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Mechanical keyboards have exploded in po[CENSORED]rity recently by offering a blend of typing precision along with a solid, clicking sensation under your fingers and the satisfying sound produced by each key press. For those in shared environments who want the travel and tactile feel of a mechanical keyboard without all the noise, however, Cherry Americas is set to introduce two silent key switches. Previously available exclusively on Corsair's Strafe RGB keyboard, the MX Silent switches are now openly available in Black and Red stem varieties with standard and LED-backlit configurations for each. The switches feature an actuation force of 45cN and less than 5ms bounce along with the company’s patent-pending noise reduction feature. They are said to offer a light linear feel and no pressure point on the red variety — if you bottom out often, you will find reds softer to your liking, since with the non-clicky but still audible brown switches you have to use stronger force (55g) to overcome the pressure point. For those unfamiliar, keyboards using Cherry MX keyswitches make up the majority of the mechanical keyboard market. The company will be showing off its products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegasnext month, so perhaps we’ll learn more about new keyboards coming to the market using the company’s new Silent MX switches.

Intel has been seeding samples of its upcoming Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake desktop CPU to reviewers and professional hardware enthusiasts ahead of what’ll likely be an official unveiling at CES 2017. One such recipient, Allen “Splave” Golibersuch, recently shared good news on the overclocking front. TechPowerUp reports that Splave managed to cross the 7GHz barrier using the aforementioned i7-7700K. Specifically, he was able to hit a benchmark-stable 7,022.96MHz (multiplier of 69x and a bus speed of 101.78MHz) using an ASRock Z170 OC Formula motherboard. That said, some concessions were made in order to achieve the milestone. Splave had to disable HyperThreading as well as two of the processor’s four physical cores. The Vcore voltage, meanwhile, was pushed all the way up to 2.00V which meant liquid nitrogen had to be used for cooling. That said, the chip reportedly completed PiFast in 9.02 seconds and zipped through SuperPi 32M in roughly four minutes and 20 seconds. When paired with an Asus GTX 1080 STRIX OC video card, the combo turned in a score of 643,316 in Aquamark and 86,798 in 3DMark 05. Some will no doubt discredit the feat due to the fact that two cores were disabled and / or liquid nitrogen had to be used and that’s a fair argument. With NDAs set to lift any day now, most will be more interested in how the chip performs in an everyday setup with either air or basic liquid cooling.

The MSI GT73VR Titan Pro is a beast. This powerful gaming machine can technically be classified as a laptop, but it's so large it'll stay desk-bound for most of its working life. What you get for the size and price is simple: MSI's most powerful 17-inch gaming laptop. From a hardware perspective, there are no compromises here. What you get for the size and price is simple: MSI’s most powerful 17-inch gaming laptop. From a hardware perspective, there are no compromises here. This monster PC is kitted out with a top-end Intel Skylake processor and the fastest Nvidia graphics on the market. The display, storage, and RAM can all be configured with flagship components as well. Like with many MSI gaming laptops, there is a collection of GT73VR models available to purchase. The one I received to review came with a Core i7-6820HK processor, GeForce GTX 1080 graphics with 8GB of GDDR5X memory, a 512GB solid state drive to complement a 1TB hard drive, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1080p 120Hz G-Sync display. All up, this variant will set you back $3,099. This sounds ludicrously powerful, but there are even more brutal options available. Some variants pack 4K displays, at least 1TB of SSD space, 64 GB of RAM, and even two GTX 1070s in SLI. If you have a lot of money to spend, MSI will provide an appropriately-configured GT73VR. But let’s discuss the elephant in the room first: the size of the GT73VR. This enormous laptop clocks in at 45mm thick and 3.9kg heavy (8.6 lbs), a good 10mm thicker and 1kg heavier than a typical 17-inch gaming system. The sheer size and especially the weight of this machine prevents it from being truly portable. Sure, it is possible to use it in different rooms of your house, or take it to LAN parties, but you’ll need a dedicated carrying bag to transport it. The GT73VR is not a portable workstation you'll want to carry around with you often, and that’s not what it was designed for. The heft of this system is compounded by its enormous power brick. At 1.2kg it weighs more than an entire lightweight laptop, and this extra weight needs to be factored in when transporting the machine. Granted, a combined weight of 5.1kg is less than many compact gaming desktops, but it’s still much heavier than other more portable gaming laptops out there. On the other hand, the GT73VR is averagely sized for a gaming laptop with a GTX 1080 inside. If you want something smaller, Aorus does offer a slimmer 17-inch system that weighs only 3.2kg, but outside of this you’ll have to downgrade to either a GTX 1070 or GTX 1060 for a truly portable laptop. The GT73VR’s main competitor, the Asus ROG G701VI, is a bit slimmer though just as heavy. MSI has made the GT73VR this size so it can accommodate a massive cooling solution. There are four huge vents located around the sides of the laptop, through which you can see sizable heatsinks and even thick heatpipes in some areas. MSI has opted for a dual-fan solution, one for each side of the laptop, that intakes through an enormous vent on the base and exhausts through the sides. Almost the entire base of the GT73VR is a series of massive vents. The laptop sits on large rubber pads that raise the base by almost a full centimeter in some areas, allowing a ton of air to flow into these intake vents. The GT73VR has a distinct angular design with a number of ‘gamer’ elements, including aggressive red highlights around the stylized vents, and a weirdly-shaped power button. The edges of this laptop taper quite significantly, particularly at the front, which gives some areas (particularly around the side vents) an ugly, bloated appearance. Understandably it’s hard to create a decent design when the laptop is so thick, but this machine won’t be winning any style awards. Most of this laptop has been constructed using black plastic, however there are two areas that use brushed metal: around the keyboard, and the lid. The metal areas attract fingerprints, which can be annoying if you’d prefer a clean look, although the metal looks a lot better than the cheap yet tough plastic used elsewhere. The bezels on the GT73VR are not small, but it’s good to see MSI has resisted the urge to make them enormous like we saw with the Alienware 15. The 17.3-inch display fits comfortably in the area allocated to it, and it’s unlikely MSI could have fit anything significantly larger in this space. The hinge assembly is tough and smooth to operate, providing a good range of angles for usage. There’s a bit of screen wobble when tapping the display, though it’s not a touchscreen so it shouldn’t wobble during normal usage. This laptop comes with a great selection of ports in a layout that makes sense for desktop usage. The massive proprietary power connector is found on the rear edge, along with HDMI 2.0, Mini-DisplayPort, Gigabit Ethernet, and a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3 capabilities. The left edge features three USB-A 3.0 ports and four 3.5mm audio jacks, while the right edge has a further two USB-A 3.0 ports and an SD card slot. the sheer number of USB-A ports found on this laptop; you’ll have spare ports even when you connect important accessories. Having four 3.5mm audio jacks also allows this system to support analog 6-channel audio output. Ideally, I’d like to see an additional USB-C port that’s user accessible on either the left or right side, but I’m glad there is still Thunderbolt 3 found on the rear. The audio system included with the GT73VR is one of the better ones I’ve found on a gaming laptop, mostly thanks to the 5W woofer that provides depth at the low end. Unfortunately, the 3W stereo speakers let the audio experience down with mediocre mid-range performance, and the fact they fire into your desk limits their quality. On a laptop this large, surely there was enough room for top-firing speakers.

