Intel leaks suggest a 40th-anniversary CPU is coming soon

It’s been nearly 40 years since Intel’s first x86 chip, the 8086, hit the market started its slow takeover of the microprocessor industry. If you’ve ever used a computer, you’ve used a processor based on the x86 architecture. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 8086 chip, rumor has it Intel is planning to roll out a special edition processor with a few tricks up its sleeve.

According to several sources, the 40th anniversary processor will be called the i7-8086K, an unlocked six-core processor with a clock speed of 4.0GHz. Wccftech reports that the chip, if its specs are to be believed, will be among the fastest six-core processors on the market.

“The Core i7-8086K has similar core configuration as the Core i7-8700K. It features six cores, 12 threads and 12 MB of L3 cache. The TDP is maintained at 95 watts which is the same as the Core i7-8700K. The clock speeds are currently the fastest for an Intel 6 core processor,” Wccftech reports.

The processor features a base clock of 4.0GHz with turbo boost speeds up to 5.1GHz. Apparently that’s only using a single core, however. The multi-core boost performance tops out at 4.4GHz without any overclocking.

The performance cited comes from Chinese-language sources which claim to have acquired a sample of the i7-8086K processor, so take the news with a grain of salt. That said, it wouldn’t be the first time Intel has rolled out an anniversary edition of one of its flagship processors — and it wouldn’t be the first time said processor was something a little special.

To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Pentium line, Intel released the Pentium G3258 processor which featured surprisingly robust overclock capabilities as an homage to notoriously overlock-friendly Pentium Celeron chips.

So this is all something Intel has done before. The leaks also suggest fortuitous timing for the proposed i7-8086K. Computex lands on June 8, which would be very close to the actual 40th anniversary of the original x86 processor. Whether or not we’ll see this anniversary edition, or if it’s just an elaborate hoax, remains to be seen, but these leaks definitely make a strong case that Intel could have something special planned.

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The PlayTable blockchain console brings digital board games back to the tabletop

Digital and physical board games both have their advantages. Where one has easy set up and clean up, the other has a physicality that’s impossible to replicate on a screen. Combing the best – and ditching the worst – of each has long been a dream for gamers and toymakers. Now, PlayTable wants to make that dream a reality.

It’s an Android-powered, tabletop gaming tablet that leverages blockchain technology and RFID tags, to put real world toys into digital worlds in a manner that goes well beyond Nintendo’s Amiibo and Disney Infinity.

Developed by Blok.Party, PlayTable features a 24-inch 1080p display with multi-touch capabilities and no internal battery. As a touch-screen gaming device it is underpowered compared to the best tablets and 2-in-1s out there, but where it stands apart is in its close ties with the Ethereum blockchain, which cribs the concept of toy-based interaction from the likes of Skylanders or Amiibo, and makes the next logical leap.

Real figures, digital toys

“Where toys to life 1.0, as I like to call them, went wrong, is that […] these toys, really became just that: toys,” Jimmy Chen, CEO of Blok.Party told Digital Trends. “They weren’t actually figures that you end up playing with. What we’re doing is actually taking these figures and allowing you to play with them – that’s a critical part of the experience.”

As well as using figures to store character progression and customization, like Amiibo and Skylander figures do, toys placed on a PlayTable act as the pieces in the game you’re playing. In the case of the tactical card battler Battlegrid, which we were shown in a demo, a dragon toy was placed on the screen and physically moved on its turn. The PlayTable tracked its movement, highlighting potential move locations on the digital battlefield and displaying effects for attacks, which were triggered by placing RFID-tag-equipped cards on the screen itself.

Where this ‘toys to life 2.0’ system really shines is through its link with the Ethereum blockchain. Every single toy’s RFID tag will have its own entry, so the data can be read and interpreted by the PlayTable instantaneously, anywhere in the world with an internet connection, without relying on a single, centralized server.

The real strength of the blockchain is that it doesn’t constrain the toys to one digital or physical medium. “Figures don’t just exist within the confines of one game, they can be used in multiple games, on multiple devices, and even have multiple owners,” Chen explained.

This is at the core of the PlayTable experience. Children will be able to take their favorite toy, put an RFID tag on it, and then use it as a character in the digital board games they play. They can do that on their own PlayTable, or at a friends’ house. Adult gamers can trade toys, changing ownership either by physically handing over the toy, or digitally over the blockchain.

“Figures don’t just exist within the confines of one game, they can be used in multiple games, on multiple devices, and even have multiple owners.”

