General Gaming Article |
- U.S. House Downloading Torrents While Pushing SOPA
- Unofficial Google+ User Count Crosses 62 Million
- Blog Sues Former Blogger Over Twitter Followers, Seeks $340,000 in Damages
- A White Case-mas: Our Favorite Ivory Gadgets This Holiday Season
- Gigabyte Rolls Out Crucial BIOS Update For Overclockers With X79 Mobos
- CyberPowerPC Rolls Out Third Generation Fang III Desktop PCs
- Would You Be Willing to Pay for Major Android Updates?
- MSI Unveils MultiConnect Panel and Voice Genie
- Italy Takes $1.2 Million Bite Out of Apple for Unfair Commercial Practices
- Google's Eric Schmidt Hints of a Nexus Tablet in Six Months
| U.S. House Downloading Torrents While Pushing SOPA Posted: 27 Dec 2011 03:11 PM PST
According to TorrentFreak, it's not just a file here and there, but over 800 copyrighted works being downloaded on U.S House IP addresses. YouHaveDownloaded.com doesn't even track the vast majority of downloads online, so the actual number could be much higher. The pirated content runs the gamut from self-help books, to TV shows, to porn. Yes, some congressional aids have been busy indeed. Experts on the Internet and its architecture have decried SOPA's DNS-poisoning provisions that could damage the fabric of the Internet while seeking to block supposedly infringing sites. The entertainment lobby asserts that it loses billions to piracy every year, and the the industry needs more powerful tools to stop online copyright infringement. It's unclear if they will also be seeking to shut off Congress' net access. |
| Unofficial Google+ User Count Crosses 62 Million Posted: 27 Dec 2011 02:51 PM PST
Allen and his team use a sampling method that relies on family names to estimate populations. This method has been used in other arenas, and found to be quite accurate. The current rate of signups is north of 625,000 per day, according to Allen's results. That puts Google+ on pace for 400 million users by the end of 2012. The reasons for the uptick, and predicted acceleration in growth is Google's new ad campaign as well as Android 4.0 updates, which push users to Google+. Allen also cites the network effect, which states that the site will become more valuable for everyone as more users log on. have you found value in Google+? |
| Blog Sues Former Blogger Over Twitter Followers, Seeks $340,000 in Damages Posted: 27 Dec 2011 02:33 PM PST
PhoneDog said in a statement that it expended vast resources to build 17,000 followers for Kravitz, and losing access to them had seriously impacted business. It is the position of PhoneDog Media that Twitter followers are a "subscriber list." In the way of damages, PhoneDog seeks $2.50 per follower, or about $340,000. It is unclear how the company came to that valuation. Kravitz has responded saying that he left PhoenDog on good terms, and was told the Twitter account was his. Since leaving PhoneDog, Kravitz has gained an additional 5,000 followers. Perhaps all social media users that have a personal account for work should heed Kravit's advice of the day: "Social Media Users: Be very careful when using your company's name in your online handles. Never know how/when your employers might react." |
| A White Case-mas: Our Favorite Ivory Gadgets This Holiday Season Posted: 27 Dec 2011 11:26 AM PST OK, so we don't get a ton of snow out here in San Francisco (see: pretty much none), but we have noticed a fairly massive influx of snow-themed products adorning our lab these past couple of months. As Gordon aptly pointed out a while back, white is the new black, which was the new beige, which...well, we forget the rest of that particular rant. Point is, white products seem to be cool again, and in the spirit of the holiday season, we thought we'd spotlight some of our favorite alabaster tech products of the last couple of months. Check out the gallery below, and make sure to let us know which products we missed in the comments. Happy Holidays! |
| Gigabyte Rolls Out Crucial BIOS Update For Overclockers With X79 Mobos Posted: 27 Dec 2011 10:17 AM PST
