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Submission + - Under Siege: VFX Studios Rise-Up Against Ruthless Industry Exploitation (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Over the past 20 years, special effects houses (known as VFX studios) have risen from an occasional tool used in science fiction or fantasy movies to a mainstay of the entire industry. Given that most Hollywood movies now rely so heavily on VFX, you'd think that VFX studios would be the toast of the town. Instead, they've been under increasingly desperate pressure. Rhythm and Hues, the Oscar-winning studio behind Babe, the Golden Compass, and Life of Pi filed for bankruptcy last year after winning an Oscar for the latter film. Hollywood studios have viciously pressed VFX houses — refusing to pay for multiple renders of a scene, refusing to pay for weeks of overtime, and threatening to use foreign VFX businesses if domestic ones won't compete on contract costs. Hollywood has gone to great lengths to keep this problem under the radar, deliberately cutting off Bill Westenhofer's acceptance speech for the Life of Pi's Oscar in an attempt to silence him. The VFX industry's fight against unfair off-shoring of their talent, however, has just gotten an unintentional boost from the unlikeliest source imaginable — the MPAA. In a recent amicus filing to a court case involving 3D printers, the MPAA strongly argued that goods transmitted digitally as "articles" should be considered to be governed by US trade laws and subject to strong protections against foreign subsidies and unfair pricing. According to the letter, "The use of electronic means to import into the United States infringing articles threatens important domestic industries such as the motion picture and software industries, as well as U.S. consumers and the government at all levels.

Submission + - Intel Launches Overclocked SSD 730 Series Enthusiast Class Solid State Drive (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: The new Intel SSD 730 will be the company's latest flagship consumer-targeted SSD. The drive, however, features technology gleaned from Intel's experience in data centers, and is actually quite similar to the DC S3500 series. Intel is doing a few things to set this drive apart, though. The SSD 730's controller and NAND components are have gone through additional qualification at the factory and the drive's firmware is tuned for high performance. The Intel SSD 730 series will initially be offered in 240GB and 480GB flavors and in the common 2.5" form factor. Intel is binning the parts used in the SSD 730 series to ensure maximum reliability, high-performance and low latency. To that end, the controller's clock speed has been boosted by 50% and the NAND is clocked 20% higher as well. You'd think that boosting the clocks might affect the long-term reliability of the drive, but Intel is offering a full 5-year warranty and rating the drive for 70GB writes/day. Performance of the new Intel SSD 730 series is top-notch, with the drive scoring at the top of the pack versus leading SSDs on the market currently with the best overall performance.

Submission + - Intel Debuts Merrifield and Moorefield Designs at MWC (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Intel is announcing its new tablet and smartphone designs this week at Mobile World Congress, alongside a major push to drive adoption of its 28nm XMM 7160 and XMM 7260 modem technology. It's been two years since Intel launched its first serious Atom-based smartphone platform, codenamed Medfield. The chips that will power these efforts are the Z34 and Z35 families, known as Merrifield and Moorefield, respectively. The new Merrifield core will use a 4G-capable XMM 7160 modem, a 1080p camera capable of 60 FPS capture, and the same Bay Trail CPU that was previously released. While it lacks Hyper-Threading, the addition of out-of-order processing means that the dual-core Bay Trail will be significantly faster than the older, in-order Atom parts. Merrifield also uses a PowerVR GPU core based on Series 6 (codenamed "Rogue"). This new GPU core is substantially more powerful than the older cores Intel used in the past and contains four separate compute clusters. Historically, Intel's tablets and smartphones have targeted "acceptable" graphics rather than fielding anything genuinely first rate, but that may change in 2014.

