General Gaming Article |
- Antec P280 Review
- Nook Tablet Update Kills Root and Sideloading
- The Geek Traveler: Gadgets and Tips for Your Vacation
- Android App of the Week - Google Currents
- Kindle Fire Update Breaks Root, Crushes Modders' Hearts
- "X-Men: Wolverine" Movie Uploader Gets 1 Year Federal Prison Sentence
- Firefox 9 Now Final and Available for Download
- Are You Ready For Some Football? Super Bowl Will Be Streamed Live in the U.S.
- Nuance Buys Vlingo To Build A Better Siri-Killer
- Game Theory: Raging Mediocrity
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 03:45 PM PST From afar, there's little to distinguish the Antec P280 from such long-in-the-tooth predecessors as Antec's P183. The steel side panels are all black, without mounting holes for additional fans or windows to provide a look inside. There's no LED glow, either. The only exterior visual clues that reveal this to be an entirely new chassis are the front-panel connections, including two USB 3.0 connectors with an internal header, which are located above the case's front door.
The P280's front door doesn't, for once, hide the power and reset switches; Antec's engineers moved them up where they belong.
Remove the sound-dampening side panels, and you begin to discover just how modern the P280 is. Measuring 22.6 inches high, 11.4 inches wide, 24.8 inches deep, and weighing 26.5 pounds, this steel chassis is one of the most spacious we've built into this year. Unlike the P183 and its ilk, which kept the motherboard and PSU in separate compartments, the wide-open P280 supports motherboard form factors as large as XL-ATX. The cavernous interior is painted matte black, and the motherboard tray is endowed with one of the biggest CPU backplane cutouts we've ever seen. It also contains four cable-routing cutouts with rubber grommets, and an oversize cutout for an 8-pin auxiliary ATX power cable.
The fan controller inside the rear of the cases can power four two-speed fans. Unlike Antec's previous P-series chassis, the P280 doesn't contain a removable hard drive cage. But this didn't prevent us from installing even extremely long videocards without needing to move anything else inside the case. Each of the case's six hard drive bays slide right out, and the drives are secured from beneath through thick silicone gaskets that eliminate noise and vibration. Thumbscrews secure each of the nine PCIe slot covers, and each of the three optical drive bays is outfitted with a plastic latch. Two 2.5-inch drive bays at the top of the hard drive cage can harbor SSDs. Antec ships the P280 with three 12cm exhaust fans, two on top and one in the rear. We connected them to the handy fan controller that's built right into the case, plugging each fan into the controller, and then powering the fan controller with a single 4-pin Molex connector from our power supply. The controller can set each fan to spin at either low or high speed. If you want more cooling, the P280 can accommodate two 12cm intake fans in the front, and there are two sets of clips for 12cm fans on the hard drive cage. You'll want to use them if your hardware puts out any heat. When we ran our test bed (an overclocked Core i5-750 and a GeForce GTX 590) at full load, CPU temperatures hovered around 70 C—a full 10 C hotter than the same parts running inside a Corsair 800D.
The P280 offers a spacious interior with all the modern amenities. Antec's P280 is a modern rendition of an old classic. It's spacious, elegant, and a joy to build into. It could use a few more stock fans, but its classic looks, quiet performance, and roomy insides make this a good choice for builders with refined taste. |
| Nook Tablet Update Kills Root and Sideloading Posted: 20 Dec 2011 02:48 PM PST
Before the new 1.4.1 update, users had the option of installing Android APK files with a browser workaround. Despite Barnes and Noble's changelog indicating 1.4.1 brings only "minor system enhancements," users are not fooled. Anything that has already been installed on the tablet will remain active, but no new apps can be added for the time being. Without a new root method, shoehorning more apps into the Nook's closed-down software will be tough. The update is being pushed automatically to Wi-Fi connected Nooks. Anyone that wants to avoid the update will need to stay off Wi-Fi, or use root access to block updates. Any Nook owners out there a little miffed? |
| The Geek Traveler: Gadgets and Tips for Your Vacation Posted: 20 Dec 2011 01:23 PM PST It's oxymoronic to say that a vacation is stressful. But it is. And I'm not even talking about the sand that's waiting to creep into your shorts on the beach, the hotel room that's going to spring a leak, or the vast number of other disasters about to transpire throughout your travels. I'm talking about the very, very beginning of your vacation: The part right after you've planned and purchased the tickets up until the moment you step off the plane at your intended (and final) destination. As a geek, you're probably wondering if there's a better way to go about "the routine:" The printing of the tickets, the writing down of the key details, the absurdity of the packing, the praying that your carry-on bag isn't too big, et cetera. Well, there is. Technology benefits all, be it in the form of websites to help you during the planning process or gadgets to assist you in your travels. I've compiled a list of some of the must-have items in each category below: Consider this your top travel guide for all things tech. You won't want to leave home without it—or, at least, without saving a copy of this guide on your travelling tablet PC! PlanningI'm not about to get into the 85 different websites out there that all attempt to shave $5 off your plane ticket in some creative fashion. (We'd be here all week). Rather, I'm going to assume that you've picked out your airline, selected your flights, and have pulled the trigger on your (usually) expensive ticket. Now's a great time to sign up for a free account at the web service TripIt, and here's why: Set it up correctly and the service will automatically go through your email to find confirmations of all kinds.
