Wassim™

Mult mai cunoscutul GSM ne trimite către reţelele de telefonie mobilă fiind tehnologia de referinţă pentru majoritatea operatorilor din lume. Iniţial tehnologia viza strict transmisiile de voce, fiind destinată segmentului militar. Ulterior, odată cu transferulGSM-ului în zona comercială, tehnologia s-a imbunătăţit, oferind totodată servicii de Internet şi transfer de date la viteze tot mai mari. Accesul la o reţea GSM se face prin conectarea la o celulă GSM (de unde şi terminologia de ‘telefon celular’) pusă la dispoziţie de un operator, iar identitatea clientului se face pe baza unei cartele SIM. Evoluţia GSM este indicată prin generaţia tehnologică dezvoltată şi standardizată de instituţiile internaţionale. Fiecare generaţie nouă oferă servicii mai bune şi mai fiabile. La noi în ţară se foloseşte2G (a doua generaţie) iar mariile companii de telecomunicaţie au făcut deja primii paşi la trecerea către 3G prin achiziţionarea licenţelor respective. Serviciul de voce Serviciile de voce sunt disponibile în reţelele WiFi prin intermediul protocolului de comunicaţie VoIP. Acesta se foloseşte de conexiunea la Internet oferită de infrastructura wireless pentru a transmite datele de voce între clienţi. Acoperirea geografică este preocuparea majoră pentru telefonia WiFi, însă odată cu răspândirea tehnologiei wireless putem spera la mai mult decât la cele câteva hotspot-uri publice. Alte probleme cu care se confruntă echipamentele de telefonie WiFi sunt aceleaşi care subminează calitatea traficului în reţelele wireless: degradarea semnalului, interferenţele mediului şi securitatea. Momentan punctul forte al tehnologiei WiFi cu siguranţă nu îl constituie serviciile de telefonie, dezavantajele enumerate mai sus dar şi imposibilitatea apelării numerelor de urgenţă fac dintr-un telefon WiFi o simplă curiozitate. Tehnologia GSM are avantajul că a fost proiectată de la început pentru a oferi servicii de voce, noile generaţii GSM oferind îmbunătăţiri de calitate, securitate şi capacitate a sistemelor. Securitatea comunicaţiei precum şi avantajul unui suport bun din partea unui operator sunt punctele cheie ale telefoniei GSM. Cea mai spectaculoasă caracteristică a viitoarei generaţi 3G este video-telefonia care permitetransmisia simultană a datelor audio şi video. Acesta va constitui totodată un standard al viitorului telecomunicaţiilor. Transferul de date În functie de standardul folosit, lăţimea de bandă pentru o conexiune WiFi poate fi de la 11 Mbps (802.11b) până la 54 Mbps (802.11a/g). Desigur aceste viteze sunt afectate de distanţa dintre dispozitive, de interferenţe, de puterea semnalelor sau de overhead. În realitate nu vom putea reuşi viteze mai mari de 5-7 Mbps, iar dacă mai luăm in considerare concurenţa altor dipozitive pentru banda respectivă ne putem declara fericiţi cu o viteză de 1-2 Mbps. În cazul reţelelor GSM lăţimea de bandă depinde de generaţia tehnologică. Comparativ cu reţelele WiFi, nu vom vedea viteze de transfer de ordinul megabiţilor înainte de 3G, iar ordinul zecilor de megabiţi este rezervat pentru 4G. La capitolul transferului de date mai este nevoie de timp până când tehnologia GSM va constitui o soluţie viabilă pentru transferul de fişiere audio sau video de pe Internet. Internetul În prezent WAP-ul este cea mai po[CENSORED]ră aplicaţie destinată accesului la Internet de pe telefoanele mobile. Aplicaţia WAP este un browser simplificat şi permite vizualizarea paginilor WEB special scrise pentru platformele mobile. Majoritatea telefoanelor mobile GSM au incorporate câte un minibrowser adaptat telefonului respectiv. O alta modalitate de acces la Internet în reţelele GSM este prin GPRS. Acesta asigură conectarea permanentă la Internet prin intermediul reţelei mobile şi face posibilă navigarea pe Internet precum şi utilizarea unor servicii de email, tranzacţii bancare, transfer de fişiere sau messenger. Alt serviciu care devine posibil prin GPRS este Internet-sharing. Acesta permite accesul la Internet al PC-ului tău prin intermediul telefonului mobil. În ceea ce priveşte WiFi, însuşi nucleul tehnologiei are la bază conectarea la Internet, echipamentele wireless şi tipul lor fiind cele care pun la dispoziţie serviciile care ne interesează. Evoluţia celor două tehnologii nu pare a fi paralelă şi este de asteptat ca la un moment cele două să se intersecteze. Standardul 4G se preconizează a integra multe aplicaţii şi capabilităţi WiFi. A patra generaţie de reţele wireless GSM impune identificarea fiecărui dispozitiv GSM printr-un IP (Ipv6) iar gluma telefonului care face cartofi prajiţi nu ar fi departe de adevăr. Telefonul n-ar şti să-i facă dar cu siguranţă ar putea să îţi controleze cuptorul cu microunde. Totul pe calea undelor Un număr mare de dispozitive mobile a început să îţi invadeze viaţa iar lucrurile sunt d-abia la început. Nu va fi mult până când vei putea să îţi vizionezi talkshow-ul preferat de pe telefonul mobil în timp ce astepţi să se descarce de pe Internet albumul preferat de jazz. Tehnologiile fără fir ne vor schimba viaţa oferindu-ne mobilitatea de care avem toţi nevoie. În Japonia progresul industriei mobile