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Thursday Afternoon (4 Comments) (link)
Thursday, 21-June-2018 15:17:16 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Optus have officially given up on being able to broadcast the World Cup, handing the reins over to SBS and handing money back to customers. “The money we are giving back pales in comparison to the money we are spending in terms of the studio that we’ve built and the people on the ground that we have in Moscow. “From a cost point of view it’s a hit, but it’s not a significant hit.” Despite having major issues delivering its stream to the customers that had already paid, Mr Lew said Optus had conducted extensive testing and improvements on its network and had “absolute confidence” it could handle new users taking advantage of the free offer. This is after a fumble so noteworthy that the Prime Minister personally rang the CEO to ask what the dealio was. Ouch.

Determined not to let Optus dominate the headlines, Telstra have shed 8000 jobs and split into a major restructure. Telstra2022 strategy will have four key pillars; The retail offering will be reduced from 1800 consumer and small business plans to 20 simple core plans. Telstra infrastructure will go into a new $11 billion-dollar division called InfraCo. This operation will consist of fixed networks, data centres, fibre, copper, hybrid fibre coaxial and subsea cables, exchanges, poles, ducts and pipes. It will have a workforce of about 3000.

Apple have been reprimanded by Australia's Federal Court over illegally denying warranties. Apple was taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) after customers were unable to use their iPhones or iPads following an update, and were shown an 'error 53' warning. When the customers took their devices to Apple, the company's staff told at least 275 customers in Australia from 2015 to 2016 that the devices were no longer eligible to be repaired or replaced because the device had previously been repaired by a non-Apple repairer. ACCC commissioner Sarah Court said in a statement that this was in breach of Australian consumer law. If this happened to you, look into it, you might get a refund.

OCInside report from CeBIT 2018 in Hannover, Germany, with 180 photos. At the CeBIT 2018 computer fair in Hannover, Germany, there were a lot of interesting products presented again this year. The OCinside.de CeBIT 2018 picture gallery shows on 180 pictures some impressions of the new CeBIT and an overview of the newest IT products of AMD, Antec, Asus, Bosma, Cherry, Cooler Master, Crucial, CyberPower, Grandstream, Heiman, Ideal Power, Intel, Inter-Tech, Inno3D, Kodak, LCPower, Leicke, Samsung, Starcam, Thermaltake, Toshiba, Tuya, Zotac and many other companies. As always, enjoy browsing through the latest CeBIT hardware and trends.

Thursday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
Thursday, 21-June-2018 14:26:02 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
AMD Ryzen 7 2700 and Ryzen 5 2600 Processor on Modders-Inc.
Intel Core i7-8086K Preview – The 8800K Nostalgia Edition on TechARP.

Cooling:
Cooler Master ML240R AIO Liquid Cooler on FunkyKit.
Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3 AMD Threadripper CPU Cooler on FunkyKit.

Audio Visual:
Samsung C32HG70 FreeSync 2 HDR monitor on Guru3D.
ASUS ProArt PA27AC Monitor: The Best Workstation Monitor? on Tweaktown.

Storage:
ADATA XPG SX8200 SSD Review: Affordable, Quick NVMe-Based Storage on HotHardware.
Samsung 970 EVO 2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD on Tweaktown.
Samsung 970 Evo M.2 NVMe 250GB on OCAholic.
NVMe SSD Storage Performance: Intel Z370 vs. AMD X470 on TechSpot.
M.2 & PCIe SSD Charts: 13 SSDs - Samsung 970EVO 250GB on OCAholic.
LaCie DJI Co-Pilot 2TB on Tweaktown.
MyDigitalSSD SBX 512GB NVMe SSD on LegitReviews.
ADATA SX8200 480 GB on TechPowerUp.

Cases:
SilverStone Redline Series RL07 Tempered Glass Case on PC Perspective.
Corsair Crystal Series 280X RGB mATX on Modders-Inc.
Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L & Q300P on ThinkComputers.
In Win 305 on APHNetworks.