Chatting with fans on Twitter, Xbox Head Phil Spencer has discussed a few interesting details about what's happening in the industry of video games and particularly when it comes to PS4/Xbox One competition. He even issued a tweet sharing his vision about DLC coming first to a platform or another, adding that this isn't exactly what he defines "growth". "Paying marketing funds so another consoles base can't play a piece of content doesn't feel like growth," is Spencer's tweet, of course making a reference to what happened between last year and this year with the Call of Duty franchise. Black Ops III and Infinite Warfare DLC coming first to PS4, Destiny too, and all other Ubisoft games like Watch Dogs 2 adopting similar policies. Back in the days, this is something Microsoft was used to do. They did it with GTA IV, for example, and with the Call of Duty franchise before their partnership with Activision expired. Then, all of a sudden, there was a change in their policy where they'd start investing more on publishing partnerships that led to deals like the Rise of the Tomb Raider timed exclusivity. Looking at what Spencer said, it doesn't seem like something the Tomb Raider affair will happen again, and maybe we'll see more Windows 10/Xbox One publishing cooperation such as ReCore in the future.

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Microsoft has just delivered a brand new Countdown promotion that will offer you sales and discounted prices on Xbox 360/Xbox One games between December 22 and December 28. Throughout this time frame, you will have a chance to grab 1 month Xbox Live Gold subscription at $1 and daily offers. Today's daily offer is Life Is Strange complete season for Xbox One at $5,00. Take a look at the complete list of offers below: Weekly Deals Valid Dec 22 - Dec 28 Xbox One: Arcade Game Series 3-In-1 Pack - $7.99 > $3.20 Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag - $29.99 > $12.00 Assassin's Creed Syndicate - $49.99 > $20.00 Assassin's Creed Syndicate Gold Edition - $69.99 > $28.00 Bard's Gold - $4.99 > $2.99 Bedlam - The Game By Christopher Brookmyre - $9.99 > $5.99 Battlefield 1 - $59.99 > $38.99 Battlefield 1 Deluxe Edition - $79.99 > $51.99 Battlefield 1 Ultimate Edition - $129.99 > $97.49 Batman Arkham Knight - $19.99 > $10.00 Batman Arkham Knight Premium Edition - $39.99 > $16.00 Batman Return to Arkham - $49.99 > $29.99 Bioshock: The Collection - $59.99 > $38.99 Blood Bowl 2 - $49.99 > $12.50 (Valid through Dec 26) Call Of Duty: Black Ops III - Gold Edition - $59.99 > $35.99 Call Of Duty: Black Ops III Digital Deluxe Edition - $99.99 > $59.99 Call of Duty Infinite Warfare - $59.99 > $38.99 Call of Duty Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition - $79.99 > $59.99 Call of Duty Infinite Warfare + Destiny The Collection - $119.99 > $60.00 Call of Duty Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition + Destiny the Collection - $139.99 > $76.99 Captured Kv-1 Elite (World of Tanks) - $33.99 > $27.19 Contrast - $9.99 > $5.00 Crimson Chrome Bundle - $24.99 > $12.50 Dark Souls III - $59.99 > $30.00 Dark Souls III - Deluxe Edition - $84.99 > $42.50 Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition - $29.99 > $7.50 (Valid through Dec 26) Dead Island Definitive Edition - $39.99 > $20.00 Destiny The Taken King - $19.99 > $11.99 (Valid through Dec 26) Destiny - The Collection - $59.99 > $26.12 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - $59.99 > $30.00 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Digital Deluxe Edition - $74.99 > $45.00 Deadlight: Director's Cut - $19.99 > $10.00 Dovetail Games Euro Fishing - $18.49 > $11.09 Dishonored Definitive Edition - $19.99 > $10.00 Dishonored 2 - $59.99 > $40.19 Everspace - $29.99 > $23.99 F1 2016 - $59.99 > $30.00 Far Cry Primal - $49.99 > $25.00 Far Cry Primal - Apex Edition - $54.99 > $27.50 Final Fantasy XV - $59.99 > $44.99 Final Fantasy XV Digital Premium Edition - $84.99 > $63.74 Firewatch - $19.99 > $11.99 Forza Horizon 3 - $59.99 > $38.99 Forza Horizon 3 Deluxe Edition - $79.99 > $59.99 Forza Horizon 3 Ultimate Edition - $99.99 > $79.99 Forza Motorsport 6 Standard Edition - $59.99 > $25.00 Forza Motorsport 6 Deluxe Edition - $69.99 >$35.00 Forza Motorsport 6 Ultimate Edition - $89.99 > $45.00 Forza Motorsport 6 Car Pass - $29.99 > $9.90 Fragments of Hell - $9.99 > $5.00 (Valid through Dec 26) Gears of War 4 - $59.99 > $32.99 Gears of War 4 Ultimate Edition - $99.99 > $69.99 Grand Theft Auto V - $59.99 > $30.00 Grand Theft Auto V Great White Shark Bundle - $79.99 > $40.00 Grand Theft Auto V Whale Shark Bundle - $109.99 > $44.00 Grand Theft Auto V Megalodon Bundle - $159.99 > $64.00 Grow UP - $9.99 > $5.00 Halo 5: Guardians - $39.99 > $20.00 Halo 5: Guardians - Digital Deluxe Edition - $69.99 > $35.00 Hitman The Complete First Season - $59.99 > $30.00 Hitman Intro Pack - $14.99 > $7.50 Hitman Upgrade Pack - $49.99 > $25.00 Inside/Limbo Bundle - $29.99 > $17.99 Jotun: Valhalla Edition - $14.99 > $10.04 Killer Instinct: Season 3 Ultra Edition - $39.99 > $20.00 Lego Marvel Super Heroes - $19.99 > $5.00 Lego Marvel's Avengers - $39.99 > $21.99 Lego Marvel's Avengers Deluxe Edition - $49.99 > $27.49 Lost Sea - $14.99 > $7.50 Madden NFL 17 - $59.99 > $30.00 Madden NFL 17 Deluxe Edition - $69.99 > $35.00 Madden NFL 17 Super Deluxe Edition - $99.99 > $50.00 Mafia III - $59.99 > $38.99 Mafia III Deluxe Edition - $79.99 > $47.99 Metro Redux Bundle - $29.99 > $6.00 Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - $19.99 > $10.00 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - $39.99 > $20.00 Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience - $49.99 > $33.49 Never Alone Arctic Collection - $18.99 > $3.80 (Valid through Dec 26) Minecraft Story Mode Episode 6-8 - $9.99 > $5.00 Minecraft: Story Mode - The Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) - $19.99 > $10.00 Mount & Blade: Warband - $19.99 > $13.39 MX vs ATV Supercross Encore - $29.99 > $15.00 (Valid through Dec 26) NBA 2K17 - $59.99 > $41.99 NHL 17 - $59.99 > $30.00 NHL 17 Deluxe Edition - $79.99 > $40.00 NHL 17 Super Deluxe Edition - $99.99 > $50.00 Ori Definitive Edition - $19.99 > $10.00 Oxenfree - $19.99 > $10.00 Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 - $12.99 > $8.44 Prison Architect: All Day And A Night Edition - $39.99 > $23.99 Payday 2: Crimewave Edition - $19.99 > $6.60 Payday 2 - Crimewave Edition - The Big Score Game Bundle - $49.99 > $29.99 Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 - Digital Exclusive - $59.99 > $38.99 Project Cars Digital Edition - $29.99 > $15.00 Project Cars - GOTY Edition - $39.99 > $21.99 ReCore - $39.99 > $19.99 Resident Evil 4 - $19.99 > $10.00 (Valid through Dec 26) Resident Evil 5 - $19.99 > $10.00 (Valid through Dec 26) Resident Evil 6 - $19.99 > $10.00 (Valid through Dec 26) Slain: Back From Hell - $14.99 > $7.50 (Valid through Dec 26) Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell - $14.99 > $3.75 Star Wars Battlefront - $19.99 > $10.00 Star Wars Battlefront Deluxe Edition - $29.99 > $15.00 Star Wars Battlefront Season Pass - $29.99 > $19.49 Star Wars Battlefront Ultimate Edition - $39.99 > $29.99 Superhot - $24.99 > $16.74 (Valid through Dec 26) Tales From The Borderlands Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) - $19.99 > $6.60 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition - $59.99 > $40.19 The Escapists Supermax Edition - $31.49 > $10.39 The Escapists DLC Bundle - $9.99 > $3.30 (Valid through