the loss of value from its brand.”
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Source: Ars Technica – GameStop refused to pay million bill from consulting firm, lawsuit says
Google says it thwarted North Korean cyberattacks in early 2022
Google’s Threat Analysis Group announced on Thursday that it had discovered a pair of North Korean hacking cadres going by the monikers Operation Dream Job and Operation AppleJeus in February that were leveraging a remote code execution exploit in the Chrome web browser.
The blackhatters reportedly targeted the US news media, IT, crypto and fintech industries, with evidence of their attacks going back as far as January 4th, 2022, though the Threat Analysis Group notes that organizations outside the US could have been targets as well.
“We suspect that these groups work for the same entity with a shared supply chain, hence the use of the same exploit kit, but each operate with a different mission set and deploy different techniques,” the Google team wrote on Thursday. “It is possible that other North Korean government-backed attackers have access to the same exploit kit.”
Operation Dream Job targeted 250 people across 10 companies with fraudulent job offers from the likes of Disney and Oracle sent from accounts spoofed to look like they came from Indeed or ZipRecruiter. Clicking on the link would launch a hidden iframe that would trigger the exploit.
Operation AppleJeus, on the other hand targeted more than 85 users in the cryptocurrency and fintech industries using the same exploit kit. That effort involved “compromising at least two legitimate fintech company websites and hosting hidden iframes to serve the exploit kit to visitors,” Google’s security researchers found. “In other cases, we observed fake websites — already set up to distribute trojanized cryptocurrency applications — hosting iframes and pointing their visitors to the exploit kit.”
“The kit initially serves some heavily obfuscated javascript used to fingerprint the target system,” the team said. “This script collected all available client information such as the user-agent, resolution, etc. and then sent it back to the exploitation server. If a set of unknown requirements were met, the client would be served a Chrome RCE exploit and some additional javascript. If the RCE was successful, the javascript would request the next stage referenced within the script as ‘SBX,’ a common acronym for Sandbox Escape.”
The Google security group discovered the activity on February 10th and had patched it by February 14th. The company has added all identified websites and domains to its Safe Browsing database as well as notified all of the targeted Gmail and Workspace users about the attempts.
Source: Engadget – Google says it thwarted North Korean cyberattacks in early 2022