‘Quake Champions’ isn’t finished, but you can play it August 22nd
Been green with envy over your pals playing the Quake Champions closed beta? Time to stop being jealous and start working on your rocket jumping because the classic shooter’s revival is moving to Steam’s Early Access on August 22nd, where everyone can play. Now, there was an open beta during E3, but that was a limited-time deal. To celebrate, publisher Bethesda is knocking 25 percent off the Champions Pack, bringing the price down to $29.99.
Technically the game is free to play, but if you want to play via Early Access (and to have all the champions) you’ll have to pay. Assuming you didn’t already have access to the closed beta, that is. If so, you can keep playing, but will only be able to do so via the Bethesda.net launcher. Yes, it’s a little confusing. The game’s free to play version will launch “at a later date.”
In addition to the commemorative price cut, the arena combat game has two new maps, upgrade bounties, new character skins and a tutorial. Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Doom Guy from developer id’s other highly-influential shooter is a playable character now, too. “Fans of Doom can run amok using Doom Slayer’s active ability, Berzerk — smashing enemies into bloody piles of gibs with his bare hands,” Bethesda writes.
Less exciting, but perhaps more useful, Doom Guy retains his double jump from last year’s reboot. Handy! See you on the battlefield.
Source: Bethesda
Apple Leasing More Office Space Near Cupertino Campuses
Apple has leased additional office buildings in Santa Clara, California, and has started “a significant reconstruction” of the interior space, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
The two buildings under construction are located near the southeast corner of Kifer Road and Uranium Drive in Santa Clara, approximately six miles away from 1 Infinite Loop and five miles away from its new Apple Park campus.
One of the new buildings Apple has leased. Image via San Jose Mercury News
The technology titan wouldn’t disclose the purpose of the work, but some industry watchers believe the company needs the space because it continues in hiring mode, which in turn requires more space.
“Apple is bursting at the seams,” said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Campbell-based Creative Strategies, a market researcher.
The leases and construction were discovered in documents filed in early August with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office, and an Apple spokesperson confirmed that Apple has leased the buildings.
One building measures in at 43,000 square feet, while the other comes in at 30,000 square feet, for a total of 73,000 square feet of office space.
Along with its two main campuses in Cupertino, Apple occupies many other office buildings in the surrounding areas in Santa Clara, San Jose, and Sunnyvale and has been expanding rapidly in recent years to accommodate its growing workforce.
Apple has leased several additional buildings in Santa Clara, encompassing more than a million square feet of office space, and it has purchased land for a massive office complex in North San Jose.
Tag: Apple real estate
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Voting machine supplier exposes 1.8 million voter records
Cybersecurity firm UpGuard has discovered that personal information from over 1.8 million Chicago residents was unintentionally exposed by voting machine supplier Election Systems & Software (ES&S). The backup files of voter data were found on an Amazon Web Services device and weren’t protected with a password.
After the firm found the data, the copy was secured and last Saturday, state and local authorities were notified. Once ES&S was alerted to the situation, the files were secured and the server they were found on was shut down. The company says that an investigation is ongoing and that the files, which contained names, addresses, dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers and some driver’s license and state ID numbers, did not include ballot information or vote totals. ES&S also said that the files had no impact on registration records or election results and weren’t connected to Chicago’s voting systems.
Other data leaks discovered by UpGuard include one from political strategy company Deep Root Analytics that exposed data from almost 200 million people, one from Nice systems that released data from 14 million Verizon customers and a leak from defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton that exposed classified intelligence data.
In a statement, ES&S said, “The company is in the process of reviewing all procedures and protocols, including those of its vendors, to ensure all data and systems are secure and prevent similar situations from occurring.” UpGuard is assisting with the investigation.
Via: Gizmodo
Source: ES&S
Google Maps rolls out Q&A section for Android and mobile search
Why it matters to you
Google Maps will now include a Q&A section on the Android version of the app along with mobile search. You’ll be able to ask questions and receive answers from other users — including the business itself.
Google’s latest update to Google Maps encourages users to post helpful information about businesses, and it also eliminates the dreaded task of having to call for information. The company announced it’s launching a new feature to Google Maps for Android and mobile Search. Soon, you’ll be able to ask questions and read answers about particular places you’re headed to or interested in.
When normally searching for a restaurant or store on Google Maps or Search, you’re provided with a ton of user-generated content ranging from the star ratings to reviews. Now, when you open a local business listing, it will have a “Questions & Answers” section to scroll down to as well. This is where you can post your own questions, answer someone else’s, or read through the already existing posts.
Since anyone on Google can post inquiries and answers under a listing, it can result in a sea of questions with conflicting answers. To address this, the new feature includes the option to upvote informative content by tapping on the thumbs-up icon, which will push user-favored content up toward the top of the section. That way, you won’t have to search through an endless thread of confusing input from different users.
Businesses can also add their own frequently asked questions along with other facts that could be useful to the customer. The owners and any knowledgeable users are notified whenever someone asks a question and you’ll receive a notification once they answer. For users, this feature allows them easy access to information with one quick search but it can also strengthen the relationship businesses have with customers.
This isn’t the first update Google Maps users have seen recently. In July, the app added a travel-related feature that shows you estimated travel times based on when you leave for your planned trip. By typing in your destination, the app gives you a bar graph listing the busiest hours along with the fastest routes and parking tips.
