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This move eliminates the need to run a server or NAS box in addition to streaming client devices and will deliver superior real-time transcoding abilities for cord-cutting enthusiasts. Plex Media Server has long been a favorite tool for streaming audio and video stored on home servers and NAS boxes (both legitimate content—material ripped from CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs—and pirated content downloaded from the Internet). More recently, Plex added "channels" for online video from sources such as The Comedy Channel and and the Food Network that enable its client apps to play content that wouldn't otherwise be available on the client device (a Roku box or Amazon Fire TV, for instance). But the requirement to have both a home server or NAS box on your network plus a media streamer like a Roku box to deliver the stream to your entertainment center or mobile device, has limited Plex’s appeal to the enthusiast crowd.That could change later this month when Nvidia’s Shield Android TV gains the ability to run Plex Media Server. At that point, the server and the client will be in one box. What’s more, the Shield will also be able to support multiple media streams so that more than one playback device on the network will be able to tap into Plex. The update will come via a firmware update due to be delivered to Shield owners later this month. Much of Plex Media Server's appeal lies in its ability to transcode video codecs on the fly and to stream them over the Internet, so you can watch videos on your smartphone or tablet while you're on the road. But this takes a lot of processing power that often isn't available on a small NAS box. The solution many Plex users turn to is repurposing an older PC or Mac and leaving a computer running 24/7. This, however, can drive up your utility bill. Plex will tap the Shield's CPU and GPU to perform transcoding. Plex says that it is evaluating other set-top boxes for their potential as media servers, but it had nothing to announce as of Thursday’s announcement. Why this matters: Plex Media Server is very po[CENSORED]r with tech-savvy early adopters, but that's a limited market. Plex needed to make its product easier to deploy and use, and having a platform that's both server and client will go a long way to fulfilling that goal. This is a good move for Nvidia, too, since it will make the Nvidia Shield more appealing to cord cutters. We look forward to reviewing the finished product when it becomes available.

Developers can now run Hyper-V Containers easily with the latest beta Microsoft has released a new beta build of Windows 10 aimed at enhancing various aspects of the operating system, including support for the LastPass extension in the Edge browser, as the company hurtles toward releasing a major update in the coming months. Build 14361, released Wednesday, includes updated icons, the LastPass password manager extension for Microsoft Edge, and support for running Docker containers natively on Windows. Windows Ink, Microsoft's tools for working with pen input on a touchscreen Windows 10 device, also received several improvements. The build is another one on the road to what Microsoft is calling the Windows 10 Anniversary Update -- a major release of its latest operating system that packs in a slew of new features. One of the new features in this latest update is support for extensions in Microsoft Edge, the new Web browser that shipped with Windows 10. The new build brings the LastPass extension to Microsoft Edge, which lets users of the po[CENSORED]r password management service have easy access to their saved passwords. It joins a variety of other installable extensions, which include the po[CENSORED]r Reddit Enhancement Suite and a button that lets people save content to Pinterest. Developers get a major treat with this release, which brings support for Hyper-V Containers to Windows 10. People can set up a container -- basically a simplified operating system environment for use with a particular application -- that runs the Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 Nano Server on their PC. They can test the application locally and then easily send it off to a production environment. Unfortunately, a bug in how the new build handles French means that Insiders who have it set as their base language won't get access to it. Large amounts of interface text don't get rendered in French, and instead fall back to English. That's par for the course for the Windows release Fast ring, which includes builds that can feature major bugs affecting how people are able to use their devices. Other bugs include an issue with Edge that prevents files from automatically downloading when users click a link and a problem that crashes the Settings app whenever users navigate to the Privacy tab.

