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Genetically modified Salmonella bacteria target tumors and make the immune system extra aggressive toward cancer cells. Cancer tends to stick around because it’s practically invisible to the body’s own defenses: The immune system doesn’t recognize the rogue cells because they aren’t foreign invaders. To activate the immune system to attack cancer, scientists have tried all sorts of tricks, including infecting cancerous tissue with bacteria. Now, scientists have modified Salmonella bacteria to trigger a particularly powerful immune response against human cancer cells implanted in mice, shrinking the tumors and—for the first time—preventing them from metastasizing. If the technique can be replicated in humans, it would be a significant step forward for the field of bacterial cancer therapy. “This team did very solid work, very rigorous,” says Roy Curtiss III, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of Florida in Gainesville, who has pioneered similar bacterial techniques to combat cancer. Because bacteria often home in on necrotic, oxygen-depleted tissue—present in most solid tumors—scientists can easily “target” cancerous tissue with the microbes. Only one such treatment has so far received Food and Drug Administration approval (a therapy to treat bladder cancer), though others are in the pipeline. But even with the most effective of these techniques, tumors tend to come back and the bacteria themselves can be toxic. Enter Salmonella, a rod-shaped microbe notorious for causing most cases of food poisoning. In 2006, researchers at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea, were looking to create a new cancer-fighting agent. They were also searching for a vaccine for the bacterium Vibrio vulnificus, which infects shellfish off the South Korean coast. As they worked with Vibrio, they noticed that a protein in its flagellum—a whiplike tail used for swimming—triggered a particularly strong response from immune cells. So they took a harmless version of Salmonella typhimurium and “weaponized” it, genetically modifying it to secrete the protein, known as FlaB. The team, led by biologists Jung-Joon Min and Joon Haeng Rhee, then set out to test the effects of the modified Salmonella on cancer. In one set of experiments, they injected it into 20 mice with human colon cancers. Three days later, the scientists discovered that although the mice had cleared the bacteria from their livers, lungs, and spleens, the tumorous tissue in their colons was crawling with Salmonella. After 120 days, tumors were undetectable in 11 of the 20 mice, which remained healthy throughout the experiment. Control mice, infected with bacteria that did not secrete FlaB, eventually succumbed to their cancers. Next, the researchers transplanted metastasizing human colon cancer cells into a different set of mice. They treated eight with the FlaB-secreting Salmonella and six with a non-FlaB version. An additional seven mice went untreated. After 27 days, both the untreated mice and those with the non-FlaB version of S. typhimurium had dozens of metastases. But the eight mice that got the FlaB-secreting bacteria had just four secondary tumors in total, with several showing no evidence of metastasis, the researchers report today in Science Translational Medicine. The FlaB protein probably gets the credit for halting the spread of the cancer, Min and Rhee wrote in an e-mail. FlaB appears to be especially good at activating a secondary molecule, TLR5, that seems to make immune cells more aggressive, “changing them from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde,” the researchers wrote. For now, the team will continue to refine the technique with animal models. But sometime within the next few years, Min and Rhee plan to run clinical trials in humans to see whether FlaB-enhanced bacteria could work as a safe, effective anticancer therapy.

