What are Fortnite V-Bucks and what’s the best way to spend them?

The gear you buy in Fortnite is all a matter of status.

To say that Fortnite is a big deal in the gaming industry right now is a bit of an understatement. It’s now available across all platforms and, as reported by Forbes, regularly rakes in over $100 million on a monthly basis.

That’s a ton of money being pumped into a video game which must beg the question: what’s the smartest way to spend money in Fortnite?

How much is a V-Buck?

Before we talk about getting the best value out of your V-Buck, we should first break down the value attached to the currency itself. The smallest amount you can buy is 1,000 V-Bucks for $10, so that sets the base value of a single V-Buck around one cent, although you won’t find anything in the Fortnite store for less than 500 V-Bucks. That makes the base in-app purchase around $5. Of course, Canadians and anyone living outside the U.S. will end up paying more based on the currency exchange rate.

Here are the pricing levels for buying V-Bucks via in-app in USD:

• 1,000 V-Bucks for $9.99
• 2,500 (+300 Bonus) V-Bucks for $24.99
• 6,000 (+1,500 Bonus) V-Bucks for $59.99
• 10,000 (+3,500 Bonus) V-Bucks for $99.99

It’s worth noting that the V-Bucks you buy on a specific platform stay with that platform, so if you’ve bought 1,000 V-Bucks on Xbox One, you won’t see them in Fortnite Mobile and vice versa. However, once you’ve spent your V-Bucks on items you’ll be able to access them across all the platforms you play. Also, because Epic Games didn’t launch Fortnite on the Google Play Store, you’ll need to authorize payment through another means and can’t use any Google Play credit towards your V-Bucks purchase.

What should you buy with your V-Bucks?

Battle Pass

To keep Fortnite free-to-play, Epic Games have implemented Battle Pass seasons. Each season sees players completing objectives to rank up through tiers and unlock in-game rewards along the way. Players are given a free Battle Pass with its own dedicated objectives and rewards, but the premium Battle Pass, available for 950 V-Bucks, lets you unlock up to 100 in-game rewards throughout the season. By comparison, the free Battle Pass for Season 5 (the current season) is just 16, and they’ve been spaced out over 62 tiers.

Epic Games says that you’ll unlock 25,000 V-Bucks worth of content with a premium Battle Pass, but in case you’re curious what that would actually look like, I’ll break it all down using Season 5 as an example.

If you were to complete all tiers of the Season 5 Battle Pass, which Epic Games says typically takes 75 to 150 hours of gameplay to complete you’d get:

Consumables:

• 1,500 in bonus V-Bucks (15 x 100 V-Bucks).
• 19 XP boosts.

Cosmetic upgrades:

• 7 character skins — two of which are gifted to you to start.
• 2 harvesting tools.
• 2 back blings.
• 4 gliders.
• 5 free-fall contrails.
• 5 emote dance moves.
• 6 toy balls.

Basically useless:

• 14 battle icons.
• 12 emoticons.
• 15 spray designs.
• 12 loading screen images.

Right off the hop, if you’re able to make it through 90% of the season tiers you’ll be able to win back enough V-Bucks to cover the cost of the next season’s Battle Pass — pretty good motivation alone. You’ll also get the hottest skins and features of the season in the form of outfits, harvesting tools, gliders, emote dance moves, and other goodies.

But as we go through the list you’ll notice that out of the 116 total rewards offered, the majority fall under the category I call “basically useless”; these include profile icons, in-game emoticons and tags, and literally new graphics to stare at during loading screens — absolute filler. These represent roughly 50 of the tiers you’re tasked with completing with your premium Battle Pass, so those cosmetic upgrades better be worth it.

If you’d prefer to pay a bit more to avoid grinding through the Battle Pass tiers, you’re also able to buy 10 tiers for 900 V-Bucks. Keep in mind that your premium Battle Pass along with all your progress resets at the end of each season, so you’ll want to buy your Battle Pass earlier rather than later so you have more time to work your way up through the tiers.

