Apple : macOS 10.14 Mojave release date, news and features |
- macOS 10.14 Mojave release date, news and features
- MacBook Air 2019: what we want to see
- Apple WWDC 2019: keynote date and what to expect
- How to watch America's Got Talent 2019 online for free in the US or abroad
- The 35 best indie games on PC and consoles
- Nvidia reveals first AI platform for edge devices
- Best gaming laptops 2019: the 10 top gaming laptops we've reviewed
- Here's what iOS 13 Dark Mode reportedly looks like
- Australian police can now snoop on public Wi-Fi users
- The Byton M-Byte isn't just a car – it's a 'smart device on wheels'
- New code will protect payment fraud victims
- Huawei ban: the global fallout explained [Updated]
- Nvidia's pro-grade Quadro RTX graphics are coming to laptops
- Death Stranding release date, trailers and news
- China is dropping Windows from its military devices
- Samsung's bargain A series is showing up the market with its incredibly affordable deals
- New Death Stranding trailer to drop on May 29
- Cyberpunk 2077: release date, trailer and news
- Best managed web hosting of 2019
- Specs and images of Panasonic's upcoming 10-25mm f/1.7 lens leaked
| macOS 10.14 Mojave release date, news and features Posted: 28 May 2019 02:26 PM PDT Now that macOS Mojave has made it on our Macs, bringing key iOS apps like News and Stocks to the fold, Apple’s OS is better than ever. This update also brings a system-wide Dark Mode and increased productivity through Finder. In the coming years, we’ll see more iOS apps coming to the best Macs – we’ve seen rumors that Apple will release tools to help app developers port iPad apps over to macOS. However, there’s already a lot to love in macOS 10.14. And, while macOS Mojave has dealt with its own fair share of security issues, most notably KeySteal, the operating system is generally safe and secure. Apple’s macOS Mojave has been on our Macs for more than eight months at this point and most, if not all, of the problems have been addressed. Plus, any problems that do remain are outweighed by the benefits this new OS brings to the table. So, now that we have macOS Mojave, we’re going to dive into all of its features, along with any new features that are added, so you can decide whether the upgrade is for you.
Cut to the chase
macOS 10.14 Mojave release dateApple unveiled macOS Mojave back in June 2018 at WWDC 2018, where most of its features were detailed. This was followed by a public beta launch back in July, and finally macOS Mojave launched on September 24, 2018. Apple is keeping macOS Mojave updated with all the latest features. The latest of these updates, macOS 10.14.4, brings Dark Mode to Safari, alongside the new Apple News+ service. Past updates included a fix for the FaceTime Bug, which allowed people to access your camera without you answering their call, and a supplemental update, boosting reliability for the 2018 MacBook Air. Apple has also released macOS 10.14.5, which will likely be one of the last major updates to the operating system before macOS 10.15 is unveiled. This update focuses on stability, without any marquee features. You should still download it, though. Keep it tuned, because we will keep this section updated with all the newest updates as they release. macOS 10.14 Mojave featuresNow that macOS Mojave has been out for a while, there are a lot of new features available to your Mac. We’re going to dive into a detailed run-through of everything your Mac can do. From Finder improvements to more rigid security, the best Macs are about to become a lot better. Read on to uncover all the new features coming to your Mac when you update to macOS Mojave. Dark ModeApple’s macOS Mojave brings in a system-wide dark mode, which extends to every first-party program on your Mac. Even Xcode gets a full makeover, completely in black, making those extended programming sessions easier on your eyes. Third party programs are also adopting this new theme, with changes happening automatically for any app that uses standard colors through AppKit. Even developers that don’t use AppKit are working on bringing Dark Mode to their programs. For example, in a recent bug report, Google Chrome developers confirmed they’re working on a way to implement Dark Mode into the hugely popular web browser – they just have some issues to iron out first. Group FaceTimeInitially shown as part of the initial release of MacOS Mojave, Group FaceTime is released part of macOS 10.14.1. This feature allows you to have FaceTime conversations with up to 32 people across iOS and macOS devices. This feature is implemented in a way that makes it exceptionally intuitive in macOS Mojave. You can start a group FaceTime chat from any group iMessage thread, and invites are sent via a ringless notification, so it won’t be disruptive. Once you’re in a Group FaceTime Chat, it automatically detects whoever’s speaking and bring them front and center, which means you’re always looking at the person actively speaking. StacksYour days of cluttered desktops are behind you with macOS Mojave. Whenever your desktop starts to look like a virtual hurricane blew through it after a full day’s work like ours does, just utilize Stacks. With Stacks, macOS Mojave sorts similar files together so that you have a less cluttered desktop, whether those files are photos with photos, pdfs with pdfs. You’re even able to go through thumbnails using a two-finger scroll, so that you can make sure the file you’re looking for is actually in the stack. It’s great. Gallery ViewIn macOS 10.14 Mojave, Apple has added a new Gallery View to Finder, which lets you quickly browse through, annotate and edit files. No matter what kind of file you select, you are able to quickly and easily find exactly what you're looking for. This is made even easier, thanks to Apple including a very detailed metadata display to the Preview pane. This makes it easier than ever before to take note of all the information of any file on your Mac. Finally, thanks to the inclusion of Quick Actions in the Preview pane, you won’t even need to leave Finder to work on files. You should be able to edit images, add protection to files and more. You can even assign Automator tasks as Quick Actions to make browsing through files more effortless. Continuity CameraHave you ever found yourself working on a project, and needed to implement a document or a photo? Well, with Continuity Camera, it’s easier than ever to do exactly that. Across a multitude of different apps - Numbers and Pages, for example – you’ll be able to simply Control + Click in the body of the document, and select “Take Photo” or “Scan Documents.” It’ll then open the camera on your iPhone or iPad, where you’ll be able to take a photo and instantly pop it right into what you’re working on. It’s easy to use, it’s convenient, and it’s going to be a boon for anyone that needs to save some time while doing schoolwork or that next big project. Markup in Quick Look and ScreenshotsQuick Look is already an easy way to look at files quickly, and in macOS Mojave, you are also able to quickly and efficiently use Markup to edit files you open in Quick Look. Additionally, Markup is implemented into screenshots. You are able to bring up any screenshot and instantly edit any content within. Being able to swiftly crop screenshots in macOS Mojave without any third-party photo-editing software is going to be a huge time-saver. When you capture a screen, you’ll see a preview image open up, similar to iOS 12, that you can click on to preview and edit your screenshot. That's not all. Screenshots are still a simple shortcut away, but with macOS Mojave, a new easy-to-use menu includes screen-recording tools that allow you to capture animated content. And, perhaps most importantly, you can choose to save the screenshot to your clipboard, saving time, not to mention space, if you just need to send someone a quick screenshot. AppsApple News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home are all brought over from iOS to macOS Mojave, with special care given to optimize them to fit your computer. These apps leverage the power of the best Macs to deliver an awesome experience. Voice Memos, for instance, will automatically transfer any memos you take between your iOS and macOS devices – rewarding anyone who utilizes the ‘Apple Ecosystem’. This isn’t a full iOS app migration, however. In fact, since these apps are specifically redesigned for macOS, they feel like new Apps. Plus, the new Apple News+ service is available on Mac the same day as iOS. Apple did say that it’d be bringing more iOS apps to Macs this year, but we’ll have to wait until WWDC 2019. SecurityApple is concerned about your device security, and now macOS Mojave asks for permission with more features, including the camera and microphone. Mojave’s security also offers more robust protection for your file system. Safari also has its own share of security enhancements. Those include shutting down cookies that track you across websites, and making sure that Safari asks permission before it allows cookies of any kind to access your browsing data. That includes those annoying social buttons that mysteriously appear on every page – Facebook and Twitter can’t track your activity outside of their own websites unless you grant them permission. New Mac App StoreThe App store has been a crucial part of macOS for years now, but it always seemed a little out of place. That all changes with macOS Mojave. Apple has completely refreshed the Mac App Store, and it’s now designed exclusively for the best Macs. It looks great, and it also lets you browse through apps depending on what you’re trying to install. If you’re looking for an affordable alternative to Logic Pro X or Adobe Photoshop, it’s organized so that you can easily find the best Mac apps for you. The new Mac App Store also adopts the iOS App Store’s approach to editorializing its content. It’ll now have a much more modern interface with featured apps getting tutorials, spotlights and other such content. It really does bring the Mac App Store into the modern age. Even more exciting is that a ton of third-party developers, like Adobe and Microsoft, are bringing their apps to the Mac App Store, so you won’t have to go through suspicious websites to get the apps you need. macOS 10.14 Mojave specificationsUnfortunately, with all these new features, some older Macs will have to go without updating to macOS Mojave. This is a departure from macOS High Sierra, which basically had the same requirements as macOS 10.12. First of all, macOS 10.14 requires at least 14.3GB of hard drive space for the installation, as that’s what was required last year. To be on the safe side, have at least 20GB of free space. However, macOS Mojave does require more powerful hardware than High Sierra. macOS 10.13 required at least 2GB of RAM and OS X 10.8 or later – that’s not the case anymore. These are the Macs supported by macOS 10.14 Mojave.
The downside is that while the required models rarely change year after year, they have with macOS 10.14. If you have an older MacBook, you might need to upgrade your device to enjoy this new version of the OS. Images Credit: Apple
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| MacBook Air 2019: what we want to see Posted: 28 May 2019 02:07 PM PDT After years of waiting, the new MacBook Air finally hit the shelves in October 2018. And, with it, Apple made some improvements to the MacBook Air lineup, like an awesome new fingerprint sensor. But, we think more could have been done to bring the popular laptop into the modern age. And, that’s why we can’t wait to see what Apple does with the MacBook Air 2019 – if a MacBook Air 2019 does indeed come out. We’re not sure what Apple has in store for 2019, which is not out of the ordinary, so we’re not positive a MacBook Air 2019 will even happen. However, we do know that Apple is planning to revolutionize at least one Mac, in the Mac Pro, so we can make some educated guesses about when we might see a new MacBook Air, and create a wishlist of what we would like to see. Don’t worry, we’ll keep this page updated with all the latest MacBook Air 2019 rumors and leaks, so be sure to keep it bookmarked. Cut to the chase
Image Credit: TechRadar MacBook Air 2019 release datePredicting the next MacBook Air release date is going to be tricky, thanks in large part to the strange history Apple’s had with its mainstream laptop lineup. Ever since Apple redesigned the MacBook Air in July 2011, a new MacBook Air came out within the same April-to-July timeline. At least, until 2015. After that, Apple skipped 2016 altogether, opting to release a simple refresh of the MacBook Air with the same 5th-generation processor and a faster SSD in June 2017 instead. Then, Apple released the new MacBook Air in November 2018, with a redesigned chassis and updated internals. So, we don’t think a MacBook Air refresh will come out this summer – that’s far too soon. Instead, if a new MacBook Air does come out this year, we’d bet on a November launch, though it’s more likely we don’t see it until 2020 at the earliest. Image Credit: Apple MacBook Air 2019 priceThe MacBook Air has always been the cheapest way to get macOS running on a laptop. And, while that’s still true, Apple did raise the price from $999 (£949, AU$1,499) to $1,199 (£1,199, AU$1,849) with the release of the MacBook Air 2018. We believe Apple will keep the price the same with the next MacBook Air, barring another complete redesign – in which case the price would more than likely just go up. We don’t think we’ll see a lower price, unless Apple launches a MacBook Air with an ARM processor. Of course, that’s more likely for a 2020 release at the earliest. Image Credit: TechRadar What we want to seeThe 2018 model did bring a lot to the table and usher the MacBook Air to the modern age, with its 8th-generation Amber Lake fanless processors, modern SSDs and a Retina display. However, it wasn’t quite as revolutionary as many were hoping it would be, so there’s still plenty of room for improvement. So, here’s what we want to see in the MacBook Air 2019. Let’s see some faster processors The processor in the MacBook Air 2018 isn’t the worst thing in the world but, because it’s a fanless dual-core chip, it lags behind other laptops. Now, usually in a thin and light notebook, this approach would make sense. But, at its thickest point, the MacBook Air is actually thicker (albeit just barely) than the 2018 MacBook Pro. So, we’d like to see Apple shove some full-fat, Ultrabook-class processors in the MacBook Air, and maybe design a fresh cooling solution. Who knows, maybe once Intel’s Ice Lake hits the market, we’ll see some Ultrabook-class processors that don’t produce so much heat. Fix that keyboard, Apple Another year, another MacBook, another keyboard. Look, we get it Apple, you want to make your MacBooks as thin and light as possible – ultraportable is in, after all. However, the Butterfly keyboard has produced more issues than Apple’s traditional keyboards. The third-generation Butterfly keyboard placed a rubber film below the keyboard that was supposed to stop it from malfunctioning. But, the MacBook Air 2018 is running into its own problems, with key presses repeating. We’re not sure how Apple can fix this problem without designing a whole new keyboard, but we’ve seen a patent that suggests it’s doing just that. We might see a touchscreen MacBook keyboard with raised, tactile keys. This might be Apple’s answer to its keyboard woes. Cheaper storage upgrades We get that larger SSDs are going to command a price premium, but the cost of upgrading is a little bit inflated. The base MacBook Air comes with a paltry 128GB SSD, which might be fine for people with cloud storage and not a lot of app use. However, to upgrade to 256GB of SSD storage, you’re looking at a $200 (£200, AU$300) price jump. That’s huge by itself, but if you want a 1.5TB SSD, you’re looking at a whopping $1,100 (£1,100, AU$1,650) price jump. For that price, you could literally buy a second MacBook Air. Apple’s SSDs are admittedly some of the fastest in the business, but there’s no way a 1.5TB SSD costs that much. The SSD upgrades for the MacBook Air 2019 need to be more affordable.