Intel is making it easier to join meetings via the iPad with its Unite meeting room technology. Intel is providing fewer excuses to miss meetings by bringing support for its Unite technology to iPads, and later, to Chromebooks. Unite is designed to make it easier for on-site and remote attendees to log in, securely collaborate and share whiteboards and monitors during meetings. After logging into a central hub PC -- a Windows desktop typically located in a meeting room -- attendees can share documents and video, or switch on hardware like projectors. The Unite client software logs attendees, who may use either Mac or Windows machines, into the hub PC. Through the hub, attendees in a conference room and outside can share presentations on a large monitor or other computing devices. The client software will now work with the iPad, and support will be added for Chromebooks in the [CENSORED]ure, said Tom Garrison, vice president in the Client Computing Group and general manager of the Business Client Platforms division at Intel. Garrison didn't provide a timeline for when Chromebook support would be added. Intel adds new features to Unite every six months, and Chromebook support could be in one of those upgrade cycles. Chromebooks have been po[CENSORED]r in the education market, which is where Intel is also targeting Unite. Unite has competition in the form of Webex, Skype, GoToMeeting and other client software designed for meetings and collaboration. But the chip-maker hopes to reach a wider audience by getting its software pre-installed in PCs. It remains to be seen whether most PC buyers welcome the move, or consider the technology to be unwanted bloatware. Internally, Intel has been using the software for more than a year. Unite helps start meetings quickly, which helps save time and money. Intel has said this year it hopes to improve productivity by 112,000 hours with Unite deployed in 2,300 meeting rooms. Intel has also made incremental improvements to Unite. Videos can be shared between participants in meetings, which is an improvement over the ability to share only static images and Powerpoint slides. Improvements have also been made to security, scheduling and log-in features. For Intel, Unite is an unconventional product as it doesn't necessarily highlight the chip-maker's hardware technology. One prerequisite is that the hub PC needs a Core processor with vPro technology. But the client PCs using the Unite client software have no such requirement of using Intel technology. Over time, Intel has larger plans to tie Unite with WiGig, which the chip-maker says will be useful in meeting rooms. Intel currently sells a wireless dock with WiGig, which is faster than Wi-Fi, and it could be used to project presentations on large conference room monitors. Unite currently relies mostly on Wi-Fi technology. Garrison said Unite will also make its way into areas like Internet of Things, which is a major area of focus for Intel as it moves beyond being just a PC company.

AMD a anunțat lansarea celei de a 7-a generații de procesoare AMD A-Series, create pentru a oferi productivitate și performanțe ridicate de divertisment cu un grad de mobilitate maxim. Numite anterior “Bristol Ridge” și “Stoney Ridge,” cea de a șaptea generație AMD FX, A-Series, și E-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) demonstrează îmbunătățiri majore față de generația anterioară, ce includ creșteri de perfornanță cu două cifre pentru gaming, redare video și compresie de fișiere Tehnologia AMD Advanced Power Management (APM) crește performanța pentru a indeplini sarcini de lucru folosind o eficiență superioară. Noile APU-uri permit utilizatorilor să beneficieze de cele mai noi experiențe multimedia la rezoluții până la Ultra HD 4K, cu tehnologie AMD FreeSync pentru jocuri fluide, fără artefacte la nivel eSports. Cea de a 7-a denerație de procesoare AMD A-Series asigură o experiență Microsoft Windows 10 premium și sunt pregătite pentru Microsoft Windows 10 Anniversary Update, ce va fi lansată până la finele acestui an. Notebook-urile echipate cu a 7-a generație de procesoare AMD A-Series permit utilizatorilor să lucreze mai eficient și să se joace mai multiii, mulțumită celor 4 nuclee care asigură performanță ridicată și eficiență energetică pentru o utilizare pe întreaga zi. Gama de produse “Bristol Ridge” e formată din versiuni de 35- și 15-watt ale procesoarelor AMD FX, A12, și A10, în timp ce “Stoney Ridge” include configurații 15-watt A9, A6 și E2. Parteneriatele OEM și suportul celei de a 7-a generații de procesoare AMD APU joacă un rol crucial în livrarea celei mai bune experiențe către utilizator. Asa cum a fost anunțat pe 5 Aprilie 2016, AMD a accelerat disponibilitatea pentru a oferi pieței noi produse notebook de la Acer, Asus, Dell, HP și Lenovo