Cosmetic upgrades

On top of the stuff you can unlock throughout the Battle Pass season, you’re also able to directly buy cosmetic upgrades from the in-game shop. The catch is that only a limited number of items are available at one time, and the items available rotate out every day. I found a great resource for tracking all the Fortnite cosmetics that lets you scope out what’s currently available, wh

There are four categories available on your character to upgrade:

• Outfits: These affect the overall look of your character and is the most significant cosmetic upgrade. There are a ton of outfits available and while some are much bigger it’s worth noting that a bigger outfit does not necessarily increase your character’s hitbox. It’s also worth considering that the flashier the outfit the more you will stand out in the field, so that’s something to keep in mind if you prefer stealth play. Outfits start as low as 800 V-Bucks for Uncommon outfits and up to 2,000 V-Bucks for Legendary outfits.

• Harvesting Tool: By default, Fortnite gives you a generic pickaxe for busting down walls and harvesting building supplies but you can swap out your trusty pickaxe with a wide range of crazy skins for your trusty tool. These have no effect on your harvesting ability but can look pretty fun. There’s also typically a corresponding harvesting tool for each outfit if you’re a stickler for continuity. Harvester tools can be bought for as low as 500 V-Bucks and as high as 2,000 V-Bucks.

• Glider: Upgrading your glider gives you no speed advantages over your opponents, although it can sure look intimidating to see an upgraded glider floating around your landing area at the start of the game. Uncommon Gliders start at 500 V-Bucks, while a Legendary Glider costs 1,500 V-Bucks

• Emotes: There’s nothing sweeter than busting out a quick dance move after you’ve knocked out an opponent, knowing that the other player has a front row seat for your antics on the kill cam. There are over 80 different Emotes to be unlocked or bought and they start as low as 200 V-Bucks.

What’s the best value?

Buying cosmetic upgrades in a free-to-play video game such as Fortnite is akin to donating to the developer. You get a modest reward that helps your character stand out while investing in the longevity and profitability of the game itself. It’s also 100% optional and can get really expensive if you get hooked on upgrading your character on a regular basis.

Let’s take a look at how much someone could hypothetically spend to fully kit out their Fortnite character, based on the average price of items available in the item shop:

New Outfit: 1,500 V-Bucks
New Harvesting Tool: 800 V-Bucks
New Glider: 800 V-Bucks
New Emote: 500 V-Bucks

Total spent: 3,600 V-Bucks, or $35 in in-app purchases

That’s a sizeable chunk of change for some digital apparel. If you’re a parent with kids begging you to buy them V-Bucks, you ought to know just how easy it is to blow through that $25 in-app purchase in just a few quick taps.

Should you buy V-Bucks?

In my opinion, you should only invest in V-Bucks if you’re a diehard Fortnite player and you play across multiple platforms. A Battle Pass upgrade is a great place to start, as a thriftier gamer with just a Battle Pass upgrade has the potential to unlock a good collection of gear through just one season of play. The $25 pack that gives you 2,800 V-Bucks is probably your best value, as you’ll be able to afford a premium Battle Pass for the upcoming season while maintaining a V-Bucks balance in case something in the item shop really catches your eye.

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Philips Hue kits, USB-C adapters, and more are discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on a Philips Hue smart lighting kit, a USB-C 5-in-1 adapter, PNY’s portable SSDs, and more!

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

Step up your Wi-Fi with 20% off TP-Link routers, range extenders, and more

No more weak signals.

Follow this link or use the code 20TPLINK to save 20% on a selection of TP-Link tools designed to increase, extend, and enhance your wireless signal at home.

With this deal you can get TP-Link’s Deco 3-pack mesh networking system for $157.71 total. That’s the lowest price we’ve ever seen on the Deco, which we’ve shared a few deals on before. It can cover up to 4,500 square feet of your home in a strong, wireless blanket. It’s easy to setup and is covered by a two-year warranty.

TP-Link’s AC1350 MU-MIMO smart wireless gaming router is down to $158.39 with this promotion. It normally sells for around $200. The router can work with some of the fastest speeds around and has technology integrated into it to help with multiple devices on the same network and Internet protection like anti-virus. It even works with Alexa so you can do things like create guest passwords with your voice.

