ExtremeTalk: Is virtual reality the next big thing in PC gaming?

                      

Today’s ExtremeTalk is brought to you by the recent unveil of the Oculus Rift VR’s formal hardware requirements. Virtual reality is shaping up a bit like 3-D movies did in the late 2000s, albeit with very different players behind the controls. You’ve got hype, and you’ve got some killer demos, early hardware, and impressive capabilities. As with 3-D, you have a long history of research and experimentation stretching back decades, and at least a handful of product introductions that failed to live up to consumer or creator expectations.

No, the parallels aren’t exact, though I think you can make a strong argument that computing hardware has evolved far more in the 20-odd years since the Virtual Boy than the experience of going to a movie had evolved since the 3-D craze of the 50s and 60s. But there’s one big factor that ties 3D and VR together: Both of them depend not just on technology, but on the final crafted experience.

                                                                                                  The future!

I don’t think it’s an accident that 3-D’s initial debut was driven by a handful of movies that were painstakingly designed to maximize the experience of viewing in 3-D. Once it became clear that this would be at least a momentary trend, filmmakers fell over themselves to convert 2D movies into 3-D, often with vague, muddied results.

I’m not going to argue that poor 3D film conversions doomed 3-D films. Higher ticket prices and the fact that consumers generally didn’t want to pay more for movies and wear glasses at home undoubtedly played their part. Nonetheless, poor content conversions and nausea harmed the nascent film revolution and many of these are issues in VR, as well.

VR games require a different approach

Building games for VR clearly requires a very different consideration of the physical space around the player character. Recent research has found that gamers experience less nausea if the game world creates a physical nose within the model. This would look exceedingly odd in a traditional FPS, but works in VR.

Swooping cutscenes and blurred visuals that work perfectly when projected across a monitor or three may cause undue nausea or seem unrealistic in a VR simulator. Games that have relied on camera work to convey motion to a person sitting in a fixed point may have to dial back their reliance on such techniques to avoid making people sick when the VR window fills their entire field of vision. The bottom line is this: Making a great VR game is going to upend techniques that we’ve previously deployed to make great games for consumption on a 2D screen.

I think it’s an open question whether game designers are willing to put in the work to make this happen. That’s before we consider the cost of the headset and GPU themselves, both of which could be considerable. Maintaining high frame rates at high detail isn’t going to come cheap.

Just to make my own view clear: I really, really, want VR to work. I’ve always been wowed by the technology when I’ve tested it, and the ability to look down and see “yourself” adds an immersion to a title that nothing — not higher resolutions, not 3D, and not multi-monitor support — has ever remotely matched.

So what do you think? Do you think VR represents the Next Big Thing, the technology that could break open the gaming market and drive a new era of game design? Or is it a flash in the pan, a minor niche that a handful will appreciate, but that most will toss aside in favor of a 60-inch 4K TV and standard controller?

The ultimate guide to staying anonymous and protecting your privacy online

Now more than ever, your online privacy is under attack. Your ISP, advertisers, and governments around the world are increasingly interested in knowing exactly what you’re up to when you browse the web. Whether you’re a political activist or simply someone who hates the idea of third-parties snooping around, there are plenty of tools available to keep prying eyes off of your traffic.

In this post, I’m going to highlight 12 tools you can use to increase your online privacy. Some methods are more complicated than others, but if you’re serious about privacy, these tips will help you remain anonymous on the open Web. Of course, Internet security is a topic in and of itself, so you’re going to need to do some reading to remain thoroughly protected on all fronts. And remember, even the most careful among us are still vulnerable to imperfect technology.

The Onion Router (Tor)

If anonymity is what you’re after, The Onion Router (Tor) is what you need. It uses a vast network of computers to route your Web traffic through a number of encrypted layers to obscure the origin of the traffic. Tor is a vital tool for political dissidents and whistleblowers to anonymously share information, and you can just as easily use it to help protect your privacy.

Without a doubt, the easiest way to get started is by downloading the Tor Browser Bundle. This customized branch of Firefox automatically connects to the Tor network, and includes some of the privacy-enhancing browser extensions discussed later in this post. This package has everything you need to use Tor successfully, but you’ll also need to change your web surfing behavior to retain as much anonymity as possible. You need to make sure to abide by the Tor warnings, and remember that this isn’t a magic bullet for internet privacy. It still has weaknesses. For more information, we have an entire story on installing and using Tor.