Kick starting 2017, Intel's Kaby Lake processors brought minor performance improvements to Skylake on what might as well be described as factory overclocking. Unfortunately, just about everything down to the IPC performance remained unchanged. It could be argued Intel's accompanying 200-series chipsets saw more notable upgrades than the CPUs themselves, but even those were essentially limited to a few extra PCIe lanes and support for Intel Optane Technology. Making the release more exciting, board partners including Gigabyte and Asrock launched alongside some drool-inducing motherboards. Since then, Asrock has sent half a dozen new Z270 motherboards our way, so we thought it was about time we looked at a few of them. Starting with the Z270 Extreme4 and then we'll check out the Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K6 which we previewed in our Kaby Lake review. Both boards feature similar layouts and designs, but we're betting there's more that separates them from Intel's standard spec as Z270 Extreme4 is priced at $150 and the Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K6 is $170 -- not the highest-end models but also not entry-level, so we're keen to see what's hiding under the hood. Asrock Z270 Extreme4 For a $150 motherboard sporting Intel's flagship chipset, the Z270 Extreme4 seems quite feature packed and it's certainly no eye-sore either. The black PCB has been branded with a large white X which obviously points to this being an 'extreme' series motherboard. The design is very cool and the X ties in with the chipset heatsink and I/O cover. Of course none of this is really important as it doesn't improve performance, stability or reliability, it just looks cool and most PC enthusiasts will appreciate that. Moving past the Extreme4's makeup, we find a rather substantial feature set. The sound hardware alone is comprised of Nichicon fine gold series audio caps, a 120dB SNR DAC with differential amplifier, a TI NE5532 headset amplifier for front panel audio supporting up to 600 Ohm headsets, isolated PCB shielding, individual PCB layers for the right and left audio channels, 15μ gold audio connectors and support for DTS connect, courtesy of Asrock's built-in Purity Sound 4 audio solution which takes advantage of the Realtek ALC1220 audio codec. The networking support is basic but not low quality. The board features a single Gigabit LAN port and it's connected to the Intel I219V chip for Wake-On-LAN, Lightning/ESD Protection (Asrock Full Spike Protection), Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az and PXE support. There are plenty of USB 3.0 ports onboard as well as a few USB 3.1 (10Gb/s) ports. Asrock has also included the ASMedia ASM1074 hub which provides an additional USB 3.0 header. The I/O panel includes a USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C port and I will talk more about the I/O panel connectivity shortly. Other unique features include a premium 45A power choke, memory alloy choke (Reduces 70% core loss compared to iron powder choke), Nichicon 12K black caps (100% Japan made high quality conductive polymer capacitors), Asrock Intel 4-Layer Memory POOL (Planes on Outer Layers) Technology, steel PCIe x16 slots and Asrock Full Spike Protection. The storage setup is also basic for a Z270 motherboard, though the Z270 Extreme4 still boasts half a dozen SATA 6GB/s ports and a pair of M.2 ports, Ultra M.2 ports in this case. The M.2 ports support type 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110 devices using either the SATA 6Gbps or PCI Express Gen3 x4 (32Gb/s) interfaces. Additionally, Asrock has included an ASMedia ASM1061 chip for an additional two SATA 6Gbps ports. Rounding out the features worthy of mention are 15μ gold contacts for the DIMM and PCIe slots, a pair of AMI UEFI BIOS chips with multilingual GUI support (1 x Main BIOS and 1 x Backup BIOS), along with the M.2 slot (Key E) supporting type 2230 Wi-Fi/BT modules. Around at the I/O panel we find a single PS/2 port support for either a legacy keyboard or mouse, four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 3.1 ports, VGA, DVI, HDMI, Gigabit LAN, five audio jacks and a S/PDIF port. Please note that the Type-C port only supports the USB 3.1 interface and not Thunderbolt 3. For Thunderbolt support users will need to purchase Asrock's Thunderbolt AIC card separately and only one card is supported. Asrock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K6 Having explored the 'Extreme' model, let's see what Asrock has whipped up for gamers with its Fatal1ty brand series. The Fatal1ty Z270 Professional Gaming i7 is the king of the hill for the LGA1151 socket but it's also upward of $200 so we felt the Gaming K6 version was better priced for comparison with the Extreme4. The gaming-oriented features include SoundBlaster's Cinema3 software and an extra Intel Gigabit LAN port, but beyond that we have what looks to be essentially the same motherboard with a different color scheme. Truth be told, even the audio solutions are virtually identical, the gaming model just adds support for Creative's software to provide greater control over your sound. The additional wired network connection is handled by the Intel I211AT chip while the Intel I219V is also being used again. Wi-Fi isn't included out of the box with this board either, but Asrock did add an M.2 Socket (Key E) supporting a type 2230 Wi-Fi/BT module. Gamers thinking about buying this board have to ask themselves if having an extra Gigabit network connection and Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 3 support is worth an additional $20. BIOS & Overclocking Upon entering the BIOS, the EZ Mode loads first and presents basic information and options such as the processor type and frequency, memory related information and system vitals such as operating temps, voltages and fan speeds. Both the Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K6 and Z270 Extreme4 look virtually identical at this point and it isn't until users hit F6 for the advanced mode that things start to look a little different. Although the advanced menus and options are the same for both boards the Gaming K6 has been branded with a Fatal1ty themed BIOS while the Extreme4 is less red and more blue. In either case most of the fun will be had in the OC Tweaker menu though they are some useful things in the Advanced and Tool menus as well. Here's a look at some of the menus and options found within the Asrock UEFI BIOS... When it came time to overclock I jumped into the OC Tweaker menu, set the CPU ratio to "All Core" and then raised the CPU's clock multiplier from 42 to 49. After that I entered the Voltage Configuration sub menu and set the voltage mode to fixed and then applied 1.33 volts. After that it was simply a matter of saving the changes and rebooting the system. Now in Windows, we hit a 100% stable overclock of 4.9GHz on the quad-core Core i7-7700K processor and this same frequency was achieved by both of Asrock's Z270 motherboards. General Performance Skylake System Specs Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0GHz - 4.2GHz) Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero EVGA Z170 FTW Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 MSI Z170A Gaming M7 Asrock Z170 Extreme7+ Supermicro C7Z170-SQ 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM GeForce GTX 1080 Samsung SSD 960 Pro 1TB Silverstone Essential Gold 750w Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Kaby Lake System Specs Intel Core i7-7700K (4.2GHz - 4.5GHz) Asrock Z270 Fatal1ty Gaming K6 Asrock Z270 Extreme4 32GB DDR4-3200 RAM GeForce GTX 1080 Samsung SSD 960 Pro 1TB Silverstone Essential Gold 750w Windows 10 Pro 64-bit There isn't much point in testing gaming performance or even application performance really as the motherboard doesn't impact anything here. That said, we ran the Excel benchmark and took a look at memory performance. The focus will be on the audio performance along with the boards latency. The Z270 boards were tested with slightly faster DDR4 memory giving them an edge over the older Z170 motherboards in the SiSoftware memory bandwidth test. The Core i7-7700K processor which was used to test the Z270 boards is also clocked slightly higher than the 6700K. Again the higher clocked 7700K is able to provide the Z270 motherboards with a performance advantage and both the Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K6 and Extreme4 allowed for the same completion time of three seconds. For the RightMark Audio Analyzer tests we connect the line out to the line in using a short six inch 3.5mm to 3.5mm high-quality jack, turn the OS speaker volume to 100%, and run the Rightmark default test suite at 192 kHz, 24-bit. The OS is tuned to 192 kHz/24-bit input and output, and the Line-In volume is adjusted until we have the best RMAA value in the mini-pretest. We look specifically at the Dynamic Range of the audio codec used on board, as well as the Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise. As you can see, the Creative solution found on the Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 provided by far the best result in the Dynamic Range test. The Realtek ALC1150 motherboards were fairly similar, though the MSI, Asrock and Asus boards did perform better than the Supermicro and EVGA boards. Asrock's ALC1220 provided decent results though given the supporting audio features list we were hoping for a bit more. When looking at the total harmonic distortion + noise we again find that the Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 is far superior to the other boards tested. That said the new Asrock Z270 boards did perform well here, matching the older Z170 Extreme7+. Deferred procedure call latency or DPC is a function within Windows that allows higher priority tasks such as device drivers to defer lower priority tasks for execution at later times. It's an interrupt and reassignment of sorts performed by the operating system. Users will find that DPC latency varies from brand to brand and even board to board, so while Asrock's Z170 Extreme7+ for example might have offered low latency, there's no guarantee this will be the case with the Z270 Extreme4. DPC issues show up in the form of audio dropouts and streaming video issues, so those using their system for encoding purposes for example will find it crucial to have a motherboard capable of maintaining a low interrupt to process latency. The good news is tools such as LatencyMon are freely available and easy to use for checking a systems latency. We ran LatencyMon for 20 minutes at which point the maximum result was recorded. As you can see the Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K6 and Z270 Extreme4 performed impressively here, both offering low latency. Great Value, Tons of Features Both new Asrock motherboards impressed us for a few good reasons. Out of the box, I thought there was no way they would be sub-$200 motherboards, but as it turns out they can both be had for well under that price with the Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K6 set at $170 and the Z270 Extreme4 at only $150. We were particularly impressed with their audio solutions, dual Ultra M.2 slots, USB 3.1 Type-C and Type-B, Intel LAN, Nichicon 12K black capacitors and reinforced PCIe slots which also improves EMI shielding. Given how similar the boards are overall, the Z270 Extreme4 is clearly the better bargain, but we wouldn't talk you out of buying the Fatal1ty model either. Each comes in a fairly complete package with all the M.2 screws you'll need including a third for the Wi-Fi adapter, should you purchase one separately. Both motherboards also ship with a high-bandwidth SLI bridge, so that's a huge bonus for those going SLI as this can cost north of $30 to purchase separately. Another big plus is Asrock's UEFI BIOS design, which in my opinion is one of the best out there. The BIOS is easy to navigate, looks great, and makes overclocking dead simple. Manually bumping our Core i7-7700K up to 4.9GHz was a two-step process and Asrock's overclocking presets also worked well. There's still a little room for improvement but nothing major. I'd much rather drop the dated VGA output in favor of a DisplayPort connector. Of course, these boards will likely only be used with a discrete graphics card, but DisplayPort makes more sense than VGA nonetheless. Overall, given the relatively low cost, Asrock has crammed these boards full of quality features. As mentioned earlier, the Z270 Extreme4 impressed us the most given its better value and I wouldn't expect there will be many other Z270 boards that are so well rounded at the $150 price point.

