Razer Core Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Sean Hollister/CNET

On-the-go gamers waiting for details on how they can use the upcoming Razer Core system to add desktop-level graphics to a non-gaming laptop now have two important questions answered. The Core box is shipping in April, and it will cost $499 in the US, with $100 off if purchased along with a Razer Blade Stealth laptop. Of course, you also have to factor in the cost of a standalone desktop graphics card, which can run $500 or more.

When PC and peripherals maker Razer showed off that Razer Blade Stealth laptop at CES 2016, it easily became the most talked-about portable PC of the show. That’s not because the Stealth was a sharply designed slim laptop with plenty of power and a throbbing multicolor keyboard (although the Stealth by itself is certainly an excellent laptop). It was because the Stealth was shown off paired with an external box called the Razer Core.

This box, best described as a Thunderbolt 3 external graphics enclosure, fills a major gap in computers — it gives a slim, portable laptop a chance to play PC games at the same level as a powerful gaming desktop. That’s because the Core is essentially a powered enclosure for a single desktop-level graphics card (which you have to provide). Slide the Core box open (it has a tool-free design), insert a compatible full-size graphics card –both Nvidia and AMD cards will work — into the PCI-Express x16 slot, and connect the entire thing to a compatible laptop, and the PC can access the power of the GPU for gaming or video editing.

Sean Hollister/CNET

The Core is designed specifically for Razer laptops, including the Stealth and the new 14-inch Razer Blade, but the implementation is open enough to work on other laptops. That list may be small, however, as the connection is via Thunderbolt 3, using a USB-C connection, which rules out many current laptops. If used with a Razer Blade Stealth laptop, the Core also supplies power to the computer, which is important, as the USB-C connection is also how the Stealth connects to its power supply.

One of the big reasons one might want to add desktop graphics to a laptop is for virtual reality. Both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets will only work with desktop graphics cards, not the mobile chips found in gaming laptops. We won’t know for sure how well VR headsets will work with the Razer Core, as they still require a desktop CPU as well. But, there’s at least a chance some VR apps will work fine with the combination of a desktop graphics and laptop processors.

The video cards supported include most recent Nvidia and AMD cards. AMD versions will offer better plug-and-play capabilities, at least initially, which means you’re more likely to be able to connect and disconnect the Core without needing to reboot the system or restart programs. The Core has a 375-watt power supply, which should be more than enough for any single graphics card.

Sean Hollister/CNET

The Razer Core is available to preorder now, and units start shipping in April. The Core costs $499 on its own, or $399 with the purchase of a Razer laptop, including the new Razer Blade Stealth, which starts at $999 (previous Stealth purchasers are also eligible for the discounted price). Razer sells products internationally, including in the UK and Australia, but neither the Stealth nor Core are available in those markets yet.

The supported graphics cards for the Razer Core include:

• AMD Radeon R9 Fury
• AMD Radeon R9 Nano
• AMD Radeon R9 300 Series
• AMD Radeon R9 290X
• AMD Radeon R9 290
• AMD Radeon R9 280
• Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 980
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 970
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 960
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 950
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 750

LG’s upcoming developer conference will focus on module creation for the G5

LG has announced that it will host a developer conference that will educate developers on how to create expansion modules for the LG G5. Back at Mobile World Congress, LG stated that it will work with developers in creating an open ecosystem around the modules so that anyone interested in building an expansion module for the phone can do so, with the manufacturer providing the technical know-how and additional support.

With the G5 being the first modular phone from LG, the addressable market for the expansion modules is very limited, but it is possible the manufacturer will carry the modular design forward into 2016, ensuring compatibility with future LG phones. What’s unknown at this stage is the price point of the modules, with LG’s official CAM Plus and Hi-Fi Plus modules set to be “reasonably” priced.

We should get more details at the conference, which will be held in San Francisco next month. The manufacturer has also mentioned that it will release the “LG Friends” software development kit and hardware development kit next month, which will give developers all the resources required to get started with module creation for the G5.

Source: LG

Even researchers agree that slow internet can stress you out

You’re not the only one who gets frustrated when videos buffer too much and too often. Ericsson found that the stress caused by trying to load videos on a slow mobile connection is comparable to the stress you feel while watching a horror movie. The Swedish company discovered that when it conducted an experiment called “The Stress of Streaming Delays.” Sure, Ericsson did it to show brands how slow internet affects them, and it’s true it only had 30 subjects. But we don’t think anyone would disagree that having to endure several seconds to minutes of buffering is frustrating.

