General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

8 Things We Love About Windows 8

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 02:27 PM PST

Windows 8 has certainly taken its share of criticism since the official debut of Microsoft's Consumer Preview last Wednesday (Download and install it here). But let there be no anger within this article. It would be wrong to just crap on all of Microsoft's latest attempts at Windows brand revitalization because, guess what? There are some pretty nifty features to like within Windows 8.

And guess what else? There's a good reason why Microsoft has titled this sneak preview of its operating system as a "Consumer Preview" and not, "Windows 8: Set In Stone Final." While that's not going to help you much if you're one of the die-hard opponents of the Metro UI (and we don't much blame you there), it at least gives Microsoft a little wiggle room to incorporate feedback that users are blasting over the airwaves about their experiences with this not-final iteration of the operating system.

So, what's there to like about Windows 8?

1. Link Up

Finally, Microsoft crawls out of its Hobbit hole to acknowledge that there are more platforms on this earth than just those that start with "Microsoft," "Windows," or "Hot." We applaud the company's efforts at reaching out to other popular third-party services for super-easy integration of email and contacts into Windows 8's default apps.

It's no Hootsuite, but the "People" app built into Windows 8 allows you to quickly put your finger on the pulse of all that's going on with your Twitter followers and Facebook friends, as well as Google contacts and Linkedin Super-Official Business Buddies (to name a few services). It takes but a few clicks to jump to a virtual business card of each contact you've synchronized with Windows 8, and these cards list  out your friends' and contacts' key statistics (editable, if you so desire).

Once it works, Windows 8's "Messaging" function will draw from your comprehensive well of "People" and allows you to chat with them via a single interface. Trillian it ain't, but we do like how Microsoft's finally trying to build a more unified way to talk to everyone you know directly within the operating system. Messaging feels less like a client or "old" Windows application, more like a delightful integration. Our only issue? It's going to be pretty obvious to alt-tab out to a not-quite-work-related conversation on the job, given that Messaging takes up the entirety of one's screen. Yeep.

 

2. Sync Up

A Skydrive for every home! A Skydrive for every app! We applaud, too, how Microsoft has realized that the cloud is the future of data storage. We say that knowing fully well that there are still going to be some Windows 8 users who live entirely local lives – as well, instances where Cloud storage of information isn't appropriate in the slightest (Windows 8 at work).

But for those who enjoy being able to tap into their data wherever they are, Microsoft's Skydrive integration within Windows 8 is a perfect complement to the synchronizations the OS can perform when your Microsoft Account and Windows 8 user account are one and the same – allowing you to pull up your apps, preferences, and people, to name a few options, on any Windows 8 computer you log into.

Guess what? Sync your user files with Skydrive (or any other data that other apps will be allowed to synchronize up), and you'll be able to tap into those as well!

 

3. Storage Spaces: Newbie RAID

RAID storage can be complicated enough for PC neophytes. So we'll just touch on the basics of Microsoft's new Storage Spaces feature within Windows 8 – or, as we're dubbing the feature, "Newbie RAID."

We joke, but Storage Spaces greatly simplify the process of combining storage of all kinds – physical hard drives, solid-state drives, external hard drives, and flash storage – into giant pools of available storage. You can take drives away, add drives, and swap drives in and out: Microsoft says that a "resynchronization" process will rebuilt the two-way mirror, three-way mirror, or parity that you elect to build into a pool's "spaces," or what you'd otherwise see in your typical Windows environment as a single storage volume (e.g. C:\).

Got it? Physical storage – which you can swap around your system, connect, and disconnect – is used to build giant storage pools, which can then be split into as many storage "spaces" as you want. And don't forget about Storage Spaces' thin provisioning: You can actually build spaces larger than what your pools could physically support. Physical capacity is only used when there's an actual file that needs to be saved, which is reclaimed upon the file's deletion. And as you slowly start to fill up your larger-than-supported space with data, Windows will remind you to add more storage – any kind of storage you want — which will automatically add more storage to your pool with no additional configuration required on your end.

