Month: November 2019

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  A shot of Destiny 2 streamed at 4K to a Chromecast Ultra (image shot using a DSLR off a TV, because that is the only way to get fully portable Stadia screenshots from a Chromecast). [credit: Kyle Orland ]

Since March, Google has been promising that its streaming Stadia platform would be capable of full 4K, 60fps gameplay (for users with a robust Internet connection and $10/month Stadia Pro subscription). But technical analyses since launch have shown that some of the service's highest profile games aren't hitting that mark.

A Digital Foundry analysis of Red Dead Redemption 2 on Stadia, for instance, found the game actually runs at a native 2560x1440 resolution, which is then upscaled to the 4K standard of 4096x2160 via the Chromecast Ultra. And a Bungie representative said that the Stadia version of Destiny 2 runs at the PC equivalent of "medium" graphics settings and that the game will "render at a native 1080p and then upsample [to 4K] and apply a variety of techniques to increase the overall quality of effect."

As we noted in our review, at normal TV viewing distances Stadia's apparently upscaled 4K images can look relatively comparable to a native 4K image from a high-end console (Stadia's PC and mobile resolution is currently limited to a disappointing 1080p). But with Google claiming server instances that have a console-beating "10.7 GPU teraflops" of polygon pushing power to devote to a game, many Stadia customers are wondering why they aren't getting the full native resolution that the company has long promised.

Enlarge / Ralphie, after he's hit himself with a BB and stepped on his glasses. (credit: MGM/UA Entertainment Co.)

A Christmas Story isn't just a beloved holiday classic. It's also a public service announcement about the dangers of BB guns—which, according to new data, is sorely needed.

The number and rate of eye injuries from BB guns and other "nonpowder firearms" are on the rise in kids and teens, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics. The eye-popping trend is occurring despite the fact that the number and rate of other types of injuries from nonpowder firearms have fallen dramatically in the past 26 years.

The authors of the study—a team of pediatric injury researchers in Ohio—attribute the ocular offenses to a dismal uptake of protective eyewear. Previous research estimated that, among kids with eye-injures from nonpowder firearms, more than 98% were not wearing eye protection at the time of their injuries.

Enlarge / The Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan on November 4, 2019 in New York City. (credit: Gary Hershorn | Crobis | Getty Images)

It takes a lot of automation to make the nation's largest city run, but it's easy for that kind of automation to perpetuate existing problems and fall unevenly on the residents it's supposed to serve. So to mitigate the harms and ideally increase the benefits, New York City has created a high-level city government position essentially to manage algorithms.

Mayor Bill de Blasio created the job, formally titled the Algorithms Management and Policy Officer, with an executive order he signed last week. The person who ultimately holds the role will be responsible for, basically, ethics management, which entails developing guidelines and best practices to make the city's automated decision-makers make more equitable, fair, and transparent decisions.

Why now?

The mayor's office announced the creation of the position following the publication of a report (PDF) by a city panel called the Automated Decision Systems Task Force, which spent about 18 months assessing the city's use of what it calls automated decision systems, or ADS.

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  The 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro. [credit: Samuel Axon ]

The 16-inch MacBook Pro seems like the closest thing Apple might ever make to an apology tour. While it sticks to many of the principles established in the 2016 redesign for the product line, its major changes over the just-discontinued 15-inch model include an overhauled keyboard and improved thermal performance—the chief things its predecessor was criticized for.

With this new model, Apple is offering new speakers, new microphones, much faster graphics, and a slightly larger and heavier chassis. The resulting product is something like a hybrid between the 2019 15-inch MacBook Pro and the 2015 one.

Apple markets these products primarily to three sets of potential buyers: developers, creative professionals, and affluent users or users making an aspirational purchase to have the most refined, expensive laptop available. Based on our time with the machine, the last of those three is better off looking at the 13-inch model, the MacBook Air, or any number of Windows laptops. But Apple has made some clear improvements here for the first two groups.

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  Renders of the Galaxy S11. Yep, that's a Samsung phone. [credit: @OnLeaks x 91Mobiles ]

The first Galaxy S11 renders came out this weekend, so it's probably time for a Galaxy S11 rumor roundup. Like last year, we're expecting three versions of the S11: the normal S11 and S11+ along with a cheaper, smaller model, the S11e.

First up: the renders. As usual with early phone renders, these are not official renders from the company but are instead from leaker OnLeaks. OnLeaks is a reliable source for leaks; he pumps out phone renders based on CAD drawings and most recently has nailed early previews for the Pixel 4, OnePlus 7 Pro, and Galaxy S10.

The front of the Galaxy S11 looks like you'd expect from a Samsung phone. The S11 sticks very close to the Galaxy Note 10, with a centered punch out for the front camera, minimal bezels all around, and curves display sides on the long edges. Just like on the Note 10, the Bixby button is dead, leaving only power and volume on the right side. Also like the Note 10, the bottom edge has only a USB-C port and a speaker—the headphone jack is dead.

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  This is AMD's Threadripper 3970x, mounted on an ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme board, with an NZXT Kraken X62 fluid cooler and Corsair Dominator Platinum RAM. [credit: Jim Salter ]

AMD's new 32-core/64-thread Threadripper 3970x continues AMD's 2019 trend of sweeping the field in desktop and server processors. In recent weeks, Ars has tested Threadripper head to head versus Intel's top-of-the-line i9-10980XE High End Desktop (HEDT) CPU, as well as its i9-9900KS gaming CPU. To nobody's surprise, the Threadripper is faster—a lot faster—than either, although with some caveats.

Power

When comparing the rest of the Ryzen 3000 line to Intel's 2019 desktop CPU lineup, one of the standout metrics is thermal design power (TDP). Non-threadripper Ryzen 3000 CPUs meet or beat the Intel desktop lineup on performance and TDP, which means quieter, cooler systems that don't cost as much to keep running. All that changes once you leave the "normal" desktop line and go Threadripper. With Threadripper, AMD is clearly far more concerned with raw power than niceties like running quiet or cool.

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  Threadripper 3970x is a big, hungry beast. If you don't have system loads that demand that much power, you're pouring money into the power company's pocket. [credit: Jim Salter ]

The above chart shows the whole system power draw as measured by a Kill-a-Watt power meter. Power draw was tested at minimum shown idling for one minute at the Windows 10 desktop and maximum during Passmark all-core CPU benchmarking.