surface – Tech Today w/ Ken May

NVIDIA proves the cloud can replace a high-end gaming rig

A year ago, NVIDIA’s GeForce Now game-streaming service let me play The Witcher 3 , a notoriously demanding PC-only title, on a MacBook Air. This year, NVIDIA finally unveiled the Windows version of the service, and it was even more impressive. I was able to play Rainbow Six: Siege and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on underpowered PCs that sell for $200 to $300. If NVIDIA’s Mac demo was a revelation, playing high-end PC games on discount hardware felt like a miracle. Now, after testing the GeForce Now beta release on PCs for a week, I’m even more intrigued by the possibilities of game streaming. To put it simply, the service lets you remotely tap into the power of an expensive gaming rig from any computer. It runs on remote servers powered by NVIDIA’s GTX 1080Ti GPUs. While the company isn’t divulging further specifications, you can bet they’re also stuffed with more than enough RAM and CPU horsepower. (NVIDIA claimed they were the equivalent of a $1, 500 gaming PC a year ago.) When you launch GeForce Now, you’re actually watching a video streaming to your PC. But since there’s very little latency between what you’re seeing and your keyboard and mouse inputs, it feels as if the games are running right on your computer. You don’t need a very powerful PC to run the GeForce Now client. At the minimum, NVIDIA recommends using a 3.1GHz Core i3 processor and 4GB RAM, along with either Intel HD 2000, GeForce 600 series or Radeon HD 3000 graphics. Those are all specs you’ll find in PCs four to six years old. But of course, solid internet access is a must. You’ll need speeds of at least 25Mbps, but NVIDIA advises a 50Mbps connection for the best experience. You’ll also have to make sure your computer has a reliable link to your router — which means you’ll either need to use an Ethernet cable or a 5GHz Wi-Fi network. At the moment, GeForce Now on Macs and PCs only lets you play games you already own on Steam, Blizzard’s Battle.net or Ubisoft’s Uplay. Anything you don’t own can be purchased through the streaming platform. That’s a major difference from GeForce Now on NVIDIA’s SHIELD tablet and set-top box , which includes a handful of titles as part of its $7.99 monthly fee as well as games for purchase. Both versions of the service support popular titles like Overwatch, Call of Duty WWII and The Witcher 3 , but you’ll probably have to wait a bit for them to work with lesser-known games. NVIDIA isn’t specifying what it takes to make a game compatible with the service, but I’d wager it has to test them out to make sure nothing breaks in the streaming process. Setting up GeForce Now is as easy as downloading and installing the client and choosing a title to play. Then you just need to provide your login information for whichever service hosts the game. If you’re launching a Steam title, you’ll end up seeing the service’s familiar Windows interface, where you can either buy the game or download it to your library. One big downside with GeForce Now is that you’ll have to install games every time you want to play them, since you’re thrown onto a different server whenever you log in. It’s not a huge problem, though, since the remote machines are plugged into a fat network pipe and offer unlimited storage. PUBG , which weighs in at 12GB, installed in around four minutes, while The Witcher 3 (31.7GB) took over ten minutes. Devindra Hardawar/AOL On the Surface Laptop — a great ultrabook marred only by its weak integrated graphics — running over our office’s WiFi, PUBG felt almost as smooth as it does on my dedicated gaming rig. It ran at a steady 60 frames per second, even though I cranked the graphics settings to “Ultra” and the resolution to 2, 560 by 1, 400. After a few minutes of running around the game’s apocalyptic European town and taking out other players, I almost forgot I was playing something that was running on a server hundreds of miles away. The game’s excellent audio design also survived — I had no trouble pinpointing people sneaking around a house while wearing headphones, and the bomb strikes in “Red Zones” still rattled my skull. Mostly, though, I was surprised that I didn’t feel any lag while I was using the Surface Laptop’s keyboard and a Logitech wireless G903 gaming mouse. Moving the camera around and aiming my weapons felt incredibly responsive, and I was surprised that I was able to outgun some players in some heated shootouts. That lack of latency as even more impressive with Overwatch , an even faster-paced game. Characters like Tracer and Genji, both of whom would be tough to play with any noticeable lag, felt as nimble as they do on my desktop. I didn’t even have trouble landing shots with snipers like Hanzo and Ana. I was simply able to enjoy playing the game as I normally do. And, even more so than PUBG , I was impressed by how well GeForce Now handled Overwatch’s vibrant and colorful graphics. Gorgeous maps like Ilios and Dorado appeared as detailed as ever, and the same goes for the game’s imaginative character models and costumes. GeForce Now easily handled graphically intensive titles like Destiny 2 and The Witcher 3 , which felt even more impressive to play on the Surface Laptop. Both games managed to run at 60 FPS at a 2, 560 by 1, 400 resolution (the service supports up to 2, 560 by 1, 600), with all of their graphics settings turned all the way up. Even though Destiny 2 isn’t exactly a fast-paced shooter, it still benefited from the service’s low latency, which helped me mow down waves of enemies without much trouble. And with the Witcher 3 , I was impressed that its graphically rich world didn’t lose any fidelity while being streamed. Perhaps because these games are particularly demanding, I occasionally experienced connection hiccups while playing them. They only lasted a few seconds, but if I were fighting against tough bosses, they could have easily led to my doom. Those disruptions also made it clear that your experience with GeForce Now will depend largely on your internet connection. I had a mostly trouble-free experience in our office and at home, where I have 100 Mbps cable service. But if you don’t have a steady 25 Mbps connection, Ethernet access or strong wireless reception, you’ll likely see more gameplay-disrupting issues. I wasn’t able to run any games at Starbucks locations around NYC, and based on my terrible experiences with hotel WiFi, I’d wager you’d have trouble using GeForce Now while traveling, too. (The service is only supported in the US and Europe, at the moment.) Devindra Hardawar/AOL The big problem with GeForce Now? We don’t know what the service will look like once it leaves beta. You can request access now , and if you’re lucky enough to get in, you can test the service for free. NVIDIA isn’t giving us a timeframe for an official release, or how much it’ll eventually cost. Based on what we typically see with streaming services, I’d also expect GeForce Now’s smooth performance to take a hit once it’s open to the hordes of frag-happy gamers. For now, though, it’s a glimpse at the true future of gaming — a world where we don’t have to worry if our video cards are fast enough, or if we have enough hard drive space for a massive open world game. Well, as long as you have an internet connection fast enough to handle all of that gaming goodness.