a cunoscut o evoluţie explozivă de când autorităţile s-au implicat în dezvoltarea unei infrastructuri IT naţionale. Deşi tehnologiile WiFi şi GSM se adresează unor segmente diferite de piaţă, ele au multe caracteristici comune şi viitorul le va apropia tot mai mult din perspectiva serviciilor oferite. În continuare voi face o paralelă intre cele două tehnologii. WiFi se referă la tehnologiile folosite la funcţionarea WLAN-urilor (Wireless Local Area Network)conform setului de specificaţii 802.11, emise de organizaţia internaţională IEEE. Termenul provine de la WiFi Alliance, un grup de companii care au aderat prin produsele lor la standardele şi specificaţiile dezvoltate de IEEE. În cadrul alianţei fac parte companii renumite precum Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, Nokia, Motorola, AMD şi multe altele. Tehnologia WiFi este folosită la comunicaţia între dispozitive precum laptopuri, PDA-uri, telefoane, televizoare şi alte echipamente electronice. În esenţă, dacă laptopul tău are o placă de reţea wireless 802.11b/g certificată WiFi înseamnă că n-ar trebui să ai probleme de compatibilitate la conectarea cu un PDA cu suport WiFi 802.11b/g. O conexiune WiFi se poate face în modurile ad-hoc sau infrastructure. În primul caz dispozitivele îşi negociază reciproc conectarea creându-şi singure un canal de comunicaţie. În al doilea, conectarea se face la un Access point care stabileşte parametrii de transmisie şi care leagă dispozitivul la reţea. Identitatea clientului este definită de o adresă IP setată manual sau atribuită automat de un server.

The first listing of AMD’s next-generation Ryzen 3000 series processors based on the Zen 2 core architecture has been spotted online. Listed by a Russian retailer, the site lists down AMD’s new Ryzen 9, Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 processors along with their key specifications. The Russian retail site, E-Katalog (via Videocardz), has five Ryzen 3000 series processors listed on it at the moment. Now there’s no way of confirming whether these specifications are real or just placeholders based on the recent leaks but AMD definitely has announcements planned for CES 2019 so retailers might just be getting ready if there’s a planned introduction for the new processors at the keynote by the CEO of AMD, Lisa Su. AMD’s Zen 2 architecture would deliver the first 7nm desktop processors, improving the chip architecture and increasing the IPC from the previous generation. AMD will also be adding in efficiency improvements to the new processors achieved through the new process node that allows for higher clock speeds AMD Ryzen 9 3800X – A 16 Core AM4 Part With 125W TDP and Up To 4.7 GHz Clocks Looking at the leaked processors from the listings, we first take a look at the Ryzen 9 3800X. AMD is moving their Ryzen family one step ahead with the new Ryzen 9 lineup which would offer twice the cores of the current flagship mainstream part, the Ryzen 7 2700X. The Ryzen 9 3800X would feature 16 cores and 32 threads. It will run at a base frequency of 3.9 GHz and a boost frequency of 4.7 GHz (single-core). The chip will have a TDP of 125W which is slightly up from the 95W TDP for the previous generation 8 core parts but considering you are getting twice the cores and much higher frequencies, the TDP trade-off would be negligible. AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & 3700 – Now With 12 Cores and Much Higher Frequencies With the AMD Ryzen 7 3000 series lineup, AMD seems to be offering two new parts, the Ryzen 7 3700X and the Ryzen 7 3700. Both parts are identical in core configuration with the differences lying in the clocks and TDP. The Ryzen 7 3700X will feature 12 cores and 24 threads which is 4 more cores and 8 more threads compared to the Ryzen 7 2700X. The CPU will clock in at 4.2 GHz base and 5 GHz boost clocks, matching the highest speed of Intel’s fastest 8 core chip in a 105W TDP package. The Ryzen 7 3700, on the other hand, will feature slightly tuned clock speeds at 3.8 GHz base and 4.6 GHz boost with a TDP of 95W. It’ll be interesting to see if AMD matches similar prices for Ryzen 7 3000 series to their existing parts which would clearly crush the competition. AMD Ryzen 5 3600X & 3600 – 8 Cores Now Enhanced With Zen 2 and Higher Clocks Finally, we have the Ryzen 5 parts which have got a core upgrade too from 6 cores to 12 threads to 8 cores and 16 threads. The Ryzen 5 3600X will feature clock speeds of 4.00 GHz base and 4.8 GHz boost with a TDP of 95W while the Ryzen 5 3600 will feature clock speeds of 3.6 GHz base and 4.4 GHz boost clocks with a TDP of 65W. Normally, the X parts will feature higher XFR and precision boost frequencies with slightly better overclocking albeit with slightly higher prices. It will be interesting to see if these listings are real. They definitely sound too good to be true but anything is possible at this point given AMD will be offering 64 cores and 128 threads with their first EPYC Rome processors based on the Zen 2 CPU architecture. We are just a few days away from finding out if this is legit so stay tuned for more information.

