May 30th 2014 - The WAN Show Document

[LinusTech]

News Items Watchdog Pirates enslaved by a Bitcoin botnet

Source 1: theregister.co.uk

- A torrent of the game Watch Dogs which had copy-protection removed had almost 40,000 active users and was downloaded a further 18,400 times on 23rd May on one site alone.

- The torrent masquerading under the popular torrent brand “skidrow” had installed a bitcoin miner with a working copy of the game.

- The windows miner ran via two executables and would noticeably slow down lower power machines.

- Most sources have removed the torrent.

- Gamers were a target because they typically ran high-end GPUs and shunned resource-draining anti-viruses.

***NOT IN ORIGINAL UPLOAD

Watchdogs is bad news for AMD users

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: BookerDeWitt

Source 2: forbes.com

Source 3: linustechtips.com OP: vslavov

Source 4: forbes.com

- Devs license proprietary Nvidia technologies such as TXAA and ShadowWorks to deliver a wide range of range of graphical enhancements to things like smoke, lighting and textures.

- Recent GameWorks titles include Batman: Arkham Origins and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

- AMD’s Robert Hallock said: Gameworks represents a clear and present threat to gamers by deliberately crippling performance on AMD products (40% of the market).

- Hallock: Participation in the Gameworks program often precludes the developer from accepting AMD suggestions that would improve performance directly in the game code - the most desirable form of optimization.

- Hallock: The code obfuscation makes it difficult to perform our own after-the-fact driver optimizations. This change coincides with NVIDIA’s decision to remove all public Direct3D code samples from their site in favor of a ‘contact us for licensing’ page. AMD does not engage in, support, or condone such activities.

- Watchdogs 1080p 290X vs. GTX770. IMG (source: forbes)

- Nvidia responded and denied claims from AMD.

- “We’ll typically have a kick-off meeting with the developers and brainstorm cool new effects, show them a catalog of what we have in terms of libraries,” Nvidia’s Cebenoyan explains. “We’ll prototype something outside of their engine to give them an idea what that effect might look like.”

- “We don’t and we never have restricted anyone from getting access as part of our agreements. Not with Watch Dogs and not with any other titles. Our agreements focus on interesting things we’re going to do together to improve the experience for all PC gamers and of course for Nvidia customers. We don’t have anything in there restricting anyone from accessing source code or binaries. Developers are free to give builds out to whoever they want. It’s their product.”

SSD middleware quadruples performance

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Ren

- A Japanese research team developed a technology to drastically improve the writing speed, power efficiency and cycling capability (product life) of a storage device based on NAND flash memory (SSD).

- The research team developed a method to prevent data fragmentation by making improvements to middleware that controls a storage for database applications.

- In a simulation, the research team confirmed that the new technology improves the writing speed of SSD by up to 300% and reduces power consumption by up to 60% and the number of write/erase cycles by up to 55%, increasing product life.

- Because, with the new method, it is not necessary to make any changes to NAND flash memory, and the method is completed within the middleware, it can be applied to existing SSDs as it is.

Nintendo plans sharing money with youtubers - TWITTER BLITZ

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: GamerDad

Source 2: kotaku.com

Source 3: gamespot.com

Source 4: techdirt.com

- Last year Nintendo claimed Youtube ad revenues for Nintendo games

- This year they announced a "affiliate program"

- "for those who wish to use the material more proactively"

- "a portion of the advertising profit is given to the creator."

- details will be "announced in the future."

Defense of 30 fps from a dev

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Misanthrope

Source 2: kotaku.com

- The Order: 1866 dev “Jan” says:

- "60 fps is really responsive and really cool. I enjoy playing games in 60 fps," Jan told me. "But one thing that really changes is the aesthetic of the game in 60 fps. We're going for this filmic look, so one thing that we knew immediately was films run at 24 fps. We're gonna run at 30 because 24fps does not feel good to play. So there's one concession in terms of making it aesthetically pleasing, because it just has to feel good to play.”

- "I don't know of any other games that are gonna look like our game in real-time with no pre-rendered movies, with all the stuff that's going on lighting-wise, and run at 60."