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NVIDIA proves the cloud can replace a high-end gaming rig

HP Envy x2 hands-on: A Snapdragon-powered, always-on PC

For its first “Always Connected” PC, HP made a pragmatic choice: It stuffed a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor into its latest Surface clone, the Envy x2 . The result is compelling: A thin and light laptop with 20 hours of battery life, and built-in LTE connectivity. It’s precisely the sort of machine that Microsoft envisioned when it revealed its vision of always connected devices at Computex . At first glance, the Envy X2 doesn’t seem that different than a typical hybrid PC. It’s slightly thinner than an iPad Pro, at 6.9 millimeters thick, and it weighs just 1.54 pounds. Thanks to its aluminum case, it feels like a premium device. The bundled keyboard case, which wraps around the entire tablet, also houses its kickstand. You won’t notice anything out of the ordinary until you take a look at the “System” menu to see that it’s powered by a Snapdragon process. Which, of course, is exactly what HP wants. Based on my short time with the x2, it felt a lot like HP’s recent Spectre x2 hybrid. The keyboard was comfortable to use and sturdy enough to handle my heavy typing style. Every key also had a satisfying amount of travel, something we don’t see too often on hybrid machines (aside from the Surface devices). Its case is a bit awkward though — while it offers a decent amount of protection, a built-in kickstand would be more convenient for using the x2 for things like viewing video in bed. Since it runs Windows 10 S out of the box, it can only run apps from the Windows Store. But, just like the Surface Laptop, you can also upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free down the line. Performance-wise, the x2 kept up with me as I opened several Office apps, Paint 3D, and Edge windows and tabs. There weren’t any games to play, and I didn’t have a chance to test out extreme multi-tasking scenarios, unfortunately. But, for the most part, it seems like the x2 can handle basic productivity tasks, despite its mobile CPU. Another potential limiting factor is its 4GB of RAM, something that could easily get filled up if you’re addicted to opening dozens of browser tabs at once. Developing…

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HP Envy x2 hands-on: A Snapdragon-powered, always-on PC

