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Intel’s Skull Canyon NUC is the future of tiny desktops

What if you could have a desktop that easily slips into a messenger bag or purse? That’s what Intel has been aiming for with its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) devices. Yes, it’s a terrible name, but Intel’s goal is admirable: to deliver powerful machines that are significantly smaller than the desktops of yore. Our first look at a NUC back in 2013 showed plenty of promise. And with the new Skull Canyon edition (starting at $609), Intel has come closer than ever to delivering a truly portable desktop replacement that can even play some games. Just be prepared to pay through the nose to actually use it. Officially called the NUC NUC6i7KYK (yes, Intel is really bad at naming things), this new device isn’t a complete computer. Instead, like all of Intel’s previous tiny desktops, it’s a kit that requires some handiwork. It packs in a 2.6GHz quad-core i7-6770HQ processor with integrated WiFi, Ethernet, Intel HD Audio and Iris Pro 580 graphics. But you’ll have to open it up and add your own SSD in one of the two M.2 slots, along with your own RAM (it supports up to 32GB of laptop-sized DDR4 memory). And of course, you’ll have to supply your own OS as well. In short, don’t expect to buy this box and have it magically start working. While previous NUCs looked like boring gray mini PCs, Intel actually infused a bit of style into the Skull Canyon model. It’s a slim and small device, at only 1.1 inches tall, 8.3 inches long and 4.57 inches wide. It feels like a small hardcover book, weighing in at around 1.5 pounds. Its plastic case is all black, with a reflective webbing pattern and large skull imprinted on the top — a not-so-subtle hint that Intel built this thing for PC gamers. Thankfully, the company also includes a plain black replacement cover in the box. Simply put, the Skull Canyon NUC feels like an exotic piece of hardware rather than a humdrum PC. Alongside the power button up front, there’s an SD card slot, headphone jack and two USB 3.0 sockets (one of which is colored yellow, as it’s a “charging port” meant to provide extra voltage for mobile devices). Around back there are ports for power, HDMI, Thunderbolt 3/ USB-C , Mini DisplayPort and gigabit Ethernet, along with two more USB 3.0 connections. In addition, there’s another 3.5mm jack for audio output, which also supports minijack to optical cables (useful for connecting the NUC to an A/V receiver). This plethora of ports is another way that the Skull Canyon NUC distinguishes itself from modern laptops. Getting started involves removing the four Philips screws on the bottom of the NUC and plugging in the RAM and M.2 SSD of your choice. Intel packed our demo model with a 512GB SSD and 16GB of memory, but I nonetheless unplugged and reinstalled those pieces of hardware to get a feel for what it’s like to work with such a tiny case. If you’ve ever installed RAM, a video card or any PCI card in a desktop, you won’t have any trouble here. But even if this is your first time dealing with naked hardware, it shouldn’t be too difficult (just remember to align the pins). With my system complete, I then installed Windows 10 from a USB stick, a process that took around 15 minutes. Once I got into Windows, I quickly realized that none of the drivers for the NUC were automatically recognized, not even its WiFi radio. I used my Windows desktop to snag those drivers, along with Intel’s Display drivers for the NUC. Once those were installed, I had the NUC run through Windows Update several times to fully upgrade the OS and grab all the other relevant drivers. It took about an hour to get the NUC fully up and running. All the while, I had flashbacks to the hours I spent mindlessly installing Windows during my IT days. With everything set up, I used the NUC for my daily workflow, which involves having dozens of browser tabs open across multiple browsers, chatting on Slack, writing on Evernote, listening to music on Spotify and occasionally editing some photos. For the most part, I was surprised by how normal everything felt. Even though it’s running a laptop-grade i7 processor, which produces less heat than its beefy desktop counterparts, the NUC managed to keep up with me every step of the way. Having 16GB of RAM also helps, especially when it comes to multitasking and handling large files. You can definitely hear the system’s fan working when things heat up, but that’s to be expected with such a small device. In practice the NUC felt almost indistinguishable from my custom-built desktop, which is particularly surprising given how small it is. This