Hello, how are you?

Yes, it is me, the guy who decided to get out of all the CPU or GPU tests and reviews almost a decade ago. And do I feel regret? Can’t I wait to jump right back into it like Michael Schumacher, God bless him, when he returned to F1 with rather mixed results? Trust me, and please believe me I don’t mean to offend anyone, but the days of motherboard reviews and sleepless nights spent trying and testing the latest and greatest PC components are gone for good.

Funny as it is, time has not stood still in the last eight years, since I finally turned my back on Tom’s Hardware, oh yes, with money in my pocket, yet that wasn’t and couldn’t have been the reason why I was oh-so tired of it all. True enough, there are still those who care about a new chipset, new motherboards, new graphics cards, even overclocking, but the numbers have dwindled and why? Because the PC is dying, along with it the notebook, go figure!

We are running out of excuses for building or buying a new PC system, a new motherboard, a juicier power supply and even a new graphics card. What is so power hungry that would justify the pain, the expense and the time spent on such a project? The latest computer game? Yes, for years that was the one last stand for the power users, but let’s be honest, how many really good games have been released in recent years? Do we really want to sink tons of money into the hottest new components, just to be bored to tears by yet another first person shooter with yet even greater graphics, but a thin or even idiotic story, or a totally dissatisfying end?

So what are we looking at today? Oh yes, there would be this company named Apple. It came out with the greatest gift to man, the first ever true smart phone. Boy did that revolutionise the world, hasn’t it? Today, years later, we are at the nth reiteration of the iPhone, we acknowledge the iPad, we look at all the Android devices, but do we still feel the excitement we experienced when 3dfx, long gone but not forgotten, released Voodoo2? Do you remember that time? Oh how pathetic it looks today, but weren’t we blown away back then? Are we shaking in excitement the same way over the iWatch, or Nvidia’s latest addition to the world or 3D-graphics? Not really, right?

Much has happened in my life in the last eight years. Today, I am the husband to a beautiful wife and the father of an amazing 6-month old boy. Family life has got me in its grip, and I would not want to have it any other way.  You know what upsets my little son the most? It’s mommy or daddy reaching for and staring into their smartphone, instead of giving him the attention he wants as well as deserves. Oh yes, I am a smartphone addict like the next man, but little Ciarán’s disdain for this device made me realise that this cannot possibly the future of mankind.

It makes us antisocial assholes – thank you so much Apple – and if we should believe that our future might go along the lines of the Terminator movies, then becoming antisocial would have to be the first step of humanity losing what it takes to differentiate itself from and be better than ‘the machines’. I am not gonna be a daddy who hands his child an iPad once he turns one and a half years old. I made that oath, and believe me, I am still as technology savvy and hungry as you remember me, but not at any price!

People asked me to talk about how the PC and other technology business evolved to what we are looking at today, but I better be careful, feeling a little bit of an outsider who hasn’t been invited to the hush-hush back rooms, the trade shows or intimate dinners with vendors for a long time. What I can see is Samsung going to produce everything, and the kitchen sink soon, focusing along with other Asian producers on creating yet the best copy of something invented by somebody else. I see Intel apparently busy digging its own grave, Microsoft also somewhat out of wits, the Taiwanese producers, Asus et al., concentrating on squeezing the last little bit of margin, so they can continue selling their stuff just that little bit cheaper once again, and Apple predominantly concentrating on making money, rather than creating something the world is really waiting for.

My dear friend Anthony, fellow dedicated daddy as well as technology editor, suggested I should write about VR and I would love to. When it comes to gaming, it seems to be the next big thing. However, I haven’t played with it yet, so who am I to comment? I’ll get my hands on one of those funky devices as soon as possible though, and I can’t wait sharing Anthony’s genuine excitement about this technology, … or not.

I have the request to give my view of what things will be like in 2030, and what to tell your child now in preparation for our glorious future. I used to be asked that kind of question a lot in bygone times, and my answer was always the same – I ain’t no oracle! I was just about to go there and embarrass myself, but the word count of my article made me reconsider, so why not wrap things up by speaking about the current state of computer journalism? Has it evolved, improved, withered? Well the landscape has changed, hasn’t it?

It feels very much as if all the good guys are gone, while the bad ones still remain. It has become more and more popular rewording press releases rather than doing research, hard work and arriving at one’s own point of view. I wish I could say why. If you allow me taking a wild guess, I would say it has plenty to do with balls versus greed. If it is money that you are after in this business, you cannot possibly say you’re searching for ‘the truth’ or ‘justice’ or – modestly – ‘the best interest of your reader’, can you? What it takes is drive, ambition, a certain level of fearlessness and inspiration. You have that and the money will come by itself. Just watch it arrive, nod if you have to and continue with your mission.

I have joined a team of people with ambition, balls and the determination to provide quality. I would not be writing this, would I not firmly believe in it. I never wanted to return to publishing, because it is a rather ugly business. However, things are going to change, and I have my own little idea how the publishing of old will be turned into something brand new and very exciting.

I have enjoyed writing this, certainly not exactly ground breaking or overly meaningful little piece and I can’t wait getting back into the scene and mixing things up my way. Give me a chance to assimilate all that I might have missed before I can give any kind of fundamental guidance. I’ll be there.

Tom’s back, for better or worse.

The post Thomas Pabst: Is the Computing Business Getting Boring? appeared first on VR World.

Since cryptographers from the IMDEA, IRIA and Microsoft Research found a serious vulnerability in the SSL/TLS security standards that are used to keep passwords and other sensitive information safe in modern browsers, security researchers have been scrambling to uncover the range of everything that has been affected as a result.

Since then, it has been discovered that Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) server software was vulnerable, along with a host of sensitive websites, including those of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), American Express (NYSE: AXP), the NSA, the White House, and others. Additionally, many and most popular web browsers were vulnerable to the exploit: the extent was, on the whole, very impressive.

Parties using vulnerable computers could quickly find themselves on the receiving end of man-in-the-middle attacks, that could be used to steal payment information, passwords, and other extremely sensitive data. Webmasters fared even worse, as the vulnerability could be used to inject malicious code onto server and web buttons.

Companies were quick to roll out patches and fixes for the attack, but this whole mess could have been mitigated, and definitely should not have happened in the first place.

Who is responsible for the FREAK SSL exploit?

Who is to blame for a flaw in the most commonly used security protocol in the world, that managed to affect more than one-third of websites offering SSL?

According to cryptographer at John Hopkins university Matthew Green, the flaw was built into SSL from the very start. “The SSL protocol itself was deliberately designed to be broken,” Green wrote on his blog.

Back in the 1990s, when (it is fair to say) computers were significantly slower than they are today, and the World Wide Web was still in its infancy, cryptography was not very strong by modern standards. After Netscape revealed it’s new SSL technology, the U.S government was quick to regulate the standard. U.S versions of the browser came with 1024 bit public keys, but these keys could not be exported to other countries. The International edition was significantly weaker, with 512 bit public keys.

Since the government made this rule in the interests of being able to break into other nations’ SSL, the standard was quite literally designed to be broken.

Since the 1990s, of course, computers have moved on, and so have politics. The U.S has relaxed its laws about international encryption, and in 2013, a broad push was made to introduce 2048-bit SSL encryption, which is now the standard across the Internet.

So why, fifteen years later, are we being haunted by SSL’s poor security?

Because of the varying degrees of encryption offered by servers and browsers, ‘cipher suites’ were used to negotiate the strongest available encryption standards between a client and a host. While this is barely used nowadays, the option still exists in the clockwork behind operating systems and browsers. The essence of the FREAK attack is, therefore, very simple: interrupt a vulnerable client, and downgrade its encryption from standard RSA to ‘export RSA’.

The resultant encryption is so weak by today’s standards that it can be cracked in a manner of hours using Amazon Web Services.

FREAK never needed to be an issue, and it’s the classic result of companies failing to keep up with rapidly deprecating technology standards.