Prior to that, Google Maps also added transit services for anyone living in big cities. Rather than using third-party apps — or an old-school paper map — the update gives you outlines for platforms, entrances, and other helpful information about subways.
Even though the latest updates to Google Maps and the search tool are ones we can find on other apps, it’s clear Google is aiming to be the only resource we could ever possibly need. With the new Q&A update, the company makes it known it wants to help you make quick and easy decisions while discovering what’s available around you. The feature will be rolling out to Android and mobile search users worldwide.
When disaster strikes, this secret Verizon bunker keeps your phone working
It takes a lot to protect a cell network. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes snap towers like toothpicks. Hackers probe the backend for vulnerabilities; and smartphone-touting concertgoers, fair attendees, and sports fans push cell sites to their limits.
Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless network in the U.S. by number of subscribers, spends a lot of time thinking about how to keep its grid from going down. During a tour of the carrier’s network switching center in Yonkers, New York, we got an inside look at the equipment designed to withstand everything from gale-force winds to Mariah Carey concerts.
“Our switches have to survive everything,” Michelle White, executive director at Verizon, told Digital Trends. “You go back to when [the terrorist attacks on] 9/11 happened and a lot of people became really attached to their devices because they used them to stay in touch with family and friends. The value we bring to our customer is highlighted through those crises.”
Entering through the (padlocked) front door
From the outside, Verizon’s Yonkers, New York office looks conspicuously normal. The gray low-rise building, which is located about an hour north of Midtown Manhattan by train, is nestled in an overgrown forest hillside dotted with hotels. But it’s not your average office building. A metal barricade and padlocked double doors keep out onlookers without the proper security clearance. You won’t find its exact address on the map — type it into Google, and you’ll find a nearby perimeter highway.
“One of the easiest ways for someone to hurt us is our communications,” Christine Williams, a Verizon network supervisor and our tour guide, said. “That’s why we do everything in our power to shield the network. We have firewalls [and] and entire team devoted to security.”
That might sound a little hyperbolic, but the Yonkers building is an attractive target. This switching center handles call, text message, and data routing for one of Verizon’s largest markets: New York City. It’s one of two that service the greater New York area, Williams explained, as we entered the bowels of the building’s equipment floor.
The building’s switching room routes more than 300 million data connections.
The building’s switching room — rows of servers, AC units, and circuit breakers — routes more than 300 million data connections through multicolored fiber-optic wires. If you send an email to a coworker, Snapchat message a friend, or post a picture to Instagram from Midtown Manhattan, the Bronx, or Queens, chances are it’ll hit the Yonkers building’s wires first. It’s also responsible for routing voice calls.
“When you’re on the local cell tower or wherever you may be, the switch is running that call,” Williams said. “If you’re making a landline call to somebody, it connects you to every [other switch] out there. And if you’re calling a mobile center, it would hit this switch, travel long distance across the country, and connect to another local switch to find your corresponding person.”
Protecting the brain
It’s like a big computer, White said. The switch is “the brains” that have the information on how your calls should be handled.
Just like brains, they’re temperamental. The switches need to be kept within a certain temperature range to prevent overheating, and they draw power from a custom circuit that converts incoming AC (alternating current) power to DC (direct current).
Why DC instead of AC? The voltage in AC current — the kind that powers your hairdryer and coffee pot — periodically reverses, which can affect the switches’ stability. DC current, on the other hand, supplies electricity at a constant voltage.
Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends
“With the regular power outside, there are spikes — it goes up and down, and the computers don’t like that,” White said. “So we work off DC batteries.”
They switches are also insulated to protect against flooding. Four long hallways buffer the switching room against any rainwater that might make it past the past the facility’s surrounding hillside, and data is piped in through two separate fiber feeds on either end of the building.
“We put all the important equipment interior to the building, surrounded by hallways so that if there’s a flood or hurricane or any kind of natural disaster,” Williams said. “It’d have to go through a lot to get to our most critical processing.”
The same is true of the building’s backup power. Two diesel-powered generators, each the size of an entire room, supply enough electricity to power a 400-home subdivision. If the building’s two connections to the power grid were cut or if severe weather knocks out local power, for example — they can supply enough energy to run the building’s switches for eight hours.
“It’s sort of like the portable generators you use to power your house when there’s a flood or outage, but on a much bigger scale.” Williams said. “They run simultaneously, and each one of them by themselves could handle all the AC and DC power the facility needs. Even when there’s a little bit of a loss, they start powering the air conditioners, lights, and everything that doesn’t run off of DC power.”
Ready for game day
The Yonkers building handles more than just switching. A cement parking lot houses what White called the “farmyard” equipment: portable towers and generators with colorful acronyms like COWS (Cell on Wheels), COLTS (Cells on Light Trucks), and GOATS (Generators on Trailers).
“We’re usually heavily involved behind the scenes. We pull out all the stops.”
They’re smaller, modular versions of the cell towers that dot the side of the road, and they’re used to bolster local network capacity. Ahead of events like festivals, fairs, and football games, Verizon engineers decide which (and how much) equipment to deploy based on data like historical attendance, time of day, and traffic.
They aren’t cheap. Verizon charges municipalities more than $50,000 to set up a COW, and the event organizers are on their own when it comes to the generator required to power it.
Natural disasters are a different story. During the recent Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park, Verizon volunteered phones, mobile hot spots, and solar-powered network equipment to emergency personnel. In 2015, when two convicts escaped a New York’s upstate Clinton Correctional Facility, the carrier established a satellite uplink so that investigators could stay in touch.