is also the first NUC with decent gaming performance: It had no problem staying at 60 frames per second in 1080p with less demanding games like Transistor and Civilization 5 . Quadrilateral Cowboy , with its blocky ’80s aesthetic, ran between 35 fps and 60 fps in 1080p. Even Overwatch was playable, reaching between 60 and 70 fps at 720p with low settings. More surprisingly, it ran at around 50 fps in 1080p with low settings. That’s a testament both to Blizzard’s scaling skills and the amount of power Intel has managed to cram into its Iris Pro 580 graphics. For some gamers, the Skull Canyon NUC’s performance will be fine for LAN parties and competitions. And if you need even more power, you can connect a full-sized graphics card over Thunderbolt 3 using an enclosure similar to Alienware’s $200 Graphics Amplifier . I didn’t have one of those to test out, unfortunately, but it’s nice to know the capability is there. PCMark 7 PCMark 8 (Creative Accelerated) 3DMark 11 3DMark (Sky Diver) ATTO (top reads/writes) Intel Skull Canyon NUC (2.6GHz Core i7-6770HQ, Intel Iris Pro 580 ) 6, 130 5, 634 E5, 105/ P3, 085/ X844 7, 797 2.5 GB/s / 1.5 GB/s Microsoft Surface Book (2.4GHz Core i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) 5, 412 3, 610 E2, 758 / P1, 578 / X429 3, 623 1.6 GB/s / 571 MB/s HP Spectre 13.3 (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) 5, 046 3, 747 E2, 790 / P1, 630 / X375 3, 810 1.61 GB/s / 307 MB/s Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet (1.2 GHz Core M7-6Y75, Intel HD 515) 4, 951 3, 433 E1, 866 / P1, 112 2, 462 545 MB/s / 298 MB/s Dell XPS 13 (2.3GHz Core i5-6200U, Intel Graphics 520) 4, 954 3, 499 E2, 610 / P1, 531 3, 335 1.6GB/s / 307 MB/s Razer Blade Stealth (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) 5, 131 3, 445 E2, 788 / P1, 599 / X426 3, 442 1.5 GB/s / 307 MB/s Toshiba Radius 12 (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) 5, 458 3, 684 E2, 865 / P1, 622 3, 605 552 MB/s / 489 MB/s Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (2.4GHz Core i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) 5, 403 3, 602 E2, 697/ P1, 556/ X422 3, 614 1.6 GB/s / 529 MB/s My experience with the NUC was reflected in its benchmarks. It’s significantly faster than any laptop we’ve reviewed over the past year, especially when it comes to gaming performance. In fact, it even outdoes Microsoft’s Surface Book and its dedicated NVIDIA GPU. We don’t review many high-end gaming laptops these days, so we don’t have any beefier mobile hardware to which we can compare the NUC, unfortunately. And while I’ve been testing a slew of desktop GPUs over the past few months, comparing the NUC to one of those feels unfair. So Intel has built a mini computer that’s both portable and capable, but who actually needs it? That’s a good question. It’s much easier to carry around than previous NUCs and other tiny desktop designs, like Gigabyte’s BRIX . Intel is pitching it as something ideal for bringing to LAN parties and other gaming events. You’ll still need to bring along a monitor, keyboard and mouse to actually use it, of course. If you’re simply looking for something smaller than a typical desktop tower to use at home, there are plenty of small options out there that would likely cost less than the Skull Canyon NUC. And even if you’re not worried about the cost, you can still cram more-powerful hardware in other mini-PC cases. The big takeaway is that this isn’t a device meant for everyone. Most people would be fine with a laptop instead (which is hard for me to admit as a desktop fan). While it makes for a powerful home theater PC that can actually play some games, you’d be better off with something like Alienware’s Steam Machine . And if you’re just concerned about the media side of HTPCs, earlier NUC models are cheaper alternatives (and only slightly larger). The biggest issue with the Skull Canyon NUC? It’s too expensive for most uses. While it’s retailing for $609 now (down from around $650 originally), it would likely set you back somewhere around $1, 000 once you include the cost of a decent SSD, RAM and a Windows 10 license. It’s faster than Apple’s highest-end Mac Mini, which goes for $999 with a 2.8GHz dual-core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, but I’d argue that’s also not the wisest purchase for most. If you want the best tiny desktop replacement, no matter the cost, then the new NUC is for you. In the end, the Skull Canyon NUC is a statement of intent for PC hardware tinkerers. Behold! A small profile desktop coupled with a surprising amount of power. It might seem impractical today, but in a few years this is what desktops will look like.

