Atari co-founder and video game pioneer ‘Ted’ Dabney dies at 81
Video game pioneer Ted Dabney has died at age 81 after a battle with cancer. Best known for his time at Atari, a company he co-founded with Nolan Bushnell, Dabney was instrumental in the creation of the first arcade cabinet and would go on to aid the development of the first popular arcade game, Pong.
Apple rejection means you can’t play Steam games on your iPhone after all
Apple has rejected Valve's Steam Link game streaming application as part of its approval process for App Store inclusion. That means that for the time being, if you want to stream your Steam library to your mobile handset or tablet, you will have to have an Android device, as the Steam Link app is not available on iOS.
IBM banned USB drives. Is it the future of security or a knee-jerk reaction?
With the implementation of the GDPR, more companies than ever are looking to better protect their data and that of their customers. But are they going about it in the right way? Kingston believes that the recent announcement of IBM's outright ban on physical media isn't taking the right tack in protecting digital information.
Samsung 2018 QLED TVs update adds FreeSync, but limits refresh rates
A new firmware update for a number of Samsung's QLED TVs has quietly introduced FreeSync frame synchronization making it so that gamers who play PC games with AMD graphics or an Xbox One X or S, can now eliminate screen tearing entirely. The only downside is that it's limited to just 1080P resolution.
Facebook’s revenge porn prevention tool now includes human review
Facebook is looking to help block revenge porn uploads before they can be shared, by asking users to pre-emptively upload their images. After initial testing, Facebook is expanding the tool by announcing more countries in the test and using specially trained review staff to examine the reports.
Dell rings the starting bell on its wide-ranging Memorial Day sale
Dell has reduced the prices of a number of XPS and Alienware products as part of its Memorial Day sales, and the company has also cut the prices of a number of accessories, monitors, and other peripherals. The discounts are wide-ranging and include both older hardware and newer products.
5 things the rumored Surface tablet will need to beat the iPad
Microsoft is rumored to be working on a brand new Surface tablet, but beyond that we don't know much about it. That doesn't stop us speculating though, so we've put together a wish list of features and design choices we want to see when it finally makes its debut. Here's what we want to see with the new Surface tablet.
HP Spectre x360 15 vs. Dell XPS 15 2-in-1
2-in-1s are strange beasts, but HP and Dell have a couple of excellent examples of them and they sport exciting hardware that combines an Intel CPU with an AMD graphics chip. The question is, which is best? In this head to head, we pit the HP Spectre x360 vs. Dell XPS 15 2-in-1, to see which comes out on top.
New Spectre-like bug could mean more performance-degrading patches
Intel has released a new firmware patch to OEM partners to ward off a newly announced Spectre-like bug called Speculative Store Bypass. It may allow attackers to steal personal information, though is less easy to exploit than its predecessors. Still, new firmware patches can degrade performance.
Alexa makes herself at home on a variety of new Acer laptops
Acer has announced the impending release of the first laptops to have official Alexa support at the point of sale. Its Swift, Spin, Aspire, and other laptop ranges will have full support in the coming weeks, with current owners able to download patches from the Acer Care Center to expand their laptop's capabilities.
Acer’s new 4K, HDR, 144Hz G-Sync gaming monitor will cost $2,000
Acer's new Predator x27 4K is a super high-end gaming monitor, but you do have to pay a premium for it. If you are willing to match the $2,000 price tag, you can net yourself a 4K IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate, a 4ms response time, full support for G-Sync fram syncing, and 10bit high-dynamic-range.
Razer Blade Stealth vs. Dell XPS 13
In this comparison, we pit the Razer Blade Stealth vs. Dell XPS 13 to see which comes out on top as the best mid-range laptop. Both have great internal hardware, good-looking displays, and great input options, but can the Blade Stealth topple our favorite laptop of the past few years? It's certainly a tall order.
Grab a 4K LG Ultrafine IPS monitor for just $350 with limited-time deal
If you need a 4K monitor to expand your laptop's capabilities or to offer greater detail to a desktop experience, an LG Ultrafine display with a higher resolution than your average 4K monitor is now on sale on Amazon at the attractive price of $350. It is refurbished, but comes with a solid warranty.
Samsung’s 49-inch display pushes horizontal resolution beyond 5,000 pixels
Samsung has detailed a number of upgrades it is making to its VA panels, which could find their way into new monitors and televisions toward the end of this year. The upgrades include bolstered refresh rates, higher resolutions, and increased contrast ratios at a variety of sizes, all focused on ultrawides.
Nvidia may release the GTX 1180 Founders Edition in July
Nvidia may debut its next-generation GTX 1180 and 1170 graphics cards in July. The new rumors suggest that just as with the past two generations, Nvidia will begin its roll out of new graphics cards with the Founders Editions, with third-party alternatives expected to arrive in the months that follow.
Is Microsoft planning a $400 Surface tablet?
Microsoft may be set to re-introduce its entry-level Surface tablet range with a price tag starting at $400. Although far from officially announced, the rumored hardware would sport Intel processors, 10-inch displays, and up to 128GB of storage -- and far shorter battery life than existing Surface Pros.
Save your tweeting eyes with Tweetbot 3’s new dark mode on MacOS
An upgrade to the Tweetbot client brings it to version 3.0 and offers features like dark mode and a revised timeline management system. It may be easier to use and more pleasing on the eye than older versions, but it comes at a price. Tweetbot now costs $10 when purchased on the app store.