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The news supports previous reports of Microsoft's cross-platform 'Project Helix.' Microsoft recently released a preview of the Xbox One Anniversary Update that brings more Windows 10 to the Xbox. But if the latest rumors are correct, Microsoft wants to do a whole lot more by bringing the Xbox console experience to Windows 10 PCs. It’s no secret that Microsoft’s vision for the [CENSORED]ure of gaming involves combining the Xbox and Windows PCs, and a new report says this could be a very literal marriage. Microsoft has “ambitions to make Xbox One games playable on the PC” minus an Xbox in the living room streaming to the PC, according to The Verge’s Tom Warren. Currently, Xbox games can be streamed to a Windows 10 PC when both devices are on the same home network. The purported cross-platform [CENSORED]ure is part of Microsoft’s “Project Helix,” according to Warren. Kotaku first reported on Project Helix in late May saying it was a project to bring [CENSORED]ure Microsoft games to both Xbox One and PC. However, that prior report still saw the two platforms as being separate. Presumably, if Xbox One console games do come to PC it will only affect [CENSORED]ure games and not the entire library. It’s not clear how this merged [CENSORED]ure would work out, but Warren reports it could mean bringing the entire Xbox One UI to Windows 10 PCs. As the Xbox system is already based on Windows 10, that would mean tailoring the UI’s interactions for a PC. It’s not clear, however, if the Xbox One UI would exist as an “app” inside Windows 10 much the way Windows Media Center did for entertainment PCs. If the Xbox UI does live inside regular desktop Windows the current Xbox app would be the obvious candidate. Xbox for Windows 10 currently functions as a companion gaming app/social network for connecting with your Xbox Live friends. The other alternative would be a special “Xbox edition” of Windows 10 for PCs, which makes a certain amount of sense. A Windows 10 PC capable of playing Xbox games would still need to be a machine dedicated to the purpose—the PC wouldn’t be able to run these games without a healthy discrete graphics card, powerful CPU, and good amount of RAM. So why not create a gamer-dedicated version of Windows 10 to complement the hardware? It’s possible that Microsoft doesn’t even know which route it will take—assuming the rumors are true. Why this matters: Microsoft’s burgeoning Windows 10 era is all about multi-device compatibility. Making it possible to play Xbox games on a PC or console would take this notion to the extreme. It suggests a [CENSORED]ure where the Windows Store can be a one-stop shop for Xbox One console and Windows 10 PCs. That’s a [CENSORED]ure that’s already happening in some ways. Even though the game stores are currently separate, many Xbox One “exclusive” games from Microsoft Studios are coming to Windows 10 PCs via the Windows Store, as Microsoft announced in March. Before the PC-as-Xbox becomes a reality, however, there are numerous problems to consider. The most obvious one being that PC and console gamers have entirely different cultures. PC gamers may not take kindly to playing games designed for the console on their PC. That’s especially true if these Xbox One games have frame rates capped below (or even at) 60 frames per second. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting proposition, and Warren says we may learn more about Microsoft’s Xbox One/Windows 10 PC integration plans during E3. The annual video game expo runs from June 14 to 16.

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This non-proprietary connector could help eGPUs become a viable product. Thanks in no small part to Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C, hardware companies are making a serious effort to roll out external graphics card (eGPU) docks for laptops. An eGPU can turn a regular laptop that has a strong processor, but a weak integrated GPU into a powerful gaming rig capable of running AAA titles. After making a splash at CES, companies used the recent Computex 2016 show in Taipei to show off new eGPU wares. The newest entrant was Gigabyte, which showed off a modern eGPU dock that was still in early development, as first reported by Tom’s Hardware. Details are still scant, but the good news is Gigabyte—at least so far—is opting for a Thunderbolt 3 connection over USB Type-C instead of a proprietary connection. On the downside, the eGPU dock is sporting a 250-watt power supply, which puts it well under competitors like the 500W PowerColor Devil Box. Less power for the dock means less power for the graphics card and could limit what the box can support. Gigabyte is apparently considering bumping the PSU to 350W, which should make it easier to run higher-end cards. Gigabyte’s box also stands up vertically, instead of sitting horizontally on the desk, which is outside the norm. There’s no pricing or release date yet for Gigabyte’s eGPU dock. Asus brought the ROG XG Station 2 dock that first appeared during CES in January. Little has changed about the actual device, but Tom’s Hardware says it will roll out later in 2016. Why this matters: Thanks to the hearty bandwidth that Thunderbolt 3 offers and its compatibility with USB Type-C, eGPUs are becoming a more viable prospect. Prior to the latest round of eGPU madness, laptop gamers either had to get a desktop-replacement laptop or opt for a DIY eGPU solution. Early adopters could also purchase a laptop that worked with one of the sporadically released pre-Thunderbolt 3 eGPU docks rocking a proprietary connection (the XG Station 2 will offer a proprietary connection as an option). Now, however, we are arriving at the moment where plug-and-play solutions are opening to laptop owners that wants to play but lack the built-in graphics card to do it.

