General Gaming Article |
- Apple Founder Steve Jobs Is Dead
- Sprint Will Keep Unlimited Data for iPhone Buyers
- Samsung CTIA Video Teases Nexus Prime
- Microsoft Reveals Huge Xbox Streaming Deal
- Cheat Sheet: 8 Head-Banging Spotify Tips And Tricks
- Facebook's Active Users Dwarf Most Continents' Total Internet Users
- Physicists Receive $1.85 Million Grant to Reinvent Electronic Computing
- Windows Phone 7 App of the Week: eBay
- Mozilla Blocks Crash-Prone McAfee Firefox Add-on
- Italian Version of Wikipedia Taken Down To Protest Proposed Law
| Apple Founder Steve Jobs Is Dead Posted: 05 Oct 2011 05:15 PM PDT
Although we've voiced a lot of complaints about Apple over the years, there's not one of us on the Maximum PC staff (even Gordon) who isn't saddened to hear this news. Steve Jobs was a one-of-a-kind figure in the tech community, and his passing is a tremendous loss. Rest in peace, Steve. You were a true innovator and you've left a hell of a legacy.
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| Sprint Will Keep Unlimited Data for iPhone Buyers Posted: 05 Oct 2011 02:46 PM PDT
Sprint offers unlimited smartphone data plans for as low as $69.99 per month with 450 minutes. Unlike T-Mobile which also advertises an unlimited plan, Sprint does not throttle data after a certain cut-off. AT&T and Verizon both have capped data with 2GB being the maximum on AT&T, and the basic tier on Verizon. Sprint claims that its 3G data network can handle the load, and there's no reason to think it won't. The carrier has quite a bit of experience with Android users, who actually use as much or more data on average. |
| Samsung CTIA Video Teases Nexus Prime Posted: 05 Oct 2011 02:30 PM PDT
Near the end of the video, the phone is seen edge on, with a glowing line tracing the curve of the Contour Screen. The severity of the curve seems to have increased from last year's device, but the body is markedly thinner as well. There is a substantial bump at the bottom of the device, like many Samsung phones as of late. We also catch sight of what appears to be a dock connector on the side of the device. The Nexus Prime (the name of which is in dispute) is expected to run a dual-core SoC, possibly an OMAP. The screen is rumored to pack a whopping 1280x720 pixels and be about 4.65-inches diagonal. The Nexus Prime will run Google's Ice Cream Sandwich operating system update. How does this tease strike you? |
| Microsoft Reveals Huge Xbox Streaming Deal Posted: 05 Oct 2011 02:15 PM PDT
Most of this content will be available as apps for the Xbox Dashboard, but users will have to authenticate via an existing cable subscription. Additionally, Verizon will only be making part of its channel lineup available. Some content is country specific with BBC exclusive to the UK and Canal+ in France. YouTube integration will be more or less universal, though. The Dashboard Metro-style redesign that allows this service should be out sometime in November. At that time, we are also expecting Windows Phone integration that turns the mobile device into a remote control. Would this sway you to get an Xbox over other consoles? |
| Cheat Sheet: 8 Head-Banging Spotify Tips And Tricks Posted: 05 Oct 2011 12:36 PM PDT
Ditch The MouseWe'll start off by improving your navigation skills. If you're the kind of person who glares at a mouse with the same look of disdain that Neil Young reserves for rampant file sharers, you're in luck! Spotify includes tons of keyboard shortcuts. Here's a few of the more useful ones:
For a complete list, check out the keyboard shortcut page in the Spotify help section. Make Mobile Music Available Offline
Image credit: musicnews.omio.news Ponying up the $10/month for a premium subscription does more than just kick the ads to the curb and increase the bitrate to 320Kbps. Your cash also opens up the ability to listen to Spotify playlists on up to three mobile devices, even when you're offline. Simply connect your phone to the Internet and open up a playlist you want to be able to listen to at any time, then slide the Available Offline switch to "On." Spotify downloads the tracks to your computer for Internet-free listening. You can save up to 3,333 songs in offline mode on three separate devices, and it's included on the desktop client for Premium subscribers. That's 10k songs at your Internet-free fingertips. Advanced Search Options
