Fractal Josh is Awesome
https://twitter.com/FractalJosh/status/497800237218811905
USB bug
Source 1: bbc.co.uk
Source 2: linustechtips.com OP: Sors
(we have known this for… like a REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY long time..) - Luke
- Berlin-based researchers Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell demonstrated how any USB device could be used to infect a computer by faking the device type it is.
- The body responsible for the USB standard said manufacturers could build in extra security.
- Malicious code implanted on the memory stick can trick a machine into thinking a keyboard had been plugged in and began typing in commands.
- A phone could trick the computer into thinking it was in fact a network card. It means that when the user accesses the internet, their browsing can be secretly hijacked.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sparqee/umbrella-usb?ref=discovery
Gamestop fingerprinting customers to prevent crime
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: DeViLzzz
Source 2: gamespot.com
- Philadelphia pawn shops are required to fingerprint sellers but GameStop is not required to by that same law
- GameStop claims that the initiative was implemented at the request of the Philadelphia police department
- Quote from Gamestop “at this time we are reviewing the process to determine if it's one which should be continued in Philadelphia”
- Philadelphia city solicitor Shelley Smith: "What GameStop does doesn't meet any of the elements of the definition in the code, so the pawnbreaker ordinance doesn't apply to GameStop," she said. so essentially GameStop is not required to collect the thumbprints to abide by the city's pawnbroker order.
- The Philadelphia Police Department, on the other hand, tells CBS Philadelphia that GameStop is being proactive by obtaining customer fingerprints and uploading them to a database known as LeadsOnline.
Twitch.tv changes
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Johners
Source 2: gamespot.com (reddit)
Source 3: gamespot.com (VOD)
Source 4: blog.twitch.tv (audio)
Source 5: blog.twitch.tv (VOD - update)
- Automatic system muting VOD videos with copyrighted audio.
- The maximum time limit on highlights now removed.
- “Appeal” button for VODs that have been flagged for copyrighted music added.
- Twitch CEO Emmett Shear did a reddit AMA.
- Shear: Game companies have the public stance (and private stance directly with Twitch) that they allow anyone to stream their games. This isn't a fair use argument, it's a generally available license that you're taking advantage of.
- Shear: Broadcasting unlicensed music in the background is not fair use either, and there is no generally available license. Therefore this is not something that we want our broadcasters to accept liability for (nor do we want to accept liability for it either).
- Shear: We did need to change things. This is laying groundwork for some work in the future you guys are REALLY going to like. We've been intending to do this for some time, but it took us a while to identify and select a content identification partner and get the system up and reliable.
(their own music service????)
IBM brain-like chip
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Fulgrim
Source 2: extremetech.com
- 1 million programmable neurons and 256 million programmable synapses across 4096 individual neurosynaptic cores, 5.4 billion transistors
- Neuromorphic (brain-like) computer chip.
- Called TrueNorth
- Built on Samsung’s 28nm process
- Consumes just 72 milliwatts at max load
- 176,000 times more efficient than a modern CPU running the same brain-like workload.
- Culmination of the six-year-old SyNAPSE project at IBM Research
- Second-generation version of the 2011 prototype.
- TrueNorth is pretty much ready to go for commercial applications.
- The fact that TrueNorth consumes much less power than conventional Von Neumann chips could be significant.
Xbox One Lost Microsoft ~$400m in Gross Margins Last Year
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Xsilent(X)
Source 2: dualshockers.com
- Xbox Platform’s revenue increased by $1.7 billion but the cost of the revenue increased by $2.1 billion, a $400 million hit.
- To be expected at the launch of a new product because of costs such as marketing, R&D for updates, returns of faulty units (that are normally in higher percentage close to release) and similar initial expenses.
- Microsoft’s finances are quite solid, so they’ll probably be able to recoup the decrease in gross margins without too many issues.
Exodus of Xbox titles to PC
- Dead Rising 3
- Halo (mis-listing, not actually coming to PC)
- Ryse
Amazon mis-listing for Halo: The Master Chief Collection for PC
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: XxDj_zEuSxX
Source 2: attackofthefanboy.com
Link 1: twitter.com
- Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg has tweeted (Link 1) that the listing was a retail mistake.
- Pic in Source 2.