Why is that important? In doing so, TripIt automatically builds an itinerary of your trip – a kind-of one-stop-shop with all of the arrangements (and their critical details, like confirmations numbers and the like) displayed in a chronological order right there on the site. And, yes, TripIt has mobile apps for both Android and iOS: It beats writing down all the nuances of your itinerary in a moleskin notebook by far. And while you're at it, don't forget to forward your flight information (and the website FlightAware) to your friends and loved ones, especially those tasked with picking you up at your destination airport. They can use the site to view your plane as it travels across the country in real-time – and what I like most about FlightAware is that they can also tap into the same functionality on their Android or iOS-based devices. It's perfect for helping them decide if they should make an hour detour to get some food or put the pedal to the metal, depending on how close your plane is to the airport.
If you're curious about the cuisine that'll be offered on your flight, it's worth your while to make a quick pit stop at Airlinemeals.net: A wonderful site full of user-submitted pictures to help you lament about your poor flight planning or rejoice that your carrier selection will come with more than just a bag of pretzels and an ice-filled soft drink. As an astute traveler, you're no doubt aware of the various package discount sites (Jetsetter, Travelzoo, Livingsocial Escapes, SniqueAway, Vacationist, et cetera) that try to deliver a kind-of Groupon-like discount for potential passengers quick on the purchase. But if you're aiming to travel on the cheap, it's worth your while to check out a few online alternatives for booking inexpensive lodging. You've no-doubt heard of Airbnb: The website that allows you to turn a person's residence (or spare room) into your own personal hotel for a period of time. What you save on cost, you'll lose on lifespan if you end up making a mess of your host's actual abode. If that's still a little bit out of your price range, the next step down the ladder is the always-popular CouchSurfing website. Your lodging on a polite host's couch, or floor, or what-have-you is completely free. That's a travel trait guaranteed by the site, which will boot hosts out of its network if they attempt to charge a price for the service they're providing. That said, it behooves you to go after the couches of verified members: CouchSurfing uses a verification process and user reviews to help you determine that potential hosts are just that, and not axe-wielding maniacs. But if you want to keep your travel plans to just a party of one, well, why bother leaving your good ol' "Hotel Airport?" Alright, so you can't base an entire trip on Tom Hanks' lifestyle in the movie The Terminal (you'll never be allowed back into the security area, sans plane ticket, should you decide to leave and explore the city you're in). The site, "The Guide to Sleeping in Airports" is still a good one to keep in the back pocket just in case you find yourself stuck in an airport with a longer-than-expected layover for whatever reason.
And, as always, don't forget to use the power of crowdsourcing to help you plan things to do (or places to eat) at your final destination: Yelp, OpenTable, TripAdvisor, et cetera. Sites like these are the bread and butter of any journey to a new location! PackingHere we go. As a geek, just how are you going to get your laptop / gaming consoles / portable gaming handsets / tablet PC / cameras / My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic stuffed animals / all those other testaments to your inner tech enthusiast into your carry-on or stowed-away luggage? And what about those miscellaneous items like clothes, toothbrushes, and the lot? While I can't tell you how to pack—you might be one of those adventurous types who packs using trash bags and duct tape, for all I know—I can at least give you a few suggestions for upgrading you travel gear if you just so happen to find yourself with a little holiday surplus of cash. And always roll the shirts: Never fold. Saves room. If you can't envision a trip without your smartphone and a pair of huge cans to strap around your ears, you might want to consider going after the fabled boombox/luggage hybrid creation from Travelteq. You'll have to turn off your luggage until the flight reaches 10,000 feet, but you'll feel like a total boss at the airport when you're sitting, rocking, and guarding your luggage in one combined device.