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| Apple WWDC 2019: keynote date and what to expect Posted: 28 May 2019 01:50 PM PDT The Apple WWDC 2019 keynote date is Monday, June 3, which is less than a week from today, and we're predicting what to expect from Apple CEO Tim Cook. In short? A lot of software updates. WWDC 2019 stands for Worldwide Developer's Conference 2019, so it typically speaks to app developers by offering first access to new tools to come immediately. It also offers iPhone and iPad consumers a first look at the company's digital offerings to come later in the year, and that's exciting, too. The hype mid-year Apple machine will begin with iOS 13 beta, which has so far only been rumored through a series of leaks. We'll also likely see macOS 10.15, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 update for the first time at the McEnery Convention Center venue. Apple confirmed the WWDC 2019 time and date back in March, and also gave us a preview of its expanding subscription strategy on March 25 by announcing Apple Arcade and Apple TV Plus. We may finally see the Apple Arcade price and release date information that was missing two months ago. Will new hardware grace the WWDC 2019 keynote stage? The Apple event series has been hit or missing for tangible product announcements. Two years ago, we saw the HomePod and iMac Pro for the first time, as well as new iPads and MacBook Pros. Last year? No hardware whatsoever at WWDC. Apple saved the iPad Pro 11 and iPad Pro 12.9 for October. Ready for our Apple WWDC 2019 what to expect guide? Let's start out by explaining the date and time so you don't miss it. 1. iOS 13 at Apple WWDC 2019The iOS 13 beta is poised to be the chief news story out Apple's WWDC 2019 keynote simply because it affects every iPhone and iPad user in the world. We fully expect Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi to talk up the fact that iOS 13 is going to be faster than last year's update. To make the speed increase percentage even more Apple-dramatic, we may see Federighi cite the overall speed increase since iOS 11 (as iOS 12 offered a speed increase, too). iOS 13 is going to launch the long-rumored Dark Mode, according to the latest leaks. It'll turn your white-and-light-gray UI backgrounds into black-and-dark-gray colors that are infinitely easier on the eyes at night. Reminders, Health, iMessage, Screen Time Books, and Find My (a combination of Find My iPhone and Find My Friends) will be tweaked in iOS 13, says Bloomberg. Important for iPad users, we're allegedly going to see a native functionality using the iPad as a secondary display (akin to Duet and Luna Display), a revamped home screen design, stackable app windows for easier multi-tasking and maybe even mouse support. Apple is trying to make the iPad running iOS 13 more like a computer. We have a full list of changes, a rumored device compatibility list, the expected beta release date schedule in our iOS 13 explainer page. 2. macOS 10.15We loved macOS 10.14 (aka Mojave) for finally introducing system-wide Dark Mode and additional creative tools, but we haven't heard much at all about macOS 10.15 – which doesn't even have a cool nature-themed codename yet (in keeping with recent releases, it will likely reference a California biome). We don't know much about what's officially coming, but macOS 10.15 could include iOS features like Siri Shortcuts (and potentially the Shortcuts app), Screen Time, improved Apple ID management and special iMessage effects. We've also seen rumors that iTunes will be split into four different apps: Music, Books, TV, and Podcasts. There's also the possibility that macOS 10.15 enables Mac users to link up their iPads as secondary displays. On the other hand, it's also possible that we'll only see incremental improvements, as happened with the move from 10.13 Sierra to 10.14 High Sierra. If that's the case, perhaps we'll see that minimal upgrade in the name – Dry Mojave, maybe? Apple ruffled feathers when it raised minimum system requirements for macOS Mojave and locked out older machines, so we don't expect those thresholds to change this time around. To be specific: we expect anything newer than a 2015 MacBook, mid-2012 MacBook Pro, any late 2012 MacBook Air/Mac mini/iMac, late 2013 Mac Pro or 2017 iMac Pro to be able to run the next macOS. Assuming Apple runs its usual schedule, it will introduce macOS 10.15 and release it in late September. 3. watchOS 6We haven't heard anything about watchOS 6, but we're assuming that update will be announced at WWDC 2019 for owners of the newer Apple Watches. Perhaps it will be the long-awaited sleep tracker feature (Apple did buy sleep tracking company Beddit two years ago), though that's rumored to be coming to Apple's wearables in 2020. But sources told Bloomberg that Apple plans to sever its wearable's close dependency on iPhone by adding an App Store directly to Watch (and ergo, watchOS). This opens the door to third-party developers (finally!) but Apple reportedly also plans to toss in some basic apps that have been on iOS for years, liek Calculator, Voice Memos, and the ability to send Animoji and Memoji stickers. There will also be two new health apps: one called 'Dose' to monitor pill reminders and the other 'Cycles' to track menstrual cycles. watchOS 6 will almost certainly be compatible with the latest Apple Watch 4 and previous Apple Watch 3, while support for Apple Watch 2 is likely. We don't have high hopes for the original Apple Watch, however, as it stopped getting updates with watchOS 4. We expect Apple to follow precedent and launch a watchOS 6 beta shortly after WWDC 2019, then release a final public version in September. 4. tvOS 13If you thought we hadn't heard much about Apple's other probable software updates, we know even less about tvOS 13, which we expect to be announced at WWDC 2019. But Apple TV devices will certainly support the company's new streaming services. Apple TV Plus will have exclusive shows from big names like Oprah, Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and M. Night Shyamalan, and is expected to launch in later 2019. That's around when Apple Arcade is set to launch, which will have a host of games you can play across iOS, macOS and tvOS devices. At last year's WWDC, Apple mentioned very little about the then-upcoming tvOS 12, which brought Dolby Atmos overhead surround sound, Dolby Vision HDR standard and zero sign-on that auto-filled passwords from your home Wi-Fi network (for US users, at least). We don't know about any features coming with the supposed tvOS 13, but if it follows precedent, it will arrive in mid-September. 5. Mac Pro...and moreApple is reportedly considering introducing a new version of the Mac Pro, according to Bloomberg. While we didn't get any details of how the desktop machine might be revamped, but there's plenty to update, given the second and last generation Mac Pro came out in 2013. This fits last year's news that Apple was aiming for a 2019 release of a wholly revisioned Mac Pro, per a lengthy TechCrunch report. Gone is the 'trash can' design, as the company is allegedly considering a ground-up revision. Apple is also preparing its own brand of external monitor (going by the codename J290) that will pack HDR support, per Bloomberg. Other rumors suggest a 31.6-inch 6K screen with mini-LED backlighting, according to Pocket Lint. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| How to watch America's Got Talent 2019 online for free in the US or abroad Posted: 28 May 2019 01:34 PM PDT Incredible singers, dancing dogs, men spitting out water in a synchronised dance routine - what else could we be talking about other than America's Got Talent? Yes, the much loved TV show has returned once again for its 14th season and we're here to tell you how to watch America's Got Talent online. Joining veteran judges Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel, new faces Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough are here to critique America's best performers. Backed by the ever charismatic Terry Crews playing the role of host, this is a season we're expecting to keep us entertained from start to finish. A few clips have already been released to get us excited. We're expecting the usual collection of talented boy bands, circus acts, dance groups and comedians and hopefully, some brilliant novelty performers we'll be enjoying for years. So if you're ready to kick back and enjoy your new TV addiction, this is the place to be to see how to watch America's Got Talent online. We've tracked down the best locations to watch the show in both the US and the UK. You can see all of your options down below, including how to watch the show if you've badly timed your holiday and will be out of the country when it airs.
How to watch America's Got Talent online in the US:The new season of America's Got Talent will be airing on NBC. That means if you have a cable subscription you can simply catch each episode of the show every Tuesday at 8pm ET/PT. Or if you would rather stream the show straight from your computer, mobile phone or tablet then you can head over to NBC's website to watch each new episode and catch up on episodes as they air. Don't want to pay more than you need to for your cable subscription? Then don't worry, there is a range of different streaming services now available to help you watch the show, all at different price points. You can see a list of options below:
How to watch America's Got Talent online from outside your country:If you’re an American who happens to be out of the country while the show is airing and don’t want to miss any of the action, don’t worry as we can help you avoid any annoying geo-blocking. By using a VPN, you can change your IP address to one in the US which will allow you to stream the event on either NBC.com or on any of the streaming services listed above. Keep reading and we’ll show you how. How to watch America's Got Talent online in the UKSurprisingly, UK fans will be able to watch the show just as easily, if not easier than US fans. All UK fans will need is a subscription to Netflix. The kings of streaming will be uploading each episode to UK Netflix two days after each episode airs. That means you'll be able to watch from roughly 8am onwards every Thursday. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The 35 best indie games on PC and consoles Posted: 28 May 2019 01:04 PM PDT Update: Added the open-world survival indie RPG Outward Although the best PC games with cash to splash are quickly evolving, so are the best indie games you might not have heard of. One of the best things about our best indie games list is that most of these more obscure titles, unlike AAA game publishers, don’t try to manipulate you out of every penny any chance they can get. Free from corporate influence and constant badgering for your money, the best indie games represent the pure artistic vision of the developers – especially if you have one of the best gaming PCs. However, just because the best indie games don’t make a lot of money, doesn’t mean they can’t keep up with the latest AAA hits in scope and ambition. In fact, the opposite is true: the best indie games can easily rival or even exceed mainstream games in both quality and scope – becoming artistic masterpieces in the process. And, they don’t have to rely on tired tropes just to sell millions of copies, like their AAA counterparts. This is all exciting stuff, and if you want to dive into the best indie games, you’re in luck. We’ve put together a list all the best indie games on the PC market today. We’ve included both in vogue indies like Return of the Obra Dinn and Outward, alongside classic titles like Braid and Dwarf Fortress. And, don’t worry, we’re going to keep this list updated with all the latest and greatest indie hits. If you’re looking for the next great indie title, keep reading. Linux, Windows or Mac - which one is best for you? Watch our guide video below: Bill Thomas, Joe Osborne, Kane Fulton and Gabe Carey have also contributed to this article Yeah, it’s not out yet, with Double Fine promising it’ll be out ‘soonish’. Still, Ooblets is staying on our radar. Ooblets is being developed by first-time studio Glumberland, and is backed by Double Fine. The game is described as some kind of combo between Pokemon, Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, which has certainly captured our attention – and it should probably capture yours, too. The game combines an art style oddly reminiscent of post-apocalyptic sensation, Adventure Time, with gameplay that revolves around gathering creatures called ooblets in the town of, uh, Oob. In the game, you’ll be able to train and battle your ooblets against other ooblet trainers. At the same time, you’ll have to balance your ooblet training with the real-world responsibilities of being a farmer. That’s right, drawing influence from the likes of Stardew Valley, you can cultivate produce and decorate your house with various trimmings as well. You’ll also be able to join an Ooblet Club comprised of friends (NPCs) you’ll meet along the way. If you don’t know what to do in Ooblets, simply walk around and discover new shops and buildings that suit your interest. Better yet, you can open up your own shop and sell produce that you’ve grown on the farm as well as items that you’ve scavenged throughout the world. Otherwise, you can feed the leftover crops to your ooblets to watch them level up and learn new techniques to be used in the turn-based, RPG-style battles. Expected: ‘Soonish’ Jonathan Blow's brainchild first appears to be a simple pastiche of Super Mario Bros, with a middle-aged curmudgeon replacing the titular plumber but still seeking to rescue a princess. The longer you spend in the game, however, the more that’s revealed to you, progressing from a series of time-bending puzzles to quiet reflective texts – which doesn’t stop it from being the smartest puzzle game since SpaceChem. Blow himself has subtly hinted that the ultimate story may revolve around the atomic bomb. First released as PC freeware by Japanese designer Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya back in 2004 after five years of 100% solo development, Cave Story predates the recent indie renaissance by a few years. Because of when and how it was first released, it's often omitted in indie gaming discussions. However, this classic more than deserves to be on every best-of list for its loving homage to the classic action platforming games of the Super Nintendo era, not to mention its incredible music and breathlessly vibrant world. Oh, and don't forget the hugely intuitive controls, gobs of secrets and weapons that are simply too fun to use. If you've yet to enjoy this one, you need to put it on your backlog already. From family-owned and operated Studio MDHR, Cuphead has connected with millions of people around the world, many of whom normally wouldn’t touch a run-and-gun platformer with a ten-foot pole. Although its gameplay was inspired by classic games such as Mega Man and Contra, most gamers would likely compare it to a Fleischer Studios cartoon like Betty Boop. Because Cuphead employs a hand-drawn art style likened to a 1930s animation, it’s been universally praised for its gorgeous visuals. Cuphead is more than just its stunning visuals, however. It’s a series of 19 challenging and engaging bosses, with platforming bits interspersed between them. It already made our list of the best indie games, but Studio MDHR has announced that the Cuphead: the Delicious Last Course DLC, slated for 2019, with a new isle to explore, new bosses to conquer and, most importantly, a new character to master. Many AAA games serve as escapist power fantasies, where the player is ultimately able to dominate the game’s universe – right until the game ends. But, many indie games are the exact opposite – like the IGF award winner and misery simulator Cart Life. Papers Please is similar to Cart Life in that it's also an IGF winner with elements of misery about it. Only, it's better – it’s a smart, weird sim about the compromised life of a border guard living under a totalitarian regime. It's ugly and desperate, but also innovative, uproariously funny and terribly smart. Among the hardcore gamers we know, Spelunky is the go-to drug. Even today, several years after its release, some of them still play it every day, despite having completed it many times over. That's because Spelunky, an ostensibly rogue-like platformer with a definite end, is tough, varied and highly randomized. It also has more dark secrets than a presidential candidate, meaning there are a boatload of ways to finish it, and its daily challenges are a sure-fire way to public humiliation. Does humor belong in video games? Well, according to the Stanley Parable, that’s a resounding ‘yes’. This game is hilarious without being dumbed down. Players follow (or don’t) a very British narrator who changes the world around you, based on your choices. No choice is punished, and every playthrough will be fresh with new humor and weird goings-on. Being trapped in the closet in The Stanley Parable is more moving and funny than the majority of other indie games. If you missed out on this ironic gem back when it first launched, you’ll be happy to know that the developer announced the Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe edition for 2019, with fresh content, more endings and a console release. This Ultra Deluxe edition actually sounds pretty tempting, even for us – and we played it a whole lot when it first came out.