 

4. A Great Reason to Buy an Xbox 360 (or 720)

You know a feature is going to be a big deal when we get this excited about it and it doesn't even work in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. By that, we're referring to Microsoft's hopeful and planned partnership with users' Xbox 360 gaming consoles. In short, it appears that Microsoft wants to break down the wall that separates console gaming and "PC gaming" by allowing gamers to stream the multimedia contents of their systems to their consoles (and attached televisions), and stream their games from their consoles to their PCs. Microsoft's new way of thinking seems to be that what's sitting on your desk or lap is but a screen: There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to pull up Xbox 360 games on that screen and use integrated or plugged-in controls to frag away.

The proof? Microsoft's "Video" app already comes with the grayed-out option to "Play on Xbox" and you can already start games on your Xbox 360 using a command within Windows 8's "Xbox Companion" app. Why would Microsoft go to all this trouble just to let you use your laptop to fire up a title on your TV instead of the nearby Xbox 360 controller? And why would Microsoft build a virtual controller of-sorts into its Windows-based Xbox Companion app for no reason whatsoever?

Our prediction: Remote gaming is on its way. Here's hoping Microsoft doesn't charge a squillion Xbox Points to let gamers "unlock" the feature between their Windows 8 PCs and their consoles.

On the next page: The Four Other Things We Love About Windows 8 (including its startup and shutdown times!)

 

 

5. Bells and Whistles

A number of the fun little improvements found within Windows 8 are mostly cosmetic – too small to warrant their own individual mention in this article, but still worth calling out in aggregate. While much can be said about Windows 8's split classic desktop/Metro UI interface, we love-love-love some of the tweaks that Microsoft's put into cornerstones of the operating system.

Take, for example, the window that now appears whenever you go to copy or move a file. Previously, your typical Windows "Progress Bar" would just be accompanied by a dumb little, text-only estimate for transfer times and speeds. Ugly, right?

Windows 8 kicks it up a notch by giving you a pretty, up-to-the-second graph that reflects your system's file transfer speed, a graphic that slowly fills out as the file chugs along. Borrowing a page from some of our favorite freeware file transfer tools, you can also now pause your transfers at any point – useful if you're copying multiple batches of files at once and you need one to take priority.

Speaking of, we also enjoy how multiple transfer requests automatically stack on top of each other, only to disappear from sight once the transfer's complete. A subtle, but pleasing touch.

Other bells and whistles we enjoy? The overall look and feel of Windows 8's "Music" app (take that, iTunes and/or Windows Media Player), the delightfully new-and-improved Windows Task Manager (with historical app resource use built-in), the fact that you can now mount .ISO files directly within the operating system (not a graphical comment; we just love the feature!), et cetera…

6. Speedier Startup and Shutdown

We kind of gave away the answer in the header, but here goes: What's the one part of the Windows operating system that you're sure to encounter on a daily basis, and a part you'll be most perturbed about when it starts messing up? Bingo: Windows' startup and shutdown routines.

We can't speak to the overall "snappiness" of Windows 8, as we'd be comparing an application-packed installation of Windows 7 against a barebones, fresh installation of Windows 8. However, we can (and have) run stopwatches to compare the two operating systems' starting times – from power on to password prompt – and shutdown times.

The verdict? On a fairly antiquated laptop (by today's standards), Windows 8 beat Windows 7's shutdown time by ten full seconds, taking only 17 seconds to go from the press of the "Shut Down" button to a powered-off state on the laptop. But the juicer statistic is the comparison of Windows 8's startup time to Window 7's: From the press of the power button to the Windows 8 lock screen (or Window 7 login screen), Windows 8 only took 32 total seconds to boot. Windows 7? Almost a full minute (51 seconds).

Why such a dramatic difference? Windows 8 slaps the kernel into hibernation mode when you shut down the system, saving your system from having to reinitialize it on the next boot.

7. Sending Explorer to the Office

Fire up Windows Explorer within Windows 8 and you'll swear you accidentally launched Microsoft Office 2007. That's right: The ribbon is here. Or, to say it another way, Microsoft has finally started taking steps to unify its user interfaces across its major applications. Amen.