Cea mai puternică placă video a momentului, GeForce GTX 1080, își face apariția în magazinele din România. Placa este oferită de mai mulți integratori dintre care enumerăm ASUS și MSI. GeForce GTX 1080 beneficiază de arhitectura Pascal și de tranzistorii FinFET pe 16nm. Viteza memoriei GDDR5X VRAM completează arsenalul hardware de la bordul plăcii. Placa video GeForce GTX 1080 – Founders Edition este disponibilă în magazinele din România la prețul estimativ de 3.499 lei.

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The company plans to deliver 10 to 20 percent performance improvements with chips based on the 10-nanometer and 7-nanometer manufacturing processes Do you want more power-efficiency or CPU horsepower with your next PC chip? The merits of each have propelled an interesting debate among those who want more performance or longer battery life in their PCs. But raw CPU performance drives the ongoing rivalry between AMD and Intel. Intel wants to continue to deliver 10 to 20 percent performance improvements with chips based on the upcoming 10-nanometer and 7-nanometer manufacturing processes, company CEO Brian Krzanich said this week. Some critics may deem those numbers to be incremental, which is why AMD’s upcoming Zen PC chip is getting attention. The chip will deliver 40 percent improvement in instructions-per-cycle, a metric related to CPU performance. Chip makers haven’t historically seen the big performance boost coming in Zen, AMD’s Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster has said. Zen was characterized as a “high-performance” chip by AMD CEO Lisa Su at Computex this week. Cutting costs, and power But Intel has different goals, with a larger focus on increasing battery life in laptops and keeping PCs affordable. Intel’s priority is to make chips smaller while also reducing power consumption and manufacturing costs. “To me, process leadership is cost-per-transistor and performance-per-watt type of a number, and that’s really where we believe we continue to have leadership,” Krzanich said at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions conference in New York on Wednesday. Intel is looking at rolling out new manufacturing technologies ahead of rivals, which will help achieve a balance between manufacturing cost and performance-per-watt. These changes will give Intel a continuing manufacturing advantage over rivals, Krzanich said. Intel makes its own chips, unlike AMD, which has its chips made by contract manufacturer Globalfoundries. Intel’s other competitors include Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). “If you also talk ... to competitors, they say there’s going to be marginal improvements in performance on 10-nm, they are going to go for 7-nm for performance. We plan to have a consistent performance improvement of 10 percent to 20 percent in each one of these nodes,” Krzanich said. For decades, Intel has used Moore’s law as a guiding star to cram more transistors while reducing the size and power consumption of chips. From doubling the transistor count every two years—which was key in driving CPU performance—Intel’s interpretation of Moore’s Law is now related more to the economics of chip making, which has helped advance PC chip technology while keeping prices low. Intel is now advancing manufacturing technology every three years instead of two years. That’s partly because chip-making has become more complex, and it also reduces the frequency of Intel’s investment of billions of dollars to build new factories. Intel’s first 10-nm chips code-named Cannonlake are expected to be released in the second half of 2017. Can rivals keep up? Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research, contested Krzanich’s claims of performance improvements in chips made by rival manufacturers. As Intel suggests, initial performance numbers from rivals may suggest marginal performance improvements, but as the manufacturing process matures, the performance improvements may get a serious boost, McGregor said. Something similar happened to Intel, which struggled with its 14-nm process initially. But as the process matured, the company saw performance gains on its chips. Samsung may be the first Intel competitor to jump to 10-nm. TSMC says it will start making 10-nm chips this year. But it’s also possible that AMD won’t be able to replicate the 40 percent instructions-per-cycle improvement in Zen on successor chips. AMD is moving to a 14-nm chip with a 3D transistor structure, which is a radical change from the company’s older chips. The ability to boost performance on the 7-nanometer node will come with advanced manufacturing tools like EUV (extreme ultra violet), which makes it possible to etch finer features on chips using ultraviolet light at a shorter range. The 7-nm process is considered a major manufacturing upgrade, though EUV has been delayed for years and is still considered a challenge for manufacturers to implement. Intel has delivered many chip manufacturing breakthroughs over the years. It implemented strained silicon in 2003, high-K/metal gate in 2007, and tri-gate transistors, also known as FinFET or 3D transistors in 2011. It is looking to use exotic materials like gallium nitride—which is a better conductor—to supplement silicon on chips. Krzanich is concerned about developments at competitors but also confident Intel will maintain its manufacturing edge. “I’m comfortable that at least over the next two nodes we know how to stay ahead,” he said.

