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The Puffco Peak vaporizer is a quick hit of concentrated genius
Hell hath no fury like a stoner who has just had to dig his last nugget of honeycomb wax out of the carpet because the wad of sticky concentrate managed to fall off its dabbing tool. I mean, do you still fire it up -- carpet fuzz, cat hair and all -- or simply take the L and move on with your evening? Neither, you get yourself a tabletop cannabis vaporizer that doesn't require a menagerie of industrial tools to operate and which can be loaded as easily as a hash pipe.
The challenge of showcasing weed tech at CES
There was, as expected, a thin scent of weed in Roger Volodarsky's 28th-floor Mirage hotel suite as the Puffco CEO and founder demonstrated his latest product. It was 11:30 PM the night before CES opened, and seven attendees gathered in the living room overlooking the Vegas strip. A welcoming, tattooed man with a groomed beard and shaved head, Volodarsky was showing off the Puffco Peak, a smart dabbing rig for consuming cannabis concentrates that he'd presented at the Pepcom media event just hours earlier. Away from the mainstream events around CES, he could show how it truly works.
Double Robotics turns its telepresence robot into a VR rig
There's one big problem with trying to capture virtual reality video while moving... those pesky humans. Even if you have stabilizing gear, the person carrying the camera will still limit what and how you shoot. Double Robotics has a simple answer to that, though: its newly-launched 360 Camera Dolly robot transforms the company's telepresence bot into a remotely controlled, silent VR camera rig. If you want to record a cinematic tracking shot or college campus tour, you don't need any people or noisy equipment on the scene.
Security director rigged lotteries with code
New evidence in an Iowa case shows a former security director at the Multi-State Lottery Association used code to rig draws. If someone made an 80s wish fulfilment movie for hackers, this might just be the plot. Or at least, until the whole getting caught part. Eddie Raymond Tipton was convicted for jackpot-fixing last year, but much of the prosecution's case was based on circumstantial evidence -- as the number generators involved had since been destroyed. A new filing on Wednesday this week claims to show that investigators have recovered code that proves the draws were fixed.
GoPro's 'Omni' VR camera rig officially unveiled
It was almost a year ago we learned that GoPro was planning a spherical camera rig for VR. Back then, that was pretty much all we knew. The announcement came at the same time that CEO Nick Woodman confirmed the rumors his company was working on a drone (that we're still eagerly waiting for). We'd seen some prototypes of the rig before, but it wasn't until February, GoPro gave finally it a name: Omni. Today, for the first time, we get to see what the final product actually looks like (hint, much like the last prototype as most of the updates are internal, but that's it above). And we've got a sample of the sort of image you might expect from it below.
GoPro's 16-camera rig for Google Jump VR costs $15,000
Google launched Jump, a platform for VR video, back at its developer conference in May -- along with a slightly bonkers camera rig called Odyssey co-designed with GoPro. Today, prospective content creators can put their name down to get early access to the hardware (pictured after the break), which GoPro tells us is only available in limited quantity. Google already did something similar, but this time the scheme appears to be specifically aimed at professional partners. We also get to know a little bit more about the rig, including its cost: an eye-watering (at least for us amateurs) $15,000.
Check out the ultimate Elite: Dangerous setup
Immersion is all in the eye of the beholder. It's all about what you need to feel as if you're stepping out of your world and into the game, something that can happen on a setup as simple as a handheld game console in the right circumstances. But it can also happen on a setup like that belonging to Elite: Dangerous fan Markus Boesen, which is going to put your own setup to shame no matter how good it may be. Boesen's game cockpit is setup with head tracking, three monitors angled for a simulation of peripheral vision, touchscreen interfaces, two joysticks, and more or less everything you could ever want to pretend that you're really sitting in a ship and flying through space. There's a video just past the break, if you'd like to see the setup in action and possibly make some last-minute amendments to your winter holiday gift list.
