General Gaming Article |
- Native Gmail App Finally Headed To iOS?
- Google Makes Gmail Redesign Official, Try It Now
- DVD Streaming Company Zediva Ordered to Close For Good
- Dell XPS 14z Ready to Rumble with MacBook Pro
- 3TB Seagate Barracuda Review
- Internet Explorer Slips Closer to 50 Percent Browser Market Share
- Mobile OS Revolution: Android 4, Windows Phone 7.5, and Apple iOS 5 Explained
- AMD Catalyst 11.10 Drivers Now Available for Download
- Third Quarter Graphics Shipments Climb Nearly 17 Percent
- Condescending Apple Genius Says iPhones Get Stressed Out, Need R&R
| Native Gmail App Finally Headed To iOS? Posted: 01 Nov 2011 03:05 PM PDT
Google has in the past developed solid mobile versions of its apps for use with iOS, but a native app could include extras like offline sync, priority inbox, and push notifications. Those that have used the app report that it works surprisingly well, and has a ton of features. Apple has occasionally given Google a hard time over it apps, for instance the Google Voice app which took Apple a year to approve. Android has long been the home of the premium Gmail experience. It might speak to now confident Google in in Android's future that it is willing to bring this killer feature to the iPhone. Do you think it's a good move for Google? |
| Google Makes Gmail Redesign Official, Try It Now Posted: 01 Nov 2011 02:49 PM PDT
To switch to the new look now, just click the link to that effect in the lower right corner of the Gmail window. You'll get a nice video preview of the changes, as well as the option to switch back. The new Conversation view has been simplified, and the entire inbox area re-sizes with the window. The new search box has multiple fields for the various parts of the message, and there is even a field to exclude terms. Google has also updated some of the most popular themes to take advantage of the new, sharper style. These so-called "HD" themes are available in the settings page, but classic themes are still there as well. How do you feel about the new Gmail. |
| DVD Streaming Company Zediva Ordered to Close For Good Posted: 01 Nov 2011 02:32 PM PDT
The judge in the case ruled on Friday that Zediva had not, in fact, found a loophole in copyright law that would allow them to stream any film in existence. Zediva never acquired streaming licenses, which Hollywood is famously reluctant to issue. By skipping the licensing deals, the company was able to charge just $1.99 per rental. Certainly Zediva had to expect a legal challenge, but the service had barely gotten off the ground before it was cut down, and now the judgement is permanent. Did you ever use Zediva? is this a great loss for the internet, or just another hair-brained scheme down the tubes? |
| Dell XPS 14z Ready to Rumble with MacBook Pro Posted: 01 Nov 2011 12:40 PM PDT
The XPS 14z is a little bigger than a Ultrabook and doesn't come standard with a solid state drive, hence why it doesn't qualify for the label. Nevertheless, the 14z measures 0.9mm thin and sports some respectable hardware for the money. The $1,000 model features a 14-inch 720p display, Intel Core i5 2430M (2.4GHz) processor, 6GB of DDR3-1333 memory, 500GB SATA hard drive spinning at 7200 RPM, Intel HD Graphics 3000, 8x slot-load DVD burner, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. There are other configurations to choose from, culminating in a $1,600 model that includes an Intel Core i7 2640M (2.8GHz) processor, 8GB of DDR3-1333 memory, 256GB SSD, and Nvidia GT 520M graphics with 1GB of video memory. All other specs remain the same. As for the MacBook Pro, Apple recently (and quietly) rolled out a handful of updates in the form of faster processors, bigger hard drives, and beefier graphics on select models. The XPS 14z still offers better overall specs for less money, but the disparity isn't huge, which puts platform agnostic folks in a tough spot trying to pick one over the other. Image Credit: Dell |
| Posted: 01 Nov 2011 12:05 PM PDT Three platters, three terabytesSince time began, man has looked at four- and five-platter 3TB hard drives and dared to say, "That's cool, but when will we get hard drives with one terabyte per platter?" Man is impossible to please. Nevertheless, drive makers have cracked the 1TB-per-platter limit, and this year we'll see 4- and 5TB drives, and even one-platter 1TB drives. The first 1TB/platter drive to cross our bench, though, is Seagate's new 3TB Barracuda. This is the first from Seagate's simplified consumer 3.5-inch drive lineup. The LP and XT brands, for "green" and "enthusiast," respectively, are gone. In fact, Seagate has entirely phased out 5,400rpm and "green" drives. The Barracuda lineup now consists exclusively of 7,200rpm drives with 6Gb/s SATA controllers. The 2- and 3TB models use three platters, the 1.5TB version uses two, and the 1TB and lesser-capacity drives all use one. Increased areal density allows for faster read and write speeds, which should mean a faster drive. Does it?
