General Gaming Article |
- FBI Arrests Alleged LulzSec Hacker
- Future Tense: Personal Wi-Fi
- Netflix Integrating with Facebook, but Not in US
- Can You Use Windows 8 as Your Primary OS?
- BREAKING: HP Boots Leo Apotheker, Appoints Meg Whitman CEO
- Lian Li Launches PC-TU200 Case for Gamers on the Go
- Gamings' Greatest Arenas: Top 15 Multiplayer Maps Of All Time
- Oracle, Google Fail Still Unable to Settle Java Patent Dispute
- Are Netflix's Crazy Moves Preparation For An Amazon Buyout?
- Browser Extension of the Week: Google +1 Button
| FBI Arrests Alleged LulzSec Hacker Posted: 22 Sep 2011 02:57 PM PDT
Kretsinger, whose online handle may have been 'recursion', is accused of assisting in the data theft that brought even more embarrassment to Sony in the wake of the PSN hack. LulzSec bragged that they had compromised over 1 million accounts in the attack, but Sony disputes that number. At first glance, this doesn't appear to be part of the LulzSec or Anonymous leadership. Indeed, if Kretsinger turns out to be involved with LulzSec, he is only being charged with involvement in a small fraction of the group's activities. Do you think the FBI will catch the big fish? |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2011 02:54 PM PDT
The smartphone is a great example. Robert A. Heinlein predicted cell phones in The Star Beast, first published in 1954. Other writers predicted tablets as well. But nobody predicted Twitter or sexting. Those were surprises. We're on the threshold of another leap forward in the punctuated evolution of computing technology and the first pieces are starting to appear. I think it's inevitable that some of these pieces are going to mate, mutate, and evolve into something new. Let's consider: GPS, for instance, is based on the reception of satellite signals and civilian units can give you a location accurate to a few meters. But advanced location systems can also triangulate on cell-phone towers for even greater accuracy. Recently, a system was demonstrated that can provide location accuracy of a few inches. RFID chips can provide the identification and immediate location of an object when it is pinged by a transceiver. RFID chips have been used for everything from tracking merchandise in a store for both inventory control and preventing shoplifting. Livestock are microchipped as well as pets and some advocates believe that human beings should be microchipped with their medical records—and even criminal records. The third piece is Wi-Fi. As you upgrade your various pieces of hardware, you will find that your phone, your TV, your DVR, your Blu-ray player, your new laptop, your Kindle, your Nook, your tablet, your music player, your camera, your car, will all have wi-fi capabilities. 3G, 4G, or whatever comes next. A fourth piece is the technology to let you use your smartphone as a credit/debit card. Just wave it over the detector or hold it up to the bar scanner and your purchase is completed. Let's also toss in the coming maturation of OCR and speech-recognition technology. In the past, speech-recognition was limited by the power of the CPU. As chips have become more powerful, more processing cycles can be devoted to analyzing language and parsing sentences. This is a continuing evolutionary process, but already smartphones, and even some cars, are able to respond to voice commands. Some ATMs are now able to scan checks directly. Some banks even allow you to deposit a check by taking a picture of it with your phone. And finally, "the cloud." Much of your data is already in the cloud — Gmail and Dropbox and various gaming environments are only starting points. Once your data is uploaded, it's everywhere. Today, you can use your phone to program your DirecTV DVR. You can use your phone to lock or unlock certain models of car. You can automatically send photos from your camera or phone to your Facebook page. It's not too much of a leap of faith to predict that in just a few years, all consumer electronics will include some form of wi-fi communication and all mobile devices will include some kind of location tracking as well—so as we evolve toward a set of common standards, all of our electronic devices are going to be able to communicate with each other. What all of this suggests is an evolution of the entire electronic ecology. Not just an evolution, but a transformation, a singularity, a synergy, a congruency of purpose that changes our relationship not only with our data and how we use it, but also our relationship with the world and everything and everyone in it.
