‘Killer Instinct’ arrives on PCs

The PC hasn’t exactly had a wealth of top-tier fighting games (Street Fighter V is more the exception than the rule), but that’s changing today. As promised way back in June 2015, Double Helix has released Killer Instinct for Windows 10 gamers alongside Season 3 of the Xbox One title. Both versions share the same combo-laden fighting game mechanics and characters (including new additions like Halo’s Arbiter), and players on one platform can duke it out with rivals on another. Like you might expect, though, the PC version can look as good as your system allows — it’ll run at 4K if you have both the display and graphics hardware to match.

The title is free to download, although it’s following the now-familiar Killer Instinct model of charging for access to characters and content. You can pay to unlock individual Season 3 characters at $5 a pop, and bundles range from $20 (for the eight Season 3 characters) to $60 for a Supreme Edition that offers every character ever released, all costumes, all sets and perks like experience boosters and in-game currency. If you play on the Xbox One, you’ll also get access to Killer Instinct Classic and its sequel. It’s not really as cheap as it sounds, then, but you’ll get a lot if you’ve been eager to play with Orchid, Saberwulf and crew on your desktop.

Via: Destructoid

Source: Xbox Wire, Microsoft Store

Meter your Ethernet connection in Windows 10 – CNET

Palo Alto Research Center

Because Windows 10 is a “universal” operating system — that is, an operating system for both mobile devices and PCs — Microsoft has made limiting your data connection easy. Well…easy if you happen to be using a nonwired connection, such as Wi-Fi or cellular data, that is.

(Learn how to meter your wireless connection here.)

If you’re hooked up to the Internet via Ethernet, you apparently have no reason to limit your data usage, according to Microsoft. But what if you want to anyway? One reason to consider metering your data connection is because you can control Windows 10’s mandatory updates — Microsoft will not automatically download updates on a metered connection, allowing you to update the OS at your own pace (to manually download an update on a metered connection, just go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and click Download).

Because Microsoft hasn’t built metering Ethernet connections into Windows 10, you’ll need to take a trip into the Registry Editor to change this setting. Messing around in the Registry Editor can break your computer, so the usual warnings apply — do not try this hack unless you’re comfortable using the Registry Editor!

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

1. Right-click the Start button and choose Run to open the Run window. In the Run window, type regedit and press enter to open the Registry Editor. If prompted by the User Account Control, click Yes.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionNetworkListDefaultMediaCost.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

3. Right-click on DefaultMediaCost and click Permissions…

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

4. In the Permissions for DefaultMediaCost window, click Advanced.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

5. In the Advanced Security Settings for DefaultMediaCost, click Change next to the owner.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

6. In the text box labeled Enter the object name to select, type in Administrators and click Check Names.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

You should see a name pop up that looks similar to this. Click OK.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

Check the box next to Replace owner on subcontainers and objects and click OK.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

7. Back in the Permissions for DefaultMediaCost window, click Administrators to select the group and then under Permissions for Administrators make sure the Full Control Allow box is checked. Click OK to exit this window.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

8. Right-click on Ethernet and click Modify. An Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value window will open.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

9. To set the connection as metered, change the Value data to 2.

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET

To set the connection as non-metered (default), change the Value data to 1. Hit OK to confirm, exit the Registry Editor, and restart your computer to save the changes.

NCAA March Madness heads to Samsung Gear VR for the Final Four

Samsung Gear VR owners will get the chance to experience some high-stakes college basketball action when the final games are streamed live in 180-degree video. Broadcast via a new VR version of the NCAA March Madness Live app, users will be able to check out the Final Four semifinals and the championship game from the courtside.

In addition to checking out the live games in VR, users will also get access to a virtual scoreboard that features live stats from the game. And alongside audio commentary for each game, you can check out the full tournament bracket and video highlights from each game.

The semifinals will take place on April 2 at 3 p.m. ET, while the NCAA Championship game will broadcast on April 4 at 7 p.m. ET. If you happen to own a Samsung Gear VR, you can get ready by grabbing the NCAA March Madness Live VR app in the Oculus Store.

Samsung Gear VR

• Gear VR review
• Five Gear VR games that shouldn’t be missed
• Inside Samsung’s Gear VR web browser
• Gear VR vs. Google Cardboard
• Where to buy Gear VR

Amazon AT&T Best Buy Samsung

Aliens vs Pinball game from Zen Studios will be hugging your face soon

The xenomorphs from the Aliens sci-fi movie franchise are coming to a host of platforms soon in the form of a new pinball game from developer Zen Studios. Aliens vs Pinball will offer gamers three virtual pinball tables featuring various forms of the creature that was first created by the late H. R. Giger.