VPN

If you’re very serious about maintaining your anonymity, consider investing in a VPN solution like TorGuard or Private Internet Access. These services essentially allow you to disguise your traffic. Your real IP address will be hidden from the world, and your traffic will remain indecipherable to nosy ISPs or governments.

Even if your government is actively on the lookout for VPN traffic, you can still benefit from so-called “stealth VPNs.” TorGuard offers its stealth VPN service at no additional cost, and it will make government detection and interference much harder to accomplish. For those of you being held hostage by your government, VPNs are by far the best bet for bypassing censorship and snooping.

DNS leak testing

Even if you’re using a privacy service (like a VPN) to hide your IP address, it’s still possible to give away clues to your identity via your DNS traffic. Thankfully, it’s easy to detect if your configuration is leaking your DNS information. Simply head over to DNSLeakTest.com, and run the extended test.

If the results show the third-party DNS service you’re using (like TorGuard), you’re set. If your ISP’s DNS info shows up, you have a DNS leak. Follow the steps listed on the “How to fix a DNS leak” page, and then test yourself again to make sure everything is working as intended.

Virtual machines

Keep in mind, your browser isn’t the only vector for third parties to invade your privacy. PDFs and other seemingly harmless files can serve as homing beacons, and potentially alert government entities when you’re viewing planted contraband. To prevent any sort of unintended breach of privacy, you should open suspect files inside of a virtual machine.

Load up your favorite Linux distribution inside of VirtualBox, configure it to your liking, and then save a snapshot of your VM. Next, download your desired file (using the protections illuminated in this article), and then shut off your virtual machine’s access to the Internet. Once you’re sure that the VM is cut off completely from the network, you can now open the file safely. Read what you need to read, make notes, and then shut down the virtual machine. Next time you need to view a file inside a VM, you’ll have your snapshot ready to go.

Blocking third-party cookies

Third-party cookies are one of the most common methods that advertisers use to track your browsing habits. If you visit two sites using the same advertising service, rest assured that the advertiser is keeping tabs on that information. Thankfully, every major Web browser offers the ability to turn off tracking cookies. Without third-party cookies, advertisers have to work much harder to monitor which pages you visit. While this is far from a panacea, it shuts down the most common vector used by advertisers to build usage profiles.

Blocking location data

In recent months, many sites have begun using location data to offer specific services, and serve targeted advertisements. Mapping applications obviously have legitimate reasons for gathering location data, but that same technique can be used to help identify who you are. Any legitimate browser should offer the ability to toggle on and off location data, and I recommend leaving it off completely. At the very least, demand that websites prompt you for access before gathering the data.

That said, IP-based geolocation data is incredibly trivial to acquire, so remain vigilant. If you’re browsing the Web without a proxy or a VPN, you’re effectively broadcasting your IP to every server you come across, and that information can be used against you. It’s not necessarily something you have to worry about constantly, but it’s worth keeping that fact in the back of your mind if you’re criticizing your local dictator or blowing a whistle on the NSA.

Do not track

The “Do not track” HTTP header is an optional message that browsers can send to Web servers. You can easily enable it in your browser’s settings, but it’s rather limited in scope. For this to work at all, the Web server needs to be configured to respect this flag. There is absolutely no requirement of any kind that any website needs to obey this setting, so don’t expect widespread protection from trackers. Still, you don’t have much to lose. The only potential issue here is that it’s an additional datapoint for browser fingerprinting. But if enough people are using it, that shouldn’t be a real issue.

Plug-in management

Even if your browser is configured properly to hide your identifying information, plug-ins can still be used to endanger your anonymity. If you’re serious about remaining anonymous, you should avoid running plug-ins all together. Unfortunately, that can leave a number of popular websites completely unusable. To solve this problem, I recommend a hybrid approach.

First of all, you need to configure your browser to require your approval to run any plug-in. Chrome and Firefox offer this functionality by default, and extensions offer this capability in other browsers. Next, you need to make sure you’re running sandboxed plug-ins. While this is mostly considered a security issue, a rogue plug-in could certainly be used to gather your personal information by an organization like the NSA. Chrome can be configured to completely disallow un-sandboxed plug-ins, but it can be trickier with some other browsers. Windows users can opt to run their browsers inside of an application called Sandboxie, so even less sophisticated browsers can receive similar benefits.