Bundling a free game or two with the purchase of a new graphics card is a marketing strategy hardware makers have used for years. In addition to giving prospective buyers an incentive to buy a specific card, it’s a great way for gamers to occasionally pick up a “free” title. That said, it’s perfectly reasonable for a buyer not to be all that interested in the bundled game, perhaps because they already own it or simply have no desire to play it. Rather than let the free game code go to waste, it’s not uncommon for users to give said code(s) away to friends or family members, trade them for a game they do want or sell them outright and use the proceeds to help offset the cost of the card they came with. As outlined in its revised code redemption FAQ, however, those options will no longer be viable for buyers of Nvidia GPUs. Nvidia notes that game coupon codes offered as part of a qualifying GPU or PC purchase are intended for use by the buyer only. To help ensure that’s the case, you’ll now only be able to redeem promotional game codes for keys through Nvidia’s GeForce Experience software. Furthermore, the GeForce Experience software will perform a hardware verification step to ensure the coupon code is redeemed only on a system using a qualifying GPU. It isn't linked directly to the card's serial number but it must be the same class of card. This more or less puts an end to being able to give, trade or sell a bundled game coupon code. Worse yet, Nvidia says that in most cases, a game code can only be redeemed against an account that does not already own said game. If you already own the free bundled game, you will not be granted a second copy and because you can’t easily give, trade or sell it, the promotion is effectively rendered useless. In speaking with Nvidia on the matter, Ars Technica has learned that although you will need a qualifying video card installed at the time of coupon code redemption, the game itself isn’t linked to the hardware. For example, if you redeem a code for a Steam key, the game will run just like any other Steam game on whatever hardware you choose. What’s more, you can uninstall Nvidia’s GeForce Experience app after redeeming the coupon code and even use a different graphics card. Nvidia is running the risk of ticking off a lot of gamers with a controversial requirement whose motive isn’t entirely clear. Is Nvidia simply trying to boost adoption of its GeForce Experience software? Is the company caving to pressure from publishers that are unhappy with game key resellers? Perhaps they’re trying to avoid a repeat of a recent Amazon loophole that let shoppers place an order for a GTX 1070, redeem the free Gears of War 4 coupon code then cancel the order and keep the game? What are your thoughts on the matter? Is Nvidia’s move justified or have they crossed the line? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

One-tenth of the world’s po[CENSORED]tion lacks clean water. Now, researchers report they have developed a cheap solar still, which uses sunlight to purify dirty water up to four times faster than a current commercial version. The raw materials cost less than $2 per square meter. The technology will “allow people to generate their own drinking water much like they generate their own power via solar panels on their house roof,” says Zhejun Liu, a visiting scholar at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Buffalo and one of the study’s co-authors. Solar stills have been around for millennia. Most are simple black-bottomed vessels filled with water, and topped with clear glass or plastic. Sunlight absorbed by the black material speeds evaporation, which is trapped by the clear topping, and funneled away for drinking water. Most pollutants don’t evaporate, and so are left behind. But much of the sun’s energy is wasted in the slow heating of a full vessel of water. Even the best stills need to be about 6 square meters in size to produce enough water for a single person for a day. In recent years, researchers have improved stills using two approaches. First, they design their stills so that only the very top layer of water in the vessel is heated and evaporated, which means less energy is lost. Second, they’ve turned to nanomaterials to absorb more of the sun’s rays. But efficient light-absorbing nanomaterials can cost hundreds of dollars per gram, making them unrealistic for widespread use in developing countries where the technology is needed most. Qiaoqiang Gan, an electrical engineer at SUNY Buffalo, saw that problem firsthand. His lab was already developing new nanomaterials as absorbers for solar power cells, and wanted to also use them in a solar still. But it quickly became apparent that the material’s cost would never allow the technology to be viable. So Gan began looking for cheap alternatives. His team’s new device has three main components. Gan and his colleagues start with a fiber-rich paper—sort of like the paper used to make currency. They coat this with carbon black, a cheap powder left over after the incomplete combustion of oil or tar. Next, they take a block of polystyrene foam—the stuff used to make coffee cups—and cut slices through it making 25 connected sections. The foam floats on the untreated water and acts as an insulating barrier to prevent sunlight from heating up too much of the water below. The researchers then layer pieces of their paper over each section, folding the ends down so that they dangle into the water. The paper wicks water upward, wetting the entire top surface of each of the 25 sections. Finally, a clear acrylic housing sits on top. During operation, evaporated water from the carbon paper is trapped by the acrylic and funneled to a collection vessel, and the paper wicks up additional water to replace it. Gan and his colleagues report this week in Global Challenges that the setup not only works, but that it’s 88% efficient at channeling the energy in sunlight into evaporating water. This allows a 1-square-meter-sized device to purify 1 liter of water per hour, which is about four times faster than commercially available versions, Gan says. Equally important Gan adds, is that the still is cheap. He estimates the materials needed to build it cost roughly $1.60 per square meter, compared with $200 per square meter for commercially available systems that rely on expensive lenses to concentrate the sun’s rays to speed evaporation. At that price, providing the minimal water needed for a family of four might cost as little as $5 for the raw materials per device. That cheap cost may not only help people in impoverished regions, but also help aid workers deploy cheap water purifiers to people affected by natural disasters that wipe out safe drinking water sources. “We think this is an immediate application,” Gan says. The new work is “good progress,” says Gang Chen, a mechanical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, who has developed his own version of the technology in recent years, which uses slightly different materials. The new setup not only uses cheaper starting materials than anything on the market, but makes freshwater much more quickly, he notes. “This is really important in solving many water challenges.” The authors of the report have formed a company—Suny Clean Water—to commercialize the work and are already in discussions with other companies around the world to make the new technology available.

Cloud-based storage is a po[CENSORED]r alternative to maintaining local data backups or as part of a multi-location / off-site strategy, especially if you’re dealing with mission-critical data that’s irreplaceable. Others, however, prefer to keep their data within arm’s reach on high-capacity hard drives. If you haven’t shopped around for hard drives in a while, you may be surprised at what’s out there. The largest 3.5-inch desktop hard drives currently available from Seagate, for example, offer a whopping 10TB of capacity for less than $500. In the event that 10TB isn’t quite enough storage and a multi-drive setup isn’t ideal, you’ll be happy to hear that Seagate over the next 18 months plans to ship 14TB and 16TB drives. A 12TB HDD based on helium technology is currently undergoing testing and according to CEO Stephen Luczo, initial feedback is positive. Most enthusiasts and even some PC manufacturers are now using solid state drives as their primary drive due to the fact that they’re much faster and more power-efficient. What’s more, because they have no moving parts, SSDs generate no noise and are much more durable. That said, there’s still a sizable market for mechanical-based hard drives as they’re much cheaper than their flash-based counterparts. As such, you’ll typically find them bundled with cheaper manufactured computers or used as storage-only drives in desktops. Luczo also noted that traditional hard drives are desirable in newer markets like surveillance where they can store large amounts of recorded data. Seagate isn’t just going after larger-capacity hard drives. As PCWorld notes, the company is also working to increase the minimum capacity of hard drives used in manufactured PCs to 1TB.

