Techreport

Microsoft has taken a shot at Android home-screen launchers from time to time, like the Cortana public beta. This time, the merry band of tinkerers at Microsoft Garage has churned out Arrow Launcher, an Android home-screen replacement that adapts itself based on how it's used. Arrow Launcher aims to put the stuff that's most important to a user front and center. ...Read more...

OnePlus is best known for its "flagship-killing" phones like the OnePlus 2 that sell for wallet-friendly prices. Its next device, the OnePlus X, sets aside that spec obsession for a focus on style and design. This all-metal-and-glass phone will cost just $249 unlocked. ...Read more...

Western Digital's Green hard drives, known for their combination of high capacities with reasonable performance and low noise, are no more—at least not in name. The company says it's folding the Green drives into its Blue line-up to make it "easier for customers to choose the right drive for their PC." ...Read more...

The dearth of microATX mid-towers out there makes for a sore spot when we compile our System Guides, so any new case in that form factor makes us take notice. Corsair's Carbide Series 88R looks promising. This case blends a no-nonsense exterior with plenty of room inside for all but the most extreme microATX systems. ...Read more...

Samsung's extensive Galaxy tablet lineup is getting a huge addition today. The 18.4" Galaxy View has one mission, and that's to make media consumption as easy as possible. Samsung has customized the Android 5.1 homescreen on this slate to let viewers get straight to common video providers like Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube. ...Read more...

LED light strips may be popular, but solid colors and constant brightness levels may not be wild enough for some modders' tastes. That's where NZXT's Hue+ digital RGB LED strip controller comes in. Check out the company's video for an idea of what the Hue+ can do (fair warning: dubstep)....Read more...

MSI has pulled the wraps off its neat-looking Cubi N mini-PC, a tiny box with a Braswell SoC and no fans. Intel's Celeron N3150 does the heavy lifting with four cores running at 1.6 GHz base and 2.08 GHz turbo clocks. ...Read more...

Apple has released its financial results for the fourth quarter of its financial-year 2015, and its performance continues to impress, even if the company's growth isn't quite as meteoric as it has been in past quarters. Cupertino made $11.1 billion in net profit on $51.5 billion in revenue. That's a 30.6% increase in profits and a 22.3% increase in revenue compared to this time last year. Gross margin increased to 39.9%, up from 38% a year ago.Apple says its growth was fueled by "record fourth-quarter sales" of iPhones along with wider availability of ...Read more...

Google recently announced the first OnHub-branded wireless router, and now Asus is joining in on the fun with an OnHub of its own. Say hello to the OnHub SRT-AC1900. ...Read more...

Cherry mechanical key switches without tactile bumps aren't loud, exactly, but they still produce more noise than the average rubber-dome keyboard. Some enthusiasts solve this problem by adding rubber O-rings to their boards, but Cherry and Corsair may have a more elegant solution. The new MX Silent switch could make the mechanical keyboard more polite without the need for modification. This switch is getting an exclusive debut inside Corsair's Strafe RGB Silent gaming keyboard. ...Read more...

Zotac is no stranger to miniscule PCs. The company already has a large selection of diminutive computers available, and it's added a couple more to its lineup. Meet the Braswell-powered Zbox BI323 and CI323 nano.Both models are available in barebones, "Plus," and "Windows 10 Home" configurations. The Plus versions come with 4GB of RAM and a 120GB ...Read more...

It often seems like left-handers don't get a lot of love in the world of gaming mice, but Corsair's Katar bucks that trend. This ambidextrous rodent puts an 8,000-DPI optical sensor in the hands of all comers. ...Read more...

One of the most interesting features in DirectX 12 is its multi-adapter support. Game developers using the next-gen API have a lot of tools at their disposal for using multiple graphics cards, but the most intriguing possibility is the power to harness dissimilar configurations. That means devs can build in support for combinations like a Radeon and a GeForce, an integrated graphics processor and a dedicated card, or perhaps even an old GeForce GTX 680 alongside that brand-new Titan X.Ryan Smith at AnandTech has taken a look at a custom build of Ashes of the Singularity with DirectX 12's Explicit Multiadapter Unlinked mode enabled, courtesy of developer Oxide Games. This specific mode ...Read more...