- Microsoft doesn’t plan on releasing it other than on the Xbox One.
Ryse: Son of Rome coming to PCs
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Victorious Secret
Source 2: kotaku.com
Link 1: twitter.com
- This is according to devs (Link 1).
- That makes Ryse the second Xbox One launch game published by Microsoft last fall that's coming to PC later this year. The first was the Capcom-developed Dead Rising 3.
- Neither of these games were made in-house at Microsoft, these could be fringe developments.
- The PC version will support 4K resolution and include downloadable extras from the console game.
Cat collar that searches for vulnerable wifi hotspots
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Dietrichw
Source 2: theverge.com
- Security researcher Gene Bransfield outfitted his cat Coco with a specially-made collar built from a Wi-Fi card, GPS module, battery, and a Spark Core chip.
- The device runs custom software that looks for Wi-Fi signals and records ones that are open or poorly protected with old encryption like WEP.
- This is an update on the concept of Wardriving, where hackers would cruise around in a car with a laptop, looking for open or unsecure networks.
Nvidia PhysX disabled when non-Nvidia GPU detected in system
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Najuno
Source 2: brightsideofnews.com
- Nvidia’s new 340.52 drivers (that enable the new SHIELD tablet features) have a feature that disable GPU PhysX in dual-GPU systems that have one non-Nvidia card, according to Nvidia’s own release notes for the drivers in question.
- Nvidia says a high quality experience in such a scenario can’t be guaranteed.
- This will preclude users from utilizing using key features such as high performance communication between CUDA and the graphics API.
- From here on out, any Nvidia GPU that runs PhysX will have to be a GeForce 8-series and later with a minimum of 256 MB of dedicated GPU memory. (Nvidia introduced CUDA with the 8-series.)
- This should not affect systems that have Intel GPUs that switch between onboard and dedicated (Nvidia) because of Nvidia’s Optimus technology.
- Nvidia says it is currently working on a resolution for PhysX issues with AMD APUs.
Source 2 Found in Files
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: lots of unexplainable lag
Source 2: polygon.com
- Pic from the reddit post with “source2” directory
- Big update to the Dota2 SDK (Hammer), many are speculating that it’s actually Source 2 soft launch.
- Valve has stated that “this is a developer focused release and currently has high system requirements.”
- All files that would share a name with the Source engine are qualified with the number 2 including engine2.dll, vconsole2.exe, vphysics2.dll..
- Gabe Newell said; "We've just been waiting for a game to roll it (Source 2) out with." He also said it's a new engine altogether, not a mere extension of the existing Source technology.
Silverstone SST-SX600-G - 600 Watt SFX PSU
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: MrSuperb
- SFX form factor
- 600 Watt (50 Amp available on 12V rail)
- fully modular
- semi-fanless
- The argument, that there is a lack of a powerful SFX PSU for small and overclocked mITX builds is now invalid.
Rumoured Iphone Air Details
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: D.Yount
Source 2: macworld.co.uk
- Launch in Autumn 2014
- (Details in Source 1)
Rapid Fire
Shoutouts (Whaler)
1 - Shout out to BOINC team for passing the 1 Billion point mark.
2 - Folding team about to pass the 2 Billion point mark and now up to 42nd place...
3 - New "Featured Build Logs" submission post up, basically anyone with a completed build can submit, just make sure you follow the posting format. http://linustechtips...-the-big-event/
Mods now helping out with this so should be a much more regular event.
Yoshi’s full name revealed
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: snowComet
Source 2: gamespot.com
- "Yoshi" is nothing but a nickname.
- Real name: T. Yoshisaur Munchakoopas
- Blake Harris unearthed the character's full name in a copy of the Nintendo character guide from 1993.
- Mario is not a traditional human but a person of a different species. “homo nintendonus”
Windows 9 “Threshold” rumours
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: GoodBytes
Source 2: zdnet.com
- Microsoft is moving toward adding virtual desktops to Threshold.
- Apple's OS X and Ubuntu, already support virtual desktops.
- Elimination of the Charms Bar.
Wikipedia has rejected all requests to remove/alter content since 2012
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Johners
Source 2: itpro.co.uk
- Three kinds of requests are often made to Wikimedia regarding the online encyclopedia's content: requests for user information, requests relating to copyright law and requests to remove or alter content.
- Executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, Lila Tretikov, said: “Transparency is one of our fundamental, core values – it is an essential part of our mission. Every year we receive requests to hand over user information, to alter or to remove content on Wikimedia projects. Today, we are releasing our first ever transparency report.”
- Of the requests for user information, Wikimedia only complied 14.3 per cent of the time. The Foundation responded 41.4 per cent of the time to Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown requests, and has not responded to any requests to remove or alter content.
TOXIKK - PC only arena fps announced
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Damikiller37
Source 2: toxikk.com
- Classic FPS action arena.
- All players are always equal.
- Not F2P.
- Classic and massive maps.
- User generated content.
- Exclusively for PC.
- Developed by Reakktor; an indie studio with all members having at least 10 years experience with game development.
Sony sued over Killzone: Shadow Fall's graphics
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Dietrichw
Source 2: polygon.com
- Killzone: Shadow Fall because the PlayStation 4 game's multiplayer mode does not run at the resolution advertised.
- The lawsuit alleges that Sony advertised — through videos, its official website, social media and Killzone's retail packaging — would offer 1080p graphics.
- In the wake of Digital Foundry's report, Killzone developer Guerrilla Games took to its official website to explain its technical solution for Shadow Fall's multiplayer graphics: "In both [single-player] and [multiplayer], Killzone: Shadow Fall outputs a full, unscaled 1080p image at up to 60 [frames per second]," producer Poria Torkan wrote. "Native is often used to indicate images that are not scaled; it is native by that definition. In Multiplayer mode, however, we use a technique called 'temporal reprojection,' which combines pixels and motion vectors from multiple lower-resolution frames to reconstruct a full 1080p image. If native means that every part of the pipeline is 1080p then this technique is not native."
- The lawsuit alleges that "'temporal reprojection' is not the 'native 1080p' that Sony promised".
Crytek CEO delayed employee paychecks
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Dietrichw
Source 2: polygon.com
- Crytek is down to 700 employees, from a high of around 900.
- Reorganization is still ongoing. CEO Cevat Yerli could not comment on whether or not more studios or game properties would be up for sale in the near future.
- "You have two choices," Yerli said. "Either you delay payments — again delay... it's not that they didn't get paid, they got delayed — delay payments and salvage the company. Or, you push your cash flow directly to the studios and you file for insolvency. Both options are really bad. So you have to make the better of the two bad decisions."
- Crytek will be moving away from retail distribution towards more free-to-play titles in the future.
Free BF4 trail for a week
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Dietrichw
Source 2: origin.com
- All Origin users have until August 14 to add Battlefield 4 Game Time to their Origin Game Library.
- Once you’ve snagged it, you can download the game and start your 168 hour Game Time clock whenever you want.
- Your Origin Game Time clock will not begin until you’ve launched the downloaded game for the very first time.
Return of Sierra
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: TOMPPIX
Source 2: kotaku.com
- Sierra Interactive used to be one of the great developers (and publishers) in the world of PC gaming.
- They've been dead for a while now, but this teaser website put up by Activision suggests a return (at GamesCom) is imminent.
- What kind of return this is, is anyone's guess.
Obama against internet fast lanes
Source 1: linustechtips.com OP: Victorious Secret
Source 2: washingtonpost.com
- Obama said making the Internet more accessible to some at the expense of others was against his administration's policy:
- He said; One of the issues around net neutrality is whether you are creating different rates or charges for different content providers. That's the big controversy here. So you have big, wealthy media companies who might be willing to pay more and also charge more for spectrum, more bandwidth on the Internet so they can stream movies faster. I personally, the position of my administration, as well as a lot of the companies here, is that you don’t want to start getting a differentiation in how accessible the Internet is to different users. You want to leave it open so the next Google and the next Facebook can succeed.
- The remarks also seem to contrast with the FCC's current proposal on net neutrality.
Draw winner for Tech Quickie and Jayztwocents Giveaway
Thread: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/188757-linus-tech-tips-and-jayztwocents-giveaway/
Prize: Radeon R9 270X and an OCZ Fatal1ty 1000W 80PLUS Gold power supply with individually sleeved cables (1 winner)
random.org
JAPatrick reacted to LinusTech in August 8th - The WAN Show Document