There are some conflicting reports about the BIOS update out there. TechPowerUp reports that the patch will throttle the CPU when it's stressed to protect the VRM and keep your board from frying, but claims that the throttling also apparently puts the brakes on any adventurous overclocking attempts. A Gigabyte rep told us that this is not true, however. "We have a few power users trying our new BIOS here and (they've) reported to us that new BIOS has enhanced the overclocking stability and performance," PR Manager Irene Huang said. "Therefore, it will not be a concern for reducing the overclocking ability with new F7 BIOS." If you've already burned out your X79 mobo while pushing it to the limit, Gigabyte U.S. will send you a new one (the damage would fall under Gigabyte's 5-year warranty for X79 motherboards anyways, assuming you've registered the hardware). Meanwhile, the company is working with resellers and retailers to ensure as-yet-unsold boards are flashed with the new BIOS prior to ending up in customer hands. Oh, and if you're wondering, Gigabyte blames the problem on a mixture of poor PWM components and bad firmware. EDIT 4:20 P.M. EST: A representative from Gigabyte U.S. contacted us to say that the mobos are not being recalled in the United States. Here's what she had to say: The Chinese announcement you have seen online was for the Taiwan region only not apply to NA America region. However, for NA America, we will provide any help that customers will need to for the BIOS update. The new F7 BIOS will easily fix all the issues and is ready for download on the website already, and we also provide swap service to users whose motherboard has been damaged due to extreme overclocking. (It only happens under some extreme overclocking settings, but it's fixed by F7 BIOS). Look for an official announcement to come from Gigabyte sometime soon. We've changed the headline and some details in the article to reflect Gigabyte U.S.'s response. |
| CyberPowerPC Rolls Out Third Generation Fang III Desktop PCs Posted: 27 Dec 2011 10:07 AM PST
"CyberpowerPC's Fang III gaming PCs ranges from smart and efficient dual core CPUs to the massive hexa-core extreme edition to provide blistering performance and power," CyberPowerPC said in a statement. "Users can enhance their Fang III systems with CyberpowerPC's Venom Boost technology which overclocks the processor up to an additional 30 percent to torch your opponents without frying your system. Venom Boost technology is a safe way to obtain maximum performance for gaming, multi-tasking and intense multimedia and business applications." Pricing starts at about a grand, but if you're springing for the flagship Black Mamba, you'll need to bring at least five large in your purse to walk away with the default configuration:
All CyberPowerPC Fang III gaming systems include a 3-year warranty and lifetime phone support. |
| Would You Be Willing to Pay for Major Android Updates? Posted: 27 Dec 2011 08:13 AM PST
Probably not, but at least one person thinks paid updates are the answer. James Kendrick over at ZDNet posted a short piece on why he thinks paying for major updates would fix a system that, to him, is clearly "broken." "As screwed up as the update process is for Android devices, there is a brilliantly simple method available to fix it in one fell swoop. It is time for paid updates for the Android world," Kendrick writes. According to Kendrick, "money is at the root of the Android update fiasco." Specifically, he says OEMs pour a ton of money into Android device updates, both in rolling them out and in supporting them after the fact. Paid updates would solve this problem. "I don't think Android phone owners would object to a reasonable charge for a major OS update," Kendrick says. Kendrick's proposed fee is $15, which by his math would be almost $400 million in additional revenue if just 10 percent of annual Android buyers ponied up for a paid update. What's your take on Kendrick's proposal? |
| MSI Unveils MultiConnect Panel and Voice Genie Posted: 27 Dec 2011 07:49 AM PST
Voice Genie is equipped with two sets of voice recognition and supports up to 8 customized voice commands. MSI says it will work with several of its own motherboards, including:
The other product is MSI's new MultiConnect Panel. It slides into any available 5.25-inch drive bay and comes equipped with a high-speed Bluetooth 3.0 module, 802.11n Wi-Fi support, an OC Genie button, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports with Super Charger technology. No word on price or availability. Image Credit: MSI |
| Italy Takes $1.2 Million Bite Out of Apple for Unfair Commercial Practices Posted: 27 Dec 2011 07:07 AM PST
