Raptr's Instagram-like service lets gamers preserve their special moments
Plays.tv, which launches to the public Tuesday, gives players a destination for their best game highlights.
Plays.tv will let users curate a profile of video game highlights to let others see what they're playing.Raptr
Dennis Fong thinks video games are full of moments as sharable as perfectly captured brunch omelets and beach sunsets.
Those game clips just need their own version of Instagram, where gamers can share their special moments, too. As chief executive of Raptr, Fong has a social networking service that can do just that.
"There are these moments that you can experience when you play: the feeling of accomplishment, success, failure, funny moments," he said. "It's kind of sad that most of those moments are ephemeral. They happen and they're not memorialized or preserved and there's no way to relive it in a social setting for your friends."
That's where Raptr's Plays.tv comes in. The service, which has been quietly running for a few months now but launches to the public Tuesday, is essentially an Instagram for PC game highlights. Users can create a Raptr profile and upload clips through any video-capture technology. Plays.tv will feature a constant stream of highlights to show what people have played and what they feel is worth showing off. Raptr will automatically transition its 46 million users to the service.
Video game footage has become one of the industry's most lucrative markets over the last few years. Gamers are flocking in the millions to services like Twitch, which lets them record themselves or watch competitive matches as they occur. Yet Twitch is much like a live television channel for watching professional game-playing. Fong wants Plays.tv to be space where gamers can post their highlights after the fact.
"Twitch is an awesome service, but it's really for someone that wants to perform and entertain," Fong said. With Plays.tv, he said, you "don't have to feel like there's an audience," much in the same way an everyday smartphone user can share a shot to Instagram with zero interest in making money off the service or growing in popularity.
Plays.tv will also offer Raptr's same-name capturing service, which it originally launched last year with AMD as the Gaming Evolved client and with Intel as part of its Quick Sync service. Like other tools on the market, the service will constantly record 15 seconds to 20 minutes of game play that you can save and upload with the press of a button. Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One game consoles also feature comparable recording capabilities.
While it may not directly brush up against Twitch, Plays.tv faces an even larger competitor: Google's YouTube video service. YouTube "Let's Play" videos, in which everyday gamers add audio commentary and share their game screen with strangers, have already launched the careers of numerous online personalities.
Swedish producer Felix Kjellberg, who goes by the handle "PewDiePie," has racked up almost 35.7 million subscribers and 8.3 million views of his gaming videos. He earned $4 million in 2013. While he has by far the largest following, Kjellberg is just one of thousands who have made YouTube the primary destination for recorded game-related videos.
As Fong sees it, gamers flocked to YouTube only because they had no viable alternative. He hopes Plays.tv will be more than just a place to passively view game clips.
"There are gaming moments in your life that you want to remember," he said. "And guess what? There's a whole community of people that have experienced something similar."
Hackers who breached White House network allegedly accessed sensitive data
Hackers who broke in to both the White House's and State Department's networks last year were able to gain nonpublic details of the president's schedule, says a report.
Hackers allegedly exploited a security breach at the State Department to attack the White House's computer network.CNET
Russian-government hackers who reportedly breached the White House's computer systems late last year gained access to sensitive information, though US officials said at the time that they hadn't, according to a story published Tuesday by CNN.
Officials had previously said the White House breach, in October, had affected only an unclassified network, but sources told CNN that hackers were able to gain access to real-time nonpublic details of the president's schedule. Sources told CNN that the hackers are believed to be the same ones behind a damaging cyberattack on the US Department of State around the same time last year, which forced the department to shut down its email system for an extended period.
White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes maintained Tuesday that the breached White House system did not contain sensitive data.
"We have an unclassified system and then we have a classified system, a top secret system," Rhodes told CNN. "We do not believe that our classified systems were compromised."
And a White House spokesperson sought to downplay the Tuesday report, saying it was based on a security breach already revealed to the public.
