CURSE THE HYPE

Microsoft gives up Cortana’s fight against Alexa and Google Assistant

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 13:58:00 +0000

Nadella sees Cortana more as an assistant to, er, other digital assistants
By Darren Allan 1/18/2019

Microsoft’s chief executive has admitted that Cortana isn’t being positioned to compete directly with the likes of Alexa or Google
Assistant. Rather than aiming to rival these digital assistants, Satya Nadella takes the view that Cortana should be built to integratewith the competition, and for example, become a handy skill for Alexa users to benefit from. As Business Insider reports (via Betanews), Nadella observed: “Would it be better off, for example, to make Cortana a valuable skill that someone who is using Alexa can call? Or should we try to compete with Alexa? We, quite frankly, decided that we would do the former. Because Cortana needs to be that skill for anyone who is a Microsoft Office 365 subscriber.”

He then observed that you should be able to use Cortana on Alexa or Google Assistant devices just like you use Microsoft’s various apps on Android or iOS.

Read more here --> techradar.com

AMD Claims It Has Enough Radeon VIIs to Meet Demand

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 13:44:00 +0000

By Joel Hruska on January 17, 2019

AMD’s Radeon VII announcement at CES earlier this month was the major surprise of the event. While the company had previously launched a 7nm Vega-based GPU design, AMD had given every impression that the GPU was intended strictly for the professional market, where it would compete as an AI and machinelearning card against Nvidia’s Tesla products. After the announcement, rumors began to spread that the 7nm Vega would be a short-lived product, with very limited availability — supposedly at or around 5,000 GPUs. Rumors also suggested that AMD would lose money on every single card, thanks to the GPUs use of expensive 16GB HBM2 buffers.

Now, AMD has gone on record to address some of these rumors. The company has released a statement, reading: “While we don’t report on production numbers externally,’ the statement reads, “we will have products available via AIB partners and AMD.com at launch of Feb. 7, and we expect Radeon VII supply to meet demand from gamers.”

Read more here --> extremetech.com

The Asus ROG Mothership Is an Overpowered Surface for Gamers

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 02:10:00 +0000

By Sam Rutherford 1/7/2019

When I heard Asus was bringing a laptop called the Mothership to CES 2019, I knew I had to see it. Actually, calling it a laptop doesn’t quite do this thing justice, because it’s one part 2-in-1, it’s one part gaming machine, it’s loaded up with more RGB lights than a UFO, and I absolutely love it.

Comprised of a tablet-style body with a
fold-out kickstand and a detachable keyboard, the ROG Mothership GZ700 appears to be a giant Surface for gamers, but it’s so much more than
that. Just on specs alone, the Mothership makes other high-priced gaming machines seem weak, as it comes with a brand new Nvidia RTX GPU (with 8GB of VRAM), a 17.3-inch 144Hz G-sync display (with 3ms response time), and a six-core Intel core i9-8950HK CPU.

And if that’s not enough, the Mothership can be specced with up to 64GB of RAM and three 512GB PCIe SSDs that come pre-configured in RAID 0, you know for that extra bit of speed. All told, the Mothership is a system with more horsepower than most people would know what to do with.

Read more here --> gizmodo.com

Why AMD is making Chromebook chips, and how it's beating Intel

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 01:58:00 +0000

By Abner Li Jan. 7th 2019

Yesterday, AMD made big waves in the Chromebook space by announcing
its first processors for Google’s web-based operating system. The longtime chipmaker considers Chrome OS a growing market, and claims better performance than Intel at the entry-level.

Since 2011, Chromebooks have been powered by either Intel or ARM processors. The former dominates with Celeron and Pentium, as well as the higher-end i3, i5, and i7 chips on more premium devices, like the Google Pixelbook. Meanwhile, ARM has been represented by Samsung Exynos in the early days, but more interestingly the OP1 chipset certified and optimized by Google.

In an interview with AnandTech, AMD revealed that it is entering the space because it considers
Chromebooks “an underserved but growing market.” The latter refers to both 8% compound annual growth and the rising average selling price of Chrome OS devices as more premium ones are released that run Android apps and support Linux.

