Weekend tech reading: Porn stars on net neutrality, GTX 980 OCd to 2GHz, digital goods...

Matthew DeCarlo

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Overpricing the digital future Once designed to protect retail from an inevitable future, overcharging for digital games now threatens the industry. Two versions of a game go on sale. Both of them have precisely the same content, precisely the same experience for the player. One of them comes on a Blu-Ray disc, in a nicely designed case; it'll work on any game console, so you can lend it to friends, sell it second-hand and, as long as you don't damage the disc, you have absolute confidence that you'll be able to play it for as long as you like, whenever you like. The other is a download version... Games Industry

Windows 10 Technical Preview first impressions: the return of the desktop I've said this before, and I will reiterate it now. Windows 8, in general, is not perceived in a positive light. Not necessarily because of the lack of features, or even due to the touch first interface, but because from the start people did not buy into the paradigm. We can argue over why that was, and the specifics are likely different for every individual. But a big part of that was that Windows, which has had a familiar interface since Windows 95, had changed dramatically in look, feel, and general use. AnandTech

Understanding frame rate -- uncovering the truth behind 30 vs 60 fps As someone who loves video games, I spend a lot of time discussing them on the internet via various Reddit communities, forums, and when I can stomach it; the YouTube comment section. One topic that seems to keep coming up in the ever-growing battle between PC and Console is the difference between 30 and 60 FPS. or rather the lack thereof, in the case of some arguments. In this report, we'll be taking a look at some of these arguments and attempt to clarify some of the misinformation that is often used in them. Technology X

Windows 8: Why Microsoft's giant gamble didn't pay off Even when it was launched, Windows 8 was seen as a gamble -- but one that Microsoft had to make. The stunning, out-of-nowhere success of tablets was making the PC look stodgy and out-of-date, so Microsoft had to show that Windows could still be relevant beyond its traditional desktop home. The company's response was Windows 8, with its colourful tiled interface and the emphasis on Windows as a touchscreen operating system for a new age of computing -- a bet-the-company move, according to then-CEO Steve Ballmer. ZDNet

Graphics card coil whine; an investigation Coil whine. It's long been the bane of graphics cards and judging from the reaction on many forums the current darlings of NVIDIA’s lineup, the GTX 970 and GTX 980, may suffer from the same nagging issue as previous Radeon and GeForce products. Multiple posts and retailer feedback sections show a number of coil noise complaints but how widespread is it? There are plenty of frustrated, vocal folks out there who spent plenty of money for a brand new GPU and have been beset by high electrical noise footprints. Hardware Canucks

Porn stars Alex Chance, Nadia Styles explain net neutrality in 'Funny Or Die' video Net neutrality has earned an endorsement from President Barack Obama, been featured heavily on late-night talk shows and has people nervous that their Netflix speed will slow down. Yet advocates have complained that not only is it difficult for people to hear about the issue, it’s damn near impossible to help them understand it … at least until porn stars get involved. YouTube

Global disease monitoring and forecasting with Wikipedia Infectious disease is a leading threat to public health, economic stability, and other key social structures. Efforts to mitigate these impacts depend on accurate and timely monitoring to measure the risk and progress of disease. Traditional, biologically-focused monitoring techniques are accurate but costly and slow; in response, new techniques based on social internet data, such as social media and search queries, are emerging. PLOS

Window washing skills beyond a robot's reach As a pair of window washers clung to a scaffold dangling outside the 68th floor of 1 World Trade Center on Wednesday, the captivating drama left some below wondering: Why were they up there at all? In an age when a few clicks on a cellphone can solve myriad problems, it seems fair to ask why people are still descending from the roofs of skyscrapers to rub soapy water on glass and wipe it off with a squeegee. The NY Times

WASD's Code keyboard with Cherry MX clear switches reviewed For the past little while, Cherry's MX clear key switch has been my white whale—not because it can use echolocation to find breathing holes under sea ice, but because I keep meaning to try it out, and it's weirdly hard to come by. Like, unreasonably so. Even when keyboards based on it show up in online listings, they have a strange propensity for being out of stock. The Tech Report