Superleggera roadster still on the back burner, but the sedan is an easier sell We've teased Mini from time to time about offering an Austin Maxi-style sedan (badged as a Riley Kestrel or a Wolseley 2000), and now it looks like the company is seriously thinking about it. Automotive News reports the Anglo-German carmaker is considering a compact sedan to round out its lineup. "It is a question you have to look at economically, and around the world you could say the sedan has the biggest potential, volumewise," Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW board member in charge of Mini, said in an interview with Automotive News during the launch of the 2016 Mini convertible. A sedan would allow the brand to expand to markets where expensive hatches are a far tougher sell, while leveraging BMW's compact UKL platform. But the company is not shelving plans for the Superleggera roadster either. "Economically it is easier to put a sedan on paper than a great halo car," Schwarzenbauer added. "We have to look at all the options." Mini is in the process of trimming its lineup, and is expected to ditch the Paceman to focus on the Countryman, Clubman, Convertible and two versions of the Cooper hatch. While the Superleggera roadster has been on the back burner for some time now, Mini has not definitively picked a fifth model to round out its lineup. A potential sedan would likely be based on the Clubman, to distance itself from the four-door hardtop which has turned out to be far closer to the hatch in terms of packaging than was expected.

The Duke of Edinburgh has been involved in a car crash while driving near the Queen's Sandringham estate, Buckingham Palace has said. Prince Philip, 97, was not injured in the accident, which happened as he drove a Range Rover out of a driveway onto the A149 shortly before 15:00 GMT. Buckingham Palace said the crash involved another car. Two people in the car were treated for minor injuries. According to eyewitnesses, the car that the duke was in overturned. The eyewitnesses said they helped the duke out of the vehicle. He was conscious but very, very shocked and shaken, they added. The duke is back at Sandringham and has seen a doctor as a precaution. Report post Posted January 17 The Duke of Edinburgh has been involved in a car crash while driving near the Queen's Sandringham estate, Buckingham Palace has said. Prince Philip, 97, was not injured in the accident, which happened as he drove a Range Rover out of a driveway onto the A149 shortly before 15:00 GMT. Buckingham Palace said the crash involved another car. Two people in the car were treated for minor injuries. According to eyewitnesses, the car that the duke was in overturned. The eyewitnesses said they helped the duke out of the vehicle. He was conscious but very, very shocked and shaken, they added. The duke is back at Sandringham and has seen a doctor as a precaution. The Duke of Edinburgh has been involved in a car crash while driving near the Queen's Sandringham estate, Buckingham Palace has said. Prince Philip, 97, was not injured in the accident, which happened as he drove a Range Rover out of a driveway onto the A149 shortly before 15:00 GMT. Buckingham Palace said the crash involved another car. Two people in the car were treated for minor injuries. According to eyewitnesses, the car that the duke was in overturned. The eyewitnesses said they helped the duke out of the vehicle. He was conscious but very, very shocked and shaken, they added. The duke is back at Sandringham and has seen a doctor as a precaution. A witness who drove past the scene at around 15:40 said she saw an ambulance and "a heavy police presence". "I was just going down the A149 … and saw a lot of blue flashing lights ahead," she said. "I saw a black, 4x4 type car on its side and me and my son were like 'oh my word, that doesn't look good'. "Luckily it was just sort of on the side of the road, the road wasn't closed in any way. "Obviously it looked quite smashed in. I'm quite amazed he [the duke] is okay actually." The Queen and Prince Philip have been staying at the estate in Norfolk since Christmas. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, tweeted a prayer in support to the duke. Analysis: 'Surprise that the duke still drives' By BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond There will be several sharp intakes of breath over this accident. The first will be over the good news - that the Duke escaped unscathed. A photo of what is believed to be the accident shows what looks like a Range Rover resting on its passenger side, having turned or flipped as a result of the collision. That must have been some impact. The duke was, a witness told the BBC, "very very shocked". But the Palace says the duke was not injured and did not need medical treatment. The duke is five months short of his 98th birthday. By anyone's standards, getting away from an accident like that unhurt is pretty impressive. There will be some surprise that the duke still drives himself on public roads. But he has always been fiercely independent, and would have resisted any suggestion that he be denied the right to drive himself. And there will now be an investigation into the circumstances of the accident. It might be that the duke is about to be persuaded to give up the wheel. Royal biographer Hugo Vickers told BBC News: "Any kind of car accident at the age of 97 is likely to produce shock. "Some years ago he gave up flying planes long before he needed to because he was scared that if something happened there would be a lot of criticism. "You know, why was he, at the age of 55, still flying a plane when he should have retired at 48 or something like that. "So he does listen to these things - he's very, very sensible. "If anyone's involved in a car accident, it's quite a frightening thing. If he thought that he'd lost concentration or something or he hadn't seen somebody he would realise he's not up to it anymore." The president of the AA, Edmund King said high profile car crashes involving elderly drivers often spark calls for bans or restrictions on older drivers. But he added: "If driving restrictions based on age and safety were introduced we would be more likely to restrict young drivers rather than older drivers. "Young, predominantly male, drivers are much more likely to crash within six months of passing their test than older drivers within six months of hanging up their keys. "Older drivers often self restrict their driving by not driving at night and only driving on familiar roads." The duke famously drove the Obamas when the then-US president and first lady visited Windsor in 2016 Prince Philip retired from public life in August 2017 having spent decades supporting the Queen and attending events for his own charities and organisations. Buckingham Palace calculated he had completed 22,219 solo engagements since 1952. Since retiring from official solo duties, he has appeared in public alongside the Queen and other members of the royal family at events and church services. He did not attend the Royal Family's church service at Sandringham this Christmas.