Fixing the FREAK SSL vunerability

Here are three ways to prevent another FREAK attack from occurring:

1. The government should not try to regulate Internet security standards. The government should be involved in security, and it should certainly regulate the security of its own systems: but laws should not be in place that will hamper the development of security technologies in the private sector. Criminals will continue innovating, and computers will only get faster. The government cannot shut down the Internet, or control its rate of progress, and it shouldn’t try. When it does, bad things happen.
2. Software and web developers – especially larger ones, like Microsoft and Facebook – must actively curate its software for deprecated standards, and disable it. It can be a pain, and a hassle to keep changing systems when old ones are in place that worked in the past. But a little pain in the present could prevent massive disasters down the road.
3. Consumers must be willing to let go of old, familiar technologies and upgrade to ones that are newer and safer on a consistent basis. Individuals – and especially companies – who insist on keeping software solutions that are deprecated in terms of decades must dedicate the time and money to keep up with the changing environment of threats and dangers by upgrading. At the very least, if they must keep the old solutions, they must seek ways to actively improve and safeguard them from potential exploits (similar to what the active Windows XP community is doing now).

This isn’t a novelty, and it isn’t rocket science. This is common sense, and it’s what people should be doing in the first place.

The post How the FREAK SSL Flaw Could Have Been Prevented appeared first on VR World.

The last two years have been rife with reasons to be concerned about national cyber security in the United States: From Edward Snowden’s leaks regarding NSA domestic and international surveillance, to the allegedly North Korean attack on Sony Pictures, to a recent Russian attack on a White House network, to the GAO’s “high-risk” listing on the terrible gaps in U.S cybersecurity. It should therefore come as no surprise that we find the U.S government flailing to haphazardly establish various and poorly connected initiatives in a desperate attempt to stay above water in a brave new world.

The latest step in these efforts is the establishment of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center. During a keynote at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism Lisa Monaco said: “Currently, no single government entity is responsible for producing coordinated cyber threat assessments, ensuring that information is shared rapidly among existing cyber centers … and supporting the work of operators and policymakers with timely intelligence about the latest cyber threats and threat actors. The CTIIC is intended to fill these gaps.”

The “gaps” to which Monaco refers are really tremendous chasms between U.S agencies like the FBI, CIA and NSA which traditionally don’t like talking to one another. In the golden age of espionage, this could be a good thing that aided national security. But in the information age, more information is better, and sharing is the only way to improve national safety.

With an increasingly large number of organizations dedicated to handling the daunting task of keeping the United States safe from outside attacks, it is all the more paramount that they communicate with one another and stay organized and transparent.

“In the cyber context, we need to share threat information more broadly and to coordinate our actions so that we are all working to achieve the same goal,” said Monaco.

Just another agency

But not everyone is convinced that the CTIIC is necessary, or that it will really accomplish its stated purpose. One new member in a sea of acronyms, the CTIIC is considered extraneous by some, or a potential excuse for the government to collate and collect private information: not worth the $35 million it will cost to establish.

A huge influx of governemnt programs to fix a national crisis is an American tradition

Greg Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology is one such skeptic, and has been quoted as saying: “Given the number of other agencies that have cybersecurity threat integration responsibilities, it’s not clear that a new agency is needed.”

Speaking with The Guardian Norjem added, “We are keen to hear from the White House about the measures it will impose to ensure that this new agency operates transparently, with effective independent oversight, and does not become a repository for personal information unnecessary to counter cyber threats.”

What’s more, the CTIIC follows a familiar template, and is modeled after the National Counterterrorism Center which deals with terrorist threats at home and abroad.  The U.S government understands terrorism, and knows all too well how to fight it, and thinks that the same methods will help it to manage a cybersecurity crisis.

But the facts show this strategy is failing miserably. The CTIIC is not the first effort the U.S government has made in the last few years to improve public IT, as the government has already spent billions of dollars to manage the digital frontier – the Pentagon itself spends $5 billion every year on cybersecurity. And according to this month’s GAO report, national cybersecurity is still plagued by terrible problems, and words like “inadequate”, “inconsistent” and “partial” were used to describe the government’s efforts. Since 2006, the number of information security incidents reported by federal agencies to the US-CERT have increased by 1,121%

.

Cyber threats and terrorism are apples and oranges: both fruits, but of completely different kinds. The U.S government is trying to manage a 21st century problem with 20th century solutions, much as the FCC has done by trying to regulate the Internet as utility. Leading technology companies are feeling the brunt of these moves, and Verizon released a satirical statement in morse code regarding the FCC’s new rules to emphasize the inadequacy of outdated methods where new problems are concerned.

So is the CTIIC good or necessary? Perhaps, with proper oversight, it could marginally improve the existing nature of U.S cybersecurity. But perhaps the time has come to stop thinking of ways we can glue the old system together, and come up with something better suited for the decidedly unique threats of the modern world.

The post Is the Newest U.S Cybersecurity Agency Necessary? appeared first on VR World.

With the annual Consumer Electronics Show right around the corner and the industry’s marketing efforts going into overdrive, what is it that we will likely see next week?

It’s a safe bet that if will be a week of opposites.

From hardware going to both larger and smaller designs, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) G-Sync versus AMD (NYSE: AMD) FreeSync, small displays with massive resolution, and gaming notebooks of both massive and diminutive sizes.

Small form factor hardware as is one of the fastest growing areas in the hardware segment, and no doubt there will be a lot of it on display at CES.  With hardware becoming so powerful and small we are seeing a lot of really powerful builds that can be done.  With even MATX X99 boards we are seeing that there is a move toward making things small and potent.  On the other side there is a lot of huge pieces of hardware showing up on the market, namely 4K and ultra wide monitors.  They are becoming even more prolific and the ultra wide monitors are drawing a lot of interest from gamers and power users who were once planning on going for a 4K monitor or two.  There will be a lot of talk this CES about AMD’s FreeSync for enthusiast gaming monitors as it is the newcomer challenging Nvidia’s established G-Sync.  FreeSync will draw the attention of monitor manufacturers since it is less costly to implement and license than the G-Sync solution.  The LG 34UM67 will be a curved ultra wide monitor that will feature AMD’s FreeSync, and should definitely steal a lot of the spotlight next week.

The mobile computing segment is also something to watch next week as we will see a lot of small notebooks with very high resolution displays.  It is easy to say that there will be a number of notebook models that will feature 3K and 4K screens, even at the 15.6-inch sizes.  There will also be a movement with ultraportable gaming notebooks of small size that can be docked with a desktop graphics card for superior gaming ability while at a desk.  With the shrinking of parts that make up computers we will be seeing a drastic reduction in size and weight of these ulta portable notebooks.  Not only will they be smaller but they will be potent and even come equipped with quad-core Intel i7 processors and decent graphics.  On the other hand you will also see that there is a move to the opposite extreme as there will be new 18″ gaming notebooks that will be the true embodiment of the “desktop replacement” name.  Some of these huge notebooks will even sport gaming grade mechanical keyboards featuring Cherry MX Brown switches.

Be sure to check back throughout next week as CES 2015 kicks off in Las Vegas.

The post PC Enthusiats: What Can We Expect to See at CES 2015? appeared first on VR World.

Right about now, only 18 days after the release of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII), it is safe to say that almost everyone and their mothers have seen the trailer.  Almost everyone, because the creator of the Star Wars universe and nerd Demigod George Lucas has confirmed that he has no intention on viewing it.

During Bloomberg Businessweek’s 85th anniversary, George Lucas answered some questions that the writers of Page Six were probably itching to ask him.  When they asked George about what he thought of the now infamous 88-second teaser he replied “I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t seen it yet.”  Most likely very surprised the reporters pressed him about why he had not seen the trailer and he told them because it is not in the movie theaters.  He plans to go watch it at the theater when he can watch the whole movie, because that is how he prefers to do it.  He did make it clear that he will see it when it does get released though.

In case you missed it by living under a rock for the last few years Disney bought up Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion.  This included the Star Wars franchise that was wholly owned by George Lucas.  His foresight to retain rights to the series is  pretty well known and made him extremely wealthy before he sold Lucasfilm.  There were many mixed feelings about the sale at the time and still currently.  From what we have seen in the teaser trailer it may be a sign that the new direction under J.J. Abrams may just be the shot in the arm that this franchise has needed.  This as there are so many mixed feelings to the most recent trio of films in the franchise.  Some of it seemed so focused on selling the merchandise rather than making a compelling story, and I don’t think we need to bring up all the issues with the films right now.  The hope that the story will be the main compelling reason to see this film is the reason why I am looking forward to the release of the movie.