AMD announced two chips yesterday for Chromebooks. This 7th Generation A6-9220C has a dual-core CPU with a base clock speed of 1.8GHz and “Max Boost” of 2.7GHz, as well as Radeon R5 Graphics. The A4-9120C has its dual-core CPUs clocked to a base speed of 1.6GHz with
Max Boost to 2.4GHz and Radeon R4 Graphics.

Read more here --> 9to5google.com

Tablo's newest over-the-air DVR automatically skips ads

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 01:47:00 +0000

Another option to TiVo for cord-cutters.

By Steve Dent 1/7/2019

If you'd rather just watch Netflix and catch TV over the air for free, while still being able to skip ads, Nuvyyo's Tablo Quad DVR might be for you. It packs a 4-tuner DVR, letting you find, record, store and stream up to four live antenna TV channels at once. More importantly, Tablo has caught up to TiVo's Roamio, letting you skip OTA commercials automatically via a beta feature. It uses a cloud-based system that marries algorithms and machine learning
to help you enjoy an ad-free experience without lifting a finger.

You can skip a lot of ads, because the Tablo Quad can use external
USB drives or internal SATA drives totaling up to 8 TB, or around 166
straight days of HDTV content from an OTA antenna. It works via 802.11ac
WiFi or Gigabit ethernet, and supports Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android
TV, Apple TV and Chromecast, along with Smart TVs with built-in
streaming tech.

Read more here --> engadget.com

D-Link thinks 5G will cut your cords forever

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 01:38:00 +0000

By John Biggs 1/7/2019

Network gear maker D-Link
just announced a 5G router that sends high-speed Wi-Fi through your
house without cables. The router, called the DWR-2010, should allow
users to get massive speeds over 5G networks without running cable.
Don’t expect to pick this up at the local Best Buy, however, as the 5G
router will probably ship from wireless service providers.

Read more here --> techcrunch.com

LG's rollable OLED TV is real, and you can buy it this year

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 01:28:00 +0000

By Devindra Hardawar 1/7/2019

We've seen LG Displays bend and roll OLED screens for years
at CES, but those were just cool demonstrations, and nothing else. Now,
LG Electronics is finally putting that technology into something you
can actually buy: the Signatures Series OLED TV R. It might look like a
normal 65-inch TV at first, but hit a button and the OLED screen slowly
rolls into its brushed aluminum case, like a paper towel winding itself
back up. Instead of being a giant black mirror, you're left with a
high-tech credenza.

Read more here --> engadget.com

Samsung Patents Phone Display That Projects Star Wars-Like Holograms

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 03:25:00 +0000

By Jesus Diaz Dec 17, 2018

Samsung claims that it has invented a new holographic device that will actually project high-quality 3D images in the air without you having to look at a display from a specific angle, unlike the Nintendo 3DS.

The display, according to the patent published by the World Intellectual Property Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, uses a new type of spatial light modulator that eliminates ‘the limited viewing angle and low resolution of current holographic technologies’.

Read more here --> www.tomsguide.com

Apple lied about iPhone X, XS, XS Max screen sizes and pixel counts, lawsuit alleges - CNET

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 03:08:00 +0000

The plaintiffs are seeking class action status

By Marrian Zhou December 17, 2018

A lawsuit filed Friday accuses Apple of lying about the display specs in its iPhone X series.

Two plaintiffs filed the suit in the US District Court of Northern California, alleging Apple falsely advertised the screen sizes and pixel counts of the displays in its iPhone X, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max devices. The plaintiffs are seeking class action status.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The suit alleges that Apple lied about the screen sizes by counting non-screen areas like the notch and corners. So the new line of iPhones aren't "all screen" as marketed, according to the 55-page complaint. For example, iPhone X's screen size is supposed to be 5.8 inches, but the
plaintiffs measured that it's "only about 5.6875 inches."