Total War: Warhammer is a strategy videogame developed by The Creative Assembly and distributed by Sega.2 It is based on the Warhammer Fantasy Battle board game. It went on sale on May 24, 2016 Game modes As in previous installments, Total War: Warhammer has two game modes; of a player, for which he plays the campaign alone, choosing a faction that through pacts, alliances or conquests will be made with the control of the game and multiplayer map that can be 1vs1, 2vs2 or 3vs3, by which one or several Allied players face one or more enemy players in online battles. In addition to these modes, Total War: Warhammer has a unique mode of this delivery that is the cooperative mode in which two or more friends can play the campaign together, at the same time, choosing different factions and fighting for supremacy, as well as allies or as enemies. Factions At the moment there are eight playable factions: 4 Empire. In years. Green skins (orcs and goblins). Counts Vampires (not killed). Warriors of Chaos; entered in the first DLC. Beastmen; entered in the second DLC. Elves Silvanos; entered in the third DLC. Bretonnia; introduced in the fourth DLC. Norsca; introduced in the fifth DLC.

TBA | Bigmoon Entertainment | LinkThe life of a cop is more than the mile-high leaps of Crackdown or undercover gang busts of Sleeping Dogs. This simulator shows you both the riveting sides of real-life law enforcement (freeway chases, bank robberies) in addition to the lighter side, including issuing traffic tickets and arresting disorderly punks with too much of daddy’s money. Includes a two-player co-op mode for all those timely “one week from retirement” jokes.

Back in June, Capcom and Square Enix revealed that the two companies would collaborate for Final Fantasy XIV and Monster Hunter: World. Rathalos would invade Eorzea as a Trial, and Behemoth would face off against brave hunters in Monster Hunter: World. Monster Hunter's side of the collaboration has now officially launched with Title Update 5.0! Players who have downloaded this latest patch now have access to the Special Assignments that eventually unlock Behemoth's optional quests, but how does he stand out compared to other monsters, considering his FFXIV roots? As always, we took to the hunt to see how she slots into the ongoing Monster Hunter: World experience. What's new in the Behemoth Update Much like with Deviljho's launch back in March, and Lunastra's launch back at the end of May - Behemoth's launch coincides with a large supply of new content. Behemoth brings a few new endemic life to the table, a new weapon, and a new set of armor for both male and female hunters. Here's all of what you can expect; A new, FFXIV Dragoon inspired Insect Glaive weapon. Unlike previously added DLC monsters, this is the only weapon players can expect to craft from Behemoth parts. New armor sets for both the male and female hunter. Unlike the other High Rank armor sets, the Behemoth set does NOT include an Alpha and Beta set. Instead, players only have access to one Dragoon-themed armor set, for both genders. Behemoth includes his own specific side quest, which requires players to have already unlocked their Hunter Rank for the first time, and then speak with the Serious Handler. After taking on a Kulu-Ya-Ku holding an Aetheryte Crystal in the Wildspire Wastes, you'll be tasked with a quest to drive away the Behemoth from the Elder's Recess. Completing this objective will award players with the final Special Assignment tasking players to properly hunt down the Behemoth. Once completed, players will then be able to hunt Behemoth in his own optional quests. How to Find Behemoth / Unlock His Special Assignment Behemoth is now available to anyone hunting that have already cleared the games final hunt - Xeno'jiiva - and have unlocked their HR at least once. As mentioned in the last section, players will be tasked with several special assignments before being granted the ability to hunt Behemoth freely: After reaching Hunter Rank 16 or above by hunting Xeno'jiiva, talk to the Serious Handler to receive the Special Assignment "A Visitor from Another World" - a hunt against a constantly growing Kulu-Ya-Ku with a crystal that both prevents status ailments and occasionally heals him in the Wildspire Waste. During the quest, players will meet a Moogle who has lost his way home back to Eorzea. Watch your head, because this Kulu-Ya-Ku dishes out some surprising damage! Upon completion of the Special Assignment, speak to the Serious Handler to be alerted to the commotion around your new white furry friend. You'll automatically be warped to a small discussion with your new moogle pal to receive the next Special Assignment, "The Legendary Beast". This tasks you with dealing enough damage to the Behemoth within the Elder's Recess to repel it within the allotted time. Finally, you'll be teleported to one final discussion, and then receive the last Special Assignment, "He Taketh It with His Eyes" - finally, you're tasked with hunting the Behemoth in the Elder's Recess Once completed, players gain access to Behemoth's optional quest "A Visitor from Eorzea". Battle Tips for Behemoth Behemoth's hunt is like nothing else in Monster Hunter: World, sharing a lot of its mechanics with the Behemoth fight in Final Fantasy XIV. Not only will players have to learn to avoid one-hit KO's from his Ecliptic Meteor by hiding behind comets left over on the field, but you'll also have to contend with Tornadoes, Lightning, regular meteors, and it's even greatly recommended that a hunter takes up the role as a "tank" to focus the monster's attack on him or herself. Enmity comes to Monster Hunter: World for Behemoth's fight, as well. First things first - learn your mechanics. Behemoth's attacks target a wide area around him unless someone has captured his attention, which is why Enmity is so important in this fight. Stop thinking of fighting Behemoth like a regular monster, as it's better to think of him as an FFXIV Trial dropped right into Monster Hunter: World. Before heading into battle, designate someone as the tank and have them target the head of the monster in order to draw Enmity. Second, partway through the fight Behemoth will summon Comets that will embed themselves in the arena surrounding him. FFXIV veterans probably know what comes next, but it is absolutely vital that everyone in your party hides behind a comet when Behemoth calls his Ecliptic Meteor. Even Hunters currently at the base