Worth a Switch?
In just a couple of days, Nintendo’s new Switch gaming system hits the streets, and DT gamer guy Mike Epstein has been using the time usually spends gaming to, well, play a lot of games on the new Switch system. We’ve got a full review of the Switch and suffice to say we think it’s great, with a few caveats.
The Switch is a hybrid gaming system with a screen for portable use and a dock for playing at home. A pair of sliding controllers called Joy-Cons click onto the portable screen or a power device for home use, and, of course, there are a ton of great games to choose from. Price? Just $300 for the basic system, though you might want to budget for a few upgrades as well. Check out Mike’s full review here.
Haters gonna hate… on Mute
Twitter is working to make good on its pledge to cut down on abusive posts and harassing behavior with some new options and controls in their app, and some new algorithms working in the background. Users can now mute specific words, including usernames, for a period of time or indefinitely. Also, users can set the app to mute “eggs” – or accounts that use the default “egg” avatar and are often set up as fronts for abusive behavior.
Behind the scenes, Twitter says algorithms will seek out keywords and phrases related to abuse, even if it hasn’t been reported by users. Some may say the steps Twitter is taking is suppressing free speech, but it’s key to remember that Twitter is not a government entity, and they can regulate users’ posts however they want. Go here for more information on the new changes at Twitter.
Gaming People Unite
Ever think something called a “GPU” would be big tech news? Well, thanks to the demands of gaming, graphics processors are now vitally important computer kit, and Nvidia has just unveiled a monster called the GTX1080 Ti. The new card packs 11gb of video memory and more processing power than most standalone computers – and it’s only job is to rearrange pixels on a screen as quickly as possible.
If you’re into things like tile caching, CUDA cores, texture units and good ‘ol overclocking, we have some stimulating reading on tap for you. The Ti card hits next week for about $700, so take a break from that Halo marathon and start counting your nickels.
Want more details on the new GTX1080Ti? Check out our Close to the Metal podcast for the latest GPU news and all of our other fun podcasts. As always, we’re busy loading up our Facebook page and YouTube channel as well.