Input Etc:
Bloody B945 Light Strike Optical Left Hand Gaming Keyboard on OCClub.
SteelSeries SENSEI 310 Ambidextrous Esports Gaming Mouse on NikKTech.
ASUS ROG Strix Flare Mechanical Keyboard on BenchmarkReviews.
Havit's HV-KB390L low-profile keyboard on TechReport.
ASUS ROG Strix Flare keyboard on Vortez.

Memory:
Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4 4000 MHz on TechPowerUp.
TeamGroup T-Force VULCAN TUF DDR4 3200 MHz on Guru3D.

Misc:
ZOOZ Z-Wave Plus Indoor Siren ZSE01 on BigBruin.
Benq Screenbar e-Reading Lamp on ThinkComputers.
Stormforce Prism GTX 1080Ti on Vortez.
Microsoft's Windows 10 April Update reviewed on TechReport.

Tuesday Evening (10 Comments) (link)
Tuesday, 19-June-2018 17:30:59 (GMT +10) - by Agg

In a win for cyborgs everywhere, Meow-Ludo Meow-Meow has had his conviction overturned regarding using an Opal card embedded in his hand instead of held in it. Mr Meow-Meow, 33, pleaded guilty to using public transport without a valid ticket and for not producing a ticket to transport officers. In March, he was fined $220 for breaching the Opal Card terms of use and was ordered to pay $1,000 in legal costs. Mr Meow-Meow appealed against the conviction in the District Court and today it was quashed.

Gamers are up in arms over the discovery of a widespread tracking program called "Red Shell", included in lots of games. The information collected includes “operating system, browser version number, IP address (anonymized through one-way hashing), screen resolution, in-game user id, and font profiles.” Red Shell promises that only “device” information is collected on your computer, with nothing personally identifiable included in their tracking. Discussion and more info in this thread.

Fifteen more websites are to be blocked in Australia, thanks Axe. On Tuesday, Federal Court justice John Nicholas agreed, ordering the sites be blocked for a period of three years, after which Foxtel can apply to have the orders extended. ISPs must take "reasonable steps to disable access" to the list of websites within 15 business days and redirect internet users to a page advising the site has been blocked because it facilitates copyright infringement. Foxtel will pay the compliance costs of blocking the websites, calculated at $50 per domain name. In his judgment, Justice Nicholas said each website appeared to be principally designed to provide copyrighted material free of charge, demonstrating a "flagrant disregard by the operators of the rights of copyright owners".

Meanwhile gaming addiction has been classified as an official mental health condition. WHO said classifying “gaming disorder” as a separate addiction will help governments, families and health care workers be more vigilant and prepared to identify the risks. The agency and other experts were quick to note that cases of the condition are still very rare, with no more than up to 3 per cent of all gamers believed to be affected.

Both these giveaways are for USA residents only, but it's an amusing bit of tit-for-tat between Intel and AMD: in short, Intel are raffling special limited edition 8086K CPUs, and AMD is offering to let you swap yours for a Threadripper instead. The first 40 U.S.-based winners of the Intel® 8th Gen Core i7-8086k Limited Edition Sweepstakes (which opened on June 7, 2018 and closed on June 8, 2018) (“Competitor Sweepstakes”) to complete certain steps will be offered the opportunity to exchange their new, in-box prize processor for a flagship 16-core AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 1950X processor built for the gamers and creators who need a processor that can do it all.

Interesting Forum Threads (0 Comments) (link)
Monday, 18-June-2018 13:49:27 (GMT +10) - by Agg

You can keep on top of things in the forums via the recent activity feed or the new posts page. To see activity in threads you subscribe to, check out your latest alerts. Also, the alert system is a little different in our new xenForo platform than earlier on vBulletin. So, it's worth checking your watched threads list from time to time in case you missed an alert.