camp will be killed once this Meteor strikes unless they can either hide behind a comet or time the "Final Fantasy XIV Jump" gesture correctly. Once Behemoth casts Ecliptic Meteor, all items are locked from use until it has reached impact. Behemoth will always cast Ecliptic Meteor upon the killing blow! Be ready to avoid it once the quest is "complete". Even outside of Ecliptic Meteor, Behemoth hits like a truck. It's my belief he should've had an HR50 requirement instead of HR16 - if you don't have strong enough armor, you're liable to get killed by a stray attack. Make sure to augment your armor before facing him, or you'll regret it. Finally, make especially sure to bring lifepowders. Treat this fight almost like a raid in an MMO - because that's essentially what it is. You only have 3 lives, make sure you do all you can to prevent someone from dying. Behemoth is, unsurprisingly, a completely different sort of beast compared to the ones you might be used to hunting. If all of the Final Fantasy XIV flairs, such as Enmity, quests starting with "Duty Commenced", and Behemoth even replacing the damage numbers with those from FFXIV weren't enough to make it obvious - players are expected to treat the quest like a Trial from FFXIV. I expect players that already have some experience with FFXIV will have a much easier time tackling Behemoth than those that haven't already accustomed themselves to MMO mechanics. A Note About Behemoth Behemoth, like Deviljho and Lunastra, is added directly into the existing Monster Hunter: World High Rank experience despite its initial Hunter Rank 16 requirements. However, unlike those two fights - his unique mechanics and extreme damage-dealing potential might make him a challenge to fight, even if you've become accustomed to hunting Tempered Monsters. However, it's debatable how worth it would be to continue hunting Behemoth after you've crafted his armor set. Since there's only 1 weapon to craft from his parts, outside of the novelty there doesn't seem to be much reason to hunt him more than a few times. That's not to say that the new FFXIV collaboration content is less substantial than what's been added in the past. Even if I have some issues with Behemoth personally - I don't think he should kill anyone that's currently in the camp with Ecliptic Meteor! - the novelty of the whole encounter makes up for the rest of those issues. Capcom has done a great job supporting Monster Hunter: World past its launch, and it will be exciting to see what new monsters the company might have up their sleeves for future updates. Monster Hunter World Behemoth Armor Defeating Behemoth several times will allow you to craft its armor in Monster Hunter World's armory, since completing the Behemoth battles provides the materials you need to craft the Gae Bolg Insect Glaive and Dragon Soul Kinsect - weapons inspired by the iconic spears of Dragoon Knights in the worlds of Final Fantasy and FF14 specifically. You'll also get the Drachen Alpha armor set, which is also styled after FF's iconic Dragoons. Here's the rub, anyway: the Monster Hunter World Behemoth armor set is a really good armor set. It has great skills that'll come in handy in mixed sets and work well with most weapons in the game. There are two set bonuses for the Behemoth Drachen Alpha armor set, nicknamed Soul of the Dragon - appropriate for a dragoon: Elemental Airborne - elemental damage increased for jumping attacks Master's Touch - prevents your weapon from losing sharpness during critical hits There's also a few other skills: Critical Eye Level 6 (affinity boost) Attack Boost Level 3 Critical Boost

In case you missed the news yesterday, Sony announced the PS4 Pro. The shiny new console builds upon the original PS4 architecture, adding 4K resolution gaming, optimized specs for PlayStation VR, and smoother performance for past and future PS4 games. The announcement of the PS4 Pro also marks the beginning of a new breed of console generation - one where companies make more iterative upgrades to their consoles over time rather than leap from one outdated hardware platform to something totally new. Sony isn't alone in doing so. Microsoft picked up on this trend, too, having formally announced two of its own iterative upgrades to the Xbox One this summer at E3 2016 – Xbox One S and Project Scorpio, which promises to also bring 4K gaming, VR support, and silky-smooth framerates for the serious player. Given that the PS4 Pro is but a couple months away from release while Project Scorpio over a year off, it would seem Sony got the jump on Microsoft in this new Mid-Console War. At least, so it appeared. What Sony - and frankly, a lot of us - didn't see coming was the Xbox One S, which may seem underpowered at first glance, but offers just enough to give the PS4 Pro a run for its money. Xbox One S(emi-Pro) Microsoft's slimmed-down Xbox One, as it turns out, is much more than a slimmed-down Xbox One. The console's sleek design on the outside is matched with refined hardware on the inside, granting players HDR support, improved performance, 4K streaming, and Ultra High-Definition Blu-ray support. That last tidbit is especially important because despite all of the PS4 Pro's pros, the supposed super-console, has a big con – it can't play your Blu-rays in 4K. The Xbox One S puts the PS4 Pro in an awkward place by already offering a feature Sony's brand-new console can't – which is made even more awkward considering how much the PS4 Pro leaned into how big a deal 4K is when it was announced. Sony also made a big deal about how HDR will flesh out the graphics of your favorite games, promising to bring HDR support to all PS4 models – even the three-year-old one you bought back in November 2013 – in a firmware update going live next week. An impressive feature, undoubtedly, and it would've been another easy point for the Sony scoreboard ... had the Xbox One S not already debuted the feature on consoles back in August. Also, the Xbox One S retails for $100/£100 less than the PS4 Pro, so that's another thing to consider, especially if you've already spent a pretty penny building up a movie library and don't feel like shelling out cash for both a console and UHD Blu-ray player. Slim pickins' "But what about that PS4 Slim that was also announced?" you say. "Surely it makes more sense to compare the Xbox One S to that, right?" In theory, yes. The finally-confirmed PS4 Slim comes at around the same price as the Xbox One S while