"This report is not referring to a new incident," spokesman Mark Stroh said in a statement to the media. "Any such activity is something we take very seriously. In this case, as we made clear at the time, we took immediate measures to evaluate and mitigate the activity." Stroh said, as officials did last year, that the US would not comment on who might be behind the attacks.
The FBI, Secret Service and US intelligence agencies are all investigating the security breaches, which CNN's sources say were the result of one of the most sophisticated cyberattacks ever directed at US government agencies.
Tuesday's report emerges amid an uptick in hacker thefts of private data concerning governments, corporations and individuals -- from sensitive emails to medical records to financial information. Possession of such data could be very valuable, whether it's to enable criminal acts or assist in government espionage.
In the State Department breach, none of the department's classified email system was affected, a senior department official said at the time. But the hackers used that breach to break in to the White House's network, CNN reported Tuesday. After the White House security breach was revealed in October, suspicions arose among security researchers that hackers working for the Russian government were behind both attacks, said a Washington Post story at the time.
Despite efforts by the State Department to shore up its security, hackers have been able to reenter the system, resulting in the network being "owned" for months by Russian hackers, sources told CNN.
The State Department has shut down parts of its computer network twice since the breach on its system, with, according to an ABC News report, the goal of ferreting out malicious software tucked into the department's unclassified email system by Russian hackers.
Explaining water and dust resistance ratings for your gadgets
Water-resistant doesn't mean waterproof. Here's how to find out just how rugged your smartphones, tablets, activity trackers and smartwatches really are.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Many companies are advertising smartphones, tablets, activity trackers, smartwatches and even some wireless speakers as being "water-resistant," but what does that actually mean? Can your gadgets be used in the rain? What about in the shower, or even the pool? The information these companies provide can be misleading, but I'm here to help break things down for you.
IP rating
The first thing you need to look for is a device's International Protection Rating, more commonly referred to as an IP rating. Rating codes do not include hyphens or spaces, and consist of the letters IP followed by one or two digits. Two common ratings for consumer devices are IP67 and IP68. Read on to find out exactly what that means.
IP codes are a standard set forth by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). According to the organization, the codes are designed as a "system for classifying the degrees of protection provided by the enclosures of electrical equipment."
The first number in the rating code represents the degree of protection provided against the entry of foreign solid objects, such as fingers or dust. These protection levels range from 0 to 6.
The second number represents the degree of protection against the entry of moisture, with protection levels ranging from 0 through 8.
An IP code with an "X" in place of the first or second number means that a device hasn't been tested to protect against the entry of solid objects (the first number) or moisture (the second number). For example, a device with the rating IPX7 is protected from accidental submersion in 1m of water for up to 30 minutes, but it has not been tested against the entry of dust.
Below you will find a chart that outlines all of the protection levels set by the IEC.
SOLID PROTECTION
IP Code
Protection
Object size
0
No protection
N/A
1
Protection from contact with any large surface of the body, such as the back of a hand, but no protection against deliberate contact with a body part, such as a finger
Less than 50mm
2
Protection from fingers or similar objects
Less than 12.5mm
3
Protection from tools, thick wires or similar objects
Less than 2.5mm
4
Protection from most wires, screws or similar objects
Less than 1mm
5
Partial protection from contact with harmful dust
N/A
6
Protection from contact with harmful dust
N/A
As an example, an electrical socket rated IP22 (typically the minimum requirement for electrical accessories designed for indoor use) is protected against insertion of fingers and won't be damaged by vertically dripping water. Since we are talking about our gadgets, however, you only need to pay attention to IP ratings above IP5X or IP6X (for resistance or protection from dust).
MOISTURE PROTECTION
IP Code
Protection
Test duration
Usage
0
No protection
N/A
N/A
1
Protection against vertically dripping water
10 mins
Light rain
2
Protection against vertically dripping water when device is tilted at an angle up to 15 degrees
10 mins
Light rain
3
Protection against direct sprays of water when device is tilted at an angle up to 60 degrees
5 mins
Rain and spraying
4
Protection from sprays and splashing of water in all directions.