Supreme Court ruling on sports betting may let online gambling run the table
A federal change to the legality of sports betting in the U.S. could have a profound effect on gambling throughout the country, but the biggest winners of the Supreme Court's ruling could be online gambling firms and fantasy sports platforms, which are uniquely positioned to benefit from the changes.
Another Facebook privacy scandal — 3 million users’ data exposed by quiz
A new Facebook data leak has been revealed where some three million people have had their personal information and answers to a personality quiz left relatively unsecured on a third-party website, despite supposed protections in place to restrict access to the data to approved research partners only.
Miss Windows XP? Watch this concept video that reimagines it for 2018
Windows XP is long dead to most people, but some still fondly remember its simple-colored days of glory. Even if we can't go back without risking security problems and sacrificing a lot of modern Windows features, we can at least imagine it with a new video for a concept of Windows XP in 2018.
MacBook Pro owners file class action lawsuit over keyboard issues
MacBook Pro owners have begun a petition to demand Apple recall all its MacBook Pros sold since 2016 to fix what they see as a defect with the keyboard, giving it a propensity for failure. Citing high repair costs and an unwillingness by Apple to acknowledge the problem, the petition signers want action.
Gamers aren’t convinced by Windows Mixed Reality headsets
Steam gamers aren't convinced that Windows Mixed Reality headsets are a viable alternative to the more established Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets. After months on sale, just 5 percent of all VR users are wearing WMR hardware, and those numbers have been falling over the past few months.
Nvidia saw a revenue spike from sales of graphics cards to crypto miners
Nvidia made hundreds of millions of dollars selling graphics cards to cryptocurrency miners in the last quarter alone. This would seem to counter previous claims made by the company that miners were one of its smallest sales segments and that it was putting gamers first when it came to stock and pricing.
Web trackers aren’t just spying on you; they’re slowing you down
As the world becomes increasingly aware of the privacy concerns of modern life online, anti-tracker extension maker, Ghostery, has drafted a new study that looks how a major component of many online services – trackers – could be doing more than invading users privacy: they might be slowing down the internet as we know it too.
Nintendo’s tiltable Switch charger stand makes it easier to play while powered
Nintendo has debuted a brand new accessory for the Nintendo Switch console: an adjustable Switch charger stand. It combines the ability to charge the console while in tabletop mode, with a leg that can be tweaked to give the right angle for gamers no matter the environment or number of players involved.
Windows 10 Build 17666 takes us beyond April update with Explorer ‘dark theme’
The Windows Insider build 17666 is now available to those resting on the fast ring and Skip Ahead branches. It adds a number of new features to the Windows experience. Alongside improvements to the Edge browser and a new "clipboard experience," Microsoft has debuted a dark theme for Windows Explorer.
Nvidia graphics cards may be back in stock, but they’re disappearing quick
Nvidia refreshed its batch of GeForce GTX 10 Series Founders Edition graphics cards, but they're quickly selling out as expected. As of this publication, customers already depleted Nvidia's supply of GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, GTX 1070 Ti, and GTX 1060 graphics cards. The other two will likely be gone soon.
Volition is a blockchain-powered collectible card game that you print at home
Developed by veterans of The Spoils, Volition is a collectible card game from Cryptogogue that uses blockchain technology. It lets players customize their play with upgrades, augments, and customized fan art. It will even have its own cryptocurrency, using miners to discover new cards and booster packs.
Cryptojacking hackers infected 400 major websites with stealth miners
Coinhive's javascript cryptocurrency miners have been found installed on more than 400 websites that contained a vulnerability in the Drupal content management system. The cryptojackers behind it have made off with heaps of cryptocurrency off of the backs of unwitting website owners and visitors.
AMD may have blocked ASRock graphics card sales in Europe
AMD may be responsible for a claimed ban on ASRock graphics cards from being sold in Europe. The cards are reportedly a good showing of the aging AMD design, though whether Europeans will ever get to experience them is in question, after a supposed block was put in place on sales to that region.
You could win $200,000 playing Quake in August
QuakeCon 2018 willl take place in just a few months and Zenimax is keen to see it grow to something bigger and badder than last year. It has a BYOC LAN hall that's twice the size of last year's, an exhibition center that's running all weekend, and $200,000 in prize money for Quake Champions professionals.
Oculus’ new prototype VR headset has something the HTC Vive Pro doesn’t
The Oculus VR "Half-Dome" headset that was revealed during the F8 developer conference gave us a glimpse at a potential feature of future VR headsets: mechanically-operated varifocal lenses and a much wider field of view. That's something that even HTC's newly expensive Vive Pro doesn't have.
AMD says the patches for its recent Ryzen flaws are almost ready
AMD has responded to an inquiry on the state of its Ryzenfall fixes, that it has released patches for the most severe bugs to "ecosystem partners" and will be rolling out additional firmware updates in the near future. It expects the patches to reach the general public as soon as partners have completed validation.
Microsoft preps next Windows update, as latest build breaks Chrome browser
Microsoft's recent update for WIndows 10, the April update, appears to have broken the Chrome browser for some users. A growing number are reporting crashes and freezes when using the browser after the latest update, and apart from one workaround, there hasn't been much of a response to the issue as of yet.