Windows 10 doesn't include Hibernate in the shut-down options by default, but it's easy enough to add it. At the end of every day do you still dutifully close every file and program window before shutting down your PC? That’s the standard way to handle things, but for quite a few versions of Windows, Microsoft has also offered the ability to use Sleep and Hibernate modes instead of just a regular shut down. In Windows 10, however, Microsoft decided not to include hibernate with the rest of the shut down options under Start > Power by default. The good news is it’s easy to put the option back. Why hibernate? Hibernation is kind of a mix between a traditional shut down and sleep mode primarily designed for laptops. When you tell your PC to hibernate, it saves the current state of your PC—open programs and documents—to your hard disk and then turns off your PC. Then when it’s time to start it up again all your previous work is ready and waiting for you. Unlike sleep mode, it doesn’t use any power, but it does take longer to start up again. Setting it up To add Hibernate to Start > Power, click on the Cortana/search box in the taskbar and type power options. The first result you see should be a Control Panel setting of the same name. Click on that. Once the Control Panel opens, select Choose what the power buttons do from the left-hand navigation panel. Then at the top of the next screen click on the link that says Change settings that are currently unavailable. Now scroll down to the bottom and under Shutdown settings click the checkbox next to Hibernate. Next, click Save changes and you’re done. Go to Start > Power and you should now see Hibernate among all the rest of the shut-down options.

Computex gets real CES may be the show that gives you a glimpse of the [CENSORED]ure of computing, but Computex is where the gloves come off, year in and year out. The PC industry emerges in full force for the annual Taipei trade show, lugging all the nifty new goodies it hopes to sell during the crucial back-to-school and holiday seasons. This year’s Computex was nothing short of glorious. From the first-ever 10-core enthusiast CPU to the launch of the next generation of graphics cards to the rise of all sorts of wild, imaginative PCs built around that hot new technology, the world of computing’s firing on all cylinders and looking more exciting than it has in years. Buckle up! This is going to be a great ride.

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Steam's taken us hostage and GOG doesn't like it. The problem every Steam competitor faces: Sunk costs. I’ve already spent untold numbers of dollars in Valve’s little marketplace. I’ve got hundreds of games, and Steam keeps them organized in one place and readily accessible, so why switch to another platform? We’re basically hostages. Golden-handcuffed hostages. So it makes sense that the next step for would-be Steam competitor GOG.com is to try and duplicate your games library. Today the retailer announced GOG Connect, a program that analyzes your Steam library and issues you duplicate GOG licenses for games you’ve purchased. “Whether you’re checking us out for the first time or looking to copy over your previous purchases, GOG Connect gives you DRM-free versions of your games, along with digital extras and the freedom to choose between standalone installers or the optional GOG Galaxy Client. It’s our take on game ownership and we say: why buy the games more than once?” Why buy the games more than once indeed? Though it’s currently more like “Why buy these twenty oddly specific games more than once?” Right now the pool of participating publishers is fairly small, with Deep Silver and Harebrained Schemes probably the two stand-outs. Even then, it’s select titles from each catalog—i.e. Deep Silver’s oh-so-generously offering to give you a duplicate license for the busted Saints Row 2 port, but hasn’t added Saints Row 3 or 4 yet. More games are on the way, though. GOG designed this system as a revolving door of licenses (for whatever reason). It looks like the current crop expires in five days, after which we’ll presumably get a new batch of twenty. There's no word yet on whether you’ll need to log in every five days to take advantage or whether it’ll automatically add the appropriate licenses to your account. It’s an interesting idea, regardless. GOG’s proved one of the only semi-viable Steam competitors, in part because it began with such a niche focus (Remember: It used to be “Good Old Games” back when they only sold the classics), but also because it hasn’t yet incurred people’s wrath. Make enough moves like this and maybe some small percentage of Steam’s users will switch. Maybe.