Ericsson’s researchers, who measured the subjects’ brain, pulse and heart activities while they were performing tasks on a phone, found that video streaming delays increase heart rate by 38 percent. They also found that a two-second buffering period can double stress levels. When the researchers observed the subjects who were subjected to longer delays (around six seconds), though, they saw their stress levels rise, then fall. The participants showed signs of resignation, including eye movements that indicated distraction — they were already giving up.

We’ll bet that’s a feeling you only know too well. It’s like where you’re pumped to watch the next episode of a series on Netflix/Hulu/YouTube, and it buffers so much, you end up losing interest. The company published its results, which you can view as a PDF right here. It’s a pretty short read for a study if you want to know more about its methodologies… or if you need something to do while the movie you’re watching is buffering.

Via: New York Mag

Source: Ericsson (1), (2)

Computers can tell when you’ve been drunk tweeting

In case the rambling string of misspelled words and incoherent thoughts weren’t dead giveaways, scientists have developed a method of machine learning to sniff out drunk tweets. Researchers from the University of Rochester collected 11,000 geotagged tweets over a year from two areas: New York and Monroe County, filtering the 140-character notes containing “drunk,” “beer,” “party” and other libation-related words. From there the school employed Amazon Mechanical Turks to decide whether the person sending the tweets was simply talking about booze or were actually drinking it while tweeting.

What’s more, the team was able to develop a method for ascertaining if someone was drinking at home or from another location, with 80 percent accuracy. By matching alcohol-sales locations with the geotagged tweets the researchers discovered via algorithm that while more people in New York tweet about booze than in Monroe County, a higher number of residents of the former are drinking within 100 meters of their homes, if not in their homes outright. What’s more, Monroe County residents drink more around a kilometer-plus distance from where they rest their heads.

MIT Technology Review notes that this methodology isn’t a perfect predictor whatsoever, especially since Twitter skews younger and that “certain minorities” are overrepresented. But it is a whole lot less costly and faster than other research methods.The ultimate goal? Studying the ways that drinking changes based on age, sex and ethnicity in addition to hopefully heading off the tragic number of alcohol-related deaths.

Via: MIT Technology Review

Source: Arxiv

PSA: Apple Print Products Store Dropping Support for iPhoto and Aperture on March 31

iPhoto and Aperture were discontinued in the spring of 2015 when Photos for OS X launched as part of OS X Yosemite 10.11.3, but the software continues to be used by many Mac owners who previously had it installed on their machines.

Though Aperture and iPhoto are not available in the Mac App Store and are no longer being updated, the software has remained functional with OS X Yosemite and OS X El Capitan. As of March 31, however, one feature will be disappearing — the ability to order photo books, prints, and other content created within the two apps. Starting on that date, the Apple Print Products Store will no longer support Aperture or iPhoto.

As noted by a MacRumors tipster and the Apple Support forums, iPhoto and Aperture are now notifying customers who order books or prints about the imminent discontinuation of the feature. Apple employees have also been letting customers know that the printing ability will no longer be available, but Apple doesn’t appear to have made an official support document announcing the change.

Photo books, cards, calendars, prints, and more can be created using the Photos for OS X app, which replaced both Aperture and iPhoto.

(Thanks, Mark!)
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A quick hands-on with PlayStation VR

Virtual Reality is hard to miss this year.

Just about every booth here has some kind of VR demo and a huge line to try it out. Today found ourselves immersed within a PlayStation VR helmet, the $399 accessory to your $349 game console. While that sounds like a lot, especially if you’re not really sure what VR is about or why you should care, Sony’s offering undercuts the current “best in breed” but several hundred dollars.

The biggest question is whether that price cut comes with a performance cut, which turned out to be fairly easy to answer.

First off, I’ve had just about every VR headset rest upon my cranium at some time or another. So to say that I was excited to finally get my hands on the PlayStation VR is an understatement. Part of that excitement comes from the fact the headset will the most accessible form of VR for consumers from a financial standpoint. If you already own a PlayStation 4, you’re a $400 headset and a $40 camera away from being VR ready.

As I waited in line waited in line like a kid waiting to get on his favorite roller coaster, I was told that I could either experience Rez Infinite, RIGS: Mechanized Combat League, Job Simulator, or Playroom VR. It turned out I had no choice in the matter and instead it was based solely upon what station finished up first with their demo first. I for one was hoping that I’d end up immersed in the world of Rez Infinite. Instead, I got the RIGS: Mechanized Combat League demo. I had only first heard about it yesterday during PlayStation’s VR presser and it looked as it could be a VR equivalent to Rocket League. But before we talk about the game let me talk about the headset.

