July 31, 2018

The New Intel 8th Gen








Intel announced its latest eighth-generation Core processors today, and is promising that the new chips will offer up to a 
40 percent speed boost over the previous seventh-generation Kaby Lake chips.
The eighth-generation chips will be doing things a little differently from other generations. In the past, Intel has either used 
generational steps for introducing new chip architectures (say, the jump from 22nm to 14nm between Haswell and Broadwell)
 or to offer an improved version of the previous generation’s architecture (like Skylake, which was an upgraded version of the 
14nm node).
The eighth-generation chips, for the first time in the Core line will be doing a mixture of both. Getting announced today is
 a refreshed version of the Kaby Lake architecture that makes up the seventh-generation processors 
(built on the 14nm+ technology node), but later releases in the eight generation will offer the upcoming 14++ 
(Coffee Lake) and 10nm (Cannon Lake) technologies, too.
But for now, Intel is focusing its news today on a pretty narrow slice of its eighth-generation line: two new Core i7 chips, 
and two new i5 chips, both in the company’s U Series of laptop processors. But while the internal architecture may resemble
 the existing seventh-gen Kaby Lake lineup, there’s some significant speed improvements compared to the last generation of
 up to 40 percent. Intel says that improvement is largely due to the new chips all getting two extra cores, with all four
 eighth-gen models offering four cores / eight threads. Additionally, the company says it’s made improvements to the design
 and manufacturing process to further improve speed.
The new chips are also designed to handle things like 4K video, VR, 3D, and other recent innovations on a platform-wide level. The integrated HD 620 graphics built into the last generation of U Series processors is also getting rebranded to reflect that change 
in focus as UHD 620 graphics. The new name is largely cosmetic, though, given that the integrated GPU remains unchanged
 from the previous model. The improvements in performance are focused on the CPU instead.
 
While it may not be the jump to the next 14nm++ Coffee Lake architecture that many were expecting to launch the
 eighth-generation line, Intel says that looking at it from a user perspective instead of a strictly technical one, the upgrade
 is significant enough for a generational rebranding. Intel is also positioning the new eighth-generation chips toward
 customers with older computers, noting that while current generation Kaby Lake owners will see a moderate boost 
in performance, customers upgrading from, say, a five-year-old Ivy Bridge system would see more than double the
 speed from their current systems.
Intel is saying that the first laptops with the new eighth-generation chips will be available from OEM partners starting
 in September. As is characteristic of Intel, the company was tight-lipped when it came to other upcoming eighth-generation
 products, although it did say that more information on things like desktop chips, enterprise products, and more powerfu
l enthusiast laptop chips would be forthcoming later in the fall. And looking farther to the future, the company has already
 started to tease its next-generation platform, the 10nm++ Ice Lake family that will eventually succeed the newl
y announced chips.
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July 30, 2018

The New CS:GO (Panorama Update)


Valve Releases CS:GO Panorama UI to Live Servers



Valve updated Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to allow users to opt into the new Panorama UI, in addition to updating some features of the HUD, and select CS:GO maps.


In the CS:GO update, players can opt into using the new user interface on Windows and play with friends by adding -panorama to the game's launch options. This comes only two and a half weeks after the interface was ​introduced to the game's beta.


Additionally, some minor changes have occurred to other aspects of the game. The HUD has been changed slightly and has been optimized to hopefully be more intuitive and user friendly.

There were some changes to some of the maps, including Mirage, Overpass and Cache. These changes were small and mainly just tried to fix bugs that occurred in each map and do not affect the map too much. On Mirage, Valve adjusted player collision by the bench wall at the B bomb site, on overpass it fixed "several bomb-stuck spots," and on Cache it updated the radar map image.


Finally, there has been some increased brightness and adjusted vignetting on the map loading screen images that pop up before every game.











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1.13 release

1.13 Minecraft Java Edition is released


Creature's On The Deep

Minecraft’s oceans are looking lively and lovely after three snapshot builds that introduced a metaphorical ton of new features. Among the additions came four new, water-dwelling, creatures and the community selected mob from last year’s Minecon: the Phantom.