The post George Lucas Hasn't Seen The Trailer For Star Wars Episode VII appeared first on VR World.

In case you missed hearing about the stunt that TGI Fridays was doing for the holidays, the “Mistletoe Drone” was a remotely controlled quadcopter with mistletoe hanging beneath it.

The quadcopter would be flown around the restraunt as a sort of roving kiss-cam.  You know it as that entertaining thing that you enjoy at sporting events, so why wouldn’t you want it when you go out to eat?  The seasonal promo has been jumping around from location to location with success and without incident until December 4th at the chain’s Sheepshead Bay location. The operator had a 10 inch quadcopter that he encouraged a reporter from Courier Life to let land on her hand.  When she flinched after the quadcopter touched down it went careening into the photographer’s face.

Reports say that the operator David Quiones stated that there had been no incidents before and even blamed the reporters.  Though it should be noted that operators of RC aircraft need to be in control of what they are piloting and use the utmost caution to prevent injury to others. A spokeswoman for TGI Fridays said that the prior events had no casualties and dismissed the reporter’s concerns about future injuries.  What is most troubling is the statement of the operator to the reporters, which Quiones said “If people get hurt, they’re going to come regardless. People get hurt in airplanes, they still fly.  There is a risk involved — anything flying, there is risk.”

It is amazing that there have not been issues before as flying copters inside that are that powerful is a very dangerous thing to do.  The 23 inch six motor copter that they also use did not have blade protectors for  whirling 5 inch blades when the Courier Life photographed it flying around.  These blades are spinning at very high rates of speed and are very dangerous and should be protected in a situation like this.  It is peculiar since there are photos at other locations that show the same copter with protectors on.  One can only be thankful it was the smaller of the two that inflicted the damage, as the larger one most definitely would have been much more gruesome.

The post TGI Fridays' Mistletoe Drone Stunt Ends The Obvious Way appeared first on VR World.

Although the growth of the high-end segment has declined of late, there have been some truly remarkable devices launched over the course of the year. Here are the five best smartphones of 2014:

New Moto X

The new Moto X is larger, wider and more feature-filled when compared to last year’s version. While the first-generation Moto X was highly regarded for its in-hand feel and comfort, this year’s models eschews ergonomics for a larger screen, a trend that is becoming more and more common among high-end devices of late. That doesn’t mean that the new Moto X is too unwieldy to use one-handed; far from it. The thin bezels and curved edges mean that the device fits in your hand better than others that also feature large screens. Also, the aluminium frame around the device adds to its premium nature and highlights the overall design.

While offering a near-stock UI, Motorola has baked in enough custom features that serves to differentiate the Moto X from devices running vanilla Android. The Active Display feature is so intuitive that it should be offered as standard across all devices. With this feature, the device lights up whenever a notification arrives, allowing you to quickly look at it without having to unlock the screen. Active Display combined with an always-on listening mode – which sees a dedicated digital signal processor actively listening for the hotword – are the two best features to be included in a device of late. While the first-gen Moto X had this feature through a middle-man service, Android 5.0 natively allows this functionality, which gives quicker access to voice-enabled actions.

The Moto X from 2013 did not feature the latest hardware available at the time, but this time around Motorola has included the latest available specs with the new Moto X. Under the hood, there’s a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC, 2 GB RAM, 13 MP camera, 2 MP front shooter and Wi-Fi ac connectivity along with a 2,300 mAh battery. The battery life was a major concern in last year’s handset, and while the 2014 Moto X does not fare much better in this segment, at least there is the ability to charge the device quickly due to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 technology, which is leveraged through a unique charger.

The 16GB version of the smartphone is available for $499, and can be customized heavily through Moto Maker. Should you wish to do so, you can get a leather or wooden back variant for $25 more. The sheer number of customization options combined with the exclusive features like Active Display make the new Moto X one of the best devices available today.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

The Galaxy Note 4 is unlike any Samsung (KRX:005935) flagship smartphone thus far in that it actually looks like a premium handset. Samsung has finally decided to use metal in the construction of their devices, and in the case of the Galaxy Note 4, this is in the form of a metal frame that runs around the sides of the device, adding rigidity to the structure as whole while providing aesthetic value.

Another first is the 16MP camera sensor, which now comes with OIS, a feature that has been long-requested by loyal fans. The imaging sensor is from Sony (NYSE:SNE), and comes with Samsung’s customizations on the software side of things. The 5.7-inch QuadHD AMOLED screen is outstanding, and is one of the best displays on a Samsung handset yet.

TouchWiz, long criticized as one of the worst manufacturer skins, has also received a facelift. However, Samsung has not cut down on the gimmicky features, and in fact found new “health-oriented” utilities that will allow you to track your daily activities better. The result is that a device with a quad-core 2.7 GHz Snapdragon 805 SoC (octa-core Exynos 5422 in some markets) stutters during the loading animations. Turning off animations entirely makes things better, but if there is a single drawback to the Galaxy Note 4, it is the software. Samsung needs to re-evaluate its stance of software design and focus on things that matter to users instead of just bundling every single utility it has made over the course of the last five years into its devices.

That being said, there are a few features that stand out, and serve to distinguish the Galaxy Note series from other phablets out there. The most useful is Multi Window mode, which as the name suggests allows you to run two utilities side by side simultaneously. There’s also a similar mode for video as well that allows you to run two videos side by side, but that once again falls into the realm of gimmicks. The stylus has also been tweaked to offer better sensitivity, and comes a lot of features that boost its functionality. For instance, Photo Note is a utility that scans images and lets you make changes to them using the stylus.

Overall, the Galaxy Note 4 is a move in the right direction for Samsung. The device is easily the best-looking Samsung flagship we’ve seen, and the stellar hardware means that you will not be encountering any lag (barring those caused by TouchWiz, of course). With carrier subsidies in effect, the device comes down to $199, although the off-contract pricing of $800 is not astronomical considering the features you’ll be getting. There’s also the Galaxy Gifts promotion, through which you stand to get over $300 worth of digital services for free from Samsung.

OnePlus One

If there is one device that can be categorized as the best of 2014, it would be the OnePlus One. Nothing comes close to the device in the sheer number of features it offers for the price. Sure, novel utilities like double tap to wake, ambient display and camera software tweaks are missing, but when it comes to the basics, the OnePlus One smartphone gets everything right. Though the device features a 5.5-inch 1080p display, non-existent bezels and a clever design – which sees the display slightly raised from the rest of the device – lends to a form factor that allows you to use the device one-handed.

The OnePlus One has hardware that is often found in devices twice as costly: there’s that 5.5-inch full-HD display, 3GB RAM, 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC, 13 MP camera at the back with a Sony MIX214 sensor (the same that’s used in devices like the LG G3), 5 MP front shooter, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac connectivity and a 3,100 mAh battery.

The device features a custom CyanogenMod skin, and the differences from stock Android are immediately noticeable. The theme engine, which allows you to modify all facets of the UI, is a great feature to have for users looking to customize the handset to their liking, and the settings feature the most comprehensive list of options we’ve seen on an Android device. Another point of differentiation is the quick rollout of updates, with the OnePlus community constantly listening to consumer feedback and providing quick fixes for commonly found issues.

Talking about issues, the only major drawback with the device is availability, although getting hold of an invite has gotten relatively easier over the last few months. Retailing at $349 for the 64GB Sandstone back version, and just $299 for the 16GB variant, there are few devices that match up to their billing. The OnePlus One is one of the few devices that manages to do so successfully.

iPhone 6 Plus

After years of making snide comments about phablets, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has decided to join the game with the iPhone 6 Plus. The device is not being called a phablet, but a handset that allows you to do more. The more is in reference to the screen size, which at 5.5 inches is larger than most Android flagship devices out there today. The resolution has been increased to 1080p, and the hardware has also gotten a boost.

Powering the iPhone 6 Plus is the Apple A8 SoC, which has a dual-core version of a Cyclone architecture CPU clocked at 1.4 GHz along with a PowerVR GX6450 GPU. Other specs do not matter much, connectivity as the software is tuned to run on whatever hardware is current-gen. With the iPhone, it has always been about the experience, and this time around it is no different. The iPhone 6 Plus comes with a new design that is being heralded as the best ever, is thinner and has a more premium look to it, and runs iOS 8 out of the box. That is one of the things it is meant to do well: get going out of the box without having to fiddle around with a bunch of settings (or as Android users like to call it, customization).