Read more here --> www.cnet.com

Razer teases first Xbox One mouse and keyboard

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 02:53:00 +0000

Razer will fully unveil it next year

By Stefan Etienne Dec 17, 2018
Razer will unveil the first wireless keyboard and mouse accessories for the Xbox One on January 8th, 2019, likely as part of the company’s upcoming CES 2019 announcements.

Read More here --> www.theverge.com

Watch Video Here --> Youtube

AMD commits to better support for Ryzen Mobile graphics drivers in 2019, hands off responsibility to OEMs

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 04:47:00 +0000

by Sam Medley, 2018/11/25

Ryzen has been a major disruption in the CPU market,
which was once handily dominated by Intel. Desktop Ryzen CPUs continue
to offer an excellent price/performance ratio, often beating out Intel
from a pure value standpoint. However, there’s still a thorn in AMD’s
side: laptops and mobile processors.

Though there are a few Ryzen-based laptops
on the market, they are few and far between. One of the main hurdles
for Ryzen mobile’s adoption is AMD's notoriously slow driver updates,
specifically graphics drivers. AMD responded to complaints in a Reddit
thread earlier this week and is “committing to work with [their] OEMs to
increase the release frequency of AMD Ryzen Mobile processor graphics
drivers.”

The company blamed the slow driver rollouts on OEM
design, saying that AMD graphics drivers are “typically tailored for
specific OEM platforms.” As such, it takes a lot of time to push out a
new graphics driver considering that each OEM is different. AMD said
that releasing a generic APU driver wasn’t feasible because of this, as a
general driver would “result in less-than-ideal user experiences.”

Windows 10 Pocket PC Complete With Backlit Keyboard & Yoga Moves Goes on Sale

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 04:10:00 +0000

By Rafia Shaikh

Tiny Windows 10 Pocket PC Complete With Backlit Keyboard & Yoga Moves Goes on Sale for $629. Promises Speed with Portability & Productivity.

Read More here --> wccftech.com

Ohio is the first state to accept bitcoin for paying business taxes

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 03:56:00 +0000

By Jon Fingas

There's a lot of legal uncertainty in the US surrounding cryptocurrency, but Ohio is pressing forward. As of this week, it'll be the first state to accept bitcoin for paying tax bills. The Wall Street Journal
notes this will be limited to businesses purposes and isn't going
directly into Ohio's coffers (an Atlanta firm, BitPay, converts the
virtual cash to dollars first). However, it could still be much more
convenient for shops that take bitcoin and would rather not exchange the
format just to cover their sales tax payments.

You should eventually have the option of paying personal taxes with bitcoin.

This doesn't eliminate the regulatory concerns around cryptocurrency, and
it's doubtful that more than a handful of businesses will use it. It's
happening in Ohio precisely because state Treasurer Josh Mandel says he
can do it without requiring help from the legislature or the governor.
It could be considerably more difficult to implement this by passing a
bill

Read more here --> engadget.com

47GB 'Fallout 76' patch nearly replaces the entire game on PS4

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 03:42:00 +0000

By Richard Lawler Prior to release, beta testers of Bethesda's Fallout 76 ran into an issue that caused the entire game to spontaneously redownload itself on their PCs. Now a major patch has arrived on all platforms and for PS4 players at least, it's a similar experience. Patch notes indicate the update addresses many performance and stability issues, as well as tweaking the game's PVP mode. But on PlayStation, gamers faced a 47GB download, compared to the game's initial 53GB install size (after the patch is applied it takes up roughly the same amount of space). On Xbox and PC it was a more modest 15GB, but players who have bandwidth caps that are already stretched to their limit by fall releases aren't all happy, with the game requiring nearly 100GB by itself in just a couple of weeks. The developers did mention this prior to releasing the update, and said "This update will be large compared to what we expect for patches going forward." Of course, Overwatch just reinstalled itself with a new patch for at least the second time, so maybe it's time for ISPs to ease up on bandwidth restrictions because the file sizes aren't going down.
Read more here --> 47GB 'Fallout 76' patch nearly replaces the entire game on PS4

This Tech Blog is Currently on Hiatis and will Return Very Soon

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 06:10:00 +0000

Ok so as you can see I haven't Posted in awhile. I have been very busy taking care of other Personal Matters but I Promise I will be back very Soon. So Please Stand by and Bookmark this Page. I have some Changes Coming Soon - Hopefully things will be back to Normal shortly. Thanks for your Patience.