It does. On our Sandy Bridge test bed, the 3TB Barracuda had average sequential read speeds higher than 155MB/s, with max sequential read speeds of 200MB/s. Average sequential write speeds were higher than 150MB/s. The two 7,200rpm 3TB drives we reviewed in July 2011—Seagate's Barracuda XT and Hitachi's Deskstar 7K3000—were both slower, by around 30MB/s. Random-access times for the three-platter drives were less than 15ms—speedy for a mechanical drive, although nowhere near the 0.1ms random-access times an SSD will post. In our Premiere Pro encoding benchmark, the three-platter Barracuda lagged slightly behind the five-platter Deskstar, and both five-platter drives bested the three-platter model in PCMark Vantage. As with all drives higher than 2.2TB, you'll need a motherboard with UEFI, the ability to make GPT partitions, and a 64-bit operating system in order to create a bootable 3TB partition on your drive. If you don't meet those criteria, you can use Seagate's included DiscWizard software to help create multiple partitions. Or you can use Disk Management in the control panel, as the gods intended. Most Maximum PC users will opt to use their 3TB drives as storage volumes anyway, and you don't need UEFI to create 3TB non-booting partitions in Windows. If you can find it at its MSRP of $180, the three-platter 3TB drive is a steal, combining sustained speeds of over 150MB/s with, well, three terabytes of storage. But given the hard drive shortages forecasted due to this autumn's flooding in Thailand, supplies could be tight and street prices much higher. Nov 1 Note: Initial MSRP was $180 on our reviewer's guide; we're seeing reports now that it could be as high as $210, likely due to the aforementioned shortages. $180, www.seagate.com |
| Internet Explorer Slips Closer to 50 Percent Browser Market Share Posted: 01 Nov 2011 11:47 AM PDT
At this point, it seems likely IE will eventually give up the lead, but to which browser? By the numbers, Mozilla's Firefox is the closest threat with a 22.51 percent share at the end of October, which is up slightly from 22.48 percent in September, but down from 25.05 percent in November 2009. Google Chrome is where the smart money is at, at least if forced to pick an eventual winner today. Chrome has seen a greater than four-fold increase in usage since November 2009 when it held a 3.98 percent share, and with the exception of June 2010 to July 2010, has grown its desktop browser market share every single month. Chrome now accounts for 17.62 percent of all desktop browsers, an increase of 1.42 percentage points from one month prior. Which browser(s) are you using these days? |
| Mobile OS Revolution: Android 4, Windows Phone 7.5, and Apple iOS 5 Explained Posted: 01 Nov 2011 11:45 AM PDT It's been a busy month for three of our favorite mobile platforms. Microsoft launched "Mango" in late September, Apple released iOS 5 on October 12, and Google announced the long-awaited Ice Cream Sandwich on October 19 (the evening of the 18th in the US). Each update offers significant improvements in features and/or UI, but keeping track of all those new goodies can be an arduous task. We'll give you a look at what's new on these platforms, as well as some idea of how or if you can get them on your device.
Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is the only update that hasn't actually been released as of the time this writing, but Google did hold a launch event demonstrating new features and capabilities in Android 4. ICS will initially be available on the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Nexus, with updates proceeding to other eligible devices at a later date. Presumably Google will follow its policy of updating devices released by partners over the last 18 months. GeneralIt seems like we've been hearing rumors about ICS since the dawn of time, but it hasn't been quite that long. Reportedly the major benefit of ICS was the unification of the phone and tablet form factors, but the absence of a tablet demo to this point has been frustrating. The UI sports a lot of elements that will look very familiar to users of Honeycomb (Android 3.x) tablets. The three buttons that are always on display at the bottom of the screen, the app switcher, and even the neon glow around the UI bits are almost identical to Honeycomb. Those of you looking for better ways to organize your home screens will love folders and resizable widgets.
