Novermber 10th, 2017 - The WAN Show Document

[LinusTech]

 

 

Main News Topics

Intel Kaby Lake G with amd Radeon graphics??

Source 1: posted by NumLock21 https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/857686-intel-kaby-lake-g-w-amd-radeon-graphics-performance/

Source 2: https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/new-intel-core-processor-combine-high-performance-cpu-discrete-graphics-sleek-thin-devices/

 

• Intel has found a way to create gaming laptops with performance-level processors and discrete graphics in MUCH smaller form factors... and they’re partnering with AMD to do it.

• Currently, most enthusiast mobile PCs have Intel Core H-series processors plus higher-powered discrete graphics, resulting in systems that average 26 mm in height.

  • Compare this to thin and light laptops that are trending down to 16 mm or less, with some even as thin as 11 mm

• Now Intel has reduced the usual silicon footprint to less than half that of standard discrete components on a motherboard by putting a Core H-series processor, HBM2 memory, and a custom-to-Intel discrete graphics chip from AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group on a single processor package.

• This gives more freedom for OEMs to:

  • improve thermal dissipation.

  • create new board layouts,

  • increase battery life.

• This is the first product to use Intel’s Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) technology and a new power-sharing framework.

  • EMIB allows heterogeneous silicon to quickly pass information in extremely close proximity.

  • EMIB eliminates height impact as well as manufacturing and design complexities, enabling faster, more powerful and more efficient products in smaller sizes.

  • Similarly, the power sharing framework is a new connection tailor-made by that enables system designers to adjust the ratio of power sharing between the processor and graphics based on workloads and usages

 

Intel Hires AMD Radeon Exec Raj Koduri

Source 1: posted by Dygear https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/857479-nvidia-slips-ahead-of-earnings-as-intel-hires-amd-exec/

Source 2: https://www.anandtech.com/show/12017/intel-to-develop-discrete-gpus-hires-raja-koduri-as-chief-architect

 

• Everything we just talked about was announced on by Intel on Monday. On Tuesday, AMD announced that their chief GPU architect, Raja Koduri, was leaving the company. The Oon Wednesday Intel is announced that they have hired Koduri to serve as their Senior VP, overseeing the new Core and Visual Computing group.

• As a chief architect and general manager, Raja has been tasked with expanding Intel’s GPU business, including re-entry into the discrete GPU field!

• Now reconsider the following quote from Intel’s Monday Announcement:

  • “Helping to deliver on our vision for this new class of product, we worked with the team at AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group. In close collaboration, we designed a new semi-custom graphics chip, which means this is also a great example of how we can compete and work together, ultimately delivering innovation that is good for consumers.”

• Intel’s past discreet GPU endeavors, the i740 in the late 90’s and project Larabee in the mid to late 2000’s mostly sucked.

 

Nintendo and Sandisk team up to screw Nintendo Switch Customers

Source 1: posted by AluminiumTech https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/857128-nintendo-and-sandisk-are-teaming-up-to-price-gouge-and-take-advantage-of-nintendo-switch-customers/

Source 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=334&v=gNOgr7yY5K0

 

• Official “Nintendo Switch Certified” microSD cards from Sandisk cost 3x as much as regular- identically spec’d AND compatible microSD cards from Sandisk

  • 64GB microSD with Mario on the box: $99.99

  • 64GB microSD with generic box: $29:99

• Some big games, like the most recent NBA 2K 18, even require owners to have a microSD card

 

What’s Coming Out on Floatplane? Go Over Current Week.

Rapid Fire

Humvee Suing Call of Duty

Source 1: posted by Bouzoo https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/857434-humvee-is-suing-activision-over-call-of-duty/

Source 2: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-activision-amgeneral/humvee-maker-sues-activision-over-call-of-duty-idUSKBN1D828F

Source 3: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-11-09-humvee-suing-activision-over-call-of-duty

 

• The maker of Humvee military vehicles has filed a lawsuit accusing Activision Blizzard of reaping billions of dollars of revenue by incorporating its trademarks without permission in the flagship “Call of Duty” video game franchise.

• AM General LLC accused Activision of taking advantage of its goodwill and reputation in the “Humvee” by featuring them prominently in “Call of Duty,” and licensing related content for use in toys and books.

• The in-game vehicles feature the distinct Humvee stylings and are referred to by name in in-game dialog.

 

Starcraft II goes free-to-play seven years after launch

Source 1: AluminiumTech https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/856401-starcraft-2-is-now-free-to-play-7-years-after-launch/

Source 2: https://arstechnica.co.uk/gaming/2017/11/starcraft-ii-goes-free-to-play-seven-years-after-launch/

 

• Blizzard has announced that StarCraft II will be transitioning to a free-to-play model, offering significant portions of the single- and multiplayer content for no charge starting November 14.

  • Players will be able to download StarCraft II's original "Wings of Liberty" single-player campaign for free.