This also makes it easier for companies that sell games, or “structured experiences,” as Chen puts it, to maintain some measure of control over their content.

“The moment you put a tracker on a figure, it can now forever be tied to the original owner, which factory it came from. We know it’s owned by a particular IP owner and they can open and close different “switches” that allow for these different intentions for those who own the physical piece,” Chen explained. “This ownership is interesting because now when we think of software in general, it’s always this thing where people are coming in and [effectively] renting software from the IP owner. With blockchain there’s almost a dual ownership system. It’s ownership, it’s customization, with unique possibilities that you can’t otherwise have.”

Early partners include classic board games like Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride, but the potential is there for many hundreds of other smaller board games to work well on such a platform. If the digital components can fit on the screen, then the game can be played.

Don’t just play the game, create the game

Chen and Blok.Party don’t want to stop at digital games, however. They want to explore the creativity of such a platform. They want to see universes collide as gamers create their own experiences and shared game worlds.

“When [children] play in the real world, they don’t care that Elsa and Darth Vader come from two different worlds,” Chen explained. “To them they all exist in the same physical world. This kind of play pattern is what we want to encourage with PlayTable. You can 3D print your own characters – maybe it’s a 3D printed version of yourself in costume – take the existing characters in your toybox, and do interesting things with them […] You can battle with your characters with different stats and different abilities.”

Still, PlayTable could be facing uphill battle convincing the public to pay for yet another gaming system which, at $350 for the pre-ordered base version with just 16GB of storage, is more expensive than the exceedingly popular Nintendo Switch. That could be an even harder sell at its intended $600 launch price, especially considering how  so many other alternative consoles have struggled at much lower prices.

“The PlayTable could be facing uphill battle convincing the public to pay for yet another gaming system.”

Blok.Party is hoping that the PlayTable’s extensive feature set will help set it apart from more typical consoles, though. It’s splash proof, and uses strengthened glass to make it resistant to torture from young children – a big advantage over many other gaming systems with touch-screens. It supports 1-8 players locally, and as many as you want over online multiplayer with other PlayTables.

The PlayTable will live or die on its support from gamers and game makers. With a custom, Android operating system known as PlayTable OS, the ease with which existing digital games can be ported to it could be a major factor in how expansive the game library becomes. If your group’s favorite game is playable, that’s going to be quite attractive to frequent board gamers. However, if the process of bringing games to it is complicated or slow, we could be faced with the chicken and egg problem that has plagued new gaming platforms throughout the industry’s history.

PlayTable has a lot to prove when it launches later this year.

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What kind of mouse do you use most on a daily basis?

Most shoppers choose a computer based on the processing speeds, storage capacity, and features like a touchscreen, good keyboard, or inking capabilities. However, just as important as choosing a keyboard with the right key travel, having a proper mouse can make your computing experience more pleasurable — a poorly designed touchpad on a laptop or a finicky desktop mouse can wreak havoc on ergonomics, inducing wrist-related injuries over prolonged use.

On the laptop side, manufacturers like Apple builds its MacBooks with larger touchpads to make navigating the operating system easier and perform gestures. With Windows, even though touchscreens help reduce the reliance on touchpads , the cursor remains a vital component to that experience, so having a good mouse on call, whether you’re using a desktop or a laptop, is important.

So how do you like to click with your computer? Whether you’re a serious gamer, a data cruncher relying on a mobile workstation, or a casual desktop user, an external mouse provides lots of benefits — more precise tracking, vibration feedback, and some even come with wireless charging — not the least of which is improved ergonomics.

How do you “click” with your computer? Whether it’s for work or for play, which kind of mouse do you use most on a daily basis?

(Please RT for a greater sample size)

— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) April 16, 2018

According to the results of our poll so far, it looks like a lot of people enjoy the convenience of a wireless mouse most. It’s followed up closely by non-mouse users who rely solely on their laptop’s touchpad to interact with their computer, as well as traditional wired mouse users. As mouse technology continues to improve with more precision tracking, you have a lot of different options in both wireless and wired mice.

In last place was gaming mice, which isn’t too shocking. While they’re the most technologically advanced input devices, they’re often gaudy and inappropriate for the office or coffee shop setting. But if you’re a gamer, you’ll no doubt enjoy the programmable buttons and more precise input. A few even offer programmable lighting and vibration feedback.