Messaging and Social NetworksSmartphones are all about communication, and Ice Cream Sandwich reinforces that. Google+ is an integral part of ICS, in much the same way Gmail or Google Voice have been. As Google's central social networking service, Google+ is going to provide key communication capabilities, such as chat and video calling via Google+ Hangouts. BeamUndoubtedly the most innovative new feature in ICS, Beam uses Near Field Communication (NFC) to transfer images, contacts, or links between devices simply by touching them together. Beam will require a device that includes NFC hardware. NFC is the same technology that powers Google Wallet, and will become much more prevalent in the coming months. Camera and ImagingCamera use was a major area of (ahem) focus at Google's ICS event. From the start, ICS helps you catch that perfect image by offering a shortcut to the camera app directly from the unlock screen. The camera app itself has been reworked and provides many upgrades such as continuous focus and zero shutter lag, both of which will help you capture better images using your phone's camera. Panoramic images are incredibly simple with ICS as well. Simply snap an image, sweep the camera slowly across the area you want to capture, and Ice Cream Sandwich will stitch the images together to make a panorama.
The Gallery app has also been updated in a big way, offering impressive image editing opportunities out of the box. Once your image is perfect, ICS provides an avenue for you to share your image to different social networks or photo sharing sites, as well as using email or Bluetooth. Other
Google also provides some other innovative uses of technology that can make your life easier. Face Unlock allows you to use the front-facing camera on your device for facial recognition to unlock your device, instead of a pin or swipe pattern. Quick Responses let you respond to an incoming phone call using predefined text messages, a terribly handy solution for anyone who has received an inopportune phone call during an important meeting. ICS makes the problem of monitoring and managing your metered data usage much more intuitive. Using the included tools you can determine when and why spikes in data usage are occurring, and define how individual apps are allowed to use your data. iOS 5Arguably the world's most hyped smartphone platform, iOS 5 boasts a maturity in both platform and ecosystem that everyone else is trying to catch up with. Much of the iOS 5 update simply improves on features that have been available for some time, but Apple certainly has some new tricks up its sleeve. It comes installed on the new iPhone 4S and is available for the iPhone (4 and 3GS), iPad (1 and 2), and iPod Touch (generation 3 and 4).
SiriEasily the coolest new feature in iOS 5, Siri is also the most frustrating because it's (needlessly) exclusive to the iPhone 4S. In its simplest form, Siri is the best mobile voice activation solution on the market, but it's much more than that. Instead of always listening for specific key words, Siri attempts to translate your words into something the iPhone can act on. The result is a very usable voice interface that allows you to play music, set reminders, reply to text messages, inquire about the weather or traffic, and a host of other uses. iCloudApple's second attempt at an integral cloud service, iCloud rains down convenience all over iOS 5. It integrates nicely with Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) to provide a means of synchronizing your documents to the cloud, or to multiple devices. The iCloud website lets you view thumbnails of these documents, and upload or download individual documents. iCloud also provides quick access to your @me.com email, and lets you manage your contacts and calendar in a central location. At iCloud.com you can "Find My iPhone", which allows you to locate, track, and remotely lock or wipe your device if it gets lost or stolen.
NotificationsFor such a mature platform, notifications prior to iOS 5 were hideous. Notifications would interrupt the app you were currently using, which was especially painful during video playback or key moments in a game. In iOS 5, Apple has taken a major step in the right direction with notifications. Instead of constant popups that demand your attention, notifications appear at the top of your screen, and disappear after a few seconds. A list of recent notifications is visible by dragging downward from the top of the screen, revealing the Notification Drawer, similar to the UI in Android. iOS 5 also offers the ability to display notifications on your lock screen, adding an additional layer of visibility without being obtrusive. Using Settings you can configure notifications for individual apps, indicating when and where an application is able to notify you. You can even revert to the old method of notifications, if you'd prefer.
Messaging and Social NetworksiMessage is Apple's implementation of a unified messaging platform. It can seamlessly switch between SMS and chat with other iMessage users. You can even begin an iMessage conversation on your iPhone, and pick up where you left off on your iPad or iPod Touch. Twitter integration also makes its debut in iOS 5, though you won't be removing your Twitter app anytime soon. iOS 5 uses Twitter to share photos, links, maps, or videos with only a few touches. App developers also have access to APIs that let them integrate built-in functionality, meaning more socially-aware apps should be on the horizon. What Twitter integration in iOS 5 doesn't provide is an easy method to interact with your timeline or post a simple Tweet without going through Safari, Photos, or Maps. OtherThere are a lot more less significant features and updates in iOS 5 as well. For example, iPads get a Split Keyboard to benefit thumb typists, and Safari adds enhanced tabbed browsing. Significant AirPlay updates mean you can now mirror your entire screen to an HDTV display with an Apple TV. Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango)Windows Phone is the newest member of this group, and as such had the most room for growth. Microsoft's Mango update to WP7 launched simultaneously to multiple devices on carriers throughout the world, and did so without any major hiccups. The update will be available to all Windows Phone devices and will become stock on a new wave of hardware arriving in the coming months.