InFocus has announced the Kangaroo, a pocket-sized PC that promotes portability thanks to its docking system The Kangaroo can work with standard monitors, keyboards, and mice, as we would expect from any PC. In a twist, though, it can also plug into an iPad by way of a Lightning cable, which converts the tablet into a Windows display and input device using InFocus' OS Linx app. ...Read more...

Some of you have asked about a tempting new monitor, the 165Hz IPS-and-G-Sync-infused Asus PG279Q. Yes, a review is happening:Hertz so good. ...Read more...

Gigabyte makes wide use of Intel's Alpine Ridge USB 3.1 controller chip on its H170 and Z170 motherboards, and that chip can double as a Thunderbolt 3 controller on boards with Intel's certification. It would appear that Thunderbolt 3 can be enabled on compatible mobos with nothing more than a firmware update, too, as Gigabyte is doing just that for three newly-Thunderbolt-certified boards. The company's GA-Z170X-Gaming G1, GA-Z170X-Gaming GT, and GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 mobos are all getting support for Intel's wonder-port. ...Read more...

The PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight was a buggy mess at launch, and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive halted sales of the game as a result. After months of additional work, the long-awaited patched version of Rocksteady's latest Batman title will be re-released on October 28, according to an official statement from Warner Bros. Interactive:At 10 am PDT, Oct. 28th, Batman: Arkham Knight will be re-released for the PC platform. At the same time we’ll also be releasing ...Read more...

Anyone using the Joomla CMS for your website, please update your installation right away. Asaf Orpani, a researcher from Trustwave Spiderlabs, has uncovered a serious SQL injection vulnerability in the widely-used software, endangering an estimated 2.8 million websites.The vulnerability affects all Joomla setups from version 3.2 up to 3.4.4. The flaw is a combination of three separate issues (identified ...Read more...

Microsoft touted the value of the Surface Book's Nvidia discrete graphics chip during the launch event for the notebook, but it turned out that the base Surface Book didn't come with that pixel-pushing power for its $1,499 starting price. Instead, the Nvidia chip was initially a package deal with a 256GB storage option, and checking that option box added $400 to the price.Now, it seems that Microsoft wants to give buyers more choice. According to the Surface Book page on the Microsoft Store ...Read more...

Happy Friday, gerbils. It may not be Black Friday just yet, but we've scoured the web for the best discounts out there today. Here's what we found. ...Read more...

SilverStone has announced the Raven RVX01, the most recent in its line of cases that turn motherboards 90 degrees clockwise. This Raven spreads its wings to show off room for up to three liquid coolers. It's also got a sinister look about it, thanks to the glowing red "eyes" on the front. ...Read more...

Yesterday the first details about Windows 10's Autumn Fall Update unofficially arrived, courtesy of Paul Thurrott. One of the disappointments in Thurrott's report was that Edge wouldn't get add-on capabilities in this round of changes. Today, Microsoft confirmed that part of the report in a statement to The Verge. Edge users won't see extension support until sometime in 2016.When the browser shed its Project Spartan moniker at Microsoft's Build 2015 conference , the company announced that Chrome extensions could be ...Read more...

Microsoft's Q3 results are in. The company made $5.8 billion in operating income on $20.4 billion in revenue. Operating income was flat versus a year ago, while revenue decreased 12%. The company blames that decline in part on a 17% revenue decline in its More Personal Computing segment, which includes Windows and Windows Phone operations. Another reason for the overall revenue decline is a $1.3 billion deferral for Windows 10.Despite that 17% decline, Microsoft took in $9.3 billion in revenue from its personal computing business. The slump is due in part to a precipitous 54% year-over-year drop in Windows Phone revenue. Microsoft says Windows OEM revenue only declined 6%, however, a result that it claims is outperforming ...Read more...

I'm not sure this even qualifies as a laptop, but here goes. Eurocom has unveiled the Sky X9 , which it calls "the most powerful 'desktop laptop' ever made". No, seriously—this beast tips the scales at 10.6 lbs (4.8 kg), and measures 17.1" x 12.3" x 1.8" (or 42.8 x 30.8 x 4.5 cm). But read on, because you can pack a lot into that space. ...Read more...

The Surface Book has found its way into reviewers' hands, and some publications have already taken Microsoft's lust-worthy notebook for a spin. The consensus is that the hardware is fast and light, and Windows 10 really makes it shine. ...Read more...

