Valve's VR headset is called the Vive and it's made by HTC HTC has just announced the Vive, a virtual reality headset developed in collaboration with Valve. It will be available to consumers later this year, with a developer edition coming out this spring. The company has promised to have a significant presence at the Game Developers Conference next week, where devs will have a chance to play with Valve's VR technology. The Vive Developer Edition uses two 1200 x 1080 displays that refresh at 90 frames per second, "eliminating jitter" and achieving "photorealistic imagery," according to HTC. The Verge
The meaning and enduring importance of Leonard Nimoy -- and Mr. Spock Actor Leonard Nimoy, best known for his role as Spock on Star Trek, passed away at his home in Bel Air today, at the age of 83. The cause of death was end-stage obstructive pulmonary disease, which Nimoy blamed on smoking, though he gave up the habit some thirty years ago. During his sixty years in show business, Nimoy worked in virtually every medium we have a name for, recording music, writing poetry, and starring on both stage and screen. ExtremeTech
Sid Meier interview: 'Learning is part of any good video game' "Oh, it was a sad and dark time! We had to make our own fun," says Sid Meier before his mock-sorrow dissolves into laughter. We've just asked him about the games he grew up with. Given that Meier was born in 1954, those games weren't played on a screen, yet they nevertheless had a strong influence on the video games he went on to create as an adult, from the seafaring adventure Pirates! to his seminal strategy series Civilization, and the upcoming title Starships. The Guardian
AMD previews Carrizo APU, offers insights into power savings "Carrizo" is the code name of AMD's next-generation CPU for notebooks and convertible PCs. This chip has been on AMD's roadmap for some time now as the successor to the Kaveri chip that powers the firm's current lineup of A-series APU products. We even got an early look at the first working Carrizo silicon at CES in January. Still, many of the details about Carrizo and its next-generation "Excavator" CPU cores have been shrouded in mystery to date. The Tech Report
Acer's Liquid M220 offers Windows Phone on a budget (hands-on) If you're curious about Windows Phone but don't want to spend much to check it out, Acer's Liquid M220 is an inexpensive option. And while you're saving money, you're also getting a phone with a bit of personality in the design. It's Acer's very first Windows Phone device, and will be available in select European markets this April for a mere 79 euros. International availability hasn't been confirmed, but that converts to about $90, £60 or AU$115. CNet
All eyes are on GDC 2015 for the future of VR The virtual reality headset market is really heating up, where if we think back to even just three years ago, there wasn't even the possibility of any device on the radar that was going to arrive and all of the sudden heat up the VR market. Everything changed when Palmer Luckey took to Kickstarter, requesting $250,000 to fund something called the Oculus Rift, and bring it to the market. TweakTown (also, Don't miss these standout talks during the eight GDC 2015 Summits)
The state of Linux gaming in the SteamOS era For decades after Linux's early '90s debut, even the hardest of hardcore boosters for the open source operating system had to admit that it couldn't really compete in one important area of software: gaming. "Back in around 2010 you only had two choices for gaming on Linux," Che Dean, editor of Linux gaming news site Rootgamer recalls. "Play the few open source titles, Super Tux Kartand so on, or use WINE to play your Windows titles." Ars Technica
The '80s come alive on Netflix with Inspector Gadget, Danger Mouse reboots and more If you're a child of the '80s, chances are you can't see the name Inspector Gadget without humming the signature tune -- Dun-dun-dundundun, Inspector Gadget! Whoo hoo! Parents will soon be able to introduce their kids to the indelible character thanks to Netflix, which will be offering a reboot of the show, along with a reboot of the Danger Mouse series, and three other children's series... Digital Trends
Huawei and LG unveil round smartwatches at MWC LG and Huawei have unveiled a range of new smartwatches featuring metal-framed circular designs. LG's Watch Urbane comes in two editions - a basic version powered by Android Wear, and a high-end one with a 4G chip and a new operating system. The latter can make and answer calls and send texts without needing to be linked to a phone. The Huawei Watch uses Android Wear, and has a bigger display made out of sapphire crystal. BBC
The semiotics of controller design The Konami code -- up up down down left right left right B A Start -- was created in 1986 for the release of Gradius on the NES. It has worked on every single Nintendo console ever since. It has also worked on every single Microsoft console and it works in most internet browsers; the only change is necessary is that Start is replaced by Enter in most cases. So how the hell do you enter it on a PlayStation controller? Kill Screen
Samsung SM951 (512GB) PCIe SSD review The PCIe SSD revolution is upon us. So far nearly every controller vendor has shown off its PCIe SSD controller design and the latest news I've heard is that we'll be seeing a large number of PCIe SSDs from numerous manufacturers in the second half of 2015 (watch out for Computex and Flash Memory Summit). Samsung got a head start in 2013 with the introduction of the XP941... AnandTech
How does my power supply impact overclocking? Yesterday I was having a conversation on IRC with a bunch of guys that are very much into building desktop gaming PCs and of course many of these enthusiasts focus on overclocking. I was asked how much a PSU came into importance when we are overclocking our system in terms of overall stability. HardOCP
EFF outlines plan to fix the broken patent system The U.S. patent system is in crisis, but there are clear steps Congress and the White House can take to mitigate the impact of vague patents, patent trolls, and a weak legal process to protect competition and creativity, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) explains in a new report released today. EFF
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