General Gaming Article |
- Windows Phone 7 App of the Week: ShopSavvy
- AT&T Exec Says Company is Not Walking Away From T-Mobile Deal
- Verizon Could Move to Family Data Plans in 2012
- The $99 TouchPad Sale is Back For a Limited Time
- Future Tense: Good Little Ideas
- When Is An Apple iPad Not A Genuine iPad? When It's Sold In Mainland China
- Yes Folks, There's Now a Fatal1ty Food Line
- Comcast Says Subscribers Are More Important Than Tiered Data Pricing
- Red Hat Releases Enterprise Linux 6.2
- HP Folio 13 Series Now Available to Purchase
| Windows Phone 7 App of the Week: ShopSavvy Posted: 07 Dec 2011 04:28 PM PST Even though Thanksgiving weekend and Black Friday are behind us, the Christmas shopping season - and the retail madness it brings - marches steadily along. Frenzied bargain hunters and a multitude of confusing, competing offers can turn "the most wonderful time of the year" into a shopping nightmare if you aren't prepared. Where are the best deals, and what is the best way to find those deals while on the go? Enter ShopSavvy.
ShopSavvy is an app for Windows Phone 7 which will let you scan an item's barcode or QR code, price compare between online and local retailers, and see reviews other consumers have posted. ShopSavvy will even save your search history in case you need to recall something you previously searched for. For those with nosy family members, individual searches can be deleted in order to preserve the surprise for Christmas day.
ShopSavvy goes beyond price comparisons by also providing you with details on individual merchants, even to the point of indicating if the seller has a price matching policy in place. Local retailers with deals are also listed, helping consumers find places to focus their shopping. Shoppers can also share deals they've discovered via Facebook and Twitter. ShopSavvy is available as a free download from the Windows Phone Marketplace. |
| AT&T Exec Says Company is Not Walking Away From T-Mobile Deal Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:57 PM PST
The Justice Department filed suit last month to block the $39 billion deal, and the FCC announced official hearings recently. Both groups claim that the merger would hinder competition in the wireless market, and kill jobs. AT&T made the call to withdraw its FCC application in order to focus on the DOJ suit. The carrier had harsh words after the FCC released its preliminary opinion of the deal in a scathing 100+ page report. Egos are bruised, and that's a recipe for disaster in delicate situations like this. Stephens says that AT&T has the resources to close the deal, but it's not clear if they some magic bullet strategy to gain regulatory approval. Do you think AT&T is going to succeed? |
| Verizon Could Move to Family Data Plans in 2012 Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:43 PM PST
The basic premise is that users already have family plans for cell phone minutes, so why not let them share a large bucket of data as well? McAdam acknowledged the problem explaining that consumers should not have to deal with separate data plans for each screen in the home. He went on to claim that Verizon has been working to get to account-level pricing for a few years. There was quite an uproar when Verizon moved to a tiered data plan setup earlier this year. Some users find themselves stuck on higher tiers due to high data usage. At least if family data pricing happens, some users could catch a break in situations where one or more people never approache existing caps. |
| The $99 TouchPad Sale is Back For a Limited Time Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:28 PM PST
The TouchPad launched last summer to lukewarm reviews. Just a few weeks later, then CEO Leo Apotheker killed the webOS program, and HP started selling off inventory. Ironically, the TouchPad sold out rapidly once it was canned and heavily discounted; it became the second best selling tablet of the quarter behind the iPad. Small lots of the device have shown up from time to time since then, but this appears to be the last of it. HP wants these refurbs (likely returns from the original sale) off is hands. New CEO Meg Whitman is expected to announce HP's future plans for webOS in the coming weeks. Are you tempted to pick up a Touchpad, even just to sell it? |
| Future Tense: Good Little Ideas Posted: 07 Dec 2011 01:06 PM PST Somebody had the good idea to put a camera into a cellphone. This was a good idea. It was a great idea. What made it even better was including a slot for a Micro-SD card. I have a 32-gigabyte chip in my phone and I haven't run out of storage yet. I can shoot photos or movies wherever I go—and email them immediately. I can read e-books or listen to music or watch videos. (The Samsung Galaxy phone has a great screen.) The smartphone is a combination of many good ideas and its overall usefulness should be a guide for all manufacturers of portable electronics. So why doesn't the iPad have a memory card slot? Why doesn't Amazon's Kindle Fire have a slot for an SD card? A 32 gigabyte card is less than half a benjamin at Fry's electronics. (The 64GB cards are still too expensive for most users.) Expanding the capacity of the device expands its usefulness to the user.