BlackBerry wants to offer buyers another secure Android option with its Priv smartphone. The company is publishing a series of blog posts on the subject, and the latest ones offer some interesting info on how it's working to accomplish its goal.The Priv is Android-based, but BlackBerry claims to have "performed extensive surgery under the hood to augment [the operating system's] privacy and security capabilities." First off, the phone's hardware and boot process are secured by cryptographic keys , used to "verify every layer of the device from hardware to OS ...Read more...

Folks who have been test-driving Insider builds of Windows 10 have already seen a sneak preview of some upcoming features for Microsoft's OS. The rest of us may be getting a look at those new features soon if Paul Thurrott's report based on information from "trusted sources" is correct. Thurrott says the first major update for Windows 10, called the Fall Update, will be released in November.If those sources are correct, the Fall Update will carry version number 1511—the year and month of its planned release. Future updates will likely follow that pattern. ...Read more...

Own a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or even an Apple Watch? It's time to check Software Update for some fresh point releases for Apple's various operating systems. Even though the user-facing changes in these updates appear to be minor, Apple also patched a number of security vulnerabilities behind the scenes, so it's worth updating no matter what.iOS 9.1 most notably improves Live Photos so that the phone won't record moments where you're raising or lowering the phone, a common complaint in iPhone 6S reviews. Prolific emoji senders will find 150 new characters to choose from, too. Apple says ...Read more...

A group of security researchers figured it'd be fun to see how well self-encrypting external hard drives protect data, and their findings may surprise owners of these devices. Gunnar Alendal, Christian Kison and "modg" took a few stabs at breaking into portable drives from Western Digital's My Passport and My Book series. Shockingly, the researchers were able to gain full access to user data in many ways. The team tested models manufactured as recently as 2013, and they say the drives tested remain unpatched.Most of the tested drives use a USB-to-SATA bridge chip from a third-party manufacturer (JMicron, Initio, and Symwave, to name three) that can also handle ...Read more...

Looks like the rumor mill was right. Western Digital is buying SanDisk for $19 billion, or $86.50 per share, according to a joint announcement by the companies this morning. WD says that the takeover will give it "deep expertise in non-volatile memory" and allow it to play in "higher-growth segments"—code for SSDs, we're guessing.SanDisk's joint venture with Toshiba will be carried on as part of the deal. WD says continuing the partnership gives it access to a ...Read more...

Gigabyte's triple-play of liquid-cooled GeForce GTX 980s wowed us with its external reservoir and the sheer amount of power on display. Now, less ambitious builders can get in on the fun using a single GeForce GTX 980: the GV-N980WAOC-4GD (or Waterforce, for short). ...Read more...

Microsoft has had a PC wireless adapter for the Xbox One controller in the works for months, and now we'll finally be able to buy one. Xbox luminary Major Nelson says Microsoft has started shipping the adapter—officially, the "Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows"—to retailers today. As promised, it'll cost $25 on its own, or $80 when bundled with an Xbox One wireless controller. ...Read more...

HTC has fallen on hard times, and it's trying to turn its fortunes around with the One A9. This phone offers a blend of high-end and mid-range components wrapped in an all-metal frame that has a familiar look about it. ...Read more...

Peace is a lie, there is only passion. It's safe to say the Star Wars universe needs no introduction, and the official trailer for The Force Awakens is out. Watch it right here....Read more...

Google's Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P smartphones are in reviewers' hands now, and some sites have already published their takes on the latest iterations of the Android device as it's meant to be. So far, impressions of both phones are largely positive. ...Read more...

Intel's Skylake-based Xeon E3-1200 v5 CPUs aren't meant for consumer-focused chipsets like the Z170 or H170. Instead, those workstation CPUs need motherboards based on the workstation-focused C230 series chipsets. Gigabyte has a quartet of motherboards based on that line, and the flagship has some interesting expansion options. ...Read more...

Much hullabaloo has been made of late over Apple's dual-sourced A9 SoCs. Some enterprising YouTubers fueled a panic when they demonstrated considerable differences in battery life between Samsung- and TSMC-powered iPhone 6S handsets under certain conditions. Consumer Reports has gone in-depth to put those findings to the test, and the company found that there isn't any reason to worry over which foundry's A9 is in your shiny new iPhone.To measure the phones' battery life, Consumer Reports carried out two different tests on two iPhones: one with a TSMC A9, the other with a Samsung chip. One test simulated web browsing on Wi-Fi. Each phone was set ...Read more...

