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Meltdown and Spectre fixes: all you need to know

Remember Meltdown and Spectre? If you don’t, take a look at our article on those exploits, as they most likely make your device vulnerable. It’s been nearly two months since Meltdown and Spectre went public. In this time, manufacturers like Intel and providers like Microsoft have been rushing to provide quick, secure fixes to the exploits. Meltdown & Spectre fixes have progressed enough for us to have a better idea of what to expect from them. Where can I get Meltdown & Spectre fixes? Meltdown effects every modern Intel processor and is the most severe of the two exploits. Meltdown fixes have fortunately been rolled

Companies, CPU, Enterprise, Hardware, HP, Microsoft, Mixed Reality (MR), News, Virtual Reality (VR)

HP muscles into VR hardware space

HP appears to be the latest hardware manufacturer to be making a strong push into the VR space, after announcing a range of developments including the pending release of a professional version of its mixed reality headset. The announcements came earlier this week at SOLIDWORKS World, a popular event for those working in the field of 3D CAD. Among the product announcements are an upgrade to the HP Z4 Workstation, the pending (March) release of the commercial-grade HP Windows Mixed Reality Headset – Professional Edition, an HP VR Launch Kit designed for specialized VR deployment, and the extension of HP’s Device as a Service offering

3D, Amazon, Augmented Reality (AR), CPU, Graphics, Hardware, HTC, Internet, Mobile Computing, News, Virtual Reality (VR)

Smartphones gain PC-strength VR capabilities via new codec

NGCodec, a company that specializes in developing algorithms, silicon logic and FPGA implementations for cloud video processing, this week announced the availability of their potentially transformative cloud-based encoding technologies via the Amazon AWS Marketplace. The company’s RealityCodec acts as a low-delay H.265/HEVC encoder, which allows much of the processing load of VR video streams to be shifted into the cloud. The codec also boasts sufficiently low latency that it can reliably deliver VR streams to untethered, mobile, VR head-mounted displays. “We have worked diligently to bring our advanced video codecs to the Amazon Cloud and to demonstrate the potential for cloud media and virtual reality,”

Apple, CPU, Hardware, News, OSx, Virtual Reality (VR)

Most powerful Mac ever could cost you over $13,000

Those in the market for a very expensive, last-minute Christmas gift may be in luck — on December 14, Apple made its new iMac Pro available for purchase. Lauded as the most powerful Mac in the company’s history, the workstation-class iMac Pro features Xeon multi-core processors, a 27” 5K Retina display, and heaps of additional features. That this new machine is being released at the same time as a significant upgrade to Final Cut Pro X is not coincidental. This is decidedly not a computer intended for consumer audiences — it is, rather, a powerful workstation intended to provide the raw computing power needed for

Audio/Video, Biotech, CPU, Education, Graphics, Hardware, News

Promising display technique may help avoid VR sickness

European researchers today announced a display technique that may help many virtual reality users avoid nausea, one of the most common symptoms of “virtual reality sickness.” Virtual reality sickness, which often causes symptoms similar to motion sickness, can result from latency between eye movement and displayed changes in the VR environment. Often, there is a trade-off when using higher resolution images in VR: although they improve realism, they also increase computational processing demands, which can increase nausea-inducing latency. These latest findings by researchers at Brunel University London, and the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences and Saarland University in Germany, builds upon a technique called “foveated

AMD, Breaking, CPU, Enterprise, Hardware, Intel, Microsoft, News, Nvidia, Operating Systems, VR World, Windows

Microsoft Launches Windows 10 Pro for Workstations

Microsoft demonstrated today that the company is keeping its flagship product in touch with the advances in computer hardware. The company announced new version of Windows 10 Pro, named Windows 10 Pro for Workstations. This OS is slated to arrive with the Fall edition of Windows Creators Update. With AMD and Intel releasing 32- and 28-core processors, reporting as much as 128 cores/threads in a 2P (dual socket) configuration, the question how will Microsoft follow the breakneck pace of CPU and GPU wars. New Windows 10 Pro represents a highly tuned version of operating system, focusing on reducing system latency and increasing responsiveness as much

Augmented Reality (AR), Breaking, Business, CPU, Exclusive, Hardware, Intel, Mobile Computing, News, Wearables

Intel Dismisses IoT for Augmented and Virtual Reality

The IoT community recently looked in disbelief as Intel started to dismantle its IoT efforts – the amount of emails we received is quite surprising, as we’re not exactly a logical place to go for IoT information. However, Intel terminated the business division that was developing wearable devices such as fitness trackers, digital clothing, baby monitors, etc. It also EOL-ed (End-of-Life) numerous IoT products with the notable exception of Curie, which is quite popular. There’s a clear reason why, and it can be found in recent ‘resurrection’ of Google Glass in ‘Enterprise Edition’, as well as wanting to react to popular products from Vuzix and ODG (Osterhaut