All tablets should have memory card slots. Too many of them don't. The Motorola Xoom has one, but it's inactive pending a firmware upgrade. The lack of add-on memory is one of the reasons I haven't bought a tablet yet. I want a tablet that can do everything my phone does—and on a large enough screen to be convenient. Where else would add-on memory be useful? In an iPod or a Zune. Microsoft has discontinued the Zune. Too bad. If they had given it a mini-USB port instead of a custom one and a slot for an SD or Micro-SD card, they would have had a product not only superior to the iPod, but significantly superior—enough perhaps to carve out a viable future for the product. The user could have had multiple libraries of music without having to erase old music to make room for new. That would have been a selling point. How about a memory card slot in your TV so you can store photos and videos instead of having to plug in a flashdrive? And maybe you could have your TV function as a DVR as well, letting you record shows for later viewing. Wouldn't that be convenient? Where else would a memory card slot be useful? How about your car stereo? Why shouldn't it provide storage of your favorite music? Why should you have to plug your iPod into it? How about your car's GPS system? Certainly it would be an advantage to be able to upgrade its database of maps and locations of restaurants and hotels and gas stations as easily as popping out an old card and sliding in a new one.
And what about Bose? They sell prestigious music systems—wouldn't it be great if it had a memory card slot so you could play your own library of music without having to plug in the iPod? Even better, what if it could be used as an audio-DVR so you could pause a program or rewind it or even save it for later? And then you could pop the card into your car stereo for the drive to work. Ohell, why not have the car stereo have the same audio-DVR capabilities too? Being able to add or swap memory to a device expands its overall usefulness. It's a good little idea and I'm disappointed that so many manufacturers haven't recognized the possibilities. Here's another good little idea. Twenty years ago, I had a digital watch from Casio that recharged itself through a small strip of solar cells mounted next to the display. Why can't our current electronics do the same? We certainly have more efficient solar cells today—cells that can even generate electricity from indoor lighting. Imagine if your smartphone had a strip of solar cells on the back, or even at the top, bordering the screen. It could trickle-charge your phone whenever it was out of your pocket. Mine sits on my desk most of the day. I usually carry a spare battery with me because at the end of the day, the phone is nagging for a recharge. If it could trickle-charge, that might be worth a couple more hours of service. Why not add solar cells to a Kindle or a tablet? The Kindle has such a low power-draw that a strip of solar cells might be all the recharging it needs. Adding solar cells to a tablet might not provide a full recharge, but it could certainly extend the hours of usefulness per day. How about solar cells on your Bluetooth or your mouse? How about solar cells on all those remote controls in front of your TV set? Trickle-charging might be enough for some devices that you'd never have to change batteries or plug in a recharger again. Why not have batteries and solar cells on your external peripherals as well? Think about your external hard drive that connects through a USB port. Right now, it needs a cord to the wall. What if it could keep itself charged, partly through a solar cell and partly through the USB port. You could have one less cord to trip over and your external drive would be a lot more portable.
