GeForce RTX Performance And IQ In Metro Exodus Explored Post Patch

The next installment in the Metro game series is here and for those not familiar, this game franchise is based on author Dmitry Glukhovsky's series of Metro novels that started with Metro 2033 back in 2005. As far as the written lore of the game is concerned, the first installment in the genre was Metro 2033, which was then followed by Metro Last Light (and Last Light Redux) and today we'll be looking at the latest release, Metro Exodus.    Like other releases in the Metro series, Metro Exodus follows a post-apocalyptic story line that takes place in the former Russian Federation,...

Instagram Software Code Details New Feature Coming To Help Creators Make Bank

by Brittany Goetting - Sat, Feb 23, 2019

Is Instagram gunning for Pinterest’s user base? A security researcher recently discovered new details for public Collections in Instagram's code. This feature would help Instagram directly compete with Pinterest and provide new money-making opportunities for Instagram creators. Instagram launched their “Collections” feature over two years ago. This feature allows users to save and organize posts from their Instagram feed. For better or for worse, these Collections are currently private. Users can click on “See more like this” to find posts similar to the ones in their...

Facebook Will Shutter Onavo VPN App Following Intense Privacy Scrutiny

by Brittany Goetting - Fri, Feb 22, 2019

Facebook is notorious for disrespecting users’ privacy. Users have plenty of reasons to be suspicious of the social media site, thanks to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the most recent privacy breach, and everything in between. The social media giant is thankfully now taking a step in the right direction by removing their Onavo VPN app from the Google Play store. The Onavo VPN can no longer be found in the Google Play store and Facebook has stopped recruiting potential users. Facebook promises that the app will be completely shut down, although they have not provided a final date. They...

Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Commercial Flight Hits Record 801 MPH With Epic Jet Stream Assist

by Brittany Goetting - Wed, Feb 20, 2019

It is almost always nice when your flight lands a little early, but one recent flight landed quite a bit earlier than usual. A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 reached 801 mph thanks to the help from a jet stream. This flight broke the Boeing 787-9’s previous record of 776 mph. The Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angeles to London reached 801 mph on Monday night while flying over central Pennsylvania. At one point in the air, the plane was traveling faster than the speed of sound. The flight landed 48 minutes earlier than expected and many other flights in the United States were shortened by...

Researchers Find YouTube Is Heavily Influencing Evidence-Challenged Flat Earthers

by Brittany Goetting - Mon, Feb 18, 2019

Could YouTube partly be responsible for the increase in “flat earthers”? Researchers have discovered that many flat earthers were persuaded by YouTube videos. Many of these videos had been recommended or promoted by YouTube’s algorithm. A “flat earther” is a person who believes that the earth is a flat plane or disc instead of a sphere. Many ancient civilizations including the Greeks, Egyptians, and Mesopotamians held this belief and incorporated the theory into their cosmology. Although modern scientists have concluded that the earth is a sphere, the flat earth theory...

Cracks Appear In Fortnite's Map As Earthquakes Rumble Below

by Brittany Goetting - Fri, Feb 15, 2019

Have you been wanting to take a crack at playing Fortnite? Now may be your chance to jump in on the action. Earthquake fissures have begun to appear on the Fortnite map. There had been a number of earthquakes in the game leading up to the v7.40 update on February 14th. Until the update, the earthquakes had not produced any visible damage. Players then noticed that a fissure had appeared southwest of the “Tomato Temple”. A total of three cracks have materialized on the map. The earthquakes now seem to be occurring once every twelve hours and the FNBR fansite has even added an earthquake...

QLED Versus OLED, What To Expect From Samsung’s 4K And 8K TVs

by Chris Goetting - Wed, Feb 13, 2019

Earlier this week, Samsung announced their new 2019 lineup of 4K and 8K televisions using a display technology they call QLED. The term QLED looks suspiciously like OLED, but do the two technologies actually have much in common? After fielding a few questions about this on our website and social media, we want to clear up any confusion between them and expound on what to expect in terms of picture quality from each. We will start at the beginning with a basic LED LCD display. Virtually everyone has encountered one of these displays at some point in their life as they make up the majority of the...

Apple Places Dead Last In Autonomous Car Disengagements Reported To CA DMV

by Brittany Goetting - Wed, Feb 13, 2019

It looks as though Apple's autonomous vehicle efforts still have a ways to go before they can compare with the best in the industry. The numbers are in, and Apple reported more self-driving vehicle disengagements than any other company. Apple’s 62 vehicles experienced a grand total of 69,510 disengagements. A “disengagement” is when an autonomous vehicle either gives control back to the driver or when a driver interferes. Ideally, the self-driving car should remain “engaged” during the entirety of the drive unless there is an unusual and unavoidable emergency. Apple...

EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 XC Review: Compact And Overclocked

by Marco Chiappetta - Mon, Jan 28, 2019

Shortly after NVIDIA initially launched the first wave of high-end Turing-based GeForce RTX cards, EVGA announced a dizzying array of new graphics cards featuring the new GPU. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that EVGA did the same when NVIDIA expanded the GeForce RTX family with the more main-stream, GeForce RTX 2060. EVGA already has three RTX 2060s in its line-up, two short-board, single-fan offerings, and a larger, dual-fan model with a GPU that’s clocked significantly higher than NVIDIA’s reference specifications. We’ve got the card in the middle of the stack...

Nintendo President Casts Doubt On Switch Price Cuts Or Hardware Refresh

by Brittany Goetting - Fri, Jan 25, 2019

There is little doubt that the Nintendo Switch has been a huge success. Many people are hoping to get their hands on a discounted console or itching to see how Nintendo will update the Switch. However, it appears that for the time being, fans should not expect any major changes. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that his company will not be cutting the price or updating the hardware of the Nintendo Switch. Furukawa was recently interviewed by The Sankei News, a daily online Japanese newspaper. Furukawa remarked, “Nintendo Switch is our primary sales objective, and we are not considering...

Microsoft Edge Mobile Browser Combats Rampant Fake News With NewsGuard Partnership

by Brittany Goetting - Wed, Jan 23, 2019

How far would you go to combat fake news? Microsoft has partnered with third-party startup NewsGuard to warn Edge mobile users about unreliable sites. However, one news site is not particularly pleased with their evaluation from NewsGuard. Mail Online has accused NewsGuard of publishing a “egregiously erroneous classification”. NewsGuard has given Mail Online a one out of five on the credibility scale. Their mobile warning states, “Proceed with caution: this website generally fails to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability.” They also note that Mail Online...

Fortnite V-Bucks Have Become The Hot New Currency For Money Laundering

by Brittany Goetting - Sun, Jan 20, 2019

As Epic Games’ Fortnite has increased in popularity, so have the number of related scams and criminal activity. It was recently discovered that criminals are laundering Fortnite V-Bucks. Some believe that Epic Games has not taken enough precautionary measures to prevent such a crime. Fortnite is a free-to-play game, but features an in-game currency that can be used to purchase skins, emotes, and Battles Passes. V-Bucks or “Vindertech Bucks” can be earned by completing daily quests and missions or purchased through online vendors like Microsoft Store Online or the Official Playstation...

Millions Of Fortnite Accounts Were Exposed To Glaring Security Vulnerability Say Researchers

by Brittany Goetting - Wed, Jan 16, 2019

Hackers do not need to bust open a Drama Llama Piñata to get the best loot in Fortnite. Epic Games recently patched a vulnerability that would have granted hackers access to users’ accounts. Nefarious parties would have been able to acquire users’ in-game currency and the last four digits of their credit card. The vulnerability was discovered by Israeli cyber security company Check Point this past November. Epic Games quickly and quietly fixed the issue. They recently remarked, “We thank Check Point for bringing this to our attention. As always, we encourage players to...

Pinkertons Threaten Rockstar With Legal Action Over Portrayal In Red Dead Redemption 2

by Brittany Goetting - Tue, Jan 15, 2019

Red Dead Redemption 2 is widely regarded as a fairly accurate representation of the southwestern United States in the late nineteenth century. However, one group is not pleased with Rockstar’s depiction of the wild wild west. The Pinkerton Incorporation is suing Rockstar Games and its parent company, Take-Two. The Pinkertons filed a cease and desist order this past December and contended that Rockstar had no right to use the Pinkerton name in the game. They insisted that Take-Two either pay royalties or settle outside of court. They are particularly frustrated that they “are used as...

Overwatch Contender Player 'Ellie' Revealed As Imposter In Controversial 'Social Experiment'

by Brittany Goetting - Sun, Jan 06, 2019

The Overwatch community has been shaken by a controversial “social experiment”. “Ellie”, the first female North American Overwatch Contenders player, was actually an imposter. Both Blizzard and Overwatch Contenders team Second Wind have confirmed the sad truth. Overwatch Contenders is a tournament for potential pro players. Twelve teams in each of the seven Contender regions battle it out multiple times a year, and the winners have a chance of joining the Overwatch League. Overwatch Contenders team Second Wind signed on a player only known as Ellie at the last minute....