Plantronics' $130 Rig gaming headset homes in on the mobile gaming crowd
We've known Plantronics to craft solid PC gaming headsets and now, separate from the GameCom series, its new Rig package aims to appease gamers on every platform. The stereo headset itself features a slim profile with circumarual earcups that fold flat and it connects with two included cables: one features a boom mic, while the other packs an in-line remote and mic for smartphones. The heart of the setup lies within a wired mixer, which'll let you hook up your cellphone, gaming rig (computer or console via USB and Toslink) and the headset simultaneously. Aside from a slider that lets you adjust the balance of game and chat volume (à la Astro's Mixamp), you can answer phone calls and re-route the mic as necessary at the press of a rocker switch. What's more, game audio (including chat) can be mixed into your headset during calls and visa versa via a second balance slider. Lastly, you'll have a choice of three EQ profiles, including a bass boost for extra wubs. Rig will hit retailers in the fall for $130, and we're told future products under the moniker will drop beyond that. Full press release after the break.
EVE Evolved: New Ancillary Armor Repairers aren't up to the task
EVE Online's Retribution 1.1 patch went live this week, overhauling armour tanking and rebalancing some ships that traditionally fit armour tanks. Last week I looked at why people usually choose passive buffer tanks for PvP over active tanks and how the Ancillary Shield Boosters changed all that by giving shield users a huge free burst tank that can often outperform a front-loaded buffer tank. The new Ancillary Armor Repairers look similarly amazing on paper with their ability to consume nanite repair paste to triple repair output, but how do they stack up against their shield-based counterparts? Now that the patch is out and I've finally got my hands on the Ancillary Armor Repairers, I'm not sure they're any good. They're limited to one per ship even though most active armour tanking ships use dual or triple repairer setups, and they can run for only eight repair cycles before running out of paste. They're also only 68.75% more effective than tech 2 repairers and still require the same amount of capacitor. Ancillary Shield Boosters may provide a slightly smaller 63.33% repair boost over tech 2 boosters, but they can cycle at double the rate of Ancillary Armor Repairers and don't require any capacitor. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at what makes Ancillary Shield Boosters a strong contender in PvP and show that the new Ancillary Armor Repairers just aren't up to the task.
AMD updates its FX processors: 8-core chip has 4GHz base clock, '15 percent' more oomph, $195 price tag
If you get the impression that AMD is diverting its energy away from traditional CPUs and towards APUs and fresher PC form factors such as all-in-ones, then you're certainly right -- but you're also slightly ahead of the game. The company promises there's a still a good few years of life left in its CPU-only chips and the AM3+ socket, and it's putting today's announcement forward as evidence. As of now, last year's eight-core FX-8150 has been superseded on retailers' shelves by the FX-8350, which notches the stock clock speed up to 4GHz, or 4.2GHz on turbo (alas with no obvious sign of that resonant mesh we once heard about). The full stack (codenamed 'Vishera') includes eight-, six- and four-core options, all based on the new Piledriver architecture which -- when combined with these higher clock speeds -- promises an overall performance uplift of around 15 percent versus the old Bulldozer cores. To be fair though, those Bulldozers weren't so snappy to begin with, and besides, the most significant performance claims with this upgrade relate to multi-threaded applications and a few gaming titles like Skyrim and Civ 5. Judging from the slide deck below, gains in other areas of performance may be lower -- perhaps in the region of seven percent -- so as usual we're going to roundup a bunch of reviews later today before we jump to any conclusions. If it turns out that stock performance alone isn't enough to sell these chips, then potential buyers still ought to check out FX's pricing relative to Intel -- not least because, as is typical, AMD sells overclockable chips at no extra charge. The top-end FX-8350 will hit the market at $195, which is not only cheaper than some earlier leaks suggested, but also $40 cheaper than an unlocked Core i5-3570K that has a lower clock speed and a smaller L3 cache -- although the relative performance of these two chips remains to be independently tested. Meanwhile, the entry-level quad-core FX-4300 will virtually match the price of a locked i3-2120 at $122, but can be readily overclocked to 5GHz with water-cooling. AMD is also making a few claims based on the cost of multiple components in a rig: for example, that you can spend $372 on an FX-8350 and Radeon HD 7850 combo that delivers a 25 to 70 percent gaming advantage over a similarly priced Core i5 3570K with a GeForce GTX 650 Ti. Again, stay tuned for our roundup and we'll figure out just how compelling this really is.
