official – Tech Today w/ Ken May

NVIDIA ‘Max-Q’ gaming laptops are ultrabooks with GTX 1080 power

Based on NVIDIA’s 2017 Computex announcements, PC gamers won’t have to choose between bulky gaming laptops and desktop-level processing power for much longer. A new design called “Max-Q” is arriving in new laptops that it claims are both 3x thinner and 3x more powerful than their predecessors — think 18mm thick, 5 pounds and with the power of NVIDIA’s GTX 1080 inside. Plus, there’s “WhisperMode, ” which can pace the game’s framerate to keep the laptop cool and quiet during a plugged-in gaming session. When the new laptops roll out beginning June 27th , the top of the line options well outpace current options like Razer’s GTX 1060-powered 4K Blade . There aren’t specific benchmarks listed, but a graph on the official website claims an average 1.8x performance increase over GTX1060 when running “AAA” titles at 4K. During the demo, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang showed off a 5-lb laptop running Project Cars 2 , saying it was 60 percent faster than the PS4 Pro. NVIDIA says that they’re not only engineered to be thin and light across the “chip, drivers, thermal and electrical components, ” but that its software optimizes settings and the workload across CPU/GPU to regulate power and heat. They aren’t all super powerful however, with models on the way from “Acer, Aftershock, Alienware, ASUS, Clevo, Dream Machine, ECT, Gigabyte, Hasee, HP, LDLC, Lenovo, Machenike, Maingear, Mechrevo, MSI, Multicom, Origin PC, PC Specialist, Sager, Scan, Terrans Force, Tronic’5, and XoticPC, ” they will include GTX 1060, 1070 and 1080 level GPUs inside. Source: NVIDIA Blog , NVIDIA

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NVIDIA ‘Max-Q’ gaming laptops are ultrabooks with GTX 1080 power

This Wii emulator lets you buy actual games from Nintendo’s Shop Channel

A short video explains the new functionality that lets the Dolphin emulator access the official Wii Shop Channel. Perfect accuracy is an extremely ambitious goal for any console emulator to shoot for, and it’s one that many emulators never come close to achieving. The team behind the open source Dolphin emulator took a major step closer to reaching that goal last week, though, releasing a new version that can actually purchase and download games legitimately from the Wii Shop Channel. Accessing Nintendo’s Shop Channel servers from the PC-based emulator isn’t exactly a plug-and-play affair. For one thing, you’ll need to use some homebrew software on an actual Wii to dump the contents of the system’s NAND memory . From there, you have to use some special software tools to extract the certificates and keys that Nintendo uses when validating connections to its online servers. With all that in place, though, Version 5.0-2874 of Dolphin can now connect to the Wii Shop Channel servers to download WiiWare and Virtual Console games. The emulator will even let you re-download games that were previously purchased on the original Wii itself and let you enter a valid credit card to purchase new games. (This is why people use emulators, right?) Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Malware found preinstalled on 38 Android phones used by 2 companies

Enlarge (credit: portal gda ) A commercial malware scanner used by businesses has recently detected an outbreak of malware that came preinstalled on more than three dozen Android devices. An assortment of malware was found on 38 Android devices belonging to two unidentified companies. This is according to a blog post published Friday by Check Point Software Technologies, maker of a mobile threat prevention app. The malicious apps weren’t part of the official ROM firmware supplied by the phone manufacturers but were added later somewhere along the supply chain. In six of the cases, the malware was installed to the ROM using system privileges, a technique that requires the firmware to be completely reinstalled for the phone to be disinfected. “This finding proves that, even if a user is extremely careful, never clicks a malicious link, or downloads a fishy app, he can still be infected by malware without even knowing it,” Check Point Mobile Threat Researcher Daniel Padon told Ars. “This should be a concern for all mobile users.” Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Malware found preinstalled on 38 Android phones used by 2 companies