While you can still access Windows' tried-and-true Folder Options via its own link within the View tab of the Explorer ribbon, you'll quickly find the most of the options you need most are conveniently located within one of the three tabs on Windows Explorer's ribbon: File, Computer, and View. Or is that File, Home, Share and View?

That's right – the tabs shift depending on the context of what you click on within Explorer. Common folders get different options than user libraries; User libraries get different options depending on the media stored within (audio files, versus documents, versus pictures, et cetera); Disks (or spaces) get different options than folders.

We love all the shifting around, mainly because it puts all the key options we're looking for right at our fingertips. And if you disagree, you can always customize up your own ribbon just like how you might add new buttons to an Office 2007 toolbar.

8. Stronger Search

We were fans of Windows 7's speedy indexed search capabilities – giving users a kind of "Spotlight" field within Windows Explorer (and the start menu) that they could use to find anything on their systems at any time.

Windows 8 ups the ante by adding a lovely looking (and lovely functioning) search screen directly within the Metro interface. And here's the fun bit: You don't have to click on anything at all to start searching. If you're just looking to find one of the many applications littering your tile-filled desktop, you need merely to just start typing the app you're trying to find. Boom! Up pops Windows 8's search window.

Want to find a particular file (or subset of files) instead? You can still start typing your query directly within Windows 8's Metro UI. Only, when the search screen loads, you just have to click on "Files" to find what you're looking for within your storage spaces. Windows 8 will even allow you to search for keywords within Windows' settings, if you happen to be looking for the various places you can set options that ultimately affect, say, your MP3 playback. This context-sensitive search even carries through to other apps installed on your system, depending on what you click on within the search results window – a great touch on Microsoft's part!

 

Ready to see what we hate about Windows 8? Check back tomorrow for our list of Window's 8 Worst Features!

For more from David, former Maximum PC editor and Windows enthusiast, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).

The Big Guide: 20 Tips and Tricks to Get The Most Out of Windows 8

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 10:43 AM PST

What do you do with a new operating system? If you're a typical Maximum PC reader, you roll up your shirt sleeves and jump elbow-deep into every part of the OS you can get your hands on. You make manual registry tweaks to open up hidden elements of your new OS; you navigate through all of the different configuration options to see what's changed, what's new, and what you can personalize to your liking; you devote hours to playing around with all the different features.

Or, if you want a quick fix, you can read a guide like this.

We've gotten our arms full of data and dust in our attempts to unearth some of the more noteworthy features of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. And the following list of twenty awesome items represents the must-do tweaks and must-check-out, new features of Microsoft's latest operating system.

This is but the start of our Windows 8 week festivities: Come back tomorrow and we'll tell you about the 8 things we absolutely love in Windows 8!

 

1. Metro: Just Type It!

We'll start with an easy trick. When you're in Windows 8's Metro UI and you want to load an app, don't bother moving your mouse around the screen or trying to scroll your way over to wherever it is you've placed the app's tile icon. Just start typing. Literally – start typing. You don't have to go find the search button or any of that: Windows 8 will try to find anything you type, be it "Solitaire" or "Control Panel," or what-have-you.

2. Screenshots Are Fun and Useful

Tech journalists covering Windows 8, take note: Microsoft has finally made it super-easy to dump the contents of your screen down to an image file. In times prior, you could hit the Print Screen key to copy the contents of the entire display, but you'd still have to paste that image into a third-party application (or Paint. Or you could also use Microsoft's Snip tool, but we digress). Now, hitting the Windows Key and Print Screen at the same time dumps the entirety of your screen to a .PNG file in your Pictures folder. Easy!

3. Don't Upgrade!

You've (hopefully) caught our guide for installing Windows 8. If you haven't, go read that. And no matter what you do, don't install Windows 8 as an upgrade to your existing operating system. There's a giant list of reasons why you shouldn't let a Consumer-Preview-cough-beta serve as your primary operating system, the least of which being that it can be a bit confusing for newcomers to try. You'll shoot your productivity in the foot, not to mention all the potential incompatibilities / bugs / quirks you'll find in your favorite software, games, and the current "test version" apps found in Windows 8.