“We’re usually heavily involved behind the scenes,” White said. “We pull out all the stops.”
Next-gen readiness
White doesn’t expect the Yonkers switch to change all that much in the coming years. The most dramatic upgrades will be on the inside, where network techs will swap out and consolidate switches as Verizon transitions to Gigabit 4G LTE and 5G.
Right now, roughly half of the building’s server room houses 3G switches and call-only computers. Its 4G equipment takes up a single metal rack.
“Everything’s shrinking,” Williams said. “We don’t need as much space as we used to.”
The old equipment is less power-efficient and slower, too, which is one of the reasons Verizon plans to sunset its 3G network in the next three to four years. It’ll transition customers to 4G LTE, which can handle talk, text, and data simultaneously.
When disaster strikes, this secret Verizon bunker keeps your phone working
It takes a lot to protect a cell network. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes snap towers like toothpicks. Hackers probe the backend for vulnerabilities; and smartphone-touting concertgoers, fair attendees, and sports fans push cell sites to their limits.
Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless network in the U.S. by number of subscribers, spends a lot of time thinking about how to keep its grid from going down. During a tour of the carrier’s network switching center in Yonkers, New York, we got an inside look at the equipment designed to withstand everything from gale-force winds to Mariah Carey concerts.
“Our switches have to survive everything,” Michelle White, executive director at Verizon, told Digital Trends. “You go back to when [the terrorist attacks on] 9/11 happened and a lot of people became really attached to their devices because they used them to stay in touch with family and friends. The value we bring to our customer is highlighted through those crises.”
Entering through the (padlocked) front door
From the outside, Verizon’s Yonkers, New York office looks conspicuously normal. The gray low-rise building, which is located about an hour north of Midtown Manhattan by train, is nestled in an overgrown forest hillside dotted with hotels. But it’s not your average office building. A metal barricade and padlocked double doors keep out onlookers without the proper security clearance. You won’t find its exact address on the map — type it into Google, and you’ll find a nearby perimeter highway.
“One of the easiest ways for someone to hurt us is our communications,” Christine Williams, a Verizon network supervisor and our tour guide, said. “That’s why we do everything in our power to shield the network. We have firewalls [and] and entire team devoted to security.”
That might sound a little hyperbolic, but the Yonkers building is an attractive target. This switching center handles call, text message, and data routing for one of Verizon’s largest markets: New York City. It’s one of two that service the greater New York area, Williams explained, as we entered the bowels of the building’s equipment floor.
The building’s switching room routes more than 300 million data connections.
The building’s switching room — rows of servers, AC units, and circuit breakers — routes more than 300 million data connections through multicolored fiber-optic wires. If you send an email to a coworker, Snapchat message a friend, or post a picture to Instagram from Midtown Manhattan, the Bronx, or Queens, chances are it’ll hit the Yonkers building’s wires first. It’s also responsible for routing voice calls.
“When you’re on the local cell tower or wherever you may be, the switch is running that call,” Williams said. “If you’re making a landline call to somebody, it connects you to every [other switch] out there. And if you’re calling a mobile center, it would hit this switch, travel long distance across the country, and connect to another local switch to find your corresponding person.”
Protecting the brain
It’s like a big computer, White said. The switch is “the brains” that have the information on how your calls should be handled.
Just like brains, they’re temperamental. The switches need to be kept within a certain temperature range to prevent overheating, and they draw power from a custom circuit that converts incoming AC (alternating current) power to DC (direct current).
Why DC instead of AC? The voltage in AC current — the kind that powers your hairdryer and coffee pot — periodically reverses, which can affect the switches’ stability. DC current, on the other hand, supplies electricity at a constant voltage.
Kyle Wiggers/Digital Trends
“With the regular power outside, there are spikes — it goes up and down, and the computers don’t like that,” White said. “So we work off DC batteries.”
They switches are also insulated to protect against flooding. Four long hallways buffer the switching room against any rainwater that might make it past the past the facility’s surrounding hillside, and data is piped in through two separate fiber feeds on either end of the building.
“We put all the important equipment interior to the building, surrounded by hallways so that if there’s a flood or hurricane or any kind of natural disaster,” Williams said. “It’d have to go through a lot to get to our most critical processing.”
The same is true of the building’s backup power. Two diesel-powered generators, each the size of an entire room, supply enough electricity to power a 400-home subdivision. If the building’s two connections to the power grid were cut or if severe weather knocks out local power, for example — they can supply enough energy to run the building’s switches for eight hours.
“It’s sort of like the portable generators you use to power your house when there’s a flood or outage, but on a much bigger scale.” Williams said. “They run simultaneously, and each one of them by themselves could handle all the AC and DC power the facility needs. Even when there’s a little bit of a loss, they start powering the air conditioners, lights, and everything that doesn’t run off of DC power.”
Ready for game day
The Yonkers building handles more than just switching. A cement parking lot houses what White called the “farmyard” equipment: portable towers and generators with colorful acronyms like COWS (Cell on Wheels), COLTS (Cells on Light Trucks), and GOATS (Generators on Trailers).
“We’re usually heavily involved behind the scenes. We pull out all the stops.”
They’re smaller, modular versions of the cell towers that dot the side of the road, and they’re used to bolster local network capacity. Ahead of events like festivals, fairs, and football games, Verizon engineers decide which (and how much) equipment to deploy based on data like historical attendance, time of day, and traffic.