The PlayStation VR is easily the sleekest of the bunch and it looks much better in person. But the thing I enjoy most about this headset compared the other VR headsets is that PlayStation VR is without a doubt the most comfortable. Unlike HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, the helmet doesn’t put all of its weight on the bridge of your nose and instead rests it upon the front of the crown of your head.

The helmet — which is what Sony calls this, not me — also doesn’t rely on nylon bands and velcro to fit the size of your head. The PlayStation VR headset has a button that you press on the back of the helmet that allows you to expand the headset and rest it upon your head. Once you’ve got it on your dome, it carefully slides back into place fitting your head.

It was here that I realized that the actual “goggles” don’t rest on your nose at all. The eye-piece instead is attached to the headpiece that rests upon the top of your head and just kind of floats there. You can then pull the eyepiece near you in a way that reminded me of the Phoropter that Optometrists use.

Once I pulled the “goggles” toward me I found myself standing below a Giant RIG. As I peered down, I could see my character’s body and his upper torso which seemed to move when I did. Although the PlayStation VR doesn’t have true spatial awareness like HTC Vive, this was possible due the PlayStation VR’s light-based head-tracking.

In RIGS: Mechanized Combat League, you pilot customized RIGS mech and face off against other players and teams in a near future sports league. The objective of the game is to take out any enemies as well as to try and get the ball on the map and score it into a goal. The game reminds me a lot of what would be if Unreal Tournament and Basketball had a baby.

As for how the game played, I played about three to four minutes of actual gameplay before starting to feel motion sick. This came as a surprise to me because I’ve had my eyes in a lot of VR headsets and this is the first time this has happened to me since I played EVE: Valkyrie on a DK1 Oculus Rift headset. I wave the white flag and asked my demonstrator if I could take the headset off and take a breather. I fought it as long as I could but I think it was caused more by the game itself and not headset. The game contains a mechanic where the right analog stick on the controller is replaced by your head movement. In order to aim you have to constantly move your head around while moving back and forth and it all just becomes a little too disorienting.

My first hands-on experience with the PlayStation VR was short-lived but I did still come away completely impressed. The head-tracking worked extremely well and gives you a great sense of spatial awareness compared to the Oculus Rift, but not quite as capable as the HTC Vive.

We hope to get our hands on some other demos to get a better sense of the helmet, as well as trying out the PlayStation Move controllers alongside it. All in all, HTC and Oculus has some stiff competition and we’re excited to see how it all plays out.

Check out our details here on how to pre-order the PlayStation VR

Google Cloud Platform to reportedly power portion of Apple’s iCloud services

Apple has reportedly struck a deal to move a portion of its iCloud infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform. According to CRN, the deal, which was reportedly inked in late 2015, is worth quite a hefty sum:

According to the sources, Google executives have told partners that Apple is spending between $400 million and $600 million on Google Cloud Platform, although this couldn’t be independently confirmed. Also unclear is whether this range refers to an annual spending rate or a set amount of capacity.

As noted by the report, Apple’s deal with Google would signal a partial shift away from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Apple is also investing in a number of new data centers in the Ireland, Denmark and the U.S., sparking speculation that the company may move to cut reliance on third party cloud platforms in the future.

In any case, if reports are true, snagging Apple as a customer would be a second big win for Google’s cloud efforts after it was announced Google Cloud Platform will soon power Spotify’s back end as well.

Hublot might be the next Swiss watchmaker to make connected watches

If you don’t mind paying through the nose for a new gadget, you’ll be stoked to learn Hublot is likely entering the smartwatch space.

Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot is currently a subsidiary of France’s LVMH. Tag Heuer belongs to the same parent company, and it made headlines in the tech world last year when it unveiled the Tag Heuer Connected. The Android Wear smartwatch costs around five times what the new Moto 360 goes for and double what the the gold Huawei Watch costs.

Now, Hublot wants to jump on the smartwatch bandwagon. It plans to create a Swiss watch with connected technology, according to Jean-Claude Biver, the CEO of TAG Heuer and Hublot, who spoke to Bloomberg during an interview at the Baselworld watch fair. The executive was scant on details, naturally, though said a Hublot smartwatch would feature sports-related functions.

Hublot may add smart functions to its Swiss watches in 2017 or 2018, likely making it the next LVMH watch brand to do so, though we don’t know for sure if it’ll be an Android Wear watch at this point. LVMH-owned Zenith could also add smart functions to its watch lineups, Biver suggested.