Of note is the 8 MP camera at the back that now comes with OIS, which is in fact one of the reasons to go with the iPhone 6 Plus instead of its smaller sibling, the iPhone 6. The device is available in memory variations of 16, 64 and 128GB, with each increment costing $100 (on-contract) more. The cost of the device varies based on the territory, but the entry-level handset is in the vicinity of $800.

One of the major talking points during the launch of the iPhone 6 Plus smartphone was the introduction of NFC, which allows customers to pay for services using their mobile devices using a digital payment system called Apple Pay. Currently available in the US but facing backlash from a variety of retailers including CVS and Walmart (who are in the process of introducing their own digital payments service called CurrentC), Apple is looking to launch the service in additional countries. If you’re looking to go with iOS, the iPhone 6 Plus is the handset to get.

Lumia 930

The Lumia 930 is the last flagship device to bear the iconic Nokia (NYSE:NOK) name, at least for this decade. Now that the Finnish manufacturer’s acquisition to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is finalized, the Redmond giant’s logo will be used on future Lumia models, like the Lumia 535 that was announced last week. For now, Microsoft seems to be content targeting the entry-level and mid-tier segments with its latest device launches, as evidenced by the announcement of the Lumia 730, Lumia 830 and now the Lumia 535.

What this means is that for this year, the Lumia 930 smartphone is your only real choice if you’re looking to get a Windows Phone in the high-end segment. There is the 6-inch Lumia 1520 that was announced last November, but considering we’re already more than 12 months into the life cycle of the device, it is not being recommended. Also, the form factor of the Lumia 1520 does not make it a comfortable device to use on a day-to-day basis.

Ever since the Lumia 1520 was announced, fans of Windows Phone have been clamoring for a device with similar hardware in a 5-inch form factor, and the answer is the Lumia 930. The device comes in color variations of white, black, green and orange, and carriers on Nokia’s ethos that is clearly visible in all Lumia handsets. The build quality is excellent, there is a camera shutter key on the right side, and the camera itself, a 20 MP PureView sensor, is one of the best imaging sensors you can get in a handset.

Furthermore, Nokia’s exclusive utilities like HERE navigation services (which Microsoft is now licensing for the Lumia series) are a standout in this category thanks to features like offline turn-by-turn routing. Then there are the host of camera-centric utilities, as well as the music and video services. But the best feature of all has to be Cortana. It may not be as accurate as Google Now, but it is the most fun to use among all voice-based assistants available today.

The list of features that can be handled by Cortana is increasing on a weekly basis, and the assistant excels at getting the basics right, which can be said of the platform itself as a whole. With Windows Phone, you may not get Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) services, but Microsoft is starting to add enough functionality that you don’t have to.

The post Five Best Smartphones of 2014 appeared first on VR World.

In a video titled, The Art of the Sizzle w/ David Bruce, HTC (TPE: 2498) satirically mocks the entire concept of the sizzle video that is designed to make you excited and intrigued by a simple video of a smartphone. There’s no doubt that HTC has participated in some of these sizzle videos, but the reality is that their competitors, namely Samsung, Nokia (now Microsoft), and Apple have really gotten the smartphone sizzle video down.

In fact, if you watch most smartphone introductions nowadays, you are almost guaranteed to watch some sort of a sizzle video in advance. Some companies like to focus on abstract angles and unique system features, while others simply try to make the phone look exciting by doing interesting motions and graphics alongside. A good example of this is Apple’s own iPhone 6 sizzle video. If that doesn’t give you a good idea of what’s in a smartphone sizzle video, then you can watch Samsung’s own Galaxy S5 introduction video.

The truth is that its actually quite hard to get a bunch of press and operators excited about a phone, especially since most phones nowadays are essentially the same phone with incremental upgrades and very little real innovation from one model to another. After all, it isn’t very profitable to be making major technological improvements from generation to generation. So, you need to focus on the exciting parts of the phone and accentuate them with the sizzle reel that gets people excited about your phone and gets their attention in preparation for the actual launch or actual unveiling in person or when people see them in stores.

Apple are the masters of these videos and I suspect that HTC is mostly mocking them with this video, however Samsung likes to do a lot of the same things that Apple does so it isn’t much of a stretch to consider Samsung part of this fad.

The post HTC Brilliantly Mocks the Smartphone Sizzle Video appeared first on VR World.

In an interesting turn of events, Samsung (KRX: 005935) has decided to counter Nvidia’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) lawsuit against Samsung and Qualcomm with a suit of its own against Nvidia in Virginia District Court. All of the legal documents are not publicly available yet, so anyone interested to see details of this filing will be forced to head on over to legal360 to get the details of the case. According to them, Samsung alleges that Nvidia and Velocity Micro infringe upon 8 patents of their own that they have filed in the past. Those patents are:

5,860,158 – Cache control unit with a cache request transaction-oriented protocol
6,282,938 – Method for rolling a metal strip
6,287,902 – Methods of forming etch inhibiting structures on field isolation regions
6,819,602 – Multimode data buffer and method for controlling propagation delay time
8,252,675 – Methods of forming CMOS transistors with high conductivity gate electrodes
6,804,724 – Analog/digital display adapter and a computer system having the same
7,073,054 – Computer system and method for booting up the same
5,777,854 – Integrate flexible contacts grounding system for a computer system chassis
6,262,938 – Synchronous DRAM having posted CAS latency and method for controlling CAS latency

This lawsuit appears to be almost as frivolous as Nvidia’s suit against Samsung and is structured similarly. Samsung is essentially going after Nvidia in this lawsuit, but is simultaneously going after one of Nvidia’s partners who utilize that technology in order to make it pay for its lawsuit against Samsung. Nvidia’s original lawsuit was a clear jab at Qualcomm and pulled Samsung into the lawsuit because they are one of Qualcomm’s biggest customers and the leading Android smartphone manufacturer.

The interesting thing is that Samsung claims that Nvidia is also making false claims about its products (where it competes with Samsung). The company specifically outlines that it is falsely advertising the Shield tablet, which Nvidia claims to have the world’s fastest mobile processor. However, according to Samsung, they state that ‘standard benchmarking tools’ show that the tablet’s performance isn’t as fast as Samsung’s own Exynos 5433 SoC, which is in the Galaxy Note 4. Interestingly enough, if you go to Futuremark’s website and check the PCMark for Android benchmark the four fastest devices are all Nvidia Tegra devices, including the HTC Nexus 9. What’s interesting is that Samsung didn’t go after HTC and the Nexus 9 even though it uses an Nvidia Tegra K1, indicating that they probably don’t want to burn that bridge by suing them. Also, if you go to Rightware’s Powerboard, which measures their own benchmark (Basemark OS II) Nvidia-based devices are 2nd and 3rd fastest after Apple’s A8X in the iPad Air 2 showing that Samsung’s Exynos chip is nowhere near the fastest according to industry standard benchmarks. You can also go to Kishonti’s GFXBench tables and once again Nvidia-based tablets take the top spot, nullifying any of Samsung’s own claims.

Let’s be honest here, Nvidia’s original patents are already fairly questionable and generic in terms of scope and clearly indicate the company’s desire to license their GPU IP and force others to do so as well, especially if they’re competitors like Qualcomm. Nvidia burned the bridge with Samsung as a result of this suit and now Samsung is lodging an equally ridiculous lawsuit against Nvidia in hopes of possibly canceling out Nvidia’s lawsuit. It isn’t quite clear what either company hopes to achieve here, but the end result will hurt consumers and very likely drive up legal costs for all of the companies involved, which will impact profits for some smaller companies like Nvidia and Velocity Micro.

The post Samsung Fires Back, Sues Nvidia and Velocity Micro appeared first on VR World.

In a very politically inflammatory statement today, Senator Ted Cruz likened Net Neutrality to Obamacare, which does more harm than good to the internet’s future as the hotly contested issue of Net Neutrality ping pongs around the IT industry and Capitol Hill.

Obviously, Cruz made his statement as a response to Obama’s instruction to the FCC (including Chairman Tom Wheeler) that they need to preserve Net Neutrality by giving the FCC the regulatory powers to oversee the internet by classifying it as a Title II communications service, which would liken it to land line phone service.