How might this work in practice? We're going to see it first in little things. Suppose, while browsing through Amazon, you've bought and downloaded the latest George R.R. Martin and Terry Pratchett novels, the HD extended edition of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and the remastered Michael Hoenig soundtrack of The Blob. These purchases will be immediately available on your home TV, living room stereo, music player, Kindle or Nook, tablet, desktop, laptop, and phone. The soundtrack will also be available in your car as well. This will happen transparently, without you having to rip, port, convert, transfer, upload, download, or sacrifice a goat to Redmond. Your Personal Very Private Network will take care of all that automatically (everything except the goat.) Your Kindle and Nook apps already do this with purchased books. Having the same convenience with your music and videos is an obvious next step for applications. But let's say you have a terabyte of music and video on your home server. You don't want all of that transferred into your laptop, your tablet, and your phone. What you want is to be able to stream that content on demand. And again, we're starting to see apps that can do that. As I said above, the first pieces of this ecological shift are already happening. In the future, all devices will be wireless and interconnected—and applications will evolve to take advantage of those connections. The above examples are obvious, because they're already happening. It's all the little evolutions that are going to trigger the big one. Add speech-recognition and the right app and things start to get interesting. In the not too distant future, you should be able to pick up your phone and tell it: "DVR, record Torchwood 3D, Tuesday night, on the living room receiver." A moment later, you get a text message on your screen: "Confirmed. Torchwood 3D, Channel 107, Tuesday 7pm, Living Room DVR." Suppose you're at a restaurant with friends. You get into an argument—excuse me, heated discussion—about whether or not Han shot first. You pull out your tablet and say, "Star Wars, original theatrical release, Cantina scene, Greedo." Your tablet says "working" in Majel Barrett's voice as the starship computer on Star Trek, The Original Series, then pops up the scene in question so you can win the argument with your friend. What we're assembling, piece by piece, is the ability to access anything from anywhere—or vice versa, you can send anything from anywhere. Suppose you're on vacation, maybe even your honeymoon, happily snapping high-res stills and videos all over everywhere. Your camera is full of the most astonishing memories—once in a lifetime photos. But one evening, while you're relaxing at the sidewalk café, your camera is stolen. Okay, that's distressing, yes—but not to worry, you haven't lost anything. Your camera has been automatically uploading your files to your home server since you turned it on. And as soon as you can pick up your phone and say, "Sony Camera, report stolen," several things happen immediately. The camera is bricked and is totally useless to the thief—and the locater chip in the camera immediately starts pinging the local constabulary that the camera is now in the possession of a thief. It is unusable and unsalable and a beacon to the cops. This particular insurance app, which covers camera, laptop, tablet, and phone, will cost you a reasonable 3.99 a month—and you'll get a little red sticker to put on your electronics to warn off would-be thieves. A matching icon appears on the screen when the item is bricked. In the near-future, all of your electronics could be theft-resistant. Here's another one. You could be microchipped. The chip could warn you when you need your next insulin shot. If you have a heart attack, the chip could automatically call for an ambulance. And perhaps even chip could trigger an implant to release appropriate medications while waiting for the ambulance. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. When everything you own is talking to everything else you own, the synergistic possibilities will expand exponentially. Some of them are impossible to predict today, but the day after tomorrow they'll seem as inevitable as another Transformers sequel. What do you think? What would you predict?