also refining the original console's design. However, where the Xbox One S sports multiple changes to the original Xbox One's design, the PS4 Slim almost little to nothing new over the original minus its form factor. Now, some might argue that's because the PS4 didn't really need revising – at least certainly not as much as Xbox One, which needed a return to the drawing board within seconds of its launch in 2013. The Xbox One S not only cleaned up its exterior design – cutting about 40% of its size, ditching that brick of a power supply, and gaining the ability to sit up vertically – but also added new interior features in the form of the aforementioned UHD Blu-ray support, improved performance, 4K streaming, and game upscaling. We're gonna need a bigger Pro For this reason, I don't think Sony got the headstart it hoped it'd get with the PS4 Pro. Rather, Microsoft beat Sony's mid-generation machine to the punch over a month ago with its own revised Xbox One. Does that mean I think the Xbox One S will beat out the PS4 Pro blow-for-blow? Of course not. For example, the PS4 Pro still has the advantage of being built expressively with performance and true 4K gaming in mind, while the Xbox One S' performance enhancements over the original are minor, and it can only upscale 1080p games to 4K - not display them at a native 4K resolution. So, if you're looking to test out your fancy 4K-ready entertainment centers, the PS4 Pro will be the way to go. Framerate junkies and those sold on PlayStation VR will also flock to the PS4 Pro thanks to its optimized CPU and GPU. In short, the PS4 Pro still competes with the still-a-year-away Project Scorpio, which promises to match, if not surpass, the PS4 Pro in performance, on top of adding native 4K gaming and VR support of its own. However, while framerates and performance reign supreme for many players, 4K and VR may not pan out in the Pro's favor as much as it intended – leaving room yet again for the Xbox One S to close in on Sony's tail. 4K(inda) So here's the thing about native 4K gaming - it's only as good as the games that actually get made for it. While the PS4 Pro promises to make older games "forward compatible" – upscaling them to look their best on 4K televisions, (just like the Xbox One S, how about that?) – it also promises to bring players a growing list of games fully optimized for the PS4 Pro's graphical abilities. The good news? Big budget exclusives like Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and Horizon: Zero Dawn are going to look amazing on PS4 Pro. The bad news? Developing games in native 4K is both demanding and expensive. Unless the game's production budget includes an extra chunk to vie for the highest resolution possible, it won't be taking full advantage of the Sony's hardware. Same goes for PS VR – all the souped-up specs of the Pro won't mean much if the platform goes unsupported. If the virtual reality headset winds up going the way of PlayStation Move – or worse, Kinect – you're looking at a console that costs extra for little more than the better framerates and the occasional pretty game. Project S(corpio) We originally thought the PS4 Pro, back when it was codenamed the Neo, was solely comparable to the Project Scorpio – a competitor Sony had a year's worth of leg up on. Now that the console is announced, it seems Microsoft threw a wrench in that plan by releasing the Xbox One S a month earlier – a console that not only is a major upgrade over the original Xbox One and comparable to the PS4 Pro, but even offers features Sony's unreleased machine lacks. Add this with some of Microsoft's other plays in the book, such as last year's backwards compatibility update and this holiday's merger with PC gaming thanks to Xbox Play Anywhere, and the Xbox architecture is starting to gain some serious traction. We don't know much about what's in store for Project Scorpio, but unless Sony commits to the PS4 Pro and puts all its weight behind it, it seems the Xbox One S successor won't have much catching-up to do.

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is the name that received the adaptation of the Indiana Jones saga to the world of videogames LEGO, developed by Lucas Arts and TT Games. The game was the first innovation of this class of video games after the development of the Lego Star Wars saga. In turn, the video game could also take advantage of the premiere of the fourth installment of Indiana Jones to be able to increase its commercialization in 2008. Another innovation in the saga of video games, is the use of enough comic resources, which already began to be used in the second part of the Lego Star Wars saga, but that were perfected in this video game. Its success produced a continuation, Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, which included the fourth part of the saga, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and an extra game mode that allowed you to create your own levels and share their gameplay via online . Between them, "Lego Batman: The Video Game" was also commercialized. Argument In this videogame, three installments of the Indiana Jones saga: In Search of the Lost Ark, The Temple of the Damned and The Last Crusade are playable. Six levels of approximately 20 minutes duration correspond to each of the deliveries. Most of the events in the films are respected, but some are modified to combine the action and the script, without forming a loop of irregularities. In this way, the levels corresponding to the third installment of the saga, are lengthened, and this can be seen in the mission "The 3 tests", where each of them, which have a duration of about 1 minute in duration in the film, in the videogame take about 10 minutes. It also repeats the power to collect "pieces of treasure", divided into dozens for each of the levels. This time, with difference to Lego Star Wars, which allowed to visualize the ships in a hangar, we can see the treasures in the museum, located to the left of the reception of the university. By getting a large number, you can unlock an extra mission, the initial of the Indiana Jones movie and the last crusade, starring River Phoenix. You can also unlock an extract from the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where you can play in Area 51. The last extra available is the so-called "City of the Million", where you can tour a large place where the player can face diverse enemies, and ends when reaching the million pieces of lego.