Meanwhile, here's a snapshot of what people are discussing in the forums:

What's your personal tech load-out? in Overclocking & Hardware.
(Review) Refillable pressure sprayer in Overclocking & Hardware.
Gaming Mice - Pointers, polling, acceleration, DPI, etc. Any major difference? in OC & HW.
How cool is this? ($2000 PC case) in Modding.
Custom Elm Wood and Rope PC in Modding.
Intel hires Raja Koduri, to make dedicated GPUs in Video Cards & Monitors.
NVIDIAS lie about VR in Video Cards & Monitors.
Help, cannot remove RVIA Monoblock in Extreme & Water Cooling.
What's your preference for amplifier sonic characteristics? in Audio Visual.
How to factory reset an HP Elitebook? in Troubleshooting Help.
Microsoft acquires GitHub in Programming & Software Development.
Cyberpunk 2077 - Witcher 2 devs in PC Games.
Satisfactory in PC Games.
Can someone explain to me why systemd is bad? in Other Operating Systems.
Detroit: Become Human - from Quantic Dream in Sony Consoles.
Card wallets in Lifestyle.
Pop up floor cupboard in Lifestyle.
eGauge Energy Monitor/Logger in Lifestyle.
Electric E-Type Jaguar.. OEM !! in Motoring.
2018 MotoGP Championship in Motorsport.
(Music) OCAU Metal Club in Entertainment.
(Movie) Deadpool 2 in Entertainment.
Paying cash for purchases over $10,000 illegal from July 2019 in Career, Education & Finance.

Monday Morning Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
Monday, 18-June-2018 10:11:03 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Motherboard & CPU:
GIGABYTE X299 Designare EX Motherboard on PC Perspective.
ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate motherboard on TechPowerUp.
ASUS Crosshair VII Hero AM4 Motherboard on HardOCP.

Cooling:
Be quiet! Silent Loop 360mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooler on NikKTech.
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Fan on BenchmarkReviews.
Antec Mercury M240 reader review on OCInside.

Power Supply:
Enermax MaxTytan 1250W on HardOCP.
Seasonic PRIME 1200W Platinum on HardOCP.

Audio Visual:
Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Pure Edition Hi-Resolution PCIe Gaming Sound Card on MadShrimps.
Alienware Wireless Gaming Headset: AW988 on HardOCP.

Input Etc:
Qwerkywriter S Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.
Cherry MX Board 5.0 Mechanical Keyboard on Tweaktown.
EasySMX EG-C3071W gaming controller on Vortez.
Fnatic Gear Clutch 2 Optical Gaming Mouse on Tweaktown.

Storage:
ADATA XPG SX8200 M.2 SSD on LegitReviews.
Silicon Power Armor A85 2TB USB 3.1 Gen 1 Portable Hard Drive on NikKTech.
Toshiba OCZ RC100 240GB M.2. SSD - NVMe under 30 Cents per GB on Guru3D.
WD My Passport 1TB on LanOC.

Misc:
PowerColor Radeon RX Vega 56 nano Preview video card on TechARP.
DeepCool NEW ARK 90 Tower Chassis (including liquid cooling) on Guru3D.
TEAMGROUP T-Force VULCAN TUF Gaming DDR4 memory on Vortez.
Huawei MateBook X Pro: Performance And Value In A Sleek Ultraportable on HotHardware.

Misc Pics (36 Comments) (link)
Friday, 15-June-2018 15:23:25 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Delayed somewhat due to BBQ duty at the kids' athletics carnival. :) Thanks to Ben and Simon this week!

Thursday Afternoon Reviews (0 Comments) (link)
Thursday, 14-June-2018 15:30:34 (GMT +10) - by Agg

AntikytheraBB suggested a timewaster for World Cup fans: the FIFA World Cup Fantasy game. It's free to play and you might even win a prize. Only 9 hours left to pick your team though! He made an OCAU league which you can join via this URL or by using the code WDPUPBQA. Good luck! Meanwhile, here's some reviews:

Audio Visual:
NVIDIA BFGD (Big Format Gaming Display) Preview on TechARP.
1MORE Quad Driver In-Ear Headphones on NikKTech.

Input Etc:
Logitech G513 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on BenchmarkReviews.
HyperX's Pulsefire Surge RGB gaming mouse on TechReport.
Motospeed CK61 keyboard on LanOC.
Corsair K70 RGB RapidFire MARK II keyboard on Guru3D.
Corsair's Strafe RGB MK.2 gaming keyboard on TechReport.