There’s a few other niche tracking methods we’ve left out, such as the trackball. You might think not, but the trackball is still very much alive and well, thanks to Logitech’s MX Ergo. In terms of other unorthodox pointing methods, you can also still buy business class laptops from Lenovo with the legendary red ThinkPad trackpoint.

Regardless of whatever solution “clicks” with you, just remember that it should do what you need — which is to track your cursor accurately — and to provide you with comfort to minimize wrist injury.

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New benchmarks show increased MacBook Pro performance using external graphics

Now that MacOS 10.13.4 is available supporting external graphics cards on compatible Mac devices, is the additional cost of an enclosure and add-in card worth the investment? That could be a yes for graphics-heavy applications, but there are limitations; the feature only supports AMD’s graphics cards and the Mac device must have an integrated Thunderbolt 3 port. There is also no external GPU support in Boot Camp and currently no “official” external GPU support for the Mac’s built-in screen. 

Recent benchmarks using a 2015 15-inch MacBook Pro with a Core i7-6820HQ processor and a discrete AMD Radeon Pro 460 graphics chip showed a significant performance increase when using the Radeon RX 580 add-in graphics card in an external enclosure. For instance, in the OpenGL test in Cinebench R15, the Pro 460 chip managed 56 frames per second while the external RX 580 clocked in at 86 frames per second. 

On the gaming front, World of Warcraft using Apple’s Metal graphics API, a 1080p resolution, and high detail settings saw an average of 71 frames per second on the internal graphics chip, and 141 frames per second on the external graphics chip. Meanwhile, in Civilization VI, the internal GPU scored an average of 66 frames per second while the external GPU hit an average of 73 frames per second using the OpenGL graphics API, a 1080p resolution, and High detail settings. 

Here are a few other benchmarks: 

GFXBench 4 Metal: Offscreen (1080p) 

• T-Rex: 354 (internal) – 835 (external)
• Manhattan: 159 (internal) – 425 (external)
• Manhattan 3.1: 130 (internal) – 349 (external)

GFXBench 4 GL: Offscreen 

• T-Rex: 249 (internal) – 435 (external)
• Manhattan: 101 (internal) – 173 (external) 

Other notable mentions about the recent MacBook Pro benchmarking is that Hitman‘s built-in testing tool worked just fine when benchmarking the laptop’s internal graphics chip but caused a hard crash of the system when attempting to test the external GPU. After that, the game wouldn’t load at all, requiring additional troubleshooting. Meanwhile, Final Cut Pro doesn’t support external graphics, an Apple-developed application that could certainly benefit from the higher-powered solution. 

“eGPU support in macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 is designed to accelerate Metal, OpenGL, and OpenCL applications that benefit from a powerful eGPU,” Apple clearly states. “However, not all applications support eGPU acceleration. Check with the application’s developer to learn more.” 

Apple’s external graphics card support includes the following:

• Radeon RX 470 and RX 480 (Sapphire Pulse Series recommended)
• Radeon RX 570 and RX 580 (Sapphire Pulse Series recommended)
• Radeon Pro WX 7100
• Radeon RX Vega 56 and RX Vega 64 (Sapphire and XFX recommended)
• Radeon Pro WX 9100 

Support for external graphics cards stuffed into enclosures is nothing new for Windows 10 gaming laptops from the likes of Asus and Alienware, but the feature is somewhat of a late arrival on MacOS laptops. Right now, Apple’s external GPU support is fresh out of the oven and obviously needs more time to fully cook and become less of the “hit-and-miss” feature now served up in MacOS 10.13.4. 

As previously stated, the external GPU only supports external displays; it won’t power the Mac’s built-in display. This limitation is supposedly software-only that will likely be addressed on an application-by-application basis by third-party developers in the near future. 

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TaskRabbit app goes down as it investigates ‘cybersecurity incident’

TaskRabbit was taken offline on Monday while the company investigates what it described as “a cybersecurity incident.”

The online marketplace, which matches people who have stuff that needs doing with skilled folks that can get the job done, went down at around 7 p.m. ET as its team began looking into what’s happened.

A tweet posted by the San Francisco company offered few details about the incident, though it did urge users of its service to change their password for other sites if it’s the same as the one they use for their TaskRabbit account.

“We understand how important your personal information is and are working with an outside cybersecurity firm and law enforcement to determine the specifics,” TaskRabbit said in the tweet, adding, “As an immediate precaution, if you used the same password on other sites or apps as you did for TaskRabbit, we recommend you change those now.”