Developer: Ghost Ship Games Publisher: Coffee Stain Publishing Platform(s): PC, XB1 Release date: TBA (out now in Early Access/Game Preview) I can’t think of many more underrated fantasy characters than dwarves. They may have had their own game last year in, wait for it, The Dwarves, but by and large the stunted heroes are supporting acts in other stores. Deep Rock Galactic, however, puts them front and center as you work with a squad to loot until the Mines of Moria are full, or something like that. “Work together as a team to dig, explore, and fight your way through a massive cave system filled with hordes of deadly enemies and valuable resources. You will need to rely on your teammates if you want to survive the most hostile cave systems in the galaxy!” Aesthetically, Deep Rock Galactic isn’t a million miles away from No Man’s Sky, but unlike Hello Game’s reviled disappointment, you actually have stuff to do instead of just busywork. Work together with your friends to take down alien hordes in fully destructible environments, which are also procedurally generated. It’s quite bare at the moment, so here’s hoping Ghost Ship Games provide some meat to flesh out its bones in the near future.

For a very abridged version of a very deep series, Fire Emblem Heroes is initially engaging in that it has hooks for two different kinds of players: for fans, the hope of randomly unlocking a favorite character, and for newcomers to the series, an accessible and fun introduction to its turn-based battle tactics. But it also doesn’t do much beyond that, and if you’re somewhere in between those two archetypes, it doesn’t give a compelling reason for you to stick with it. Playing Fire Emblem Heroes consists mainly of engaging in battles to earn Orbs and then using those Orbs to unlock characters from previous Fire Emblem games at random. There are several currencies to manage and a layered leveling system, but that’s the basic feedback loop. Win a battle, collect an Orb, and hope for a good character (or your favorite) to unlock; if you don’t get what you want, keep trying. What’s missing is why. Heroes adapts the series’ tactical gameplay for mobile by lowering the difficulty enough to increase the pace of battle. Fire Emblem is known for turn-based strategy on a battlefield, punishing perma-death, and RPG-style character and story development. Heroes features simplified combat without perma-death, and it has a minimal story that isn’t at all interesting without previous Fire Emblem knowledge. For a very abridged version of a very deep series, Fire Emblem Heroes is initially engaging in that it has hooks for two different kinds of players: for fans, the hope of randomly unlocking a favorite character, and for newcomers to the series, an accessible and fun introduction to its turn-based battle tactics. But it also doesn’t do much beyond that, and if you’re somewhere in between those two archetypes, it doesn’t give a compelling reason for you to stick with it.Playing Fire Emblem Heroes consists mainly of engaging in battles to earn Orbs and then using those Orbs to unlock characters from previous Fire Emblem games at random. There are several currencies to manage and a layered leveling system, but that’s the basic feedback loop. Win a battle, collect an Orb, and hope for a good character (or your favorite) to unlock; if you don’t get what you want, keep trying. What’s missing is why.Heroes adapts the series’ tactical gameplay for mobile by lowering the difficulty enough to increase the pace of battle. Fire Emblem is known for turn-based strategy on a battlefield, punishing perma-death, and RPG-style character and story development. Heroes features simplified combat without perma-death, and it has a minimal story that isn’t at all interesting without previous Fire Emblem knowledge.I breezed through the first few chapters with no problems aside from having a weak party initially, and it was a good warm-up after a long break from Fire Emblem. Battles themselves play really well on touchscreen thanks to intuitive controls, and dropping in for a few minutes while on a break makes sense and is definitely an entertaining way to spend some downtime. As the challenges get harder, executing the right strategy can take some serious trial and error, and finding a solution to a tricky map or tough enemies is satisfying.Trying to unlock new characters, however, is more of a drag. If you have a bad party due to unlucky character drafts, pulling new, stronger allies is the best way to get the upper hand in high-difficulty battles. In the beginning, you can use reward items from completing challenges to quickly level up whoever you want to use. But if you hit a bit of bad RNG, that can mean a lot of grinding--and there are diminishing returns on how fun a battle can be when you’re only doing it to avoid paying real money for Orbs so you can keep getting more characters.Of course, it’s like that on purpose, since that’s often how free-to-play games turn a profit. But if you’re not terribly invested in unlocking Tharja or Camilla or Marth, then the only reason to keep playing is for the battles. Before I’d put together a strong team, I started to lose interest in playing; but once I pulled good characters, I had a hard time putting my phone down. It’s very tempting to keep playing thanks to Heroes’ quick grind-reward loop, and when I wasn’t spending Orbs on characters, I was using them to fill my Stamina--a separate currency you need in order to battle which refills over time in typical mobile game fashion.While I never felt forced to buy Orbs, I did end up spending money on them once I started battling for extended periods of time. Playing for more than a few battles in a row meant needing (and buying) more Orbs--and that’s when I decided I would much rather just play Awakening instead, where there’s more of a challenge and my favorite characters are more fleshed out.When the incentive to keep playing is to be able to keep playing, it’s easy to burn out on Fire Emblem Heroes. Aside from obtaining your favorite characters--if you even care about that--Fire Emblem Heroes becomes less and less rewarding as time goes on. Grinding can only be fun for so long before chasing rare allies becomes a chore, and in that sense it caters to two ends of a wide spectrum while offering little incentive for anyone in between.