Check out all the hot and heavy advanced filter action in the search bar, Anybody can type in "Kelis" and be shaking their milkshake in the yard before they know it, but if you want to dig out obscure gems or simply tighten up your search results, you're going to want to use Spotify's advanced search options. Prefacing a search with "album:", "title:", or "artist:" limits the search to that aspect of a song. Don't include a space between the colon and the target of your search. If there are multiple words in your search parameter, bracketing them in quotation marks will only return results that carry every word inside the quotes. For example, artist:"Black Keys" only offers results that include both words, whereas the search results for artist:Black Keys (without quotes) will toss up anything with the word "Black" or "Keys". You can also limit searches by prefacing them with "year:", "label:" and "genre:", which could be useful for indie fans. Boolean operators? Spotify's got those, too. Use multiple filters at once – similar to the AND command – by including a space between them, such as genre:rock artist:"Queens of the Stone Age. Adding "OR" between two sections of a search will have the service scour its catalog for both sections separately, rather than treating it as a single search, and return them on one results page. Finally, you can place a dash (-) in front of a word to exclude searches that include that term from the results. For example, searching for beck –artist:jeff will keep guitar god Jeff Beck from clogging up your searches for Beck, the guy who made "Loser" back in the 1990s. Sharing Is Caring
Look at all those social options! Spotify doesn't focus on social media with the same relentless obsession that Rdio does, but it still includes plenty of options for sharing your favorite songs and playlists. Simply right-click on a song or playlist and select "Share To" to quickly and easily share the information to Facebook, Twitter, Messenger or a specific Spotify user. You can also copy an HTTP link for the song or playlist to link to it on a website. "Copy Spotify URI" creates a link that opens Spotify and plays the song when someone clicks on it. Focus On The Blistering Solo, Not The Boring Intro
Spotify URI's let you link to specific parts of specific songs. Building off the last tip, Spotify allows you to alter its direct URI links to start song playback at a specific point in the track. Simply add # to the end of the Spotify URI, then entire the time stamp for the part of the song you want to link to. Need a visual? spotify:track:4MB8cfTICv4aCpZplYUENd opens up the track "Sun Dance" by the band Tomahawk, which happens to have a withering burst of Native American-inspired rock about 50 seconds in. Typing spotify:track:4MB8cfTICv4aCpZplYUENd#0:50 when you include it as a link opens the track right at that spot. To do the same with an HTTP URL, replace the # with "%23" – minus the quotes. It's excellent for when you want to share a cool part of a track with a pal. Add Music From Unusual Places To Your Library
Adding local files to Spotify via the Local Pages tab. You've probably already noticed that Spotify makes all the music you have on iTunes or in your Music and Download folders available in the Local Files tab on the left side of the screen. But what if you keep your music on an external hard drive or an oddly named folder? (For example, I keep mine in a folder dubbed "The Savage Beast".) Simple: open the Local Files tab, then click on the "Music from your computer" link at the top of the page. Scroll down a bit until you see "Local Files," then click on "Add Source" and include the location of your hidden music directory. The same menu allows you to enable Last.fm scrobbling, by the way. Eenie, Meenie, Mini, Moe