Dec 26) The Technomancer - $59.99 > $15.00 (Valid through Dec 26) The Telltale Undead Survival Bundle - $54.99 > $18.15 The Flame In The Flood - $19.99 > $10.00 The Incredible Adventures Of Van Helsing II - $14.99 > $7.50 The Incredible Adventures Of Van Helsing II: Extended Edition - $19.99 > $10.00 The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries - $14.99 > $4.95 The Walking Dead: Michonne - Season Pass - $7.99 > $2.64 The Witness - $39.99 > $26.79 Titanfall 2 Deluxe Edition - $79.99 > $40.00 Titanfall 2 - $59.99 > $30.00 Titanfall 2/Battlefield 1 Bundle - $149.99 > $75.00 Trials Fusion: The Awesome Max Edition - $39.99 > $16.00 Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide - $39.99 > $23.99 Wolfenstein: The New Order - $19.99 > $10.00 Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - $19.99 > $10.00 Worms W.m.d - $29.99 > $20.09 Xbox 360: Argul's Tomb - $6.99 > $1.74 Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag - $19.99 > $7.99 Batman - The Telltale Series - Season Pass - $19.99 > $9.99 Batman: Arkham City - $19.99 > $6.59 Batman: The Telltale Series Episode 1 - $4.99 > $0.74 Borderlands - $19.99 > $7.99 (Backwards Compatible) Call Of Duty 2 - $19.99 > $11.99 (Backwards Compatible) Call Of Duty: Black Ops II - $49.99 > $24.99 Call Of Duty: Black Ops III - Bundle - $49.99 > $24.99 Call Of Duty: Black Ops - $29.99 > $17.99 (Backwards Compatible) Captured Kv-1 Elite (World of Tanks) - $34.99 > $27.99 Darksiders II - $19.99 > $3.99 Darksiders II Season Pass - $16.99 > $4.24 Dead Island Riptide - $14.99 > $2.99 Dead Island - $14.99 > $2.24 Death Rides Pack - $6.99 > $1.74 Destiny: The Taken King - $19.99 > $12.99 Destiny: The Taken King - Legendary Edition - $29.99 > $17.99 Destiny: The Taken King - Digital Collector's Edition - $39.99 > $22.79 Deus Ex: Human Revolution - $14.99 > $3.74 (Backwards Compatible) Dishonored - $19.99 > $9.99 Escape Dead Island - $19.99 > $1.99 Fallout: New Vegas - Lonesome Road (English) - $9.99 > $6.69 (Backwards Compatible) Fallout: New Vegas - $14.99 > $7.49 (Backwards Compatible) Game Of Thrones - Season Pass (Episodes 2-6) - $19.99 > $6.59 Goat Simulator: Payday - $4.99 > $3.74 Goat Simulator - $9.99 > $3.29 Grand Theft Auto V - $39.99 > $23.99 Gta IV - $19.99 > $4.99 Gyromancer - $14.99 > $7.49 Injustice: Gods Among Us - $19.99 > $7.99 (Backwards Compatible) Just Cause 2 - $14.99 > $2.99 (Backwards Compatible) Lego Marvel Super Heroes - $19.99 > $4.99 Lego Marvel's Avengers - $29.99 > $16.49 Life Is Strange Season Pass (Episodes 2-5) - $16.99 > $4.24 Lost Planet 3 - $19.99 > $4.99 Madden NFL 17 - $59.99 > $29.99 Midnight Club: LA - $14.99 > $8.99 Minecraft: Story Mode - Adventure Pass (Additional Episodes 6-8) - $9.99 > $4.99 Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Pass - $19.99 > $9.99 NBA 2K17 - $59.99 > $44.99 Oblivion - $14.99 > $7.49 (Backwards Compatible) Prison Architect: All Day And A Night DLC - $9.99 > $5.99 Prison Architect: Xbox 360 Edition - $29.99 > $17.99 Quake Arena Arcade - $4.99 > $2.49 Rayman Legends - $39.99 > $13.19 Red Dead Redemption - $29.99 > $17.99 (Backwards Compatible) Remember Me - $19.99 > $5.99 Resident Evil 4 - $19.99 > $7.99 Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell - $14.99 > $3.74 Shred Nebula - $4.99 > $1.99 Skate 3 - $19.99 > $11.99 (Backwards Compatible) Sleeping Dogs - $19.99 > $6.99 Street Fighter X Tekken - $19.99 > $3.99 Strider - $14.99 > $3.74 Super Streetfighter IV Arcade Edition - $29.99 > $11.99 Tales From The Borderlands - Season Pass - $14.99 > $4.94 The Walking Dead: Michonne - Season Pass (Episodes 2-3) - $3.43 > $2.63 The Walking Dead: Season Two - Season Pass - $14.99 > $4.94 Wolfenstein 3D - $4.99 > $2.49 (Backwards Compatible) WWE 2K17 - $59.99 > $44.99