Even though it's more design than tangible suitcase, I just have to taunt you with this one: the Pumpack, a piece of luggage that combines portable storage with the power of a tiny vacuum hand pump. You pack, you pump, and your luggage will (in theory) automatically compact down to allow for even more goods and clothes to be stuffed in during your trip. Cross your fingers this one makes it to market, folks. For a more modern take on luggage compartmentalization, there's Balanzza's Truco: a carry-on sized suitcase that can be broken out into three separate baggage pieces. It's perfect for when you want to access items mid-flight without having to rifle through your entire carry-on luggage to do so.
While gimmicky, the Micro Samsonite Travel Scooter lets you drive around the airport using your clothes as a shield. The "Self-Weighing Luggage Set" helps you to skirt baggage overage fees before you get to the airport (and helps you avoid the awkward dance and mathematics involved with trying to weigh your bag at home). Gamers will appreciate the subdued Astro Gaming Mission Bag for the quick jaunts they take with their console to new and unexplored locations, and if these locations don't have access to a television… well, that's where the Gaems G155 takes over. Because nothing says seasoned traveler like some airport Halo, right? TravellingNow that your luggage situation is (hopefully) settled, the question remains: What do you place inside of it? What gadgets are going to enrich your travelling life above and beyond the experience that your non-geeky peers will face? Don't shoot the messenger, but a device like Apple's Airport Express should be at the top of your list for one key reason: Hotel Wi-Fi usually stinks. You don't want to have to suffer through a single bar's worth of a wireless connection the one time that you need consistent, speedy access to the Web. With the Airport Express (or D-Link's DWL-G730AP, if you're that much of an Apple-phobe), you'll be able to take your room's wired Ethernet and transform it into a souped-up, portable wireless network for any of your travelling colleagues to tap into. Now if only you could charge other hotel guests for access…
Since I just opened the Apple can of worms, here's another one: Energizer's iSurge Travel Charging Station is a monster of a power adapter packed into a device that fits into an average-sized palm. You'll love this one if you're rocking an iPhone, as it blends three AC outlets, two USB ports, and a single docking station for your iDevice right into its tiny body—so long as you don't mind always being stuck with the top half of a wall outlet. If you're looking to charge a variety of devices without carrying around a mess of cables, consider the Roll Up Travel Charger: A leather-wrapped combination of an iPhone, mini USB, micro USB, and Samsung-friendly charger in a debonair holder. It's perfect for the multi-device user as long as you aren't rocking, say, two mini-USB-only Android smartphones at once. And if you've bit the bullet and decided to carry your various portable devices' cords with you, perhaps you can make a new airport friend via the FlipIt USB Stealth Charger. You get to leech just enough power from an outlet that's already in use to charge your device, and you get to explain to a weary airport traveler why he or she needs to unplug his or her laptop for a second or two.
Of course, airplanes were meant for one thing: Rocking out, not flying. If you're willing to sacrifice sound quality for the sweet sound of silence, a set of active noise-cancellation cans like Bose's QuietComfort 15 headphones are in order. But if you'd rather try to block this sound by jamming something in your ear instead of engaging a battery-draining, white-noise-generating, doesn't-fit-in-your-pocket pair of ear speakers, check out Klipsch's Image S4 earbuds. No matter what you do, don't buy the Angry Birds earbuds: You'll be laughed right out of the cabin (at 30,000 feet).
Have I left anything out? There's always the good ol' laptop privacy screen, which will set you back an arm and a leg (or an old LCD monitor) to conceal your screen from your airplane neighbor. A Grid-It bag could be a perfect complement for holding your tablet PC, cords, cables, gum, and anything else that fits within one of the holder's elastic straps. The Corsair Flash Padlock 2 is a great for keeping your most trusted data safe within a pant or jacket pocket (take that, laptop thieves). And, of course, don't forget your camera! |
| Android App of the Week - Google Currents Posted: 20 Dec 2011 12:19 PM PST News readers are some of the most popular apps in the Android Market, but each of us has our own habits and preferences for how we take in news that interests us the most. Standalone feed readers or Google Reader clients offer more efficient methods of finding the topics that are worth our time, while apps like Pulse and News360 offer a reading experience that feels more like something you would find in a magazine. For those of us who find both sides of the equation appealing, the fine folks at Google have our back.