Check out the full sale for everything else being discounted today.

See on Amazon

Twitter Explains API Changes to Employees as Limits for Third-Party Apps Go Live

Twitter’s API changes went live today, disabling key features for third-party apps like Tweetbot and Twitterific.

The new API removes timeline streaming, preventing third-party apps from refreshing timelines automatically, and it limits push notifications and other features. Twitter is also charging exorbitant fees for access to its new activity APIs, with access starting at $2,899 per month for up to 250 accounts.

All third-party Twitter apps are affected by these changes. Tapbots yesterday updated the Tweetbot for iOS app to cripple multiple features popular with Tweetbot users. Timeline streaming over Wi-Fi is no longer available, for example, which means Twitter timelines will now refresh more slowly.

Push notifications for Mentions and Direct Messages are delayed by several minutes, and push notifications for likes, retweets, follows, and quotes have been disabled entirely. The Activity and Stats tabs, which were reliant on now-deprecated activity APIs, have been removed from the app, and because the Apple Watch app was heavily dependent on Activity data, it too has been eliminated.

Similar changes were introduced in Twitterrific in July, and as of today, the Twitterrific app is no longer able to receive and display native notifications. Twitterrific’s Today center widget and Apple Watch app relied on these features, and have been removed.

Twitterrific recommends Twitter users download the official Twitter app to receive their notifications, while using the Twitterrific app for everything else.

As the changes went live, Twitter today sent out a company-wide email to employees that starts out by acknowledging the huge impact that third-party Twitter clients have had on growing the Twitter service before pointing towards “technical and business constraints” that prevent it from continuing to offer the APIs necessary to keep these apps working as before.

Today, we will be publishing a blog post about our priorities for investing in Twitter client experiences. I wanted to share some insight into how we reached these decisions and how we’re thinking about 3rd party clients moving forward.

First, some history: 3rd party clients have had a notable impact on the Twitter service and the products we built. Independent developers built the first Twitter client for Mac and the first native app for iPhone. These clients pioneered product features we all know and love about Twitter such as mute, the pull-to-refresh gesture, and many more.

We love that developers build experiences on our APIs to push our service, technology, and the public conversation forward. We deeply respect the time, energy, and passion they’ve put into building amazing things using Twitter.

However, we haven’t always done a good job of being straightforward with developers about the decisions we make regarding 3rd party clients. In 2011, we told developers (in an email) not to build apps that mimic the core Twitter experience. In 2012, we announced changes to our developer policies intended to make these limitations clearer by capping the number of users allowed for a 3rd party client. And, in the years following those announcements, we’ve told developers repeatedly that our roadmap for our APIs does not prioritize client use cases — even as we’ve continued to maintain a couple specific APIs used heavily by these clients and quietly granted user cap exceptions to the clients that needed them.

It’s time to make the hard decision to end support for these legacy APIs — acknowledging that some aspects of these apps would be degraded as a result. Today, we are facing technical and business constraints we can’t ignore. The User Streams and Site Streams APIs that serve core functions of many of these clients have been in a “beta” state for more than 9 years, and are built on a technology stack we no longer support. We’re not changing our rules, or setting out to “kill” 3rd party clients; but we are killing, out of operational necessity, some of the legacy APIs that power some features of those clients. In addition, it hasn’t been realistic for us to invest in building a totally new service to replace all of the functionality of these APIs, which are used by less than 1% of Twitter developers.

We’ve heard feedback from our customers about the pain this causes. We review #BreakingMyTwitter quite often and have spoken with many of the developers of major 3rd party clients to understand their needs and concerns. We’re committed to understanding why people hire 3rd party clients over our own apps, and we’re going to try to do better with communicating these changes honestly and clearly to developers.

We know we have a lot of work to do. This change is a hard, but important step forward. Thank you for working with us to get there.

Twitter has continually said that just 1 percent of Twitter developers use its now-deprecated APIs, but as these changes seem to impact most of the major Twitter clients, it’s not clear how the 1 percent figure is being calculated.