Microsoft's new premium security product is aimed at guarding companies while getting them into Office 365. Enterprises using Microsoft’s Office 365 have a new security product that they can use to better lock down their organizations—for a price. The company introduced a new Advanced Security Management service on Wednesday that gives companies a trio of tools aimed at helping detect security threats, provide granular controls and let IT administrators track if people in their organization are using unauthorized services. It’s another part of Microsoft’s push to lure businesses over to its subscription-based productivity suite. By providing more advanced security capabilities, Microsoft may be able to convince security-conscious businesses to buy into Office 365, rather than avoid a subscription or choose one of Office’s competitors like Google Apps for Work. Advance Security Management’s threat detection capabilities allow administrators to set up policies for detecting possible security anomalies. The service will scan user behavior, looking for indicators that something’s not right and then informing IT. It uses behavioral analytics to help IT make better calls about whether or not someone is acting normally, or if something could be wrong. In addition, IT administrators can also use the service to set granular controls that protect against a variety of threats. For example, the system makes it easy to detect and block when a user is downloading an unusually large amount of data, and can then automatically generate an alert for IT personnel. After that, an administrator can act to shut down the offending user’s access right from the alert. Alternately, it’s also possible for an admin to set the system up to automatically act on certain alerts so that human intervention isn’t necessary to protect a company’s systems. As more end users bring outside, unapproved software into the work environment, it can be important for IT administrators to at least monitor what services are being used without their say-so. Advanced Security Management will monitor the usage of about 1,000 different applications at a company, including productivity and online storage apps. That detection is important to help IT departments clamp down on unauthorized apps and services, or figure out how they can secure those applications alongside their existing infrastructure. Customers who already pay for the top-of-the-line Office 365 E5 plan will get the new advanced security capabilities for free. Other Office 365 Enterprise customers can pay $3 per user per month for these capabilities.

The exploit supposedly allows hackers to gain system privileges on a Windows system once they have code execution capabilities Ever wonder how much an exploit for a previously unknown vulnerability that affects all Windows versions costs on the black market? The answer, according to a recent offer seen on a cybercrime forum, is $90,000. The offer was observed by researchers from security firm Trustwave on an underground market for Russian-speaking cybercriminals, where users hire malware coders, lease exploit kits, buy access to compromised websites or rent botnets. Zero-day exploits—exploits for unpatched vulnerabilities—are typically used for cyberespionage. Hackers sell them to governments and large corporations, under strict non-disclosure agreements, often through specialized brokers, so it’s uncommon to see them traded on cybercrime forums. While it’s hard to prove the authenticity of the offer without actually buying the exploit, there are strong indications that the author’s claims are real, the Trustwave researchers said in a blog post. The author went to great effort to prove that he has what he claims: a local privilege escalation exploit that works on all Windows versions since XP, including Windows Server editions, and bypasses common exploit mitigations like DEP, SMEP and ASLR. The vulnerability is supposedly located in the win32k.sys kernel driver, which historically has been a source of many privilege escalation flaws. The exploit relies solely on the KERNEL32 and USER32 Windows libraries (DLLs), the seller claims. The original starting price was $95,000, but it has since dropped to $90,000. For this sum, the exploit author offers the exploit’s source code as well as consultation and help integrating it into the buyer’s project. While privilege escalation flaws do not, by themselves, allow the remote compromise of a computer system, they’re still an important part of most attack chains. Many applications now run with limited privileges on Windows or have sandboxing mechanisms meant to prevent a full system compromise if an attacker finds and exploits a remote code execution vulnerability in them. In such environments, attackers need privilege escalation exploits to gain system-level access and take full control of a computer, making them highly valuable. With system privileges attackers can then install rootkits and hide their malicious code from security products for increased stealth and persistence. In a Windows server environment, a simple SQL or file injection vulnerability in a website can turn into a complete server compromise through such an exploit. Based on the little data that has leaked into the public domain about exploit prices, $90,000 for a Windows privilege escalation exploit is “on the high end but still within a realistic price range, especially considering the return on investment criminals are likely to make using this exploit in any campaign,” the Trustwave researchers said. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If the exploit seller’s claims are accurate, it’s hard to defend against this exploit, especially since a demo video shows the exploit successfully bypassing all the protections enforced by Microsoft’s Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET). That said, users should make sure that they take the common precautions like keeping their software up-to-date and running a capable security product. This could break a different link in a potential attack chain, such as a remote code execution exploit needed to gain access to the system in the first place.