GeneralThe biggest update in Windows Phone 7.5 is Multitasking. Like iOS, most Windows Phone apps don't truly run in the background, but Windows Phone 7.5 provides the APIs that developers need to do critical things, like play music or continue downloading files while the application is inactive. You can switch between running applications by holding the back button, swiping through the available options, and tapping on the app you want.
Messaging and Social NetworksMicrosoft's tagline for Windows Phone is "Put People First", and Mango improves on that goal in dramatic ways. Already one of the more socially connected platforms with Facebook integrated directly into the OS, WP7.5 also includes Twitter and LinkedIn integration, as well as improving the Facebook support. The "Me" tile can update any of the connected social networks, and you can follow friends through the People hub. Also through the People hub, the new History pivot tracks your interaction with individual friends, both via the integrated social networks and the more traditional means. The Messaging app in Windows Phone is where you would typically read and send SMS and MMS messages. The Messaging interface itself received some minor tweaks, a rarity in this update, with incoming and outgoing messages being colored differently. The Messaging app is also the home of integrated Facebook chat. Messaging allows you to seamlessly switch back and forth between Facebook chat and SMS, much like Facebook Messages. Voice integration is another new feature of the Messaging app, allowing you to easily dictate text messages using only voice commands. Windows Phone 7 included one of our favorite mobile email implementations before Mango, and it only gets better. Email in Mango has a threaded view, making it simple to view an entire conversation without searching through your email history. Also new in Mango is the ability to link inboxes. Linked inboxes let you associate two or more email accounts to handle as one, simplifying the task of managing your email without losing the benefits gained by having multiple accounts. BingWhen the search button gets one of the three mandated hardware buttons on every Windows Phone device, there's a good chance that Microsoft has big plans for Bing in Windows Phone 7. We've already covered much of Bing's new functionality in our piece on Tips and Tricks for Mango, but know that if you aren't using Bing on a regular basis, you're missing out. Scout, Music, Vision, and Voice all have new features and use cases that have major potential, and compete favorably against the best Apple and Google can offer.
OtherThere are too many new features in Mango to fully delve into here, but some other items of interest include support for custom ringtones, new features in Zune (Music and Video), and the ability to save Office documents to SkyDrive. Mango also offers many new capabilities for developers that you'll see in your apps, such as the ability to pin multiple live tiles to your Start screen. Let's Get MovingRegardless of which mobile platform you use on a daily basis, there are some good reasons to be excited about the new things on offer. Each platform has made major steps forward in features and how the UI presents those features. The real question for many people is if their device will be supported, and unfortunately that often depends on the device. Most Apple devices are eligible for iOS 5, but will miss out on the most innovative feature in Siri. All Windows Phone devices are upgradeable to Mango, partially due to the small segment of the market held by Windows Phone. The upgradeability of Android devices is an entirely new conversation. The general rule of thumb says that popular devices from Google partners released in the last 18 months have the best chance for an upgrade, but the schedule for those devices to receive their update is anyone's guess. Which is your platform of choice? What new features are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comments! |
| AMD Catalyst 11.10 Drivers Now Available for Download Posted: 01 Nov 2011 11:26 AM PDT
AMD lists performance improvements in the Battlefield 3 Open Beta release, which we assume would also apply to the retail version. Catalyst 11.10 is also supposed to smooth things out in Rage by enabling automatic Vsync and reducing a number of annoying issues, like random crashes, screen flicker, texture corruption, stuttering, and other graphical anomalies. If you're rocking a copy of Windows 7, there are several other resolved issues Catalyst 11.10 brings to the table, most of which are related to specific games like Lost Planet 2, F1 2010, Dirt 2, Mafia II, and the Unigine Heaven benchmark. There are a handful of fixes for Windows XP and Vista too, but not nearly as many. Image Credit: hd-wallpapers.eu |
| Third Quarter Graphics Shipments Climb Nearly 17 Percent Posted: 01 Nov 2011 10:39 AM PDT