- So [to make] all those lights [work] with this fidelity means, I think, until the end of this system most people won't have any clue how to make that run 60 and look like this.

- From Mike Acton of Insomniac Games: A higher frame rate does not significantly affect sales of a game. A higher frame rate does not significantly affect the reviews of a game.

- Fast As Possible coming tonight

- With Watch Dogs delivering such uninteresting visuals, it really raises the question - what are all these extra lights doing for us?

Google will start building own self-driving cars

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Johners

Source 2: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27587558

Source 3: http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/27/5756436/this-is-googles-own-self-driving-car

- No controls, steering wheel or pedals, just a stop-go button.

- Earlier ones however will have extra controls so "test drivers can take over if there is a problem"

- Has a flexible windscreen and "foam-like material"

- Will be electric and have a combination of lasers and radar to drive.

- "designed to make it seem non-threatening and help people accept self-driving technology"

- With how poorly Google Maps has been working for me lately, I’m not sure how I feel about this (Linus)

Apple confirms Beats acquisition

Source 1: linustechtips.com

Source 2: theverge.com

- In the short term, Apple acquires a fast-growing brand whose ability to sell electronics at a high premium is rivaled only by Apple itself.

- Beat’s profit exceeded $1 billion last year.

- Apple’s endorsement of Dr. Dre in their store helped transform premium audio from a geeky obsession of audiophiles to an affordable luxury craved by the masses.

- Over time, the company’s lowercase "b" logo replaced Apple’s iconic white earbuds as a status symbol for music lovers.

- Acquiring Beats lets Apple begin selling a range of high-end accessories to its own best-selling devices.

- A pair of $200 headphones costs $12 to produce - ALLEGEDLY

- The company’s largest acquisition to date, NeXT, was for $400 million in 1996 and gave Apple the core of an operating system it still uses today and Steve Jobs

- It will be months before we can begin to assess whether Apple is getting its $3 billion’s worth.

TrueCrypt has been compromised

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: AstroZombie1

Source 2: theregister.co.uk

Source 3: http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/

- The installer for version 7.2 says: “WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues. The development of TrueCrypt was ended in 5/2014 after Microsoft terminated support of Windows XP. Windows 8/7/Vista and later offer integrated support for encrypted disks and virtual disk images. Such integrated support is also available on other platforms (click here for more information). You should migrate any data encrypted by TrueCrypt to encrypted disks or virtual disk images supported on your platform.”

- The sourceforge page also shows this message. (Source 3)

- You should download TrueCrypt only if you are migrating data encrypted by TrueCrypt. - Sourceforge

- Installation is now being blocked by the Windows 8.1 SmartScreen feature.

- The new software refuses to encrypt data.

- Stay away far away as you can from the knackered Truecrypt binaries - The Register

http://truecrypt.ch/

Rapid Fire Solar Panel Roads

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: kyleslazyboy

Source 2: indiegogo.com

- Modular glass panels with solar panels below.

- Include heating elements to melt ice and snow,

- Include LEDs to mark the road.

- "provide a "home" for power and data cables"

Apple devices locked and held as ransom

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Misanthrope

Source 2: cnet.com

- The first person to post about the hack said their iPad suddenly "locked itself" while an additional iPhone presented a message to send US$100 to a PayPal account to return access.

- A number of other users said they had been hit on multiple Apple devices at once and were forced to change iCloud passwords.

- Australian telcos Optus and Vodafone say they have not received any official complaints about the issue.

Steam controller delayed till 2015

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Rafy

Source 2: polygon.com

- Valve's Eric Hope said the controller is now "realistically" looking at a release window in 2015.

- “We're now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers”

- "our number one priority is making sure that when you do, you'll be getting the best gaming experience possible."

Nvidia to move out of smartphones

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: qwertywarrior

Source 2: nextpowerup.com

- (All info in source 2)

Arena Commander Delayed Once Again

Source 1: robertsspaceindustries.com

- The most serious of these, blockers, are bugs that completely prevent the game from working and from being in a releasable state.