PepsiCo's Hello Goodness Snackbot Is A Cure-All For College Campus Munchies

by Brittany Goetting - Fri, Jan 04, 2019

To snack or not to snack? That used to be the question. Now college students do not need to choose between grabbing a treat and breaking up a study session. The PepsiCo Hello Goodness Snackbot, a self-driving robot, will now deliver snacks on select college campuses. Students, staff and faculty at the University of Pacific in Stockton, California can now order snacks from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the Snackbot app. The robot will deliver goods at 50 designated areas across the campus. The Snackbot can go more than 20 miles on a single charge and includes a camera, headlights, and all-wheel drive...

Alienware m15 Review: Thin, Light, Dense, Deadly

by Michael J. A. Sexton, Dave Altavilla - Fri, Jan 04, 2019

The gaming laptop market is one of one of the largest and most diverse segments of the PC industry, with systems ranging in price from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Dell's Alienware gaming machines typically lean towards the higher-end of the price spectrum, with premium build quality and strong component configurations, like the Alienware m15 that we're looking at here today. Dell's Alienware gaming division has re-tooled this machine as well, almost from the ground-up, while still preserving its classic Alienware design signature. The new Alienware m15 ranges in price from $1,379.99...

Activision Blizzard Set To Fire Its CFO After Rocky 2018

by Brittany Goetting - Tue, Jan 01, 2019

Some new years begin with champagne and fireworks, others begin with termination of employment. Activision Blizzard announced that they plan to fire their Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann for undisclosed reasons. The announcement comes on the heels of a rather rocky financial year for Blizzard. Neumann has been placed on paid leave and will receive the opportunity to argue against his termination. Starting today, Chief Corporate Officer (CCO) Dennis Durkin will assume Neumann’s responsibilities and will fully take over the position once Neumann is fired. Blizzard claims that Neumann’s...

Popsugar's Twinning Selfie App Springs A Leak And Exposes Users' Photos

by Brittany Goetting - Mon, Dec 31, 2018

It’s 10pm. Do you know where your selfies are? It was recently revealed that Popsugar’s Twinning app has been accidentally leaking users’ photos. It is believed that hundreds of thousands of photos were available to anyone who knew how to access them. Popsugar is a media company that focuses on trends, fashion, beauty, fitness, and food. Its Twinning app is a photo-matching tool that finds a user’s top-five celebrity “twins”. Users need to simply upload a selfie of themselves from the shoulders up through the #twinning app. They are then able to share their matches...

Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, Beautifully Remastered Using Unreal Engine 4

by Brittany Goetting - Sun, Dec 30, 2018

It has been a number of years since The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has received an update. However, one fan has taken it upon themself to modernize the award-winning game. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is currently being beautifully remastered in Unreal Engine 4. YouTube user CryZENx has been lovingly overhauling Ocarina of Time and other Nintendo 64 games for a number of years. He recently showed off his progress in a 25-minute long YouTube video. Not all of the controls and animations are perfect, but it is certainly a refreshing update. Image from CryZENx  CryZENx has even...

DJI Mavic 2 Zoom Review: An Eagle-Eyed Aerial Ace

by Rod Scher - Fri, Dec 28, 2018

Let me say right off the bat that I am not the guy you want flinging $1,200 drones through the sky, especially around cliffs, the ocean, and dense forests, all of which are common where I live. But I took one for the team and decided to check out the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom anyway. You see, I have issues with both directions and spatial relationships; I can get lost in my shower, and concepts such as "north," "south," and "up the road" are foreign to me. Thus, on the road, I simply drive where my wife points. (Also, I should mention that I'm old and cranky. Possibly because my wife is always pointing...

Electronic Arts Gearing Up For Battlefield V Microtransactions In January 2019

by Brittany Goetting - Wed, Dec 26, 2018

“Microtransaction” is often considered a dirty word in the gaming community. Several developers have come under fire for unfriendly, and even predatory, practices. However, the controversy surrounding microstransactions will not prevent Electronic Arts from incorporating them into its games. Battlefield V will include microtransactions this upcoming January. According to a recent Amazon store listing, the microtransactions should be live January 18th, 2019. Players can already pre-order the “Battlefield Currency” for their Xbox One game. Prices range from $4.99 USD for 500...