————— David Gerrold is a Hugo and Nebula award-winning author. He has written more than 50 books, including "The Man Who Folded Himself" and "When HARLIE Was One," as well as hundreds of short stories and articles. His autobiographical story "The Martian Child" was the basis of the 2007 movie starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet. He has also written for television, including episodes of Star Trek, Babylon 5, Twilight Zone, and Land Of The Lost. He is best known for creating tribbles, sleestaks, and Chtorrans. In his spare time, he redesigns his website, www.gerrold.com |
| Netflix Integrating with Facebook, but Not in US Posted: 22 Sep 2011 02:43 PM PDT
Netflix integration will be coming to 44 countries in the near future, but the only hope US consumers have is a change to the law. The legislation passed over 20 years ago made it illegal for a person's video rental history to be disclosed. This came after Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork saw his video rental history leaked. The rules outlined were so vague that it can be taken to cover modern streaming content as well. Only users that connect to Facebook with Netflix will have their movie selections pop up for other Netflix users in their friends list to consider. Congress is currently muling H.R. 2471, which would amend the law to allow this kind of Netflix-style Facebook integration with user consent. For the time being, US video watchers will have to bug their friends manually. |
| Can You Use Windows 8 as Your Primary OS? Posted: 22 Sep 2011 01:44 PM PDT I'm writing this right now using Microsoft Word on the recently released Windows 8 Developer's Build. I'm using a real PC, not a tablet, and it's a system any Maximum PC user would be proud of: a Core i7 990X system running 12 GB of RAM plus an eVGA GeForce GTX 580SC. The system also has a pair of 1080p monitors attached. The goal was to live with the OS for a few days as my primary operating system and see just how usable it is in its current state. The bottomline: not ready yet. That's not a criticism. After all, the Windows 8 Developer's Build released during last week's Microsoft Build conference was labeled pre-beta. The OS itself seems pretty solid. Installation was similar to installing Windows 7, though you do need to be careful, or you'll end up with a login that requires an active Windows Live account. While having a Windows Live account is optional, I prefer to have my system login be local and private. Note that if you eventually want access to Metro UI apps and the Windows 8 app store, you'll need a Windows Live account, though. It took a little time to adjust to the new user interface. When you first fire the system up in single display mode, you're presented with the new Metro UI. Calling it a user interface is a bit of a misnomer. What you're actually seeing is the replacement for the start menu, which has been ubiquitous since Windows 95. The Start menu has really only seen evolutionary change since Windows 95, incrementally improving over the different Windows versions. You can click on the desktop tile if you want to be delivered to the more familiar Windows desktop. The problem is that most PCs aren't touch enabled, so the Metro UI isn't an efficient use of space for mouse-and-keyboard users. Metro start is scrollable with the mouse wheel at least. But would you prefer Metro?
Or if you're a keyboard and mouse power user, would you rather have the option of using the Windows 7 style start menu?
I could probably adjust to Metro, since the apps are much more easily visible. But allocating all that space just to tiles also strikes me as being wasted space. Once in the desktop, you'll find the start menu button is gone, replaced by a Windows icon that responds with a pop-up menu when you hover your mouse cursor over it. This behavior is a little inconsistent – sometimes the pop-up fails to actually pop up, which sounds like a bug more than a feature. Clicking on the icon delivers you back to the Start Menu…er, Metro UI. MultimonitorI use multiple displays, so attaching a second monitor and bringing it up was important if I was going to use this build as a working environment. Windows 8 detected the second display, but I still had to configure it in the resolution control panel. There are some nifty new features in how Windows 8 handles multiple displays. You can allocate the taskbar to individual monitors, or spread it out over the two displays. This includes placing the taskbar icons where you want them. Background images can tile or be stretched out over two displays now. More importantly from an actual usage point of view, you can still pin icons to the task bar, and Aero peek still works as expected. You can also have Metro up on one screen and the normal desktop on another. Clicking on an app in the task bar hides Metro and the app appears on the second monitor, if you've previously dragged the app window to that display.
There's also a button that swaps itself with the default start menu icon from one display to another. This feels like a feature that's not yet fully fleshed out, however, as it's more quirky than actually useful. Using ApplicationsAfter configuring dual monitors, it was time to install applications. I installed Microsoft Office 2010 Standard, Google Chrome and Adobe Master Suite CS5. This gave me most of my main productivity apps. I also installed Steam and transferred over a number of games, just to give them a whirl. All work and no play, as they say. Office applications mostly work well. There are occasional glitches, however. Every few times I'd exit word, I would get an error dialog indicating that Word might be experiencing a compatibility mode error. Note that I never lost any data when saving and exiting, but it's still a little disconcerting that Microsoft's latest Office apps would have issues with Windows 8, even at its early stage. I encountered more substantial issues with Adobe apps – specifically, the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS 5.1. When I initially installed the Adobe Master Suite CS 5.5, the installer generated an error most of the way through the second DVD. Note that the installer didn't crash, and continued after the error. After installation, I ran Photoshop CS5.1 and attempted to load a Nikon RAW image. Here's what happened.