Facebook gives its server racks a Tesla touch Matt Corddry, Facebook's director of hardware engineering, should be grateful to Tesla. Not because he drives one (he doesn't), but because the popularity of its electric cars could help Facebook take a little more cost out of running its data centers. Corddry runs Facebook's hardware engineering lab, which designs the cutting-edge servers, storage gear and other equipment that power its services. ITworld

New metal lets today's 3D printers make tomorrow's electronics When entrepreneur Michael Toutonghi and his son wanted to make a rocket in their family basement, they went about it in a thoroughly modern way: though the duo wasn’t gearing up to produce their rockets by the hundreds, the production and assembly processes were still too tedious to be done entirely by hand. Well-versed in using 3D printers to assist rapid prototyping, the two Toutonghis set about automating as much of the process as possible, but their efforts hit a wall when it came time to do the electronics. ExtremeTech

Exploring performance consistency in USB 3.0 flash drives SSD technology has advanced to a stage where it is possible to have flash drives with bona-fide SSD controllers. The addition of a SATA to USB 3.0 bridge provides an ubiquitous high-speed direct attached storage interface. We have already looked at the Phison S9-based Corsair Flash Voyager GTX and the SandForce SF2281-based Mushkin Ventura Ultra. Our review of the Mushkin Ventura Ultra 120GB drive had a comment about the device's thermal throttling issues. AnandTech

Philae comet lander sends more data before losing power The Philae lander on the distant comet 67P has sent another stream of data back to Earth before losing power. The little probe delivered everything expected from it, just as its failing battery dropped it into standby mode. Philae is pressed up against a cliff. Deep shadows mean it cannot now get enough light on to its solar panels to recharge its systems. The European Space Agency (Esa) fears this contact may have been the robot's last - certainly for a while. BBC

Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo component cables (Kickstarter) HD Retrovision was founded with one goal in mind: to rescue consoles stuck in their owner's closet, or worse, on their way to the trash can. Since most modern HDTVs no longer support S-video connectivity many users are forced to play their Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis using composite video (single yellow cable). With composite video, you get an ugly and blurry video with messed up colors and other distortions. Kickstarter

The man who made a game to change the world There is no one agreed family tree of video games, arranged and pruned by consensus. There is no single progenitor that sits at the top of that tree, the seed from which all other video games originate. The video-game family tree is knotted, tangled and grimly contested. We can all agree that Donkey Kong begat Super Mario Bros. But did the modern role playing games flow from Adventure, Wizardry or Black Onyx? Eurogamer

3D prints smaller than an ant's forehead are printed and then inevitably lost We've seen some absolutely amazing art over the past 6,000 years of human history, and, more recently, we've seen some incredible creations that were made using 3D printing and imaging techniques. But now it's clear -- some of the most impressive art is something we will never see. At least not with the naked eye. Or even a jeweler's scope, or a microscope that can magnify 400x. 3DPrint

K|NGP|N breaks 3DMark records with four GeForce GTX 980 at 2GHz Vince "K|NGP|N" Lucido, one of the world’s most renowned overclockers who collaborates with EVGA these days, has set a number of world's records when it comes to GPU frequency. He was the first to overclock a graphics processor to 2GHz and was among the first to hit 2.20GHz with Nvidia’s latest GeForce GTX 980 GPU. KitGuru

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Didn't the xbox 360 and ps3 have 60 fps? Being a pc gamer I really can't stand 30 fps. I guess ignorance is bliss. Especially if I'm playing a fps or fpmeleee game. I pretty much demand 60 fps out of every game I play. Some lucky people get 120 fps with sweet 120 hz monitors.

It is pretty mind boggling that consoles release a game that runs on a 7 year old machine and the current generation. Yet they cannot achieve 60 fps on current consoles? Or even 1080p half the time on xbox one.
 
First, one of those chicks was packing an extra 40lbs. How did she get cast?