An expanded view of a single track with multiple cuts. When you search for a song that an artist cut several times, it will only display the most popular version. If your favorite singer recorded several live or recorded mixes of a single track, just click that little circle to the left of the artist's name in the track's search results. The screen expands to show every version of the same song title that artist offers (or at least the ones offered on Spotify). That way, you can pick which live version of The Toadies' "Backslider" you want to hear. Utilities Pump Up The Jams
ShareMyPlaylists.com lets Spotify users rock each others' socks. There are tons of websites out there that add useful functions to the Spotify experience. Some of our favorites: ShareMyPlaylists.com allows you to share your favorite playlists and listen to the playlists of others (yes, there is a rating function to cut down on the signal-to-noise ratio); SPNotify.com shoots you a notification whenever new music is available from your favorite artists; while Spotibot.com works similarly to Pandora in that you type the name of your favorite bands, then the site creates custom playlists of songs it thinks you'll like. There are also browser control extensions available for Chrome and Firefox, so you won't have to hop between the two windows to change tracks. Seriously, there's a ton of stuff available. Check out this Lifehacker article for the most comprehensive list of Spotify utilities we could find. So, what helped? What did we miss? Let us know in the comments! |
| Facebook's Active Users Dwarf Most Continents' Total Internet Users Posted: 05 Oct 2011 11:35 AM PDT
Just to play the devil's advocate, we'd like to point out that the Internet usage stats that Royal Pingdom linked to shows that the Web crossed the 800 million mark around October 2004, but we get their point nonetheless. Some other fun bits: Facebook's user base is larger than any continent's Internet population except for Asia's, and Facebook users outnumber the combined population of Russia and all of Europe combined! Plus, Facebook citizens outnumber US citizens 2.5 times over. When you put it that way, Google+'s 30 million-plus users suddenly don't seem quite as impressive… |
| Physicists Receive $1.85 Million Grant to Reinvent Electronic Computing Posted: 05 Oct 2011 11:24 AM PDT
That's the amount of grant money it received, according to UC Riverside. It was awarded to UC Riverside for winning the national Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond competition. Kawakami says his team is looking at ways of improving computing that go beyond simply building a better transistor. He believes conventional silicon electronics can only go so far and it won't be long before the technology hits a wall. Then what? "Our approach is to utilize the spin degree of freedom to store and process information, which will allow the functions of logic and memory to be fully integrated into a single chip," Kawakami explains. It starts with developing a new type of building block device called a magnetologic gate (pictured above). This will serve as the basis for the technology, much in the same way transistors are the backbone of conventional electronics. The magnetic gate is made of graphene with a bunch of magnetic electrodes. These electrodes store data, while electrons move through the graphene to use the spin state to compare the information, according to UC Riverside. More geeky details on the topic here. |
| Windows Phone 7 App of the Week: eBay Posted: 05 Oct 2011 11:17 AM PDT We know what you're thinking: Ebay? Really? Obviously readers of this site are familiar with the auction mega-site, even if you don't use it on principal. Ebay's selection as App of the Week has a lot to do with their use of new capabilities offered by the Mango update for Windows Phone. For those that are fans of both Windows Phone and Ebay (yes, all three of you), the Ebay app is a thing of beauty.
Being a client app for Ebay, you can make some assumptions regarding features you will find in the app. Auction listings can be searched and browsed, items can watched or bid on, and the app will allow you to configure notifications for when you are outbid or a watched item is ending. The best feature of the Ebay app is a new capability in Mango. Individual searches or bids can be pinned to your Start Screen for easy (and quick) access later.