We’re investigating a cybersecurity incident, and our app and site are down while the team works on this. Thank you for your patience while we look into this matter. pic.twitter.com/d61J1c3eh1

— TaskRabbit (@TaskRabbit) April 16, 2018

A company spokesperson told Digital Trends that it has already notified “Taskers and clients with active tasks” of the incident, and promised to compensate any Tasker who had a task scheduled on Monday and as a result of the disruption has been unable to complete it.

It’s not clear what, if any, personal data has been compromised, or how many people have been affected by the apparent cyberattack.

Once the initial investigation is complete, we expect TaskRabbit to offer a more comprehensive update and we’ll be sure to include the details here as and when the information comes in. In the meantime, you can check out a list of FAQs posted by TaskRabbit on its homepage on Monday evening that provide some basic information about the incident.

TaskRabbit was founded in 2008 and is believed to have more than a million users across 40 U.S. cities, as well as London in the U.K.

IKEA acquired the business in September 2017. Jesper Brodin, president and CEO of IKEA Group, said at the time that his company would be able to “learn from TaskRabbit’s digital expertise, while also providing IKEA customers additional ways to access flexible and affordable service solutions to meet the needs of today’s customer.”

The two companies recently partnered on a new speedy service that offers customers help with IKEA furniture assembly.

The apparent cyberattack is the latest in a growing list of security breaches suffered by online companies big and small.

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Squeeze up! The latest Skyrider airplane seat still looks really uncomfortable

Aviointeriors

As if flying in coach wasn’t already challenging enough, there’s a company out there that could make the experience even more of a squeeze if airlines end up buying its latest seat design.

The seat — no, let’s call it for what it is, a perch — is made by Italian firm Aviointeriors, and it means you’d be as good as standing for the duration of your flight if you ever leaned up against one.

The compact design would allow airlines to pack even more people onto their planes, enabling them to increase efficiency and maximize profits. If any passenger dares to buy a ticket for one, that is.

Made, we sincerely hope, for short-haul flights — very short-haul — “Skyrider 2.0” was unveiled at the recent Airliners Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany.

“What, you mean there was a version 1?” you may well ask. There most certainly was, and it came with less padding, so it’s great the company has made at least one positive enhancement regarding the design. But no, we still don’t fancy the idea of leaning back on one of these for more than, say, a few minutes.

If the thought of standing for an entire flight isn’t bad enough, then also consider that the perch in front would be so close that you’d feel like you were stuck inside a cubicle. With a bunch of other people.

The curious thing is, the Skyrider doesn’t appear on Aviointeriors’ website. You’ll see lovely seat designs for first class and business class, and even its economy seats don’t look too bad. So we’re wondering if it might soon add a “no class (at all)” section for the Skyrider, or perhaps the old favorite, “cattle class.”

But before you scoff and mutter, “It’ll never happen,” bear in mind that Airbus has also been looking into the idea of offering a similar kind of seating style to buyers of its aircraft. A couple of years back, a patent from the aerospace giant showed an even more hideous design than the Skyrider that appeared to involve bicycle saddles. And that’s it — no headrest, no legroom, and no seat-back display. Because there is no seat-back.

Airlines may have dollar signs flashing in their eyes at the prospect of fitting some of its aircraft with one of these space-saving designs, though in reality they may have trouble persuading travelers to park their butt on such a seat.

Though if the price was dirt cheap, could you be persuaded? And for how long could you fly on one of these?

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Vodafone rolls out a limited edition Galaxy S9 and S9+ for Formula 1 fans

Galaxy S9/S9+ Red Bull Ring edition is now up for sale on Vodafone Netherlands.

Samsung has teamed up with Red Bull Racing and Vodafone Netherlands to launch a limited edition Galaxy S9 and S9+ for Formula 1 fans. Dubbed the Red Bull Ring limited edition, the bundle includes a standard Galaxy S9/S9+ along with a custom case featuring the insignia of the team’s test track in Austria (Red Bull Ring). The bundle comes with custom packaging, and has exclusive Red Bull themes.

As spotted by GSMArena, the case has an NFC chip that automatically changes the system theme to the Red Bull one as soon as you attach it to the back of the phone. You also get Grand Prix images and videos via Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport, as well as detailed information on all the tracks in this year’s F1 calendar.

Aside from the software additions and the custom case, the phone is a standard Midnight Black variant of the Galaxy S9 or S9+. Either device is up for sale on Vodafone Netherlands, and it’s unlikely we’ll see them make their way to other markets.