The problem with such an analogy is that it likens a multi-faceted piece of legislation that Republicans oppose to a reclassification of a type of telecommunications so that it can be properly regulated (which it technically isn’t right now). The idea was not to regulate the internet in order to allow it to self-regulate, but that does not appear to have worked and now people are calling for a reclassification as a Title II common carrier service. This would require companies to treat all traffic equally and not to be able to pick and choose, which they’re technically already doing. Some may liken Obamacare to this reclassification because Obama now supports it or because it involves government regulation, but the truth is that the FCC has already been regulating internet service for quite some time, but hasn’t had the authority to enforce a truly equal internet.

“Net Neutrality” is Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government.

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) November 10, 2014

Following his statement, some well known internet personalities including the creator of The Oatmeal online comic, Matthew Inman, who broke down Net Neutrality to the junior Senator in a comical, yet informed, way.

The real issue with Cruz’s tweet is that it very likely comes from a place where lobbyists are encouraging him to shoot down Net Neutrality, after all, he does take money from large telecom companies for his campaign donations. Additionally, Cruz has been emboldened by the recent election to stand up to Obama even more than he already has and to make Obamacare a central issue around next year’s Congress and to repeal it. Cruz may have gotten the attention of many by likening a conversion of internet service into a Title II telecommunications form, but by likening it to Obamacare, he has immediately turned a bi-partisan issue of Net Neutrality into a partisan issue and will encourage people to be against Net Neutrality even though it is in their best interest.

Even the EFF is behind the reclassification plan that Obama now states that he also backs, because in the past Obama has remained silent on the topic and there’s actually a good chance that with a Republican House and Senate Obama may actually find some common ground with them on Net Neutrality. The problem is that the state of the internet is so horrible with all of the oligopolies that it is virtually impossible to allow the internet to exist in an unregulated manner, there is not enough competition among internet service providers, so there is no way that consumers can simply be the driving force behind innovation and Net Neutrality. We’ve covered this topic many times over the course of the past year, and some of the most recent talks by Tom Wheeler about the lack of competition are possibly the most enlightening. Because of government intervention, these companies have been allowed to become too big and effectively have local monopolies or duopolies with very few to no places having three options for wired broadband.

Optimally, the best thing would be to have multiple internet service providers in each area, including a possible municipal broadband option, which would then compete with each other for consumers’ business and improve in order to compete with those customers. After all, that’s sort of how it used to be until AT&T bought up all of the land line companies and Comcast started gobbling up cable providers (and now wants to absorb TWC).

The post Ted Cruz Falsely Likens Net Neutrality to Obamacare appeared first on VR World.

When looking to build a custom gaming system, it can be a bit time consuming and stressful to decide on what components to use.  We have put together custom gaming system guide in order to help send you down the right path and get started with what  would be in our system.  The  parts selected have been chosen based on performance and value for the price.  The case is also selected to help choose something that will look great and be functional for the build.  The parts will be linked to Amazon offerings unless there is a better savings on the item at Newegg.  Components have also been selected to help facilitate possible future upgrades to the system.

CPU – Intel i7 4790K $317.27

The 4790K is a quad core processor that is hyper-threaded giving a total of 8 processing threads.  This will greatly help applications and games that take advantage of multiple cores.  The 4790K comes with a stock clock of 4GHz with a maximum turbo frequency of 4.4GHz.  This will make it plenty powerful for the latest games and make it churn through demanding applications.  If you are one for a little overclocking the CPU will easily go to 4.5GHz and the uncore frequency is also able to be overclocked to improve the memory performance.

Motherboard – MSI Z97 MPower $181.99

The MSI Z97 MPower is a very capable motherboard that looks great and performs as good as it looks.  The board will be able to make sure that the 4790K is rock solid stock or overclocked.  The board has an M.2 slot that the SSD will be used in and that will make for a much cleaner looking system.  The M.2 usage will also make it so that one less PSU power cable will be needed, as well as mounts and cabling for a SSD.  The board will also be able to support SLI or Crossfire if that upgrade is wanted down the line.

Graphics Card – MSI GTX 970 Gaming $349.99

The MSI 970 Gaming is chosen for a few reasons, the first being that it is a GTX 970.  The 970s have proven to be the best possible buy for GPUs currently, offering both an affordable card and great performance.  The 970 is powerful as it comes but with these cards high stable overclocks are being attained, giving even more performance for the money.  The Twin Frozr cooler that MSI uses is one of the best on the market for GPU Heatsinks and they are both quiet and dissipate heat effectively.  Another great thing about MSI is that the US customer service is good and unofficially they allow users to remove the heatsink without voiding warranty, as long as there is no physical damage to the card.  This will be nice for those that want to re-apply thermal paste to try and run cooler, or use an aftermarket cooling solution like a waterblock.

SSD – Crucial M550 512GB M.2 $279.99

An SSD is essential in todays high performance PCs as it allows apps to load faster and overall performance and user experience to be increased.  The M.2 form factor allows this SSD to be mounted directly on the motherboard.  This gives the system as a whole a much cleaner look and allows the user to get rid of extra cables.  The M550 gives good performance, up to 550MBps read 500MBps write.  This makes it just as fast as a comparable “traditional” 2.5″ SSD that one might use.

Memory – Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 2400MHz 16GB $182.99

Having some high speed RAM will help increase the overall performance of the system, making a big difference in both games and applications.  Corsair is a great brand that has good service and reliable, quality products.  Having a 16GB (2x 8GB) dual channel kit will be easier to run on a CPU than four DIMMs of 4GB.  This kit has XMP profiles, which will make setting up the RAM in BIOS very easy for the beginner.  All there is to do is select that you want to run the XMP profile and the settings are automatically changed, and the RAM will run at 2400MHz with the correct timings.

PSU – Thermaltake Toughpower 750W $89.99 (80 Plus Gold)

Think of the PSU of a computer as the heart of the system, it provides the life giving energy to the parts.  Having a great PSU is as important as having a healthy heart, you run less risk for problems to arise.  The PSU has 80 Plus Gold certification, which means that it will be very efficient.  Over time this will help save money that is spent on electricity than a standard PSU.  If you are one that leaves their PC on all the time this will be a welcome addition to the system.

CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 Pro $84.99

The Thermaltake Water 3.0 systems are very easy to install and they perform well, the two things that people hope for with CPU coolers.  The Pro variant is a single large 120mm radiator that will mount to the NZXT S340 very nicely.  The system requires no maintenance and will should last the life of the PC.  The cooler will be quiet and it also has a handy app that helps users set the fan speeds or custom fan curves.  It should keep the 4790K cool under pressure and will allow for some overclocking as well.

Case – NZXT S340 $77.07

This case gives users an elegant enclosure that looks as great on the inside as it does on the outside. There is a nice large window that will show off your new hardware, and may even look better with some aftermarket LEDs lighting it up.  The case has no front bays for optical drives or other items, giving it a very lean looking front.  The inside has a bit more room then, because of the absence of the bays.  There is even a channel to keep the PSU area out of view and well vented, and this gives the side a much cleaner look.

Keyboard – CM Storm QuickFire TK $89.54

There really is no going back to a regular keyboard after you have used a mechanical keyboard.  There is a much more tactile feel and users even start to type a bit faster with them.  There are multiple types of Cherry MX switches and it is advisable to learn the differences if looking for a keyboard.  The Cherry MX Brown switches are favored by gamers, and this model is available in other switch types as well.  There is a lot of user preference behind a keyboard purchase so view this as a starting point.

Mouse – Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury FPS Gaming Mouse $59.58

The input devices are the most personal parts of the computer so having something that is comfortable and will perform well.  The G402 makes a good mouse for someone who plays FPS games and should be comfortable for long hours of continuous This is put in here as a starting point and should be in the same ballpark as another nice mouse.  The Logitech gaming line is one that has had a lot of success since they do put out quality products.  If possible to find a new or new-ish G9x mouse that would make for a great mouse, granted it was affordable.

Monitor – ASUS VG248QE 24″ 144Hz LED monitor $249.99

This monitor will be ideal for those who play fast paced games, as it will make things look much smoother.  Asus monitors have a great reputation and the VG248QE is no exception as users seem to love it.  If not playing games or playing slow paced games another option might be better, a monitor with an IPS panel.  The VG248QE will have speed as its best feature while not being too great for color reproduction.  For color reproduction an IPS panel will be preferred, especially for users that will be editing photos or video.  This is another personal preference item, and the price of this item should translate into a nice IPS based alternative model.