They aren’t cheap. Verizon charges municipalities more than $50,000 to set up a COW, and the event organizers are on their own when it comes to the generator required to power it.
Natural disasters are a different story. During the recent Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park, Verizon volunteered phones, mobile hot spots, and solar-powered network equipment to emergency personnel. In 2015, when two convicts escaped a New York’s upstate Clinton Correctional Facility, the carrier established a satellite uplink so that investigators could stay in touch.
“We’re usually heavily involved behind the scenes,” White said. “We pull out all the stops.”
Next-gen readiness
White doesn’t expect the Yonkers switch to change all that much in the coming years. The most dramatic upgrades will be on the inside, where network techs will swap out and consolidate switches as Verizon transitions to Gigabit 4G LTE and 5G.
Right now, roughly half of the building’s server room houses 3G switches and call-only computers. Its 4G equipment takes up a single metal rack.
“Everything’s shrinking,” Williams said. “We don’t need as much space as we used to.”
The old equipment is less power-efficient and slower, too, which is one of the reasons Verizon plans to sunset its 3G network in the next three to four years. It’ll transition customers to 4G LTE, which can handle talk, text, and data simultaneously.
Dell Inspiron 5675 gaming desktop review
Research Center:
Dell Inspiron 5675
Investing in a gaming desktop can be an intimidating prospect, as there’s a lot of options out there, at a lot of different price points. Finding one with the speed and versatility to get the most out of the latest games is easy enough, if you don’t mind spending a fortune. It’s tougher to find a desktop that can do all those things for less than $1,000, but during our Dell Inspiron 5675 review, we came to realize that it just might fit the bill.
The Inspiron 5675 features an AMD Ryzen 5 1400 processor, 8 GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics card, and a 1TB hard drive. Built with AMD’s latest hardware and clad in a stylish chassis, the Inspiron 5675 aims to offer solid, reliable gaming performance on a budget. Let’s see if it’s up to the task.
Custom quality
While the Dell Inspiron 5675 is no Alienware, it has a certain style to it. Dell has blended a streamlined, office-friendly sensibility with a few strokes of gaming audacity. The case is a standard metal column shrouded in a silvery plastic shell, accented with black angled vents which wrap around the case. The bright blue internal lighting seeps out of those vents, and looks great from every angle.
An internal grille gives the light a textured look, depending on your viewing angle. It’s not as elegant as a simple tempered glass side-panel, but it’s a dash of originality that’s nice to see in an affordable gaming desktop. One of the benefits of going with a custom build from a big company like Dell is that you can expect a certain degree of build quality, which is definitely evident here.
The Asus G11DF, a direct competitor to the Dell Inspiron 5675, features a very different aesthetic. It’s not quite as audacious as Asus’ ROG lineup usually is, but it features a glossy black design broken up with glowing red panels on the front and side of the case.
Where the Inspiron looks chic and a bit understated, the Asus G11DF looks like a more typical gaming PC. Unfortunately, it also looks like a budget gaming PC. Put the two desktops side by side and you’d never guess that the Asus G11DF and Dell Inspiron 5675 were the same price. The Inspiron looks like a more expensive machine even if it isn’t.
Port-land
Around the back-side of the Inspiron 5675, you’ll find a standard array of ports — six USB Type-A ports, an Ethernet port, five audio input/output jacks, an adorably quaint pair of PS/2 ports, and two HDMI and DisplayPorts on the video card. On the front-side of the PC there are four more USB Type-A Ports, an SD Card reader, a headphone jack, and a single USB Type-C port.
That’s a lot of ports, and enough variety to ensure you’ll never have any trouble plugging in your devices or accessories — for now. While USB Type-A isn’t going anywhere soon, it would’ve been nice to see a few of those slots make way for a few additional USB Type-C ports, if only to make sure the Inspiron remains as future-proof as possible.
Keep your hands outside
A custom-built chassis, like the one on the Inspiron 5675, is designed to be a closed system, a product as static as a smartphone or game console. Sure, you can pop open the side by removing a couple screws — the side panel slides open easily enough — but once you’re in there, it’s hard not to feel unwelcome.
You can pop open the side, but once you’re in there it’s hard not to feel unwelcome.
All the internal components are right where they should be, and even if it is a little cramped, there’s some room for expansion — like an extra RAM slot. But the Radeon RX 580 video card is bolted in with a metal bracket which requires a fair amount of patience to remove. The bracket holds the card in place, and we’d wager it exists to prevent damage in shipping. We’ve encountered broken PCIe slots due to rough handling more than once in the past. However, the bracket is perfectly sized for the Radeon RX 580, and might not fit abnormally sized graphics cards. Upgrading to a different card might mean ditching the bracket.
The internal cable management is inelegant, but gets the job done. None of the internal components are obscured by cables, but they are threaded through the case haphazardly, like some kind of multi-colored weed growing inside the computer. It’s also worth mentioning that cooling was a bit of an afterthought here.
The case only includes two fans, an 80mm fan on the CPU’s cooling block, and a 92mm fan mounted on the case. Usually, we’ll see a pair of fans on the back of the case, one or two on the front, and a much taller or quicker air cooling fan on the CPU. What’s provided is sufficient for the hardware in the system, though again, doesn’t offer much room for expansion.