Watch DOA 5's Rig beat up Bass (on a rig)
Meet Dead or Alive 5's Rig. Through some incredible cosmological coincidence, Rig works on an oil rig. He also has a penchant for weird, sleeveless hoodies. Get to know him intimately in the video above.
The NOFAN CR-95C: a fanless copper CPU cooler for your next-gen build
Interesting times to be shopping around for a processor, but what about a new cooler to go with it? This unassuming little work of art is the copper special edition of the NOFAN CR-95C, which is rated to cool CPUs of up to 100W TDP without the need for a fan. Judging from all the Intel and AMD leaks, that level efficiency ought to have you covered regardless of whether you opt for Ivy Bridge or Trinity -- so long as you don't mind hanging around until June, because FanlessTech reckons we won't see it go on sale any sooner.
Maingear brings Intel i7-3960X Extreme Edition chip, Epic Audio Engine to desktops, extreme gamers
Looking to add a dash of extremity to your gaming existence? Maingear's got you covered, now that it's added a second generation Intel Core i7 CPU to a handful of its desktop offerings. Today, the company announced yet another upgrade to its SHIFT, Quantum SHIFT and F131 desktops, with the addition of the Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition processor. According to Maingear, this extra horsepower will provide gamers with a 34 percent improvement in performance at normal speeds, while offering similar enhancements in video editing and 3D rendering capabilities. That's all thanks to the fact that the i7-3960X can be overclocked at a handsome 5.2GHz, with a quad-channel memory structure that brings even more bandwidth to the table. On top of that, the company has also added its own EPIC Audio Engine to this troika of rigs, using Aphex's processing technology to offer audio that, according to Maingear, is "more balanced, more articulated, and simply put, better sounding." The revamped desktops are on sale now, so hit up the source link for more information, or check out the full PR, after the break.
AMD Llano desktop APU gets reviewed: the best integrated graphics in town
AMD is due to release a batch of new Llano APUs next month that are specifically tailored to desktops rather than laptops. The most powerful among them will be the 2.9GHz A8-3850, which has already caused a stir on the review circuit for one simple reason: it pulls off a brutal "one shot one kill" on Intel's HD 3000 integrated graphics. AnandTech raised an impressed eyebrow at the fact that all its benchmarking games were playable on the $135 AMD chip, which roughly doubled frame rates in titles like Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock 2 and World of Warcraft compared to the more expensive Sandy Bridge i5 2500K. TechSpot declared the APU its "new budget king," with graphical performance "on another level" compared even to an i7. However, the superlatives quickly evaporated once reviewers shifted their focus to the CPU. TechReport spotted that pure CPU performance per dollar was actually lower than what you'd get from a lowly i3. Moreover, it reckoned you'd only have to spend an extra $70 to buy a much more powerful CPU and a separate graphics card -- an option that comes "awfully close to making the A8-3850 seem irrelevant." Ouch. Nevertheless, if an affordable processor with integrated graphics is what you're after, then it's fair to say this one sets the standard. Click the source links below for full reviews.
HotHardware surveys the Cougar Point motherboard horizon, spots a winner
There's an ocean of possibilities when it comes to choosing the right Socket LGA 1155 board to mother your Sandy Bridge processor. But a roundup review at HotHardware funnels it down to just five rivals within a $179-$267 price bracket and based on Intel's P67 chipset: two offerings from Asus, plus one each from ASRock, Gigabyte and MSI. The reviewers found clear favorites depending on what you're looking for: The ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional and MSI P67A-GD80 can both bring serious aesthetics to your super rig, and the former has a particularly good bang-for-buck ratio. The Asus P8P67 WS Revolution stands out with four full-length PCI Express lanes for crazy graphics, while the more conservative Asus P8P67 Professional has the lowest idle power consumption of the lot. Click the source link now if you'd prefer to discover the overall winner for yourself. Otherwise, all we can say is, viva la Revolution.