Oops. No 64-bit Photoshop for me. Note that this is the 64-bit version of the Windows 8 Developer Preview I'm running. Also note that the 32-bit version of Photoshop CS5.1 runs with no problems. I'm able to use filters, load raw files, edit, and convert photos. But 64-bit Photoshop crashes without fail when trying to load a RAW file. The other Adobe accessory apps—Camera Raw and Bridge—also seem to run flawlessly. Managing apps as you install more and more software, can be problematic, though search works as well as it did with Windows 7. After loading up a bunch of applications and games, Metro starts to look a little cluttered. Even when you do the search for apps, you get a list that's less than ideal. I can imagine this list becoming practically unusable for power users.
GamesWindows 8 pre-beta ships with some built-in games, but I was more interested in how major titles ran. First, I installed Steam. After installing Steam, Windows 8 popped up a message telling me that Steam may not have installed properly. But Steam seemed to work just fine. I tried out two different games: Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Dead Island. DX: HR proved unplayable. The mouse sensitivity was off the charts, and no amount of changing the sensitivity in-game or with the Windows control panel had any effect. Just touching the mouse would send the scene wildly panning. Dead Island, on the other hand, worked flawlessly. In fact, I blame Dead Island for the fact that I didn't play anything else, since I ended up sucked into the game for several hours. Frame rates at 1920x1080 seemed a little chunky with detail levels pumped up, but I hadn't played it on Windows 7, so have no way of comparing it. I did attempt to run benchmarks. I quickly discovered that none of the Futuremark benchmarks: PC Mark 7, 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark 2011 – would run. PCMark 2011 would run, but hang at the first test. Both 3DMarks hung at the loading screen; I suspect that Futuremark's Sysinfo system status checker didn't know how to handle Windows 8. I also booted up Just Cause 2, so I could run the built-in Concrete Jungle benchmark. At this point, I had attached a 30-inch display running at 2560x1600, so I could run our standard benchmark resolution of 1920x1200 with 4x AA. Here's where I ran into another glitch. At 1920x1200, Just Cause 2 ran in a window, even if it was set to run full screen mode. There was no way to force full screen mode. The game ran, and so did the benchmark – but in a window. The benchmark result was just under 50fps (49.99), which is about right for a single GTX 580 with all the detail levels cranked. It's a Developer PreviewIn the end, I'd avoid trying to run this as a working OS, unless you're really trying to test compatibility. Microsoft has noted that will update the Developer Preview on a regular basis, rather than rolling out an entire new beta code base after a few months, unlike the Windows 7 process. So maybe Windows 8 will stabilize over time. Until then, feel free to play with it, but don't rely on it to actually get any work done if you're not a developer. |
| BREAKING: HP Boots Leo Apotheker, Appoints Meg Whitman CEO Posted: 22 Sep 2011 01:39 PM PDT
"We are fortunate to have someone of Meg Whitman's caliber and experience step up to lead HP," said Ray Lane, who is moving from non-executive chairman to executive chairman. "We are at a critical moment and we need renewed leadership to successfully implement our strategy and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead. Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution. She is a strong communicator who is customer focused with deep leadership capabilities. Furthermore, as a member of HP's board of directors for the past eight months, Meg has a solid understanding of our products and markets." The move to oust Leo Apotheker was rumored for days. Under his watch, HP's stock has fallen 47 percent. HP has also come under fire for its decision to abandon webOS hardware after paying $1.2 billion acquiring Palm in 2010, for shopping its Personal Systems Group (PSG) division, and for spending $10.3 billion acquiring Autonomy. Despite questionable moves and poor performing stock, the board refrained from taking any parting shots at Mr. Apotheker. "We very much appreciate Léo's efforts and his service to HP since his appointment last year. The board believes that the job of the HP CEO now requires additional attributes to successfully execute on the company's strategy. Meg Whitman has the right operational and communication skills and leadership abilities to deliver improved execution and financial performance," Lane said. Image Credit: flickr megwhitman2010 |