It took more than nine years to make, but Owlboy is definitely worth the wait. Originally designed for PCs and released in late 2016, this clever indie game masterpiece is now available to experience on Mac and Linux as well – and there’s even a Nintendo Switch version! Owlboy centers around a race of owl-human hybrid characters called, and aptly so, Owls. Of them, you control Otis, an Owl who is censured by his mentor for his inept flying skills. The story sees Otis’ village destroyed by pirates who clearly have conflict with the Owls. As a result, Otis has to work with an assortment of villagers in-game to take out enemies. Of course, when boss battles arise, you’ll need to manage allies accordingly, as each character comes with their own set of unique skill sets to use in conjunction with one another. If you’ve ever played and enjoyed a Kid Icarus game, this is one for the books. Otherwise, play it anyway. Similar to The Stanley Parable, Gone Home falls into the unofficially labeled ‘walking simulator’ genre. Where it diverts from the clever and philosophical Stanley Parable, however, is its focus on life’s difficult realities, as opposed to light humor. After arriving at your childhood home following an overseas visit, you play as 21-year-old Kaitlin Greenbriar who is greeted by an empty house. While gameplay is essentially limited to scavenging through notes to find out where your family is, the gripping story is extremely emotional and compelling, as long as you keep an open mind. After all this time, Gone Home stands out as one of the best indie games out there. Only SpaceChem has mixed learning with entertainment as successfully as The Kerbal Space Program. The game is simple - design and build a spacecraft to take the cutesy Kerbals to the Mun and beyond. Yet its focused use of real physics means that you'll find yourself following NASA as you’re building multi-stage rockets and space stations as well as exploring the Kerbal's strange universe on EVAs, before bringing your discoveries back for research on the Kerbal planet - that's if you can get off the ground at all. It's a huge, complex, challenging and fun game, that manages to be super smart without being preachy. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is the exact opposite of something like Kerbal Space Program – it’s an action roguelike par excellence. You play as a young boy attempting to kill his damned siblings, mother and possibly the Devil, using only your tears, which he shoots from his eyes, naturally. This indie games is matched only by the equally visceral Nuclear Throne. With dozens of bizarre items to collect, endless procedurally-generated levels, and tons of secrets, the Binding of Isaac is a very dark take on the exploratory model established by Spelunky. Don’t let the pixel art graphics put you off – Undertale isn’t a game that would have fit on the Super Nintendo. That’s because, in Undertale, the decisions you make have a huge impact on how the game ends and, more importantly, how it continues in New Game Plus. While playing Undertale, you’ll come to realize just how much freedom the game gives you. Despite its highly inspired, not to mention intense, boss matches, you’ll be able to make it through the entire nine or so hours of Undertale as a total pacifist. Plus, when you go through the game a second time, you’ll bear the weight of the consequences from your previous run. What’s even better is, now Undertale is out on the Nintendo Switch, so you can take this masterpiece of game design wherever you go. From developer Playdead, Inside is comparable to its predecessor, Limbo, in some ways, only with an added layer of depth that inspires constant wonder. This is mostly a result of the unspoken narrative, which revolves around yet another nameless boy. In Inside, however, the boy in the story is running away from a group of men who – if you fail to stay out of their sights – will try to mercilessly kill you. Though it isn't quite clear why the boy is running from these men or why you should even care since you don't know who he is, so Inside will leave you begging for answers. The bleak, lifeless setting of Inside is more than worth the price of admission. Its minimalist art style alone is avant-garde enough to feel right at home in a museum. Factor in the fact that this game that's both fun to play and dripping with curiosity, and Inside is one of the best indie games money can buy. Developed single-handedly by Eric Barone, Stardew Valley is undoubtedly a technical feat for that little fact alone. If you’ve ever played a Harvest Moon game, you’re already familiar with the premise of Stardew Valley – you may just not know it yet. Stardew Valley is an addictive farming simulator, which sees you interact with townees to the point where you can literally marry them. Stardew Valley isn’t just farming, though – it’s a whole bunch of other things at the same time. You can go fishing, you can cook, you can craft stuff. You can even go explore procedurally-generated caves to mine for items and even fight slime-monster-things. However, you should keep in mind that your health and energy are finite, so you'll want to keep your character rested and fed to avoid suffering from exhaustion. Pass out and you’ll lose a considerable amount of money and items you’ve worked hard to attain. Stardew Valley will have you playing for hours on end, for better or worse. (Definitely better.) From Canadian game developer Alec Holowka, creator of the award-winning Aquaria (also featured on this list), and independent artist/animator Scott Benson, Night in the Woods is an unconventional side-scrolling adventure game centering around a 20-year-old protagonist named Mae who drops out of college to move back in with her parents. Featuring a story largely based around dialog choices and mini games that put a spin on mundane tasks, like carrying boxes up the stairs and eating perogies, Night in the Woods is a timeless coming-of-age tale. Not only will you experience middle class America through the eyes of a personified cat, but virtually every interaction in-game will have you laughing aloud. And now that it’s available on the Nintendo Switch, you’ll be able to take it wherever you go. If you’re a fan of the recent wave of games inspired by Dark Souls, you’ll absolutely love Hollow Knight. You take control of the Hollow Knight, and lead them through the deceptively adorable landscape to take on bosses and other difficult challenges. Much like Dark Souls, it’s not immediately clear what you’re actually supposed to be doing as the narrative is intentionally obtuse. The Dark Souls inspirations don’t end there, however. It also embraces Dark Souls’s ‘tough but fair’ philosophy, where the game is only as hard as you make it – you can overcome anything as long as you have patience and learn from your mistakes. Hollow Knight takes these lessons from Dark Souls and injects them into a MetroidVania, with all the side-scrolling and upgrades you could possibly want. You can even play it on the Nintendo Switch now. If you’re looking for a game that’s as unforgiving as it is fun, look no further than Dead Cells. It takes gameplay inspiration from so many places – from roguelikes to MetroidVania. There’s even a hint of Dark Souls in there, to create a unique action game that will test your limits. Each time you play this game, it will be different. And, while you’ll lose some progress each time you die – and you’ll die a lot – the game will become more and more rewarding as the complex and fluid combat becomes second nature. In the final release of the game, you get access to over 90 weapons, skills and abilities that’ll let you tailor your gameplay however you want. Whatever you do, don’t get discouraged when you fail. Get up and try again, and Dead Cells will only reward you in the end, which is why it has our vote for one of the best indie games in 2019. Introversions was one of the earliest 'indie' companies, releasing games like Uplink, Defcon and Darwinia whilst Vlambeer was still in short pants. After years of struggling, they've finally hit a huge success with Prison Architect, a game where you build, staff, outfit and manage a maximum security prison, of all places. With smart prisoners who are willing to do anything to escape, you'll struggle to keep them all inside - or keep them from rioting - and turn a profit. It's eminently playable, even more so in the near future as Paradox has acquired it and plans to make it available on all platforms. These days, it’s hard to find an RPG that will really push you to your limits. Outward, with its focus on survival and tough combat, is one of these RPGs. There isn’t much in the way of story, but you’re placed in the middle of the world of Aurai, where you’ll have to struggle to survive. You’re not a hero, however, just the everyman trying to survive in a harsh world. In many ways, Outward is like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. There’s a heavy emphasis on exploration, but you aren’t given quest arrows or any kind of waypoint. You have to rely on your own ability to use a map, along with any directions that are given to you by quest NPCs. If you’re looking for a challenging RPG, this might be one of the best indie games for you. Dwarf Fortress is its own genre, its own industry. This is a game that, before you've even set foot in it, has to generate the entire geography, mythology and history of its massive world. Then it tracks every single one of the dwarfs you're managing down to the hairs on their legs, and the particular horrible elephant murder that they’ve witnessed and are now carving on an ornamental chair. Your task is to keep the dwarves alive as they carve out their subterranean kingdom - given that insanity, monsters and starvation plague them at every stage, that's not easy. And dwarves, always, always mine too deep. Run. Jump. Die. Repeat. That’s essentially the gameplay loop of Super Meat Boy, a fiendishly addictive 2D platformer that’s also bloody hard, with an emphasis on bloody. Gallons of blood is spilled as the game’s eponymous meaty hero leaps over deadly drops, spinning saws and walking chainsaws in a bid to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the evil Dr Foetus. Obviously. Boasting solid controls, lots of humor and vibrant graphics, Super Meat Boy leapt onto the PS4, Vita, and Nintendo Switch in style. It might not be Playdead’s most recent game, but Limbo is timeless. Even five years after its release, the game’s haunting storyline still affects us. You play the Boy, a child with glowing eyes who is cast into Limbo to find his sister. Making your way through a bleak and dangerous world full of hostile silhouettes, giant spiders and deadly gravitational fields, you’ll need to think quickly and perfectly time your movements if you’re going to survive. Limbo is much more than a simple platformer: it's an experience, and one that will have you pondering the very essence of life by the time you finish. Deep, profound and absorbing, it's one indie game everybody should take time out to play. If you're yearning for a retro-inspired multiplayer archery combat game (aren't we all?), TowerFall: Ascension is the pick of the lot. Fast, frenetic and teeth-gnashingly hard in hardcore mode, the game's mechanics are simple: fire arrows at your enemies or jump on their heads to stay alive until the round ends. Arrows that don't hit are embedded in walls, making for tense scenarios when you have to traverse the map while dodging enemies to retrieve them. As such, practicing until you achieve Robin Hood-esque levels of accuracy is recommended. Ascension is best experienced with friends in local multiplayer mode, which recalls Super Smash Bros' most manic moments. It’s not often that a platformer manages to balance challenging and engaging gameplay with an emotional and thought-provoking narrative, but Celeste pulls it off. From the developers of Towerfall, Celeste follows the story of Madeline, a young girl who decides to face her mental health issues by climbing to the top of the mysterious Celeste Mountain. In doing so, she learns more not only about the mountain, but about herself as well throughout the process. An inevitable classic, Celeste integrates the obvious jump, air-dash and climb controls into a brutal series of platforming challenges in upwards of 700 unique screens. And, if that’s too easy, you’ll unlock B-side chapters along the way, designed for only the bravest of hardcore players. Better yet, you don’t have to worry about waiting an eternity between each respawn. Instead, Celeste brings you back from the grave in an instant, a welcome departure from the typically extensive load screens. Have you ever wanted to land on an alien planet, and build a factory? We admit that it’s an odd premise, but we promise that it works in Satisfactory. You’ll land on one of three planets of varying difficulty, where you’ll be tasked with building and automating a factory to exploit the world around you. The premise sounds bland, but being able to explore these beautiful worlds in first person, while scavenging materials and fighting off hostile wildlife makes it all that more exciting. Plus, is there anything better than sitting back and admiring something you worked hard on? Satisfactory is in early access right now, and exclusive to the Epic Games Store, but if you can get past all that, you’re sure to get hours of wholesome simulation out of it. After the raging success that was the original Nidhogg, it’s a shame to see the superior sequel get thrown under the bus. Nevertheless, in spite of its controversial art style, Nidhogg 2 packs a refined, stunning look that the first version, a cult-classic, couldn’t even think to compete with. In still frames, we can see how this could get misconstrued, but fortunately, it’s the fun and addictive local multiplayer gameplay that makes Nidhogg, well, Nidhogg. And it’s all there in Nidhogg 2. Additionally, every time you respawn, you get one of four unique weapons that only bolster the challenge. Esteemed indie designer Jon Blow's follow up to Braid may look like an entirely different adventure, being 3D and all. However, the two are more thematically alike than you might think. The Witness, at its core, is another puzzle game that tells an interesting story through said puzzles. This puzzler takes place in an almost equally impressionist – albeit heavily Myst-inspired – world, but it's story is far more nuanced and mysterious than Blow's previous. At almost every corner of this island that you've simply woken up on (or beneath), there is a clue as to how you got onto this island and why you're here. Don’t get us wrong, we liked Bastion, but we won’t deny that Transistor was SuperGiant Games’ best work to date. Much of that has to do with the blending of action-based and turn-based RPG elements contained within its cyberpunk futurescape. Likewise, in classic SuperGiant fashion, those mechanics are complemented with a stunning art style and a music score so unforgettable it’ll make you want to buy the soundtrack. Leaving key gameplay beats up to the player, the story isn’t so variable. Transistor’s main character, Red, is a renowned singer in the city of Cloudbank. However, she’s been attacked by a group of vicious robots who call themselves the Process, operated by another group called the Camerata. In her journey, she finds the Transistor, a mysterious sword with the voice of a man. Soon enough, she’ll learn more about him and how he will shake up her world. It’s weird to think that Oxenfree came out before the first season of Stranger Things, and yet, the two coincidentally have a lot in common. The 80s-inspired heavy synth music composed by scntfc, for one, accentuates some truly gripping sci-fi horror centering around – you guessed it – a group of teenagers stuck on an island. The story involves a handful of uniquely written characters, namely the main character Alex, along with her stoner friend Ren, her newfound stepbrother Jonas, her dead brother Michael’s ex-girlfriend Clarissa and her best friend Nona (who Ren happens to be in love with). The plot is explained through branching speech dialogues, similar to Life is Strange or modern-day Telltale games, and it features five different endings depending on your choices. Exploring a surreal wilderness seems like quite the trend these days in gaming, and developer Campo Santo's debut only serves to keep it going strong. Set in the wilderness of 1989 Wyoming, you're playing Henry, a fire lookout that's all alone in the woods after exploring something strange in the distance. That is, save for your partner on the other line of a walkie-talkie: Delilah. She's your only point of contact as you explore the wilderness. Will you make it back alive? Will the decisions you make help or harm the relationship with your only lifeline to the outside world, your boss? Don't worry about those questions just yet – admire those forestscapes first! Rust is one of the more successful indie titles of recent times. By the end of 2015, it had sold more than 3 million copies, which isn't too shabby considering it wasn’t even finished — the game has been on Steam's Early Access scheme since launching in December 2013. It seems people can't get enough of the Day Z-inspired survival sim. It sees you use your wits and bearings to survive its harsh open world, starting off with nothing but a rock. After gathering resources needed to build a house and weapons to fend off attackers (other online players, in other words), Rust gradually becomes more intense as you defend your growing base — or attempt to breach others'. Fans of the original Overcooked will not be disappointed by its second installment in the chaotic couch co-op series from British indie game developer Team17. This time around, your task is to defeat the 'Un-Bread' (zombie baked goods) that have taken over the Onion Kingdom, by battling through brand new recipes including sushi, pizza and burgers in increasingly chaotic kitchens with up to three other people. To add to the frantic fun, you must battle obstacles including random fires, collapsing floors and interfering passers by, all while getting your orders out to the pass in time. Things get complicated incredibly quickly, and relationships, friendships and family bonds will be tested as you work together to complete your recipes on time, making it a fun and challenging couch co-op game that will make you truly understand the meaning of "too many cooks spoil the broth." The natural progression of survival games, SCUM takes what predecessors like Rust and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds both succeeded at and iterate in impressive ways. And, while it’s still in early access, it offers a unique twist – combining the frenetic gameplay of battle royale games with the slow, thoughtful gameplay of a survival sim. SCUM, unlike other similar games, is extremely heavy on the simulation side of things, however. You shouldn’t expect to run in guns blazing, as you’re going to get tired quickly (just as you would if you tried running outside in person with a ton of stuff in your backpack). But, if heavy statistic systems is something your into, there’s a lot to love here. It’s like spreadsheets with a physics engine. Just don’t go in expecting a polished experience, not for now. However, developer Croteam promises to add more features over time, and as they’re backed by Devolver, you can trust that the game is going to shape up into something great. Every so often, there’s a game that perfectly blends and balances aesthetic, gameplay and narrative – where everything feels like it just, well, fits. The best indie games always excel at this, and Return of the Obra Dinn is proof. A mystery taking place on a derelict ship, you’re tasked with figuring out how the crew of this lost ship died, disappeared or worse. The entire game has this old-school visual styling that, combined with the simple controls and gameplay technique make it feel like a nostalgic sort of adventure. Right from the settings menu, you’ll get to choose what kind of monitor you’d like to emulate – we picked an old school Macintosh option – that should give you an idea of the type of retro revivalism on offer here. Return of the Obra Dinn is a game that will require critical thinking, exploration and a ton of reading. If that all sounds appealing to you, and you’re all good with retro aesthetics, you will love this game. In fact, it’s one of the best indie games in a season marked with AAA decadence. If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably spent hundreds of hours playing Roller Coaster Tycoon during your childhood. And, while there have been plenty of amusement park simulators over the last few years, they’ve never quite hit that spot. Until now. Parkitect is the closest we’ve ever gotten to those early aughts park simulators, and we’re absolutely in love. From the cartoonish art style to the realistic simulation and Steam Workshop integration, Parkitect is one of the best indie games 2019 has to offer. For years, thatgamecompany has been behind some of the best indie games on the market, only most of them had been exclusive to PlayStation. One such game was Flower. Serving as a kind of a precursor to the beloved Journey, Flower puts you in command of a flower petal, surfing through the wind. You’ll activate different colors of flower beds to affect the environment, which will also get you different colored petals, until you have an entire trail of color surfing the wind. It’s an incredibly relaxing and artful experience, and it might just be hiding a message about the industrial world we all find ourselves living in. Trust us, give it a shot as it’s one of the best – not to mention, most legendary – indie games ever. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Nvidia reveals first AI platform for edge devices Posted: 28 May 2019 01:03 PM PDT In an effort to help bring artificial intelligence to edge devices, Nvidia has announced its new Nvidia EGX platform that has the ability to understand and act on data in real time without having to send it to the cloud or data center first. Up until now, AI algorithms were so complex that they required powerful machines to run them in cloud data centers. However, this required a great deal of bandwidth and resulted in higher latency which is why Nvidia and other hardware manufacturers have been trying to bring AI to the edge of the network instead. Ideally AI should be run where data is created whether that be in retail stores, manufacturing facilities or warehouses.