According to The Wall Street Journal, Italian authorities fined Apple 400,000 euros for not providing adequate information to customers about the length of warranties, and another 500,000 euros for failing to provide sufficient information to customers about its AppleCare Protection Plan. The fines were handed down to Apple Sales International, Apple Italia Sri, and Apple Retail Italia. Italy has been keep a close eye on Apple's operations. According to Apple Insider, the Italian government, along with the U.S., France, Germany, and South Korea, probed Apple over its location data controversy earlier this year, which was addressed in an iOS update. |
| Google's Eric Schmidt Hints of a Nexus Tablet in Six Months Posted: 27 Dec 2011 06:45 AM PST
A tablet was one of many topics Schmidt touched on when speaking with Italy's Corriere Della Sea, and by far the most interesting, even though he stopped well short of offering many specifics. He mentioned nothing of the hardware, how big it would be, or even if it would be an extension of the Nexus line into tablet territory or a completely different brand. This isn't just a rogue report, either. News and rumor site DigiTimes is reporting similar plans after speaking with "sources at the PC industry in Taiwan." According to DigiTimes, PC vendors fear Google will give itself an unfair advantage by loading its Nexus tablet up with Android 4.1, while all the other Ice Cream Sandwich tablets being rolled out in the first half of 2012 will sport Android 4.0. They also fear cannibalization. Worries aside, a Google tablet might be just what Android needs in order to take a shot at the iPad, especially if it sets the bar high enough to where all other players are forced to step up their game. Image Credit: flickr "jolieodell" |
The torrent watching website YouHaveDownloaded.com is still astounding us with its hypocrisy-revealing powers. A new search of the site, which tracks IP addresses pulling copyrighted material from a few public BitTorrent trackers, confirms that the U.S. House of Representatives is quite the 
Paul Allen is the founder of Ancestry.com, and likes to call himself the unofficial Google+ statistician. Allen has taken to giving the occasional analysis of actual Google+ users, and in the past his analyses have matched up with Google's official announcements. Today Allen has released his newest 
For about four years, technology blogger Noah Kravitz worked for PhoneDog, a mobile phone website. During that time, he also tweeted under the handle @PhoneDog_Noah. A little over a year ago, Kravitz left PhoneDog and changed his handle to @noahkravitz. At the time he had 17,000 followers. Now PhoneDog is 
Pushing your PC to its limits has obvious inherent dangers; overclocking your CPU can definitely bust your rig if you push it too far. That being said, reasonable overclocking doesn't actually carry too much risk – normally. Right before Christmas, one overclocker's 
With less than a week to go before the calendar flips to 2012, CyberPowerPC, who is "taking no prisoners to close out the year" by refreshing its Fang desktop gaming PC series. Now in its third generation, the Fang III series consists of the Rattler, Viper, Cobra, and top-of-the-line Black Mamba, each one re-armed with Intel's second generation Core i processors and fully customizable.
Few people would argue that fragmentation is a problem on the Android platform, or at the very least it's sometimes a frustration. The fact that Android is open source and is within reach of any handset/tablet maker who wants to take the source code and run with it is partially what made the OS so popular to begin with. However, with so many Android devices in the wild, many sporting their own custom UIs, it's almost a crap-shoot as to when or even if any particular model will receive a major update, like Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). Could paid updates solve this problem?
Getting a jump on CES in Las Vegas, MSI today 
Apple on Tuesday was fined 900,000 euros (about $1.2 million) by Italy's Antitrust Authority following an investigation into complaints of "unfair commercial practices" relating to its retail stores. The company's first retail store opened in Italy in 2006 in Ponte di Nona, and now there are nine stores in all located in various parts of the country.
Google may be gearing up to launch a tablet of its own, one that could serve as a benchmark for other Android tablet makers to follow when designing their own slates. Eric Schmidt, Google's Executive Chairman, reportedly told an Italian newspaper during an interview that the search giant plans to market a premium quality tablet within the next six months.| 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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