AMD, Breaking, Business, CPU, Hardware, Intel, News

Intel Reacts to AMD, Accelerates New Processors and Platforms

Following what was expected, yet still surprising launch of AMD RYZEN, and lackluster performance from its broken “Tick-Tock-Tock-Tock…” cadence refresh called “Kaby Lake”, Intel started to pull multiple moves in the background to react to the threats to their core business. Just like the rise of GPU was met with a multi-billion acquisition of Altera, whose combined x86-FPGA processors are still nowhere near the market launch, upcoming End of Life / Termination notice for Xeon Phi and rushed multi-billion acquisition of Mobileye… the reactions are starting to look chaotic and unplanned. Reliable sources report that Intel brought forward the launch of their 2017/18 platforms: two month

3D, AMD, Apple, ARM, Business, CPU, Exclusive, Graphics, Hardware, Intel, News, Nvidia, Qualcomm, startups

Two New X86 CPU Vendors coming to Market in 2018, 2020

One of everlasting legacies from former President of The United States (POTUS) Mr. Barrack Obama will be the creation of Chinese semiconductor industry. Following the ban on completion of Tianhe-2 supercomputer in 2014, Chinese government did not double down, but decided to put semiconductor industry as one of top 3 national priorities, and started to infuse over a quarter of trillion U.S. dollars, i.e. 2 trillion RMB (Yuan) into the domestic semiconductor industry, creating not a train, but a “Hyperloop Express” that is changing the semiconductor industry landscape. First, we’re starting to see the power of homegrown computers with ShenWei 260-core CPU processors powering the

AMD, Breaking, Business, Cloud Computing, CPU, Enterprise, Hardware, News, VR World

AMD Previews Next Gen Opteron, Naples Server Processor

After a big interest and success with the launch of Ryzen family of processors for consumers, AMD formally announced its new Naples server CPU today, featuring up to 32 cores, eight memory channels, and new, 128-lane Infinity Fabric. Codenamed “Naples”, the new server chip targets one and two-socket servers, aimed squarely at Intel’s Broadwell-EP-based Xeon E3/E5 V4 range, and the upcoming Skylake-EP-based Xeon E3/E5 “V5”. The overall theme of AMD’s chip is “have more of everything.” Naples has 32 cores, capable of 64 simultaneous threads, eight memory channels, supporting up to 2TB RAM and 128 PCIe 3.0 lanes. The PCIe pins are multiplexed and can

AMD, Analysis, Business, CPU, Event, Hardware, News

AMD Ships One Million Ryzen Processors for the Launch

During the official launch event in San Francisco, AMD revealed / confirmed rumors about their upcoming Ryzen family of processors. Focus seems to be on what seems to be “Intel-beating” Ryzen 7, their new top of the line processors. Ryzen 7 line-up consists solely out of 8 cores, 16 threads processors. A trio of fastest Ryzen models will launch globally on March 2, and according to Digitimes, the company prepared no less than one million processors for the launch itself. That one million is essentially consisted out of three models, plus the upcoming Ryzen 3 and 5 Series. In all fairness, it is weird to

AMD, Analysis, Breaking, Business, CPU, Enterprise, Exclusive, Hardware, Intel, Opinion, VR World

Intel Can’t Hide Strategical Mistakes, AMD to Pounce?

If you would align your wristwatch to the sound of Intel’s tick tock, you would miss your important meeting. The launch of a new generation of processors represents a symbolic beginning of a new cycle and for Intel, “Kaby Lake” launch was everything but normal. First launching the Ultra-low Voltage parts (the U series), then the Desktop line-up and finally the mainstream notebook designs, with troublesome rumors about its enterprise, Xeon-branded counterpart. Kaby Lake is perhaps too focused on the processor power task rather than processor performance. A lullaby. The same story for the last six years continues. Admittedly, for the past 18 months there were whispers

Breaking, Business, CPU, Gaming, Hardware, News, Virtual Reality (VR)

ASUS Expedition Targets eSports and VR Cafes

Gaming is not just popular in China, it’s more widespread than mainstream sports. For example, there are over 540 million registered gamers in China. United States has 325.5 million, while European Union has 510.1 million people. Unlike its western counterparts, massive number of gamers in China play not in their homes, but rather in locations such as iCafes i.e. ‘internet cafes’. According to a report from Niko Partners, the research company in Asian Games Market Intelligence, in 2015 there were 146,000 icafes with 20 million daily users. In 2016., revenues from mobile, PC and console games in China exceeded $26 billion. Besides the mobile gaming, internet cafe is

Breaking, Business, Consumer Electronics Show (CES), CPU, Event, Hardware, News

EKWB Celebrates 10th Anniversary with an Impressive Collectable

EKWB, one of first liquid cooling manufacturers just celebrated its first decade as a company. Originally started as a project from Edvard Koenig, it grew to a 70 employees company once it was backed by a business angel Matjaz Krc. The company proudly manufacturers majority of their products in Europe, with the majority of suppliers coming from the automotive, avionics and medical industry in the Austria-Italy-Hungary-Croatia-Slovenia basin. Predator line of AIO (all-in-one) products carries same components as used in hypercars or submarines. Thus, when the first decade “dinged”, company founders decided to share the success by releasing a special, limited edition product. EK Supremacy EVO

AMD, Breaking, Business, Companies, CPU, Event, Hardware, News, VR World

AMD RYZEN Launch: Finally a Competitor?