As TechCrunch points out, Twitter’s email insists that the APIs were “legacy technology” that needed to be eliminated for “operational necessity,” but it’s Twitter, not an outside force, that has refused to maintain or redevelop the APIs third-party apps are using or transition existing apps over to the new API platform.

The sad thing is they did build a service to replace most of this, they just priced access to it so high that it might as well not exist. pic.twitter.com/ylfG6lHbQp

— Paul Haddad (@tapbot_paul) August 16, 2018

Twitter has further explained its decision to remove the APIs in a blog post that says the “best Twitter experience” it can provide is through its own “owned and operated Twitter for iOS and Android apps, as well as desktop and mobile twitter.com.”

Tags: Twitter, Tweetbot, Twitterrific
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Nest x Yale Smart Lock review: Buggy, but wonderfully convenient and secure

Security is a funny thing; it’s this illusion we all indulge in, telling ourselves our homes are safe because we secure the main point of entry – the front door. In reality, unless you’ve painstakingly and expensively alarmed and reinforced every single point of entry in your home – effectively existing in a leaden box –  your home isn’t safe. Every window can be broken with the smallest of stones, your garage door opener easily spoofed, your deadbolt easily picked. In short, if someone wants to get in your house, they’ll find a way.

The fact of the matter is a lot more would-be criminals have the skill to bust a window or pick a lock than do ones that can hack a two-factor Google account or an AES256-encrypted WiFi network. And that’s what makes a smart lock every bit as secure as a manual deadbolt.

The Next x Yale in particular fits the bill. Its exterior is largely metal (in Satin Nickel, Oil Rubbed Bronze, or Polished Brass finishes), with a black plastic battery cover on the interior plate and black glass keypad on the exterior.

Installation

Frankly, it was a fairly fool-proof installation, assuming you already have a deadbolt installed in your door. The included instructions, diagrams and templates are tremendously helpful.

I have next to no experience installing hardware. I’m mostly useless around the house, but I still pulled it off with minimal help.

My only hangup, hardware-wise, came when I made the decision to use my existing strike-plate rather than the one included in the box. Mine is a four-screw plate affixed using tamper-resistant cabinet screws, while the included one from Nest was a puny little two-holer with two standard 1″ screws included. The deadbolt wouldn’t quite turn without a slight hitch, and the small motor in the Nest x Yale requires a completely smooth turn to work properly. A coarse file and a little elbow grease later, and the bolt turns smooth as butter.

Using the Nest x Yale

Using the Nest x Yale is pretty painless, whether you’re doing so via the app or manually, from within or without.

From Within

The interior side of the Nest x Yale looks like your average deadbolt, albeit with a rather garish black plastic battery cover that can only be removed by poking a thin object – like the included tool, or a pushpin – into the top of the lock. Whether this is actually tamper-proof or simply put in place to annoy us, we’ll never know – but it’s a pain.

If you installed it correctly, the bolt should slide with no trouble at all – but the turn-style may trigger a (patently false) sense of flimsiness. There’s a single button on the on this side of the door; a Privacy Mode button, which when pressed and held makes it so it can’t be unlocked from the outside, even with a code. Needless to say, it should be used judiciously.

From Without

The exterior face of the Nest x Yale is standard fare, with a metal frame and black gloss keypad as the only means of access on the thing. Some die-hard traditionalists might bemoan the lack of a mechanical key slot, but the result is a clean look indeed. Unlocking the door manually is simple – just tap the Yale key to wake up the lock, type in your personal code, then tap the check mark. It’s not quite as fast as using a key, perhaps, but it sure beats keeping track of one.

Also on the exterior side of the Next x Yale is also a terminal for connecting a 9-Volt battery in the case of a battery failure – which would be useful if, you know, anyone carried a 9-Volt battery. I stuck one in my glove compartment, just to be safe.

Via App

Whether indoors or out, the easiest way by far to lock or unlock your Nest x Yale smart lock is with the Nest App. The app maintains a separate UI for each Nest device in use in your home, so accessing these devices is as simple as tapping on the device you want to use from the Nest home screen and then – in the case of the Nest x Yale – long-pressing the massive Lock/Unlock icon to perform that function.