Intel says 400 devices will ship with the 7th Generation Core processors. Intel's upcoming 7th Generation Core processor family, code-named Kaby Lake, is off to a quick start. More than 400 devices with Intel's upcoming chip design will reach the market, said Navin Shenoy, corporate vice president and general manager for Intel's Client Computing Group. One of those devices will be Asus' Surface-like Transformer 3, which will ship in the third quarter starting at US$799. The device has a 12.6-inch screen that displays images at a resolution of 2880 x 1920 pixels. It weighs 695 grams and is 6.9 millimeters thick. The device has a 13-megapixel camera, and it can be configured with a 512GB SSD and up to 8GB RAM. Shenoy, speaking during a keynote at the Computex trade show in Taipei, also showed a 2-in-1 made by Compal during the keynote. It's not clear if the first Kaby Lake chips to reach PCs will be low-power Core M or the faster Core i chips. Other PC makers will also announce Kaby Lake devices, though it's not clear when. Devices with Kaby Lake will include Thunderbolt 3, IR cameras for Windows Hello, and the latest graphics technologies to handle 4K content, Shenoy said. He didn't share more information about Kaby Lake, however, and Intel declined to provide additional chip details. Kaby Lake will succeed the current crop of 6th Generation Core processors code-named Skylake. The processor design has the underpinnings of Skylake, but should have better graphics, power management, and integration of I/O technologies. The look ahead to Kaby Lake comes as Intel retools its PC strategy to be in line with the realities of today's PC market. Intel will focus on a handful of distinct markets, primarily 2-in-1s and gaming and enthusiast PCs, with sales growing in an otherwise slumping PC market. The company will also continue to focus on mini-PCs like NUC desktops, Shenoy said. At the same time, Intel is restructuring operations to shed its long-time reliance on PCs to focus on growth areas like the Internet of Things, cloud computing, data-center hardware, communications technology, and memory. Intel in April said it would lay off up to 12,000 employees worldwide and would cut products it deemed unprofitable or irrelevant. Some Atom chips for mobile phones are already on the chopping block. Shenoy reiterated the company's commitment to PCs, saying computer designs are constantly changing with emerging applications like virtual reality. The addition of Kaby Lake to Intel's chip lineup last year was unexpected and broke Intel's tradition of making two Core chip designs with every manufacturing process. It is the third Core chip design on the 14-nanometer process after Broadwell and Skylake and was added after manufacturing issues caused Intel to delay a move to the 10-nm process. Kaby Lake continues Intel's tradition of delivering yearly chip upgrades. The successor to Kaby Lake is a chip code-named Cannonlake, which will be made using the 10-nm process and be available for PCs in the second half of 2017. Intel later this year will also ship processors code-named Apollo Lake for entry-level PCs and tablets. The chips will sell under the Pentium and Celeron brands. Competition to Kaby Lake will come from AMD's processors based on the Zen CPU architecture, which will first gaming systems later this year, and to mainstream laptops and desktops next year. AMD has focused on improving raw CPU performance in the Zen-based chips.

AMD demos a working Zen CPU, giving hope to AMD fans looking for an Intel alternative. AMD’s long-awaited high-performance Zen desktop CPU will feature 16 threads across 8 physical cores and begin sampling later this year, the company proudly announced Tuesday evening. ”Zen is alive, Zen is on track and we are extraordinarily excited about what Zen will bring to the market place,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said during a press conference at Taiwan’s annual Computex trade show. Zen was “taped out” earlier this year, Su said, and the (simplistic) video for the chip's presentation was even produced with a Zen CPU. AMD's expected to begin sampling the processors to limited partners within a few weeks, with a wider round expected for the third quarter of this year. Why this matters: After a disastrous few years of getting its nose punched in by Core processors, AMD created Zen from scratch to go toe-to-toe with Intel's CPUs. This chip signals AMD’s return to duking it out for high-performance supremacy. Waiting for Zen Zen's built around a new AM4 socket that introduces DDR4 memory compatibility to AMD's lineup and will apparently be compatible with existing coolers from legacy AM3+ motherboards. AMD has long said Zen would feature at least a 40 percent increase in instructions per clock over its current generation Vishera chips. AMD will abandon the architecture of its Vishera chips in favor of a simultaneous multi-threading approach similar to Intel’s Hyper-Threading. Pricing wasn’t disclosed—nor even hinted at—but many are looking forward to AMD’s Zen putting pressure on Intel. The very day before Su held up a Zen CPU, Intel announced a new 10-core chip many expected to cost $1,000. Instead, Intel will charge over $1,700 for the Core i7-6950X.