Nvidia's entrance to the AI edge market makes a great deal of sense as its graphics processing units are known for how well they can handle AI with the Tesla V100 being used for deep learning and the Quadro GV100 creating realistic images in real time using ray tracing. Nvidia EGXOne of the best aspects of Nvidia's new EGX platform is the fact that it is scalable and can be used in a number of configurations. For instance, EGX starts with the tiny Nvidia Jetson Nano which can provide one-half trillion operations per second (TOPS) with just a few watts for tasks such as image recognition and spans all the way to a rack of Nvidia T4 servers to deliver over 10,000 TOPS for real-time speech recognition and other real-time AI tasks. Vice president and general manager of Enterprise and Edge Computing at Nvidia, Bob Pette explained how the EGX platform was designed to meet the needs of enterprise customers in a press release, saying: “Enterprises demand more powerful computing at the edge to process their oceans of raw data — streaming in from countless interactions with customers and facilities — to make rapid, AI-enhanced decisions that can drive their business. A scalable platform like NVIDIA EGX allows them to easily deploy systems to meet their needs on premises, in the cloud or both.” The platform also integrates security, storage and networking technologies from Mellanox which Nvidia plans to acquire by the end of the year. Nvidia is working with 13 different server manufacturers to sell its EGX platform including Cisco, Dell-EMC, HPE, Lenovo and others. EGX is also compatible with AI applications running on AWS and Microsoft Azure and the platform can even connect to IoT services from both providers. Via Silicon Angle This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best gaming laptops 2019: the 10 top gaming laptops we've reviewed Posted: 28 May 2019 12:34 PM PDT The best gaming laptops have evolved so much in such a short amount of time, and now they’re more powerful than ever before. Thanks to introductions like Nvidia RTX graphics, the top-of-the-line gaming laptops can run the best PC games at higher resolutions and frame rates. You won’t need to build the best gaming PC to get powerful hardware and performance anymore. Plus, the top gaming laptops come in every shape and size. That’s why you shouldn’t judge a gaming laptop by its cover. Thanks to Nvidia Turing Max-Q graphics for laptops to start, there are a ton of gaming laptops that hide great power inside their relatively compact chassis. Just look at the aptly named MSI GS65 Stealth. Don’t worry, if you want a beastly desktop replacement, that option is still open to you, with devices like the MSI GT75 that demand attention from anyone that steps in the room. So, whether you have the space for a thicc desktop replacement packed with the most powerful graphics and processors so that you can run the Division 2 and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice with the settings cranked, or you just want a thin and light gaming laptop that’ll let you play your favorite games while traveling, we’ve got a few recommendations that will satisfy your gaming needs, including budget ones that won’t break the bank. And, don’t worry, we’ve tested these gaming laptops ourselves, so you know they’re up to snuff. These days, many gaming laptop manufacturers seem to be locked in a race to see who can craft the thinnest gaming laptop without compromising on power. At the moment, the crown might have to go to the Asus ROG Zephyrus GX701. At just 0.7 inches thick, this monster of a laptop houses an Intel Coffee Lake Core i7 chip, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics and 16GB of RAM. That means you can crank any PC game under the sun to Ultra, and take it with you wherever you go. Plus, it’s packed with RGB lighting that’ll dazzle anyone that looks at it. Read the full review: Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 If you would like to play some of the best PC games on the move, but you don’t want everyone to know you’re gaming, the MSI GS65 Stealth is the best gaming laptop for you. Coming in at just 0.69 inches thick and touting impressive hardware like Intel Coffee Lake processors and Nvidia GeForce GTX 10-series – refreshed with RTX 20-series graphics at CES – the MSI GS65 Stealth packs a ton of juice into a very svelte package. There’s nothing you won’t be able to throw at this thing that’ll slow it down. And, thanks to the classy aesthetic, you’ll be able to bring this beefy rig everywhere you go, making it the best gaming laptop on the market right now. Read the full review: MSI GS65 Stealth For a few years now, the Razer Blade has been voted as one of the best gaming laptops on the market. Rightly so, since it’s packed with powerful components, a beautiful display and an elegant chassis. That’s true for the 2019 model as well, which now rocks up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080. That is, frankly, a ton of power for a laptop this thin and light. And, even if that’s not enough GPU horsepower for you, you can use the Razer Core for future expansion. It’s a pricey device, but it might be worth it if style and power are equally important to you. Read the full review: Razer Blade The Lenovo Legion Y740 hides a lot of muscle and smarts inside its stylish, approachable chassis, combining a very high refresh rate, Nvidia Turing graphics and a powerful processor with a wonderfully effective thermal cooling, a cable management system and a number of applications for customizations. It’s almost the complete package, wrapped in a gorgeous chassis that you’d be proud to showcase, whether at a cafe or on the train. It still has the remnants of a gaming look, only made elegant so that you could be gaming in public and no one would be the wiser. And, despite its unfortunate keyboard and webcam placement, as well as its subpar battery life, it’s remains to be one of the best gaming laptops we tested in 2019. Read the full review: Lenovo Legion Y740 Some gaming laptops just don’t pull any punches, enabling you to run any game you can imagine on Ultra without breaking a sweat – and the MSI GT75 Titan is one of these laptops. It’s a titanic desktop replacement packing 6-core Intel Coffee Lake processors, plenty of RAM and powerful Nvidia Pascal graphics. This leviathan is neither portable nor cafe-friendly. However, if raw power is what you’re after, this is the best gaming laptop for you. Just as long as you’re ready to break open that piggy bank. Read the full review: MSI GT75 Titan Thin and light gaming laptops are everywhere right now. But if you don’t care about that, and you’re OK with a thick, heavy and monstrous laptop as long as it can demolish any game you throw at it, then the Asus ROG G703GI is for you. This is a massive – not to mention expensive – laptop, but it justifies its size and price with gaming performance that rivals the best gaming PCs. With its two power bricks, it’s hardly an ideal travel companion. Leave this one at home where it belongs. Read the full review: Asus ROG G703GI It may not have the most innovative design, trading the usual black and red aesthetic for one that makes it feel like Halloween all year round (no complaints here). However, it’s undoubtedly one of the best when it comes to gaming in 1080p. In fact, we are able to crank the settings all the way up in Overwatch without ever straying below 60fps. It doesn’t feature the longest battery life, but the screen, power and onboard sound system more than make up for it. Read the full review: Asus ROG Strix GL502
If you’re looking for a powerful gaming machine, and you don’t want to spring for one of those svelte thin and light gaming laptops, the Acer Predator Helios 500 is might be an ideal choice. It’s packed with up to an Intel Core i9 processor and full-fat Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics, and therefore will be able to handle any game you throw at it – even if it’s not the most portable device in the world. If you can get past the mediocre speakers and trackpad, there’s a lot to love here. Read the full review: Acer Predator Helios 500 Thin like an Ultrabook, powerful like a gaming machine should be and with an incredible cooling system to boot, the Asus Zephyrus S GX531GX is one of the best gaming laptops we’ve tested in 2019. With an 8th-generation Intel Core i7 that’s backed by Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics and up to 24GB RAM, this beast should take you a long, long way in gaming, whether you’re a casual gamer or a pro. We’re definitely fans, though perhaps not of its price. This pricey powerhouse is not for the shallow-pocketed, but with premium components comes great price. So, only invest if you’ve got the tenders. Read the full review: Asus Zephyrus S GX531GX Another thin option is the Gigabyte Aero 15, which at 0.74 inches definitely fits the bill while still delivering top-end gaming performance. That’s mostly thanks to its Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 and an Intel Core i9 CPU. And it’s also ray tracing ready, making it even more future-proof. However, this thin chassis is a double-edged sword: the Core i9 gets way too hot and can throttle. So, just keep that in mind if you plan on doing any sustained creative work, like editing all your videos. Read the full review: Gigabyte Aero 15 Gabe Carey, Bill Thomas and Michelle Rae Uy have also contributed to this article Image Credit: TechRadar
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| Here's what iOS 13 Dark Mode reportedly looks like Posted: 28 May 2019 12:23 PM PDT Ready to tone down your iPhone and iPad brightness with the iOS 13 beta update next week? That's exactly what Dark Mode will do, according to the latest Apple leak. The first screenshot of iOS 13 Dark Mode has surfaced on 9to5Mac, and it shows a black theme where we once saw an all-white background for the Apple Music UI. The switch to Dark Mode should be as simple as tapping a button in Control Center.
(Image credit: 9to5Mac) Inverting current white and light gray color schemes to black and dark gray is going to be easier on your eyes, especially at night, and it also has the potential to save battery life on OLED-equipped iPhone screens like the iPhone XS Max that can essentially turn pixels off when display true black. Two additional iOS 13 Dark Mode are shown flanking the Apple Music screenshot in this same leak. Both have subtler differences: the home screen has a darkened app dock outline and the screenshot UI is smokey gray instead of a very light gray color. (Image credit: 9to5Mac) iOS 13 changes reminders, Find My iPhoneWe're also getting our first look at the new Reminders app and an all-encompassing 'Find My' app that combines Find My iPhone with Find My Friends. The new iOS 13 Reminders app has a triage system to it with four categories: Today, Scheduled, Flagged and All, and the quartet of options is uniquely color coded. The Reminders app on macOS 10.5 should be getting the same exact treatment. 'Find My' is ready to find everything important to you. In other words your friends and family's location, and your all-important Apple devices. This is the combined version of the Find My iPhone and Find My Friends apps, and it's said to include a big map interface, with separate menu tabs containing devices and peoples' names. The first iOS 13 beta is expected to launch on Monday, June 3. We'll be in San Jose live blogging about the Apple event and telling you all of the latest Apple software. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Australian police can now snoop on public Wi-Fi users Posted: 28 May 2019 12:07 PM PDT Connecting to public Wi-Fi always carries certain risks but users who access the internet at McDonald's and Westfield in Australia could be targeted for surveillance by police under the country's new encryption legislation. According to a briefing by the home affairs department obtained through a freedom of information request, police can use new powers to compel device manufacturers, telecoms, social media companies, retailers and other businesses that give their customers free Wi-Fi to provide information on users. When it passed through the Australian parliament in December, the Telecommunications Access and Assistance Act raised a number of red flags due to the high number of offenses with a prison sentence of three years.