Submission + - Intel Announces 15-Core Ivytown Xeon E7 v2 Processors (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Intel has announced new 15-core Xeon E7 v2 series processors for the enterprise, big data and data center servers. The Xeon E7 processors Intel is replacing with this update are based on the old Westmere core, which first debuted in consumer products back in 2010, and have separate I/O hubs on the motherboard with a QPI link port dedicated to each of them. The new Xeon E7 v2 moves those hubs on-die, which means the system's remaining three QPI links are still providing a significant bandwidth boost — up to 8GT/s, from 6.4GT/s. The old Westmere-EX platforms had up to 72 lanes of PCIe 2.0 connectivity provided per socket while the new Xeon E7 v2 offer 32 PCIe 3.0 lanes per socket. The entire structure of the last-level cache has been reworked, with a comprehensive ring bus incorporated across all 15 cores. Intel also implemented the 37.5MB of L3 in 15 slices, which allows each core a dedicated interface to the L3. Intel claims up to a whopping 450GB/s of bandwidth per socket with the new Xeon E7 v2, counting both the quad-channel memory controllers and the L3 cache.

Submission + - Lenovo's Revamped ThinkPad X1 Carbon With Haswell And Adaptive F-Key Row Tested (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon series cuts through the traditional ThinkPad's stuffy corporate facade, offering something for the conference room or coffee shop with a sleeker physique. The original ThinkPad X1 Carbon was initially released back in 2012 and at the time, its carbon fiber-infused chassis offered a combination of build quality and light-weight durability that Lenovo could still call a "ThinkPad," though the original X1 Carbon felt a little bit flimsy in spots. New for 2014, Lenovo has completely revamped the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, from the 4th generation Intel Haswell Core series processor under its hood, to its higher density carbon fiber-filled polymer skins, a higher resolution 2560X1440 display and some major upgrades to the keyboard area. One of the hallmark features of the new X1 Carbon design is Lenovo's adaptive function row display strip above the keyboard. This is actually a liquid crystal display that allows for various icon patterns to be displayed even in bright lighting conditions. Lenovo achieves this with an electroluminescent layer behind the display. Though some of the functions offered are more of a novelty, other functions like Brightness, Volume, Screen Snip, Search and some of the browser functions, are valuable additions for accessibility and usability with Windows 8.

Submission + - Personal Privacy Choices and Internet Usage for the Somewhat Cautious Geek 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I've been meaning to update my browsing habits for the facebook/google/nsa era and was wondering what habits & practices I should adapt to minimize the spread of my personal info' online. I know it's not possible to completely browse anonymously — and certainly not if I'm using Gmail, Facebook et al — but I'd like to avoid my porn habits being linked to my online banking, or political research compiled with amazon orders. What's everyone's go to strategies? Different browsers for porn and online shopping? Particular browser extensions? Shrugging and not worrying?

Submission + - Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Expansion Pack - Better, Faster, More Fun (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: In about six weeks, Blizzard will launch Reaper of Souls, the first expansion pack for Diablo 3. This new expansion comes with the usual slew of goodies — a new Act for the game, new quests, a new enchanting ability, and a new skill for each existing class, as well as a new Crusader class to experiment with. What's more important about Reaper of Souls is that it makes core changes to the way Diablo III feels and plays, changes that, in aggregate, have made the game a great deal more fun. Higher drop rates and the new Adventure Mode make it easy to leap into a game and run a quick dungeon or pair up with friends for an evening of demon carnage. If you liked the Paladin from Diablo II, you'll likely love the Crusader, and the two classes share a common storyline according to in-game lore. In addition, Reaper of Soul's new Adventure Mode is a great way to experience the game in small slices while still working towards rewards.

Submission + - You Can't Make This Up: 'Goat Simulator' A Real Game Available For Pre-Order (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: For the record, Goat Simulator was never meant to be a real game. It was just a silly bit of code that spilled out of the brains of the game developer staff at Coffee Stain Studios. But then the Internet caught a glimpse of the rough simulator and viewers unanimously agreed that this had to happen. And so it has. Goat Simulator is exactly as it sounds — you're a goat and you run around doing naughty goat-like things. Judging by the trailer, you also have the ability to defy physics for more goat mayhem than you thought possible. We're talking giant leaps off of trampolines with some crazy acrobatics. When it comes down to it, though, the real fun is wreaking havoc on humans.