The third quarter is usually when shipments of graphics chips grow, according to JPR. It was also the seventh quarter of embedded processor graphics for Intel, which "had a very strong double digit growth in desktops and notebooks." Intel ended the quarter with a 60.4 percent share of the market, up from 54.8 percent last quarter and 55.1 percent last year. AMD, meanwhile, came in second with a 23 percent share of the graphics chip market, down from 24.4 percent last quarter and exactly where it was one year ago. Nvidia, which withdrew from the integrated segment, ended the quarter with a 16.1 percent share of the market, down from 20.1 percent last quarter and also last year. Image Credit: AMD |
| Condescending Apple Genius Says iPhones Get Stressed Out, Need R&R Posted: 01 Nov 2011 09:23 AM PDT
David Carnoy over at CNet posted his hilariously maddening encounter with one of the so-called Geniuses at his local Apple Store. Carnoy popped in primarily to troubleshoot an iTunes problem he was having, but also brought up the fact that his iPhone 4S was giving up the ghost after 12 hours on minimal use, which is nowhere near what he was getting with his 3GS. The solution? Turn it off, stupid. Carnoy brought up the fact that he likes to use his iPhone 4S as an alarm clock and keeps it docked at night so it would be fully charged in the morning. Fair enough, except the Apple Genius found him incredible foolish for using a $400 device (64GB model) to wake himself up when "you can get a perfectly good alarm clock for $20 these days." Where was Siri on this one? What's more, the Apple Genius insisted that unless Carnoy is an on-call doctor or otherwise needs 24/7 availability, he has no business leaving his phone on at night, docked or otherwise. So again, turn it off, but not for the purpose of calibration. "Well, sometimes the phone locks up because it's stressed, a lot of stuff is running at the same time," the Genius said, adding that Carnoy should give his phone a break at least once a week by turning it off completely. If, after doing that, the battery life is still bad, he might have a problem, another Genius told him. Read the condescending exchange here and sound off in the comments section below. |
Apparently the Gmail team has been hard at work on more than just the redesign. According to MG Siegler, Google has submitted a 
After giving Google users a few months to get accustomed to the ongoing redesign of Google services, Mountain View has unleashed the designers on the one and only Gmail. The 
Zediva thought it had things all figured out. Allow users to rent a DVD player in a data center someplace with a hot new release movie in the slot, then stream them the output from the DVD player. Zediva claimed that was no different than the consumer renting the disc themselves. The courts 
Dell's ultrathin, ultraportable, or ultra-whatever-you-want-call-it (just don't call it an Ultrabook) XPS 14z is now available for sale in several configurations starting at $1,000. Dell's pitching this as "the world's thinnest, fully featured laptop with a built-in DVD player" and it figures to give Apple's MacBook Pro a run for its money in both form and function (as well as price).
With few exceptions, Microsoft's share of the browser market has been steadily declining since at least November 2009, which is how far back Net Marketshare lets us look. Back then, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was the dominant browser on desktops with a 64.46 percent share. And today? It's still dominant with a 52.63 percent share of the market, but the gap is quickly narrowing.
We're a day late on this one, but AMD on Halloween treated Radeon graphics card owners to new Catalyst 11.10 drivers in finished form. According to the release notes, Catalyst 11.10 enhances AMD Eyefinity support with bezel compensation, a new maximum supported resolution of 16000x16000 (on Radeon HD 6000 Series card, limited to DX11 applications only), and by enabling support for Eyefinity 5x1 display configurations in both portrait and landscape modes.
Analysts at Jon Peddie Research (JPR) said that Q3 graphics shipments jumped 16.7 percent over last quarter, and 18.4 percent over last year. That's the sort of thing that happens when you start integrating graphics onto CPU dies, as both Intel (Sandy Bridge) and AMD (Fusion) have done, which helped "shipments during the third quarter of 2011 [to] (finally) behave according to past years with regards to seasonality."
There are lots of reasons why battery life in smartphones might fall well short of expectations. You could have too many services turned on all the time, each one sipping juice from the lithium-ion battery. There could be a rogue app that's flawed or poorly coded and constantly doing things in the background. It could be a software snafu, and it could be a hardware problem. Or, as one Apple Genius put it, the phone could be stressed out, man.| 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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