At the time, the tech sector warned that the law would harm Australian companies but due to the re-election of the Morrison government, the law will remain unchanged at least for this term of parliament. Telecommunications Access and Assistance ActUnder the new law, law enforcement agencies will have the power to compel cooperation from “designated communications providers” but in reality “any Australian retailer who offers a mobile phone application for online shopping or offers an application for mobile viewing” could be required to assist in police spying. The briefing also provided several examples of the type of assistance authorities can lawfully require such as having a social media company help to automate the creation of fake accounts, a mobile carrier increasing a user's data allowance so surveillance methods don't eat up all of their data, forcing a device to send messages as an unecrypted SMS and a data center providing access to a customer's server rack to install a surveillance device. Chief executive at the Communications Alliance John Stanton explained how the new law could force service providers to compromise their own networks, saying: “One of the more concerning examples is the installation of software on to a network that’s been developed by agencies. The service provider isn’t necessarily going to know what that software is capable of doing, and what risks it presents to the security of its network and its customers.” The new legislation does prohibit government agencies from requiring for backdoors to be built into products but they could still get around this by targeting flaws that have already been discovered which would grant them access.
Via The Guardian This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Byton M-Byte isn't just a car – it's a 'smart device on wheels' Posted: 28 May 2019 11:05 AM PDT "We called it a ‘smart EV’, and that was really the vision that we had – to build a kind of digital living space," Dr Daniel Kirchert, CEO of electric car startup Byton, tells TechRadar at GreenTech Festival in Berlin. "A smart device on wheels." Byton whipped the wraps off its first model, the M-Byte at CES 2018. The M-Byte is a premium vehicle, the crowning glory of which is an enormous 4K screen that spreads across the full width of the dashboard, eliminating the need for conventional instruments and dials. With the finished vehicle now tantalizingly close to release (the first production M-Bytes are due to arrive with their proud owners at the end of 2019), we were keen to learn more about the company's progress so far, and its vision for the future of driving. Byton CEO Daniel Kirchert at GreenTech Festival (Image credit: Byton) "Byton was founded three years ago with a very small team," Kirchert says, sitting beside us in an M-Byte concept vehicle at Byton's booth on the show floor. "The main team members joined from BMW – they left BMW to found their own company. And the big opportunity was to found a company on a white piece of paper – to say ‘what do we need to do? Where do we need to go to find our talents?’ To have the perfect setup for an automotive company, not only for building and selling cars, but also for making money with digital services, with app mobility, peer-to-peer sharing opportunities and so on. A bigger approach. "Then we started with the initial investment, and the idea was to create a global company. So we have our concept and design studio in Munich, Germany, we have our R&D center in Santa Clara, California, and we are building our manufacturing plant in Nanjing, China. It’s almost finished. We have a prototype lab there (they produce our prototypes for testing) and the production factory will be finished in a couple of weeks." Giving back your timeThe show-stealing 48-inch screen isn't the only display in the M-Byte. There's also a touchscreen in the center of the steering wheel, plus one for each of the rear passengers. These are coupled with cameras equipped with facial recognition, which will identify you as you settle in, and load your personal profile from Byton's own cloud servers, adjusting seat position and screen content to suit you. There's also voice control, which Kirchert says will make the whole driving experience much more smart and relaxed. The M-Byte's crowning glory is its 'coast-to-coast' screen (Image credit: Byton) "If you think about a lot of people in their premium cars taking out their smartphone to do navigation and putting it here" Kirchert says, gesturing to the futuristic dash, "there’s really a gap in what current cars can offer." There'll be no such phone-fiddling with the M-Byte. Instead, the curved display can show a huge high-resolution map for simple navigation, with the car's software offering recommendations for things to do and places to eat, based on what it's learned about your preferences. "And of course it will also be ready for autonomous," says Kirchert. The production cars will all have the necessary hardware for Level-3 autonomy, with software upgrades scheduled for a gradual rollout. Level-4 autonomy is on the cards too, but will take a little more time. "So when we have, for example, highway driving, which is definitely already the standard of the technology in this car, then you would be able to do something on that screen like working, making video calls, or something like that. And that’s ultimately what this is – this is a car ready for the age of autonomous and shared mobility." The M-Byte will feature facial recognition for driver and passenger profiles (Image credit: Byton) So what does that mean for tomorrow's drivers? Will the car still be a means of transport, or will it become something else in 20 years' time, filling a different role in our lives? "I think there will still be a kind of mobility, just A to B," says Kirchert, "but if you think about it, most people are commuting every day, maybe one to two hours per day, it’s really down-time, especially if you’re driving. It’s really lost time in your life, and it’s very meaningful actually to say we want to give back that time. "We want to make the car a digital space and allow you to do what you want, and by autonomous technology, but also by having a complete new user experience." Membership, not ownershipThese time-saving features won't just be available to M-Byte owners – in keeping with GreenTech's motto 'celebrate change', the car is also a prime candidate for vehicle-sharing, which will help reduce the number of vehicles on the road. "A privately owned vehicle on average is standing 95% of the time, only moving 5%, so it’s a big waste in that sense," says Kirchert. "Especially the young generation in the big cities around the whole world – they care less about owning a car, but they want to use a car. The M-Byte undergoes cold weather testing (Image credit: Byton) "But the experience in the car will still be quite important from my point of view. That’s also why we designed this car not just as an individual car, but also as a shared car. [...] So you can imagine you don’t need to be a Byton owner, but you can be a Byton member. "Via your smartphone, you can go wherever around the world, open a car, get in, get recognized by the face, your personal profile is downloaded – it will feel like your own car. It is a personalized experience." We won't be seeing the car on the show floor at CES Asia next month. Instead, the company will be gearing up for the M-Byte's world premiere, where it will announce the car's pricing, plus a lot of product information. "We will also launch our next generation app," says Kirchert. "In the app you will be able to experience the product, order the product [and] make the down-payment." The company has already received around 55,000 reservations based on the concept car alone, so it seems the 'smart device on wheels' is an idea that people are really willing to invest in. It'll be interesting to see if automakers more widely follow suit (even if their screens are more modestly sized). This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| New code will protect payment fraud victims Posted: 28 May 2019 10:54 AM PDT Consumers that have been tricked into transferring money to fraudsters could be entitled to reimbursement thanks to a new voluntary industry code that recently came into force. Under the new code, victims will be able to get their money back in cases where neither they nor the bank has done anything wrong but customers will still have to meet “standards expected of them”. This means that they could be denied reimbursement if they have been negligent by ignoring warnings or not following the procedures of their own organization.
According to the trade body UK Finance, Authorized Push Payment (APP) scams cost the UK £354.3m last year with consumers losing £228.4m and non-personal or business account holders losing £126m. There were 84,524 cases of APP scams reported in 2018 with 78,215 related to personal accounts. APP scamsOne popular APP scam involves fraudsters tricking potential home buyers into sending their deposit to them as opposed to their solicitors' accounts. APP scams also differ from other types of fraud such as credit or debit card scams due to the fact that until now, victims were not entitled to any reimbursement. Now though, a number of banks have signed a code of practice to reimburse victims and they will fund the scheme on an interim basis until January when longer-term funding arrangements are put in place. Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Metro Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland are among the initial signatories of the new code ahead of its launch but are more banks are expected to follow suit. The Payments Systems Regulator has also proposed that the six biggest banking groups in the UK fully put the confirmation of payee measures in place by 31 March 2020.
Via MSN This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Huawei ban: the global fallout explained [Updated] Posted: 28 May 2019 10:41 AM PDT Update: Huawei has been banned from the WiFi alliance, as well as other key smartphone governing bodies - however, the brand does not believe this will be a hindrance to future device creation. Trump has also offered a glimmer of hope for the electronics giant, stating that future trade deals could include the Chinese company. Huawei has found itself at the center of a global tussle between the US and China after Trump administration placed the Chinese brand on the ‘entity list’, limiting the business US companies could do with it, and leading to worldwide implications. It led to Google blocking Huawei’s future access to Android updates, UK-based chip designer ARM has ceased all activities with the brand, and multiple retailers and networks around the world have had to stop dealing with Huawei for fear of sanctions from the US government. There has been a slight reprieve though, as on May 20 the US Commerce Department issued a temporary license for Huawei to work with businesses in the US, meaning US companies can resume partnerships with the brand on a short term basis. Trump has also offered hope in the form of future trade deals: he is quoted as saying “If we made a deal, I could imagine Huawei being possibly included in some form or some part of it," according to the BBC, meaning that this conflict could be resolved with further negotiation.
These negotiations would need to begin soon, as the temporary license only lasts until August 19 and it's unclear how Huawei will be able to gain the full permission needed to work with US companies while the government considers it a threat to national security. The temporary permit hasn't seemed to lead to a rekindling of efforts from companies like Panasonic or Microsoft, and more brands are following suit. That now includes the WiFi Alliance and the SD Association, the standards-making bodies that govern the technology used for connectivity and mobile storage. Ejecting Huawei from that means the company can play no part in shaping the future of these technologies, although it will still be able to use them. Huawei doesn't feel this is a huge disadvantage, and is bullishly stating that the loss is greater to these bodies than to it, such is its technological clout. However, not being able to shape the future of WiFi, even from the perspective of being able to know ahead of time what's coming, is less than ideal. "The Wi-Fi, SD card, Bluetooth, and NFC functions on Huawei smartphones will not be affected. Existing and future users of Huawei smartphones don't have to worry about this," Huawei told TechRadar in a statement. So the temporary license appears to be nothing more than a slight reprieve over a hugely difficult time for Huawei, and in a few months the company will no longer be able to offer access to crucial Google apps or work with vital technologies. The company has already seen growth slow in the month of April as the ban began to cast a shadow, but since then other brands have pulled out of relationships with Huawei, so it's expected that May will offer even worse results. Moreover, Huawei ban has spread to its involvement in the Wi-Fi Alliance and SD Association. It has been suspended from both, so the company's ability to shape the future of these core technologies is in now question. In the face of all of these setbacks, Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei maintained a positive outlook for the brand, stating: “We will certainly be able to continue serving our customers. Our mass production capacity is huge, and adding Huawei to the Entity List won't have a huge impact on us. We are making progress in bidding worldwide.” What does the ban mean if I have a Huawei phone?Perhaps the most useful piece of information about current Huawei phones is Google's statement issued to TechRadar: “We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications. For users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices,” a spokesperson told us. That's good news if you’ve just spent large amounts of money on a Huawei P30 Pro: as alluded to above, current devices from the Chinese brand will continue to get security updates and access to the Play Store for the foreseeable future, as Google has promised not to leave those out in the cold. The temporary lifting of the ban will also allow the two brands to prepare better Android support for current and future models, meaning that Huawei will be able to do business as it has been – so current customers will be able to benefit for longer. Google has since resumed its relationship with Huawei, to enable it to deliver benefits for longer. Huawei has also said to TechRadar that it will continue to do all it can to support the phones currently out in the wild, and is looking at other implications of Google's decision. The company told us: “Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefited both users and the industry. The Honor sub-brand of Huawei is also subject to the same constraints. Image credit: TechRadar "Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally.” Huawei Australia has echoed the sentiment, also claiming that “those that are planning to buy a Huawei device in the near future” will not have to worry about the sanctions, according to Huawei Australia’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Jeremy Mitchell. We've asked for comment regarding the recent lifting of the ban, but Huawei declined. Whether this will allow the flexible Mate X to launch with 'full fat' Android remains to be seen, but that's likely to be a huge target for the bran. It's spent enormous sums marketing that model since the unveiling in February and is keen to lock in its reputation as a technological leader. It looks like the bendable phone will, at least, be delayed though - the CEO of UK network EE said, during the launch of its 5G networks, that the brand had temporarily paused stocking the phone while it worked to understand the implications of the trade ban. UK retailer Dixons Carphone has followed suit, halting plans to bring the 5G handset to launch as planned while the UK gears up to enter the next phase of connectivity. So while the fact remains that current models will be offered speedy updates, it's unclear how long these will last for, and the fact networks are already getting jittery about the sanctions isn't going to make anything easier for Huawei. While most smartphone brands will honor security updates for two to three years after launch of a new handset, one might expect this to be much shorter in the case of Huawei phones, given these restrictions from Google. What about future Huawei phones?Image credit: TechRadar The move from Google means it will no longer work with Huawei directly on issuing updates to its system, and won't give the company access to the Google Play Store. This is a potentially critical blow to the Chinese brand, which only recently spoke out about its plans to be the world's largest smartphone manufacturer. This means that if Huawei wants to keep using the Android operating system, it will need to use the Android Open Source Platform (AOSP), which is a free system that any brand can use as an underlying foundation for its products. However along with the Google Play Store it won’t have access to the core Google apps like YouTube, Google Maps and Chrome – these are core elements of Google's business that it's not duty bound to make available to anyone. Without access to the Play Store, Huawei would be forced to work directly with developers to get them to create versions of their wares for its phones. This situation would be similar to that of Amazon’s Fire OS, which is based on AOSP but has its own app store, as the retail giant seeks to control the platform its Fire tablets and Echo devices run on. If Huawei does have to use AOSP, the consequences could be devastating, as access to a fully-stocked app store is crucial to the success of any modern smartphone – Nokia and Microsoft failed to make Windows Phones a viable alternative to Android and Apple’s iOS, even though both brands poured millions into developer tools and enticing the top app creators onto their platform. However, Huawei