Intel's Skylake-based Xeon E3-1500 v5 server chips can improve the quality of streaming video. If you are not happy with the quality of streaming video, it's perhaps because your providers server doesn't have a good graphics processor. To address that, Intel is improving the integrated graphics processor in its new Xeon E3-1500 v5 family of server chips. Servers with the chips will be able to deliver multiple 4K video streams over the Internet to PCs and mobile devices. The chips are based on the Skylake design and have the Iris Pro Graphics P580, which Intel claims is its best integrated GPU. Intel says that about 80 percent of the Internet traffic is video, and better GPUs are needed to improve the quality of streams. Many servers use discrete GPUs like AMD's FirePro and Nvidia's Quadro to process streaming video. Intel's Iris Pro isn't as powerful, but is a power-efficient alternative that won't use up a PCI-Express slot in a server. The quality of graphics in servers will also matter as cloud-based virtual reality applications become mainstream. HP has said it will make VR available on Chromebooks via the Internet. The server chips are capable of delivering two 4K video streams simultaneously at 30 frames per second. The integrated GPU has hardware-based decoding of HEVC video. Servers can be configured with up to 64GB of DDR4 memory and NVMe storage. That helps speed up video delivery over the Internet. The lineup includes four new chips with the Iris Pro P580 GPU. The fastest is the Intel Xeon E3-1585 v5, which offers a CPU clock speed from 3.5GHz to 3.9GHz, and a GPU clock speed from 350MHz to 1.15GHz. The chip draws 65 watts of power. The other processors have clock speeds from 35 watts to 45 watts, with CPU clock speeds topping out at 3.7GHz and GPU speeds at 1.15GHz.

Riotoro is a new company founded by former Corsair and Nvidia employees that used Computex to fill out its product line. Earlier in 2016, a new PC component company called Riotoro—made up of former Corsair and Nvidia employees—launched its first major product, the Prism CR1280 PC case. Now, Riotoro is using Computex to emerge more fully from the shadows, filling out its component lineup with gaming keyboards, PC power supplies, a liquid CPU cooler, and a new version of its Uruz optical gaming mouse. Ghostwriter keyboards Riotoro introduced two new gaming keyboards at Computex under the Ghostwriter line. The first is its flagship mechanical keyboard, the Ghostwriter RGB Mechanical Keyboard. This peripheral features programmable animated per-key backlighting, Kailh switches, and a detachable magnetic wrist wrest. The Ghostwriter Standard, meanwhile, features membrane keys, customizable global backlighting, and the same detachable magnetic wrist wrest. On top of that, both keyboards offer USB pass-through, full n-key rollover, and a 1 millisecond response time. Look for them to roll out during the second half of 2016 for an undisclosed price. Power Sometime between July and September, Riotoro will introduce two new power supplies. The first is the Onyx ATX Series in 450, 650, and 750 Watt models. Riotoro's PSUs are 80 Plus Bronze certified for efficiency, offer semi-modular cabling, a rifle bearing fan, and a three-year warranty. The second model line is the Enigma ATX series, which will only come in a 750 Watt model. It offers 80 Plus Gold certification, a semi-modular cable system, and a five-year warranty. Pricing wasn't announced for the new PSUs, either. Bifrösty Riotoro's also rolling out two liquid CPU coolers in 120mm and 240mm sizes under the Bifröst name—borrowed from Old Norse mythology, or the Thor movies, depending on your point of view. The Bifröst 240 features a 240mm radiator, and dual 120mm pulse width modulation (PWM) fans, which Riotoro says offers more efficient cooling and low noise. The 240 comes with a five-year warranty. The Bifröst 120, meanwhile, offers a 120mm radiator that is 45mm (1.77 inches) thick to help squeeze into smaller PC case sizes. There’s also a 120mm static pressure PWM fan, and a five-year warranty. Both cooling set-ups use a “new generation copper cold plate” that allows for better heat transfer from the CPU to the water block, Riotoro says. The Bifröst 240 is priced at $100, while the 120 has an MSRP of $85. A release date was not announced. Uruz V2 Riotoro is also rolling out a new version of its Uruz optical gaming mouse. Riotoro says the updated peripheral has more style and a better build quality than its predecessor. The mouse features a 4,000 DPI optical sensor, six programmable buttons, 1000Hz poll rate, an aluminum scroll wheel, and a soft-touch coating. The updated Uruz will roll out sometime between July and September with an MSRP of $40.