4. Hot Corners Are Your Friends

If you're a bit befuddled the first time you fire up Microsoft's newest operating system, we understand. Microsoft's left a number of navigational elements invisible to your eye unless you move your mouse over one of the four extreme corners of your screen. Hover your mouse over the top-right or bottom-right to access the Charms Bar: Windows 8's built-in Search and Sharing capabilities, as well as a list of devices you can send the contents of the current app to and Windows 8's ever-important Settings menu. Hover your mouse over the top-left or bottom-left corners of your screen to jump between open apps on Windows 8's "Switch List," just like you would otherwise do by hitting the combination of alt and tab on your keyboard.

5. Hotkeys Are Your Friends, Too

Unless you're rocking a touchscreen PC, navigating your way around the Metro UI interface (and its horizontal-friendly apps) can be a bit of a drag. So don't use your mouse; Use your keyboard. Check out some of these helpful hotkeys for flying through the OS and controlling its many elements:

· Windows Key + Tab – Opens up the left-hand "Switch List"

· Windows Key + C – Opens up the right-hand Charms Bar

· Windows Key + I – Opens up your ever-important Settings Menu

· Windows Key + T – Dumps you back to Desktop Mode and cycles through your open windows on the taskbar.

· Windows Key + Shift + . – Docks the app to the left, middle, or right side of the screen with each press.

· Windows Key + M – Jumps to the Desktop and minimizes all applications

· Windows Key + Q – Opens up Windows 8's global search utility within Metro.

6. The PC Settings Panel is Your Best Friend

In its infinite wisdom, Microsoft has decided to split the options you can configure on Windows 8 between the contents of its typical Control Panel and a new Metro-based Settings menu, which can be accessed by going to the Charms Bar's Settings option and clicking on the slightly buried "More PC Settings" link. Here's where you'll be able to adjust your lock screen's background, Metro's colors, how notifications and Windows 8's built-in search work, the names of the attached devices Windows 8 has found, and your specific synchronization settings, among other important options.

7. Windows 8 Versus Disaster

Well, you've gone and done it. Either as a result of something (or things) you've installed, some setting you've mucked up, or just general apathy toward the well-being of your PC, Windows 8 doesn't work right anymore. In Windows' past, this would normally force you to take a trip down reinstallation lane. That part hasn't changed, but Windows 8 now makes it really easy to return a broken operating system to happiness once again. Click on the General tab within the aforementioned "More PC Settings" menu. The "Refresh" option strips your system of the third-party apps you've installed and returns it to factory-default settings, but it keeps your User files. The "Reset" option wipes your operating system clean of all your data and returns your system to Windows 8's factory-default settings.

8. Enable Safe Mode

Speaking of computer disasters, if you want to reboot your system into Safe Mode, you can't just jam on the F8 key prior to Windows 8 loading: You have to first enable Safe Mode itself. Type "cmd" on your Metro UI, right-click on the Command Prompt app (called "cmd"), and select to run it as an administrator. Then type "bcdedit /enum /v" on the command prompt screen and hit Enter. Copy the entire "identifier" string (including the braces) for the entry that has "Windows 8 Consumer Preview" as the description, not "Windows Boot manager."  Then, type the following into the command prompt: bcdedit /copy youridentifierstring /d "Windows Developer Preview (Safe Mode)" and hit Enter. After that, type in "msconfig" and hit enter.

Click on the "Boot" tab and select the entry called "Windows Developer Preview (Safe Mode)." Click on the "Safe Boot" option, the "Make All Boot Settings Permanent" option, click OK, and click "Yes." Restart your system, and you'll be given the option to launch either your normal Windows 8 environment or your new Safe Mode environment.

9. Be a Super-Administrator in One Clck

Here's a great hidden tidbit of Windows 8: Move your mouse cursor the lower-left corner of Windows 8's Metro or Desktop mode until it pops up the live thumbnail of the to-be-switched-to environment. But don't left-click; Right-click. You'll pull up a menu that gives you a shortcut to a bunch of handy power user options, including Command Prompts, your Disk Management window, and your System menu, among other options.