has claimed that it's been developing its own alternative to Android for nearly seven years, calling it a ‘Plan B’ that’s ready to go should it lose access to the services listed above - naming it the HongMeng OS (or possibly Ark OS), and stating its alternative operating system will be launched either at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020, and would work across “mobile phones, computers, tablets, TVs, cars and smart wearable devices.” In the latest statement to TechRadar, Huawei said: “We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally,” which sounds like it already wants to generate some positive hype around its alternative OS. However, Huawei also said it would rather continue working with brands like Google and Microsoft (whose Windows operating system runs on Huawei laptops) to offer the best experience - a sentiment it has since offered around all its suppliers, hinting strongly that it hopes to resume actions when this ban is lifted. Huawei is also claiming that it can still create smartphones and other equipment with the components it has stockpiled before the ban, as well as creating new partnerships around the world. The brand has continued to state it believes working with international partners remains the best course of action - although has confirmed it's looking at how to manage as much as possible within its own country. The Google Play Store is a key part of attracting users. Image credit: TechRadar. ”Huawei has been working hard on developing its own AppGallery and other software assets in a similar manner to its work on chipset solutions.” Ben Woods, Chief of Research at CCS Insight, told TechRadar. ”There is little doubt these efforts are part of its desire to control its own destiny.” If Huawei loses access to the Google Play Store, it would take an enormous amount of investment to attract developers to create app options that would keep users of its smartphones happy – and you have to wonder whether the brand would feel it was worth continuing to make phones at all when faced with that kind of hurdle. The same would also apply to Honor, the sub-brand of Huawei phones, in the future. Honor might have tried to distance itself from its parent company, but it’s been confirmed that it will be subject to the same sanctions. However, the launch of that brand’s Honor 20 smartphone went ahead as planned and made no mention of the issues facing its parent company – so it’s clear that devices currently created and in the supply chain are still going to be supported in the Android ecosystem. Since the news of the Android suspension, more details have emerged about Huawei's plans for the App Gallery on the HongMeng OS: it's been reported that the brand is offering app developers access to Chinese users, as well as financial incentives to networks to add its app portal to phones. Developers would be able to simply and quickly tweak their Android apps to work on Huawei's platform, and theoretically have access to a huge Chinese user base - although it remains to be seen whether Huawei phones will continue to be sold in strong enough numbers worldwide for developers to update and maintain their apps. What of the ARM news, is it truly damaging?A huge issue facing Huawei is that chip designer ARM isn't going to work with the brand for the short term. That may seem odd, as it's a Japanese-owned brand headquartered in the UK, but as its designs use US-based technology, there's a fear this could fall foul of the trade restrictions. If the Huawei ban means it can't use ARM reference designs in its chipsets, it would be incredibly difficult and costly for the brand to replace them - and it may prove to be impossible, which would cast further doubt over the future of Huawei's phone arm. A Huawei spokesperson told the BBC: "We value our close relationships with our partners, but recognize the pressure some of them are under, as a result of politically motivated decisions. "We are confident this regrettable situation can be resolved and our priority remains to continue to deliver world-class technology and products to our customers around the world.” The upcoming Kirin 985 chipset is not believed to be affected, which would mean Huawei might be able to release another cycle of smartphone before the ban truly causes issues, but partners and networks are already starting to react to the US' trade license suspension. However, the loss of ARM support might take a little longer to be felt than previously thought: Huawei has apparently been granted a permanent license over key ARM technology from a few months ago, after it saw potential trouble ahead. This would allow it to keep using these key chip designs for the foreseeable future in its phones, laptops and infrastructure equipment, and the brand has also told TechRadar that it believes it can create ARM-based chipsets for use in its laptops as well, to replace any issues with Intel chip supply. What about other brands? What does this mean for the wider smartphone world?Image credit: TechRadar While these sanctions don’t currently affect other brands, the message being sent is clear: global politics can have dramatic implications for the manufacturing and marketing of consumer devices that have become indispensable for billions of people. The Huawei news has sent the some technology stock prices downwards too, affecting the market as a result of the US ban. While there’s currently no issue with brands headquartered in other parts of the world, a similar sanction could see other smartphone manufacturers forced into a costly rethink. A few years ago Samsung seriously threatened a breakaway move from Google’s Android operating system, as it felt the search giant had too much control over the operating system on its Galaxy smartphones. It worked to develop the Tizen OS, which is still used on devices like Samsung's Galaxy smartwatches, triggering negotiations with Google about allowing more freedom for manufacturers. (It’s worth noting that while Samsung did release smartphones based on Tizen, they were budget models, and didn’t come anywhere close to the success of its Galaxy phone range). The big beneficiary here could be Apple – President Trump has long advocated for the brand to move its operations from China to the US, and exempted Apple from the trade tariffs imposed on China so that the brand wouldn’t have to raise its prices. Huawei has been a thorn in Apple’s side of late, with the rise of the Chinese brand seeing it usurp its Cupertino-based rival in the worldwide rankings and become a serious competitor in the premium smartphone space – and Trump clearly wants to see the US tech giant do more of its business back home. Worries of China responding with a sanction on Apple's phones could follow, but Huawei's founder has spoken out, saying that he hopes this does not happen. The Chinese government also doesn't want Apple moving its operations from the country - it would not only be incredibly costly for Apple, which would still need to source many components from Asia to build future iPhones, but also affect the Chinese economy too by losing such a big customer. The loss of Huawei as a major player in the global smartphone market could also have a wider impact on the smartphones other vendors are pushing out. The Chinese brand’s aggressive development of new technological capabilities has forced rivals to significantly improve their devices and push out new advancements of their own, and any diminution of its influence would likely slow the rate of development. Huawei’s smartphone camera prowess has arguably kickstarted a race to offer cameras that deliver ever-better sharpness, color and overall image quality in the last two years – the quality of the pictures it's possible to take on a premium phone has improved dramatically as the brand's P series has relentlessly pushed the boundaries of what’s possible. The company is also in a race with Samsung to bring out the first widely available foldable phone – and the Huawei Mate X’s mere existence surely forced the South Korean brand to speed up its development of a bending handset, meaning consumers will get access to the technology earlier (although Samsung probably would have rather waited to deliver the Galaxy Fold…). So is it all over for Huawei?There is a glimmer of hope for Huawei’s continued use of Android and the capabilities that offers. The recent ban lifting means there's a real chance that negotiations can be entered into with the US government, allowing the brand to prove itself 'safe' and move out from the middle of the trade war between China and the US. This is far from certain, but things certainly look a lot less bleak for the brand, especially if Trump's statement that Huawei could included in a trade deal with China turns out to be true. Google has also confirmed that it's ‘reviewing’ the situation, and the implications of the US sanctions – it doesn’t want to limit the reach of its Android ecosystem, and US brands like Qualcomm are going to be severely impacted by the Huawei restrictions, so will likely lobby to have this decision re-examined. However, if Google is forced to cut Huawei off from future Android security updates and access to the Play Store, then it could not only make things difficult for Huawei, but may cause consumers to view any Chinese brand with suspicion – and given the proliferation and technological prowess of the latest phones coming out of that country, that would also have a huge impact on the industry. So while this move seems to only affect Huawei right now, it’s going to have a knock-on effect for the entire industry, and will most likely have implications for the next smartphone you buy – and it could also mean the rise of a new mobile operating system, and potentially a serious challenger to Android. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Nvidia's pro-grade Quadro RTX graphics are coming to laptops Posted: 28 May 2019 09:49 AM PDT Computex 2019 has shown that mobile workstations are going to get a lot more powerful when it comes to graphical workloads. That's because the latest professional graphics processors (GPUs) from Nvidia are finally coming to notebooks. These new mobile workstations – some of which are consumer laptops freshly outfitted with this work-ready gear– will include Nvidia's Quadro RTX GPUs built on the Turing architecture. Many of the laptops that will come out with this high-end hardware will have all the horsepower of even the best gaming laptops, and then some. Many will boast the latest Intel Core i9 processors (CPUs), for incredibly strong processing power to go alongside the solid graphical power. While several of Nvidia's Quadro GPUs will appear in the new mobile workstations, the powerful Quadro RTX 5000 seems to be chief among them. This GPU will power many of the new laptops under Nvidia's RTX Studio moniker. Who's making them?The new mobile Quadro RTX graphics cards will come to workstations from many of the big names in laptops. Acer is launching the ConceptD 7 notebook that will be powered by a Quadro RTX 5000 GPU. This is part of Acer's new Concept D 'prosumer' family of products, with refined designs, serious specs and steep prices. There will also be Razer Blade Studio Edition laptops, which will include an upgraded Razer Blade 15 and Razer Blade Pro 17. The new laptops will each feature a Mercury White anodized aluminum finish, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of NVMe storage and Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs paired with Nvidia's new Studio drivers – firmware designed to support graphics-intensive workloads. MSI also has a line of Quadro RTX-packed laptops coming. These include models will live in the existing WS and WE series as well as a new WP series. They'll be badged by Nvidia's RTX Studio label. MSI will start the series with the WS65, WS75, WE75 and WP65 laptops. In addition to these, HP's Z workstation will add the Quadro RTX GPU, and models will also come from Dell, Asus and Lenovo. Check out all of TechRadar's Computex 2019 coverage. We're live in Taipei to bring you all the breaking computing news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from fresh laptops and desktops to powerful new components and wild overclocking demonstrations.
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| Death Stranding release date, trailers and news Posted: 28 May 2019 09:48 AM PDT Death Stranding has been in development for years and we're still no closer to understanding what the allusive title from Hideo Kojima is actually about. What is the storyline? What's with the baby in the jar? And when is the game actually going to release? We saw an in-depth showcase at E3 2018, showing a game that was broadly sci-fi, but featuring elements of trippy horror, melding the techno-future trappings of the Metal Gear series with Kojima's own mind-bending Silent Hill series. A panel discussion at Tribeca Film Festival also gives more hints as to the kind of gameplay we can expect but it's still all a bit confusing. As Kojima steadily drip-feeds us clues, a more complete picture is starting to come together - and we're expecting even more details over the coming weeks. As the first game from Kojima Studios, there's a lot riding on Death Stranding's success, and the PR campaign to drum up interest is already creating a fever-pitch of anticipation. So, while fans the world over try to piece together the bread crumb trail to find out what exactly we're all waiting for, let this article guide you through everything there is to know about Death Stranding so far. [Update: New Death Stranding trailer to drop on May 29.] Cut to the chase
Death Stranding trailers and screenshotsThe Tokyo Game Show 2018 trailer revealed voice-acting veteran Troy Baker has joined the cast as the mysterious villain The Man in the Golden Mask. E3 2018 brought Death Stranding gameplay to our eyes and left our minds somewhat confused. Before E3 2018, Death Stranding featured at the Game Awards 2017. Coming in at nearly eight minutes long, this isn't a quick watch and unfortunately it doesn't answer many of the questions we have about the game (actually we think we have more). Watch it for yourself below: The reveal trailer that was shown at E3 in 2016 may have been more than 3 minutes long, but it didn’t reveal much about the game at all other than that it would star The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus. A second even longer and 4K trailer was shown at The Game Awards at the end of 2016. This trailer starred Hannibal’s Mads Mikkelsen and Guillermo Del Toro and although it didn’t give us any more of an idea of what the game will actually even be about (in fact leaving us more confused than we were before) it did send expectations soaring. From what we can guess, the events of the second trailer take place before the events of the first, since the baby being transported in the incubator (in the second) is almost certainly Norman Reedus (as seen in the first trailer). They have the same handcuff and stomach scars. As for what this means we have absolutely no idea. Bear in mind Kojima has, in the past, been a fan of including footage in trailers that never made it into the final game. Anyone remember the 'Grand Theft Auto' exchange from the first MGS3 trailer? Death Stranding release dateThere’s no definite release date just yet, despite Kojima having told fans during the 2016 Tokyo Game Show that Death Stranding would be out before 2019. We're now in 2019 and a release this year doesn't look to be on the cards, and Kojima is remaining tight-lipped about when we can expect a Death Stranding release date. We're thinking that 2020 could be a likely release window. But if Death Stranding's release date is to coincide with the release of the PS5, then we won't be seeing the game before mid-2020. What do we know so far about Death Stranding?New Death Stranding trailer to drop on May 29 Following a series of cryptic tweets from Hideo Kojima, Kojima Productions has confirmed that a brand new Death Stranding trailer will drop on May 29. Sony has not officially revealed what time we should expect these trailers to drop, but we'll be keeping you updated with all the latest news on both titles. Check out the tweet below: Hideo Kojima is teasing an update Given Sony has said it won’t be attending E3 2019, it’s somewhat hard to predict when we’ll see news relating to its exclusive titles. However, Hideo Kojima has been hinting that we’ll see something from his exclusive, Death Stranding, soon. Kojima has posted a Tweet with a photo of himself in front of a pair of monitors, one showing the Death Stranding title while the other has what appears to be some video editing software in action. This suggests that a trailer is highly likely to be incoming. This isn’t the first time Kojima has posted such a photo—in April he posted something similar, just without himself in it. If these posts are pointing to a trailer release, they don’t offer any kind of date or even an idea of what will be shown (we're not entirely sure how to interpret the emoji). It’s likely fans will be keeping a close eye on Kojima’s social media activity for the next tease, or maybe even a trailer drop. Death Stranding is in a 'critical phase', according to Kojima The following tweet by Kojima (roughly translated by MSPoweruser), explains that while Death Stranding is fairly far along in development, there's a lot of polishing to still be done. "Death Stranding is not yet in the debugging stage, but is currently having all the game elements and tools from different development systems combined into the game," Kojima writes. "It’s a process that involves connecting the parts, adding feeling, looking over the production, the specifications, looking out for trouble, taking things out and adding things in. "I’m playing the game on PlayStation 4 every day. It’s a critical phase." Tribeca Film Festival “In Death Stranding I’m trying to put every aspect [of Norman] in there,” Kojima said through his interpreter, “and you will see his … everything, in the game,” he finished, suggestively, cracking up the