Dark, iron-rich hematite particles may have preserved protein fragments in this 195-million-year-old dinosaur rib, according to one of two independent studies of dinosaur proteins. It’s not quite Jurassic Park: No one has revived long-extinct dinosaurs. But two new studies suggest that it is possible to isolate protein fragments from dino­saurs much further back in time than ever thought possible. One study, led by Mary Schweitzer, a paleontologist from North Carolina State University in Raleigh who has chased dinosaur proteins for de­cades, confirms her highly controversial claim to have recovered 80-million-year-old dinosaur collagen. The other paper suggests that protein may even have sur­vived in a 195-million-year-old dino fossil. The Schweitzer paper is a “milestone,” says ancient protein expert Enrico Cap­pellini of the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark, who was skeptical of some of Schweitzer’s ear­lier work. “I’m fully convinced beyond a reasonable doubt the evidence is authen­tic.” He calls the second study “a long shot that is suggestive.” But together, Cappellini and others argue, the papers have the po­tential to transform dinosaur paleontology into a molecular science, much as analyz­ing ancient DNA has revolutionized the study of human evolution. Back in 2007 and 2009, Schweitzer re­ported in Science that she and her colleagues had isolated intact protein fragments from 65-million- and 80-million-year-old dino­saur fossils. But the claims were met with howls of skepticism from biochemists and paleontologists who saw no way that fragile organic mol­ecules could survive for tens of millions of years, and wondered whether her samples were contaminated with modern proteins. Then last year Cappellini and Matthew Col­lins, a paleoproteomics expert at the Uni­versity of York in the United Kingdom, and colleagues managed to identify protein fragments from 3.8-million-year-old ostrich egg shells, a claim that most of their colleagues found convincing. Now, the case for dramatically older proteins seems to be firming up, too. Last week in the Jour­nal of Proteome Research, Schweitzer, her postdoct Elena Schroeter, and colleagues report that they did a complete makeover of their 2009 experiment to rule out any possible contamination. They took new samples from the same 80-million-year-old fossil, of a duck-billed dinosaur called Brachylophosaurus canadensis. They reworked procedures for extracting would-be proteins from the bone, identi­fied protein fragments with a more sensi­tive mass spectrometer, and compared the recovered protein sequences to those from many more living animals. Schroeter even went so far as to break down the mass spectrometer piece by piece, soak the whole thing in methanol to remove any possible contaminants, and reassemble the machine. “About the only thing that is the same [as the 2009 experiments] is the di­nosaur,” Schweitzer says. In their 2009 paper Schweitzer’s team had identified three fragments of a protein called collagen 1 from their fossil. Collagen is the main protein in connective tissue and is abundant in bone. Each fragment contained about 15 amino acids strung to­gether, which the mass spectrometer was able to identify. In their current study, Schweitzer’s team identified eight protein fragments, two of which matched those identified originally. “If [both sets] are from contamination, that’s almost impos­sible,” Schweitzer says. The three protein fragments originally recovered most closely resembled the col­lagen found in living alligators and other reptiles. But the new data show that B. canadensis collagen was a better match to that of birds. That’s just what paleontologists, who consider birds to be descendants of extinct dinosaurs, would predict. Just how those collagen sequences sur­vived tens of millions of years is not clear. Schweitzer suggests that as red blood cells decay after an animal dies, iron liberated from their hemoglobin may react with nearby pro­teins, linking them together. This crosslink­ing, she says, causes proteins to precipitate out of solution, drying them out in a way that helps preserve them. That’s possible, Collins says. But he doesn’t think the pro­cess could arrest protein degradation for tens of millions of years, so he, for one, re­mains skeptical of Schweitzer’s claim. “Pro­teins decay in an orderly fashion. We can slow it down, but not by a lot,” Collins says. The second paper, published this week in Nature Communications, goes back even fur­ther in time but offers weaker evidence, Cap­pellini says. In this work, researchers led by paleontologist Robert Reisz at the University of Toronto in Canada reported finding what they believe is collagen in a 195-million-year-old fossil rib from a large plant-eating dino­saur called Lufengosaurus that lived in what is now southwestern China. Reisz says his team’s methods, called Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron radiation Fourier trans­form infrared microspectroscopy (SR-FTIR), can probe the chemical makeup of a sample without the need to purify it first, which low­ers the risk of contamination. The rib, he and his colleagues report, absorbed infrared light in wavelengths that match those of collagen from mod­ern animals. Schweitzer and Cappellini caution that while SR-FTIR is good at spotting the so-called amide chemical bonds that link suc­cessive amino acids in proteins, it can’t pin down exactly which protein is present, or the protein's sequence. Thus it isn't useful for evolutionary studies. This method also can’t rule out that the amide bonds are in other compounds, such as the epoxy used to assemble microscope slides. “Synchrotron data is very powerful, but it’s limited,” Schweitzer says. “I would like to have seen confirmatory evidence,” such as exposing the fossilized material to an antibody that binds solely to collagen to see whether it targeted the fossilized material. Reisz agrees “that certainly would be the next step.” But he’ll have to team up with other specialists to carry that out. Still, his work, too, suggests that colla­gen fragments can survive for astonishing periods of time. Meanwhile, Schweitzer’s team is going beyond collagen. In a 2015 paper in Analytical Chemistry, her group reported isolating fragments of eight other proteins from fossils of dinosaurs and extinct birds, including hemoglobin in blood, the cytoskeletal protein actin, and histones that help pack­age DNA. Comparing those se­quences from many different species could reveal evolution’s handiwork over geological time, much as studies of an­cient DNA do today. Her team won’t be the only ones exploring these methods. Now that it seems that very an­cient protein fragments can, in fact, be isolated and examined, it’s a safe bet that many new collaborations will soon take shape to pin down the evolu­tionary relationships among different dinosaurs, as well as among ancient mammals and other extinct creatures. Says Schweitzer: “The door is now open.”

Google will soon begin blocking Javascript attachments in Gmail in an effort to protect users form malicious attacks. The ban will take effect beginning February 13 and expands upon the service’s existing list of restricted file attachments, which also includes .exe, .msc and .bat archives. Similar to how it handles other restricted attachments, if you try to attach a .js file to an email on or after the 13th, you'll get a notification that says it's blocked "because its content presents a potential security issue." The service will detect .js files even if they're sent in compressed form as a .zip, for example. If you still need to send .js files for legitimate reasons, Google suggests you use Google Drive, Google Cloud Storage, or other storage solutions to share or send your files JavaScript is a common language used when developing web applications, and while .js files are not inherently bad, you shouldn’t open them if sent from an unknown source since hackers can use them to gain access to a user’s PC and install downloaders for a ransomware or other types of malware. It’s unclear Google will also show a warning when users receive emails with JS files attached.

Many of us have long since retired the optical drives in our computers, opting instead to get our media fix via streaming sources like Netflix and Hulu. There are some holdouts, however, that still prefer physical media and it’s this demographic that Pioneer is targeting with its upcoming Ultra HD Blu-ray drives (models BDR-S11J-BK and the BDR-S11J-X). Both drives are of the 5.25-inch variety which should present no issues slotting into your desktop rig, assuming of course that you’re using a case that has 5.25-inch expansion ports (they’re increasingly less common these days). Pioneer notes that you’ll need to be running an Intel 7th generation Core i5 or i7 Kaby Lake CPU and Windows 10. Naturally, you’ll also want a 4K-capable monitor (HDR support is recommended) that supports HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2. The latter is provided by Kaby Lake CPUs, but the CPU requirement may also be part of two other prerequisites: 10-bit 4K HEVC codec support and specialized DRM, not much different to streaming Netflix in 4K on the PC platform. The new drives also come with a copy of CyberLink’s PowerDVD media player which, according to CyberLink, marks a world's first achievement for PowerDVD as the only Ultra HD Blu-ray playback software available for Windows PCs with compatible hardware. Buyers will also receive a boatload of other CyberLink software including PowerDirector 14, PowerProducer 5.5, Power 2 Go 8, InstantBurn5, PowerBackup 2.5, MediaShow 6, Label Print 2.5, PhotoDirector 5 LE and a trial version of Media Espresso 6.5. Pioneer says both drives will be released in late February although that may be limited to Japan initially. No word yet on pricing. Retail versions of PowerDVD with Ultra HD Blu-ray support will be available for purchase in the near future, we’re told.