From the app you can also manage codes and permissions for those codes, as well as configure notifications. Unfortunately, notification control is limited to whether or not you get one when the door is locked or unlocked, or not at all. Personally, I’d love to see a bit more micro-management options. For example, I’d like to be able to receive notifications when one of my AirBnB guests uses their code to get in, but I’d rather not be notified every time my girlfriend uses her code.

Codes can be granted either Door Access Only or System-Wide Access. The former enables them to only use their code to unlock or lock the door, while the latter also gives them access to things like your Nest Thermostat, Nest Cameras, and Nest Doorbell. I recommend the former for guests – rather obviously. These codes can also be set to only activate at certain times or certain days; perfect for those of us that use AirBnb and want to automatically limit access before a guest checks in and after they check out.

Hiccups

I’ve had exactly three software SNAFUs since receiving the Nest x Yale back in April.

Connection Issues

The first came during setup, in which my V30 would not detect the Nest Connect that’s used as a bridge between your lock and your phone. No amount of rebooting or refreshing would fix the problem, so we tried using the HTC U11 instead – and it worked flawlessly. Now, my V30 has had connection problems since the day I got it (Bluetooth compatibility, in particular, was finicky) so it’s hard to land the blame squarely on Nest’s shoulders for this one, but I feel it’s still worth noting.

Random Reporting

The second of these issues showed up when my Nest app spontaneously decided to report dozens of instances of the door locking and unlocking over a period of six hours – over a hundred in total!

Upon closer inspection it would appear that the lock never actually unlocked during this period of time, the app merely generated a log of it doing so. So while the app decided to go crazy for a few hours, the lock itself remained secure – which is reassuring. Also reassuring is the fact that in the month since, I’ve had no other instances of this happening.

More Connectivity Issues

However…this last problem is a bit of a doozy. I recently got a new internet provider, and therefore new network hardware to go with the new network. After re-configuring the network SSID and password, the Nest x Yale worked properly for about a week. But then, out of the blue, the entire Nest setup – both Connect and Yale lock – reverted to Offline mode for a day and change. I went through the proper troubleshooting steps suggested by Nest (check connection, re-certify the network, the works) but my app wouldn’t even detect that the Nest Connect existed, let alone connect to it. I used three different phones (LG V30, HTC U11, and OnePlus 6), but nothing I did helped.

So I reinstalled the whole system from the ground up. It was a pain in the butt, but it worked.

…Until it didn’t. A couple weeks later, the same thing happened. This time I contacted Nest Support directly and was connected with a very diligent and persistently helpful representative. He walked me through all the steps he could, using his support tools every step of the way to try to diagnose the problem. After a bit of fiddling the system came back up without me having to reinstall anything, which was great. But then it happened again. And again. And now again, for the fourth time, with my Nest Rep still trying to figure out what’s going on. Unfortunately, I couldn’t wait any longer to publish my review…so I’ll update you all if my experience improves.

Still Secure

Worth noting, however, is that even with all of these connection issues the lock itself remained secure and the onboard memory intact – all my codes still functioned, the only thing that didn’t was the remote unlock feature. This is a problem, yes – but not a disaster and not a security risk.

Value

At $279, the Nest x Yale/Nest Connect Bundle is a bit pricey. Similar smart locks are a bit cheaper: Schlage’s Z-Wave is $179, August smart lock is between $112 and $279, and Kiwkset’s smartlock solutions range from $90 to $150. Nest x Yale has the advantage of being connected to the rest of the Nest line – which is either a pro or a con, depending on whether or not you plan on using other Nest products. Unlike the august solution, which is merely a cover for an existing deadbolt, the Nest x Yale replaces your deadbolt – making a more elegant solution.

Get the Nest x Yale for $279

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AMD Threadripper 2990WX hits 6GHz under liquid nitrogen overclock

IvanCupa/HWBOT

What do you get when you cross the world’s highest-core-count consumer CPU with an overclocker and a barrel of liquid nitrogen? A supremely overclocked processor, that’s what. That’s what happened when Indonesian overclocker Ivan Cupa was given a chance to put AMD’s new Threadripper 2990WX to the test, managing to push the 32-core, 64 thread CPU to 6GHz — double its base clock speed and 1.8GHz more than its standard boost clock.