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Intel’s Skull Canyon NUC is the future of tiny desktops

London’s Metropolitan Police Still Running 27,000 Windows XP Desktops

An anonymous reader writes: London’s Met Police has missed its deadline for abandoning the out-of-date operating system Windows XP, as findings reveal 27, 000 computers still run on the software two years after official support ended. Microsoft stopped issuing updates and patches for Windows XP in Spring 2014, meaning that any new bugs and flaws in the operating system are left open to attack. A particularly risky status for the UK capital’s police force – itself running operations against hacking and other cybercrime activity. The figures were disclosed by Conservative politician Andrew Boff. The Greater London Assembly member said: ‘The Met should have stopped using Windows XP in 2014 when extended support ended, and to hear that 27, 000 computers are still using it is worrying.’ As in similar cases across civil departments, the core problem is bespoke system development, and the costs and time associated with integrating a new OS with customized systems. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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London’s Metropolitan Police Still Running 27,000 Windows XP Desktops

When Splines Were Physical Objects

CAD jockeys among you have a clear idea of what a spline is: However, you may not realize that splines were once physical things. In an era prior to CAD and large-format printing, when draftsmen needed to lay out full-sized curves—for boatbuilding, airplane manufacturing and the like—this is how they did it: To be clear, the “spline” is the actual strip of wood being bent and held in place. The things holding it in place are called spline weights, or colloquially, “ducks” or “whales.” They weigh about five pounds apiece. Spline weights were typically cast in lead, then painted to prevent the user from transferring lead smudges from his hands onto the drawing. The bottom was lined in felt, to prevent tearing the paper it sat on. A protruding hook was used to pin the spline itself down. The surfaces of these heavy objects were purposely cast rough, which made them easier to pick up. In 2005 a company named Edson began manufacturing spline weights out of bronze rather than lead, to reduce the health risk. (It’s not clear if they manufacture them anymore, and I couldn’t find them anywhere on Edson’s website; outside of a handful of boatbuilding schools, no one has much use for spline weights these days.) Ironically, here are some splines of a spline weight. Anyways, next time you CAD jockeys are trying to massage the carpal tunnel out of your wrist, just be glad your mouse doesn’t weigh five pounds.

Return of Dieselgate: 3 more hidden programs found in VW Audi/Porsche firmware

The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag says that US investigators have discovered three more hidden cheat apps in a Volkswagen product line: these ones were discovered in 3-liter Audi diesels. (more…)

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Return of Dieselgate: 3 more hidden programs found in VW Audi/Porsche firmware

Looks Like a Russian Cybergang Hacked Into One of the World’s Largest Payment Systems

According to a report by security blogger Brian Krebs, Oracle’s popular MICROS point-of-sale terminals support website was commandeered by a Russian cybergang. This is bad since MICROS is in the top three most popular payment systems in the world. Read more…

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Looks Like a Russian Cybergang Hacked Into One of the World’s Largest Payment Systems

FCC hopes to speed up 5G rollouts by cutting red tape

The FCC really, really wants to get the ball rolling on 5G mobile networks, and it’s willing to make an end run around some of the usual bureaucracy to make that happen. The Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has struck a deal that will skip historic preservation reviews for small 5G cell sites across the US. So long as the sites aren’t going to “adversely impact” historic locations, they’ll get up and running that much faster. The FCC will also “welcome input” on how to improve things further. This doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be using a 5G smartphone any time soon. The telecom industry has yet to even settle on a 5G standard, let alone build the equipment you’ll need to get online. The FCC also isn’t giving carte blanche to carriers, as it still wants “responsible” deployments. However, this raises hopes that the next wave of high-speed cellular data won’t take quite so long to arrive as LTE did — you could see meaningful coverage relatively quickly. Source: FCC

Researchers crack open unusually advanced malware that hid for 5 years

The name “Project Sauron” came from code contained in one of the malware’s configuration files. (credit: Kaspersky Lab) Security experts have discovered a malware platform that’s so advanced in its design and execution that it could probably have been developed only with the active support of a nation state. The malware—known alternatively as “ProjectSauron” by researchers from Kaspersky Lab and “Remsec” by their counterparts from Symantec—has been active since at least 2011 and has been discovered on 30 or so targets. Its ability to operate undetected for five years is a testament to its creators, who clearly studied other state-sponsored hacking groups in an attempt to replicate their advances and avoid their mistakes. State-sponsored groups have been responsible for malware like the Stuxnet- or National Security Agency-linked Flame , Duqu , and Regin . Much of ProjectSauron resides solely in computer memory and was written in the form of Binary Large Objects, making it hard to detect using antivirus. Because of the way the software was written, clues left behind by ProjectSauron in so-called software artifacts are unique to each of its targets. That means that clues collected from one infection don’t help researchers uncover new infections. Unlike many malware operations that reuse servers, domain names, or IP addresses for command and control channels, the people behind ProjectSauron chose a different one for almost every target. Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Researchers crack open unusually advanced malware that hid for 5 years