Hard disk HDD or SSD, the big question when buying a storage unit. We tell you what are the differences and advantages of each one of them and which one you should buy depending on your needs. When choosing a computer or assemble a computer from scratch, one of the great questions that are presented to the user is to choose the storage system you need, HDD or SSD? Although a few years ago there were not many alternatives for memory units, nowadays we have many combinations and storage options: from a laptop with a solid state drive (SSD) to a desktop computer with a standard hard drive ( HDD), going even through a combination of both: an SSD used as primary disk where the operating system would go, and an HDD for everything else. For this reason, if you are going to buy a new computer or you are going to assemble your own equipment from scratch, it is not surprising that you ask yourself how to choose the type of storage HDD or SSD or which one suits you best. We will solve these doubts explaining the differences between the two and we will guide you to help you choose. By writing to several rotating discs the information is recorded and the thinner the discs, the better the recording will be. For this reason, disks of the same size can have different storage capacities. These units have been evolving since their creation in 1960, normally doubling their capacity every year and a half. The units that normally use HDD or hard drives are desktop or desktop computers, laptops and business servers.

A little more than a week ago we filtered what will be the first Gigabyte monitor through its AORUS gaming brand. Today and taking advantage of the CES 2019 Gigabyte has released the official data and specifications, where at the same time it has not wanted to lose the opportunity to present it officially, revealing in it its name: AORUS AD27QD. When a company and brand of this draft enters a new market comes knowing that offers its competence and therefore plays with some cards on the table, but instead their inexperience can be a factor against. The goal of Gigabyte in all sectors of the market is to compete face to face with the brands that dominate it, little seems to mind the fact of finishing landing in certain sectors of the market. We already saw him with his AORUS memories and now we see him again with his first gaming monitor, the AORUS AD27QD, with which they enter by the big door and without calling. We are talking, to be specific, of a 27-inch gaming monitor with an IPS panel that will house a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels (WQHL) where it also obtains support for AMD FreeSync and DisplayHDR400 certification. The panel is signed by Innolux, but against what was leaked will not use a real 10-bit panel, but 8 bits along with FRC, which in no case should be an inconvenience, much less if we look at your response time, since with 1 ms we will have an invaluable input lag. This may seem little, since other monitors have some similar characteristics and could compete with this AD27QD, although being the first AORUS monitor we would already be talking about a possible competitor for brands such as Asus, AOC or BenQ among others. Active noise cancellation for the first time on a monitor Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD: the first monitor of the brand arrives in 27 ", WQHD and 144 Hz with FreeSync Written by Javier Lopez January 9, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. monitors 1 A little more than a week ago we filtered what will be the first Gigabyte monitor through its AORUS gaming brand. Today and taking advantage of the CES 2019 Gigabyte has released the official data and specifications, where at the same time it has not wanted to lose the opportunity to present it officially, revealing in it its name: AORUS AD27QD. AORUS AD27QD: Gigabyte enters the big door Gigabyte-AORUS-AD27QD-2 When a company and brand of this draft enters a new market comes knowing that offers its competence and therefore plays with some cards on the table, but instead their inexperience can be a factor against. The goal of Gigabyte in all sectors of the market is to compete face to face with the brands that dominate it, little seems to mind the fact of finishing landing in certain sectors of the market. We already saw him with his AORUS memories and now we see him again with his first gaming monitor, the AORUS AD27QD, with which they enter by the big door and without calling. Gigabyte-AORUS-AD27QD-4 We are talking, to be specific, of a 27-inch gaming monitor with an IPS panel that will house a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels (WQHL) where it also obtains support for AMD FreeSync and DisplayHDR400 certification. The panel is signed by Innolux, but against what was leaked will not use a real 10-bit panel, but 8 bits along with FRC, which in no case should be an inconvenience, much less if we look at your response time, since with 1 ms we will have an invaluable input lag. This may seem little, since other monitors have some similar characteristics and could compete with this AD27QD, although being the first AORUS monitor we would already be talking about a possible competitor for brands such as Asus, AOC or BenQ among others. Active noise cancellation for the first time on a monitor Gigabyte-AORUS-AD27QD-3 But Gigabyte has gone a step further in its premiere, as it offers a new feature in its first monitor: active noise cancellation, being the first monitor in the world to incorporate it. For this, Gigabyte has installed three microphones on the front that will come into operation when we connect headphones to the microphone port of the monitor itself. Thus, this AORUS AD27QD will be able to filter the environmental noise of other players or for example, the pulsations of the keys. This option can be activated or deactivated through the OSD of the monitor. In addition, the RGB lighting could not miss the mark, and this monitor will have LED everywhere, where of course it will be fully configurable and synchronizable with the rest of Gigabyte devices.