Second, it should serve as a giant warning flag that NN proponents would advertise the legislation as if their target audience has sub-100 IQs (yes, I know it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek).

Third, if my neighbor wants to pay an extra $50 for a higher data priority, it is his prerogative to do so. Likewise for business entities that use the lines. All data is not equal, for a myriad of reasons.

Fourth, both legislative sides are composed of "old rich guys." The guys running the ISPs are "old rich guys." The guys running the FCC are "old rich guys." The only people who aren't "old rich guys" are the ones being puppeted around by "old rich guys."

No sale, ladies.
 
Didn't the xbox 360 and ps3 have 60 fps? Being a pc gamer I really can't stand 30 fps.

They were advertised at having that capability - on a 720p TV. And even then very few games were able to hit a true 60 fps. More often than not at a reduction in graphics quality.

The whole console vs. PC debate is ridiculous. Consoles are about convenience and multiplayer. That's why they have all the sports, dancing, racing and "Guitar Hero" type games. So you can play on a sofa with your friends and family in front of an HDTV.

If you want eye candy, flexibility, mods and state-of-the-art gaming, you play on a PC.
 
They were advertised at having that capability - on a 720p TV. And even then very few games were able to hit a true 60 fps. More often than not at a reduction in graphics quality.

The whole console vs. PC debate is ridiculous. Consoles are about convenience and multiplayer. That's why they have all the sports, dancing, racing and "Guitar Hero" type games. So you can play on a sofa with your friends and family in front of an HDTV.

If you want eye candy, flexibility, mods and state-of-the-art gaming, you play on a PC.
True but it would be nice if they would aim at 60 fps for first person shooters..

p.s.
It looks like Plants vs Zombies modern warfare has 60 fps, well at least the ps4. Idk about the xbox one version but I have enjoyed it so far on xbox1. I was just thinking about my experiences with that shooter after my comment and I decided to look up its frame rates.

One major advantage of playing console games is that your not paying to win, everyone has the same hardware, the same fps, the same res. Your not getting schooled by someone because they have a better rig. Even playing field.
 
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They were advertised at having that capability - on a 720p TV. And even then very few games were able to hit a true 60 fps. More often than not at a reduction in graphics quality.

The whole console vs. PC debate is ridiculous. Consoles are about convenience and multiplayer. That's why they have all the sports, dancing, racing and "Guitar Hero" type games. So you can play on a sofa with your friends and family in front of an HDTV.

If you want eye candy, flexibility, mods and state-of-the-art gaming, you play on a PC.
True but it would be nice if they would aim at 60 fps for first person shooters..

p.s.
It looks like Plants vs Zombies modern warfare has 60 fps, well at least the ps4. Idk about the xbox one version but I have enjoyed it so far on xbox1. I was just thinking about my experiences with that shooter after my comment and I decided to look up its frame rates.

One major advantage of playing console games is that your not paying to win, everyone has the same hardware, the same fps, the same res. Your not getting schooled by someone because they have a better rig. Even playing field.

I'm interested to hear what advantages you think someone has over another in gaming if they have a better computer. Do you think it has something to do with frame rate or visual fidelity?
 
On the topic of coil whine on GPU's.

The only time I hear a "coil whine" are during some startup game logos that don't cap framerates. Skyrim is a good example of this. I've seen my frames reach upwards of 3000 fps at 100% GPU usage. Quick fix for that is to limit my frames to 60 which it should be anyways. No more coil whine.
 
First, one of those chicks was packing an extra 40lbs. How did she get cast?

Second, it should serve as a giant warning flag that NN proponents would advertise the legislation as if their target audience has sub-100 IQs (yes, I know it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek).

Third, if my neighbor wants to pay an extra $50 for a higher data priority, it is his prerogative to do so. Likewise for business entities that use the lines. All data is not equal, for a myriad of reasons.

Fourth, both legislative sides are composed of "old rich guys." The guys running the ISPs are "old rich guys." The guys running the FCC are "old rich guys." The only people who aren't "old rich guys" are the ones being puppeted around by "old rich guys."