Submission + - Return Of The Reasonably Capable $100 Video Card, AMD Radeon R7 250X Launched (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Today, AMD is officially announcing its Radeon R7 250X, a new $100 GPU that the company is positioning against NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 650 in the entry-level, discrete graphics market. The "new" R7 250X is essentially a rebranded Radeon 7770 GHz Edition, with the same 640 stream processors, 128-bit memory interface, 1-2GB of GDDR5 frame buffer, 1125MHz memory clock, and 1GHz core clock. What's new about the R7 250X, however, is the price. AMD debuted the Radeon 7770 GHz Edition at $159. When the Radeon R7 250X becomes available, that same card will set you back roughly $99. AMD is championing its new core parking technology (dubbed ZeroCore) that turns the GPU off when the monitor is shut off and, of course, its recent Mantle API release.

Submission + - Is Whitelisting The Answer To The Rise In Data Breaches? (forbes.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that cyber criminals are quickly getting more sophisticated than current security, intrusion detection and prevention technology can defend against. And you have to wonder if the computer security industry as a whole is willing to take the disruptive measures required to address the issue head-on. One way to tackle the surging data breach epidemic is with a technology called “whitelisting.” It’s not going to sound too sexy to the average end user and frankly, even CIOs may find it unfashionable but in short, whitelisting is a method of locking-down a machine such that only trusted executables, DLLs and other necessary system and application components are allowed to run – everything else is denied. A few start-up security companies are beginning to appear in this space. The idea is to start with a known, clean system installation and then lock it down in that state so absolutely nothing can be changed. If you follow system security, regardless of your opinion on the concept of whitelisting, it’s pretty clear the traditional conventions of AV, anti-malware, intrusion detection and prevention are no longer working.

Submission + - Asus Announces Intel Haswell-Powered "Chromebox" Small Form Factor PCs (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Asus stepped out this morning with something new for the Chrome OS powered hardware crowd, called a "Chromebox" small form factor PC. Just as Google has been evangelizing with its Chromebook notebook initiative, the pitch for these Chromebox systems is that they're capable of doing everything you need to do in today's connected world. While not everyone will totally agree with that marketing pitch — gaming, 3D modeling, and a host of specialized tasks are better suited for a well equipped Windows PC — there's certainly a market for these types of devices. They're low cost, fairly well equipped, and able to handle a wide variety of daily computing chores. There are two SKUs being released in the U.S. The first starts at $179 and sports an Intel Celeron 2955U processor, and the second features an Intel Core i3 4010U CPU (no mention of price just yet), both of which are based on Intel's 4th generation Haswell CPU architecture. Beyond the processor, these fan-less boxes come with two SO-DIMM memory slots with 2GB or 4GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, a 16GB SSD, a GbE LAN port, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, 2-in-1 memory card reader, four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, a DisplayPort, an audio jack, and a Kensington Lock. ASUS also includes a VESA mount kit with each Chromebox, and Google tosses in 100GB of Google Drive space free for two years.