  • Players who previously paid for "Wings of Liberty" will be able to get "Heart of the Swarm" expansion for free

  • And players who purchased an expansion previously will receive an exclusive Ghost skin and three new portraits.

• Players will also be able to earn full, free access to ranked multiplayer play, including units from all three of the game's expansions.

  • This mode will be locked until players notch a single unranked or AI win on 10 separate days ("our way to preserve the quality and integrity of the ranked experience," Blizzard explains).

• Blizzard will continue to make money off of StarCraft II by:

  • selling Co-Op Commanders,

  • additional single-player campaigns at $15 each (or $40 for a bundle of three),

  • and other "premium upgrades" like announcer packs, special skins, and War Chests.

 

Facebook wants you to send nudes..

Source 1: posted by hey_yo_ https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/857387-facebook-in-partnership-with-the-australian-government-wants-to-stop-revenge-porn-by-sending-your-own-nudes/

Source 2: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/07/facebook-revenge-porn-nude-photos

 

• Facebook is asking users to send the company their nude photos in an effort to tackle revenge porn

• Individuals who have shared intimate, nude or sexual images with partners and are worried that the photos might be distributed without their consent can use Messenger to send the images to be “hashed”. This means that the company converts the image into a unique digital fingerprint that can be used to identify and block any attempts to re-upload that same image.

• In the Australian pilot, users must first complete an online form on the e-safety commissioner’s website outlining their concerns.

  • They will then be asked to send the pictures they are concerned about to themselves on Messenger

  • The e-safety commissioner’s office notifies Facebook of their submission.

  • Once Facebook gets that notification, a community operations analyst will access the image and hash it to prevent future instances from being uploaded or shared.

• Facebook will store these images for a short period of time before deleting them to ensure it is enforcing the policy correctly

• Roughly 4% of US internet users have been victims of revenge porn. The proportion rises to 10% when dealing with women under the age of 30

• In April Facebook released reporting tools to allow users to flag intimate photos posted without their consent to “specially trained representatives” from the site’s community operations team who “review the image and remove it if it violates [Facebook’s] community standards”. Once a picture has been removed, photo-matching technology is used to ensure the image isn’t uploaded again.

 

Assassin's Creed Origin DRM Hammers Gamers’ CPUs

Source 1: posted by jagdtigger https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/853091-assassins-creed-origin-drm-hammers-gamers%E2%80%99-cpus/

Source 2: https://torrentfreak.com/assassins-creed-origin-drm-hammers-gamers-cpus-171030/

 

• People who pay for their games have become collateral damage in an increasingly desperate conflict between gaming companies, publishers, and anti-piracy outfits as players of Assassin's Creed: Origin report extreme CPU taxation while playing.

  • An individual reported CPU loads of 60-90% on an i7 processor

  • Another gamer, running an i5, reported a 100% load on all four cores of his processor, even when lower graphics settings were selected

• The infamous Denuvo anti-piracy technology has been cracking in just days, or hours, after launch

• Now, Ubisoft have implemented VMProtect on top of Denuvo, tanking the game’s performance by 30-40%, demanding that people have a more expensive CPU to play the game properly, only because of the DRM

• VMProtect is software that protects other software against reverse engineering and cracking by executing it on a virtual machine with non-standard architecture that makes it extremely difficult to analyze or crack.

• The situation is reportedly so bad that some users are getting the dreaded BSOD (blue screen of death) due to their machines overheating after just an hour or two’s play.

• It remains unclear whether these crashes are indeed due to the VMProtect/Denuvo combination

 

TitleLogitech Bricks Link devices

Source 1: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/after-online-outrage-logitech-will-now-replace-harmony-link-devices-for-free/?s1oid=00Di0000000j2Ck&OpenCommentForEdit=1&s1nid=0DB31000000Go9U&emkind=chatterCommentNotification&s1uid=0055A0000092Uwu&emtm=1510088039436&fromEmail=1&s1ext=0

 

Source 2: https://community.logitech.com/s/question/0D55A0000745EkC/harmony-link-eos-or-eol?s1oid=00Di0000000j2Ck&OpenCommentForEdit=1&s1nid=0DB31000000Go9U&emkind=chatterCommentNotification&s1uid=0055A0000092Uwu&emtm=1510088039436&fromEmail=1&s1ext=0

 

• Talking pointLogitech customers were recently outraged when the company announced it would end service and support for its Harmony Link devices in March of year.

• Now, Logitech is attempting to remedy the situation, even though its plans to end the life of all Link devices hasn't changed.

• Logitech will now provide all Harmony Link users with a free replacement Harmony Hub before service and support to Link devices ends.

• When Link users were notified of the discontinuation via email, Logitech also informed them that customers within warranty could replace the Link with a Harmony Hub for free. However, out-of-warranty customers were only allowed a 35-percent discount to purchase a Harmony Hub.

• Many users claimed they experienced no problems with the Link and the devices worked as promised.

• However, some were also upset that Logitech was essentially forcing them to pay for an updated device that they wouldn't want or need if not for Logitech's decision to brick their currently functioning devices.