Total Cost: $1,963.39

The post Guide: Best Custom Gaming System Under $2000 appeared first on VR World.

When I think back on what I  view as the most gorgeous PC I always come to the last version of classic Voodoo Omen.  Hailing from Canada Voodoo PC was one of the best known boutique PC builders.  The PCs and notebooks that came out of the shop were always stunning hand built machines.

The last Omen case was a thing of beauty, it was such a simple design that combined straight lines and squared off edges.  The thing that still confounds me about this is why there hasn’t been a company that has tried to make and sell the cases since they are no longer made.  There is definitely a market for high end cases, either custom jobs or limited editions like the current Titanium Level 10 chassis from Thermaltake.  With the cases today going towards more flashy designs it seems that there are less and less simple designs that focus on minimalism.  There are a few cases that come to mind that have been around since the Omen that have been very nice simple designs, but for me that bar it sets has yet to be reached by any other company.  I think what the Omen had that really captured my attention was the industrial look that used heavy gauge metal with very clean lines and no round edges.  The screen normally would look gaudy on some cases but with the Omen it really fits without disrupting the clean looks.

Other companies have come pretty close to where I think that the Omen left the bar.  Silverstone has some amazing cleanly designed cases such as the FT-03-Mini and the FT-05.  The FT03-Mini really looks elegant with the very clean design and the rounded corners, it is indeed one of the cleanest designs that I have seen.  The FT-05 nearly hits the Omen’s mark, but the addition of a trim line and a few extra lines definitely makes a difference visually.  Corsair as well has done a good job with its 750D and 900D, but they don’t have an option for a solid panel instead of a window.  The window really detracts from the clean but that they achieved in these towers.  It is worth noting that the Omen did have an option for a side window, though it drastically changed the look.  The boutique PC makers Falcon Northwest and Maingear have definitely done a good job nearing the benchmark as well.  The Maingear Shift looks great, but the branding and detail on the front door does detract from the overall look that it has.  The Falcon Northwest Mach V really hit near the mark and looks great, though it is a rounded off design that doesn’t look nearly as good as the squared off edges of the Omen.

Unfortunately, I think that many companies today are going for what is the easiest sell.  That tends to be cool looking cases that cost less than $200.  Heavy duty construction would definitely make the price rise a good amount, but in return that case should be a lot more durable.  There are shops that have done well making custom cases for people who are all about id="666439c6-ac30-4a03-b487-da8298db2cd1" class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark"> ="666439c6-ac30-4a03-b487-da8298db2cd1" class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark">watercooling, with Mountain Mods being one that comes to mind.  Taking the chance to make something that is probably going to be an expensive case that will not appeal to the majority is probably not what most companies want to do.  It would be an interesting venture if some company were to try and buy the rights to re-make the case  and go through with a plan to sell them again.  I know that I for one would want to get one if that were to ever happen.

Is it really that hard to re-create something that was such a big hit?  I don’t think I am too far off base with my thinking as there are many other people who love the simple industrial minimalist design.  I know that I can’t be the only one that feels this way, so in the comments section please let me know what you think.  Is there a special case that you wish were still made?

The post Will We Ever Have Something As Beautiful As The Voodoo Omen Again? appeared first on VR World.

As a response to the thousands of comments on the FCC’s website pertaining to the Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) merger, Comcast has released a public statement as a part of a blog post on the company’s own site detailing its side of the merger (really an acquisition, but acquisition is a dirty word). In the company’s own post is links to its official response to the FCC Comments with a 300+ page document that supposedly addresses the concerns and refutes others.

The document features sections titled:

THE TRANSACTION WILL PROVIDE SUBSTANTIAL PUBLIC INTEREST BENEFITS, AND CHALLENGES TO THESE BENEFITS ARE WITHOUT MERIT
Featuring Answers – The Transaction Will Enhance Competition and Choice for Businesses of All Sizes, The Transaction Will Accelerate the Deployment of Advanced Broadband Services, Increase Broadband Competition and Innovation, and Expand Broadband Adoption and many more.

This is just a short summation of Comcast’s comment responses and really illustrate the company’s complete and utter disconnect from reality.

Comcast is essentially claiming that Comcast and Time Warner Cable becoming one company will improve competition for businesses (who are already being ripped off) even though the combined company would very likely become the only game in town for many businesses. It also claims that it will accelerate the deployment of advanced broadband services, which may be why Time Warner Cable has started to roll out their MAXX service to select areas, but still keeps the majority of their customers at much lower speeds. In fact, Comcast’s customers at the very peak are only one-third the speed of Time Warner Cable’s fastest 300 Mbps service.

Additionally, Comcast claims that it will be able to increase broadband competition and innovation with this acquisition even though they are effectively gobbling up the number two cable ISP in the US after Comcast making them at least three times bigger than the next biggest competitor. And sure, the company can claim that this acquisition will somehow expand broadband adoption, but there’s no denying that broadband adoption would very likely continue at the same pace, if not faster without such a merger.

THE TRANSACTION WILL NOT HARM COMPETITION OR THE PUBLIC INTEREST
Featuring Answers – No Vertical Harms: The Transaction Will Not Facilitate Anticompetitive Foreclosure or Other Exclusionary Conduct, No Harm to Advertising, Petitioners Erroneously Define Certain “Relevant Markets.” – The Broadband Market Is Local, Not National.

They also want to make it clear that this merger will not affect competition or the public interest. The two companies do this by saying that there’s no way that they will partake in any anticompetitive behavior as a result of being owners of NBC Universal as well as tens of millions of cable customers as well as Comcast Sports and Time Warner Cable sports networks.

Both also claim that this will not harm advertising, which is very unlikely to be true because if there are fewer companies to advertise with, you’re very likely going to end up paying a higher price. Fewer cable operators and television networks simply means that advertisers are going to be dealing with Comcast more than they already do. They also claim that commenters are incorrectly defining the relevant markets at hand, saying that the broadband market is not a national one, but rather a local one. But if you look at most local broadband markets, there is very little to no competition and Comcast will become a bigger competitor in most local markets. Sure, Comcast and Time Warner Cable don’t actually compete with each other very often, but that’s because most cable operators have local monopolies on cable TV and cable internet services.

OTHER ISSUES RAISED BY COMMENTERS ARE NOT TRANSACTION-SPECIFIC, ARE ADDRESSED IN OTHER PROCEEDINGS, OR ARE OTHERWISE EXTRANEOUS, AND THUS ARE IRRELEVANT TO THE COMMISSION’S ANALYSIS
Featuring Answers – Customer Service, Customer Prices, Municipal Broadband

Then the two go on to address all of the comments that they believe have nothing to do with the Comcast and Time Warner Cable acquisition and that they are addressed elsewhere or completely irrelevant. They don’t believe that topics like customer service, consumer prices or the stifling of municipal broadband are relevant to such an enormous deal such as this one. In fact, the whole episode of Ryan Block trying to leave Comcast being like pulling teeth is a perfect example of how a company has policies in place in order to prevent customers from leaving even though they clearly wish to leave.

Comcast’s behavior in terms of customer service in that situation is why their customer service should be considered a part of this transaction and therefore relevant. They also talk about how consumer prices are not relevant to the topic at hand, when in reality it should be one of the most relevant topics because Americans grossly overpay for the speeds that they get compared to other developed countries and if Comcast doesn’t want to talk about that, then they don’t deserve this merger. And last but not least, they talk about the issue of municipal broadband, also known as competition, which they clearly hate and have actively lobbied against in multiple states and even gotten some states to ban via lobbying of certain state legislatures.

Hughesnet Plans

Comcast’s own delusions continue in its claims that “Including wireless, 99% of households have the choice of at least three fixed or mobile broadband providers offering speeds of at least 3 Mbps, and approximately 98% have two or more choices offering speeds of at least 10 Mbps.”