Submission + - AMD's Mantle API Benchmarked With Battlefield 4 Versus DirectX (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: AMD has been working on a new set of drivers which enable their Mantle API and a number of other features as well. AMD's Catalyst 14.1 betas are the first publicly available drivers from AMD that support Mantle, AMD’s “close to the metal” API that lets developers wring additional performance from systems equipped with GCN-based GPUs. The new drivers also add support for the HSA-related features introduced with the recently released Kaveri APU, and will reportedly fix the frame pacing issues associated with Radeon HD 7000 series CrossFire configurations as well. With the first round of benchmark numbers from Battlefield 4, Mantle has a significant impact on performance. On the GPU-bound A10-7850K, when tested with its on-processor Radeon R7 graphics, BF4’s performance increased roughly 10%. Pop in a powerful discrete GPU, however, and the gains are much larger. When the A10-7850K was paired to a Radeon R9 290X, utilizing Mantle resulted in a 28% increase in performance over DirectX. Performing the same test with that Radeon R9 290X installed in the Core i3-4330-based system showed Mantle outperforming DirectX by about 13%. Gaming conditions and systems that are CPU as well as GPU-limited seem to benefit the most, as evidenced by the huge gains seen in Star Swarm benchmarks. What’s also clear is that Microsoft hasn’t done enough to optimize graphics performance on the PC. DirectX has evolved greatly over the years and has enabled developers to create some fantastic looking games. But with overheard so high, there’s too much performance being sacrificed, likely for no good reason.

Submission + - Crushing Competition: Cable Companies Try To Outlaw Google Fiber (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Two events in the telecommunications and cable world this week highlight why we need net neutrality and stronger protections for consumer rights. Time Warner Cable, Cox, Eagle Communications, and Comcast have collectively introduced a bill into the Kansas legislature that prevents any city from rolling out any broadband infrastructure unless the area is completely cut off from the grid. It would bar the use of eminent domain for the purpose of providing better service to a city's citizens. And not incidentally, it makes Google Fiber effectively illegal. The bill would outlaw public/private partnerships, open access approaches, and the partnership that brought Google Fiber to Kansas City. Meanwhile, AT&T has been quietly assembling a patent portfolio for itself that simultaneously attacks net neutrality and consumer rights. The company applied for a patent titled "Prevention Of Bandwidth Abuse Of A Communications System" in October 2012. The abstract reads, in part: "A user of a communications network is prevented from consuming an excessive amount of channel bandwidth by restricting use of the channel in accordance with the type of data being downloaded to the user. The user is provided an initial number of credits. As the user consumes the credits, the data being downloaded is checked to determine if is permissible or non-permissible. Non-permissible data includes file-sharing files and movie downloads if user subscription does not permit such activity.

Submission + - AMD Catalyst Driver To Enable Mantle, Fix Frame Pacing, Support HSA For Kaveri (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: AMD has a new set of drivers coming in a couple of days that are poised to resolve a number of longstanding issues and enable a handful of new features as well, most notably support for Mantle. AMD's new Catalyst 14.1 beta driver is going to be the first publicly available driver from AMD that will support Mantle, AMD’s “close to the metal” API that will let developers wring additional performance from GCN-based GPUs. However, the new drivers will also add support for the HSA-related features introduced with the recently released Kaveri APU, and will reportedly fix the frame pacing issues associated with Radeon HD 7000 series CrossFire configurations. A patch for Battlefield 4 is due to arrive soon as well and AMD is claiming performance gains in excess of 40 percent in CPU limited scenarios but smaller gains in GPU-limited conditions, with average gains of 11 — 13 percent over all.

Submission + - AMD Announces Sampling Of Eight-Core ARM 'Seattle' Processor (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: AMD's Andrew Feldman announced today that the company is preparing to sample its new eight-core ARM SoC (codename: Seattle). Feldman gave a keynote presentation at the fifth annual Open Compute Summit. The Open Compute Project (OCP) is Facebook's effort to decentralize and unpack the datacenter, breaking the replication of resources and low volume, high-margin parts that have traditionally been Intel's bread-and-butter. AMD is claiming that the eight ARM cores offer 2-4x the compute performance of the Opteron X1250 — which isn't terribly surprising considering that the X1250 is a four-core chip based on the Jaguar CPU, with a relatively low clock speed of 1.1 — 1.9GHz. We still don't know the target clock speeds for the Seattle cores, but the embedded roadmaps AMD has released show the ARM embedded part actually targeting a higher level of CPU performance (and a higher TDP) than the Jaguar core itself.

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