From Lawbreakers to Turing Test: No surprises, just games at E3’s PC Gaming Show

The show was big on demos and canned footage; light on shockers (sorry Half-Life 3).

After last year's inaugural PC Gaming Show at E3—a slow, sometimes painful rollout of games followed by lengthy interview segments—we weren't sure what to expect in the 2016 sequel. But today, a slew of developers offered PC gamers much quicker teases and blurbs about some titles to watch for within the next year.

In total, roughly titles were shown off. There was also expansion pack and video card news plus a lengthy appreciation of the mouse and keyboard from Warren Spector. While light on hard details like release dates, overall the show presented a diverse array of games that spanned gameplay genre and developer pedigree. Above is information on everything we took in, and below are some select notes on titles that looked particularly promising.

Ark Survival Evolved showed off a Primitive Plus mod, coming late July to players. The mod will apparently be good for roleplaying, playing on a high technology tier, creating your own storefronts. The team presenting mentioned that the goal is to create a pack of creatures, play with them, raise babies, and level them up. Players will be able to go through lifecycles from babies to adults, and the team snuck in some cheeky additions like a mate button and a poop button. (Our Sam Machkovech likened it to "Ultima Online but with DINOSAURS!")

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$350 Pip-Boy Deluxe Bluetooth Edition is the second-most ridiculous smartwatch to date

Last summer Bethesda launched a limited edition Pip-Boy smartphone accessory that allowed you to strap your phone to your wrist and use it while playing Fallout 4.
Now Bethesda has partnered with ThinkGeek to offer an even more realistic version of the…

$350 Pip-Boy Deluxe Bluetooth Edition is the second-most ridiculous smartwatch to date

Last summer Bethesda launched a limited edition Pip-Boy smartphone accessory that allowed you to strap your phone to your wrist and use it while playing Fallout 4.

Now Bethesda has partnered with ThinkGeek to offer an even more realistic version of the wrist computer from its popular game series.

The Pip-Boy: Deluxe Bluetooth Edition is basically a reproduction of the Pip-Boy accessory from the games, complete with knobs, dials, and monochrome display.

Continue reading $350 Pip-Boy Deluxe Bluetooth Edition is the second-most ridiculous smartwatch to date at Liliputing.

Digging into the dev documentation for APFS, Apple’s new file system

Copy-on-write metadata, native encryption, instant cloning, snapshots, and more.

(credit: Aurich Lawson)

Though the feature wasn’t mentioned in Apple’s WWDC 2016 keynote, I’m most excited about the introduction of the Apple File System, or APFS. The preliminary version of the developer documentation is online now, and it looks like the new file system introduces a whole boat-load of solid features—including a few out of the ZFS playbook.

APFS looks to be a major update over Apple’s old and creaky HFS+ file system, which has been around in one form or another for decades. It's been the subject of expansions and additions over the years, but HFS+ never approached the extensibility and flexibility of current next-generation file systems. Rather than continuing to bolt stuff onto the old code, we now (finally!) get a new file system that has some truly compelling features.

First, the caveats

But before we get into the good stuff, let’s real quick talk about the bad stuff—or, at least, the "this is still in development so here’s what doesn’t quite work" stuff. Apple’s documentation notes that because APFS is still a developer preview, you cannot use an APFS volume as a startup disk. You also can’t use it as a Time Machine volume or part of a Fusion Drive configuration, nor can you use File Vault encryption on it.

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Dell new gaming PCs include Alienware 13 OLED laptop, 2nd-gen Alienware Alpha mini PC

Dell new gaming PCs include Alienware 13 OLED laptop, 2nd-gen Alienware Alpha mini PC

Dell is updating its Alienware line of gaming computers with several new systems including an updated Alienware Alpha mini-desktop which Dell says is ready for 4K gaming and virtual reality and a 13 inch laptop with an OLED display.

Alienware 13 OLED notebook

Dell first showed off this 13 inch notebook at the Consumer Electronics Show. It goes on sale June 14th, alongside the new Alienware desktops.

The laptop’s hallmark feature is the 2560 x 1440 pixel OLED touchscreen display, which Dell says has a 1ms response time and a contrast ratio of 100,000:1.

Continue reading Dell new gaming PCs include Alienware 13 OLED laptop, 2nd-gen Alienware Alpha mini PC at Liliputing.

Dell new gaming PCs include Alienware 13 OLED laptop, 2nd-gen Alienware Alpha mini PC

Dell is updating its Alienware line of gaming computers with several new systems including an updated Alienware Alpha mini-desktop which Dell says is ready for 4K gaming and virtual reality and a 13 inch laptop with an OLED display.

Alienware 13 OLED notebook

Dell first showed off this 13 inch notebook at the Consumer Electronics Show. It goes on sale June 14th, alongside the new Alienware desktops.

The laptop’s hallmark feature is the 2560 x 1440 pixel OLED touchscreen display, which Dell says has a 1ms response time and a contrast ratio of 100,000:1.

Continue reading Dell new gaming PCs include Alienware 13 OLED laptop, 2nd-gen Alienware Alpha mini PC at Liliputing.