There's a chance Microsoft is working on a brand new Elite Controller for Xbox One with interchangeable triggers, or at least it seems the Redmond platform holder is working on such possibility as it issued a new patent in the United States. The patent was filed in March 2016, so it seems something could be coming very shortly. This patent has the title “Game Controller with removable trigger accessory”, featuring triggers of different sizes and materials that could adapt properly to a variety and range of games. “Differently configured removable trigger accessories may have different sizes, materials, ranges of motion, spring tensions, pull weights, and/or finger positions. In one example, such a configuration facilitates the use of differently configured removable trigger accessories that are customized for particular types of video games." This new controller could represent an even higher and more customizable experience for hardcore gamers, which makes sense with the idea of Phil Spencer of focusing on providing different ranges of offerings rather than pushing on content-based deals like timed-exclusive DLC and stuff like that.

Nintendo Switch's specs are far from being official, as we're still waiting for the Japanese platform holder to reveal everything about its upcoming console (Nintendo Switch) and specifically what we could expect to see when powering it up the first time. Interestingly, while first reports were offering a terrific vision about the console's raw power, it seems it could be more powerful than stated so far. According to a report coming from Japanese analyst Yasuda of Ace Research Institute, and retweeted by WSJ's Mochizuki, it seems Switch could be supporting a 1440p maximum resolution on TV and 1080p on its portable device. Which would be up from 1080p on TV and 720p previously slipped from older rumors. Insider Emily Rogers has so far discussed this report on his Twitter profile, adding some more insights about the possible resolutions. According to her, Switch's maximum resolution would even be 4K on television, while the portable mode would only come as high as 720p mainly because Nintendo wanted to save battery life

Looking at 2017, analyst Michael Pachter has provided some of his predictions about Project Scorpio and Nintendo Switch. Those look pretty believable and, interestingly, Pachter has seemingly changed his mind about Nintendo or, at the very least, is positive for what matters the upcoming Switch. Based on his report, Nintendo Switch is going to be sold out at least until September. In comparison with previous Japanese platform holder, Pachter believes that first party support, apparently split into different months since its March launch, will help sales to be relevant for so much time. Then, it will always depend on third party support. Talking about Project Scorpio, Pachter thinks that the console will ship at $399, at the same price of PS4 Pro in November 2016. However, his idea is that when 2017 comes and in particular the holiday season comes, PS4 Pro will have a price cut that could possibly make any effort from Microsoft useless. Sales could suffer this competition.

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Google’s self-driving car program was exposed some years back when it was still part of the mysterious Google X research division. The company’s organizational structure has changed markedly since then, and part of that has been a greater emphasis on the self-driving car program. Earlier this month, Google announced that it was spinning off the driverless car program into its own company called Waymo under the umbrella of Google’s parent company Alphabet. It’s looking for partners to build self-driving cars, and Honda seems interested. When Google was still running the show, the self-driving car program was actually building cars. It started with retrofitting regular vehicles, but then Google unveiled that strange little bubble car prototype. That’s gone now, and established automakers are filling in. Waymo will make the autonomous technology like sensors and integrated electronics, then car makers can build cards based on that in the same way some make hybrid versions of standard vehicles. If a deal is reached with Honda, the car maker’s R&D division could shift its focus to working out the finer points of integrating Waymo’s solution rather than developing its own complete self-driving platform. The Google/Waymo tech has already proven very versatile. Google was always keep to point out how many zillions of miles its cards had driven, and the only accidents were the fault of the human backup driver. Waymo has already unveiled its first test vehicle created with an auto manufacturer, a fully autonomous version of the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan. It has less of a “prototype” vibe than those old Google cars with sensor rigs bolted to the roof, but it’s still clearly a car that had the self-driving hardware added late in the process — the sensor package on the roof is still rather unsightly. The sensors will always need to be somewhat exposed, which will be a challenge for designers. Waymo’s cars use LIDAR, RADAR, cameras, and other sensors to understand the world around the vehicle, so they need full a 360-degree view. Waymo says the new cars have already been tested in various driving conditions, including extreme weather. That would be an encouraging step for self-driving cars. Honda aims to have a self-driving car in production by 2020 if the deal is done. Its engineers would work closely with Waymo in order to more tightly integrate the technology. Honda could also provide Waymo with some of its cards to be modified like the Pacifica and added to the test fleet.

Apple’s new MacBook Pro isn’t having an easy time in the market. It’s been panned for its reliance on dongles, criticized for using older Intel chips, and a significant number of users have reported decidedly substandard battery life when using the system. Apple has responded to these complaints by cutting dongle prices and removing the “Time Remaining” indicator on the laptop’s battery, neither of which constitutes an actual solution. Now, Consumer Reports has refused to recommend the MacBook Pro for the first time ever. The reason? Battery life. According to CR, laptop battery life “varied dramatically from one trial to another.” Consumer Reports purchased each of its three machines at retail, with no interaction with Apple, to ensure it tested the same machines that consumers would purchase. The findings are worth quoting directly: The MacBook Pro battery life results were highly inconsistent from one trial to the next. For instance, in a series of three consecutive tests, the 13-inch model with the Touch Bar ran for 16 hours in the first trial, 12.75 hours in the second, and just 3.75 hours in the third. The 13-inch model without the Touch Bar worked for 19.5 hours in one trial but only 4.5 hours in the next. And the numbers for the 15-inch laptop ranged from 18.5 down to 8 hours. Those were just a few of the results; we tested battery life on these laptops repeatedly. Typically, a laptop’s battery life may vary from one trial to another by less than 5 percent. To arrive at our final battery life score we average those measurements together. However, with the widely disparate figures we found in the MacBook Pro tests, an average wouldn’t reflect anything a consumer would be likely to experience in the real world. For that reason, we are reporting the lowest battery life results, and using those numbers in calculating our final scores. It’s the only time frame we can confidently advise a consumer to rely on if he or she is planning use the product without access to an electrical outlet. Consumer Reports goes on to detail how they test and notes they ran battery tests in both the shipped version of macOS as well as the recent 10.12.2 update. Performance did not change. They then tried testing under Chrome instead of Safari and saw much better results, even though Chrome has a reputation for being a battery hog. Unfortunately, these results aren’t comparable to the rest of their data set, since CR always tests with the default browser, and there’s no explanation for why Safari would have such varying results. guess is this: Something is clearly broken in Apple’s power management stack. The company removed the “Time Remaining” information from macOS 12.2.2, claiming that providing an estimated Time Remaining was too difficult because of the way CPUs enter and exit power states. This seems rather unlikely, given that Microsoft still manages to give a Time Remaining estimate on Windows 10 laptops, and they use exactly the same x86 CPUs that Apple does. There’s also no reason that Apple couldn’t calibrate its “Time Remaining” metric by basing it on how the CPU transitions in and out of power states over a longer period of time. Over the long term — and keep in mind that to a CPU operating at multiple GHz, five seconds is ‘long term’ — the chip’s activity patterns should average out. Very few people start rendering a mammoth 3D project, switch to aggressive 3D gaming, and then switch back to some light desktop work within 5-10 seconds. Consumer Reports is the gold standard for reviewing products and methodologies — if they’re picking up such drastic problems with three different systems, it’s a good sign that Apple has a serious problem it either can’t find or doesn’t want to admit.