Aside from that, there’s nothing else known about Aliens vs Pinball, although the teaser image on Zen Studios’ blog also shows the double arm blades of another famous sci-fi alien, the Predator. No release date was announced but it’s more than possible Aliens vs Pinball will be launched on April 26. That’s when 20th Century Fox has called “Alien Day” in reference to LV426, the fictional planet that is the main setting for the first two films in the series, Alien and Aliens.

USB Type-C FAQ — everything you need to know

USB-C is the shiny new thing, but there’s a lot more to it.

More people every day are picking up Android phones with a new power port on the bottom. MicroUSB has started the slow march out, and USB-C is taking its place. It’s an unusual port that does a whole lot more than charge your phone, and the companies that make third-party cables for everything have been learning as they go that USB-C is wildly different from what we’ve been using up to this point.

It’s a change that has brought about a ton of questions regarding safety and extended usage over time, so we’ve put together this handy little FAQ to get you ready to use USB-C.

Why the switch to USB-C?

We’ve been using microUSB in lots of things for a long time now. As an industry standard, it saved many people from needing to worry about using multiple kinds of cables to charge their various gadgets. (So long as those gadgets all used microUSB.) USB-C takes that idea and expands it to a single port that can be used on any kind of computer, not just the small one you keep in your pocket. This oval port aims to replace microUSB, miniUSB, and the rectangular USB-A port you see in desktops and laptops.

Not only is it universal, it’s more capable than all of these other ports combined. USB-C enables faster data transfer between two devices and significantly faster charging of all your devices. It’s a significant step forward, but because there are already a massive number of devices in the world with other USB ports it’s going to be a slow step forward.

Will my battery actually charge faster with USB-C?

Yes. Sort of. Here’s how this works.

The USB-C spec is capable of delivering power at significantly greater rates than anything you’re using to charge your phones and tablets right now. For example, Google’s Pixel C includes a 15W charger that will charge the tablet significantly faster than a Quick Charge 3.0-enabled USB-A power adapter. Google’s Chromebook Pixel 2 includes a 60W charger to charge the massive battery inside that laptop within 2 hours. MicroUSB isn’t capable of delivering that kind of power safely.

That said, USB-C phone chargers for the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X charge at a similar rate to Quick Charge 3.0. Battery capacity and safety come in to play here, so you won’t be seeing phones charging fully in minutes or anything like that. It’s a very fast charge, but if you’re up on current-generation charging tech you won’t notice any significant difference on a phone. Five or 10 minutes, maybe.

When it comes to laptops and tablets, however, things get a lot more interesting.

What are the different kinds of cables?

In order to play nice with most of the computers out there today, as well as all of your current wall and car chargers, many phones with USB-C are shipping with a pair of cables. One has USB-C on both ends, and one has USB-C on one and and the rectangular USB-A on the other end. Shipping both cables ensures you’re able to connect to everything, but it also ensures you get the fastest possible charging and data transfer by using the cord with USB-C on both ends.

Will I need new power adapters?

Eventually, yes. In fact, you should probably plan for it now.

USB-A power adapters aren’t as capable as USB-C power supplies, and while you’re able to charge your phone relatively the same way you can charge your phone right now with your current power adapter, things like supporting multiple rapidly charging USB-C phones and tablets on the same adapter is possible with USB-C. At some point, you’re going to want to update.

Why hasn’t every phone manufacturer switched to USB-C yet?

Phones and tablets are planned months in advance, and the phones we’re seeing released now with microUSB still were being planned before the USB-C spec was finalized. Manufacturers had to choose between rushing to support the new standard or waiting a year. For a company like Samsung, which already had invested significant resources in the microUSB-powered Gear VR, rushing to support a new standard this generation didn’t make sense.

What about the articles I read about faulty USB-C cables?

Some third-party manufacturers had problems early on making USB-C cables that followed the spec and were safe to use. This meant some particularly nasty side effects that resulted in damaged laptops, phones, and testing equipment. When you have a massive retailer like Amazon allowing new products to be listed regardless of regulatory clearance, and manufacturers willing to lie about whether their cables had passed safety checks in order to sell quickly in a market that is competing to see which cable is cheaper and somehow better at the same time, problems arise.

Fortunately, a lot of those issues are being dealt with in a number of key ways. For starters, extra USB-C cables are now much easier to purchase from the companies that made your gadget in the first place. We’re also seeing public outcry and reviews from incredibly smart folks result in significant changes to cables being sold on store like Amazon.com. You can check the reviews section of just about any of the top-rated USB-C cables on Amazon right now and find commentary regarding the quality and safety of the cable. Here’s a great example of what to look for in the Amazon review.

