Techreport

It wasn't so long ago that Assassin's Creed: Unity hit store shelves, but Ubisoft is already gearing up for a new chapter in the long-running series. That game will be revealed on May 12 at 9 A.M. Pacific time. Details are frustratingly scant right now, but the company did tweet a picture of an ominous-looking pair of hands: ...Read more...

7 Up

In addition to the curved G-Sync display announced yesterday, Acer brought a truckload of mobile devices along. Most notable among them is the Switch 10, a quad-core Atom convertible with a 10" 1920x1200 display and Windows 8.1. ...Read more...

Styluses are useful for note-taking, doodling, and fine graphics work, but there's no common standard for the underlying technology, so the pens often aren't portable between devices. Fortunately, this inconvenience may be about to change. A new industry standards body, called the Universal Stylus Initiative (or USI), went public yesterday with its mission to "develop and promote an industry specification for an active stylus."If the USI has its way, phones, tablets, and notebooks with stylus input would all share the same pen and digitizer technology, allowing consumers to buy one stylus and ...Read more...

This week's deals post is loaded with a mix of re-runs and fresh meat. Here's the bulleted list:Those are the deals that caught my eye this morning, but I'm biased toward ...Read more...

Liquid-cooling radiators come in all kinds of sizes these days. No, seriously. Thermaltake now has a whopping 11 different models in its Pacific family, each with a different thickness, length, and fan configuration.

Last Friday, a report surfaced that Department of Justice lawyers would recommend against Comcast's acquisition of Time Warner Cable. Against that backdrop, it appears that Comcast is giving up. Bloomberg now reports that the company will abandon its acquisition of the second-largest cable company in the USA.In addition to the Department of Justice's opposition to the deal, the Federal Communications Commission apparently isn't happy with Comcast's proposed acquisition. According to Bloomberg's unnamed sources, the commission had intended to call an ...Read more...

Modders of PC games often contribute huge amounts of high-quality content to communities with no expectation of profiting from their work. Now, Valve wants to help those folks profit from their creations. Modders will soon be able to set prices or enable a pay-what-you-want scheme for their creations on the Steam Workshop.Of course, there's a catch to this arrangement. Valve lets game publishers determine the percentage of revenue that ultimately makes its way to modders. For example, the program's pilot game is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ...Read more...

The latest fix for the read-speed-slowdowns dogging Samsung's 840 EVO SSD is now out—sort of. Version 4.6 of Samsung's Magician software is available for download on the company's site, but only in limited quantities. According to the error message that pops up when I click through, "there is a daily limit on the number of Magician 4.6 downloads" until April 27. ...Read more...

The Apple Watch might be the biggest news in wearables when it officially launches this Friday, but Google isn't standing idly by in the meantime. Today, the company announced a major update to its Android Wear operating system with some pretty interesting-looking features. ...Read more...

MIT researchers have developed a wireless touchpad small enough to fit on your fingernail. Dubbed NailO, the prototype is modeled after cosmetic nail stickers. It squeezes a capacitive sensor, microcontroller, Bluetooth radio, and battery into a footprint no larger than a quarter. The idea is to provide an alternative input mechanism for wearables and situations that don't map well to conventional control schemes.Here's a preview of ...Read more...

Fractal Design is expanding its Define series with a new model, the Define S. This case maintains the understated design that we've seen from the company's other enclosures, like the Define R5, but Fractal has made some big changes inside. ...Read more...

Since its launch nearly a year ago, the OnePlus One smartphone has been available predominantly on an invite-only basis. Invites aren't hard to obtain, and OnePlus recently opened sales to everyone on Tuesdays, but the so-called "flagship killer" has remained more difficult to purchase than its peers—until now. The company has officially shuttered the invite system for the One, making the phablet available to all.According to a post on its website, OnePlus is now "confident that we have matured enough to handle the increased complexity that comes along with opening up sales completely." That said, ...Read more...

Morning, folks. I'm off to London this week for a press event, but I'll try to post when I can from the road. I hate to get away because I have a bunch of different projects in the works right now, and they're all interesting.At the top of the stack is the building of my new desktop PC, Damagebox 2015. I'm attempting to shoot a quick video and write an article about this build, all of which is actually more complicated than the process of putting the system together. In fact, I was able to assemble the entire PC from scratch yesterday in about 90 minutes or so—maybe longer, but I kinda lost ...Read more...

Microsoft has been coy about the exact release date of Windows 10 thus far, telling us only to expect a launch this summer. AMD may have tipped Redmond's hand, however. During the question-and-answer segment of AMD's latest earnings call, CEO Lisa Su told an analyst that Windows 10 will launch "at the end of July," according to Seeking Alpha's transcript of the call.Microsoft's Build developer conference kicks off next week, so it's possible we'll learn more about the release timeline then. For ...Read more...