Google continues to aggressively develop for its own platform by offering Google Currents, a news reader along the same vein as Pulse and News360. Google Currents lets you pick and choose your content from suggested feeds or from your Google Reader library. The real benefit to Currents is the app's ability to break large chunks of web content into readable bite-sized pieces, perfectly formatted for consumption on your mobile device.
We would've liked to see Currents synchronize with Google Reader, marking items as read and such, but the app is designed more for casual reading than the hardcore triage process taking place in our RSS feeds. Google Currents is available as a free download from the Android Marketplace, and works great on both Android phones and tablets. |
| Kindle Fire Update Breaks Root, Crushes Modders' Hearts Posted: 20 Dec 2011 11:52 AM PST
Users over on XDA's forums have been taking the news pretty hard and aren't at all happy about the root-killing update. "Yep, just got an updated pushed bo my device, and OneClick no longer works. Great. Seriously, I think I'm gonna return this thing. Get a Transformer, or even just get a BlackBerry PlayBook instead until something better comes out (that I feel is worth dropping a lot of money on)," XDA forum member 'prjkthack' commented. What stinks even more is that the Kindle Fire will attempt to update itself automatically when connected via Wi-Fi, so by the time some users figured out what was going on, it was already too late. If you haven't received an update yet and don't want to lose root, you can either steer clear of Wi-Fi, or install CyanogenMod, details of which you can find on Liliputing.com. So there's the rub. If, however, you don't give a rat's behind about root, go ahead and grab the update. It smooths out scrolling, makes it possible to remove items from the carousel so your significant other doesn't have to see what sites you've been surfing, and adds an option to require a password to turn on Wi-Fi to help prevent the little ones from making one-click purchases of Spongebob DVDs without your consent. |
| "X-Men: Wolverine" Movie Uploader Gets 1 Year Federal Prison Sentence Posted: 20 Dec 2011 11:29 AM PST
According to Reuters, U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow called Sanchez's upload – which occurred a month prior to the movie hitting the theaters – "very serious." So serious, apparently, that Sanchez deserves to spend the next 12 months with violent criminals and drug runners. Maybe it was the fact that he posted links to the file on two other websites that made his copyright infringement so egregious? After his prison term is up, he still has to spend another year under "supervised release" with severe limitations on his computer use. Copyright infringement is bad. Uploading movies is bad. But is it bad enough to warrant a federal prison sentence? |
| Firefox 9 Now Final and Available for Download Posted: 20 Dec 2011 11:26 AM PST
On the flip side, having a rapid release schedule inevitably leads to less dramatic changes in between most builds. In this case, Firefox 9 brings a handful of new features and enhancements to the table, though nothing particularly extraordinary. Highlights include:
The other changes relate to Mac OS X Lion users and included improved theme integration and the addition of two-finger swipe navigation. Even though Firefox 9 is finished, Mozilla won't begin rolling it out until tomorrow. However, the finished code is just a click away -- hit the appropriate link below: Release Notes |
| Are You Ready For Some Football? Super Bowl Will Be Streamed Live in the U.S. Posted: 20 Dec 2011 11:07 AM PST
According to MSNBC, NBCSports.com and the NFL have been streaming games online for the past three years, but this is the first time it's been extended to playoff games. In addition to the Super Bowl, they'll also stream the Pro Bowl and NBC's wild-card playoff games. "We don't want to limit ourselves to people not in front of the TV,," said Rick Cordella, vice president of NBC Sports Digital Media. "The playoffs are appointment viewing," he added. "People schedule their day around it."By adding multiple camera angles, HD-quality video, DVR controls along with social interactivity, our online streaming represents a compelling, second-screen experience that nicely complements NBC's on-air presentation." Mobile users signed up with Verizon will be able to join the streaming fun too via the NFL Mobile app. |
| Nuance Buys Vlingo To Build A Better Siri-Killer Posted: 20 Dec 2011 10:56 AM PST