The Ebay app for Windows Phone is available as a free download from the Windows Phone Marketplace. Mango is a requirement however, so you'll need to update your device if you haven't done so already. |
| Mozilla Blocks Crash-Prone McAfee Firefox Add-on Posted: 05 Oct 2011 11:11 AM PDT
ScripScan is part of McAfee's VirusScan antivirus package and is designed to scan websites for malicious code. Unfortunately, the add-on does more harm than good, at least in Firefox; Mozilla says all versions of ScriptScan version 14.4.0 and below crash every version of Firefox and SeaMonkey. "Users are strongly encouraged to disable the problematic add-on or plugin, but may choose to continue using it if they accept the risks described," Mozilla's website says. On McAfee's end, the problem only appears to be with Firefox; other browsers appear unaffected by crashes. McAfee is well aware of the problem; on the company's forums, volunteer moderator Ex_Brit has confirmed that there is a bug report filed about it, and says McAfee is working with Mozilla to fix the problem. In the meantime, he suggests using another browser or installing McAfee's SiteAdvisor add-on in ScriptScan's stead. |
| Italian Version of Wikipedia Taken Down To Protest Proposed Law Posted: 05 Oct 2011 10:45 AM PDT
A message that serves as a placeholder for the site warns that the content is only hidden at the moment, but it may deleted if paragraph 29 of the proposed "Wiretapping Act" is adopted into law. "This proposal, which the Italian Parliament is currently debating, provides, among other things, a requirement to all websites to publish, within 48 hours of the request and without any comment, a correction of any content that the applicant deems detrimental to his/her image," Wikipedia summarizes. Note that there is no third party arbiter or judge of whether the content is detrimental or not – the final legal say lands in the lap of the aggrieved, regardless of whether the originally reported story is true or not. Wikipedia takes extreme offense with that. From the placeholder message: "The obligation to publish on our site the correction as is, provided by the named paragraph 29, without even the right to discuss and verify the claim, is an unacceptable restriction of the freedom and independence of Wikipedia, to the point of distorting the principles on which the Free Encyclopedia is based and this would bring to a paralysis of the "horizontal" method of access and editing, putting - in fact - an end to its existence as we have known until today." Critics of the proposed law say that it was designed solely to silence critics of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose lavish, lady-filled, and movie star-esque lifestyle is the subject of derision of many Italian publications. |
Steven P. Jobs, the founder of Apple, 
Prospective iPhone buyers have been aching to know if Sprint would be keeping its unlimited data plans in place when it begins offering the device, and the answer is a resounding '
In the wake of a lackluster iPhone 4S announcement, many phone fans are looking forward to next week's CTIA event where Google and Samsung are expected to make a big Android announcement. In an apparent effor to stoke the fires, Samsung has released a 
We've been hearing for several weeks that Microsoft was close to finalizing content deals that would allow the Xbox game console stream TV. Today Redmond announced the program, and the partner list is impressive. 
After months of rumors, whispers, and flat-out teasing by CEO Daniel Elk, Spotify finally hit the U.S. back in July. Even though the streaming music service is still a bit green behind the ears in America, Spotify is no rookie; it's been the proverbial 800 lb. gorilla on the European front for years. Now that you've had a couple of months to get used to Spotify's deep catalog and basic abilities, it's time to get serious and slip on your Maximum PC power user hat. That European gestation time gave Spotify a chance to jam-pack the application with all kinds of secrets, shortcuts, and features – and we're here to give you the grand tour. But why are we still blabbering when we could be educating? Let's get this Spotify guide going!
While we were busy listening to all the Spotify coverage at F8 a few weeks back, the Zuck let a little something else slip that we missed at first: Facebook's active user base is now over 800 million strong. Let that number sink in. 800 million. It's utterly massive. How massive? One website crunched the numbers and found that the Facebook of 2011 is as big as the entire Internet of 2004 and a whole host of other things.
Talk about a monumental task. Roland Kawakami, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Riverside, is leading a team of physicists on a multicampus research project aimed at replacing conventional silicon electronics with a new way of computing better equipped to process large scale applications. The team's budget is $1.85 million.
Mozilla just can't catch any slack; the new, memory-improved Firefox 7.0 is barely off the virtual printing presses and already some users are complaining that the thing is crash-tastic. Not so fast: Mozilla pays attention to those crash reports that users send back, you see, and the company noticed that McAfee's ScriptScan add-on was the cause of a lot of those fatal errors. In fact, ScriptScan was creating such a high volume of crashes that Mozilla tossed the add-on in their blocklist yesterday.
Wikipedia. It's so substantial and all-encompassing that it could kind of be considered a repository for the collective knowledge of our species. Since it's all ones and zeros stored on servers around the world, there's no threat of it burning down like the ancient Library at Alexandria did – at least not physically. Digital law can still bring it crashing down. The Italian version of Wikipedia is currently offline due to a law being proposed by the Italian Parliament that could have serious repercussions on Wikipedia – and all free speech – in that country.| You are subscribed to email updates from Maximum PC - All Articles To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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