Fifty years ago yesterday, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore published a paper titled "Cramming More Electronics onto Integrated Circuits," in the magazine Electronics. That article contained Moore's now-famous observation that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit could be expected to double every year, which every tech enthusiast now knows as Moore's Law.Though Moore later revised his original forecast to a doubling once every two years, the "wild extrapolation," as ...Read more...

Eight is Enough

7 Up

The video of last night's TR Podcast live stream is now available on YouTube. This week, we look at the new Surface 3 and a few other news items, and then we dive deep into PCIe SSDs. When we come up, we have a quick discussion of one of the first FreeSync displays....Read more...

Details have already leaked out about the first desktop CPUs based on AMD's next-gen Zen architecture, and now, Fudzilla has tasty morsels for the server crowd. The site has posted a legit-looking slide describing a monster with up to 16 Zen cores and 32 threads, doubling the CPU payload of the rumored desktop chip. Each core is paired with 512KB of L2 cache, according to the document, and there's 32MB of shared L3 between them.The CPU cores are joined by a "Stream Processor" dubbed Greenland. Obviously intended for more than just graphics, this spruced-up GPU promises ECC protection and only a 50% performance hit for double-precision math. More impressively, Greenland apparently gets up to 16GB of HBM ...Read more...

We have another batch of PC hardware deals for you today.Those are the deals that caught my eye this morning, but there are surely some other ...Read more...

In 2013, the HDMI Forum released version 2.0 of its audio/video spec. Devices compatible with the standard slowly trickled onto the market, but now they've already fallen behind the curve. The HDMI spec has now been bumped to version 2.0a, which adds support for content with high dynamic range—that is, color formats that allow more leeway between bright and dark hues than usual.According to the official press release , the HDR update is related to metadata extensions released by the Consumer Electronics Association earlier this year. And, well, that's about it. The new spec doesn't appear to include more bandwidth, additional ...Read more...

The Windows 10 Store isn't just for applications and games. Microsoft has revealed that the unified outlet will also offer music, movies, and TV shows. Videos will be available to purchase or rent, but there are fewer details on the music section, which will presumably include some variant of the Xbox Music streaming service.Although the music aisle isn't open just yet, beta testers running the latest Windows 10 Technical Preview should now have access to movies and TV shows through the integrated store. TV shows are only available in some regions, ...Read more...

Update: All done! Look for the video archived version soon.We're recording another TR Podcast live on Twitch . Tune in to watch us chat about ...Read more...

The U.S. Department of Energy has contracted Intel and Cray to build two new supercomputers for the Argonne National Laboratory. Aurora, the most powerful of the pair, is slated to deliver 180 petaflops when it's finished in 2018. Intel says that's more horsepower than any system announced to date.Aurora will be based on Cray's Shasta supercomputer design. Intel ...Read more...

AMD is in hot water over claims it made leading up to the release of Llano, the first-generation APU it launched back in 2011. According to a report from Reuters, a group of investors filed a federal suit against AMD last year alleging the company tried to inflate its share price by making misleading statements about Llano's projected availability. Now, the judge in that case has ruled that there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed.Reuters describes the controversial ...Read more...

With the resurgence of mechanical keyboards in recent years, it was only a matter of time until someone pined for the direct, warm, distinctly analog feel of the ball mouse. In a "why didn't someone think of that sooner?" moment, Corsair has ball devotees covered with its new M63MM RGB gaming mouse. The company made a splashy intro video to talk all about it:...Read more...

A mouse isn't just a mouse these days. As with running shoes or golf clubs, we now have an abundance of different takes on the humble rodent, each increasingly attuned to the needs of the various stripes of gamers out there. Asus' new ROG Sica mouse looks kind of like a set of forged blades for golfers: everything you need and nothing you don't. ...Read more...

Intel's introduction of the Broadwell-based Xeon D processor was rather low-key, but I think this chip (along with its successors) is poised to push traditional 2P Xeons to the sidelines in most data center installations over the next five years. Here's why....Read more...

The news is weird today, guys. I'd like to post some things, but it's really hard to decide between the different product launches. Go read about the new PowerVR GPUs and Bing's Cute Cloud and see what you think.Maybe you have some alternate story ...Read more...

A quad-core Rockchip SoC has landed in a bunch of budget Chrome devices. The RK3288 clocks 32-bit Cortex-A17 CPU cores up to 1.8GHz alongside a reasonably potent Mali-T760 GPU. Rockchip claims the integrated design enables smaller circuit boards and lower system costs, and that seems to be reflected in the price of devices powered by the chip. The cheapest one is Asus' Chromebit dongle, which will sell for "less than $100." ...Read more...

Nvidia's GameStream tech lets GeForce owners stream PC games to Shield devices. The pairing process is a bit involved, though. Users have to enter a PIN on the PC for each Shield device they want to use, and they need to configure port forwarding on their router to stream games from remote networks. Today, Nvidia updated its GeForce Experience and Shield Hub applications to smooth out the GameStream setup process.The new pairing process requires that Shield owners use the same Nvidia account to log into the GeForce Experience app on their PCs and the Shield Hub Android app on ...Read more...