10. Fast-Uninstall Apps

Looking for a quick way to nuke any Windows Apps or third-party apps that you've installed on Windows 8? Just right-click on the app's icon within Windows' Metro UI and select "Uninstall." Third-party apps will jump you to the good ol' Windows "Programs and Features" window for the same ol' Windows uninstallation routine you should be used to by now. Apps downloaded from the Windows Store will simply disappear. Poof!

On the next page: Xbox 360 Synchronization! Task Manager Awesomeness! Tile Management!  And more!

 

11. Hate Metro?

Here's a fun one. Fire up Windows Explorer and navigate over to your Windows directory. Do a search for "shows desktop," and copy the shortcut that you find into the following location: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. By doing so, you'll ensure that Windows 8 always boots to the "Classic Desktop" instead of its Metro UI.

12. Hate Passwords?

Passwords are important, especially if you're using Windows 8 to share files within a network. For important files and directories, you're going to want to make sure that only those with user accounts on your system can access your files. Or, if you're extra security-cautious, you're also going to want to make sure that your system is password-locked whenever you step away from your desk (via Windows' Lock Screen).

But what if you don't like having to type in your password each time you boot your computer? You can remove this part of the process – but still use your password to protect these other parts of Windows 8 – by hitting the combination of the Windows Key and "R," and then typing "netplwiz" into the Run window's field and hitting enter. Uncheck the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" option and click on OK.

13. Console Gamers, Unite!

One of Windows 8's newer features is its ability to link up to your Xbox 360 console – and not that lame-o "media sharing" stuff that one finds in Windows 7. No, Windows 8 allows you to launch a game on your Xbox 360 from your PC and, ideally at some point in the future, play a game on your PC that's "streamed" of-sorts from your Xbox 360. And, of course, you should also be able to bounce media back and forth between your Xbox 360 (and attached television) and your Windows 8 system.

But for all this to work – whenever Microsoft enables it – you have to first make your Xbox 360 and your Windows 8 PC meet. Click on the "Xbox Companion" app on Windows 8's start menu to get the ball rolling: It's a pretty easy process, and one that carries the potential for great, future reward.

14. Task Manager is Awesome

One of the better upgrades that Windows 8 brings to the table can be found in the good ol' (and previously boring) Task Manager. Load it up by typing "Task Manager" in Metro (or give your system the three-finger salute), and then click on the "More Details" link at the bottom of the window. Up pops Window 8's new-and-improved Task Management program.

Of particular interest is the prettied-up "Performance" tab, which you can use to get a look at the last 60 seconds of your system's CPU, Memory, Disk, or Network use. New to the program is its "App History" tab, which gives you a look at just how man resources your apps eat up over a lengthier period of time. And the ability to enable or disable apps that start with Windows itself has been moved from Windows' System Configuration menu to the Task Manager's "Startup" tab.

15. Passwords Gone Visual

We touched upon passwords a bit ago, but it's important that we mention one of Windows 8's more novel approaches toward system security: The picture password. Click on the Settings menu on Windows 8's Charms Bar, and then click on the "More PC Settings" link. Click on "Users," and then select the option to create a picture password.

What's a picture password? In short, you start by selecting an image – any image you want. On this image, you'll draw a combination of gestures, which can include circles, straight lines, and taps. The theory is that you'll draw associations in a picture – like a line connecting you head to your favorite pet's – that only you would know about, thus preventing a random stranger from successfully logging into your system. You have to nail all three gestures, in the order they were created, for your system to authenticate you.

16. Bypass Windows' Default App Choices

Some of the new apps built directly into Windows 8's Metro UI are less than pleasing when it comes to actual usability – here's looking at you, Video app. But it's equally frustrating to have to use an "open with this app" command whenever you want to pull up a new file format.

Our solution? Edit your file-opening preferences in one big batch. Type "default programs" within Windows 8's Metro UI and click on the corresponding link that appears. Select "Set your default programs" and have at it – each program will tell you how many extensions it can open versus how many it is opening, just to give you a sense of your batch-processing power.