Once upon a time, goods and services in the United States were exchanged on a straightforward basis: You bought a product, the manufacturer sold a product, and everybody went home happy. Over the last decade we’ve seen companies move away from this model, from so-called ‘freemium’ games to the widespread availability of social media. These sorts of arrangements tend to be explained as “If you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.” Device manufacturers like Samsung, however, obviously prefer a very different model — one in which you’re actually the product, whether you’re paying them for anything or not. According to a new report at AdAge, a recent Samsung Smart TV update now requires that consumers view advertising if they want to use the device’s hardware — hardware they’ve presumably already paid several hundred dollars for the privilege of using. The ads are reportedly small at first, but cover 25-75% of the screen once highlighted. At Reddit, users are scarcely excited by the new change, with one writing: “Ads are a large reason why I ditched cable, the viewing experience wasn’t worth the money with one-third of the broadcast time filled with ads.” NPD VP and analyst Stephen Baker told AdAge he thought the move risked putting Samsung on consumers’ bad side in the long run if they opt to take their buying dollars elsewhere. “We are always looking for ways to enhance the TV watching experience,” a Samsung spokeswoman told Ad Age in an emailed statement. “Users can opt-out of these interest based ads at any time in the settings menu of their televisions and still get all of the smart features of their TVs.” But note the phrasing. Users can’t opt-out of ads, no, they can simply opt out of interest-based ads, which means Samsung doesn’t stop showing you advertising — it just stops showing you ads it attempts to categorize into areas you’re more likely to like. It’s not a move that’s going to do Samsung products any favors, or help it climb out of the negative hits it took following the Note 7 fiasco. It’s also not something that sits particularly well with us given the problems and repeated lies Samsung told about the security practices on its Smart TVs. Here’s a smart idea. Use a different media solution entirely, buy a dumb television (or simply leave the “smart” features deactivated), and tell Samsung to pound sand. You already bought the TV. You didn’t sign up to be buried in advertising alongside it.

The Phlegraean Fields (Italian: Campi Flegrei) are a series of craters and volcanic areas located near Naples, Italy. Like the Yellowstone caldera in the United States, the Phlegraean Fields have previously demonstrated a capacity for titanic eruptions. In antiquity, the Romans believed that the god Vulcan lived inside the Solfatara crater within the Phlegraean Fields, and that the jets of steam and sulfurous gases that still emerge from the dormant volcano were driven by the workings of his forge. There’s even archaeological evidence suggesting that a Phlegraean eruption some 37,000 to 39,000 years ago was so massive, it may have killed large segments of the extant Neanderthal po[CENSORED]tion, either directly or by causing a volcanic winter. Now, the massive supervolcano is showing signs of awakening. The Phlegraean Fields occupy a unique position in volcanology. In 1538, an eruption created Italy’s Monte Nuovo, a 1,500-foot cinder cone volcano, over a period of just six days. This was the first time the creation of a volcano was observed in the historical record. Many of the Italians living in the area at the time left detailed records of the multi-stage eruption sequence and the observed behavior of the volcano itself. In the 18th century, King Charles of Naples conducted excavations in the nearby town of Pozzuoli and uncovered an unusual set of columns that (eventually) rewrote our understanding of geology. The columns in question were part of the marcellum (marketplace) of the old Roman colony of Puteoli. What made them unusual is the band of borings visible across all three columns. These borings are created by lithophaga, or date mussels, when they attach themselves to coral or rock outcroppings. Since mussels live underwater, these borings were proof that the columns of Pozzuoli had spent an extensive period of time underwater. Historians and scientists in the 17th and 18th centuries were well aware that there were cities that existed in antiquity that now dwelt beneath the waves. What they lacked was any understanding of the geologic processes that could drive these events, especially given that the marcellum columns had clearly been built above water, submerged to a depth of at least seven meters (based on the banding), and then re-emerged at a later date. Today, we know that land can rise or fall as magma or water move into or out of a specific area. This is known as bradyseism and it explains how the columns rose and fell so dramatically without toppling or sustaining damage. From 1968 to 1972, the Campi Flegrei area rose 1.7 meters, followed by a second 1.8 meter rise from 1982-1984. From 2012-2013 the area rose an additional four inches, but this time scientists found evidence that the uplift was driven by magma shifts, specifically, rather than hydrothermal activity. The critical concern of the researchers is that the magma beneath the Phlegraean Fields may reach what they call Critical Degassing Pressure, or CDP. Deep within the Earth, molten rock is subject to tremendous pressure. As it rises towards the surface, the decreased pressure allow volatile gases to begin separating from the molten stone itself. What this research suggests is that there is a tipping point at which reduced pressure injects huge amounts of steam into the surrounding rock strata. From here, what happens is uncertain. In theory, releasing that much steam could cool the magma, stopping the eruption cold. Alternately, it could destabilize the rock, accelerating the deformation process and resulting in a full-scale eruption. While the absolute risk is still relatively small, Campi Flegrei has been quite active in recent decades, in ways that suggest it could be preparing to erupt. With half a million people living in Naples and the surrounding area, a sudden eruption could be catastrophic. While there’s no evidence yet that the volcano is definitively preparing a Mt. Tambora-equivalent blast, a new volcanic winter could imperil millions of lives across the globe. For the curious, the 1815 eruption of Mt. Tambora caused the Year Without A Summer in 1816. Worldwide temperatures fell 0.4-0.7C, while temperatures in Europe plunged by up to 3C. North American farms recorded snow in June and July with frosts every single month. In Europe, food crises proliferated across multiple countries. 1816 was the worst famine in 19th century Europe, with huge storms and unusual rainfall patterns causing widespread flooding. An equivalent eruption today in the heart of Italy would be catastrophic for weather patterns in Europe and Asia. Modern technology has come a long way since the 1800s, but it’s not as if farmers can just transform their existing fields into greenhouses on a massive scale.