All we know is that TAG Heuer is a luxury watchmaker that dropped a $1,500 Android Wear watch last year and had to ramp up production to meet demand. Hublot now seems keen to try its luck – all at a time when Swiss watch exports have posted their first annual decline in years.

Uber caps Surge Pricing at 3.9x during DC transit crisis

The DC metro system underwent an unprecedented 29-hour emergency shutdown for rail inspection and repairs on Wednesday, throwing the commutes of its 712,000 daily riders into chaos. Many of those riders will turn to Uber for transportation and the ridesharing company announced that it is capping Surge Pricing during this shutdown at 3.9x the standard rate.

This isn’t the first time that Uber has had to cap its prices due to a transportation crunch, mind you. During the East Coast storms this past January, the service capped its surge prices at 2.8x. The company also took heat in 2014 when it charged Sydneysiders 4x the going rate during the city’s hostage crisis.

“We will work around the clock to keep DC moving tomorrow,” an Uber spokesperson told Ars Technica on Tuesday. “We are extending uberPOOL to the entire metropolitan area during the closures to maximize every car on the road while also keeping prices down for riders. Passengers using uberX to travel with neighbors or co-workers can use the Fare Split option to share the cost of their trip.”

The plan appears to have worked. According to a blog post published Wednesday afternoon, the surge rate during the AM commute topped out at just 1.7x. Hopefully the evening rush hour remains just as calm.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Uber

Hands-in with the gloves that virtual reality needs

When most people strap on a virtual reality headset for the first time, their immediate instinct is to look down, attempting to see their hands. And, the majority of the time, they’ll be sorely disappointed. VR is a new frontier for hardware developers and so far the focus has been on improving graphics, decreasing latency, upgrading lenses and crafting believable visual worlds. Hands are second-tier — sure, they’re in some demos, but they’re not your hands. The fingers don’t bend, they can’t grab and they don’t move as your appendages do in the real world.

The Manus VR gloves fix this.

Once you slide on a VR headset, developers want to quickly trick your brain into believing that the environment in front of you is real. The Manus VR gloves add a crucial input layer to this illusion, allowing you to grab, point, pick up (and drop) objects, and even play the piano using your own fingers. The gloves are still in development and they’ve only been in the works since 2014, but already they’re satisfyingly responsive. This is how VR is meant to be experienced.

At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, I played an adorable platforming demo called Pillow’s Willow with an engineering prototype of the Manus VR gloves, running on the HTC Vive headset. I slipped on a pair of black-and-red gloves, complete with a plastic charging bump and some wires dangling across the top. A developer strapped the Vive’s motion controllers around my wrists for positional tracking and I settled the Vive headset over my glasses.

A video posted by Jessica L. Conditt (@screwjackaround) on Mar 16, 2016 at 4:01pm PDT

It sounds like a lot. But, once the game got going, the hardware attached to my arms and face melted away. I hardly noticed it — the goal of any virtual experience.

My hands appeared in the game world as blue-lighted outlines. I flexed and bent my fingers and the motions were immediately replicated on the screen. Pillow’s Willow stars a young girl wearing a purple pajama onesie in a dark-fantasy dream land, and I cleared pathways for her along crumbling stone bridges and inside a monster-infested dollhouse. I reached forward to pluck lighting bugs out of the air and place them in street lamps, illuminating her path. I swiveled in my chair — the game existed around me in 360 degrees — and pushed down the sides of a bridge for her to cross. I grabbed pieces of a broken staircase and rotated them until they fit back together again; I squashed a series of monsters popping out of the floor of a bedroom. I played a few notes on a piano in a quick game of Simon Says.

Each motion was intuitive — I didn’t have to memorize any buttons or input commands. I did what came naturally, grabbing, turning and prodding objects with my fingers. The gloves were large on me, though my hands are fairly small. Besides, this wasn’t even the developer-kit version — that edition includes cut-outs for the tips of your fingers and gets rid of the dangling wires. It still does use the Vive’s motion controllers strapped to your wrists, though.

The Manus VR gloves weren’t perfect. There were a few instances where I expected to reach something and it simply didn’t connect in the game world, but these small glitches were quickly remedied and forgotten as I eagerly tackled the next task.

The Manus VR developer kit goes on sale in Q2 for $250 and it’s expected to ship in Q3. The development team is at GDC this week looking to secure $8 million in funding — while they didn’t get any cash from me, they certainly grabbed my attention.