"Inspired by the introduction of services such as Apple's Siri and our own Dragon Go!, virtually every mobile and consumer electronics company on the planet is looking for ways to integrate natural, conversational voice interactions into their mobile products, applications, and services, " Nuance SVP Mike Thompson said in the press release announcing the deal. "By acquiring Vlingo, we are able to accelerate the pace of innovation to meet this demand." As if that quote didn't lay things out clearly enough, the press release makes no bones about Nuance's continued plans to try and muscle in on the world of "intelligent mobile assistants." Funnily enough, Vlingo and Nuance were suing the hell out of each other in a nasty war over patent disputes before they laid down their litigation arms and agreed to this acquisition. Another funny thing to consider: TechCrunch claims that Nuance's voice recognition technology is the hidden power behind Siri herself. If anybody can come up with a true Siri competitor, it'll probably be a Vlingo-Nuance combo. But do you think they can actually pull it off? Do you even care about "intelligent mobile assistants?" |
| Game Theory: Raging Mediocrity Posted: 20 Dec 2011 10:51 AM PST I remember 1994 well. OJ Simpson debuted a new kind of TV show running 24/7 on every network. Ace of Base proved that Swedish musical artistry didn't die with ABBA. And Id Software released its last game that didn't disappoint me. I'm not saying that Doom II was Id's last game of any value, but that it was its last game that met expectations. Everything since then has marked Id's gradual slide into game design mediocrity—a slide that reaches its nadir with Rage. Since Doom II, Id's game design sensibility has hardly progressed at all. The Quake games added almost nothing to the basic Doom formula, while Doom III milked every cliché in the design book, from monster closets to a tedious obsession with sudden darkness. I'm not talking about the technology. A new Id game is a chance to see technology tools that push PCs to do wonderful things. But if you're writing a review of an Id game, and you're lingering over the wonders of curved surfaces, volumetric fog/lighting, or nice, smooth shadow maps, you're not reviewing the game, you're reviewing the engine. Each new Id release is the greatest tech demo ever, but as games, they just don't offer much.
With Rage, the Id formula finally comes completely undone. It's as though the developers studied other games with more depth and innovation (namely Fallout 3 and Borderlands), and then attempted to squeegee a thin film of those gameplay elements over their old formula. They didn't even nail their two strongest areas: The tech is impressive but glitchy, and the multiplayer is weak. Oddly, Rage's visual design is the most aesthetically unappealing Id has ever done. It's hard to recall a more lovingly detailed, ugly environment. Something good will come of this. Quake III gave us Call of Duty; Doom III gave us Prey; and something worthwhile will come from Rage. It just won't come from Id. |
Owners of the Kindle Fire were certainly fired up when Amazon disabled root access in the newest 
As promised, Amazon has begun rolling out a new update for Kindle Fire owners, but there are some things you should know before you dive in. If you're a modder, be aware that the 
Have you seen "Scared Straight?" Federal prison sucks. It's supposed to suck; you don't want to make life easy for mobsters and murderers like Al Capone, The Son of Sam, "Machine Gun" Kelly, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and The Green River Killer when you send them to the clink to keep them from further harming the public. One unlucky pirate is going to find out firsthand just how crappy prison is, after a judge ordered 49 year old Gilberto Sanchez to a year in the federal slam for uploading X-Men: Wolverine to MegaUpload before the film's release.
The cool thing about Mozilla's rapid release schedule for Firefox is that you never have to wait long for the next version to come out, which is a real boon if you want to play with the latest and greatest but aren't real keen on the thought of mucking around with beta code. And if you've been waiting around for Firefox 9 to go gold, your day has come.
Football fans will have plenty of ways to tune into the Super Bowl and watch Tom Brady and Co. decimate the opponent (this editor might be a tad bit biased) in 2012. That's because for the first time ever, NBC and the NFL will stream the Super Bowl online at NBCSports.com and NFL.com through SNF Extra, giving viewers access to special features like DVR controls, various camera angles, in-game highlights, and other interactive bits, all in HD.
The iPhone 4S may not have been the iPhone 5 that tech pundits were looking for, but that single little S – Siri – has turned the phone business on its ear. Voice capabilities, once relegated to the "neat little distraction" category, are now having buckets full of R&D dollars chucked at them as Apple competitors try to develop a Siri-killer. Today Nuance, the maker of Dragon Naturally Speaking, announced that it is buying Vlingo, maker of, well, the Vlingo voice control app, in a blatant bid to knock off Apple's sweet talker.
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