At their “New Horizon” event in Austin, Texas, AMD (finally) introduced the first production Zen processor. To make the matters interesting, the company did not show the high end version of the Zen architecture, but rather the entry level 8-core version. The demonstrations included several CPU-intensive workloads; Blender and Handbrake, 3D rendering tasks with the ZBrush and KeyShot. No enthusiast demonstration would be complete without gaming, thus AMD also included Doom, Star Wars: Battlefront (Rogue One DLC), Dota 2, and Battlefield 1 demonstrations. The event also featured a demonstration of base 8-core Zen (product line also to include sexa-core and quad-core processors) going against an 8-core Broadwell-E Core i7-6900K in

Business, CPU, Hardware, Internet of Things (IoT), Military, Mobile, News, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World, Wearables, Wearables

Lattice just announced iCE40 UltraPlus

After launching Ultra family in 2014, and the UltraLite Family in early 2015 – Lattice just announced a new member of the iCE40 FPGA family. ICE40 Ultra Plus delivers eight times more memory (1.1 Mbit RAM), twice the digital signal processors (8x DSPs), and improved I/Os over previous generations. Available in multiple package sizes, the programmable nature of the iCE40 UltraPlus device is ideal for smartphones, wearable tech, drones, 360 cameras, human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and industrial automation, as well as security and surveillance products. The variety of sensors needed to implement innovative HMI solutions are rapidly changing the I/O landscape. Today’s mobile devices require ever

Breaking, Business, Companies, CPU, Event, Graphics, Hardware, Microsoft, News, Virtual Reality (VR), Wearables

Microsoft Finalizing Its HoloLens, VR Headset Specifications

In just a few days time, Microsoft will host WinHEC, its annual hardware / platform conference. This time around, the location is Shenzhen, China – also known as the hardware design capital of the world. Intel has 600 people here working on hardware form factors, while the similar story is with Microsoft and a few other known global players. 2017-2018 hardware strategy will evolve around two things: Microsoft HoloLens and “Microsoft VR”. The first device will be built and branded as Microsoft, while the latter will be a specification for the selected partners – Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo. Should the VR headsets from the partners take

Augmented Reality (AR), Business, CPU, Gaming, Graphics, Hardware, News, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World, Wearables, Wearables

Does MSI Hold a Trump Card in Wireless VR Race?

Several weeks ago, MSI announced the MSI VR One backpack at the Tokyo Game Show. Unlike the competition, MSI also made an announcement about the future sales as well, launching into production during October. Originally intended for launch on October 30th, it took until middle of November to bring the availability of VR One into both North America and Europe. Truth to be told, the concept of a portable VR backpack is getting challenged by innovations such as the HTC/TPCast Wireless Gig (60GHz) concept product. The extent and efficiency of wireless data transfer between headset and PC’s has not yet been confirmed in practice. Nor how it

Breaking, CPU, Hardware, Intel, Microsoft, Mobile, Mobile Computing, Reviews, Tablets, VR World

Cube i7 Book 2 Intel Tablet with Windows 10

After a recent review of Onda OBook 20, we were wondering what are further developments in the world of affordable tablets and convertibles. Onda’s dual boot feature was quite intriguing, but being based on Cherry Trail meant the performance was somewhat lagging even behind the Qualcomm Snapdragon processors (in case of Android OS). After some digging, we discovered the Cube i7 Book 2 tablet/laptop. Amazingly, it isn’t all that more expensive than the Cherry Trail-based Obook. Decision to name the product “I7” in order to bring attention to the processing side would pay dividends if the Cube I7 actually featured Intel’s Core i7 processor. Instead, this

3D, Breaking, Business, Companies, CPU, Exclusive, Hardware, Memory & Storage Space, Reviews, startups, Virtual Reality (VR), VR World

Hands On Review: PIMAX 4K VR Headset

Several weeks ago, we posted the story on the very first 4K VR headset, coming from PIMAX. Apparently, the name of the company is “Maximum Pi” based on mathematical skills of the founder, but the similarity with a well known Canadian company – (P)IMAX is just too close. Given that headsets are bound to go into higher resolutions and refresh rates, we were intrigued can the relatively unknown manufacturer from Shenzhen beat the well established players on the market. First off, the packaging – the retail package is smaller than one might expect – significantly smaller than HTC Vive, and about a quarter smaller than Oculus Rift. Inside