AMD’s first-generation Threadripper CPUs impressed everyone with their high-core counts and multithreaded performance at a competitive price. Although the second generation of Threadripper CPUs aren’t quite so affordable, they are still amazingly powerful, offering up to 32 cores and 64 threads to those willing to spend $1,800 to buy the top-of-the-line model. It turns out these chips overclock well, too, although liquid nitrogen isn’t a day-to-day cooling solution.

Still, it’s great for breaking records, which is exactly what Ivan Cupa did when he reached a clock speed of 5,995.4MHz. Some publications have reported that this was across all cores, but CPUZ validation and a statement from Cupa’s overclocking partner, Alva Jonathan, confirms that the 6GHz clock was only achieved on a single core. That core was considered the “best,” reaching as much as 150MHz higher than other cores. The rest were underclocked to 600MHz each, so although they were not disabled, only one core reached the peak overclock.

Note the single core clocked to just shy of 6GHz, while others remain at 600MHz. IvanCupa/HWBOT

The pair didn’t get a chance to see what the chip might have been capable of across all cores when cooled with liquid nitrogen, but if its capabilities on one core are any indication, an impressive all-core overclock shouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility.

Along with holding the 2990WX clock speed world record, that same Cupa chip has been making waves in general benchmarks, too. One 2990WX overclocked to 5.3GHz currently holds the world record for wPrime-1024m with a time of 18 seconds and 420ms. That’s faster than two Intel Xeon Platinum 8180M chips, with 28 cores apiece, and quicker than a 96-core, four Xeon CPU setup as well.

With a little more tweaking and some additional testing time, AMD’s most powerful prosumer CPU could easily be considered the most powerful single CPU in the world.

Fancy doing some overclocking yourself? Check out our guide on how to get started.

Editors’ Recommendations

• AMD Threadripper 2 with 32-cores and 64-threads one ups Intel
• Intel Anniversary Edition 5GHz six-core CPU hits 7.2GHz in supercooled overclock
• Intel throws down a gauntlet with its 28-core extreme CPU
• Leak shows Intel’s 9th-gen Core i7 desktop CPU won’t have hyper-threading
• AMD’s new 32-core Ryzen Threadripper desktop CPU rips into wallets at $1,800

Arm’s future CPU designs may finally catch up with Intel in laptops by 2020

AMD

Arm Holdings publicly disclosed its CPU road map for the first time on Thursday, August 16, covering chip designs that will be released through 2020. Typically, CPU makers keep these details under wraps in a non-disclosure agreement, but the company came forward with its plans to show how its CPU designs will advance the always-on, always-connected laptop experience.

Arm Holdings, or simply Arm, designs processor architectures that are separate from the x86-based versions used by Intel and AMD. These designs target high performance and a low power requirement, ideal for mobile devices. Arm licenses out these designs to Qualcomm, Samsung, Nvidia, and others.

Arm’s latest design is the Cortex-A76 processor core promising 35 percent more performance than its previous design. Introduced in May, the Cortex-A76 aims to deliver the same performance of a competing laptop-based processor but with a lower power draw suited for smartphones. The result is a laptop with 20 or more hours of battery life with no sacrifice in computing performance.

“[Cortex-A76] is the foundational CPU IP for the first 7nm SoCs expected to be in production later this year,” Arm states. “More importantly, Cortex-A76 represents the continuation of the trajectory that will increase performance at a staggering pace, enabling consumers to do more with their smartphones and level the performance playing field against mass-market laptop CPUs from the competition.”

Arm compares its Cortex-A76 design with Intel’s seventh-generation Core i5-7300U processor. Intel’s two-core chip, released at the beginning of 2017, has a base speed of 2.6GHz, a maximum speed of 3.5GHz, and draws a mere 15 watts of power on average. Arm projects that processors based on its Cortex-A76 design will hit 3GHz while drawing less than five watts of power.