Surface Book 2: More cores, more GPU, and more screen

Just over two years ago, Microsoft unveiled its Surface Book hybrid laptop : a tablet with a detachable hinged keyboard base. It was a compelling concept , with Microsoft pulling off some clever tricks. The base contained a battery, boosting the life of the tablet portion substantially, and could optionally contain a discrete GPU, too. A little under a year ago, the Surface Book was partially refreshed: a new base was offered with a bigger battery and a faster GPU. The tablet portion, however, was left unchanged. Today, Microsoft unveiled not only a full refresh of the system—both tablet and base are being updated—but a whole new version of the machine. Surface Book 2 (Microsoft is using numerical version number suffixes here, even after abandoning the practice with the Surface Pro ) will come in two sizes. There’s a 13-inch model, same as before, but this is now paired with a 15-inch version. The broad concept of Surface Book remains the same. The screen half of the “laptop” is in fact a tablet computer, containing the processor, memory, mass storage, and a battery; the “keyboard” half is a larger battery, some expansion ports, and, optionally, a discrete GPU. The systems look essentially the same as the old versions, too, with the 15-inch version looking for all intents and purposes like a scaled-up version of the 13-inch one. Read 15 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Microsoft made the Surface Pro both lighter and quieter

Microsoft has mostly left the Surface Pro line untouched since late 2015, but the company is finally giving it a long overdue refresh today. Announced at an event in Shanghai earlier, the new machine — now simply dubbed Surface Pro — packs Intel’s 7th-gen Core processors ( Kaby Lake ; m3, i5 and i7 flavors), an enhanced PixelSense display, optional LTE Advanced radio and a battery life of up to 13.5 hours for video playback, which is a notable jump from the old nine hours. Oh, and there’s no longer a fan for the m3 and i5 models. Simply put, Microsoft calls this “the lightest, the best sounding, the fastest and the quietest Surface Pro ever, ” and the company was keen to claim that its own machine is 1.7 times faster than the iPad Pro . While the machine itself looks pretty much the same as before from afar, up close you’ll notice the slightly rounded edges. What’s also not immediately noticeable is the new hinge design: you can now push it all the way down to 165 degrees — or “Studio Mode, ” as Microsoft would like to call it. Even the Surface Pen has been given a spec bump: the old 1, 024-level pressure sensitivity is now at 4, 096 levels, and it comes with tilt sensitivity along with a speedy 21ms latency. Much like the recently announced Surface Laptop line, the new Surface Pro comes with an Alcantara keyboard in three colors: platinum, cobalt blue and burgundy. Pre-order starts today at $799 and up, with specs starting from 128GB SSD plus 4GB RAM all the way up to 1TB SSD plus 16GB RAM, and it’s shipping in mid-June. This mid-cycle update was expected after Surface chief Panos Panay said that a Surface Pro 5 wouldn’t appear until there’s “an experiential change that makes a huge difference in product line.” Even then, this new Surface Pro does manage to pack a few surprises, so it should keep us entertained for the time being. And if that doesn’t scratch the itch, you could just buy one of the many alternatives from other hardware makers. Jon Fingas contributed to this post. Source: Microsoft

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Microsoft made the Surface Pro both lighter and quieter

Dwarf planet Ceres is ‘oozing’ with water

Scientists already knew via remote observations that Ceres, the dwarf planet (or humongous asteroid if you prefer), has plenty of water in it. The Dawn probe has now revealed that the asteroid is composed of as much as 30 percent water at the poles, explaining its ice volcano and weird bright spots . “It’s just oozing, ” Planetary Science Institute’s Thomas Prettyman told Nature , adding that you’d “just swipe and find the ice table” at Ceres’ northern pole. After entering an orbit around 240 miles above Ceres, Dawn pointed its Gamma Ray and Neutrino Detector (GRaND) instrument at the surface. It was able to glean the water mass by measuring the decay of gamma-rays and neutrons within a few dozen yards of its surface. That gave the team the amount of hydrogen near the surface, from which they deduced the amount of water, present either as ice or locked inside surface minerals. Overall, Ceres could be 17 to 30 percent water by weight, which is a lot, as the quasi-planet weighs around 1 quintillion (a million trillion, or 1 x 10^18) tons. That makes around 0.2-0.3 quintillion tons of water at the high end of the scale, which is not a lot less than the Earth, relatively speaking. Our planet has about 15 quintillion tons of ocean water, but is over 10 times larger in diameter than Ceres. Scientists have theorized that liquid water once flowed inside Ceres during the early years of our solar system. Once it got colder, surface ice sublimated (passed straight from a solid to a gas) at the equators of Ceres, either dissipating into space or forming a very thin atmosphere. However, in the colder, high-latitude areas, “water can survive within a meter of the surface over Ceres’ 4.5 billion year lifetime, ” according to the paper. As we’ve seen with ice volcanoes, it’s still playing havoc beneath its surface. Source: Nature

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Dwarf planet Ceres is ‘oozing’ with water

Dell takes on Surface Studio with its dual-screen Smart Desk concept – it even has a dial