If you’re interested, you can pick up the Galaxy S9 Red Bull Ring edition by paying €54 ($67) down and €48 ($60) toward monthly fees, which gets you 6GB of LTE data and unlimited calls and texts. The Galaxy S9+ Red Bull Ring edition, meanwhile, is available for €126 ($156) down and monthly instalments of €51 ($63). Both devices are up for grabs until April 27, so best act fast.

See at Vodafone

Huawei’s first 5G smartphone will make its debut in Q3 2019

Huawei’s upcoming 5G smartphone will feature the company’s own 5G modem.

Huawei has kicked off the 2018 edition of its global analyst summit in Shenzhen, with the Chinese manufacturer detailing plans for the next year. With 5G set to gain momentum next year, Huawei has announced that its first 5G-enabled smartphone will be making its debut in the latter half of 2019.

Given the timing of the launch, it’s not unlikely to expect that Huawei’s first 5G phone will be the Mate 30 (provided this year’s model is dubbed the Mate 20).

Big news:First @Huawei 5G smartphone with its own 5G chipset coming in 2H 2019. Which mostly points to the Mate series.#HAS2018 pic.twitter.com/8k5qThGEmp

— Neil Shah (@neiltwitz) April 17, 2018

Huawei further clarified that the device would be debuting sometime in Q3 2019, which lines up perfectly with previous Mate launches.

Now @Huawei is saying Q3 2019 for #5G handsets during Q&A which sounds more inline with expectations. #HAS2018

— Anshel Sag (@anshelsag) April 17, 2018

What’s notable about Huawei’s upcoming 5G phone is that it will use the company’s own 5G modem. Huawei unveiled its first 5G modem — the Balong 5G01 chip — back at Mobile World Congress, stating that it will be able to deliver a bandwidth of 2.3Gbps. The size of the Balong chipset suggests it will end up in mobile hotspots and self-driving cars rather than phones, but Huawei is also working on a 5G modem tailored for phones.

Huawei is essentially looking to be an end-to-end services provider for 5G, delivering network equipment to service providers while making 5G-ready hardware available to consumers. Huawei has faced a setback in the U.S. in recent months, but it doesn’t look like the move will affect the company in the long run.

Looking ahead, Huawei is predicting that there will be 1.1 billion 5G connections by 2025, along with 200 million 5G-connected cars. That’s an ambitious target, and it’ll be interesting to see what Huawei brings to the table with its first 5G-enabled phone.

Uber is sharing curbside data with cities

As part of Uber’s image redemption, the company has joined groups like, say, the International Association of Public Transport to improve relations with the public and civic administrations. And while the ride-hailing company has had poor relationships with some cities, now it will share some of its vast street-and-curbside data with civic governments, whose own road records can be split up or out-of-date.

This is more than travel distance data, which Uber started offering freely in January. Last week the company jumped on board the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) project SharedStreets, a data-sharing project that aims to help cities understand curb traffic and how to plan around it. For now, it’s volunteering information on Washington, DC’s roads.

There are promising applications of SharedStreets’ data — not least of which is establishing standards for curbs, traffic speeds, transit data and formats making it easier to share information between individuals and agencies, wrote Wired. Better still, it’s all in SharedStreets’ hands, a supposedly non-partisan third party that won’t favor either private companies or city agencies.

That may comfort the former to share their information with an intermediary, which can process and provide it to civic bodies, but SharedStreets isn’t the only curb data game in town. Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs introduced its own platform Coord, which offered a free sample of its services to help individuals and businesses.

Source: Wired

‘Kingdom Hearts III’ will feature retro games within the game

Kingdom Hearts’ long-awaited sequel comes with a surprise for anyone fond of those old LCD games from the ’80s. At the first official Kingdom Hearts Union χ convention, Square Enix has premiered a new Kingdom Hearts III trailer showing retro style games within the game based on classic Disney cartoons and 1980’s handheld consoles. You can start spending your time playing black-and-white virtual handhelds instead of the actual game once Sora gets the machine in Twilight Town. And, yes, you control a small black-and-white Sora!

According to KH Insider, which got the chance to play some of the demo, you’ll have over 20 titles to choose from within KH3. The classic Mickey cartoon-inspired ones include Giantland (wherein you’ll have to evade a giant throwing a fit), Musical Farmer (wherein you’ll have to catch eggs dropped into tubes) and Barnyard Battle (wherein you’ll have to whack enemies while standing on an anvil).

You can watch all those (and more) in action below: