Month: September 2024
Razer unveils the Kraken V4 Pro headset and a haptic seat cushion (yes, really) at RazerCon 2024
Razer announces a new Kraken gaming headset and the Freyja haptic seat cushion at RazerCon.
Popular gaming hardware manufacturer Razer has announced a batch of new products at its annual RazerCon event.
The headlining products are the Razer Kraken V4 Pro and the Razer Freyja. The former is a seriously premium addition to the brand’s gaming headset lineup, while the latter is described as “the world’s first HD haptic gaming cushion.”
That right, it’s a vibrating seat cushion for your gaming chair.
The Kraken V4 Pro joins the headset’s fourth-generation lineup alongside the standard Kraken V4 and the wired Kraken V4 X which Razer revealed last month. The Pro model looks like quite the step up in terms of features (and price, but we’ll get to that). Razer’s bespoke Sensa HD haptics are included here, causing the headset to react to in-game activities with directional haptic feedback.
A handful of games will directly support the technology, including Final Fantasy 16, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, and Silent Hill 2. I got to test the haptics for myself at a Razer briefing last week and they definitely felt like an improvement over the Razer Kaira Pro’s HyperSense feedback, feeling much more nuanced and, well, less like you had a bee in your headset.
The Kraken V4 Pro also includes a PC-compatible OLED Control Hub that allows for on-the-fly tweaks to your settings as well as the monitoring of volume, battery life and other metrics. You’re getting customizable Chroma RGB on the ear cups, dual audio support and instant switching between 2.4GHz and Bluetooth (handy if you need to take a quick call while gaming), 40mm drivers supported by THX spatial audio and a retractable mic.
The Razer Kraken V4 Pro is available to buy now from Razer’s website and other retailers, but it doesn’t come cheap. Expect to pay $399.99 / £399.99 which is a pretty giant step up from other models in the Kraken V4 lineup. Still, it’s in with a chance of landing in our list of the best PC gaming headsets with its stacked feature set and intelligent Sensa HD haptics.
(Image credit: Razer)
The other major reveal from this year’s RazerCon is the all-new Razer Freyja. This is a seat cushion that’ll fit any of the best gaming chairs that, much like the Kraken V4 Pro, is powered by Sensa HD haptic feedback. That means the chair’s multi-directional haptics (with six motors: four behind you, and two where you sit) react to everything from light drizzles to sword slashes and chunky explosions.
Testing this at the Razer briefing last week, I found the default settings to be a little intense. Thankfully, you are able to adjust the haptics’ strength on the fly, which made the experience much more tolerable. That said, the Freyja is certainly going to have niche appeal. It doesn’t really offer anything to your play session aside from some neat haptics. It is at least very comfy, but I did notice the haptics here were incredibly loud.
If you live with family or housemates, you might want to consider investing in some soundproofing for your room if you’re buying the Freyja. It’s also available now from Razer’s website for $299.99. The product is unfortunately not available for purchase in the UK at this time.
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Alcohol Can Increase Your Cancer Risk, Researchers Find
The world’s oldest and largest cancer research association “found excessive levels of alcohol consumption increase the risk for six different types of cancer,” reports CBS News:
“Some of this is happening through chronic inflammation. We also know that alcohol changes the microbiome, so those are the bacteria that live in your gut, and that can also increase the risk,” Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, recently said on “CBS Mornings.”
But how much is too much when it comes to drinking? We asked experts what to know. “Excessive levels of alcohol” equates to about three or more drinks per day for women and four or more drinks per day for men, Gounder said… Other studies have shown, however, there is no “safe amount” of alcohol, Gounder said, particularly if you have underlying medical conditions. “If you don’t drink, don’t start drinking. If you do drink, really try to keep it within moderation,” she said.
Dr. Amy Commander, medical director of the Mass General Cancer Center specializing in breast cancer, told CBS News alcohol is the third leading modifiable risk factor that can increase cancer risk after accounting for cigarette smoking and excess body weight. [Other factors include physical inactivity — and diet]. “There really isn’t a safe amount of alcohol for consumption,” she said. “In fact, it’s best to not drink alcohol at all, but that is obviously hard for many people. So I think it’s really important for individuals to just be mindful of their alcohol consumption and certainly drink less.”
The article also includes an interesting statistic from the association’s latest Cancer Progress Report: from 1991 to 2021 there’s been a 33% reduction in overall cancer deaths in the U.S. That’s 4.1 million lives saved — roughly 136,667 lives saved each year.
“So that is hopeful,” Commander said, adding that when it comes to preventing cancer, alcohol is just “one piece of the puzzle.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The world’s oldest and largest cancer research association “found excessive levels of alcohol consumption increase the risk for six different types of cancer,” reports CBS News:
“Some of this is happening through chronic inflammation. We also know that alcohol changes the microbiome, so those are the bacteria that live in your gut, and that can also increase the risk,” Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, recently said on “CBS Mornings.”
But how much is too much when it comes to drinking? We asked experts what to know. “Excessive levels of alcohol” equates to about three or more drinks per day for women and four or more drinks per day for men, Gounder said… Other studies have shown, however, there is no “safe amount” of alcohol, Gounder said, particularly if you have underlying medical conditions. “If you don’t drink, don’t start drinking. If you do drink, really try to keep it within moderation,” she said.
Dr. Amy Commander, medical director of the Mass General Cancer Center specializing in breast cancer, told CBS News alcohol is the third leading modifiable risk factor that can increase cancer risk after accounting for cigarette smoking and excess body weight. [Other factors include physical inactivity — and diet]. “There really isn’t a safe amount of alcohol for consumption,” she said. “In fact, it’s best to not drink alcohol at all, but that is obviously hard for many people. So I think it’s really important for individuals to just be mindful of their alcohol consumption and certainly drink less.”
The article also includes an interesting statistic from the association’s latest Cancer Progress Report: from 1991 to 2021 there’s been a 33% reduction in overall cancer deaths in the U.S. That’s 4.1 million lives saved — roughly 136,667 lives saved each year.
“So that is hopeful,” Commander said, adding that when it comes to preventing cancer, alcohol is just “one piece of the puzzle.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
HPE’s tiny, new 64-core AMD EYPC server can support three GPUs, six SSDs — but don’t expect to play Black Myth: Wukong smoothly
HPE ProLiant DL145 Gen11 64-core AMD EYPC server can support three GPUs and six SSDs
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has launched the HPE ProLiant DL145 Gen11 server aimed at the retail, manufacturing, and telecommunications sectors, designed primarily for deployment in environments such as factories, clinics, and remote sites, where high-performance computing and real-time data processing are important.
HPE says its 2U form factor edge computing server operates more quietly than those typically found in data centers, making it suitable for environments where noise control is essential. It’s powered by low-wattage 4th Generation AMD EPYC 8004 (Siena) Zen4c processors, with 8 to 64 cores, and supports up to 768GB of DDR5 memory.
It comes with three PCIe Gen 5 slots that can be used for GPUs or accelerator cards for AI, machine learning, and analytics workloads. Storage options include up to six EDSFF hot-pluggable drives or two SFF drives, offering up to 92TB of capacity. Additionally, the server includes four USB 3.2 ports, one display port, and various network interfaces that can support speeds up to 25GB/s.
Perfect fit for the edge
HPE says that the ProLiant DL145 Gen11 can operate in harsh conditions, tolerating temperatures up to 55°C and featuring redundant power supplies to improve reliability. The server is compliant with TAA standards and meets NEBS L3 certification for telecommunications.
The server integrates with HPE GreenLake for Compute Ops Management for zero-touch deployment and remote management. The company says that this simplifies server setup for non-technical staff while still allowing IT teams to maintain centralized control over distributed environments.
“The HPE ProLiant DL145 is a perfect fit for the edge: rugged and compact in size, with quiet acoustics and power efficiency that puts a lot of processing power in small spaces, all with the ability to ensure high performance both today and in the future as customer needs evolve,” said Krista Satterthwaite, SVP & General Manager, HPE Compute.
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