Microsoft impressed a lot of people last week with its announcement of the Surface Studio, a desktop-tablet hybrid with a clever and elegant dial interface. Apparently Dell has been thinking along the same lines, because they just teased something very, very similar — right down to the dial. Read More

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Dell takes on Surface Studio with its dual-screen Smart Desk concept – it even has a dial

Windows 10 ‘Creator’s Update’ coming for free next spring

Even though the Surface line of convertible PCs has made Microsoft a hardware contender, its world still revolves around Windows 10. At today’s event, the company has revealed a lot of details about the next Windows 10 release, dubbed the “Creator’s Update.” That all starts with a new version of Paint it previewed earlier this month that’s far from version you may have created a pixelated doodle with. Instead, it allows you to scan objects from the real world and bring them into a 3D environment. “If we want to make 3D creation for everyone. It has to be as easy as taking a photo, ” Saunders says. The new app lets you scan real objects and get them into Paint as a full 3D object. She showed off the new Capture 3D tool, by walking slowly around a sand castle model with a smartphone and capturing it in full 3D. There’s also a new Community pane that allows you to find and pull in creations from other users. During the demo, Saunders pulled in a 3D cloud created by another user, and used it in montage featuring her daughters. She was able to then transform that into a complete 3D object and, naturally, share the whole thing on Facebook. Naturally, as this is Microsoft, the company showed how such 3D objects can be used in PowerPoint. Developing …

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Windows 10 ‘Creator’s Update’ coming for free next spring

Pluto may have a 60 mile deep liquid water ocean

We used to think of Pluto a remote frigid rock, but since the New Horizons visit, it’s vying for the title of the solar system’s most interesting (ex-) planet. An earlier study showed that its core is warm enough to support a liquid water ocean, and now we’ve learned that it might be huge — at least 100 km (62 miles) deep. The evidence, according to the team from Brown University, comes from a likely impact with massive asteroid. Pluto’s most significant feature is the Sputnik Planam , a heart-shaped crater formed by an impact with an object up to 200 km (125 miles) across. Normally, such a crater would create a “negative mass anomaly, ” or a gouged-out hole with less heft than the terrain around it. However, “that’s not what we see with Sputnik Planum, ” says Brown University geologist Brandon Johnson. Instead, the region unexpectedly has more weight than scientists expect. They know that because of Charon, Pluto’s moon. Like ours, it’s tidally locked with Pluto and always shows the same face to the planet. Interestingly, the Sputnik Planum sits right on the tidal axis, suggesting that there’s more mass in that area. “As Charon’s gravity pulls on Pluto, it would pull proportionally more on areas of higher mass, which would tilt the planet until Sputnik Planum became aligned with the tidal axis, ” the paper states. A closeup of the Sputnik Planum impact crater So why would a crater area be so heavy? The researchers theorize that when a large body impacted Pluto, it created a trampoline effect, drawing material near the core toward the surface. If that material was liquid water, “it may have welled up following the Sputnik Planum impact, evening out the crater’s mass, ” the paper says. Nitrogen ice later filled in the crater to give it extra weight, resulting in a positive mass anomaly. For the simulation to be accurate, the liquid water below the surface must be at least 100km thick with 30 percent salinity. That might seem impossible on a planet with a surface temperature of 44K (-380 F). However, scientists think that radiation heating at the core of the planet and the 300km (200 mile) thick insulating ice shell makes liquid water feasible, in theory. “It’s pretty amazing to me that you have this body so far out in the solar system that still may have liquid water, ” says Johnson. Via: Phys Org Source: Brown University

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Pluto may have a 60 mile deep liquid water ocean

Copyright exemption lets you modify old games to keep them running

You no longer have to dread the day that a game developer shuts off its servers and renders your favorite title unplayable. As part of a series of DMCA copyright exemptions, the US Library of Congress has granted long-sought permission to disable authentication server requirements in games where a server’s shutdown will completely break the experience. Historians can even hack the consoles themselves, if necessary. This doesn’t allow you to tweak games where you’d only lose multiplayer modes, but it does mean that at least some aspects of a classic game will live on. Via: Electronic Frontier Foundation Source: Copyright.gov (PDF)

How Microsoft Kept the Surface Book’s Coolest Feature a Secret

The jaw-dropping new Surface Book arrived with a splash of glitter and surprise . It’s so beautiful, so powerful, so— Oh wait holy shit the screen comes off?! Nobody expected this, and that’s exactly how Microsoft wanted it. Read more…

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How Microsoft Kept the Surface Book’s Coolest Feature a Secret