Hulu is ending the free version of its streaming service

Hulu is eliminating the ad-supported free streaming service it has offered over nearly a decade. The platform is opting instead to team up with Yahoo with a special distribution deal that’s spawning Yahoo View , a new TV streaming service with a small selection of what Hulu previously offered free viewers. Yahoo View will feature the five most recent episodes of shows selected from ABC, NBC and Fox eight days after their original air date. Additional series and a sampling of clips, anime and Korean drama will be made available as well. Yahoo View is available to pore over now if you’re interested in giving it a go over subscribing to Hulu. Going forward the streaming service will continue to offer the same two subscription plans: $7.99 a month with commercials and $11.99 a month without ad-supported viewing. Yahoo is currently being acquired by Verizon as part of a $4.8 billion deal, which isn’t expected to close until the end of 2016 or the first quarter of 2017. The partnership with Hulu should no doubt draw some support for Yahoo, especially since Hulu’s former free content enthusiasts will need to seek a new home for their streaming fix. Via: Variety

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Hulu is ending the free version of its streaming service

Hackers Make the First-Ever Ransomware For Smart Thermostats

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, writing for Motherboard: One day, your thermostat will get hacked by some cybercriminal hundreds of miles away who will lock it with malware and demand a ransom to get it back to normal, leaving you literally in the cold until you pay up a few hundred dollars. This has been a scenario that security experts have touted as one of the theoretical dangers of the rise of the Internet of Things, internet-connected devices that are often insecure. On Saturday, what sounds like a Mr. Robot plot line came one step closer to being reality, when two white hat hackers showed off the first-ever ransomware that works against a “smart” device, in this case, a thermostat. Luckily, Andrew Tierney and Ken Munro, the two security researchers who created the ransomware, actually have no ill intention. They just wanted to make a point: some Internet of Things devices fail to take simple security precautions, leaving users in danger. “We don’t have any control over our devices, and don’t really know what they’re doing and how they’re doing it, ” Tierney told Motherboard. “And if they start doing something you don’t understand, you don’t really have a way of dealing with it.” Tierney and Munro, who both work UK-based security firm Pen Test Partners, demonstrated their thermostat ransomware proof-of-concept at the hacking conference Def Con on Saturday, fulfilling the pessimistic predictions of some people in security world. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Hackers Make the First-Ever Ransomware For Smart Thermostats

AT&T ordered to pay $7.75 million for bogus directory assistance tools

US telecom providers have a pretty bad rap, and today we’re finding out that some AT&T customers ended up paying money they shouldn’t have thanks to some scammers. The FCC just released a statement noting that it reached a settlement with AT&T in which the carrier will pay $7.75 million after it accidentally allowed scammers to charge $9 a month to unsuspecting wireline customers for a “sham” directory assistance service. Adding insult to injury, it seems this service was set up as a tool to help launder money; the scam was originally uncovered by the DEA. AT&T said in a statement that “two companies that engaged in a sophisticated fraud scheme were apparently able to circumvent those protections and submit unauthorized third-party charges that were billed by AT&T.” According to the FCC, AT&T received a fee each time this fraudulent service appeared on a customer’s bill, but the so-called service provider never actually provided anything to these customers, most of which were small businesses. Out of the $7.75 million AT&T is paying up, $6.8 million will go towards refunds and a paltry $950, 000 will go to the US treasury as a fine. Given that AT&T pulled in $40.5 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter, it’s a stretch to call that fine even a slap on the wrist. This is hardly the first time US telecom providers have gotten in trouble for such shady practices — in 2014, AT&T itself paid a much larger $105 million settlement for cramming false charges onto its customers’ bills. T-Mobile also paid $90 million in a 2014 settlement , while Verizon and Sprint paid $90 million and $68 million, respectively, last winter. We’re hoping the FCC continues to pay close attention to these shady practices. AT&T’s full statement is below: “Consistent with industry practices, AT&T wireline telephone customers have been able to purchase certain telecommunications services from third parties and have charges for those services billed on their telephone bill. We have implemented strict requirements on third parties submitting charges for AT&T bills to ensure that all charges are authorized by our customers; indeed, those requirements go beyond the requirements of FCC rules and impose safeguards that the FCC proposed but never adopted. Nonetheless, unbeknownst to us, two companies that engaged in a sophisticated fraud scheme were apparently able to circumvent those protections and submit unauthorized third-party charges that were billed by AT&T.” “Today, we reached a settlement with the FCC to resolve all claims associated with these companies and the related charges. Pursuant to the settlement, we will provide refunds for all charges on behalf of these two companies going back to January 1, 2012. Affected former and current AT&T wireline telephone customers will receive these refunds via check within 90 days. We stopped billing for these entities as of June 2015 and will also cease wireline third-party billing for other third parties, with limited exceptions.” Source: FCC

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AT&T ordered to pay $7.75 million for bogus directory assistance tools

Ken May

Author: kenmay