Somehow, Comcast believes that people’s wireless broadband service is competitive with its own landline fixed service. They create the illusion that there are at least three competitive service providers in 99% of the country, when the reality is that mobile broadband providers generally cap users at 2, 5 and 10 GB of data a month, which is not ample enough to actually use for a home connection, especially for an entire family. Additionally, Comcast neglects to mention that in most areas consumers have one or two choices with a specific cable provider and a phone provider being the two primary choices. Yes, there is Satellite service from Hughesnet which does deliver up to 15 Mbps to most of the country (part of Comcast’s equation) but their plans are almost as restrictive as mobile broadband providers and cost as much as or more than mobile broadband providers. In fact, under Comcast, we could see broadband prices and structures reaching Hughesnet status with data caps (which Comcast has experimented with) and very short term promotional pricing (which they already do), not to mention high prices.

Overall, Comcast is once again trying to bend the truth and ignore the reality of the situation and let’s hope that the FCC sees through their ridiculous perversions of the truth in order to nuke this merger once and for all.

The post Comcast Posts Surreal Response to FCC Comments appeared first on VR World.

The world’s mobile industry is on the brink of a major shakeup. With European Vodafone Group (LON: VOD) having divested its stake in US carrier Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) , the stage is open for a possible deal with yet another American player, AT&T (NYSE: T).

Sources close to both Vodafone and AT&T have said that executives from the two companies are laying the groundwork for a possible acquisition, merger or partnership, which will boost the combined network’s coverage to about 500 million subscribers — second only to China Mobile’s (HKG: 0941) 740 million. In a deal estimated to reach US$175 billion at Vodafone’s current market capitalization, AT&T is seen to take ownership of Vodafone and its various business units around the globe by first quarter of 2015. However, while no formalities have been set, the potential merger would beg the question: which assets would remain, and which would be divested to other global or regional players, in the aim of revamping Vodafone’s mobile and broadband strategy in potentially high-growth European markets.

Splitting the pie

The complication lies in the need for AT&T to split up ownership of Vodafone assets in order to comply with antitrust regulations in the European Union and other territories. The likely scenario would be that AT&T would offer South American and certain European assets to Mexican telecoms firm America Movil, Asian subsidiaries to Chinese government-owned China Mobile, and African operations to French telecom firm Orange, which likewise runs subsidiary companies in Africa, such as South Africa and Mozambique. Orange has reportedly expressed interest in acquiring Vodafone’s African assets. A deal with Carlos Slim’s America Movil is also highly likely, with AT&T having a 9 percent stake in the company and two seats on its board of directors.

The American firm is set on gaining a strategic advantage with a presence in key European markets. As early as October 2013, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson expressed interest in this market, with its “huge opportunity” given the still-nascent growth in the mobile broadband industry. However, he has said that Europe’s mobile spectrum policy needs an overhaul in order for significant investments to come about. As it stands, each EU member states still sells spectrum licenses on a country-per-country basis — a stark contrast to the US, where carriers can acquire national licenses in order to service its 315 million plus population.

The benefits

What does AT&T stand to gain, then, apart from having a foot in Europe’s door? Also, why does it have to focus on the EU market, instead of taking on Vodafone’s assets on a global scale?

Better negotiating power. Firstly, with control of the second biggest market bloc of mobile subscribers, AT&T and Vodafone will have better negotiating power against manufacturers like Apple and Samsung. The industry has already been shaken up with “uncarrier” and bring-your-own device setups, where the contract/subsidy model dominant in the US has been replaced by more transparent plans. Apple reportedly gains significant profits from iPhone subsidies, but if AT&T-Vodafone has better negotiating power, this might mean lower subsidy prices, and possibly even lower pass-on rates to consumers.

Access to high-growth markets. Competition is stiff in AT&T’s domestic market, with Japan’s Softbank having made a significant investment in Sprint, another top US carrier. At this point, the market is saturated with LTE providers, and carriers will need to look toward other markets with untapped potential. Here’s where Europe comes in. “I continue to be fascinated and impressed by how slow mobile broadband is moving in Europe,” said AT&T Stephenson in a statement in October 2013. Of course, AT&T and Vodafone will have to solve the dilemma of access to spectrum in the region, in order to better take advantage of scale.

Cost and technology advantages with scale. Sources familiar with the planned deal say that one of the strategic advantages AT&T and Vodafone foresee involves the cost and technology advantages that come with scale.

Meanwhile, Vodafone is reportedly feeling the crunch from a plateauing of the smartphone market in Europe. The company has partnered with German cable operator Kabel Deutschland AG to offer bundled wired and wireless broadband service. With AT&T’s focus on mobile broadband, a merger would boost the combined networks’ capability in fourth-generation technologies.

As to selling off non-European assets, AT&T would be at an advantage, given the bleak performance, so far, by these subsidiaries. For example, while Vodafone Africa was considered the company’s biggest profit generator by 2013 due to subscriber growth and a rising mobile-payment platform, revenue from this region declined 2.9 percent in FY 2014 due to poor market conditions in certain countries, reduction in mobile-termination rates and regulatory pressure.

Is this a good thing for AT&T? Definitely yes, but only if the regulatory hurdles are overcome. Firstly, the UK does not have a regulatory mechanism for blocking mergers and acquisitions by foreign entities. However, EU antitrust regulations are tough, and given precedent with the EU imposing stiff sanctions and fines on technology companies like Google and Microsoft, the concern is whether AT&T also face such scrutiny. In addition, it would be wise to echo AT&T CEO Stephenson’s concerns about the spectrum policy in the region, which could be a challenge for the telco.

Image credit: Radu Bercan / Shutterstock.com

The post AT&T-Vodafone Venture: Good Times Ahead For Global Mobile Industry? appeared first on VR World.

Vaio may have shown its determination to get back into the tech market in Japan, but we haven’t really heard anything about any international plans or announcements by the company. Until now it seems, as the company might just have a surprise in store for everyone next month.

Vaio gave an indirect, but not-so-cryptic announcement recently of its participation as a sponsor in the upcoming Adobe Max 2014 next month. Within the description of the company at the official event website, it announced that it “will showcase a prototype tablet PC designed by and designed for creative professionals”. The announcement did not just hint, but clearly stated that the company will introduce a new tablet PC at the event, one that would presumably be aimed at the event’s proper attendees.

Just what this “prototype tablet PC” would look like? What are the specs? And what exactly could it do? Most of the important details are of course still largely unknown, but the description alone already gives us an important clue that may lead us to what the Vaio company has in store for the international tech market. It might be more than just “creating a balance between quality and user experience” that the company has been pledging so far.As for what we can confirm about the upcoming tablet PC’s capabilities, the description says that it “offers desktop class performance in a portable form factor”, indicating a considerable probability that it would be installed with a fanless Intel Core M processor. Of course, this is just pure speculation, but we could at least expect that its innards would perform at more or less the same level, and that’s not yet considering the exclusive apps and other perks that it might have.

Regardless, everything that we should need to know about this new tablet PC will soon be revealed next month, or at least to those who are going to visit Vaio’s booth at the event.

This post originally appeared on Bright Side of News*.

The post Vaio To Unveil New Tablet PC? appeared first on VR World.

Vaio may have shown its determination to get back into the tech market in Japan, but we haven’t really heard anything about any international plans or announcements by the company. Until now it seems, as the company might just have a surprise in store for everyone next month.

Vaio gave an indirect, but not-so-cryptic announcement recently of its participation as a sponsor in the upcoming Adobe Max 2014 next month. Within the description of the company at the official event website, it announced that it “will showcase a prototype tablet PC designed by and designed for creative professionals”. The announcement did not just hint, but clearly stated that the company will introduce a new tablet PC at the event, one that would presumably be aimed at the event’s proper attendees.

Just what this “prototype tablet PC” would look like? What are the specs? And what exactly could it do? Most of the important details are of course still largely unknown, but the description alone already gives us an important clue that may lead us to what the Vaio company has in store for the international tech market. It might be more than just “creating a balance between quality and user experience” that the company has been pledging so far.As for what we can confirm about the upcoming tablet PC’s capabilities, the description says that it “offers desktop class performance in a portable form factor”, indicating a considerable probability that it would be installed with a fanless Intel Core M processor. Of course, this is just pure speculation, but we could at least expect that its innards would perform at more or less the same level, and that’s not yet considering the exclusive apps and other perks that it might have.

Regardless, everything that we should need to know about this new tablet PC will soon be revealed next month, or at least to those who are going to visit Vaio’s booth at the event.