JavaScript blocking

JavaScript is an incredibly powerful language, but it also has the capability of leaking out identifying information. By design, it can deliver detailed information to any Web server about your setup. What plug-ins do you have enabled? What size screen are you using? Those small pieces of information can add up, and make tracking your usage profile easier for advertisers and governments. Worse, unpatched JavaScript exploits could potentially be used to trick your browser into giving up even more identifying information.

If you want to be truly anonymous, you’re going to need to disable JavaScript. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Many websites rely on JavaScript for core functionality, so you’d be effectively knee-capping your Web browser. Thankfully, there is a way to have your cake and eat it too. By using a browser extension like NoScript or scriptno, you can personally manage which domains are given permission to run JavaScript in your browser. This way, you can whitelist domains and webpages that you trust, but you can bypass all of the baggage that comes along with running any ol’ JavaScript that comes along on the web.

Ghostery browser extension

If you’re serious about protecting your privacy, consider installing Ghostery in Firefox, Chrome, Opera, IE, or Safari. This adorable little browser extension allows you to block trackers from all over the web in one place. Better yet, it displays just exactly which tracking services are being used on your favorite websites, and allows you to dynamically enable or disable tracking as you see fit. Can’t live without the Facebook widget on your favorite blogs? Just whitelist it. It’s simple to use, and extremely customizable. If you hate the idea of being spied on by advertisers, this is exactly the extension you’re looking for.

HTTPS Everywhere browser extension

In spite of the infamous Heartbleed vulnerability, SSL is still your best bet for keeping your Web traffic private. If you want to keep nosy packet sniffers out of your business, your Web traffic should always be going through SSL connections. Sadly, not every website supports SSL. Even worse, many websites that do support SSL still default to unencrypted connections — and the Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to change that. The HTTPS Everywhere browser extension, provided for free by the EFF, forces SSL connections on countless websites. Chrome, Firefox, and Opera users can all take advantage of this wonderful extension, and keep important Web traffic private and secure.

Panopticlick

How easy is it for Web servers to identify you by your browser? It all depends on how it’s configured, really. To see just how much identifying information your browser is giving away, head on over to Panopticlick. This handy little tool, owned and operated by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, quickly tells you just exactly what your browser is broadcasting to the world. The more information given away, the easier it will be to identify you. If you want to improve your Panopticlick score, take a moment to read Peter Eckersley’s article on the matter, and adjust your configurations as you see fit.

Justified paranoia

You might not think you have anything to hide, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the benefits of online privacy. Some of these recommendations are a real hassle to live with — I’m well aware. It’s a lot easier to shove your fingers in your ears, and pretend like the NSA and your ISP aren’t watching every move you make. But what you browse is your business, and your business alone. Now is the time to stand up for yourself, and take back your privacy.

What is 802.11ax WiFi, and will it really deliver 10Gbps?

Wireless standards tend to get proposed, drafted, and finally accepted at what seems like a glacial pace. It’s been roughly 17 years since we began to see the first 802.11b wireless routers and laptops. In the intervening time, we’ve only seen three more mainstream standards take hold since then: 802.11g, 802.11n, and now 802.11ac. (I’m leaving out some lesser-used ones like 802.11a for the purposes of this story.)

Now a new standard looms over the horizon. And if you thought that your new 802.11ac router’s maximum speed of 1,300Mbps was already fast, think again. With 802.11ac fully certified and out the door, the Wi-Fi Alliance has started looking at its successor, 802.11ax — and it looks pretty enticing. While you may have a hard time getting more than 400Mbps to your smartphone via 802.11ac, 802.11ax should deliver real world speeds above 2Gbps. And in a lab-based trial of technology similar to 802.11ax, Huawei recently hit a max speed of 10.53Gbps, or around 1.4 gigabytes of data transfer per second. Clearly, 802.11ax is going to be fast. But what is it exactly?

What is 802.11ax WiFi?