crowd. By the end of the game, he says, you’ll “love Norman”. Non-branching narrative Online features Troy Baker is a villain E3 2018 We also got look at two more famous faces who will make an appearance in the game – Léa Seydoux and Lindsay Wagner. Something edgy We do know that Kojima is planning to do something different with the game’s mechanics, most notably around the concept of dying and involving the baby that has appeared in every trailer. Kojima said in the interview that the mechanics of Death Stranding were inspired by a Japanese short story. In the story it’s stated that the first tool mankind creates is a stick for protection, but that the second tool mankind created was a rope to keep things close and secure. “Most of your tools in action games are sticks,” Kojima explained, “You punch or you shoot or you kick. The communication is always through these 'sticks.' In [Death Stranding], I want people to be connected not through sticks, but through what would be the equivalent of ropes… But of course you will be able to use the sticks too.” Unfortunately we haven’t seen any gameplay that would give us a better insight into how this rope approach will actually work. A mystery to its own devs Before this, the game's star Mads Mikkelsen admitted he "got lost" when Kojima tried to explain the game's plot to him. Sporadic details We know the game will run on the Decima engine which was created by Horizon: Zero Dawn developers, Guerilla Games. Kojima praised this engine during PSX 2016 as being an excellent engine for creating open world games, something that Horizon: Zero Dawn’s reception suggests has an element of truth to it. Though its unsettling trailers suggest otherwise, Kojima has said that Death Stranding won’t be as dark as some fans are expecting. It’s certainly not a horror game, he told Glixel, and it would have comedic moments which isn’t entirely surprising considering the overarching tone of the Metal Gear series. An impressive cast O'Brien posted a picture to Instagram which showed her alongside Baker and Reedus, with a caption stating "Honored to be working alongside these two fine lads on [Hideo Kojima's] new project Death Stranding." While Baker is well known for his starring roles in video games such as The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite, O'Brien has had roles on both TV and in games, featuring in Telltale's Guardian's of the Galaxy and Batman: The Enemy Within as well as Rock in a Hard Place. Players won't die The game apparently explores the themes of life and death and it's for this reason that Kojima would like to explore the traditional death mechanic in games and let players know that in-game death isn't the end for them when it happens. In this underwater area, he explains, “you're not dead or alive. It's the equivalent of that screen that says 'Continue?' and a counter ticking down towards zero.” When players decide they're ready to leave and return to the game world, they won't be returned to a point before their death. Instead the game acknowledges their defeat and coming back to life is more of a reincarnation than a respawn. There's a weird time rain What's the deal with the babies? There will be online elements “I think there are a lot of people out there who still enjoy single-player games, aside from some microtransactions." This suggests that while the game will have online co-op elements, they won't make up the entirety of the game. What could it all mean?Though the game’s trailers don’t tell us much about how we’ll eventually play Death Stranding, they do reveal some important thematic elements. Quotes from William Blake, the repeated appearance of ruined dolls, and the inclusion of what looks like oil (but could very well be ink) and dead sea creatures suggests Kojima will be exploring the fractious relationship between man and the natural world and the impact it has on us and future generations. The littering of dead crabs on beaches and tanks with definitely living tentacles coming out of them suggests to us a post-apocalyptic world over-run with robotic sea creatures which would certainly be interesting. After all, Kojima is working closely with Guerilla Games whose Horizon: Zero Dawn game focused on robotic dinosaurs. There’s also a curious mix of futuristic technology and elements of the past in the game’s various trailers. In the second game trailer though Mads Mikkelsen is wearing a modern army uniform and appears to be using some kind of cable, the undead soldiers around him are wearing WW2 era uniforms and the game world outside of the tunnel he’s in is almost certainly from the second world war time period. Whether this mix of past and future will manifest itself as time travelling or simply alternate universe science fiction isn’t clear. Safe to say, as a Kojima title, there’s a lot of mystery and symbolism at play here and fans online are tearing through what little materials there are to try and find out more information about the game. We’ll keep updating as more solid information becomes available. All image credits: Kojima Productions This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| China is dropping Windows from its military devices Posted: 28 May 2019 09:47 AM PDT As tensions between the US and China grow due to an escalating trade war, the Chinese military has decided to stop using Microsoft Windows in favor of its own custom operating system. The decision was revealed in a recent issue of the Canadian military magazine Kanwa Asian Defence which reported that Chinese military officials will not be using Linux as their new OS but will develop their own custom operating system for improved security. As a result of Edward Snowden and other big leaks, the Chinese government knows full well what the US is capable of when it comes to hacking devices running Windows, Mac and Linux.
This is why China's government plans to adopt a “security by obscurity” approach by using its own custom OS which will make it more difficult for the US and other foreign threat actors to spy on Chinese military operations. Security by obscurityAccording to the Epoch Times, a newly formed “Internet Security Information Leadership Group” will be tasked with developing the new OS and rolling it out to devices that had previously run Windows. The new group will answer directly to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so that it is separate from the rest of China's military. The United States Cyber Command operates in a similar way as a separate entity in the US Department of Defense. The Internet Security Information Leadership Group also believes that the German-developed programmable logic controller (PLC) used in 70 percent of China's industrial control systems today poses a huge risk to the country's national security. For this reason, Chinese authorities have laid out plans to upgrade the country's network to become more advanced in cyber technology.
Via Epoch Times This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Samsung's bargain A series is showing up the market with its incredibly affordable deals Posted: 28 May 2019 09:46 AM PDT In a world where the best mobile phone deals cost a small fortune, we always welcome new entries to the market that offer something both affordable and spec-heavy. With Samsung's latest A series, you get exactly that. Samsung's latest collection of 'A' devices - the Samsung Galaxy A40, Galaxy A50 and Galaxy A70 - all landed with pricing you would expect for budget devices while maintaining Samsung's usual level of quality. But as if they weren't already competitively priced, iD Mobile - a Carphone Warehouse-owned retailer and network - has brought forward some deals so cheap they make the rest of the market look like a pricing error. The even better news? These offers from iD are completely exclusive to TechRadar readers. That means you can revel in impressively low monthly bills while boasting about it too. And you can even knock an extra tenner of the upfront price by entering the voucher code IDMOFF10 at the checkout. You can see all of these offers below or check out our guide to the best Samsung phone deals to see just how much you're saving here.
These exclusive Samsung phone deals:This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| New Death Stranding trailer to drop on May 29 Posted: 28 May 2019 09:35 AM PDT Sony may not be attending E3 2019, but that doesn't mean we won't be getting any news on upcoming Sony exclusives anytime soon. In fact, following a series of cryptic tweets from Hideo Kojima, Kojima Productions has confirmed that a brand new Death Stranding trailer will drop on May 29. Check out the tweet below: If that's not enough, there are also rumors that Sony will drop a new trailer for The Last of Us: Part 2. These rumors come via reports from two Spanish websites, Gamereactor and Legion De Jugadores (via GamesRadar), which state a new trailer will be released alongside details of the release date. No E3, no problemThe Last of Us: Part 2 (Image credit: Naughty Dog) Rumors that Sony will drop a new Last of Us 2 trailer alongside the Death Stranding trailer should be taken with a pinch of salt, but it's not totally out of the question. Last month, a poster on Resetera suggested that we would be seeing more of The Last of Us: Part 2 before E3 2019. Regardless of whether the rumors of a new Last of Us 2 trailer are true, we definitely know that we will get to see more of Kojima's Death Stranding. Let's just hope this trailer sheds some more light on what the game is actually about, as wells as when we can expect it to be released. Sony has not officially revealed what time we should expect these trailers to drop, but we'll be keeping you updated with all the latest news on both titles. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Cyberpunk 2077: release date, trailer and news Posted: 28 May 2019 09:25 AM PDT Cyberpunk 2077 is a neon cyberpunk game that has The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red moving from a gritty, high fantasy world to an equally gritty, science fiction world metropolis. It's based off the pen-and-paper RPG of the same name, but plays a hell of a lot like The Matrix game we've always wanted. We caught our first peek at the game behind closed doors at E3 2018 – you can check out what we saw in the 48-minute walkthrough video below – and all signs point to another big showing at the expo this June. Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that looks vastly different from its developer's The Witcher series, with towering neon skyscrapers, bionic enhancements and a focus on vertical movement rather than wide open plains. It's also all in first-person. CD Projekt Red has big plans for Cyberpunk 2077 at E3 2019 and we can't wait to see what the developer is cooking up for gaming's biggest tradeshow. The internet is crawling with news and rumors about this PC, Xbox One and PS4-bound game, so we’ve collected everything that's been said about Cyberpunk 2077 here for your convenience and we'll be constantly updating this page as more details emerge. [Updated: It wouldn't be E3 season without a spiel of rumors about what we'll see at the show. The latest Cyberpunk 2077 rumor (and nothing more than rumor) is that fans could see a release date announcement. Read on to find out more.] Cut to the Chase
Cyberpunk 2077 trailersAfter a veritable truckload of hype, CD Projekt Red released 48 minutes of gameplay footage, based on the demo journalists saw at E3 2018. In it, you'll see what gunplay looks like, character creation and backstory assignment, plus how you'll upgrade yourself via cybernetic enhancements. You'll meet some of the characters in Cyberpunk's seedy crime circuit and explore the city on foot and in vehicles. (Quick warning: the trailer contains nudity, violence and swearing.) Check it out below: We were treated to a brand new Cyberpunk 2077 trailer during E3 2018 which you can watch below: In March 2019, we got yet another video, this time of the development team gearing up for the E3 2019 showcase event. Those hoping for a 2019 release may want to start to brace themselves however – though the game remains without a release date, the suggestion of the video below is that development is still in full swing, and a release date may be some time away yet:
Cyberpunk 2077 release dateIn the game’s first official teaser trailer, it’s stated that the game will be coming “when it’s ready.” Though we'd hoped that would mean a 2019 release date, it's starting to appear as though it will slip into 2020. This is despite an investor call in early 2016 that suggested that Cyberpunk 2077 would be released before June 2019. It was also said in this call that CD Projekt Red is planning to release two new triple A RPGs before 2021. It was later clarified in forums that Cyberpunk 2077 would be the first of these games to arrive and work on the second would not start before Cyberpunk 2077 was finished. Considering The Witcher 3 took around three and a half years to develop, a 2019 release didn't seem unmanageable for the studio. But the scale of the development, as well as rumours of the game being a cross-gen Xbox Two and PS5 title, is starting to make it appear as if the game will take longer than initially anticipated. As well as a deadline they’ve no doubt set for themselves, the studio also has a deadline from the Polish government. In December 2017 they were given a grant of more than $5 million from the government to research new game techniques related to multiplayer, animation and city creation. The sizeable sum came with a project deadline attached, and if it does relate to Cyberpunk 2077 then it’ll mean the game really does have to be released in 2019. The government said so, which ironically isn’t particularly Cyberpunk. In a 2017 financial presentation, CD Projekt Red revealed that Cyberpunk 2077 is under "intensive development" and that at the time there were more than 300 developers actively working on it. For context, there were 100 developers working across Gwent and the Witcher 3's 4K patch. So maybe Cyberpunk will be out sooner than we think? We're hoping to get more information on Cyberpunk 2077 at E3 2019. While CD Projekt Red has revealed that new gameplay will be definitely be shown at the event, it also confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 will not actually be playable at E3. Cyberpunk 2077 news and featuresNew Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay will be shown at E3 2019, but it won't be playable CD Projekt Red has confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 won't be playable at E3 but we will get to see new gameplay footage. he news was confirmed by CD Projekt Red's global community lead, Marcin Momot, on Twitter, who revealed that the developer will be hosting gameplay presentations both behind closed doors and open to the public at E3 2019 (via Gamespot). Check out the tweet below: In a follow-up tweet, Momot revealed that these two presentations will be "different showings", but wouldn't go into details of exactly how the two will differ or what will be shown. E3 2019 could bring a release date announcement Now, any rumor in the run up to E3 should be taken with a pinch of salt but those looking forward to CD Projekt Red's next offering will be excited about this one. A user on NeoGAF (via PCGamesN) has posted a thread in which they list a number of things likely and unlikely to happen at this year's show. Something they believe is coming is a release date announcement for Cyberpunk 2077. While it definitely doesn't seem outside of the realms of possibility that the release date will be announced at this year's show as we know that the game will be there and we've now seen a significant amount of gameplay, nothing is certain and this remains nothing more than conjecture. Fortunately, E3 2019 is closer than ever and we don't have long to wait. Vampire Bloodlines and Deus Ex were inspirations for the game Given it’s based on a tabletop roleplaying game and Cyberpunk is already a massive sub-genre in science fiction, we knew Cyberpunk 2077 hadn’t been totally pulled from the ether without any kind of influence. But we’re always interested to find out about some of the more subtle influences on the game and the way it plays, some of which Quest Director Mateusz Tomaskiewicz has revealed in a recent interview with gaming publication AreaJugones. Tomaskiewicz said that games such as Deus Ex, Vampire Bloodlines and Elder Scrolls had influenced him in his work on Cyberpunk 2077's quests. He cites the original Deus Ex as a particular influence and praises the ways in which it gives players the freedom to complete missions in multiple ways. This suggests we can expect a great deal of freedom and complexity and non-linearity in Cyberpunk 2077’s missions as well as in the protagonist you'll be using to cause havoc in the game world which is something quite different from the tight gameplay-loop found in The Witcher. CD Projekt Red is working on two AAA titles – both to be released by 2021 CD Projekt Red has confirmed it still plans to release two AAA titles by 2021. While we know one of these titles will definitely be Cyberpunk 2077, we're still in the dark about what the second title could be. This release window was reaffirmed on the official CD Projekt Red forums, with moderator Donata Popławska confirming the studio is sticking to its original roadmap. "As far as the strategy of the CD Projekt Capital Group for 2016-2021 is concerned, its plans to release the second AAA game by 2021 remain unchanged," the moderator wrote (translated via Resetera user Antiax). However, Popławska did not expand on what the second AAA title to be released in this time frame could be. "We are currently focusing on the production and promotion of Cyberpunk, so we do not want to comment on further projects," they continued. Cyberpunk 2077 will be at E3 2019 According to a tweet from the official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account, CD Projekt Red will be at E3 2019. So hopefully that means we will be seeing more gameplay footage from Cyberpunk 2077. Lady Gaga