The post Vaio To Unveil New Tablet PC? appeared first on VR World.

Does violence in games really have an effect on gamers after all?

A recent study at the University of Tokyo reopens this long time issue in video games, albeit with a little twist. If you’re a gamer, don’t worry. This won’t be about reflected behaviors and supposed killer instinct issues, though some of it may sound a little bit familiar.

The research’s primary objective is to find out some of the long term neurological effects of violent video games.  In order to learn more about this, the researchers sampled a small group of adult men and women, and gave them one popular, mainstream violent and one non-violent game. The sample group were instructed to play the game for one month for about 20-30 minutes each day, or within a total play time of about 16 hours during the entire experiment period.

During the experiment, the sample group were given questionnaires to answer and had their brains scanned for every week and about three months after the experiment was done. What the researchers have found out is that the sample group tended to react more to hostile expressions and situations after playing the violent video game sample. According to the brain scans, this increased sensitivity to angry emotional responses persisted for as long as three months after the experiment period.

The experiment notes that these were simply reactions to hostility and not hostile reactions themselves. Although the written questionnaires suggest that there a few emotional responses that showed anger after playing the video game, this was only limited to the male sample group, and was temporary in nature.

The researchers admit that there are still a lot of unaccounted variables involved, but they did emphasize that the experiment showed little or no correlation between the brain’s sensitivity to angry emotional responses (when it comes to video games) and to its actual tendency to trigger an angry emotional response.

The topic of violence in video games has been the source of heated debates in the past few decades. Mortal Kombat, one of the first controversial video games that dealt with this issue, eventually became the catalyst to what is now known as the ESRB rating system. Since then, the topic has been of particular interest in the field of neuroscience, with research topics usually involving the stimuli given by these kinds of interactive activities.

The post Japanese Research Takes Another Look At Violent Video Games appeared first on VR World.

After months of rumors and leaks, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are now official. Boasting screen sizes of 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches respectively, the new devices represent a shift in Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) strategy as the manufacturer seeks to position itself as a viable contender in the large screen segment.

An 5.5-inch iPhone would be much more alluring to consumers in emerging markets like China and India, where the average screen size is at 4.7 inches. A recent survey conducted by market research firm Jana found that consumers in emerging markets like China and India favoured devices with a screen size of at least 5 inches. One reason for high desirability toward a large screen device is that in these markets, a smartphone is often a user’s only gateway to entertainment, with many first-time buyers in India not owning a desktop.

While a larger iPhone is much more alluring, the pricing structure for the device means that it will be out of reach of most consumers. The fact that there are a host of Android-based offerings, from the likes of Xiaomi, Meizu and others, that offer a similar set of specs for a third of the cost means that consumers are more inclined to buy handsets from local vendors than opt in for an iPhone. Samsung already found out the hard way, with the manufacturer losing out its position as the largest selling handset manufacturer in both India China to local vendors. A lack of innovation in terms of design and incremental hardware changes meant that the South Korean manufacturer was dethroned by the likes of Xiaomi in China, and Micromax in India.

Apple has never been associated with pricing, instead building its brand around a premium design and exclusive services, but that is now being offered by other vendors as well. Xiaomi, for instance, has launched its first smartphone with a metallic frame in the Mi 4, and from a design point of view, the device can hold its own when seen against the Samsungs and the HTCs of this world. As for services, Xiaomi has its own platform of services and content that is a great point of differentiation for users looking for something different to the traditional Android user interface. At the end of the day, the pricing will ultimately determine whether the iPhone 6 will do well in the region.

The post Pricing Will Determine The Fate Of The iPhone 6 in Asia appeared first on VR World.

Think your online privacy is free from prying eyes outside of sovereign jurisdiction? Think again. In late July, Microsoft was ordered by a US judge to disclose email data of a customer, even with the actual data being stored on servers in Dublin, Ireland. The court ruled that control, not physical jurisdiction, determined whether data can be turned over for investigation. This has been challenged by Microsoft through an appeal, and other technology companies and privacy advocates have likewise expressed that this will set a bad precedent for international business relations.

Control, not physical location
In an August 2014 ruling, US District Judge Loretta Preska affirmed the earlier decision that required Microsoft to lawfully hand over email data pertaining to a certain account regardless of where it is actually stored. Data jurisdiction is dependent on the control of the company, regardless of the physical location of the servers, said the ruling by Judge Preska. Thus, service providers like Microsoft are legally bound to turn over data to government in the event of an inquiry, even if these are stored in a foreign country.

Said warrant was issued in light of the Stored Communications Act, requiring the service provider to disclose records under its control. It is necessary to note that the earlier court order stemmed from a criminal case involving narcotics, and government lawyers intend to use email records as evidence. Government has since sought for the judge to hold Microsoft in contempt in view of the company’s firm resolve against turning over the email data. In a statement, the Redmond firm says it “will not be turning over the e-mail.” General counsel Brad Smith stressed that in its appeal, Microsoft will “continue to advocate that people’s emails deserve strong privacy protection in the US and around the world.”

Data jurisdiction in question
This particular case will set a precedent among future court cases that involve data retrieval from cloud service companies. Cloud providers and telecom firms have actually weighed in on the issue, challenging the ruling. AT&T, Verizon and Apple, among others, have filed amicus briefs in court expressing their stance.

If anything, this legal battle puts into light the validity of data sovereignty, as well as conflicting legal frameworks in different countries. In its amicus brief in support of Microsoft, Verizon said such a ruling “would have an enormous detrimental impact on the international business of American companies, on international relations, and on privacy.” In fact, some governments, such as Germany, are already banning the use of cloud services run by American providers in order to mitigate the risk of data being accessed by authorities in the US.

And even if companies like Microsoft were to comply with the US court ruling, turning over data might, in turn, constitute an illegal breach of privacy in other jurisdictions. This has become the central argument in a so-called Umbrella Agreement for data sharing that the US and the EU are trying to work out.

Cloud computing has changed the dynamic of data storage and information storage, particularly with respect to jurisdiction, legal oversight and compliance. Data sovereignty is certainly among the key concerns for individuals or institutions who require a certain level of privacy and security. But if a country’s government can claim control over data that is supposedly physically stored in another country’s jurisdiction, then it’s a whole new ball game. With data being in the cloud, does control take precedence over physical jurisdiction? This argument will need threshing out amongst stakeholders, including governments, foreign policy-making bodies, technology providers and privacy advocates, among others.

The post Data Sovereignty: Is Big Brother Over-Reaching? appeared first on VR World.

While flying from Taipei to San Francisco for the usual September round of tech events, one story in this month’s MacWorld caught my attention: one of the editors was speculating how nice it would be to have a true full Mac in an iPhone size. Of course, Apple may be a little farther from merging the OS X and iOS than we thought earlier, but, what about looking at the same thing on the Wintel platform? Perhaps a Windows Phablet?

It could be argued that one big mistake Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) did with Windows Phone is to compete with Android and Apple (NASDAQ: APPL). Windows OS, as imperfect as it is, has one big advantage over both Android and iOS: it is a content creation-oriented environment, compared to content-playback environments on the other two. After all, Apple has OS X for content creation, while Google, well, searches for already made content, isn’t it?

Come back to the increasingly popular phablets, seemingly the smallest true computer format one can accept for everyday use. A 6-inch 2015 phablet, with a Bluetooth keyboard embedded inside its protective cover instead of wasting the screen space, can also have a say quad core 14-nm Atom processor, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB flash storage, not to mention FullHD or better screen resolution. Hmm, looks as good as today’s UltraBooks, doesn’t it? So technically it should be able to run a full version of Windows 8.1 or later, including Office and many other apps, without a hitch – something utterly impossible for any ARM-based phone, phablet or tablet, no matter how powerful it is.

Now, if I want to modify my Word document, Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation on the go, and I don’t want to open my PC for that, trying to do the job on those small Android ‘Office’ apps, including Microsoft’s own one, is either pain in the neck or just not doable. But, with true Office on true Windows, on an Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)-inside phable, the ultra-compact content creation and editing becomes possible.

Now, will Intel and Microsoft jump on this advantage while they have it, before the Android world catches up?

The post IDF 2014 Murmurings: A True Windows Phablet for Content Creationists? appeared first on VR World.