For home theater PC (HTPC) “small” is another word for “compromise”. Thankfully, the amount required by our miniscule content consumption devices has decreased exponentially over the last few years. There is still a price demanded however, tiny systems require slower mobile integrated processor graphics (IPG) to drive them. We have to choose between size and performance; it is simply not […]
Read more
I’m not completely sold on subscription consumer-targeted software, but in enterprise it makes a lot more sense especially as the up-front cost of the applications rise. CyberLink has added their suite of content editing and creation to their cloud + yearly subscription model introduced with last year’s rev of PowerDVD. I had a chance to play with the PowerDirector the […]
Read more
It’s no secret that we like Fractal Design’s cases. Everytime we test one it is always a positive experience. What’s not to like about a solid, well made chassis that looks great and won’t break the bank? From the look of it, the new Node 804 will continue that trend. It does seem to be geared heavily towards water cooling, […]
Read moreIt has been more than a year in the making, but the first public beta for XBMC v13.0, codenamed “Gotham”, is now available. The new version of XBMC brings a host of updates and changes. The development team is promising major updates to the Audio Engine that was introduced in v12.0, as well as a revamped settings page with more […]
Read more
I can’t claim to be the first to notice when HEVC decoding popped up in a recent Intel GPU driver update for Haswell (HSW) systems, and I was prepared to write it off as a mistake until an off-hand remark about the feature coming in a future driver update came up in conversation with a source well positioned to know. […]
Read more
Roku’s first streaming stick required a [not-quite-MHL] “Roku Ready” host, and I imagine that limited the market dramatically. Why it took them this long to introduce one that works with HDMI and can be powered via USB is beyond me. That said, I think it’s a great idea, but if your TV, like mine, doesn’t power USB when it’s off […]
Read more
It wasn’t that long ago that I added a portable router to my standard pack whenever leaving the house for vacation or business travel. It’s just so handy to be able to setup a Wi-Fi hotspot wherever I need one, and even if I don’t need to share a single for-fee wireless connection, it comes out of the bag because […]
Read moreI was really excited when I found out Intel had placed the HDMI-CEC enabling Custom Solutions Header (CSH) on the D54250WYK NUC. It was exactly the kind of feature that belongs on this near-perfect mini-HTPC. Unfortunately, as we can see in the gallery, something isn’t right with its ability to maintain 3.3V under load. What this means in practice […]
Read more
There has been flaws found in the way WeMo (Belkin) does updates to the device. They use over the air firmware updates with PGP security through RSS updates. If someone wanted to spoof that RSS feed and get a valid signed firmware, they could potentially send you modified firmware that would give them access to bypass your NAT firewall. WeMo […]
Read more
ASUS is not fixing a problem that is considered a security flaw in any of their recent firmware updates. Do you have any of the features enabled that help with remote access to your files? Do you have Samba enabled? You are also opening up yourself to this vulnerability. Security experts are trying to contact ASUS to see if they […]
Read more