17. Manage Thy Tiles

We confess, we do think that Metro's user interface is as pretty as a rectangular grid gets. But you probably want to mix, match, group, and resize your icons to your specifications, not Microsoft's.

Want to move tiles? Easy: Drag them around. Want to move a tile to its own column? Drag it on over – it's exactly how you form new groups of apps. Want to shuffle an entire column's worth of tiles around? First, click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower-right corner, and then move away. And although you can select multiple tiles by right-clicking on each, you can't move a number of tiles en masse. Sorry!

Finally, resizing tiles – that can be resized – is as easy as right-clicking on the tile and selecting the "Smaller" or "Larger" option.

18. Where Are Your Drivers?

It pains us to have to say this, but we're going to say it anyway: Don't forget to install drivers for your devices on your Windows 8 configuration. That's not to say that Windows 8 does a bad job installing drivers that work for most, if not all of the parts and pieces inside your system. But you're going to want to trust your devices' manufacturers, not Microsoft, for the most up-to-date system drivers you can get your hands on. Of particular importance should be your motherboard's drivers, your video card's drivers, and the various, fancier drivers for your input devices (if you're rocking a non-standard keyboard and mouse).

That all said, Windows 8 does a pretty good job of establishing a working baseline of drivers post-installation!

19. Sync Up

Windows 8 comes with a plethora of ways to synchronize your operating system to all the various third-party accounts you hold on other sites. The most important one to link up is your Microsoft Account, which you can do when you set up Windows 8 for the first time and via the users menu within PC Settings (Charms Bar > Settings > More PC Settings). By doing so, you'll be able to load up your preferred themes, settings, languages, and app settings – to name a few – on any Windows 8 machine you touch. Your Microsoft Account also powers Windows 8's SkyDrive cloud storage, for what it's worth.

But that's not all. You can integrate your Hotmail, Linkedin, Google, Facebook, and Twitter accounts with Window 8's "People" application. And, if it works, you can chat with your Facebook and Windows Messenger friends via the aptly named Messaging application. Just think of it as "Newbie's Trillian."

20. Shut Down

One of the more peculiar features of Windows 8 is just how much Microsoft buries the shutdown button within its Metro UI – you know, the way you go about turning off your PC when you're done for the day. You can always switch over to Desktop mode and give it the ol' alt+F4 to receive your shutdown options. But you can also create actual shutdown tiles that accomplish the same effect in Metro.

Within Desktop mode, right-click on the desktop and create a new shortcut. For it's "location," you'll want to type in the following: shutdown.exe -s -t 00. Feel free to name the shortcut whatever you want ("Nuke it from orbit?"). Once it's on your desktop, fire up Windows Explorer and move the shortcut to your C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs directory. Jump back to your Metro interface and you'll see your Shutdown button appear as a brand-new tile. Click once, and off goes your system!

For more from David, former Maximum PC editor and Windows enthusiast, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).

Several Senior LulzSec Members Arrested After Leader Helps Police

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 10:29 AM PST

Remember LulzSec, the jolly jackasses responsible for so much hacking havoc last summer? So does the FBI; they've rounded up five alleged LulzSec members in the U.S., England and Ireland this morning. LulzSec's 50 day reign of terror seemed almost story-like at times -- and like many good yarns, this one ends with a twist. Reports say the Lulz Boat has sunk thanks to the betrayal of "Sabu," the group's unofficial leader, who has been secretly working with the government since being arrested back in June.

Fox News reports that Sabu's real name is Hector Xavier Monsegur; he's an unemployed father of two from New York's Lower East Side. After the FBI quietly pinched him in June, Monsegur reportedly pleaded guilty to 12 separate charges midway through August. His admissions were due to be unsealed this morning, along with charges for four of the five people arrested today.

The five people charged today include: Ryan Ackroyd, aka "Kayla"; Jake Davis, aka "Topiary"; Darren Martyn, aka "pwnsauce"; Donncha O'Cearrbhail, aka "palladium"; and Jeremy Hammond aka "Anarchaos". Ackroyd and Davis hail from London, Martyn and Cearrbhail live in Ireland, and Hammond was nabbed in Chicago.

You may remember Davis' name from his high-profile arrest back in August. Fox says that Ackroyd was Sabu's right-hand man and responsible for finding vulnerabilities in the Senate's network.

Hammond, meanwhile, is reportedly the man who hacked into Stratfor, the security company whose emails are currently being pored through over on WikiLeaks. Sources told Fox that Hammond was fingered as a member of Anonymous, not LulzSec; he will be indicted separately from the rest.

Update: Here's the FBI press release announcing the arrests and providing more detail.

Mass Effect 3 Hits The Streets

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 10:19 AM PST

Speaking of PC gaming, a much-anticipated little title happened to have dropped today: Mass Effect 3. Perhaps you've heard of it? If you've been following the exploits of Commander Shepard and his rag-tag Normandy crew, it goes without saying that you pretty much HAVE to pick up the game. Don't dig silence? Our sister mag PCGamer has an in-depth review of Mass Effect 3.

The Edmonton Journal went so far as to say the "Release of Mass Effect 3 (is) seen as a pop-culture event." We don't know about all that, but it is the end of the road for Shepard and his/her long series of choices -- assuming, of course, that your FemShep didn't die in ME2's suicide run. Gamers who preordered ME3 through Origin or attended a midnight launch event have been playing the game for hours now, but if you're stuck waiting around at work (like us), here are a few trailers to get you in the Reaper-stomping mood.

Roccat Unveils "Power-Grid" Smartphone App That Helps Keep Gamers In The Game

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 10:09 AM PST

Nothing sucks more than juggling windows while you're in the middle of a hot and heavy frag fest -- but sometimes, you just have to do it, whether to check an important message sent out-of-game or to tweak some aspect of your system. German peripheral maker Roccat wants to change that with its newly announced Power-Grid, a gaming-friendly smartphone app that will let you keep tabs on important PC happenings without ever needing to minimize BF3 on the big screen.

Power-Grid uses four screens -- "Grids," in Roccat parlance -- to convey all sorts of important info. The first screen, dubbed the "Incoming Center," gathers communications from Twitter, Facebook, TeamSpeak, Skype and more. The second "Stats Control" Grid displays information about your PC's status, such as your CPU utilization and network traffic. The "Sound Control" Grid does just about what you'd expect, and a fourth grid is left blank so that users can create a list of custom macros.

The PC client that connects your PC to the app is also used to create the custom macros, which Roccat calls "blocks." Roccat says the editor can also be used to create non-gaming blocks; the example given is "specialty buttons like a pizza timer."

Later in the year, Roccat plans on launching the "Project Phobo" keyboard, which includes a horizontal charge dock for Power-Grid-rocking phones. In addition to adding a Razer Blade-esque flair to things, the Phobo will allow users to type out responses to messages using the main keyboard -- no need to actually touch the phone -- and automatically route incoming calls to your gaming headset. Plus, it'll charge your phone while you frag. Not too shabby!

Unfortunately, you can't just hop over to the Android Market and snag Power-Grid just yet; Roccat's currently showing off the goods at the CeBIT expo in Germany and plans on releasing an iPhone/iPod touch (stupid lowercase letters!) version soon. An Android version will be available when Gamescom rolls around in August, while the Phobo keyboard is due "at the end of the year." On the plus side, Roccat says Power-Grid will be a free download. Check out more info here.

AMD Confirms Existence of CPU Bug

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 07:28 AM PST

A programmer on the DragonFly BSD project is flying high as a kite this week after AMD admitted that a bug he discovered is an actual erratum the Sunnyvale chip maker was previously unaware existed in some processor families. Matthew Dillon, who had been tracking the bug for well over a year, finally came up with a test case in which AMD could replicate the error and confirm there's really a bug.

Mr. Dillon posted a portion of the email, which reads:

"AMD has taken your example and also analyzed the segmentation fault and the fill_sons_in_loop code. We confirm that you have found an erratum with some AMD processor families. The specific compiled version of the fill_sons_in_loop code, through a very specific sequence of consecutive back-to-back pops and (near) return instructions, can create a condition where the process incorrectly updates the stack pointer."