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Last week, news leaked that Nintendo’s upcoming Switch wasn’t based on Pascal at all. Previously, all Nvidia had stated was that Switch was based on “the same architecture as the world’s top-performing GeForce gaming graphics cards.” Given this statement, some of you doubted reports that the new console would rely on Maxwell-era technology instead of Pascal. The truth may be a bit more complex, since the X1 inside Tegra could have been customized to one degree or another, but the heart of the chip appears to be a 20nm Maxwell GPU. That’s the news from Eurogamer, which reached out to sources of its own to see what it could find. Eurogamer wasn’t able to find a source willing to say on the record that the Switch is simply a Tegra X1, though the specs Nintendo is apparently using to brief developers do resemble that chip in multiple key areas. But what’s truly surprising are the SoCs CPU and GPU clock speeds — if accurate, the Switch is going to be more handicapped than I thought. Eurogamer reports that the CPU will run at 1020MHz, or 50% of the Tegra X1’s stated maximum clock speed, while the GPU will be locked to 768MHz while docked. The Shield TV, in contrast, runs at 1GHz. In tablet mode, the chip down-clocks to just 307.2MHz, or 40% of its docked clock. Memory clock speeds also drop when the device is undocked, though developers can choose to keep them pegged at full speed (docked clock is 1600MHz, undocked clock is 1331MHz). Now, what does this mean for the handheld’s gaming performance? First, it’s not quite as bad as it looks. If you’ve paid any attention to mobile hardware for the past few years, you’re doubtlessly aware that while mobile SoC manufacturers make big claims about clock speeds, these figures are always “up to” rather than flat clock rates. It’s not unusual to see performance drop sharply once thermal regulation kicks in, and Nintendo looks to be trying to avoid that by specifying a constant level of performance, rather than allowing clock rates to ‘float’ the way SoC manufacturers often do. Developers can also choose to limit the Switch to 307.2MHz while docked as well, though it’s not clear if they’ll choose to do so. According to Eurogamer’s sources, this data was distributed along with a note telling developers it represents “the final specification for the combinations of performance configurations and performance modes that applications will be able to use at launch.” But in terms of absolute horsepower, don’t look to Switch to close any gaps with the PS4 or Xbox One. I stand by what I said regarding the Wii U’s visuals — I think there’s plenty of room on these spec sheets for the Switch to offer equal or greater performance, but the gap between even the PS4 / Xbox One from 2013 and the Switch is going to remain significant. This, in turn, suggests that Nintendo isn’t going to switch focus and start courting third-party developers anytime soon. I suspect Nintendo picked its specifications the way it did so it could position Switch as a strong upgrade to both platforms. When operating on battery life, the Switch’s 720p screen and substantially updated GPU core will make it a far better system than the 3DS. When operating in a docked configuration, the Switch should be substantially stronger than the Wii U. From that perspective, and viewed relative to the rest of Nintendo’s hardware, the Switch should be a unilateral improvement over both of its previous platforms. One other tidbit: There’s no sign that the Switch encompasses any of the performance-boosting capabilities or modular hardware upgrade options that were theorized might exist based on Nintendo’s own patent applications.