The easiest way to think of 802.11ax is to start with 802.11ac — which allows for up to four different spatial streams (MIMO) — and then to massively increase the spectral efficiency (and thus max throughput) of each stream. Like its predecessor, 802.11ax operates in the 5GHz band, where there’s a lot more space for wide (80MHz and 160MHz) channels.

With 802.11ax, you get four MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output) spatial streams, with each stream multiplexed with OFDA (orthogonal frequency division access). There is some confusion here as to whether the Wi-Fi Alliance and Huawei (which leads the 802.11ax working group) mean OFDA, or OFDMA. OFDMA (multiple access) is a well-known technique (and is the reason LTE is excellent for what it is). Either way, OFDM, OFDA, and OFDMA refer to methods of frequency-division multiplexing — each channel is separated into dozens, or even hundreds, of smaller subchannels, each with a slightly different frequency. By then turning these signals through right-angles (orthogonal), they can be stacked closer together and still be easily demultiplexed.

According to Huawei, the use of OFDA increases spectral efficiency by 10 times, which essentially translates into 10 times the max theoretical bandwidth, but 4x is seeming like more of a real-world possibility.

This lovely diagram shows you North America’s 5GHz channels, and where those 20/40/80/160MHz blocks fit in. As you can see, at 5GHz, you won’t ever get more than two 160MHz channels (and even then, only if you live in the boonies without interference from neighbors).

How fast is 802.11ax?

If we go for the more conservative 4x estimate, and assume a massive 160MHz channel, the maximum speed of a single 802.11ax stream will be around 3.5Gbps (compared with 866Mbps for a single 802.11ac stream). Multiply that out to a 4×4 MIMO network and you get a total capacity of 14Gbps. If you had a smartphone or laptop capable of two or three streams, you’d get some blazing connection speeds (7Gbps equates to around 900 megabytes per second; 10.5Gbps equates to 1,344MB/sec).

In a more realistic setup with 80MHz channels, we’re probably looking at a single-stream speed of around 1.6Gbps, which is a quite reasonable 200MB/sec. Again, if your mobile device supports MIMO, you could be seeing 400 or 600MB/sec. And in an even more realistic setup with 40MHz channels (such as what you’d probably get in a crowded apartment block), a single 802.11ax stream would net you 800Mbps (100MB/sec), or a total network capacity of 3.2Gbps. (Read: How to boost your WiFi speed by choosing the right channel.)

802.11ax range, reliability, and other factors

So far, neither the Wi-Fi Alliance nor Huawei has said much about 802.11ax’s other important features. Huawei says that “intelligent spectrum allocation” and “interference coordination” will be employed — but most modern WiFi hardware already does that.

It’s fairly safe to assume that working range will stay the same or increase slightly. Reliability should improve a little with the inclusion of OFDA, and with the aforementioned spectrum allocation and interference coordination features. Congestion may also be reduced as a result, and because data will be transferred between devices faster, thus freeing the airwaves for other connections.

Otherwise, 802.11ax will work in roughly the same fashion as 802.11ac, just with massively increased throughput. As we covered in our Linksys WRT1900AC review, 802.11ac is already pretty great. 802.11ax will just take things to the next level.

Do we need these kinds of speeds?

The problem, as with all things WiFi, isn’t necessarily the speed of the network itself — it’s congestion, and more than that even, it’s what the devices themselves are capable of. For example, even 802.11ax’s slowest speed of 100MB/sec is pushing it for a hard drive — and it’s faster than what the eMMC NAND flash storage in most smartphones can handle as well. Best-case scenario, a modern smartphone’s storage tops out at around 90MB/sec sequential read, 20MB/sec sequential write — worst case, with lots of little files, you’re looking at speeds in the single-megabyte range. Obviously, for the wider 80MHz and 160MHz channels, you’re going to need some desktop SSDs (or an array of desktop SSDs) to take advantage of 802.11ax’s max speeds.

Of course, not every use-case requires you to read or write data to a slow storage medium. But even so, alternate uses like streaming 4K video still fall short of these multi-gigabit speeds. Even if Netflix begins streaming 8K in the next few years (and you thought there wasn’t enough to watch in 4K!), 802.11ax has more than enough bandwidth. And the bottleneck isn’t your WiFi; It’s your internet connection. The current time frame for 802.11ax certification is 2018 — until then, upgrading to 802.11ac (if you haven’t already) should be a nice stopgap.