Where else could you put solar cells? The Toyota Prius has solar panels on its roof, but those only power a fan so that a parked vehicle doesn't get too hot on sunny days. Why not also trickle-charge the car's battery and extend its mileage? Adding solar cells to any electronic device lessens its dependence on batteries and wall-sockets. Consider that there are a billion electronic pieces in the United States alone and the power-saving would be considerable. It would also reduce the number of batteries discarded every year. And finally, here's a third good little idea. One automaker is advertising a car that can be locked and unlocked from a smartphone. That's a good start, but how about having a phone app that does a lot more? The Prius key-fob is a good example. If it's in your pocket, the Prius senses its proximity and the car door unlocks automatically as soon as you touch the handle. Even better, you don't even have to take the key out of your pocket to start the car—just press the On button and go. Why can't all cars work like that? But why have a key-fob at all? Why can't your smartphone be the key? Why can't it be a garage door opener too? And how about having it unlock your front door automatically so you don't have to fumble in the dark? Ohell, it should turn on the lights automatically when you get home at night. And while we're at it, why not have your smart phone function as a universal remote control for your TV, your radio, your disc player, and your DVR as well? Why can't there be an app for that? Yes, a lot of this is going to require some integration with your Personal Very Private Network, and more than that, it's also going to require that manufacturers agree on a standard for integrating multiple devices across the internet, but if someday every device is going to have its own IP6 web address, then we should also have one device that we can find in the dark to bind them all. (With Nazgul, an extra $139.) None of this is impossible. The technology already exists. It just hasn't been integrated yet. But these are the kinds of things we want our machines to do for us. What do you think? What good little ideas would you suggest?
————— 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 |
| When Is An Apple iPad Not A Genuine iPad? When It's Sold In Mainland China Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:06 PM PST
Proview Technology (Taipei) sold Apple rights to use the iPad name in Taipei way back in 2009, you see, but Proview Technology (Shenzhen) – another Proview International Holdings Limited subsidiary – holds the rights from mainland use of the name. Apple never bought those separate mainland rights before opening stores in mainland China, and it actually sued Proview Technology (Shenzhen) for infringing on the 'iPad" trademark, even though Proview registered the term way back in 2000. Today, Xinhua News reported that a local court ruled in Proview Technology (Shenzhen)'s favor and dismissed Apple's lawsuit. Proview Technology (Shenzhen) is struggling to stay afloat right now, so it should come as no surprise that the company quickly announced that it was suing Apple for copyright infringement – to the tune of $1.6 billion. "Apple's actions are strange. They had not obtained the rights to use the 'iPad' trademark when they began to sell the iPad on the Chinese mainland in September last year," said Huang Yiding, speaking for Proview. "Their copy infringement is very clear. The laws are still there, and they sell their products in defiance of laws. The more products they sell, the more they need to compensate." Let's have some fun with this one: what would be a good secondary name for the iPad if Apple can't call it "iPad" in China? Image credit: myessentia.com |
| Yes Folks, There's Now a Fatal1ty Food Line Posted: 07 Dec 2011 11:48 AM PST
Yep, as unappealing as a fistful of Nuts of Destruction might sound, it will be one of a new series of exclusive Fatal1ty branded products by GamerFood. In case you missed it, we said Nuts of Destruction (cue the Beaves and Butthead giggles). Other Fatal1ty food will include Cashews of Chaos (honey roasted cashews) and Seeds of Victory (original sunflower seeds). "I am excited to partner with GamerFood, because I felt snacks for gamers have been seriously lacking in this industry and I loved their mission to create the ultimate gaming lifestyle food," said Johnathan Wendel, also known as Fatal1ty. "Packed with protein and antioxidants on top of the energy supplements, GamerFood energizes and fills you up during intense gaming sessions. It provides a sustaining energy that is key for pro and casual gamers who want to perform at their best." Failing that, you could always down a gallon of Monster if the thought of devouring Fatal1ty's Nuts of Destruction (ancho chili lime-flavored peanuts) doesn't sound the least bit appealing. Image Credit: GamerFood |
| Comcast Says Subscribers Are More Important Than Tiered Data Pricing Posted: 07 Dec 2011 11:34 AM PST