5 mins
Rain, spraying and splashing
5
Protection from low pressure water projected from a nozzle with a 6.3mm diameter opening in any direction
3 minutes from a distance of 3 meters
Rain, splashing and direct contact with most kitchen/bathroom faucets
6
Protection from water projected in powerful jets from a nozzle with a 12.5mm diameter opening in any direction
3 minutes from a distance of 3 meters
Rain, splashing, direct contact with kitchen/bathroom faucets, outdoor use in rough sea conditions
7
Protected from immersion in water with a depth of up to 1 meter (or 3.2ft) for up to 30 mins
30 mins
Rain, splashing and accidental submersion
8
Protected from immersion in water with a depth of more than 1 meter (manufacturer must specify exact depth)
Varies
Rain, splashing and accidental submersion
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is certified with an IP67 rating, this means that it is fully protected from dust (6) and can also withstand being submerged in 1m of static water for up to 30 mins (7).
Devices aren't required to pass every test leading up to the highest rating they achieve. Therefore a smartphone rated with IP67 hasn't been tested against dust protection levels 1 through 5, or water protection levels 1 through 6. Since the Galaxy S5 doesn't include the IPX5 or IPX6 rating for withstanding water coming from a jet, you shouldn't take the it in the shower or run it under the sink.
The Sony Xperia Z3, on the other hand, is certified with an IP65 and IP68 rating, which means it is protected from dust and against low-pressure water jets, such as a faucet, when all ports are closed. The company also specifies that the Z3 can be submerged in 1.5m (4.92ft) of fresh water for up to 30 mins.
Water pressure
If anyone ever tells you that a watch is waterproof, it's a lie. No watch is truly waterproof, and in fact theInternational Organization for Standardization and Federal Trade Commission prohibit watches from being labeled as being "waterproof." While a watch may be able to withstand a certain degree of water exposure, there is always a limit to how much water pressure it can handle before it begins to leak. The term "waterproof" implies that a device will remain unscathed under even the most difficult of circumstances.
To help regulate and explain water resistance in watches, the ISO has set standards that have been adopted by many traditional watchmakers. Most smartwatches and activity trackers, however, don't actually adhere to these standards and therefore aren't ISO-certified. Consumer electronics tend to follow the IP code, although some companies, such as Garmin, Pebble and Polar, independently test their products to determine how much pressure they can withstand.
Pressure tests are measured in ATMs, which stands for atmospheres, and then converted to water depth to make the measurements easier to understand. Each ATM is equivalent to 10 meters or about 33 feet of static water-pressure. Below you will find a chart that outlines that basic water-resistance levels.
WATER PRESSURE
Water Ratings
Protection
Usage
1 ATM
Withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 10 meters
Improved resistance to rain and splashes. No showering or swimming.
3 ATM
Withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 30 meters
Rain, splashing, accidental submersion and showering. No swimming.
5 ATM
Withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 50 meters
Withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 100 meters
Rain, splashing, accidental submersion, showering, swimming and snorkeling. No deep water scuba diving or high-speed water sports.
20 ATM
Withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 200 meters
Rain, splashing, accidental submersion, showering, swimming, snorkeling, surface diving and water sports. No deep water diving.
Unfortunately, because there is no universal testing method, real-world usage is different for every device. For example, the Pebble and Garmin Vivoactive both have a water resistance rating of 5 ATM. Both companies state that the watches can be worn in the shower and while swimming in a pool (surface swimming), however Fitbit recommends Surge users to remove the device before swimming, despite being rated 5 ATM.
It should also be noted that even though 5 ATM is rated for a certain depth, that depth is measured in static pressure. Water pressure can change quickly, such as when you move your arm to begin swimming. While you may only be in 10 feet of water, the pressure created from your arm movement could be equal to that of a couple ATMs.
As Garmin explains on its website, "even if a device is above a depth it's rated for, it might still suffer water ingression if it is subjected to an activity that creates pressure on it that exceeds that depth rating."
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