It’s not atypical for budget systems to be a little cramped and spartan inside. The Asus G11DF, for instance, also features limited cooling, and some internal brackets which keep hardware from moving around — and make it a pain to remove or upgrade components. At $950 though, there just aren’t very many PCs on the market that are going to offer the same kind of luxurious interior you’d get out of a more expensive gaming rig.
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
Internally, the lighting is provided by a single blue LED strip, which was missing a screw in our review model. When we opened the case, it just kind dangled in place. Once we figured out where it was supposed to be and fastened it in place with one of the many extraneous screws inside the Inspiron 5675’s case, it filled the case with an icy blue light. We don’t expect this to be a common issue, but it’d certainly annoy us if we’d purchased the desktop.
The Inspiron’s custom-built case is a best and worst-case scenario. While the exterior build quality is excellent, and the internal quality is robust, it’s not really designed for expansion. If you did upgrade the video card a year or two down the line, you might need to remove the bracket which, though probably not a functional issue, could be confusing.
Keeping up with Intel
Equipped with a mid-range quad-core Ryzen 5 1400 processor clocked at 3.2GHz, the Inspiron 5675 is a scrappy little machine. It’s not going to outrun its Intel competitors, but this little guy has heart — and a killer price tag. On its own the Ryzen 5 1400 retails for about $160, which makes it one of the least expensive modern quad-core processors on the market. It can even handle two processing threads per core, which means it’s able to handle eight threads at once. That’s a feature Intel quad-cores gain only once they hit the $300 mark, with the Core i7-7700.
However, the price is only part of the equation here. Let’s see how well the Ryzen 5 1400 performs in everyday use.
On Geekbench, we can see where the Ryzen 5 1400 scores in relation to similar processors. With a score of 3,377 on single-core performance, it lands just ahead of the Asus G11DF’s own Ryzen 5 1400, which hit 3,440. Both are quite a bit behind the top-end Intel Core i7-7700K, which managed an impressive score of 5,007.
Multi-core performance was a similar story, with the AMD chips coming tied for second behind the Intel chip. That’s not too much of a surprise, since comparable Intel processors usually outclass their AMD counterparts, offering better performance in exchange for higher prices. The important thing to note here is the margin of the Intel chip’s victory. While it is well ahead of the Ryzen 5 1400, it’s not so far ahead that you’d notice the performance gap for gaming, which isn’t typically very CPU intensive.
This little guy has heart — and a killer price tag.
When you factor in price and performance, AMD’s new Ryzen chips are catching up to some of Intel’s star performers. We can see these margins played out in our Handbrake tests as well. The Dell’s Ryzen 5 1400 is the slowest of the bunch, finishing the encode in 11 minutes. The Asus G11DF’s Ryzen 5, on the other hand, completed the encode in a little over 9 minutes 30 seconds. Either way, that’s a win for AMD.
So clearly, the Inspiron is a little behind its competitors – but not by much, and that’s important in a gaming machine. Why? Because your processor doesn’t play a significant role in graphical performance. Picking up a capable yet inexpensive processor is often the best route, and the Ryzen 5 1400 offers decent, reliable performance at a bargain-basement price.
So. Slow.
Another way manufacturers can keep costs down is by opting for slower, cheaper hard drives like the one inside the Inspiron 5675. While it features a luxuriously large 1TB of space, it is remarkably slow.
During our tests, even moving large files around was a chore which took a bit longer than it should have. Given the results of our benchmarks, it’s easy to see why that was the case.
On our CrystalDiskMark tests, the Inspiron 5675 and its 1TB hard drive scraped by with a read speed of 190 megabytes per second, and a write speed of 195MB/s. Looking at a few similarly priced competitors, like the XPS 8910 SE and MSI Trident 3, that’s not too bad. Both of those systems have hard drives like the Inspiron. But if you compare the Inspiron’s hard drive to even a modest-performing PCIe SSD, the difference is clear.
Our review unit of the Acer Predator G1 featured a 512GB PCIe SSD capable of hitting a 530MB/s read speed and a 448MB/s write speed, far surpassing the Inspiron’s modest read and write speeds. Granted, our Predator G1 review unit was a $2,200 desktop. However, its higher price tag wasn’t because of its modest SSD, and including a slightly quicker drive in the Inspiron wouldn’t have inflated its price by much.
Even the Asus G11DF features a 256GB SSD with a read speed of 500MB/s and a write speed of 260MB/s, greatly eclipsing those of the Inspiron.
Luckily, you can upgrade the Dell Inspiron Gaming Desktop with a 256GB drive, which comes in addition to the 1TB mechanical disk, for only $100. We highly recommend it, as it will eliminate our complaints about hard drive performance.
Quicker than expected
One of the ways Dell was able to keep the Inspiron 5675’s price under $1,000 was by going with one of AMD’s latest graphics cards, the Radeon RX 580, instead of a pricier Nvidia option. The graphics card is the most influential part of your gaming experience, so let’s see how the RX 580 fares against the competition.
Here’s where things get interesting. Looking at these 3DMark scores, the RX 580 is neck-and-neck with two different systems both running Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics cards — which typically retail for around $200. The RX 580 should retail for about the same price, but current market forces — bitcoin miners — have pushed prices up to around $500 in some cases. It’s hard to snag an RX 580 by itself right now, to the dismay of anyone looking to build their own budget PC.
Throughout our tests, the RX 580 was hot on the GTX 1060’s heels, pushing ahead in a few benchmarks. Looking at Time Spy, the Dell Inspiron 5675 and its RX 580 scored 3,810, to the Asus G11DF’s 3,668.