Upgrading an older system to deliver higher performance in games can be a chore if you’re not used to the process, but Nvidia wants to make the experience a little easier. The company has unveiled what its calling a PC Gaming Revival Kit, and while the hardware is currently only being stocked in Spanish-speaking countries, we suspect this kind of bundle could come stateside relatively easily if Nvidia sees strong uptake. Kit contents include: An MSI GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Corsair Force Series LE 240GB SSD Corsair CX450M Power supply T-Shirt A Gears of War 4 code According to VideoCardz, which first spotted the kit, the retail price of these components would come to roughly the same price as the bundle, so it’s not currently much of a savings. Then again, comprehensive kits of this sort rarely are. The point is to put together a list of solid components that the consumer can purchase and rely on, not to necessarily offer a significant cost advantage. These sorts of hardware products used to be more common, particularly when CD-ROMs and multimedia capabilities started to debut in consumer hardware. Those of you who were computing back then likely recall the CD-ROM + speakers + SoundBlaster kits that companies like Creative often sold. As a gaming revival kit, this is pretty solid. SSDs are excellent for improving the performance of older machines, the GTX 1060 3GB is a good GPU for a midrange system (though the 3GB RAM limit is a bit smaller than we’d like), a 450W PSU should drive the rig easily, and you walk away with a game code you can use to test your new hardware. The only sticking point is RAM — systems from several years ago might need a bump in that regard. Part of what makes this kit work, of course, is how little CPU performance has improved over the last 4-6 years. If you’re still running a 2008 – 2010 Nehalem Core i7, you can pick up significant performance gains from upgrading. Even Sandy Bridge systems, by this point, can look forward to some moderate improvements — but that’s really the threshold as far as significant gains, and even then the results are more likely to be “modestly faster” as opposed to “Holy crap, would you look at that?” If you’d told me in 2006 that plenty of people would still be using CPUs that were pushing a decade, I wouldn’t have believed you. Things could slow down, of course, but that slow? Well, yes. That slow. And if you live in a Latin American country where this deal is being offered, it’s not a bad one. We’ll see if AMD responds with anything analogous or if Nvidia expands the promotion to a larger group of countries.

After a year-long review of the data, the EPA has concluded that fracking poses a systemic danger to clean groundwater. But it’s not solely inherent to the technology of fracking itself. Human handling is a big part of the problem. Last year, in response to a 2011 probe, the agency sought review on an initial report on the hazards posed by fracking, but reviewers found the report incomplete. External reviewers weren’t satisfied with the data, and requested a review of the sample size and justifications for the safety conclusions originally drawn. Then, in early 2016, the staid and not exactly controversial United States Geological Survey released a report concluding that fracking had caused a rash of recent earthquakes in Oklahoma and Texas. Until 2008, Dallas had never had an earthquake. But it sits atop the Barnett Shale, second only to the Marcellus Shale in size and importance. Since 2008, they’ve had more than 200 quakes. Oklahoma had more quakes than California in 2014. In response to that report, Oklahoma ordered the shutdown of dozens of wells, and they’ve had a little relief. The final version of the EPA report, just released, is much more conservative in its approval than the first, which said it found “no evidence that fracking systemically contaminates water supplies.” They took out that line from this version. This version takes a different tone than the original. The draft version of the report qualified its acknowledgement of fracking contamination by saying that such incidents had been “rare” among the sites in the data set. Rather than making that comparison, the final version just rolls out a list of risk factors for negative side effects of fracking. It’s not a question of whether or not contamination happens as a matter of course anymore. The EPA straight up listed known patterns of contamination. In their words: As part of the report, EPA identified certain conditions under which impacts from hydraulic fracturing activities can be more frequent or severe, including: Water withdrawals for hydraulic fracturing in times or areas of low water availability, particularly in areas with limited or declining groundwater resources; Spills during the management of hydraulic fracturing fluids and chemicals or produced water that result in large volumes or high concentrations of chemicals reaching groundwater resources; Injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into wells with inadequate mechanical integrity, allowing gases or liquids to move to groundwater resources; Injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids directly into groundwater resources; Discharge of inadequately treated hydraulic fracturing wastewater to surface water resources; and Disposal or storage of hydraulic fracturing wastewater in unlined pits, resulting in contamination of groundwater resources. It has to be said that if we’d do our damn homework and treat this like it matters, we might could do fracking without destroying the groundwater. Maybe not everywhere; there may be areas where the rock formations are just wrong, too porous and saturated, and you can’t frack there without screwing up the water. We would know where those places are, if the area had been adequately explored to make a decision on whether to frack there. There’s an argument, however thin, that there’s a limit of diminishing return on exploration of the underground: Too much money spent on exploration means there’s none left for exploiting known resources. But is there ever any excuse for dumping the fracking fluids straight a body of surface water or into an unlined dry well? There’s a concept called “downstream,” guys. What’s downstream matters. The hard fact is that we’re not going to be conducting the Platonic ideal of fracking, out there in the field, with overworked, underpaid, probably unconcerned techs from the lowest-bidding extraction outfit. Sure, if nothing goes wrong, you can do fracking without contaminating the water. But fracking sites are not like an aerospace clean room, where fretful engineers with anti-static straps and booties fiddle with tweezers until they get a seal just exactly perfectly seated. They’re in the middle of oil fields, or on someone’s back 40 where they had to build their own road just to get out to the site. The process of fracking has a lot of points where things can go wrong. All those moratoria on fracking “until the evidence comes in” should be taking this report into account. The evidence is in. Fracking poses systemic hazards to the environment.

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hello -Check your RAM first, faulty RAM is a common cause for blue screens -If you get errors, remove RAM and test again using 1 stick in only 1 slot, then try the other sticks in the same slot, then try another slot. (You want to test individually to see which stick of RAM is faulty or if a slot has gone bad) - If you get past stage without errors, your RAM is likely good.