Stunning BioShock PC case mod proves utopia is not underwater
Most people who order 5 gallons of mineral oil are looking to help a constipated horse make a BM. Not this dude: He used the stuff to create one of the most impressive PC case mods we've ever seen.
EVGA's dual-CPU Classified SR-2 motherboard put to the test: worth the money if you know what you're doing
You know things are changing when cooling units that could once stave off overheating on top-tier graphics cards are starting to show up on motherboards. EVGA's Classified SR-2 is a supersized, dual-socket desktop building block that tries to do it all, and -- unusually for dual-CPU logic boards -- it's targeted at enthusiasts rather than buttoned-down business types. Four PCI-Express x16 slots, room for a dozen memory sticks (up to 48GB of RAM), and two USB 3.0 ports add some spec sheet glamor, but you'll likely be wanting to know how much performance you can wring out of two 3.33GHz Intel Xeon 5680 chips working in tandem. The short answer is a lot. The long answer is, of course, that you'll need to apply those 24 threads of power to applications that can really utilize them, such as the predictable video processing and 3D rendering. That's where the multithreaded, multicore, multiprocessor rig really shone in this review, and the EVGA board underpinning it also acquitted itself with distinction. Hit the source for the benchmark results and more photography of exposed circuitry.
CrossOver Games releases version 8.1.0
The folks behind CrossOver Games sent us a note that version 8.1.0 of their software has come out, and it's got some nice upgrades for Mac and Linux folks who prefer to run their games in Windows almost-emulators (it's based on Wine, and as we all know, Wine Is Not an Emulator) rather than Boot Camping over to the real thing. We tried out CrossOver Games a while back, and found it lacking in almost everything but Steam games, but actually that's OK, because lately Steam has a lot of games going on. Accordingly, this new version has support built-in for the brand new Left 4 Dead 2, as well as fixes for Steam's voice chat, a few upgrades for WoW on Linux and Guild Wars, and a couple of changes to ensure compatibility with Snow Leopard. Sounds like a nice solid upgrade -- owners of the software can grab it for free, or you can try out the app for yourself from their website. In case you don't have the app yet, CodeWeavers also let us know that they're giving away a Linux rig that's the "ultimate" in... wait for it... gaming. Yes, putting together a Linux rig for gaming is like putting a UFC fighter on a dance show, but we guess stranger things have happened. Anyway, CrossOver Games will definitely help you play at least a few games on the decked-out rig, if you want a shot at winning the thing, all you have to do is pick up the software before December 1st. They'll pick a name out of a hat, and if it's yours, there'll be an awesome 'nix box headed your way. Good luck with getting smooth fullscreen Flash video to work. We kid! You Linux guys make it so easy. Oh wait, what's that? Flash on the iPhone? I have no idea what you're talking about.
Video: elaborate multi-camera rig elegantly captures giant redwood tree
For anyone who's taken a cruise down the Avenue of the Giants or went looking for Stormtroopers within Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park, you're apt to feel a great deal of appreciation for the image just after the break. Michael Nichols, a National Geographic photographer, rigged up a ridiculous camera setup that was strategically lowered from the top of a 300-foot tree to the ground in order to get an astoundingly tall (and downright breathtaking) shot. Oh, and while you're gawking at the pixels down there, feel free to mash play on that video to see how it all came together.[Via Hack A Day]
WoW Rookie: A computer to love WoW with
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic, and be sure to visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's.WoW Rookie has already answered the first question asked by so many new players when they realize "You know, I think I'd like to have my own characters and my own account -- but will my computer run WoW?" This week, we'll burrow into the next level: "We've been engaged for months now. I'm in love, I'm committed, I'm of legal age (level 80, baby!) and I'm ready to drop some cash. What should I be looking for in a computer system to settle down in?" If you're not into PvP, you may have missed PvP specialist Zach Yonzon's excellent series this summer on gearing up for PvP. But wait -- this is no in-game gear guide. Surprise! It's a look at the best hardware for running World of Warcraft. Whether you enjoy PvP or PvE content, here's a look at the gear that'll deliver the eye-popping, mind-blowing, mouse-clicking madness you crave for endgame WoW performance.