Last October, Harvard University physicist Isaac Silvera invited a few colleagues to stop by his lab to glimpse something that may not exist anywhere else in the universe. Word got around, and the next morning there was a line. Throughout the day, hundreds filed in to peer through a benchtop microscope at a reddish silver dot trapped between two diamond tips. Silvera finally closed shop at 6 p.m. to go home. "It took weeks for the excitement to die down," Silvera says. That excitement swirled because by squeezing hydrogen to pressures well beyond those in the center of Earth, Silvera and his postdoc Ranga Dias had seen a hint that it had morphed into a solid metal, capable of conducting electricity. "If it's true it would be fantastic," says Reinhard Boehler, a physicist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. "This is something we as a community have been pushing to see for decades." The feat, reported online this week in Science, is more than an oddity. Solid metallic hydrogen is thought to be a superconductor, able to conduct electricity without resistance. It may even be metastable, meaning that like diamond, also formed at high pressures, the metallic hydrogen would maintain its state—and even its superconductivity—once brought back to room temperatures and pressures. Still, claims of solid metallic hydrogen have come and gone before, and some experts want more proof. "From our point of view it's not convincing," says Mikhail Eremets, who is pursuing solid metallic hydrogen at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany. Others in the contentious field are downright hostile to the result. "The word garbage cannot really describe it," says Eugene Gregoryanz, a high-pressure physicist at the University of Edinburgh, who objects to several of the experiment's procedures. The dispute arises because high-pressure hydrogen experiments are hard to pull off, and even harder to interpret. First, scientists place a thin metal gasket between two flat-tipped diamonds. The gasket holds the hydrogen in place between the tips as the diamonds are cranked together. The intense pressure can force hydrogen into defects on the surface of the diamonds, causing them to become brittle and crack. So researchers have learned to apply transparent protective coatings to their diamonds. But the additional material makes it tricky to interpret laser measurements of what's going on in the center. Furthermore, past pressures of about 400 gigapascals (GPa)—about 4 million times atmospheric pressure—the hydrogen turns black, preventing laser light from getting in. Scientists have already made liquid metal hydrogen—the substance thought to form the interior of giant planets like Jupiter—by ramping up pressure at higher temperatures. Silvera wanted to work at low temperatures and transform hydrogen into something still more exotic: solid metal. At cryogenic temperatures, hydrogen is a liquid. As the pressure rises, the liquid quickly becomes a nonmetallic solid (see diagram, left). In 1935, Princeton University physicists Eugene Wigner and Hillard Bell Huntington predicted that beyond 25 GPa, the nonconductive solid hydrogen would become metallic. But experimentalists passed that threshold decades ago with no sign of a solid metal. Silvera and Dias claim they've pushed their cell into an unexplored realm of low temperature and extreme pressure, succeeding in part because they avoided continuous high-intensity laser monitoring that they say can also cause an anvil's diamonds to fail. Eventually, as they neared 500 GPa, the black sample became shiny and reddish. A low-intensity infrared laser—one that wouldn't risk stressing the diamonds—revealed a strong spike in the sample's reflectance, as expected from a metal. Only then did the Harvard pair use a different laser, in a procedure called Raman spectroscopy, to verify the peak pressure in the diamond cell. Silvera and Dias concede that their reddish silver speck could be a liquid rather than a solid, and they have not dared to release it from their diamond-tipped vise. But they are confident it is a metal—a "very convincing" claim, says Neil Ashcroft, a Cornell University physicist who predicted the superconductive state of hydrogen nearly 50 years ago. Eremets and others say they need more proof that the team has created a solid metal or even a metal at all. "We see only one experiment. It should be reproduced," Eremets says. He also wonders whether the team actually reached the claimed 495 GPa, because that is usually determined through continuous Raman laser monitoring. Except for the final 495-GPa Raman measurement, Silvera and Dias were forced to estimate pressures from the number of turns of the screws on their anvils. Raymond Jeanloz, a high-pressure physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, also wants to be sure the trapped speck is pure hydrogen, because the gasket or the diamond coating could have broken down and reacted at high pressures. "It has fooled people in the past," he says. But Silvera remains steadfast. A comparison of reflectance measurements from the center of the hydrogen dot and the surrounding gasket at 495 GPa suggests the hydrogen in the sample is pure, he says. As for the pressure measurement, Silvera insists he and Dias have studied it closely and verified their calibration. Silvera says they have just one experiment to report because they wanted to announce their result before running further tests that could break their vise. Soon, he says, they plan to run additional Raman laser tests that should reveal whether the sample has the regular atomic lattice expected of a solid metal. Eventually they will unscrew the vice and see whether the metal is metastable. Then, they will begin the experiment again. Claiming total victory in the "hydrogen wars," as Jeanloz calls them, will require another round or two of evidence.

The success of Microsoft’s Surface Hub has seen another company jump on the digital whiteboard bandwagon. First, Google unveiled the cheaper Jamboard; now, Cisco has announced its take on giant tablet-style collaborative devices: the Cisco Spark Board. As with its rival boards, Cisco’s entry is designed to work best with its own software. In this case, it’s the company’s cloud-based collaborative service, Spark. Other common factors the Spark Board has with its competitors are the 55-inch touchscreen (there’s also a 70-inch version), 4K resolution and camera, speakers, and digital pen. When not using your fingers (it even has pinch-to-zoom) or the stylus, Cisco’s device can be controlled with a smartphone, tablet, or computer. And thanks to Apple’s partnership with Cisco, iPhone users get extra benefits, such as the ability to drag and drop Spark calls onto the board. Like the other two digital whiteboards, the Spark Board lets teams from different locations collaborate on projects using their huge displays. Users can share files and drawings while utilizing the board’s video conferencing features, which includes 12 microphones and VoiceTrack technology. Using ultrasound wireless pairing technology means anyone who walks into a room will have their Spark app automatically paired with the board, no Bluetooth required. There's also a strong focus on security, as everything gets encrypted before being sent to the cloud. The Cisco Spark Board, which is powered by a pair of Nvidia Jetson TX1 chips, costs $5000 for the 55-inch model, making it cheaper the Microsoft’s same sized $9000 Surface Hub and Google’s $6000 Jamboard. The 70-inch Spark will be priced at $9900 when it’s released before the end of the year. One caveat is that customers will have to subscribe to Cisco’s $199 per month Spark Flex software plan if they want to access the board’s full range of features.

Quantum computing company D-Wave Systems said last September that it would soon be shipping a quantum computer packing 2,000 qubits – twice the number of qubits found in the D-Wave 2X launched in August 2015. Keeping its promise, D-Wave has announced the general commercial availability of the D-Wave 2000Q, a quantum computer sporting a whopping 2,000 qubits. Valued at $15 million, the first 2000Q has been acquired by Temporal Defense Systems Inc. (TDS), a leading cyber security firm. D-Wave said in a press release that with the added qubits and new control features, the 2000Q can solve larger problems than was previously possible. Plus, with faster performance, the new quantum computer provides a big step toward production applications in optimization, cyber security, machine learning and sampling. Using benchmark problems that are both challenging and relevant to real-world applications, D-Wave said the 2000Q outperformed highly specialized algorithms run on state-of-the-art classical servers by factors of 1,000 to 10,000 times. James Burrell, TDS Chief Technology Officer and former FBI Deputy Assistant Director, said the D-Wave system will revolutionize secure communications, protect against insider threats and assist in the identification of cyber adversaries and attack patterns. D-Wave International President Bo Ewald added that entirely new strategies are needed to combat ever-increasing cyber security threat levels.