"We don't want to disrupt the consumer experience," CEO Michael Angelakis said at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference earlier in the week. GigaOm reports that Comcast feels that changing to a tiered pricing structure could cause customers to stop signing up for the company's high-speed data service. President Neil Smit put thing even more clearly. "We don't want to nickel-and-dime customers at this point." Whew! That's a breath of fresh air, and it's surprising that it's coming from Comcast, given the customer service horror stories that are often associated with the company. But before you get too excited, remember that no tiers doesn't mean no restrictions: Comcast currently imposes a 250GB/mo. bandwidth cap on its customers – a fairly generous cap, but a cap nonetheless. |
| Red Hat Releases Enterprise Linux 6.2 Posted: 07 Dec 2011 11:27 AM PST
"The exciting features in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 with new impressive SAP benchmark results allow our enterprise customers to have increased confidence that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 can run their enterprise workloads with high performance across physical, virtual and cloud computing environments," said Jim Totton, Vice President and General Manger, Platform Business Unit at Red Hat. Red Hat goes on to tout a handful of SAP benchmarks, but outside of raw performance metrics, there are a handful of new features to note, including additional capabilities to manage system resources with QoS-like controls, enhancements to storage and file systems including full support of iSCSI extensions for RDMA, identity management, and plenty more to digest starting here. |
| HP Folio 13 Series Now Available to Purchase Posted: 07 Dec 2011 11:07 AM PST
For $900, a stock configuration includes an Intel Core i5 2467M processor (1.6Ghz), Intel HD Graphics 3000, 4GB of DDR3 memory, 128GB mSSD, HD webcam, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, USB 3.0 support, 6-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. There's a coupon code available (NBK3573, courtesy of LogicBuy via SlashGear) that knocks 33 percent off the price, bringing the total down to $703.49 with free shipping. That makes it the least expensive Ultrabook on the block and almost $100 cheaper than what Best Buy's selling the Toshiba Portégé for ($800). HP doesn't allow much customizing and restricts upgrades to software and accessories. The HP "recommended" $1,049 build, for example, is spec'd the same on the inside, but bumps up to Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. Everything else is the same. Image Credit: HP
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AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens sounded defiant today at a media conference in Hew York. Stephens made it clear that AT&T was going to 
While not offering any specifics, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has again raised the issue of 
Did you miss out on the HP TouchPad fire sale earlier this year? Well, buck up then. HP is telling employees that the last round of refurbished TouchPads will be going on sale on the 
Don't let the headline fool you; Apple's still selling plenty of iPads in its Chinese stores, especially the ones in Shanghai and Beijing. Those honeypots make soon dry up, though, as a Chinese court has determined that Apple has no right to use the iPad moniker in mainland China. The company that owns Chinese rights to the name now plans to sue the pants off of Apple for selling the iPad on the mainland. But the infringed company is totally cool that Apple used the iPad name on the island of Taipei. Sound complicated? It is.
Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel might be the LeBron James of videogames. Think about it -- the kid has endorsement deals coming out of his eyeballs, he's the guy most fans love to hate, and like LeBron, he's never won an NBA championship. LeBron's been in commercials for McDonalds and Gatorade, and not to be outdone (well, maybe a little), Fatal1ty is lending his name to snack foods.
The sky is falling for movie lovers! The post office recently announced that it was 
The folks at Red Hat have made available Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 6.2 this week, which promises to offer several enhancements across a number of areas, including performance and scalability. For many businesses big and small, RHEL is the go-to Linux distro, and this latest build comes a year after Red Hat introduced RHEL 6.0, which achieved the largest mulit-core Linux configuration results certified to date on the two-tier SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) standard application benchmark, Red Hat claims.
Hewlett-Packard joined the growing Ultrabook fracas back in November when it announced the HP Folio 13. Weighing in at 3.3 pounds and wielding a 13.3-inch display, the Folio 13 was to be one of just a few Ultrabooks with a starting price below $1,000. HP said it would be available to order beginning December 7, 2011, and true to its word, the Folio 13 is live and in stock.| 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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