The takeaway from this is that Arm’s design will supposedly be on par with Intel’s older chip, but at a lower power requirement. What is important to note is that Intel’s Core i5 processor targets laptops, not smartphones. Also, note that Arm doesn’t compare its design to Intel’s current eighth-generation chips.

But that is just part of Arm’s story. While chips based on the Cortex-A76 design will be released in 10nm and 7mn variants in 2018, Arm’s “Deimos” design targets 2019 using the 7nm process node. The company says this design will provide 15 percent or more increased performance than the just-launched Cortex-A76 design.

Part of Arm’s pitch includes what the company calls DynamicIQ. It’s a design that clusters up to eight processor cores together, enabling chipmakers to mix and match Arm-based CPU cores. For instance, one popular design is to use six low-performance cores to handle web browsing and Facebook trolling, and two high-performance cores to deal with gaming and other high-computational tasks. All eight cores are crammed into one chip.

DynamicIQ is part of Arm’s current Cortex-A76 design as well as 2019’s “Deimos” architecture and 2020’s “Hercules” design. According to Arm, this latter design will not only be based on 7nm and 5nm process nodes but improve “power and area efficiency by 10 percent.” That is on top of the performance gains provided by 5nm process technology, the company added.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Intel’s ninth-generation CPUs could launch on October 1
• AMD’s Ryzen desktop CPUs for 2019 may double the core count
• High-end Always Connected Windows 10 PCs may pack Snapdragon 1000 in 2018
• Dell’s refresh of the XPS 13 2-in-1 series dips its toes into Intel’s Amber Lake
• AMD’s next batch of Ryzen desktop CPUs may focus on better power efficiency

Arm’s CPU road map targets Intel with designs promising laptop-class performance

AMD

Arm Holdings publicly disclosed its CPU road map for the first time on Thursday, August 16, covering chip designs that will be released through 2020. Typically, CPU makers keep these details under wraps in a non-disclosure agreement, but the company came forward with its plans to show how its CPU designs will advance the always-on, always-connected laptop experience.

Arm Holdings, or simply Arm, designs processor architectures that are separate from the x86-based versions used by Intel and AMD. These designs target high performance and a low power requirement, ideal for mobile devices. Arm licenses out these designs to Qualcomm, Samsung, Nvidia, and others.

Arm’s latest design is the Cortex-A76 processor core promising 35 percent more performance than its previous design. Introduced in May, the Cortex-A76 aims to deliver the same performance of a competing laptop-based processor but with a lower power draw suited for smartphones. The result is a laptop with 20 or more hours of battery life with no sacrifice in computing performance.

“[Cortex-A76] is the foundational CPU IP for the first 7nm SoCs expected to be in production later this year,” Arm states. “More importantly, Cortex-A76 represents the continuation of the trajectory that will increase performance at a staggering pace, enabling consumers to do more with their smartphones and level the performance playing field against mass-market laptop CPUs from the competition.”

Arm compares its Cortex-A76 design with Intel’s seventh-generation Core i5-7300U processor. Intel’s two-core chip, released at the beginning of 2017, has a base speed of 2.6GHz, a maximum speed of 3.5GHz, and draws a mere 15 watts of power on average. Arm projects that processors based on its Cortex-A76 design will hit 3GHz while drawing less than five watts of power.

The takeaway from this is that Arm’s design will supposedly be on par with Intel’s older chip, but at a lower power requirement. What is important to note is that Intel’s Core i5 processor targets laptops, not smartphones. Also, note that Arm doesn’t compare its design to Intel’s current eighth-generation chips.

But that is just part of Arm’s story. While chips based on the Cortex-A76 design will be released in 10nm and 7mn variants in 2018, Arm’s “Deimos” design targets 2019 using the 7nm process node. The company says this design will provide 15 percent or more increased performance than the just-launched Cortex-A76 design.

Part of Arm’s pitch includes what the company calls DynamicIQ. It’s a design that clusters up to eight processor cores together, enabling chipmakers to mix and match Arm-based CPU cores. For instance, one popular design is to use six low-performance cores to handle web browsing and Facebook trolling, and two high-performance cores to deal with gaming and other high-computational tasks. All eight cores are crammed into one chip.