-  Thier biggest issue today is a newly developed DirectX crash which breaks the single player Vanduul Swarm mode every backer will be given access to.

- It would be foolish to release an unstable build, even if pre-alpha for the sake of meeting an internal deadline.

- (Bugs listed in Source 1)

Leap Motion V2

Source 1: linustechtips.com

- Software update - not hardware

Skype Translator

Source 1: linustechtips.com

- Windows 8 beta app before the end of 2014

- Kinnnnnnnnnnnda doubt that

[Shd0w2]

Darnit! i forgot about it, watching it tomorrow then..

linus, fix reviews for day theme 2.0, it only works for night 2.0 atm

[Flyguygamer]

Cool. I will watch, I couldn't do it live.

[Lord Gaben]

damn missed it

[PhantomChevron]

I missed it again.. Nvm I will watch it later then

[BoredErica]

I don't understand why so much money is spent on good video recording devices, yet when you can go back to 1080p. you didn't go back to 1080p for the WAN show.

[Ober1kenobi]

Wangers.... *Shakes Head*

Like, bad idea giving Twitch Chat 2minutes free roam with the damn word

[Mandrewoid]

http://jalopnik.com/why-the-solar-roadway-is-a-terrible-idea-1582519375

 

http://gigaom.com/2014/05/29/we-dont-need-solar-roadways-we-need-to-help-unleash-current-solar-panels/

 

If I had 1.7 million dollars. I'd at least point my solar panels at the sun. 

[JAKEBAB]

Im sorry but Linus u have been saying apple makes there own chips in house for the past 2 wan shows and i could of sworn the iphone 5s is using a samsung made chip also samsung has tizen and im pretty sure they are going to move away from android if u look at this http://www.cnet.com/au/news/samsung-galaxy-gear-update-swaps-android-for-tizen/ 

[Eatmyshorts]

Would like to watch it live some time, But without any notification or having twitch opened all the time it's rather impossible around that time of day(night). It was so much easier when twitch sent out email notifications when people went live. Why did they ever stop doing that?

[DoctorNick]

That was a wanger show  :lol:

[evil_lincoln107]

Defense of 30 fps from a dev

Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Misanthrope

Source 2: kotaku.com

- The Order: 1866 dev “Jan” says:

- "60 fps is really responsive and really cool. I enjoy playing games in 60 fps," Jan told me. "But one thing that really changes is the aesthetic of the game in 60 fps. We're going for this filmic look, so one thing that we knew immediately was films run at 24 fps. We're gonna run at 30 because 24fps does not feel good to play. So there's one concession in terms of making it aesthetically pleasing, because it just has to feel good to play.”

- "I don't know of any other games that are gonna look like our game in real-time with no pre-rendered movies, with all the stuff that's going on lighting-wise, and run at 60."

- So [to make] all those lights [work] with this fidelity means, I think, until the end of this system most people won't have any clue how to make that run 60 and look like this.

- From Mike Acton of Insomniac Games: A higher frame rate does not significantly affect sales of a game. A higher frame rate does not significantly affect the reviews of a game.

- Fast As Possible coming tonight

- With Watch Dogs delivering such uninteresting visuals, it really raises the question - what are all these extra lights doing for us?

You talked about options, for running the frame rates higher on PC, or that if it can run at 30 on older consoles it can run higher on the current gen ones. Its a PS4 exclusive so there wouldnt have been any consideration for how far it can be pushed on PC.

[hammerslap1]

in the show linus said something mostly just in passing but it think the topic deserves a bit more convo. he said what about choosing an option to mine coin to pay for a game.... what it made me think of is EVE Online where you can actualy earn your subscription.... now imagine if a game like star citizen gave you an option to (while you weren't playing) tap a button that would use your system to mine for your subscription. it would be completely optional so you could switch it off if and just pay for your sub so you wouldnt use your computer resources to mine or you could do some mining to help reduce the overall cost of a sub. could be a thing....

