General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

AMD Catalyst 11.11b Performance Driver Adds CrossFireX to Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed Revelations & DX 11 Tweaks for Batman Arkham City

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 04:34 PM PST

Graphics card vendors have been busy with the onslaught of new PC titles heading into the holiday, forcing AMD to release its second out of cycle performance driver in less than 2 weeks. Catalyst 11.11b includes Crossfire performance scaling for Skyrim, similar multi-gpu support for Assassin's Creed Revelations, along with DirectX 11 tweaks for Batman Arkham City. 

Along with the changes listed above, this pre-release driver includes updates rolled into 11.11a such as fixes for Rage and Battlefield 3. I've been testing the driver over the last 24 hours, and I can honestly say, at least in Skyrim's case, the Crossfire addition makes a huge difference if you have more than one card and have been struggling with frame rates. I've been noticing a few new hiccups such as texture flickering in the distance, though I'm sure these will be resolved sometime in the next few weeks when AMD rolls out the official 11.12.   

DSLR Complete With Flash Card Survives 1 Year Soak in the Pacific Ocean, Google + Reunites Camera With Owner

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 04:18 PM PST

CameraLife has taught me that death and taxes are constants, and it's also reinforced the concept that dropping my camera in the ocean is pretty much game over when it comes to my vacation photos. Fast forward to 2011 however, and Google + has made the impossible, possible. Deep sea diver Markus Tompson was scuba diving in Deep Bay Vancouver Canada, when he swam past a rather odd looking object. It turns out the item that caught his eye was a corroding Canon Rebel DSLR, complete with neck strap (which obviously wasn't used), and flash card.  Apparently the flash card not only survived its extended stay along the ocean floor, but its contents, along with the help of Google + users, helped the diver locate the owner. 

The camera itself as you can see from the picture won't be much use anymore, but the fact that the flash card not only survived, but still worked after all that time submerged under salt water is amazing to say the least. Tompson has since been in touch with the owner, and the vacation photos are going to be reunited with the owner.  

It's an amazing story, but I wouldn't count on it happening to you under similar circumstances.

Microsoft Offers Free Starter Edition for PC’s or Portable USB Key Installations

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 02:57 PM PST

Office StarterLots of great alternatives to Microsoft's deluxe office suite have emerged over the past few years, but if you find yourself only occasionally in need of a tool to edit Word or Excel files, the hefty $159 price tag for the full home and student edition can be a bit hard to justify. Google Docs or even Microsoft's own online versions of office can help in a pinch, but nothing quite matches the native experience you get from running the desktop app. If the above scenario describes you, click here to download a copy of Office 2010 Starter Edition for absolutely free.  

Aside from its ability to run offline, Office 2010 Starter isn't any better than the free web-based offering Microsoft launched earlier in the year.. It includes little more than a stripped down version of Word / Excel 2010, but operates almost the same as the full editions. It does however open all modern office document formats offline, and offers up just about every tool a non-enterprise user needs.

It isn't known if this direct download link will stick around for long, so if you find yourself interested, I'd grab it ASAP. Apparently this version can also be installed to a USB key, making it an incredible portable option that can be moved from PC to PC. Just launch the Office Starter To-Go Device Manager from All Programs -> Microsoft Office Starter. The files take up about 400MB of space, but will give you all of the offline power of Word and Excel wherever you need it.

It would be great to see Microsoft keep this free version of Office around for users who might otherwise opt for the online editions, but only time will tell if that was the intent. Either way I'd jump on it now before they change their mind. 

Microsoft Not in Awe of Siri, Says We've Had Similar Tech for Over a Year

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 06:39 AM PST

While its harsh to judge a device against the oft-outlandish rumors preceding its launch, the disappointment surrounding the iPhone 4S launch was justified as the upgrades did not seem commensurate with the long gap between the 4S and its predecessor. However, the smartphone's voice-activated personal assistant Siri is an entirely different matter, with even Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently calling it a "significant development." Microsoft's Craig Mundie, though, is not in awe of Siri.

Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategic Officer is not willing to concede that Siri is a technological breakthrough, but views it as another instance of people being "infatuated" with Apple products.

"As a technological capability, you could argue that Microsoft has had a similar capability in Windows phones for more than a year,"  he told Forbes' Eric Savitz in a recent interview. That said, he admitted that Microsoft could learn a thing or two on the marketing front from Apple.

Anyways, the "similar capability" he was referring to happens to be TellMe, which was first introduced as a downloadable app for Windows Mobile in 2009. But the two technologies are hardly similar, as is clear from this video from TechAu's Jason Cartwright:
Posted by Shri Krishna

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