Alienware Area-51m R2 gaming laptop: fast enough for aliens to game on

Alienware has just unveiled its newly-upgraded Area-51m R2 gaming laptop, which packs some seriously fast desktop-class components.

The new Alienware Area-51m R2 packs an Intel Core i9-10900K which means you have a super-fast 10C/20T processor, at up to a huge 5.3GHz. GPU wise you're looked after, with Alienware tapping NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER graphics with 8GB of GDDR6 memory.

Alienware has really stepped up with the new Area-51m R2 gaming laptop, as it has a bunch of user-replaceable parts. This includes the CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, thermal cooling components, and more. It's not perfect though, but it's nice to see that you can make changes to core components like the CPU and GPU post-purchase.

There are plenty of display options to choose from, where you have 3 different models with 1080p resolutions. First, there's 1080p with 144Hz and no G-SYNC, while another offers the same 1080p 144Hz but adds G-SYNC. The other 1080p offering has a much higher 300Hz refresh display and 3ms response (down from 9ms on the other panels) and offers 100% of the sRGB color gamut while the other 2 panels offer 72% of the NTSC color gamut.

The company offers a higher-end 4K panel but locks it to 60Hz with a much higher 25ms response, but has 100% of the Adobe RGB color gamut. All of the panels have Tobii Eyetracking technology.

CPU wise, Alienware lets you configure the Area-51m R2 gaming laptop with 4 difference CPUs -- 2 x Core i7 chips, and 2 x Core i9 chips. We have the Core i7-10700 which is an 8C/16T chip at up to 4.8GHz, and the Core i7-10700K which is another 8C/16T chip but up to 5.1GHz.

The other two offerings are the Core i9-10900 which is a higher-end 10C/20T processor at up to 5.2GHz, while the flagship Core i9-10900K is offered with it also being a 10C/20T chip but up to 5.3GHz. All of these CPUs are part of Intel's new 10th-gen Core family of processors.

You have plenty of GPU options with Alienware offering some from everyone. You get a starter kit with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, but also an AMD Radeon RX 5700M offering, as well as the GeForce RTX 2060, GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, and flagship GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER graphics cards.

RAM wise you can start with 8GB of dual-channel DDR4, all the way through to higher-end (and faster) 16GB/32GB options, right up to 64GB.

The new Alienware Area-51m R2 gaming laptop will be released on June 9, 2020 -- starting at $3049, and will scale up considerably once you start cramming in the bleeding edge CPU, GPU, RAM, and SSD options.

Display options:

17.3″ FHD (1920 x 1080) 144Hz 9ms 300-nits 72% NTSC color gamut + Tobii Eyetracking technology

17.3″ FHD (1920 x 1080) 144Hz 9ms 300-nits 72% NTSC color gamut with NVIDIA-GSYNC technology + Tobii Eyetracking technology

17.3″ FHD (1920 x 1080) 300Hz 3ms 300-nits 100% sRGB color gamut + Tobii Eyetracking technology

17.3″ UHD (3840 x 2160) 60Hz 25ms 500-nits 100% Adobe RGB color gamut + Tobii Eyetracking technology

CPU options:

10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 10700 (8-Core, 16MB Cache, 2.9GHz to 4.8GHz w/Turbo Boost Max 3.0)

10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 10700K (8-Core, 16MB Cache, 3.8GHz to 5.1GHz w/Turbo Boost Max 3.0)

10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 10900 (10-Core, 20MB Cache, 2.8GHz to 5.2GHz w/Thermal Velocity Boost)

10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 10900K (10-Core, 20MB Cache, 3.7GHz to 5.3GHz w/Thermal Velocity Boost)

GPU options:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB GDDR6

AMD Radeon RX 5700M 8GB GDDR6

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB GDDR6

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8GB GDDR6

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB GDDR6

I/O:

(1x) Power/DC-in Jack

(1x) RJ-45 Killer Ethernet E3000 10/100/1000Mbps/2.5Gbps Port

(2x) Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 Port

(1x) Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 Port with Powershare Technology

(1x) Push-Pull Media-Card Reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC formats)

(1x) Thunderbolt 3 Port (USB Type-C with support for USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps, 40Gbps Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort 1.2)

(1x) Alienware Graphics Amplifier Port

(1x) HDMI 2.0b with HDCP 2.2 Output Port

(1x) Mini-Display Port 1.4 (certified) Output

(1x) Audio Out 1/8″ Ports (Compatible with inline mic headset)

(1x) Global Headset

(1x) Wedge-shaped lock slot (cable and lock sold separately)

(1x) microSD 5.1, UHS-II HD312 Card Reader

Alienware Plays Just Cause 4 - Gameplay on Area-51 Gaming PC (GTX 1080)

Key part of electricity network hit by cyber attack

A critical part of the UK's power network said it had been hit by a cyberattack, locking it out of its systems and rendering staff unable to send or receive emails.