Storage:
ADATA XPG SX8200 480GB M.2 NVMe Solid State Drive on ThinkComputers.
Toshiba RC100 M.2 2242 240GB and 480GB SSD on PCPerspective.
Toshiba OCZ RC100 SSD on LegitReviews.
Toshiba OCZ RC100 SSD Review: Tiny, Affordable NVMe Storage on HotHardware.
Toshiba OCZ RC100 240GB & 480GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD on Tweaktown.
Synology DiskStation DS1618+ on ThinkComputers.
Silicon Power PCIe Gen3x2 P32A80 256GB SSD on MadShrimps.

Misc:
Noctua NH-U9 TR4-SP3 AMD Threadripper CPU Cooler on FunkyKit.
G.SKILL SNIPER X 3600 MHz DDR4 memory on TechPowerUp.

Defyant's Workshop (3 Comments) (link)
Wednesday, 13-June-2018 16:13:37 (GMT +10) - by Agg

If you've enjoyed Defyant's many PC mods linked on the news page over the years, you might be interested in his latest project - modding his workshop:

click for the thread!

Wednesday Afternoon (28 Comments) (link)
Wednesday, 13-June-2018 14:24:13 (GMT +10) - by Agg

Some Computex catch-up: AMD debuted the 2nd Gen Threadripper CPU, with 32 physical cores. More AMD coverage from TechARP, who also have Day 3 and Day 4 reports. They also cover the Intel side of things, and look at how Gigabyte AORUS had a PC in an aquarium.

Meanwhile from E3 there's a teaser for a new DOOM game! Announcing DOOM Eternal, the direct sequel to the award-winning and best-selling DOOM (2016). Developed by id Software, DOOM Eternal brings the ultimate combination of speed and power with the next leap in push-forward, first-person combat. Discussion here.

If you're still running Windows XP or Vista and you're a gamer, be aware that Steam will stop working for you next year. "Starting on January 1 2019, Steam will officially stop supporting the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. This means that after that date the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of Windows," Valve announced today. "In order to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam, users will need to update to a more recent version of Windows."

Speaking of being obsolete: so's your $17,000 Apple watch, thanks aftahours. Apple's famously expensive, gold Apple Watch is now out of date, just a couple of years after people were buying them for more than $10,000. As part of a whole suite of upgrades to its products, Apple just unveiled watchOS 5, the new version of its software for its smartwatch. And it won't work on the original version of the Apple Watch.

Techspot spent 3 months with an analogue mechanical keyboard, where keypress pressure has an effect on game response etc. Successfully funded via Kickstarter back in 2016, the Wooting one (yes, the lack of capitalization is intentional) is, to my knowledge, the world's first true tenkeyless, analog mechanical keyboard. It features pressure-sensitive keys that are specifically designed to give PC gamers the same benefits console gamers have access to. You can move at any speed you'd like, which is particularly useful for racing games, first-person shooters and stealth titles.

They also have a guide to thermal throttling and how to avoid it. When it comes to graphics cards there are many ways to manage heat, from passive cooling, to fans and even water. But when these solutions aren’t working, your GPU has one more way to beat the heat: thermal throttling.

Vortez have a guide to building a streaming and gaming PC. Right now games like Fortnite, CSGO, League of Legends, PUBG and Overwatch are dominating the streaming platforms. Fornite is the latest offering from Epic Games and it has made huge waves in the gaming industry, especially with streamers like Ninja, Hysteria, Dakotaz and many more pulling in huge numbers on Twitch. CSGO, LOL and Hearthstone are more fan favourites that have attracted big numbers for many years and still do well to this day. PUBG and Overwatch are newer to the fold, yet are very popular games that streamers and gamers love to watch and play. So streaming is very much a growth industry and now is as good a time as any to become a game streamer. I probably shouldn't mention that I prefer the mobile version of PUBG over the PC one..

Anyway, the NBN is finally available in my area. Hooray! I'll probably stick with Internode, but should I accept their free modem or fork out the extra for the Fritz!Box they offer? My current Netgear 3700v2 is apparently not FTTN compatible. :/

Tuesday Afternoon Reviews (1 Comments) (link)
Tuesday, 12-June-2018 13:00:53 (GMT +10) - by Agg