The GTX 1060 in the MSI Trident 3 fared a bit better with a score of 4,028, but that’s a very slim margin, and it illustrates that variances in hardware manufacturing can have an effect on performance. Even though the Asus G11DF’s GTX 1060 didn’t perform as well as the MSI’s, both were within striking distance of the RX 580.
But that’s just one benchmark. Let’s see if the RX 580 can keep up in actual games.
Once we started really putting the Inspiron 5675 and its RX 580 to the test, a few trends emerged. First, it’s clear that the RX 580 is a very capable card, but more than that, some games prefer it. There were a few games in our test suite that squeezed the most out of the RX 580, and pushed it past the GTX 1060.
At ultra-high settings, the RX 580 managed 93 FPS in Battlefield 1, to the GTX 1060’s 82 FPS. In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the RX 580 surpassed the GTX 1060 by a surprising margin, with an average of 46 FPS on ultra-high graphics settings. The MSI Trident and its GTX 1060 only managed 38 FPS at the same settings, while the Asus G11DF hit 41 FPS. That’s a difference you can feel in actual gameplay.
In For Honor, we see the Inspiron and its RX 580 hit 73 FPS on the Extreme graphics preset, gaining ground on the MSI Trident and its GTX 1060, which topped out at 56 FPS. The Asus G11DF fared a bit better, with an average framerate of 73 FPS, putting it right on par with the RX 580.
Let’s see how the Inspiron fares at 1440p.
Gaming at 1440p is still a bit of a luxury, and if the Dell Inspiron 5675 barely managed to chug along at such a high resolution, it wouldn’t be surprising. It’s a budget gaming rig after all, so 1440p might be asking too much of the poor little guy. Yet the Dell Inspiron exceeded our expectations, decent framerates. We think 1080p is the better match for this system, but 1440p isn’t out of reach, depending on the games you prefer to play.
In Battlefield 1, the Inspiron and its RX 580 never dipped below 60 FPS at 1440p, even at ultra-high detail settings. That’s not bad for a $950 gaming rig. Deus Ex presented more of a challenge, dropping down to 42 FPS at High settings, and 31 FPS at Ultra.
For Honor was a stumbling block for the Inspiron at 1440p.
Running through the rain-slick streets of Prague in Deus Ex, at 1440p with the graphics settings turned up, wasn’t as smooth as it could have been. It looked a bit choppy here and there, especially during gunfights, but even with most settings maxed out, we could maintain a playable framerate by tweaking the graphics settings a little. It was an acceptable experience, at least on par with console versions of the title.
For Honor was a stumbling block for the Inspiron at 1440p, however. The RX 580 just couldn’t maintain the 60 FPS required for online play with all the settings maxed. At Extreme detail settings, it hit 46 FPS, and at high it managed 58 FPS. Medium settings offered some refuge, and the Inspiron reliably hit 68 FPS with settings toned down, even at 1440p.
Peripherals included, but you won’t want to use them
Dell ships the Inspiron 5675 with a mouse and keyboard, so you’ll be able to get up and running even if you only have a monitor. It’s nice for just getting it going right out of the box, but neither the keyboard nor mouse included are of very high quality.
The optical mouse is cheap hollow plastic with a flimsy cord, and the keyboard is oddly squishy for a desktop keyboard. Neither device is a pleasure to use, but they’ll see you through some light web browsing before they start to grate on your nerves.
Peripherals are always tricky territory for gaming rigs. Most gamers prefer to use their own hardware, and Dell seems to be counting on that here. The included devices are fine for getting the system up and running, but serious gamers will want to spend a little extra on better inputs.
Don’t worry about bloat
To be honest, there was always something satisfying about taking a scalpel and cauterizing torch to factory-fresh PCs laden with bloatware. The Dell Inspiron 5675 ships pleasantly light, with only a few branded — and useful — utilities for maintaining the machine. There’s no need to dig into the registry to carefully excise every last bit of unwanted bloatware.
If you absolutely must purge every last bit of branded freeware from your system, a quick trip through the Add/Remove Programs menu can easily slim things down further.
Warranty information
The Dell Inspiron 5675 ships with a one-year limited hardware warranty protecting against any manufacturer defects, and it includes one year of mail-in service for any defects in materials or workmanship. That’s not very long, but it’s on par with what you’d get from other manufacturers at the price point.
Dell Inspiron 5675 Compared To
Asus ROG Strix GD30CI
Velocity Micro Raptor M60
Origin Neuron
Alienware Area 51 (2017)
MSI Trident 9S6-B90611-02S
Digital Storm Velox (Kaby Lake)
Cybertron CLX Ra
Acer Predator G1
Digital Storm Aventum 3
Digital Storm Velox
Falcon Northwest Talon (2015)
Origin Millennium (2014)
iBuyPower Erebus
Gateway FX6800-01e
HP Blackbird 002
Our Take
The Dell Inspiron 5675 is a solid performer with a few drawbacks, but its low price and solid gaming performance make it a good choice, especially if you’re looking to step into the world of PC gaming for the first time.
Is there a better alternative?
There are a fair number of options available to you at less than $1,000. Each major manufacturer has at least one desktop around that price, but finding one with hardware comparable to the Dell Inspiron 5675 is tough without crossing that price threshold.