Elexon, the body responsible for administering the power market, said in a statement that its internal systems and company laptops had been affected by a cyberattack.

The company provided no other details of the hack.

The National Grid has been on high alert for such attacks since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, with ministers fearing that criminals may attempt to target Britain's energy networks at a time when staff levels are significantly reduced.

More follows

Mystery Assault on Power Grid Raises Alarms

CSC IMS Ghaziabad partner for distance learning computer education

New Delhi, May 13 (PTI) Government e-services arm CSC e-Governance Services Ltd and IMS Ghaziabad on Wednesday announced partnership to offer computer education through video conferencing to students in rural areas and small towns.

The courses will include certificate in computer application programme, diploma and PG in computer applications.

'The courses will be offered through video conferences at CSC centres. If students have their own laptop or device to access classes offered by IMS Ghaziabad then they can study from home as per their convenience,' CSC SPV CEO Dinesh Tyagi told PTI.

The courses will be available through CSC educational platform CSC Academy.

Students will have to pay in the range of Rs 1,150 to Rs 1,500 depending on the course they opt for.

* * * * * * M&M starts contactless vehicle service facility * Mahindra & Mahindra on Wednesday said its vehicle owners can avail 'contactless' service facility as all repair information and records will now be made available through the company's mobile app 'With You Hamesha'.

Customers can now avoid coming in contact with any paper documents, cash or the payment machine while getting their vehicle serviced, the company said in a release.

Owners will be able to view their repair orders including the parts used, job operations carried out and other associated costs including providing necessary approvals and payments online, it added. PTI PRS IAS MR

अभी अभी CSC में हुआ बड़ी सर्विस चालू All Vle Good News today Live service 2019, vle society

Roland brings its Zen-core synth engine to your computer

Back in January Roland launched Zen-Core, its next generation synth engine that combined samples and virtual analog software to power the Fantom 6, 7 and 8 workstations, the Jupiter-X line of synths and the RD-88 stage pianos. It even eventually came to the MC-101 and MC-707 grooveboxes. The big selling point was supposed to be that all these devices could basically share sounds. So you could, theoretically, do all of your sound design on a Jupiter-X, then load that patch on to your MC-101 and take it to a jam session at a friends house. (Remember when you could go to jam sessions?)

Obviously if all of these devices can share a core synth engine, there's nothing hardware specific about it. So it was only a matter of time before Roland brought it to PCs. Zenology is the face of those efforts.

As part of its revamped Roland Cloud service, it's also launching Zenology as a standalone VST instrument that can be used in your DAW of choice. The full version comes packed with over 3,500 different synth sounds and 80 drum kits. If you don't want to shell out the $29.99 a year, or $2.99 a month for a Roland Cloud Core membership, there is still a free version of Zenology you can get has 176 tones and 6 drum kits.

The sounds offered range from classic analog style pads to crazy EDM noise blasts and fuzzy bass. Obviously, not all of them are going to be winners, but there's plenty of solid choices here. They all have a distinctly modern Roland character.

One thing Zenology is not right now though, is a sound designer's dream. The current version has only limited controls available for you to tweak sounds and a single master effect unit. If you want to some serious work building sounds from scratch, you'll need to wait for Zenology Pro which is "soon to be released." Though, when exactly remains a mystery. Zenology Pro will also require a Roland Cloud Pro account, which will cost you $199 a year or $19.99 per month. So, it ain't cheap.

The Windows version also exhibits some weird behavior right now, where the interface doesn't respect the actual placement of the mouse at times. It doesn't make the synth unusable, but it's a little annoying.

Zenology definitely has potential and there's something incredibly compelling about a platform agnostic synth engine that's equally at home on a desktop computer, as it is a portable groovebox, or a giant 88-key stage piano. It's clear though that Roland still has a lot of work to do for this synth to reach its full potential.

Roland MC-707 GROOVEBOX: Performance

Virtual vacation: A weekend jaunt to Yosemite — via laptop

Yosemite National Park is shuttered right now, its granite splendors sheltered in place, just like we are. But we can dream …

If we were there right now, we'd be hiking the trails, gazing at waterfalls and marveling at close-up encounters with wildlife — perhaps a bit too close up. Rangers, including wildlife biologist Katie Patrick, have reported that the park's black bear population has been thoroughly enjoying the now-unpopulated Yosemite Valley.

"The bears are just literally walking down the road to get to where they need to go," Patrick said during a 30-minute Facebook Live event last month. "For the most part, I think they're having a party."