Lenovo's Yoga Home 900 is 27 inches of portable all-in-one desktop. No, you didn't just misread that sentence. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, I know. ...Read more...

Thin is in these days, and Lenovo just fired another salvo in the war to shave off every possible millimeter from the laptop PC. Its 13.3" Yoga 900 convertible weighs 2.8 pounds and measures in at just 0.6" thick. Despite that razor-thin chassis, this machine is powered by Skylake Core i7 processors (perhaps with Core i5 and i3 options, depending on the configuration). The Yoga keeps those CPUs cool thanks in part to a redesigned cooling system with a fan that's only 0.1" thick. ...Read more...

The Intel CPUs that we recommend in our System Guides may be fine for the average builder, but workstations are a different beast. Those systems have requirements that regular PCs don't, like support for ECC memory, and they usually come along with a Quadro or FirePro graphics card, making integrated graphics redundant. Intel is extending Skylake performance and workstation-friendly feature sets to the lower end of that market today with the Xeon E3-1200 v5 product family.These quad-core chips all support up to 64GB of DDR3L or DDR4 ECC RAM. The major differences between the various models are clock speeds, integrated graphics, Hyper-Threading support, ...Read more...

Steam's support has issues, and Valve knows it. The company spoke to Kotaku about the the ongoing complaints about its customer service, and shared what it's doing about it. The most heartening news may be that the company's goal is to get wait times for support under control "by Christmas time."Valve's Erik Johnson told Kotaku that the company is working with a third-party support agency to add capacity, but that those support agents need to be trained by Valve, which takes time. The company isn't just looking for a way to get customers off the phone quickly, Johnson said. ...Read more...

Biostar might not be the biggest dog in the motherboard world, but it still has a new trick or two to show off. The company's latest efforts include the Gaming H170T motherboard and a GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card of its own. ...Read more...

We haven't had an off-topic Friday night discussion for a while, but I've got one I've been meaning to post for a while. Might as well do it now.This question has to do with Fermi's paradox , which contrasts a couple of basic realities. We know from observation that the universe is vast and filled with billions of stars. Probabilities tell us that if ...Read more...

Gigabyte has joined Asus and Sapphire in the Radeon R9 Fury game with its Radeon R9 Fury Windforce 3 OC Edition graphics card. Take a good a look at this triple-fanned beast: ...Read more...

Flash users, it's time to update the plugin ASAP. Adobe has today issued an emergency security update to patch a critical vulnerability, just three days after the last update. Adobe says the vulnerability could potentially give an attacker control of an affected system.This update will bring the Flash NPAPI plugin up to version 19.0.0.226 on Windows and OS X clients. ...Read more...

It's Friday, gerbils. The leaves are turning here, and the days are growing colder. Perhaps it's time to cozy up with some hot new PC parts to stave off the autumnal chill. Here are the best deals we found this week:That's it for this week. If we missed a great bargain, ...Read more...

Star Citizen is a big enough project to have its own conventions. Last week, Chris Roberts showed off a few portions of Star Citizen gameplay at the aptly-named CitizenCon. One of the best parts of the con was when Mad Catz revealed its prototype of a HOTAS controller specifically designed for the game.

Hey, folks. I haven't posted an Etc. for a while, but things have been churning away behind the scenes here, so I figure I should say something.First of all, ...Read more...

Asus has pulled out all the stops for what it calls its "flagship E-ATX motherboard" based on the Z170 chipset, the Republic of Gamers Maximus VIII Extreme. Decked out in silver and red and and bristling with slots and ports, this board is certainly something to behold. ...Read more...

Valve announced a bundle of Steam Machine hardware today, all of which is set for a November 10 release. The "Steam Machine" comprises the PC-console hybrids with SteamOS installed, the Steam Controller, and the Steam Link, a local streaming box sort of like Nvidia's Shield. We've scoured the web for a few pre-release impressions of how the whole concept fits together, and the word on the street is generally positive, with a few caveats.We'll be looking at impressions of everything except the Steam Machines themselves, since the controller, SteamOS, and game streaming will be the things that will make or break the average user's experience. We'd wager most of our audience can easily configure a ...Read more...