• Logitech decided to shut down all Harmony Link systems because it would not renew a technology certificate license that expires in March 2018. We now know that's an encryption certificate that, if not renewed, could leave vulnerabilities in the Link system

• https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/after-online-outrage-logitech-will-now-replace-harmony-link-devices-for-free/?s1oid=00Di0000000j2Ck&OpenCommentForEdit=1&s1nid=0DB31000000Go9U&emkind=chatterCommentNotification&s1uid=0055A0000092Uwu&emtm=1510088039436&fromEmail=1&s1ext=0

 

TitleTitan XP Collector’s Edition mystery solved

Source 1: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3236484/components-graphics/nvidias-star-wars-titan-xp-collectors-edition.html

 

Source 2:

 

• Talking pointWe now know the true name of the mysterious graphics card Nvidia teased last week: The Star Wars Titan Xp Collector’s Edition

• Nvidia is offering separate Jedi Order and Galactic Empire versions of the Titan Xp. The Jedi Order edition “simulates the wear and tear, and battle-worn finish of many items used by the Rebel Alliance, resulting from its die cast aluminum cover being subjected to an extensive, corrosive salt spray,”

• The Dark side card “features simple, clean lines, emulating the high-end, orderly nature of the resource-rich Empire.”

• The logo of each faction sits on the blower of the cards and the iconic Star Wars logo adorns the backplate.

• The shrouds of both models were designed to look like lightsabers when viewed from the side

• The Jedi Order card glows green like Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber, while the Galactic Empire version swipes Darth Vader’s red hue.

• Cost the same as the regular version: $1200

• Pre order now, launches on Nov 17

 

TitleTwitter goes to 280 characters

Source 1:

Source 2:

 

• Talking point

[Taki]

yay Wan Show!

[Beezohh]

I found the timestamps

 03:00 - Intel hires Raja Koduri to develop discrete GPUs

12:30 - Nintendo creates own SD card for the Switch

21:58 - Floatplane Uploads

22:22 - GoPro vs Mobile Phone Cameras

25:47 - Luke's big Gummy Bear

30:08 - Facebook wants you to send them nudes

37:30 - Assassins Creed Origins DRM optimisation

43:39 - Sponsor: IFIXIT

46:280 - Sponsor: Savage Jerky

49:40 - Sponsor: Fresh Books

51:07 - Logitech will replace harmony link devices for free

59:26 - Blizzard's Starcraft goes free to play after 7 years

01:03:22 - Twitter text upgraded to 280 characters

[Shreyas1]

lol forgot it was Friday 

[Imbellis]

The song's name may be "Chum Drum Bedrum", but you can get it by searching "Russian song blblbl", which I prefer.

[Brohan]

Hey James, that Russian Song - is it this one?
 

VITAS - Седьмой элемент / The 7th Element

 

[captain_to_fire]

More Luke and James for the WAN show. I don't miss Linus' horrible puns.

[fourwordsalluppercase]

the twitch chat is https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GPdSC7dRQdlaZZoJ-tQMrKwj1wUmGpAc/view?usp=sharing 

[Nicnac]

I really enjoyed this show Luke and James are a great dynamic duo! I watched the whole thing for once and didn't even skip the sponsor spots  

[HimymCZe]

so BASICLY UbiSoft is now selling program, that cripples your CPU performance 10 YEARS BACK.
... and it's obviously OK.
... and you paid $60 for this Malware.
- - - 
I understand how someone could be dumb enough "to support DRM", even he would be the one paying the toll,
..., but paying $60-$90 for something that cripples your newest i7 to Core2Quad level is beyond my understandings...

[Alariel]

Been a while since I've enjoyed WAN this much. They actually managed to get to most of the topics. No pointless interuptions of running off to do other stuff mid-show. And they managed to be entertaining/fun without derailing the entire thing. These two should definitely team up more.

[JoostinOnline]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5kTWLnSaAc&lc=UgwdjJXz15J3rJtRUK14AaABAg

 

Someone provided timestamps.

[Brammm]

Aww man, the news item I posted was talked about in the show, but no shout out from @Slick. Dang.

[CodingWithClass]

17 hours ago, LinusTech said:

TitleTwitter goes to 280 characters

Source 1:

Source 2:

 

• Talking point

I think something's wrong there...

[GhostyBoo]

I'm actually pretty disappointed with this show. 

@Slick @LinusTech

 

Making jokes about seeing the nudes of girls trying to prevent sexual abuse of themselves is extremely inappropriate. 

 

Also, there was a dramatic misunderstanding of how the revenge porn uploading would work with the involvement of a human.  A) there is no need for the person to review the actual image during the hashing process, and for legal protection reasons I can guarantee you they are not, unless the AI detects child sexual abuse material. The human involvement is just for the paperwork. And B) a person need not actually view the image for them to know if it is pornographic.  You underestimate the AI detectors. 

[DoctorWho1975]

DPRA - Dick Pic Research Analyst