Nvidia may not be keeping its latest Shield gaming hardware chained to a set-top box. According to some Bluetooth certification documents uncovered by Chinese Android site Juggly and similar Wi-Fi Alliance documentation discovered by Liliputing, Nvidia may be updating its Shield handheld with the company's latest Tegra X1 SoC. ...Read more...

Intel and FPGA maker Altera have been working together for some time. The two firms collaborated on an Atom processor with an embedded FPGA back in 2010, and a few years later, Altera inked a deal to have some of its chips fabbed on Intel's 14-nm processs. Now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Intel is considering buying Altera outright."People familiar with the matter" tell the WSJ that the acquisition talks have reached the "advanced" stage. There's no word on the price tag, but Altera is one of ...Read more...

One of the biggest things that happened at GDC a few weeks ago was the introduction of the Vulkan graphics API, which is the new, close-to-the-metal graphics programming standard from the folks behind OpenGL. I've simply been too busy to give Vulkan a proper write-up like it deserves, but we did talk about it on the TR Podcast. For those of you might be interested, here's that segment from the podcast. We talk about the API's introduction, who was involved, and what it could mean for PC gaming and graphics....Read more...

Breathe a sigh of relief, everybody. We've got some news about the upcoming PC version of Grand Theft Auto V that isn't another delay announcement. In anticipation of the game's April 14 release, developer Rockstar Games has offered up 15 new screenshots demonstrating our favored platform's graphical prowess. Here are a few of them: ...Read more...

Eight is Enough

This past Christmas, I ordered up a cheap remote control quadcopter ($54) at the last minute to put under the tree. My thought was that it would be for my kids to share, but I've wound up being the primary pilot. Dunno how that happened!This thing isn't very impressive as these sorts of contraptions go, but it's pretty amazing compared to what you could buy in years past. It's almost always windy where I live, but ...Read more...

We recorded the latest episode of the TR Podcast last night, and the video of our conversation is now available on YouTube. In this episode, we talk about the GeForce Titan X, EVGA's Torq mice, the need for sounds cards, and more. Check it out:...Read more...

R&D investment is the growth engine of technology companies, and by that measure, AMD's quarterly spending might not paint a pretty picture. EXPreview has aggregated quarterly R&D investment data for AMD and Nvidia into a new report. According to the site's research, AMD's quarterly R&D spending has declined since 2012, and it's currently near 2004 levels.The report shows how Nvidia and AMD have traded places in quarterly R&D spending over the past couple of years. Nvidia's spending trailed AMD's by over $100 million at the beginning of 2011, after which Nvidia opened its wallet wider. AMD's R&D spending remained flat through 2011 and began to decline in ...Read more...

Clever intro for another weekly deals post? Ain't nobody got time fo dat.Those are the deals that jumped out at me this morning, but there are ...Read more...

Intel introduced its Broadwell-based Xeon D server SoC earlier this month, and already, the chip has popped up in a couple of interesting Mini-ITX boards. Super Micro's X10SDV-TLN4F and X10SDV-F both feature the Xeon D-1540, which has eight cores, 16 threads, and a peak Turbo speed of 2.6GHz. Here are some painfully small board shots pulled from Super Micro's website: ...Read more...

It's a little hard to believe that Half-Life 2 came out in 2004. The game has aged pretty well, but a devoted member of the Half-Life fan community, Filip Victor, wanted to bring HL2's graphics quality closer to modern standards. Victor's first stab at that goal came out in 2009, as the Half-Life 2: Update mod, and he's continued his work since. The latest version hits Steam today. It maintains the distinctive look and feel of the original game while improving the lighting and environmental effects. Have a look:...Read more...

Update: It's over now. Thanks to everybody who joined us!Tonight's' TR Podcast recording session is underway, and we're streaming it live on Twitch . ...Read more...

NUC season is officially open. We went in-depth with Intel's reference NUC last month, and yesterday, MSI released a NUC-inspired mini-PC of its own. Today, Gigabyte joins the party with a new generation of Brix barebones PCs that offers a range of Broadwell CPUs and storage options. The company has an informative video about the new machines, as well:...Read more...

7 Up

About a week ago, a number of graphics card manufacturers announced 4GB versions of the GeForce GTX 960. Now, those 4GB cards are beginning to show up online, and an important piece of the value puzzle—the price—is also in place. ...Read more...

Our series of game impressions videos continues with Renegade X, a long-in-development shooter that's completely free to play. Here's the scoop....Read more...

We had an exchange in the comments earlier this week that seems to me like it's worthy of a little more attention. TR reader "ermo" asked me the following question:Do you have any informed speculation to offer on whether we will see AMD update the R9 280X (GCN 1.0) ...Read more...

E-tailers have cut prices on loads of big-screen TVs as part of their March Madness promotions, but we still managed to find some sweet PC hardware in the discount aisle.Thanks to SlickDeals for the tips on the hard drive and tablet. If ...Read more...