The New Turtle

The first 1.13 mob to grace Minecraft with its presence was the Turtle. These gentle creatures have several unique mechanics.
-All turtles have a home beach that they will return to, no matter how far away they roam.
-Also, they lay eggs! Although chickens have been laying eggs for awhile, chicken eggs only drop as an item and don’t hatch; Turtle eggs, on the other hand, do hatch, are laid in little clusters that take up a block and can be collected using a tool enchanted with “Silk Touch.”
-Turtles can be encouraged to breed by feeding them seagrass.
-Eggs hatch at night, and the babies will have their home beach set to the location that their egg was first laid.
-Once born, these tiny turtles will run toward the nearest body of water as quickly as they can. Rightly so, too, baby turtles and turtle eggs will be attacked by hostile mobs, so players may need to help protect the clutch.
-When the baby turtles grow into adults, they drop a piece of turtle shell called “Scute.”



Pufferfish: It's a little nervous because I'm too close.
Pufferfish: It's a little nervous because I'm too close.

Fishy Business in the Briney Deep

In the 18w08b snapshot, released following the introduction of turtles, Mojang sank their coding talent into underwater creatures once again. This time they added actual fish that spawn in the depths. Better start brainstorming aquarium designs, because these fish can easily be moved with a water bucket!
-So far only three of the four varieties of Minecraft’s fish have been added. These three are Pufferfish, Salmon, and Cod which seems to replace the previously extremely generic “fish” item. Clownfish are the only fish that haven’t been added, although it seems likely that they will be soon.
-Fish now spawn in specific biomes. Cod spawn in cold, normal, and lukewarm ocean biomes. Pufferfish spawn in lukewarm and warm ocean biomes. And Salmon spawn in frozen and cold ocean biomes, and in rivers.
-The different types of fish have different behaviors. Cod and Salmon swim towards other fish of the same type and form small schools. Pufferfish have multiple different startled animations, swelling up if the player gets to close.
-If a player is stung by a pufferfish they will gain the “poison” debuff.
-Fish can be picked up and moved by right-clicking on them with a water bucket, and once moved won’t despawn.
-Fish drop their item variant when they die.
-If a fish finds itself out of water it will flop around on its side, moving toward any water nearby. However, if it doesn’t make it back to water fast enough, it will asphyxiate and drop its item.
-It is unclear how these fish mobs will affect existing fishing mechanics going forward. However, it is a reasonable guess that fish caught will be dependant on biome.

Another thing of note: Although squid have been in the game for several years, they got some attention in snapshot 18w07a. Squid now ink when attacked, creating black particles in the water. Possibly in the future, this will tie into the new underwater visibility mechanics.





A Phantom swooping down from the inky black to administer punishment.
A Phantom swooping down from the inky black to administer punishment.

Better Sleep On Time or The Phantom will Scoop you up

Although the limelight for snapshot 18w07c was mostly stolen by turtles, Phantoms can’t be forgotten. This mob earned a spot in the game during Minecon Earth, where players voted live on four different mob concepts. Initially teased as “Mob B: Terror of the Night Skies,” the Phantom spawns to attack players suffering from insomnia.
-The Phantom spawns after five consecutive nights (three days) without sleeping in a bed. This is approximately one hour of gameplay. The time since a player has last slept is reset if a player dies.
-Phantoms spawns at night when player’s y coordinates are greater than 64 (commonly known as sea level in-game) and they have a clear view of the sky. Initially, Phantoms spawned in both the overworld and the end, although attempting to sleep in the end will cause the player’s bed to explode; As of snapshot 18w09a however, Phantoms only spawn in the overworld.
-Phantoms have bright green eyes and a dark texture, reminiscent of the enderman mob.
-Phantoms attack by swooping down, out of the sky, to strike players before swooping back up and out of reach.
-Phantoms hit for three hearts of damage on unarmored targets and have a large pool of health themselves. This makes fighting a pack of them very challenging.
-When a Phantom dies it drops leather, however, Mojang’s official snapshot news states that “...this may change”.
-Phantoms already have sound effects, which is unusual for such a recently added mob.

Minecraft’s oceans are already starting to teeming with new creatures and even more, have been teased for the future (Will we be able to saddle dolphins? These are the important questions in life, after all.). Players stay tuned and don’t forget to check out this article about 1.13’s upcoming gameplay additions.

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