Debate swirls about a striking regularity in the motions of spiral galaxies like the Fireworks galaxy. A long-smoldering feud over the existence of mysterious dark matter is heating up. For decades, a few scientists have argued that dark matter—the stuff thought to make up 85% of the matter in the universe—cannot explain a universal pattern in the motions of spiral galaxies such as our own Milky Way. Instead, they propose modifying Newton’s law of motion. Now, a leading theorist argues that dark matter can explain this pattern after all, potentially knocking the pegs out from under the rival theory, modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). “This is the most compelling paper I’ve seen in the context of dark matter of why there might be this kind of relation,” says James Bullock, a cosmologist at the University of California (UC), Irvine. The new paper attempts to rebut a refined case for MOND recently put forward by Stacy McGaugh, an astronomer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. But McGaugh, a leading advocate of the MOND interpretation, says theorists “have a long way to go to convince me that they’re seriously addressing the problem, let alone solving it.” In the 1960s, astronomers including the late Vera Rubin first traced the stars circulating in spiral galaxies. They expected the stars’ speeds to slow with increasing distance from a galaxy’s heart, just as Pluto orbits the sun more slowly than Earth. Instead, the speed of the outer stars remained high, suggesting that some unseen dark matter was providing the extra gravitational force needed to keep them from flying into space. The standard model of cosmology now assumes that a galaxy forms within a vast cloud or halo of dark matter. But dark matter has never been directly detected, and in 1983 Mordehai Milgrom, a physicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, proposed instead tweaking Newton’s famous second law of motion, which says an object accelerates in proportion to the force on it. As a star circles a galaxy, the force of gravity accelerates it toward the center. Milgrom speculated that at accelerations below a low threshold, as in a galaxy’s periphery, Newton’s law changes to yield a bigger acceleration for the same force. That would enable the outer stars to circulate faster without dark matter and its extra gravity. Many researchers dismiss MOND as ad hoc, but McGaugh has long argued that there is more to it. In November 2016 in Physical Review Letters, he and two colleagues analyzed 153 spiral galaxies and demonstrated a surprising universal trend. They found that in the galaxies, the stars’ speeds, and hence their inward accelerations, could be predicted from the distribution of stars and gas alone. That’s hard to explain with dark matter, McGaugh says, as ordinary and dark matter ought to be distributed independently. But it fits the idea that the pull of the ordinary matter—applied through MOND’s weird rule—is the only force at work. The tight relationship “just screams MOND,” he says. However, Julio Navarro, a theorist at the University of Victoria in Canada, and colleagues say that McGaugh’s finding actually is consistent with dark matter. They note that because dark matter halos are thought to be tenuous, they alone cannot provide enough gravity to explain the motions of stars above the MOND threshold. So wherever the stars’ acceleration exceeds that level, it necessarily comes mostly from the visible matter. That explains half of McGaugh’s relation, the researchers report in a paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. In smaller galaxies, at the low speeds and accelerations where MOND supposedly kicks in, the gravitational pull of dark matter should dominate. So one might think that the stars’ motions would be uncorrelated with ordinary matter. However, Navarro argues, models of galactic evolution show that the size of a dark matter halo correlates with that of the galaxy that forms within it. That regularity makes the total gravitational pull predictable from just the ordinary matter, he says. Even those who find the argument persuasive say it doesn’t quite clinch the case. Navarro and colleagues plot data from four simulated galaxies, and they fall close to McGaugh’s universal curve, but not exactly on it, Bullock says. “We’re not there yet.” Others predict the discrepancies will narrow as simulations of the tricky interactions between dark and ordinary matter improve. Scientists already know that MOND cannot explain other phenomena that dark matter can, such as the patterns seen in the cosmic microwave background or the clustering of galaxies. So if MOND isn’t needed to explain spiral galaxies, the idea may finally fade away, says Joel Primack, a cosmologist at UC Santa Cruz: “This is its only success.” Primack doesn’t expect McGaugh to give up the fight. Still, he says that McGaugh is often unfairly portrayed as a true believer in MOND when he is really a skeptic. “I think Stacy sees himself as the loyal opposition,” he says. “It’s his obligation to raise issues, and this is his favorite.

Microsoft may have stopped using bullying tactics to get people upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10, but the company is still encouraging everyone to make the move. A new post from Microsoft Germany warns that the older OS is no longer “fit” to be used in businesses, mainly due to its “long-outdated security architectures.” Markus Nitschke, Head of Windows at Microsoft Germany, wrote: “Today, [Windows 7] does not meet the requirements of modern technology, nor the high security requirements of IT departments.” Nitschke suggested that Windows 7 users “transition to a modern operating system in time.” The Register notes that this is a reference to when Microsoft will no longer support the OS – January 14, 2020 – at which time there will be no more security updates or technical support. The posts states that corporate customers who don’t make the transition within the next three years face enormous dangers. There are also warnings over Windows 7’s “higher operating costs" resulting from security issues that Windows 10 could deal with, as well as its reliability and compatibility problems. The Redmond firm may want to push everyone onto Windows 10, but Windows 7 remains the world’s most po[CENSORED]r desktop/laptop operating system, holding a 48.34 percent share of the market. It’s especially po[CENSORED]r withing the enterprise sector, which could be why the post specifically targets businesses. Windows 10 was released on July 29, 2015. Six months later, it moved ahead of Windows XP and Windows 8.1 to become the second most-used OS. It now has a 24.36 percent market share, which is almost half of what Windows 7 boasts.

There's no arguing that the Raspberry Pi has become a massive worldwide success, resulting in a series of similar single-board computer rivals. The latest is a device from Asus called the Tinker Board, which the company says has the Pi beat when it comes to power and features. Asus’ offering looks remarkably similar to the Raspberry Pi. The layout, particularly the location of the USB, HDMI, and Ethernet ports, is almost identical to its cheaper competitor, but there are some notable differences. Compared to the Raspberry Pi 3, the Tinker board boasts double the RAM (2 GB of LPDDR3 dual channel, compared to 1 GB LPDDR2), the latest generation of SDIO, and Gigabit Ethernet. The most interesting difference is with the processor. While the Tinker Board’s Rockchip RK3288 quad-core ARM Cortex-A17 is 32-bit - unlike the Pi 3's 64-bit Cortex-A53 chip - the 1.8Ghz clock speed is faster than the Pi’s 1.2Ghz . The extra horsepower means the Tinker Board supports 4K video and 192kHz/24-bit audio, making it a perfect choice for projects where the Pi 3’s capabilities don’t suffice. Speaking about why it decided to take on the Pi, Asus said: "Raspberry Pi has been in the market for so long, we're here to expand users' choices with more options. And this board has 4K support, higher SoC performance, faster Ethernet transmission, and flexibility for the memory size." On sale for £55 – around $68 – the Tinker is the more expensive board. And while it does come with more powerful components, whether it can truly challenge the Pi, which has sold over 10 million units, remains to be seen.