So as we hunker down at home, getting our wilderness thrills vicariously via webcams, we're keeping our eyes open for bear sightings, as well as those waterfalls.

Those webcams, which are trained on the spectacular Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, Half Dome and other sights, are livestreamed at Yosemite.org — and it's fun to take a very quick peek to see what's happening in real time. The answer: Craggy granite grandeur with the occasional creature cameo and the mesmerizing flow of 2,425-foot Yosemite Falls.

What's mind blowing, though, are the archived, time-lapse feeds at Halfdome.net, which include Badger Pass, Inspiration Point, Ahwahnee Meadow, Sentinel Dome and Yosemite Falls. You can see an entire time-lapsed day — specifically yesterday — in less than a minute. And the video is so full of surprises, we must have watched each one 10 times.

For one thing, Yosemite Falls moves. The water flows down, of course, but it also moves back and forth in great splashy cascades, as if the granite gods were waving a fire hose. Hop over to the "yearly movies" tab and you can see an entire year play out in a series of 365 second-long flashes. Yosemite Falls gains an icy lace edging in winter and snow dusts the trees, then melts away as spring turns the cataract into a gushing twisting torrent.

What looks like a flaming comet arcs over the night sky on the Badger Pass livestream — it's the moon moving across the revolving starscape, the stars spinning out of sight as the planet turns. And that obliterating ball of fire? That's the sun.

Full of questions — why is the waterfall doing that? — we happen upon Yosemite Nature Notes, a series of 33 video podcasts produced by the National Park Service, that bring in park rangers and scientists of all sorts to discuss the park's plants, animals and iconic landscapes in six- to 10-minute sessions.

Remember Dug, the lovable but constantly distracted dog in Pixar's "Up"? That's us. Except instead of squirrels distracting us, it's podcasts about soundscapes (episode 29), night skies (19), grizzly bears (30) and moonbows (15).

We forget all about cascade queries as we plunge into the musings of ranger Karen O'Hearn and bioacoustician Bernie Krause. Over the course of six minutes and 37 seconds, they roam the park and talk about the sounds of Yosemite, from the park's geophony, the non-biological sounds made by water and wind, to its biophony (bird songs and frog ribbits) and anthropophony (human sounds).

Our vocabularies are growing by leaps and bounds. So is our sense of wonder.

Krause, who has studied sound for decades, says he discovers something new every time he goes into the field to listen and record. "It's all magical and informative and engaging and life-affirming, this awareness of our connection to the living world," he says during the podcast.

By the time we find episode 2 — Yosemite Falls — we've nearly forgotten our question. Viewing the turbulent mists and great clouds of vapor that surround the waterfall from a perspective this close makes us realize this is like the revolving starscape. It's not what the stars are doing, it's how we're looking at it.

"It's not often," geologist Greg Stock says on the podcast, "that you have a river free-falling through the air."

Yosemite Falls isn't just the cascade, it's Yosemite Creek — suddenly rounding a bend and finding only sky.

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite will be waiting for us when the long shutdown is over. Meanwhile, explore the park from home via the blogs, videos, webcams and more at www.nps.gov/yose/learn/.

The park has launched a Yosemite virtual junior ranger program, so kids can earn a badge from home while the park is closed. Learn more and download a virtual activity kit in English or Spanish at www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/virtual-yosemite.htm.

Also fun for kids: Visit Yosemite/Madera County, the county's visitors bureau, has a free, downloadable activity kit with puzzles, crafts, animal masks, trading cards and a storybook.

Yosemite National Park Vacation Travel Guide | Expedia

This Squirrel 'Busy on Laptop' is Nuts About Working From Home

Working from home is no longer the domain of humans, it would appear, after a Pittsburgh-based student captured this footage of a squirrel on a miniature laptop.

The video is part of an elaborate project by Lumi Barron, a self-proclaimed squirrel enthusiast and a student at Carnegie Mellon University.

Since beginning the project in February, she has been staging clips of the furry critters participating in human activities such as reading, drinking tea and baking.

Speaking to Storyful, Barron said, "I have been training the squirrels to come to specific locations in my backyard since early February. For the span of this project, I have exhausted an eight-pound bag of squirrel food, two bags of walnuts, 4-5 apples, some carrots here and there (trying to offer healthier options as they are getting chunky), a jar of Jif peanut butter and half a jar of fancy Costco peanut butter (which they like significantly less than the Jif)."

She added, "I have also accumulated a cast of eight 'repeating visitor' squirrels and in the last week an additional five squirrels just came out of the nest." Credit: Lumi Barron via Storyful

Working From Home: Pittsburgh Student Captures Squirrel Busy at Work on Laptop

Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI) CEO Charles Liang on Q3 2020 Results

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Supermicro CEO and President Charles Liang at Datacenter Innovation Summit, New York