| Lian Li Launches PC-TU200 Case for Gamers on the Go Posted: 22 Sep 2011 12:07 PM PDT
It's available in black or silver and sports a "nuclear football" design. There's a single 140mm fan in front to suck cool air into the chassis and distribute said airflow throughout the case. That doesn't seem like much, but combined with the aluminum construction and rounded feet to elevate the bottom, Lian Li says the PC-TU200 is thermally efficient. Lian Li says getting into the PC-TU200 is easy as pie thanks to a release lever on the back panel and corresponding side panels, which pop right off. Inside you'll find a hard disk cage with room for up to four 3.5-inch drives, so RAID isn't out of the question. There are two expansion slots, HD audio ports, eSATA, two built-in dual 20-pin USB 3.0 connectors, and room enough to hold hold graphics cards 11.81 inches (300mm) in length. No word on price or availability. Image Credit: Lian Li |
| Gamings' Greatest Arenas: Top 15 Multiplayer Maps Of All Time Posted: 22 Sep 2011 12:01 PM PDT Here in the red-pill real world, the scenery's a bit hit and miss. For every beautiful beach resort, there are a hundred ho-hum forgettable towns. Multiplayer maps in blue-pill PC gaming land suffer from the same problem. It shouldn't come as a surprise; with hundreds of games sporting thousands of maps, most of them are bound to be filler. A few diamonds manage to rise above the mountain of coal, however, and they offer an amazing experience that simply begs to be played over and over again, preferably while wearing bright blue megaarmor and wielding a rocket launcher. Dreamers like Cliff Bleszinski, Richard "Levelord" Gray and Paul Jaquays create virtual worlds that are chock full of unforgettable landmarks and perfectly designed fragalicious goodness. Join us for a stroll down memory lane as we take a look at 15 of the most memorable video game maps of all time, and feel free to leave a comment to let us know which totally awesome levels we idiotically left out. |
| Oracle, Google Fail Still Unable to Settle Java Patent Dispute Posted: 22 Sep 2011 11:49 AM PDT
While Google is willing to settle the case for a sum, it scoffed at the $2 billion figure now reportedly being thrown around. Robert Van Nest, a lawyer for Google, said in a letter to Alsup that Oracle's new figure "ignores governing law and guidelines of this court's July 22, 2011 order," according to a report in Business Week. The two sides appear far apart, and the gap may be wider than originally thought. Software patent guru Florian Muller has been keeping tabs on this case said there's no evidence Oracle is even willing to come down to $2 billion. "Yesterday, at least three major news agencies -- all of which typically do a great job reporting on this dispute -- said or suggested that Oracle's damages had been reduced from $6 billion to an amount just above $2 billion. However, there's absolutely no evidence -- none at all -- for such a reduction in the court documents, and in fact, Oracle's damages claims might be even higher now than before," Muller wrote in a blog post. "By the way, the $6.1 billion figure was doubtful anyway because it only appeared in Google's representations of those claims, and Oracle itself denied it firmly." The ~$2 billion figure comes from adding up the numbers in a Google letter regarding damages that was filed on Tuesday, but Muller says Oracle's is seeking damages from the day Android launched all the way until the year 2025. With that in mind, Oracle might be seeking much more than even the $6.1 billion figure. |
| Are Netflix's Crazy Moves Preparation For An Amazon Buyout? Posted: 22 Sep 2011 11:26 AM PDT
Reading through the research note by Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities (you can read a copy here), the idea kind of makes sense: Amazon's been trying for a long time to work its all-encompassing fingers into the streaming video market with next to no success. A Netflix buy would neatly tie that ribbon, but up until now, the DVD mailing service required that Netflix maintain a physical presence in many states around the country. A physical presence means sales tax, and Amazon's hatred of state sales taxes is legendary. But with the Quikster spin-off, that physical presence is now removed from the streaming Netflix picture. "We therefore concluded that there was a rational explanation for the apparently boneheaded moves by Netflix - it became clear to us that Amazon is buying the streaming business," Pachter wrote. "…AMZN can buy without sales tax concerns (and) the split-up allows a federal income tax-free sale (stock-for-stock)." Hm, now wouldn't that be an interesting move? As Pachter implies in his note, it's just about the only way that Netflix's crazy moves make any sense. Amazon's name has been linked with Hulu acquisition rumors, remember... |