How do I know I’m buying a safe USB-C cable?

The first step should always be your manufacturer. The company that made the hardware you’re using either made the cable that goes with it themselves or contracted out to a trusted source to get those cables made. Those cables are designed to work with the hardware you are using. With exception to a recall performed by Apple, cables provided by the manufacturer have all been safely made. If you’re ever not sure, buying cables from your manufacturer or a trusted brand is a good way to go in this situation.

If you’re specifically looking for third-party cables and want to confirm the quality, you can look in the reviews section for that product on Amazon for detailed analysis or check out Google Engineer Benson Leung’s suggestions on quality USB-C cables.

Are you sure this USB-C thing isn’t a fad?

While nothing is ever set in stone, USB-C is a standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google, LG, HTC, and dozens of other companies already. It’s a new standard, which means it’ll be a while before most folks are only using USB-C, but it looks like that is the general direction things are heading. If you only end up using USB-C to charge your phone for the next year or two, that’s okay. If you dive in head first and only use things that are USB-C enabled, that’s OK, too.

Snapchat ‘Chat 2.0’ adds stickers, audio and video notes, and camera roll access

Snapchat rolls out several smaller updates to its app throughout the year, but every now and then, it surprises us with something major. Today, for instance, it upgraded the app’s chat experience to something described as “Chat 2.0”.

Here’s what you need to know: the chat function living within the app has been overhauled with new multimedia features. One of the features includes the ability to send more than 200 stickers to your friends. These stickers include everything from Snapchat’s iconic ghost to aliens. You can search them by keyword too – just like you can do with Facebook Messenger.

The chat experience has long allowed friends to video call with each other, though you both had to be using the app at the same time as well as using the chat feature. Then and only then would you see the send button in chat turn from yellow to blue, alerting you that you’re able to video call with the friend you’re currently messaging, with a simple press of the blue button.

READ: What’s the point of Snapchat?

Now however you can dial anyone who isn’t present in the chat. You can even just audio call the friend. If he or she doesn’t answer, you can record a brief audio or video note for them, and then they’ll get it the next time they open Snapchat. We think these features are especially interesting because they almost replace or serve as an alternative to snapping your friends.

Chat 2.0 also lets you access your camera roll now. Simply tap the photo button, and then choose the photo or video you want to send. You can even access your camera roll during video calls to send multimedia while you’re talking. Although you’ll see them appear on the left side of the screen as thumbnails, you won’t be able to see the full versions until your call is done.

We think the ability to access your camera roll kills the living-in-the-moment feeling. Snapchat always required users to take a photo or video in the moment; it never allowed them to send photos and videos from their camera roll. So, when you received a snap, you knew it was just taken by your friend and not doctored whatsoever, thus enhancing the app’s ephemeral vibe.

Third-party apps, however, such as SnapUpload, circumvented this limitation and would allow you to send media from your camera roll. It’ll be interesting to see how well those solutions fare going forward after this chat update, especially because Snapchat uniquely even lets users now send photos and videos from your camera roll in batches.

Snapchat, which introduced chat in 2014, now has 100 million daily users, and today’s update marks the first major redesign or overhaul for the chat function since it debuted. The update is rolling out now to iOS and Android.

Watch Mark Zuckerberg unbox retail Oculus Rift via Facebook livestream

The retail version of Oculus Rift just began shipping to consumers, and to celebrate the launch, Mark Zuckerberg is live-streaming himself unboxing the virtual-reality headset while giving a brief breakdown of what to expect.

Zuckerberg is the CEO of Facebook, which purchased Oculus VR, the company behind Rift, in 2014 for $2 billion. During his live-stream published to Facebook, he showed viewers what’s inside the actual Rift box as well as how to hook it up to a Windows PC. The Oculus Rift requires a PC with certain hardware specs in order to power a fluid virtual reality experience.

He also said there are 30 games available at launch and told viewers about his own experience with the headset. The live-stream is of course a marketing push, but it’s still interesting nonetheless. The Rift has been credited for reigniting modern-day interest in VR, so the fact that the headset is now available for everyone to purchase and use is certainly exciting.

READ: Watch Oculus VR’s founder deliver the first Rift to a developer in Alaska

Just yesterday, Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR and the inventor of the Rift, also live-streamed to Facebook a video of himself not only unboxing Rift but hand-delivering the first one to a developer in Alaska. It was hard to miss the look of glee on Luckey’s face. If you loved that moment in VR history, you’ll definitely love this stream with Zuckerberg.