could be making an appearance? According to french site ActuGaming, Lady Gaga and CD Projekt Red are collaborating for Cyberpunk 2077 and the artist has already visited the Polish studio to take part in motion-capture – suggesting she will have a character role in the game itself. In addition ActuGaming claims the collaboration will be officially announced at E3 2019, with Gaga rumored to be making an appearance at the gaming convention. Last year Gaga tweeted a strange mix of letters and numbers, which the official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account replied to with "Of course! Of course we will!", suggesting the A Star is Born actress would be involved with the game in some way or another. E3 2018 confirmed features We got to spend some time watching a demo of Cyberpunk 2077 during E3 and we learned some interesting things about the game. It's a first person RPG set in a huge open world known as Night City – a metropolis split into six districts, each offering a different environment to explore. During the demo we only saw a small part of one of them. Players can create their own character called V and embark on their journey to crawl up from the criminal underbelly. This is a dark game and though The Witcher series is mature, this takes it to a new level. As you'd expect, the game lets you augment your body using various bits of tech – illegal or otherwise – and you can use drugs to enhance your combat, or a kind of digital brain-hack called 'Braindance'. We know weapons are wide ranging and seriously creative, with smart guns and bullets as well as terrifying Mantis Blades for melee. There are no loading screens in Cyberpunk 2077 and the story and side quests are branching and numerous, and your choices genuinely impact the outcome. You can read more about how impressed were were by what we saw. E3 2018 secret message CD Projekt RED used the Xbox Showcase to show its latest trailer for Cyberpunk 2077. But it's more than just a trailer. Spotted by Polygon, there's a moment in the trailer with hidden text with more information on the game which is revealed when you enhance the image. In the message CD Projekt first apologises for "staying silent longer than we planned" but following the release of The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine the developer wanted to wait until it had "something meaningful and substantial" to show. It goes on to say that the vision for Cyberpunk is "an alternative version of the future where America is in pieces, megacorporations control all aspects of civilized life, and gangs rule the rest." This game will, CD Projekt says, be a "true single player, story-driven RPG" where you'll be able to create your own character. At the moment the developer isn't ready to confirm any kind of release date and asks for more patience. It also says it has "no bloody clue" about how big the game is but does say it's "seriously big." It could be on the next generation of consoles CD Projekt Red has hinted that Cyberpunk 2077 could be developed for both current and next gen titles. GamingBolt has reported that during a presentation at the Pareto Securities Gaming Seminar 2018 event, the studio's CFO Piotr Nielubowicz and CEO Adam Kiciński mentioned Cyberpunk 2077 hinted that it may be being developed for future hardware. The slide in question stated the team was developing the title for “current and next-generation technology”. Given the game's current timeline, it's possible it could be a dual launch title on current and next-gen systems: PS4 and PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Two alike. It will be on Steam Good news Steam fans: Cyberpunk 2077 will definitely be coming to the platform. At the Pareto Securities Gaming Seminar (via PCGamesN) the studio’s CEO Adam Kiciński gave a presentation in which he confirmed that the game would not be exclusive to GOG. There's been a lot of furore over the Metro Exodus being 'removed' from Steam and onto the Epic Games Store, but it looks like CD Projekt Red is steering clear of that minefield. It’s going to be bigger than The Witcher 3 It would have been a pretty safe guess to say that Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be a big game, but in an interview with MCV in 2015 visual effects artist Jose Teixeira said it’s going to be “far, far bigger” than anything the studio has ever done. In fact, he said that The Witcher 3 was being treated as a learning experience and that they could do better. To do better, the studio has doubled in size with studio head Adam Badowski saying that after The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 needs to be “even better, even bigger, even more revolutionary” than what had originally been planned. You’ll be travelling on more advanced tech than boats and horses So, we know the game map is going to be intimidatingly big. How will we get around it, then? Well fortunately, moving out of the high fantasy realm gives CD Projekt Red a little more freedom when it comes to creating vehicles. Don’t expect horses and basic boats here – a job listing for a Senior Vehicle Artist for the studio said they’d be expected to work on “incredibly complex vehicles, planes, bikes, robots and mechanics.“ There may be multiplayer It was confirmed years ago that the game would have multiplayer elements but what exactly they’ll be is unclear. It was said, though, that the game would mainly focus on single player. The company president said in March 2018 that these elements are not on the table right now, so it's possible that they'll be introduced after the game's release in a sort of online world like GTA Online. There will be online As well as multiplayer, CD Projekt's CEO has confirmed that there will also be online elements to the game. In an interview with Polish tech site Strefa Inwestorow Kiciński stated that “Online is necessary, or very recommended if you wish to achieve a long-term success. At some point, we have mentioned that there will be a certain online element related to Cyberpunk.” Whether or not the online elements will feed into the multiplayer is unclear. But there won't be microtransactions The studio also tweeted to quell fears over microtransactions in online components, stating that Cyberpunk 2077 will be "nothing less than" the Witcher 3, adding that players will "get what [they] pay for" with "no hidden catch." It appears that while many studios are feeling the need to move to a service model to ensure their titles make money, CD Projekt is staying committed to the story-driven single player experience with Cyberpunk 2077, one which served them very well with The Witcher. Things we'd like to seeCombat inspired by the original tabletop RPG We know that the designer of the tabletop RPG Cybperunk on which Cyberpunk 2077 is based is heavily involved in the creation of the game. We hope his involvement extends to the game's combat because the combat system he created in his own game was fairly revolutionary for the tabletop genre. Rather than involving drawn out and long turns, it was fast, brutal, gritty and overall perfectly suited to the spirit of Cyberpunk. A big part of Cyberpunk combat involves upgrading your body with new abilities and robotics which would be perfectly in line with a video game character development system like those created by CD Projekt Red. In Pondsmith's game bodily enhancement has to be carefully considered – Keep checking back here for all the latest Cyberpunk 2077 news (Image credits: CD Projekt Red) This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best managed web hosting of 2019 Posted: 28 May 2019 09:10 AM PDT You've designed a great website, found a quality website hosting package and got your creation online. That's great, but don't relax just yet; there's plenty more to do. Maintaining your website involves a lot of work. You'll need to monitor it to make sure it's online and working normally. Web apps like WordPress (and any other software you install) must be updated when patches appear, and you'll have to test these updates to confirm they're working (that gave rise to managed WordPress hosting providers). Then, as the site grows, you might have to work to troubleshoot it, find and fix odd problems, or optimize it for better performance. Managed hosting packages try to simplify your life by taking on many of these tasks. Automatic system monitoring enables providers to detect and fix many common problems before you've realized anything has happened. The support team may install and update all software for you, sometimes testing updates first to look for problems. The best hosts go even further, offering expert advice to help you fix, optimize and maintain your site. This kind of premium support usually comes at a premium price, but if speed and reliability are top of your priority list, managed hosting could be worth the extra cost. Browse our list of five top managed hosting providers to find out what they can do. Managed hosting can be expensive – very, very expensive, sometimes – but look carefully and you'll find some worthwhile exceptions. HostPapa's VPS packages all include managed hosting as standard, for instance. They're still not exactly cheap, but the baseline Plus plan has a decent feature set – 1.5GB RAM, four CPU cores, 50GB storage, 1TB bandwidth, unlimited emails, free SSL, cPanel/WHM control panel – for $49.99 (£38) a month on the annual plan (currently, there is a discount and you can get the first month for $19.99). HostPapa is unusual in that it gives you a lengthy list of the type of tasks where tech support can help. These cover getting started (software installs and migrations, Google Apps setups, Perl/PECL module/extension installations, DNS configuration), firewall setup and email configuration, to more advanced advisory jobs like security audits – and of course troubleshooting everything from server boot failure to network issues and even script and website errors. The service includes all the usual core maintenance tasks, too – server and control panel updates, patches and monitoring – and you can contact HostPapa's support 24/7 via telephone, email and chat. Tsohost is a versatile UK-based web host with products to suit everyone from a total website newbie to the most demanding enterprise user. Managed hosting comes as standard with some of the high-end products, but home users aren't left out – there are handy support features available for everyone. Even the cheapest shared hosting package (£2.92 or $3.83 a month annually) comes with a free migration of a blog or simple business website, for instance. Higher spec plans come with one or more e-commerce migrations, where the company will relocate a complex transactional website to your new account. You get a dedicated engineer to manage the process at the date and time you choose (within an 8-hour window), and you can check the end results before the site goes live. Moving to the Tsohost VPS range gets you regular managed hosting features, including server monitoring and alerts, proactive threat detection, and full handling of software updates and security patches. There's in-depth support for running Redis, memory caching systems like Memcached or PHP optimizations such as opcode caching. Once you've installed the software you need, Tsohost will even help you customize and tweak it to suit your needs. Prices are higher than many competitors – even the most basic VPS product costs $52 (£39.99) a month – but they're not unreasonable for the service you get, and overall Tsohost is a must-see for professional and business users. Most web hosts provide a basic level of WordPress setup support – a one-click installer, maybe advice on migrating your current site – but after that, you're typically left on your own. WP Engine offers a far more comprehensive managed WordPress service that can help you with setup, updates, security, performance optimization, troubleshooting and a whole lot more. Much of this is invisible to the end user, as a good managed service should be. No need to worry about WordPress updates, for instance – WP Engine handles these for you. Not blindly, simply when they're released, like many other hosts: the company tests them carefully, first, to make sure they don't cause problems. WP Engine's abilities become more apparent when you check out its support. The website knowledgebase is so crammed with detailed articles and in-depth webinars that it feels like a professional training course, and an expert support team is available by chat, 24/7, to help you quickly solve any problems. The powerful WP Engine platform adds many useful extras. A Staging area allows you to work on a copy of your site, which is perfect for testing new themes, plugins or anything else, without affecting the production site. In another highlight, integrated performance tests can benchmark your website and offer useful speedup tips. This level of power isn't cheap. Even the most basic WP Engine plan costs $31.5 (£24.9) a month, more than three times the price of the budget competition (although, you can get 10% discount on your first purchase, and annual plan gives you three months free). But if you're looking for an optimized environment, with quality tools and excellent support, this could be a price worth paying. While all managed hosting providers take on basic website maintenance tasks – monitoring, installing patches – InMotion Hosting can go further, working with high-powered web technologies to set up a custom solution which matches your needs. This starts in a simple way, with InMotion Hosting's Launch Assist. Included free with VPS, Reseller and Dedicated hosting plans, this gives you two to four hours to have the Managed Hosting Team do whatever you need: migrate websites, install and optimize software, configure security, automate key tasks and just about anything else you might want to do. Day-to-day management tasks cover all the basics, including regular monitoring of your website and automatic updating of your software. InMotion still delivers more than you might expect, though, for example with a KernelCare feature which allows more updates without rebooting, avoiding costly downtime. What's even more interesting is InMotion Hosting's ability to customize your site. How well this goes will depend on what you need, but the InMotion website talks about setting up the ConfigServer firewall and OSSec's intrusion monitor, working with NGINX, tuning your Varnish caching, speeding up PHP and more. The price for all this depends on your hosting plan, but it might be less than you were expecting. Choosing managed, rather than self-managed VPS hosting, can add as little as $8 (£5.70) to the initial price of your plan, for instance, dropping to $27.99 (£21.8) on renewal – which sounds like a bargain to us. Liquid Web is an expert provider of high-end managed hosting solutions for everything from email to WordPress, WooCommerce, VPS, dedicated and assorted other cloud products. Most plans deliver far more than you might expect. Liquid Web doesn't just automatically update WordPress, for instance: it also updates your plugins in a separate, isolated environment to check for any issues before sending them live on your production site. Unlike other hosts, this level of management doesn't involve restricting what you can do. You can handle WordPress updating manually, if you prefer, some or all of the time. The plans give you full access to both the server and the database, too, essentially meaning you have the best of all worlds: expert WordPress management where you need it, but with detailed hands-on control of the site available as required. Liquid Web's VPS and dedicated server plans add even more managed hosting features covering many areas. The company has its own data centers with fully managed hardware and network infrastructure. Key software is installed, updated and supported, there are free external migrations, virus and spam protection keep threats at bay, and system monitoring enables speedy notification of problems. If you have problems anyway, a thorough SLA (service level agreement) guarantees a phone or chat response time of under a minute, and that you'll get an active response to the issue within 30 minutes. Liquid Web won't appeal to bargain hunters, and its baseline prices can be much higher than some of the competition ($39.99 or £31 – for a starter VPS, compared to a fiver for 1&1 IONOS. At the moment, you'll pay $19.99 for the first month). Those plans are often far more powerful, though (the company doesn't sell crippled products just to get a low headline price), and when you compare providers on features, Liquid Web often comes out ahead. You might also want to check out our other website hosting buying guides:
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| Specs and images of Panasonic's upcoming 10-25mm f/1.7 lens leaked Posted: 28 May 2019 09:10 AM PDT Panasonic has made no secret of the fact that it's launching a new 10-25mm f/1.7 lens for its G-series cameras, and that news will have no doubt provided some relief to existing G-series users in light of the arrival of the newer S1 and S1R bodies. However, the company has only officially confirmed a few details of the new optic, and has only gone as far as showing it off at a handful of events – but a leaked spec sheet and press shots that have emerged tell us more.
Japanese camera-leaking website Nokishita spotted that US retailer Focus Cameras had published specs on its website before hastily removing them:
Other details include a stepless 'de-clicked' aperture ring, and a dust-proof and drip-proof construction with freeze protection down to -10C. The lens was listed on the retailer's website with a price tag of $1,797.99, which works out to around AU$2,560 in Australia and £1,400 in the UK, although there's no guarantee that prices won't be higher or lower in specific territories. With holding pages for the lens now also appearing on other retailers' sites, it seems it won't be long until Panasonic makes the 10-25mm f/1.7 official. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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