Microsoft offers glimpse into Windows 10 free upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 14:27:00 +0000

By Edward C. Baig, June 30, 2016

The first-year anniversary of the Windows 10 launch is still about a month away. But Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi announced Wednesday in a blog post that the next major iteration of the company’s operating system — dubbed the Windows 10 Anniversary Update — will become available on Aug. 2.

Microsoft is encouraging folks to request it in advance. Indeed, ahead of July 29, the one-year anniversary launch date, anyone running Windows 7 or 8.1 on a PC can now request the upgrade to Windows 10 for free, after which Windows 10 will cost $119. Either way, you’ll still have to wait until Aug. 2 to get the Anniversary update.

Mehdi says that more than 350 million devices are currently running Windows 10 worldwide, with customer-satisfaction levels higher than any previous version. Engagement has also been at an all-time high. Since launch, Windows 10 has been used more than 135 billion hours.

Read more here --> king5.com

Android N? More like Android Nougat

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 14:16:00 +0000

By Jessica Conditt 7/1/2016

The next version of Android is dubbed "Nougat," Google revealed on Snapchat this morning (because of course it did). This was the first time that Google opened up the Android naming process to the public, and Nougat beat out other n-based treat suggestions including Nutter Butter, Nutella, Nerds and Necco Wafers. Of course, offering creative rights to the entire internet ensured there were a few sour apples in that system.

Read more here --> Engadget.com

Microsoft to Launch Surface All-in-One PC This Quarter

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 13:58:00 +0000

By Tasneem Akolawala , 1 July 2016

Microsoft is reportedly working on an all-in-one (AIO) PC under its Surface brand. The new Surface AIO PC is expected be unveiled in the third quarter of 2016. The Redmond-based company is also expected to delay the launch of the second generation Surface Book to the first half of 2017.

Digitimes reports that the second-generation Surface Book unveiling has been shifted from the second half of 2016 to first half 2017 due to delay in CPU shipments by Intel. Microsoft is therefore launching the Surface AIO PC as a consolation of sorts.

The report cites this information using anonymous industry sources who also claim that "the Surface AIO PC will have a strong impact on the global AIO PC market, which has been diminishing amid declining demand for PC products". The Digitimes Research also sees global shipments of AIO PCs drop to 12.6 million units in 2016, as compared to 14 million last year.

Read more here --> gadgets.ndtv.com

AMD Launches RX 480 GPU, Buys HiAlgo Software Maker

noreply@blogger.com (J. TECH) — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 13:35:00 +0000

The chip maker's GPU is based on its Polaris architecture, and the HiAlgo acquisition will bring more software capabilities to its RX graphics cards.
By Jeffrey Burt 2016-06-30

Advanced Micro Devices continues to push the capabilities of its graphics cards for gaming and virtual reality engines, announcing the launch of its latest high-end GPU based on the new Polaris architecture and the acquisition of a startup developing technologies for PC gaming that takes advantage of GPUs.

The company on June 29 released its Radeon RX 480 graphics card, which AMD officials previewed at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January and which they said will drive such strong performance-per-dollar metrics that it will help bring virtual reality (VR) capabilities to a broader market. The announcement comes two weeks after AMD officials unveiled the entire line of Radeon RX GPUs, which also includes graphics cards for high-efficiency computing and low-end e-sports gaming.

Read More here -- <a href="http://www.eweek.com/pc-hardware/amd-launches-high-end-rx-480-gpu-buys-software-startup.html">AMD Launches RX 480 GPU, Buys HiAlgo Software Maker</a>

Read more here --> http://www.eweek.com/