Barcelona, Spain, officials feel they deserve to host EMA because the city narrowly lost out when London was selected. When a relationship ends, there are usually just two people to fight over who gets what. Not so with Brexit. The United Kingdom hasn’t even triggered the negotiations to end its membership of the European Union, but already half a dozen countries are jockeying to host the European Medicines Agency (EMA), currently located in London. This week, the Dutch government became the latest to announce it wants to host the influential regulatory agency once Brexit is a done deal. In a Q&A posted with the announcement (Dutch), the government noted that Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, and Malta have all said they will seek to host EMA. But Spain, Denmark, Germany, and Finland have unofficially expressed an interest as well. Other countries, like France, may still come forward. Set up in 1995, EMA employs about 900 people, making it one of the biggest EU agencies; it has a €300 million annual budget and draws some 65,000 visitors to more than 500 international meetings every year. The decision on where to move EMA will be made by the European Council, comprised of the leaders of the remaining 27 member states, after what is expected to be extensive political negotiations. An EMA spokesperson says the agency has made a list of things the new location should have. It includes good transport links, a large enough building, and hotel capacity nearby. "For our staff we need sufficient housing, access to international/European schools, employment opportunities for spouses/partners in a safe location," the spokesperson adds. Observers say it is far too early to consider which country best meets those demands. But moving the agency will be a “Herculean task” requiring lots of planning, says Martin Munte, president of the Austrian Pharmaceutical Industry Association in Vienna, so an early decision could help to keep disruptions to a minimum. "I know for a fact that the agency will lose half its collaborators when it moves,” says pharmacologist Adam Cohen, who heads the Centre for Human Drug Research in Leiden, the Netherlands. “You have to rebuild it completely, wherever it moves." Many of the candidates believe it's never too soon to start lobbying. Milan, Italy, Mayor Giuseppe Sala traveled to London in July 2016, weeks after the Brexit vote, to make a pitch. Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said the same month that the Spanish government would "fight for Barcelona as the seat of EMA." Several governments have set up working groups to strengthen their bids. All have their arguments lined up. Barcelona feels it deserves the agency because it came in second when London was chosen. Eastern European countries can point to the dearth of EU agencies in their region. German pharmaceutical associations say Bonn is perfect because it's already the home of the Federal Institute of Drugs and Medical Devices, which is larger than EMA. The Dutch government says its central location and excellent connections at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport make it an ideal hub; it also suggests that the Netherlands deserves EMA as "compensation" because the country's economy will be harder hit by Brexit than most. How much any of these arguments will matter is anyone’s guess. And then of course there is still the faintest of hopes, shared by many scientists, that the move won't be necessary because the relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom can be rekindled. “If Brexit didn’t happen, that would be the best thing,” Cohen says. “But assuming the world intends to do something this stupid, then you have to move the EMA.”

(EA_Andy edit - Before attempting the below please keep in mind that making the wrong changes in the registry could damage your Windows installation. You should only attempt this if you're having exactly the same issue and are confident in making registry changes.) I had the same problem. Talked to an EA Advisor and with his help, thank God, its fixed now. Try doing the following: 1. Delete everything except for LocalContent in C:\ProgramData\Origin. 2. Delete everything in C:\Users\[Your_User_Name]\AppData\Local\Origin and C:\Users\[Your_User_Name]\AppData\Roaming\Origin. 3. Windows Key+R will open the Run window. type "regedit", go to HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers. Create DWORD Value, name it: TdrDelay Modify it to decimal and give the value 15. Restart PC Hope it works for you too.

Nintendo revealed at E3 2016 that the next entry in the storied Legend of Zelda franchise wouldn’t be a Wii U exclusive as was originally announced. Instead, Breath of the Wild would also be released on Nintendo’s upcoming gaming system (what eventually became known as the Switch). Now, courtesy of a recent exchange between IGN and Nintendo, we’ve got a bit more information on the matter which may be alarming to some. The “key facts” that Nintendo shared about the game – that are relevant to this story, at least – are that it’ll run at 30 frames per second on both the Wii U and the Switch. Here’s where it gets interesting: on a television, the Switch version will render at 900p while the Wii U will be limited to 720p. The new system will also afford higher-quality environmental audio so things like footsteps, water, grass and so on will seem more realistic and thus, enhance the game’s open-air feel compared to the Wii U. While the Switch’s built-in LCD screen operates at up to 720p, Nintendo has said that the Switch can support resolutions of up to 1080p when docked and connected to an HD-capable display. This, as The Verge suggests, seems to indicate that the Switch simply isn’t powerful enough to drive a 1080p experience. Nintendo traditionally isn’t known for focusing on the sheer power of its hardware, instead opting to invest in the content and storytelling aspects of its games. Based on what we’ve seen of Zelda so far, it’s safe to say that it’s not a jaw-dropping graphical masterpiece. We also have to consider the fact that this is one of the first games being developed for a brand new system. It’s not uncommon to take years for developers to really learn the hardware and be able to maximize its potential. Then again, the fact that a launch title based on one of Nintendo’s most po[CENSORED]r franchises can seemingly only muster 1080p30 at a time when the competition already has 4K-capable hardware on the market is hard to overlook. One could argue that the game may be limited on the Switch for the simple fact that it was originally developed for the Wii U and thus, not optimized to take full advantage of the new hardware. While on the subject, Nintendo also revealed that some onscreen buttons will differ between the Wii U and Switch versions but otherwise, they’ll both offer the same content. Furthermore, the physical copy of the Wii U version will require 3GB of local storage either on the system itself or via an external drive. And last but not least, the Special Edition and Master Edition bundles will be limited to the Switch only.