No sale, ladies.


So first off you are putting down a woman because you didn't find her attractive, good start.

The internet is a multi use tool. We already have speed differences in what package you want to purchase from your ISP. This isn't going to give your neighbor any more options than he already has. What this will do is increase subscription fees, and limit what an ordinary person can accomplish on the internet. But this is America, where the almighty dollar rules supreme and it doesn't matter whom you trample on the way. Keep drinking the corporate koolaid.
 
So first off you are putting down a woman because you didn't find her attractive, good start.

The casting manager and director, actually. If you're going to use sex to sell something to a general audience, you don't use fat girls to do it. This is a concept as old as civilization itself. And even if you do, you don't put her off to the side of two average girls, you put her in the middle to balance the image. I'd make a similar jeer if someone made the brilliant decision to asymmetrically arrange two midgets and a giant.

Also, why are you using a gender-specific noun to describe my criticism? Why do I have to be putting down a "woman" instead of a "person"? Do you mean to imply that I wouldn't have made a similar comment had the trio been composed of Peter North, Lexington Steel, and Ron Jeremy? Furthermore, who told you what I'm attracted to? I merely pointed out that she was bigger than the other two girls. That statement reveals no more about my sexual preferences than my favorite color reveals about what I like for dinner.

The internet is a multi use tool. We already have speed differences in what package you want to purchase from your ISP. This isn't going to give your neighbor any more options than he already has. What this will do is increase subscription fees, and limit what an ordinary person can accomplish on the internet.

Which is exactly what I was alluding to. Net neutrality does not improve the service at all; it makes the Internet more expensive and less efficient.
 
Also, why are you using a gender-specific noun to describe my criticism?



Which is exactly what I was alluding to. Net neutrality does not improve the service at all; it makes the Internet more expensive and less efficient.

I used it because you implied it by saying "Chicks" , very nice.

Net Neutrality is a necessity. Once you start letting folks discriminate on the basis of income, it is most certainly NOT going to be less expensive or efficient, unless you are paying out the nose for it. Take off the blinders for a while. I would love to see a breakdown on why you think this would be at all helpful to anyone on the end user side.
 
Net Neutrality is a necessity. Once you start letting folks discriminate on the basis of income, it is most certainly NOT going to be less expensive or efficient, unless you are paying out the nose for it.

Every good and service in this country discriminates on the basis of income, or rather one's ability to pay. In the case of regulation of basic services, this comes in the form of taxes and higher fees. One needs only look to public transport or public education and compare them to their private counterparts to determine the demonstrable inferiority of the former and consequent price premium of the latter.

By reclassifying the Internet as a basic (public) utility, regulation of both data flow and content necessarily follows. The impact will be slower development timetables for ISPs as a result of reduced incentives, higher costs for subscribers in the form of taxes and increased ISP charges, and increased barriers to entry for both new ISPs and content creators as a result of eventual licensing and/or compliance efforts. The basis for these assumptions is exiting norms for basic (public) communications services, such as radio and television, where a two-tiered system exists.

There is a finite amount of bandwidth available to move data across the infrastructure. By removing the power of ISPs to discriminate on the basis of price and giving the FCC the power to discriminate on the basis of "merit," the Internet in this country will stagnate technologically and become as dysfunctional and bureaucratic as every other public utility and infrastructure system we have. Meanwhile, major ISPs will make off like bandits, as new regulations will make the market more prohibitive to future competition, among other things.

Simply put, net neutrality is good for ISPs and the gov't while being a net negative for end users and content creators.
 
I'm interested to hear what advantages you think someone has over another in gaming if they have a better computer. Do you think it has something to do with frame rate or visual fidelity?
FPS, response times, mouse accuracy and field of view. If you have experienced game play on a low-mid system compared to a high end system, the difference is astounding in twitch and fast paced timing sensitive based games

A low end system is like blinking while trying to catch a Frisbee with thick gloves.
 
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