| Browser Extension of the Week: Google +1 Button Posted: 22 Sep 2011 11:24 AM PDT
In a sea of third-party Google+ extension options, Google +1 Button for Chrome is unique in the fact that it was cooked up by the web-minded folks from Mountain View. Once downloaded and installed to your browser, Google +1 Button is good to go, as chances are, you'll have signed into the Chrome Web Store with the same account as you rock Google+ with. In the off chance that your primary account isn't linked to Google+ (individuals with a Google Apps account, for example), the extension will demand that you sign into a Google+ account before it can be used for the first time. Once you're good to go, giving a +1 to any page you frequent is as simple as clicking a button in your browser's navigation bar.
In addition to allowing you to voice your approval for a page, the extension also shows how many other users have given a thumbs up to the site you're viewing. Best of all, should any site you've given a +1 to fall out of your good graces, rescinding approval is as easy as pushing the same button you used to hand it out in the first place. Be sure to check back every Thursday for another edition of Maximum PC's Browser Extension of the Week.
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A 23-year old Arizona man 
The problem with predicting the future is that there's so much of it. You can predict some pieces of it because some trends are obvious, but you can't predict how all the pieces are going to fit together, and even more difficult, you cannot predict what human beings will do with all those different pieces once they have put them together.
It looks to me as if we are on the threshold of each of us having our own PVPN—Personal Very Private Network—comprised of all the different devices that we own, all of them in perpetual communication with each other. Think of it as a personal OnStar tracking and managing and watching out for every facet of your daily routine.
As part of the Facebook F8 conference, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings took a break from sawing his company in two in order to 
Leo Apotheker's relatively short stint as CEO of Hewlett Packard has come to end. Taking his place is Meg Whitman, the former eBay boss, who will now serve as HP's President and CEO, the company's board of directors announced. Ms. Whitman faces the monumental challenge of restoring investor faith in HP, though her appointment alone may prove a step in the right direction.
Lian Li doesn't really have a reputation for catering to the LAN party crowd, and perhaps that's something the case maker would like to change. 
Oracle thinks it's entitled to at least $2 billion in damages from Google over a handful of Java-related patent and copyright infringements in Android. Actually, Oracle might feel it's entitled to at least $6.1 billion, a number U.S. District Judge William Alsup rejected in July. The judge ordered Oracle to come up with a new damages report and suggested the firm start at $100 million.
On the surface, Netflix's recent stumblings could lead one to believe that CEO Reed Hastings has taken a swig of HP CEO Leo Apotheker's crazy juice. Raising prices? Splitting off the DVD business? What kind of craziness is that? Today, one analyst issued a note saying that rather than being the crazy kind of crazy, Netflix's moves may instead be a more sneaky and clever kind of crazy, intended to make the video service a juicy acquisition target for Amazon. 
With so many ways to socialize online, there's no excuse for being a digital hermit these days. Facebook now offers the ability to follow feeds, Twitter's still cranking out the tweets and instant messaging just keeps on keeping on. Now that Google+ has made the move from invite-only exclusivity to being a social media network that anyone can join, the time seems right to declare 
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