Effortlessly boost performance and efficiency. Experience Radeon Software with industry-leading user satisfaction, rigorously-tested stability, comprehensive certification, and more. Create, capture, and share your remarkable moments. Effortlessly boost performance and efficiency. Experience Radeon Software with industry-leading user satisfaction, rigorously-tested stability, comprehensive certification, and more. Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.1.1 Highlights: Support For Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Fixed Issues Dishonored2 may experience an application crash or hang on some Radeon R9 380 configurations. Radeon ReLive may show an improper warning popup message when using Windows®7 basic themes. AMD XConnect Technology configurations may experience a blue screen system hang when audio drivers load. Solidworks will no longer terminate on unplug using AMD XConnect Technology configurations. Some system configurations may experience a black screen after installing Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Editions 16.12.1 and later. Display corruption or TDR may be experienced after applications wake up from a display timeout. Paragon may experience flickering in Multi GPU with DirectX®11. Radeon ReLive may crash or become unresponsive when toggling Multi GPU with Desktop Recording and/or Instant Replay enabled. Known Issues A small amount of apps may still experience issues with Borderless Fullscreen mode and AMD FreeSync technology if other applications or game launchers are running on the primary screen in the background. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and World of Warcraft may experience flickering or performance issues the first time the game is launched on a system boot with AMD FreeSync technology enabled. Workarounds include exiting and restarting the application or task switching (alt+tab) in and out of the game to fix the issue. Shadow Warrior 2 may experience an application hang when launched with Multi GPU enabled. Radeon RX 400 series products may experience scaling issues for some applications when using the display scaling feature. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided may experience an application hang when running in Multi GPU with DirectX®12 and performing a task switch. AMD Multi GPU configurations may experience a system hang or reboot during install when using tiled MST 4K or 5K displays. Mouse cursor corruption may be intermittently experienced on Radeon RX 480. Known Issues for Radeon ReLive The XBOX DVR application may cause conflicts with Radeon ReLive, users are suggested to disable XBOX DVR if Radeon ReLive is experiencing issues. Radeon ReLive may fail to install on AMD APU Family products or experience a system hang or failure to record when using the recording feature on AMD APU Family products. Radeon ReLive may stop working after hot unplugging of a secondary display. Battlefield1 may experience UI flickering and/or performance drops when recording gameplay with Radeon ReLive on graphics products with 4GB or less of VRAM. Radeon ReLive recordings or overlay may experience flicker when creating a single recording for many hours. Radeon ReLive may experience minor graphical corruption for the first few recorded frames when launching UWP applications. Radeon ReLive will not allow recording settings to change with Instant Replay enabled. A workaround is to disable Instant Replay and change settings then enable Instant Replay. Vulkan applications may experience a game hang when using Radeon ReLive to record. Radeon ReLive will not notify an end user of low disk space during recording. Radeon Product Compatibility Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition is compatible with the following AMD Radeon products. Note that AMD Radeon R9 Fury, Radeon Pro Duo, and Radeon RX 400 Series graphics are only supported by Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition on Windows 7/8.1/10 64-bit. Radeon Desktop Product Family Compatibility AMD Radeon RX 400 Series Graphics AMD Radeon R7 300 Series Graphics AMD Radeon Pro Duo AMD Radeon R7 200 Series Graphics AMD Radeon R9 Fury Series Graphics AMD Radeon R5 300 Series Graphics AMD Radeon R9 Nano Series Graphics AMD Radeon R5 200 Series Graphics AMD Radeon R9 300 Series Graphics AMD Radeon HD 8500 - HD 8900 Series Graphics AMD Radeon R9 200 Series Graphics AMD Radeon HD 7700 - HD 7900 Series Graphics Mobility Radeon Family Compatibility Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 16.12.1 is a notebook reference graphics driver with limited support for system vendor specific features. Radeon Mobility Product Family Compatibility AMD Radeon R9 M300 Series Graphics AMD Radeon R7 M200 Series Graphics AMD Radeon R7 M300 Series Graphics AMD Radeon R5 M200 Series Graphics AMD Radeon R5 M300 Series Graphics AMD Radeon HD 8500M - HD 8900M Series Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M200 Series Graphics AMD Radeon HD 7700M - HD 7900M Series Graphics AMD APU Product Family Compatibility AMD APU products codenamed "Kaveri", "Godavari" and "Carrizo" are only supported by AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition on Windows 7 (32 & 64-bit), Windows 8.1 (64-bit) and Windows 10 (64-bit). AMD’s 7th Generation APU products Radeon Graphics are only supported by AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition on Windows 7 (32 & 64-bit) and Windows 10 (64-bit). AMD APU Product Family Compatibility AMD A-Series APUs with Radeon R4, R5, R6, or R7 Graphics AMD A-Series APUs with Radeon R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, or R8 Graphics AMD Pro A-Series APUs with Radeon R5 or R7 Graphics AMD Pro A-Series APUs with Radeon R5, R6, or R7 Graphics AMD Athlon Series APUs with Radeon R3 Graphics AMD FX-Series APUs with Radeon R7 Graphics AMD Sempron Series APUs with Radeon R3 Graphics AMD E-Series APUs with Radeon R2 Graphics AMD Radeon HD 8180 - HD 8400 Series Graphics Compatible Operating Systems: Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms. Operating System support may vary depending on your specific AMD Radeon product. Windows 10 (32 & 64-bit version) Windows 8.1 (32 & 64-bit version) Windows 7 (32 & 64-bit version with SP1 or higher) Disclaimer: Compatible with desktop discrete AMD Radeon GCN and Radeon RX 400 Series enabled products with at least 2GB of VRAM, AMD VCE Support and Windows 7/8.1/10 64 bit operating systems. Radeon ReLive is currently considered "as-is" beta level support for 32 bit operating systems. Compatible with AMD Radeon GCN and Radeon RX 400 series enabled products in specified AMD supported titles and applications with Windows 7/8.1/10. Power saving and temperature reduction results may vary based on system configurations. Compatible with desktop discrete GPU AMD RadeonR9 Fury series, R9 390 series, R9 380 series, R9 290 series, R9 285, R9 260 series, R7 360, and R7 260 products with Windows 7/8.1/10. Compatible with AMD Radeon GCN and Radeon RX 400 Series enabled products with Windows 7/8.1/10. Compatible with AMD Radeon GCN and Radeon RX 400 Series enabled products with Windows7/8.1/10. Compatible with AMD Radeon R9 285, 290, 290X, 380, 390, 390X, R7 260, 260X, 360, R9 Fury series, and Radeon RX 400 series products with Windows 7/8.1/10. Requires an AMD FreeSync technology certified capable display and AMD graphics product. Compatible with AMD Radeon R9 285, 290, 290X, 380, 390, 390X, R7 260, 260X, 360, R9 Fury series, and Radeon RX 400 series products with Windows 7/8.1/10. Feature is not available worldwide and may not be available in your country or area. Compatible with desktop AMD Radeon R9 Fury series, R9 380, R9 390 series, and Radeon RX 400 series products with Windows 7/8.1/10. Requires an HDR capable display and game content. Requires supported Chrome web browser versions with Hardware Acceleration enabled. Compatible with AMD Radeon GCN and Radeon RX 400 series enabled products on Windows 7/8.1/10. Compatible with AMD Bristol, Carrizo and Stoney AMD Family APUs with Windows 7/8.1/10 and supported Skype application. Package Contents The Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.1.1 installation package contains the following: Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.1.1 Driver Version 16.50.2611 Note: This driver is not intended for use on AMD Radeon products running in Apple Boot Camp platforms. Users of these platforms should contact their system manufacturer for driver support. When installing Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.1.1 for the Windows operating system, the user must be logged on as Administrator, or have Administrator rights to complete the installation of Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.1.1. Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.1.1 requires Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to be installed.

It's not clear exactly when AMD will be launching their next-generation Vega graphics cards, but the company is already looking to discount their previous products before they become superseded. The first card to hit the discount pile is the Radeon Pro Duo, a monster dual-GPU graphics card designed primarily for compute workloads. This card is essentially the equivalent of two Fiji-based Radeon R9 Fury Xs in CrossFire, with 4 GB of HBM per GPU. While CrossFire isn't supported in every game and doesn't always offer 100% scaling, more than 16 TFLOPs of performance is perfect for compute and workstation use. The Radeon Pro Duo is currently available for $799, down from its launch price of $1,500, which is a pretty significant discount. At its new price, the Radeon Pro Duo is roughly as expensive as two Fury Xs, although you get the added benefit of a single-card solution rather than two cards in CrossFire. It may be difficult to find a Pro Duo in stock at this new, discounted price point. The card is already out of stock on Newegg, although you may be able to find one through other retailers. There's a small chance the card will come back in stock, although considering Vega's impending launch, this steep discount is almost certainly designed to clear stock set to be replaced by newer parts.