DynamicIQ is part of Arm’s current Cortex-A76 design as well as 2019’s “Deimos” architecture and 2020’s “Hercules” design. According to Arm, this latter design will not only be based on 7nm and 5nm process nodes but improve “power and area efficiency by 10 percent.” That is on top of the performance gains provided by 5nm process technology, the company added.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Intel’s ninth-generation CPUs could launch on October 1
• AMD’s Ryzen desktop CPUs for 2019 may double the core count
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Color grading pushes Pinnacle Studio 22 toward more pro video editing features

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Corel’s Pinnacle Studio video editor sits in the gap between consumer editing software and the professional options — and Corel just nudged the software even more towards that pro end. This week, Corel announced Pinnacle Studio 22, an update that brings advanced features like color grading and three and four point editing.

Corel says that Pinnacle is designed for the users that want more than a basic video editor but without the complexities or expense of a pro-grade platform. The company is aiming to keep the simple interface while adding more high-end features in the latest version with features typically found in those pro-grade options.

Color grading opens up a suite of new editing tools to fine-tune the video’s color. The HSL tools (hue, saturation, luminance) allow for control over each color channel to make specific colors pop, to shift a specific color to alter a mood, or to simply correct colors that didn’t record accurately. The new color tools also allow for color grading to match different clips. The colors tools also include color wheels, LUTs, waveform scope and others.

The addition of three- and four-point editing helps editors mix clips more precisely. The process allows users to place flags at the exact point of the transitions when adding a clip at the end or in the middle of the existing timeline.

A new MultiCam Capture Lite option allows the software to capture a screen share while simultaneously filming from the webcam, a process popular with creating software tutorials. The option syncs the different sources, including audio.

Additional updates expand previously added features. Splitscreen options, for example, now have keyframes that allow editors more control when working with multiple clips on the screen at once, including enhanced options for transitions and movement. In a demonstration, the new split-frame keyframe tools were used to create a magnifying glass effect over the original video. The previously added 360 video support now includes the tiny planet and rabbit hole views to create a spherical panorama or reversed spherical panorama.

The update also includes updates to Pinnacle MyDVD and new effects from NewBlueFX. The update also integrates the new features from the 21.5 mid-version update, which included selective color and transition effects that use two similar objects or colors in the clips to create less jarring transitions.

“With the latest version, we’re pushing this even further with a pro-inspired feature set that’s ideal for the video editing enthusiast who wants to do more,” Michel Yavercovski, senior director for product management for Pinnacle, said in a press release. “With new capabilities like Color Grading, Three- and Four-Point Editing, and dynamic Split Screen with Keyframes, Pinnacle Studio Ultimate is the ideal choice for anyone striving to create projects that replicate the polish and creativity of professional productions.”

The software is available in three options with varying tiers of features, starting at $60. Pinnacle Studio 22 Plus retails for about $100 and the Ultimate for $130.

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Prices start at just £11 in this one-day sale on TaoTronics speakers

Speakers of all shapes and sizes are discounted just for one day only.

Today only, you can take up to 30% off the price of a number of TaoTronics Bluetooth speakers and soundbars as part of Amazon UK’s Deals of the Day.

The popular waterproof shower speaker is included in the deal and drops down to just £10.99. With over 2,000 reviewers giving it an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, it’s definitely worth a look at that price.

For a little more oomph, check out the TaoTronics 360-degree Bluetooth speaker that is down to an all-time low of £30.99. It has 2 x 10W drivers and 15 hours of play time. It has never been available for less than £40 before so now is the best time to pick one up.

And if you’re in the market for a new soundbar, there are a couple of affordable options included in this deal too with the 40-inch model reduced to £55.99 and the 34-inch version down to £52.99. Both feature a slim design for slotting into your current TV setup and can be used wired or wirelessly, as well as packing in a remote for controlled adjustments.

These deals end today, so be sure to check out the full range of discounts and take advantage of the new low prices while you can!

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