132 Google Play apps tried to infect Android users with… Windows malware

Enlarge (credit: Palo Alto Networks ) It’s a mystery that left researchers scratching their heads: 132 Android apps in the official Google Play market attempted to infect users with… Windows malware. The apps, which were spawned by seven different developers, mostly contained carefully concealed HTML-based iframe tags that connected to two heavily obfuscated malicious domains. In one case, an app didn’t use iframes but instead used Microsoft’s Visual Basic language to inject an entire obfuscated Windows executable into the HTML. The apps were equipped with two capabilities. One was to load interstitial ads, and the other was to load the main app. The main apps loaded WebView components that were configured to allow loaded JavaScript code to access the app’s native functionality. An example of one infected app’s user interface and underlying code. (credit: Palo Alto Networks ) That was a lot of work considering that the Windows-based malware was incapable of executing on an Android device. On top of that, the two malicious domains in the iframes—brenz.pl and chura.pl—were taken over by Polish security authorities in 2013. So what, precisely, was going on? Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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132 Google Play apps tried to infect Android users with… Windows malware

NVIDIA’s ‘Vault 1080’ is a gloomy ‘Fallout 4’ mod

NVIDIA and LightSpeed Studio have teamed up to create Vault 1080, a special add-on level mod for Fallout 4 . The mod, which is free to download and play, will add on a side quest that offers an extra hour of gameplay within the confines of Vault 1080, sending players through an area described as a “foggy, murky marsh” to the ruins of an old church where previously the congregation embraced “darkness and sickness” to survive. There’s no telling what kind of twisted goings-on happened within, but it’s up to you to uncover it in this horror-based mod that took over 6 months to develop. It’ll require the same system requirements as Fallout 4 and utilizes the same NVIDIA GameWorks tech like volumetric lighting and FleX-powered weapon debris. Sounds perfect for the gloomy Vault 1080, doesn’t it? If you’re interested in trying it out, you can grab the mod via Bethesda or read about it further at the official NVIDIA blog . Source: NVIDIA

Pandora’s new streaming service could launch as soon as September

We’ve know about Pandora’s plan to turn the remaining pieces of Rdio into its own subscription service for some time now, but thanks to The Wall Street Journal, we know that the launch could be imminent. WSJ reports that the company is close to securing the necessary licensing deals for the new paid service in both the US and abroad. The media outlet’s sources indicate that in addition to a free tier, there will also be two paid options — a detail we’ve heard the company’s CEO discuss in the past. We surmise that listening for free means that you’ll have to suffer through some ads, but that’s something Pandora will likely confirm at launch. While Pandora’s version of streaming has focused on internet radio stations based on an artist, this new service will be on-demand like Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music. The company hasn’t offered an update on the launch of the “expanded listening experience” it touted after nabbing what was left of Rdio last year. At that time, the vague “late 2016” estimate was offered. According to WSJ though, the new paid tiers could arrive as soon as next month. Pandora One currently offers ad-free listening with the ability to skip more often and other features for $5 a month or via a day pass for 99 cents. In terms of pricing, Pandora CEO Tim Westergren discussed the two paid tiers in an interview back in June. He explained that in addition to a $10 monthly plan, the company also aims to offer a cheaper option with “mid-level” features. Of course, timing to the official announcement is dependent on these pending licensing deals, but from the details of this latest report, it sounds like Pandora will have some news for us in the near future. Source: The Wall Street Journal

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Pandora’s new streaming service could launch as soon as September

Android M’s official name is… Marshmallow [Update: Version 6.0]

https://twitter.com/davey_burke/status/633324719266115584 With every major Android launch comes a new codename, and for each new codename, Google adds a statue to the lawn in its Mountain View headquarters. The latest Android version has only been known by its codename—Android M—but today Google unveiled the official name: Marshmallow. Dave Burke, Android’s VP of engineering, unveiled the statue on Twitter just a few minutes ago. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Android M’s official name is… Marshmallow [Update: Version 6.0]

Microsoft Edge Is the Official Name of the IE-Slaying Spartan Browser

One of the most exciting additions to Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10 operating system is the IE browser killer, Project Spartan. We’ve been excited for months and months, but Spartan was never even meant to be the new browser’s final name, but today Microsoft revealed the official moniker of its next-gen window to the internet—Microsoft Edge! Read more…

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Microsoft Edge Is the Official Name of the IE-Slaying Spartan Browser