Although developer versions of the Rift have been around for years, this is the first retail version. You can order it now from Oculus VR’s website. It costs $599 in the US, £499 in the UK, and €699 in Europe. There are also bundles that went up for pre-order in February. They include not only the headset but also the certified PC required to run it and start at $1,499.

Oculus VR partnered with PC makers Alienware, Dell, and Asus on the bundles.

READ: Oculus Rift pre-order: Everything you need to know

This week, we started shipping Oculus Rift. I’ll be showing you what’s inside the box and taking some of your questions.

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Google’s ‘Fiber Phone’ is a new kind of land line

Practically nobody, save perhaps your grandparents, still uses a landline. But that’s not stopping Google from rolling out a brand new home phone service. On Tuesday, the company announced the new Google Fiber Phone, which works nearly identically to its mobile Fi service.

For $10 a month, users get unlimited local and nationwide calls (international calls will match what Google Voice charges), caller ID, call waiting, 911 service (kinda terrifying that I even have to mention that) and voicemail transcription. If you’ve already got a landline, you’ll be free to keep your current number or choose a new one.

And, of course, you get a standalone, wireless handset with which to make your calls. Interestingly, since your Google Fiber Phone number “lives in the cloud,” as the blog announcement states, you can forward all calls to your landline to your mobile device when you travel. Unfortunately, the service is only debuting in a few areas and will initially roll out exclusively to cities that already have Google Fiber installed. You can sign up for updates using this interest form.

Google isn’t the only company trying to keep landlines around. Virtually every major satellite and cable provider, as well as the telecoms, offer similar phone services, though few are as inexpensive as the Fiber Phone.

Source: Google Fiber Blog

Tidal has 3 million subscribers a year after Jay Z’s takeover

This week marks a year since Jay Z and a lineup of big-name artists took over Tidal, touting a library of exclusive content and a lossless audio option. In the 12 months since Mr. Carter & Co. took control, the streaming service amassed 3 million subscribers, up from the first million the company announced last fall. There’s no doubt exclusive releases, especially Kayne West’s The Life of Pablo, gave those paid plans a boost, but Tidal still has a lot of work to do if it wants to catch Spotify and Apple Music.

Spotify hit the 3 million mark in January 2012, six months after it made its US debut. The green-hued streaming option announced earlier this month that is subscriber number now stands at 30 million. As far as Apple Music is concerned, Cupertino’s music service tallies 10 million paying users according to reports that surfaced in January. Apple was also able to nab 11 million trial users in the first six weeks it existed, and that’s before it was available on Android devices. At 3 million subscribers, Tidal is closer numbers-wise to Deezer. Music Business Worldwide reported last October that Deezer’s paying user count stood at 3.8 million.

In addition to its catalog of 40 million songs, Tidal also offers video, concert livestreams and fan events on top of the aforementioned exclusive releases. West’s Pablo, was streamed 250 million times in first 10 days it was available and Rihanna’s ANTI album was downloaded 1.4 million times in less than 24 hours. Artists, especially those involved with the company directly as artist-owners, have been using the streaming service as the only spot they debut new material over the last year. The music may make its way to another service in a couple of weeks, but it’s stopping at Tidal first.

As part of the 3 million subscriber announcement, Tidal also revealed that 45 percent of those users are paying more for the $20 HiFi plan. Sure, some of those could have already been paying up before Jay Z purchased the service, but the number shows that there’s most than a few listeners willing to pay for high-fidelity audio. While Tidal continues to attract new users, it will need to continue to serve up those exclusives to keep pace. And even that might not be enough to catch Spotify’s head start or match Apple’s reach.

Razer made a game capture card designed for livestreaming

Livestreaming games is a big business these days, and Razer knows it. The gear designer has unveiled the Ripsaw, a capture card that’s all about sharing your console and PC gaming exploits on the likes of Twitch or YouTube. It’s built to work “out of the box” with common streaming apps like Open Broadcaster Software and XSplit, and its combination of a USB 3.0 connection and audio inputs should do justice to both the video (you’ll get uncompressed 1080p, 60FPS footage) and your commentary track. You get all the cables you need, too. The aim is to create a box that meets the needs of veteran streamers, but won’t intimidate newcomers.

The Ripsaw is available now for $180, although that’s not the total cost. You’ll also need a reasonably powerful Windows PC, with both a 4th-generation Core processor and a mid-range graphics card. With that said, you probably already check those boxes if you’re interested in the first place — this is for people who either stream for a living or are already gaming enthusiasts.

Source: Razer