TVOS 4.0: Apple TV bekommt Live-TV und wird zur Heimsteuerzentrale

Mit Apple TV hat Apple noch viel vor: Die Settop-Box soll sich nun mit dem iPhone und einer App genauso gut steuern lassen wie mit der Apple Remote. Auch die Siri-Steuerung wurde verbessert, mehr Live-TV eingeführt, und zur Heimsteuerung soll die Box ebenfalls genutzt werden. (Apple TV, Set-Top-Box)

Mit Apple TV hat Apple noch viel vor: Die Settop-Box soll sich nun mit dem iPhone und einer App genauso gut steuern lassen wie mit der Apple Remote. Auch die Siri-Steuerung wurde verbessert, mehr Live-TV eingeführt, und zur Heimsteuerung soll die Box ebenfalls genutzt werden. (Apple TV, Set-Top-Box)

Microsoft: Zwei neue Xboxen und eine große Plattform

John Carmack spielt eine Virtual-Reality-Version von Minecraft, die PC-Version gibt’s bei Konsolenspielen mit dazu (oder umgekehrt). Vor allem aber hat Microsoft auf seiner Pressekonferenz die Gerüchte über eine kleinere Xbox One und über eine besonders leistungsstarke Xbox Scorpio bestätigt. (Xbox One, Xbox Live)

John Carmack spielt eine Virtual-Reality-Version von Minecraft, die PC-Version gibt's bei Konsolenspielen mit dazu (oder umgekehrt). Vor allem aber hat Microsoft auf seiner Pressekonferenz die Gerüchte über eine kleinere Xbox One und über eine besonders leistungsstarke Xbox Scorpio bestätigt. (Xbox One, Xbox Live)

Scammers have already started trying to exploit Orlando shooting for bitcoins

Fake Twitter account for Pulse nightclub asks for “contributions” through scam site.

The apparently fraudulent Twitter account associated with a scam site trying to turn the Orlando mass shooting into a Bitcoin factory.

The vultures have already begun to descend on the tragedy in Orlando, Florida. A fake Twitter account claiming to represent the nightclub where the largest mass shooting in modern US history took place in the early hours of June 12 was calling for donations to assist victims—by sending bitcoins to buy bottled water and Oreo cookies. The account was suspended on Monday afternoon.

The scammers used a common tactic—they hijacked the name of the Pulse nightclub, attached the account to the various "hashtags" associated with the shooting, and built the account's apparent profile by attaching an army of fake followers so they could draw the attention of people following conversations about the shooting. The Twitter account directed followers to a shortened Web address to make donations. That Web address linked to the six-month-old domain desifreemovies.net—a domain with a fake registration address in California and a contact e-mail account associated with the Hushmail anonymous e-mail service.

A screenshot of the highly sophisticated scam site linked to by the Twitter account.

The site itself was a fairly transparent scam—a grammatically incorrect plain HTML page with fake Amazon Prime links and a note that if the links "don't work in your area" to instead send Bitcoin to a specific anonymous address. Based on data from Blockonomics, the wallet pulled in 0.04293381 bitcoins (about $30 US)—so it wasn't exactly successful in cashing in on the tragedy. The site was shut down after Ars contacted the hosting company.

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iOS 10: Apple verbessert Musik, Navigation und Messages

Apple hat auf dem WWDC 2016 einen detaillierten Einblick in das neue Mobilbetriebssystem gegeben. Mit iOS 10 ändert sich wieder einmal das Interface und in den Bereichen Musik, Navigation, Nachrichten und der Heimsteuerung gibt es die meisten Neuerungen. (iOS, Apple)

Apple hat auf dem WWDC 2016 einen detaillierten Einblick in das neue Mobilbetriebssystem gegeben. Mit iOS 10 ändert sich wieder einmal das Interface und in den Bereichen Musik, Navigation, Nachrichten und der Heimsteuerung gibt es die meisten Neuerungen. (iOS, Apple)

New file system spotted in macOS Sierra

Apple File System (AFPS) “engineered with encryption as a primary feature.”

Now that the WWDC keynote is over, Apple has published the names of the developer sessions to attendees at the conference. Previously masked by placeholder names, there are a bunch of events that folks can now plan on attending—including, apparently, a session discussing Apple's new file system for macOS.

Dubbed APFS, for "Apple File System," the session description implies that the new file system is a replacement for the aged HFS+ file system, which has been used in one form or another by OS X since its launch back in 2001. We're pretty light on details at this point, but the session description says that APFS is designed from the ground up to be optimized for use on SSDs and other flash-based media, and that it was "engineered with encryption as a primary feature."

We don't know if the new file system is Apple's own creation or if it's an adaptation from an existing journaled, encrypted file system. OS X (now macOS) power users have long had hopes that ZFS will take over as Apple's primary desktop file system—and, indeed, for a while it looked like that's what was going to happen. With the introduction being made here at WWDC, it's very likely this is an Apple original.

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AMD announces two more Polaris video cards: RX 470, RX 460

Targeting “1080p” and “MOBA” gaming, respectively; prices, release dates not announced.

AMD CEO Lisa Su shows off two new Polaris 14mm process video cards. Boy, the RX 460 and RX 470 sure are tiny, ain't they?

LOS ANGELES—At E3's second-annual PC Gaming Show, AMD CEO Lisa Su came to the event with a briefcase in hand, which she cracked open to reveal more video cards from the company's new Polaris line: the RX 460 and RX 470.

These new 14mm process cards looked itsy-bitsy, teeny-weenie in Su's hands, and they will be matched with lower-end specs than the $199 RX 480 card, which received a separate reveal two weeks ago. Su described the RX 470 as an ideal card for "1080p gaming," while the RX 460 promises to offer serious power for the low energy requirement of 75 watts, meant for simpler visual games like League of Legends and other MOBAs. Impressively, neither appeared to have full-shroud cooling units attached; we'll have to wait to see how these low-energy, low-heat units react to overclocking.

VR with a backpack. Doesn't look silly at all...

Specs, prices, and release dates for these two Polaris cards were not formally announced at the event. Su also brought on a representative to walk around the stage wearing a backpack complete with an Alienware PC installed inside—which could actually be light and comfortable if AMD pulls off a small form factor with the "disruptive" $199 RX 480 card packed inside.

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