Acer, for instance, offers the Aspire GX-785-UR16, an Intel-based gaming desktop for around $900. It features an AMD Radeon RX 480 graphics card, which is a step down from the RX 580 in the Dell Inspiron 5675. The difference in price between the two machines is almost negligible, and the Inspiron’s superior graphical performance is definitely worth an extra $50.
Asus, on the other hand, offers the G11DF Gaming Desktop for nearly the same price as the Inspiron 5675, it retails for $1,000, depending on configuration. Featuring a Ryzen 5 1400 CPU, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, it’s a worthy competitor to the Inspiron, so if you’d prefer to go with AMD and Nvidia instead of just AMD, it wouldn’t be a bad choice.
Overall, there are many alternatives to the Dell Inspiron 5675, but none are hands-down better for the price. The Dell gets a leg up due to its balance of price and performance.
How long will it last?
This is a tough question for the Inspiron 5675. It’s well-built, and it’s unlikely to fall apart after a few years on the job. However, its components aren’t quick enough to keep up with PC gaming trends for more than a couple years without serious compromise. Turning down your settings, sticking to 1080p, the Inspiron 5675 will probably last a few years, but by the time Destiny 3 rolls around, it’s going to be time for a new PC.
Should you buy it?
If you’re new to PC gaming, or you’re looking to get back into it, the Dell Inspiron 5675 is a great choice. It’s not going to break the bank, and it’ll see you through at least a few major PC game release cycles in style.
Alexa can control this exoskeleton for people with mobility difficulties
Why it matters to you
Voice-activated Alexa integration will make an exoskeleton for people with mobility difficulties easier to use.
For most of us, virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa are time- and effort-saving technologies for when we are too lazy to get up and find a notebook to make a list, or find the particular music track we want to listen to. A new partnership involving Toronto-based medical device and robotics company Bionik Laboratories is using Alexa in a more life-changing way: As an interface for controlling robot exoskeletons for people with mobility difficulties.
Using commands like “Alexa, let’s walk to the kitchen,” the use of Amazon’s Echo and Alexa tech with Bionik’s Arke lower body exoskeleton could be a rehabilitation and assistive technology game-changer for those who need it.
The Arke exoskeleton works using a combination of smart sensors, inertial measurement units, and artificial intelligence to allow users to walk around. Adding in voice-activated smart technology simply means incorporating another useful interface element — like adding a mouse to a computer that already has a keyboard. Alexa integration will allow Arke users to perform actions like quickly getting to their feet simply by saying, “Alexa, I’m ready to stand” or “Alexa, I’m ready to walk.” It can also be used to modify parameters like stride length when a person is walking, or to check how much battery is remaining.
Bionik Laboratories
“In building Arke, we had one goal in mind — to empower the user to take back their mobility and regain the ability to complete tasks that the rest of us deem normal, like walking to the refrigerator or going to get the mail,” Michal Prywata, co-founder, chief operating officer and director of Bionik, said in a statement. “This pairing of our robotic technologies with the power of Amazon’s Alexa further pushes the boundaries of what technology can do within the home healthcare industry, and we believe we will help many impaired individuals regain the mobility they once lost.”
It is not the only example smart-assistive technology in this field. Other companies are developing rival exoskeletons and autonomous high-tech wheelchairs. It is also not yet perfect since there are no onboard microphones on the Arke, so you need to be within striking distance of an Echo to use it. Still, this is totally a step in the right direction. Pun very much intended.
The 7 best browsers for Android
Browsing the web on your smartphone doesn’t have to be an exercise in futility. A good browser app can make even slow and unresponsive webpages better by speeding up images, saving your passwords, and enabling third-party plugins. The tough part is finding a browser you like. Fortunately for you,we’ve picked the most intuitive and robust mobile browsers we could find, but it’s ultimately a matter of taste: You have to find the browser that suits your needs. With that in mind, here are the best browsers for Android.
Not sure which desktop browser is right for you? Lucky for you, we’ve put together a guide outlining the best browsers in existence.
Google Chrome
Google Chrome has a cornucopia of features, a few of which include the ability to start searches from the address bar, browse the web privately with Incognito mode, and automatically fill web forms.
Unsurprisingly, Chrome really shines if you have a Google account. Once you sign in, it syncs your bookmarks, tabs, and history across devices, remembers your usernames and passwords, and autocompletes your web searches.
But you don’t need a Google account to take advantage of Chrome’s tabbed browsing, which lets you switch between webpages with a few taps. Ditto for Data Saver, which compresses images, fonts, and other web objects to speed up browsing and reduce your data usage.
Best for: Users already steeped in Google’s ecosystem.
Download now for:
Android
Opera
Opera Mobile, the team behind the Opera for Windows and MacOS, regularly gets new features via free updates. One of the more recent are a built-in ad blocker that zaps pop-ups, interstitials, and banner ads from webpages, and a redesigned search bar can scan QR codes.
Opera Mobile is a great browser, besides. It supports tabbed and private browsing, password management, and form auto-completion. And if you sign in with an Opera account, it syncs your session across other signed-in devices.
Best for: Users who want something that’s easy to use with lots of features.
Download now for:
Android
Firefox
Firefox, by the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, is unique in that it supports extensions — third-party tools that augment your browsing experience in a variety of ways. There’s AdBlock Plus, text-to-speech engine Speechify and password manager LastPass — and that’s just scratching the surface.
