Abigail Smith

HP acquired security company Bromium, announcing the purchase on Thursday afternoon. Much as Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Microsoft, and other major vendors hoard key pieces of computer technology, HP may be trying to corner the market on a unique piece of browser technology it already uses.  Bromium technology already underlies HP’s Sure Click feature, which locks every individual browser tab inside of its own virtual machine. Theoretically, any piece of malware on the tab can’t “see” anything more than the tab upon which it resides, protecting the browser as well as the PC host. Bromium also supplies what it calls Secure File technology, which does the same for each individual download—Office documents, PDFs, and the works. If the file isn’t marked as trusted, it will be opened in what Bromium calls a micro virtual machine. We’ve previously looked at how virtualization seems to be a key Microsoft technology within the company’s own Windows Server products, and how virtuali...

Listen up Prime Members! Right now is a great time to get an 8-inch Fire HD tablet on the cheap. Amazon is selling the 16GB version of the Fire HD 8 for $50 instead of $80. You need to be a Prime subscriber to get the deal. Amazon offers a free 30-day Prime trial if you want to get in on the action without taking a full-cost leap on the company's subscription. The Fire HD 8 features a pair of 2 megapixel cameras (the rear camera shoots 720p video), dual-band Wi-Fi, and a promise of up to 10 hours of battery life. There’s also a microSD slot that can handle up to 400GB of additional storage, and the 8-inch screen is rocking 1280-by-800 resolution with 189 pixels per inch. The Fire HD tablet also rocks hands-free Alexa integration for placing calls, controlling smart home devices, weather and traffic updates, and more. This is the “special offers” version of the tablet, which means you can expect to see ads on the lock screen just as with the Kindle e-readers. Abiga...

Samsung said new software for its latest PCIe 4.0 SSDs make them so reliable, they can essentially “never die.” Three new software features were announced in total, with two tied to data integrity: a virtualization technology dubbed “V-NAND machine learning technology” to verify data, and “fail-in-place.” Officials said FIP allows an SSD continue running normally even during chip-level failures. Fail-in-place can detect a failed or failing NAND chip, check for damaged data, and then move that data to undamaged parts of the drive. Samsung cited its 30.72TB PM1733 SSD, which contains 512 NAND chips inside. If any of those 512 chips failed, lit would continue to roll along. Yes, if you saw the 30.72TB capacity, you can guess the SSD isn’t intended to be sold to consumers. The PM1733 is a PCIe 4.0 drive, which mean it’s best paired with a newer AMD-based Epyc server that supports PCIe 4.0 speeds. No price was announced for the PM1733 last month, but it’ll come in t...

The Astro C40 gaming contoller comes from a company far better known for its headsets. For years, save for the odd dabble in lifestyle gear, headsets have been Astro’s claim to fame. Maybe it’s time that changes, though. I’ve spent the last month or so playing around with the Astro C40, and while it’s not a perfect device, it’s clear Astro’s trademark attention to detail could benefit all sorts of premium peripherals. Happiness, held Of course, it’s going to cost you. Astro’s headsets are generally not cheap. Neither is the C40, retailing for a staggering $200. For context, that’s about three times the cost of a normal PlayStation 4 controller, and $50 more than Microsoft’s high-end Xbox One Elite Controller. It also has some tricks I haven’t seen anywhere else. The C40’s main gimmick? It’s a PlayStation 4 controller that’s happy to accommodate Xbox fans. By default the C40 ships with the PlayStation 4’s standard layout, meaning two analog sticks side by ...

With a wide variety of desktop PCs on the market — ranging from traditional towers, to all-in-ones, to custom media and gaming rigs, to Mini PCs and Workstations — selecting a system that addresses user needs can feel like a daunting challenge. “Will the amount of memory or storage in the device suit my needs?” or “Does the system support the hardware peripherals I’ve grown accustomed to using?” or “Will the hardware I select set me up for success down the road?” are some of the many questions that will arise as prospective PC users weigh the market options when selecting a device. At the heart of the computer is the central processing unit (CPU), and processor core count in the market has increased in recent years. As an example, Intel has seen the top end of its High End Desktop (HEDT) processor market leap from 10 cores in 2016 to a whopping 28 last year with the introduction of the. The amount of CPU cores may only continue to increase. More CPU cores an...

More and more people are using mobile phones, 4K ultra high-definition (UHD) cameras, GoPro action cameras, drones, and other devices to shoot exciting video. But when it comes to sharing and displaying the output, the results can often be disappointing, lacking the polish of professional footage. Now, whether you’re a novice or a pro, you can take advantage of VideoProc on your Windows PC to utilize full hardware acceleration to process and touch up your footage. Turning raw footage into polished videos Editing raw footage into content you’re proud to share can be daunting. Tools that claim to be “easy to use” typically lack the necessary features to really make video shine; and those that offer a range of sophisticated features can be too complicated and time-consuming to master. VideoProc is an all-in-one application that combines DVD/video conversion along with important editing features needed to turn video footage into polished, quality output you can be prou...

In this episode of The Full Nerd, Gordon Mah Ung, Alaina Yee, Mark Hachman, and Adam Patrick Murray talk about the Ryzen boost bug fix and what’s left for Windows 10 this year. The discussion kicks off with Gordon telling everyone they don’t have to immediately ask for the manager, which is what he feels some did with the Ryzen boost bug. Mark is eventually able to chime in with actually useful information on what will happen for the rest of the year in Windows 10 land. Speaking of audio, you can subscribe to The Full Nerd in iTunes (please leave a review if you enjoy the show). We’re also on Stitcher, Google Play, or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader to: You can also join the PC-related discussions and ask us questions on The Full Nerd’s Discord server. Finally, be sure to follow PCWorld on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch to watch future episodes live and pick our brains in real time! Abigail Smith  is an inventive person who has been doing ...