[Guest]

Thanks for uploading. I can never watch the live streams and for the past year(ish) watching the replay has been part of my morning scheduled. WAN show and Coffee

[smashpipe]

Ahhhh.... So that comment on searching for Leap Motion V2 on Bing and Google had me wondering how my search engine compares and it's not bad. As I started to type "Leap Motion" and the auto-suggest found the Leap Motion topic the video was number 10 in the results. 

 

Oh, for all you statistics nerds, The LinusTechTips is currently the number 6 channel in the Science & Tech category. 

 

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[GoldSrc]

If I remember correctly, Bioshock for the Xbox 360 had a V-Sync On & Off setting.

And disabling it resulted in higher framerates, quite some screen tearing but it was a smoother gaming experience.

If all console games had that, it would be amazing for console gamers, but so far Bioshock was the only game where I've seen a V-Sync option and it was a surprise when I saw that.

[Azure]

On the topic of xplor, from wht i understand they sent this message out to pretty much everyone they could find

 

As Xplor is now the largest self sustained deep space exploration organization in the Star Citizen universe, and made up of over 1040 primary members, we have decided we will open our doors to affiliate membership for a limited time.

We have chosen to invite you because your main organization Renegade18 is focused on Trading and as we have great exciting opportunities for profitable trading in deep space. We plan to train our trader allies and provide them with the best knowledge, the most rare artifacts to trade, a great market to trade to in deep space, and most importantly protection that will allow them to get rich without the need to worry about anything else.

We are building a formidable team of individuals to join our deep space mobile exploration platform/s. We have a powerful fleet/s led by 16 Idrii (2 of these are 100% org owned) with thousands of combat and support ships at the ready.

First we must warn you Xplor´s mission is not for the faint-hearted as we will always be expanding the boundaries of deepest space. We are interested in affiliates who would like to map new jump-points; find new rare and exotic technologies, identify and mine valuable resources encountered by our scanning teams, and entrepreneurial traders who will become rich capitalizing on the loot and artifacts we will discover.

In any case I’ve written a small "spiel" below summarizing what we are about at Xplor. If you have any questions, please message me and if we don´t look like your type of org, we totally understand and wish you best of luck in the verse!

Benefits of being an affiliate with Xplor:
• Access to our knowledge archive. This includes advanced combat, advanced salvage, search and rescue, navigation, mapping and more.
• Access to our training program, specifically the upcoming DFM training we offer which includes both single player and team training.
• Taking part in our ecosystem, including preferred status when it comes to trading, access to technology, preferred terms on combat contracts and ability to use our supply lines in deep space for fuel, repairs, and rearming.
• Access to our Team Speak, Chat room, News and Intel.
• No requirements for activity, we respect and appreciate the team you are in already.

We started out as a couple of friends who were in flight school together, and decided to start a specialist exploration group with a strong military component comprised of 16 Idrii and a host of other support craft. Our rationale is simple: our members will always have their backs covered so they can confidently go about their exploration and trade activities completely unhindered. Xplor will always be found at the vanguard.

Xplor is quite unusual in that we abhor the sort of ego building and management-creep often found in organizations. We only recruit through private invites such as this one, because we are looking to build a team of intelligent individuals who can cope with all situations and think quickly on their feet. We are all of equal rank as Sergeant Brothers in arms, as in spirit. This principle of genuine mutual respect for each other is a key differentiator separating us from just about every other Star Citizen organization.

Our military strength advantage stems from the fact we have a disproportionately high ratio of battle assets per member, which means our assets are concentrated and overwhelming, and not spread thin and diluted amongst large numbers. As we have designed that fundamental asset to be a mobile platform at all times, Xplor will be able to offer its members critical deep space support on a 24/7 basis.

Our end goal is to be the best outfitted and prepared exploration unit in the known universe. If you´d like to come with us on that journey we´d be proud to fly with you at our side.

You can join as affiliate straight up by clicking the accept link above this message, or if you have any further questions please get in touch with me in PM on this forum or on our Team Speak server @ ts.xplor.today !
https://robertsspace....com/orgs/XPLOR

Thank you for taking the time to read this invitation,

Tiiga

[Socratic]

[VulsaviiK]

Good internet connections are coming - I might be on 20 down, 2 up by the time y'all get 5ms ping to everywhere