Extensions aren’t Firefox’s only unique contribution to mobile browsers. Its night-viewing mode webpage colors in order to minimize eye strain. There’s a robust set of privacy controls that let you block ad networks from tracking your browsing habits. And Firefox has Chrome-like bookmark, history, password, and tab syncing features second to none.
Best for: Users who don’t mind a bit of tinkering.
Download now for:
Android
Firefox Focus
Mozilla’s Firefox browser is good for general-purpose browsing, but if you’re looking for something more security-conscious, there’s Firefox Focus. The app — which recently made its way to Android — features a stripped-down, streamlined interface that hides ads, shows you how many tracking programs are being actively blocked on any given page, and periodically reminds you to erase your browsing history.
Focus might not be the most holistic anti-tracking browser on the market, but it’s definitely one of the easiest to use.
Best for: Users concerned about web privacy.
Download now for:
Android
Puffin
CloudMosa’s Puffin browser doesn’t have quite the same pedigree as some of the competition. But it makes up for it with features like mouse cursor emulation, a virtual gamepad, and a theme chooser.
What truly separates Puffin from the crowd, though, is support for Adobe Flash content. It uses remote servers to download and stream Flash games and videos to your device. It’s not perfect — the browser’s free tier only lets you stream up to 12 hours of Flash content a day — but until Adobe retires Flash in 2020, it’s one of the best ways to use sites that won’t let Flash go.
Puffin also has a privacy mode, data compression, and a handful of add-ons like Twitter, Facebook, and Pocket.
Best for: Users who browse websites with a lot of Flash content.
Download now for:
Android
Dolphin
Dolphin launched more than four years ago, but has managed to stay relevant with features like Dolphin Sonar, which lets you search for things with voice (i.e., “search eBay for Nike Shoes” and “go to Google.com”). Gesture browsing lets you to bookmark webpages with finger gestures, and Webzine, Dolphin’s answer to Flipboard, aggregates more than 300 web sources in a variety of disciplines within an offline, “magazine-style” digest.
Dolphin is competitive in other ways. It, like Firefox and Puffin, supports add-ons, tabbed browsing, private browsing, form autocompletion, and password syncing. And it syncs via Dolphin Connect; log in with your Google or Facebook info, install the corresponding Chrome or Firefox extension on your computer, and your tabs, history, and bookmarks will sync in the background. There’s a reason Dolphin is also one of the best browsers for the iPhone.
Best for: Users looking for a kitchen sink’s worth of features.
Download now for:
Android
Samsung Internet Browser Beta
Samsung doesn’t just make phones. The aptly-titled Internet Browser, which had been relegated to its Galaxy smartphones, recently came to Pixel and Nexus devices, and it’s chock-full of useful features. It supports content blockers such as AdBlock and Disconnect, as well as a high-contrast viewing mode designed for users with impaired vision. You can also use the browser to sync bookmarks, saved pages, and tabs with non-Samsung devices via a corresponding Chrome extension.
Internet Browser’s other highlights include the newest, fastest version of Google’s rendering engine (v6), and an extension for Gamepad controllers. It’s available for all Android devices running 5.0 Lollipop or later.
Best for: Users looking for a no-frills browsing experience.
Download now for:
Android
Updated: Added Samsung Internet Browser Beta and Firefox Focus.
Uno Bolt is a fat-wheeled electric unicycle with Gyro Force technology
Why it matters to you
Not only is the Uno Bolt a fun-looking way to commute to work, its concept is unique enough to inspire a world-famous director to use it in his next film.
Within the last decade, there has been a large increase in options for commuting. As gyroscrope technology advences, developers are becoming more adventurous with their designs. One such example is the Uno Bolt, the world’s first fat-wheeled electric unicycle with Gyro Force.
The Gyro Force Technology used in the Uno Bolt is very similar to those found in hoverboards or other stand-up single-wheel transporters. According to the unicycle’s creator, Sean Chan, Gyro Force is “the quickets responding gyroscope to be put into a one wheel machine.”
Operating the Uno Bolt is as easy as tilting the body. Leaning forward accelerates while leaning back slows, brakes, and reverses. As expected, leaning left or right turns it while Tire Assist adjusts the air in the tire to prevent over extending a lean.
Using a 1,000W motor, this 45-pound monowheel supports up to 280 pounds and can climb a slope up to 45 degrees. Powered by a lithium battery, the Uno Bolt can reach a top speed of 22 miles per hour with a maximum range of 25 miles. Once the battery is drained, a full recharge only takes 45 minutes, making this electric vehicle stand out. Users could ride to lunch and be fully charged before the meal is finished.
Additional features include a rearview mirror, bright LED headlight, hefty tire for on- or off-road travel, integrated display, and military-grade alloy frame.
“What inspired us to build a unicycle was [to see] if it was even possible,” said Chan in a statement to Men’s Journal. “Now our third version is complete. The second version was not released to the public but we ended up selling the V2 to James Cameron’s production company. Expect to see the V2 in the upcoming James Cameron movie, Alita: Battle Angels, coming out next year.”
The concept of an electric unicycle has been growing traction over the years. Other developers have already developed working models such as the motorcycle-inspired Ryno or the more modern MotoPogo. Even Ford has toyed with the idea of a detachable wheel that doubles as a motorized unicycle.
Pre-orders for the Uno Bolt are currently still open through Kickstarter with pledges of $1,000 or more. Color options include black and red, or golden.
AIVAnet 