Month: April 2016

(credit: javelinnl)

The latest Insider Preview build of Windows 10 (build 14316) has tweaked the Blue Screen of Death to include the most moddest of cons: a QR code.

Now, instead of scrambling to write down the CRYPTIC_ERROR_CODE, you can just whip out your smartphone and scan an on-screen QR code. If you don't have a phone or QR scanner to hand, the new Insider Preview BSOD also includes a help page URL that you can try to remember (or take a photo of).

In theory it's a pretty neat idea. In practice the feature isn't quite there yet: currently the QR code (and the written URL) always points you to the same "dealing with blue screen errors" page, irrespective of the actual error code. Presumably future builds of Windows 10 will have QR codes and URLs that are a little more targeted. Maybe that empathetic frowny face will be replaced with a variety of different emoji, depending on the crash, too.

13 years since the last Master of Orion, and 20 since the last good Master of Orion, we're met with an interesting proposition. Wargaming, the studio behind the inexplicably popular World of Tanks, is funding a reboot of the spacefaring strategy series, which was once a leader of the 4X genre, and the very reason the eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate moniker was coined in the first place.

While there was a lull in the number of space-based 4X games being released around a decade ago—and the awful Master of Orion 3 has to take much of the blame for that—the genre has seen a huge resurgence in recent years. Galactic Civilizations, Endless Universe, Civilization: Beyond Earth, Sins of a Solar Empire—the list stretches beyond the bounds of the known universe (maybe).

So why bring Master of Orion back? The genre is doing just fine without it, and even with a tarnished record from the third game, the original is still remembered fondly. Surely bringing MOO back is just an exercise in slapping a name on any old 4x game, throwing money at some big-name voice actors, and calling it a day?

Hands on with the HTC 10 (video link)

HTC has taken the wraps off its latest and greatest flagship, the HTC 10 (yup, the company has dropped both the "One" and the "M"). But it isn't some grand reinvention of the smartphone—it isn't even a reinvention of an HTC smartphone. Instead, what we have here is the result of years of refinement from a company that's in sore need of a win. The HTC 10 is a phone that focuses on nailing the basics: the screen, the camera, and the battery life. And while that might not make for the most exciting of product launches, perhaps that's exactly what the company needs right now: a solid, well-designed smartphone with mainstream appeal.

Inside, there are few surprises. The HTC 10, like nearly every other 2016 flagship, sports a Snapdragon 820 SoC with 4GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of storage. There's an SD card slot that supports Android 6.01 Marshmallow's adoptable storage feature. There's NFC support, too. Wireless charging isn't available, but Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 is, and a quick charger is bundled in the box. HTC says the charger can charge the phone's pleasingly large 3000mAh battery to 50 percent in under 30 minutes. Promised battery life is up to two days thanks in part to the larger battery and improvements like a screen that dynamically changes its refresh rate based on the kind of app that you're using.

Even by 1991, the National Weather Service's all-caps requirement felt dated. We're still waiting, but mixed-case change will finally appear in May of this year. (credit: National Weather Service)

After upgrading its supercomputing core in 2015, the National Weather Service is continuing its lumbering slog toward modern systems in a far different way: by saying goodbye to teletype.

After more than two decades of trying, the NWS has finally made every upgrade needed in both the hardware and software chain to remove an all-caps requirement from forecasts and other warnings. The service's Monday announcement kicked off the 30-day transition period that is being given so that customers and subscribers can prepare for the change to mixed-case lettering in all NWS announcements, meaning we'll see the change begin to propagate on May 11.

All-caps messaging was previously required due to the NWS' reliance on teletype machines, which broadcast their text over phone lines and weren't built to recognize upper or lower cases of letters. In addition to removing teletype machines from the information chain, the NWS also had to upgrade its AWIPS 2 software system across the board to recognize mixed-type submissions.