This isn't something most users will need to worry about. While it should be possible to create an environment in other OSes where the bug rears its ugly, Mr. Dillon notes "it took a lot of effort just to find a quickly reproducible case with DragonFly."

There's nothing AMD can do about the flaw in existing chips at this point, but by filing it away, programs now have a heads up and can sidestep this and other known bugs when coding software.

"I'm pretty stoked... it isn't every day that a guy like me gets to find an honest-to-God hardware bug in a major CPU!," Dillon said.

Show of Hands: Who Plans to Buy an iPad 3?

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 06:42 AM PST

All the rumors and speculation over Apple's iPad 3 tablet will either be put to rest or come to fruition tomorrow when the Cupertino outfit unveils the much anticipated slate at a press event in San Francisco. The most likely additions will be that of a 'Retina Display' that packs twice as many pixels as the iPad 2, and a 4G LTE radio. Everything else is a crapshoot, minus the usual rabid demand that accompanies most Apple product launches. This one is no different.

Almost of a third -- 30 percent, to be exact -- of mobile Web users confessed to ad network InMobi their intentions of purchasing an iPad 3 in a recent survey, "and 44 percent would only consider the iPad if purchasing a tablet," said Anne Frisbie, the company's Vice President and Managing Director.

"Interestingly, 65 percent of those who intend to buy an iPad 3 would consider buying an iPad or iPad 2 at a reduced price instead, indicating that whether or not consumers purchase an iPad 3 versus an older model, the excitement around the iPad 3 release will likely increase iPad penetration in the tablet market."

Half of InMobi's survey respondents said they still intend to purchase an iPad 3 if it's priced over $500, but if Apple ends up charging more than $599, 57 percent would opt for an older iPad model. With that line of thinking, it will be interesting to see if Apple ends up releasing an 8GB iPad 2 model that was recently rumored to be in production and would sell for $349 to $399.

Back to our original question, are you planning to purchase an iPad 3 tablet, or are you all-in with Android or waiting to see what Windows 8 brings to the tablet table?

Image Credit: Flickr (Sasha Y. Kimel)

Google Increases Android App Cap from 50MB to 4GB

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 06:15 AM PST

If you're an Android developer, go ahead and belt out a hearty "Huzzah!" And if you're an Android user, you can do the same. What's all this Huzzah business? It's about bigger apps! Google this week announced that it's lifting its 50MB cap on Android Market apps and replacing it with a much more roomy 4GB cap to accommodate high-quality 3D interactive games and more local resources.

Yes folks, that means there will be bigger app downloads in some cases, but hey, that's all the more reason to jump on the 4G bandwagon. To be clear, the size of the APK file will still carry a 50MB weight limit, only now developers have been green lighted to attach up to two fat 2GB expansion files weighing in at 2GB each. Previous to the update, developers were forced to host the files themselves.

Google says most newer devices will grab the expansion files automatically when downloading an app from the Android Market, and the refund period won't begin until all files are pulled from cyberspace and plopped onto your smartphone.

"While you can use the two expansion files any way you wish, we recommend that one serve as the initial download and be rarely if ever updated; the second can be smaller and serve as a 'patch carrier,' getting versioned with each major release," Google advised app developers in a blog post.

Google says you'll be able to see the total size of the app and all of the attached downloads before purchasing and installing.

Image Credit: AndroidApps.com (kevindeng)

IHS iSuppli: Elpida's Bankruptcy Filing Will Bump Up DRAM Prices

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 05:53 AM PST

The dirty little secret about DRAM is that we're all underpaying for computer memory, and most of us know it. When the DRAM bubble burst, prices plummeted faster than Lindsay Lohan's career, which is why OCZ moved away from selling memory and starting hawking solid state drives, a segment that's overpriced just like DRAM used to be. It's starting to look like the DRAM market might never regain it's swagger from a decade ago, but there are still times when you should consider stocking up on memory. This might be one of them.

Elpida Memory has filed for bankruptcy protection, and according to market research firm IHS iSuppli, this move will benefit the remaining DRAM players still battling in the trenches to make a buck or two. Elpida's exit will ultimately constrict supply and push prices and revenue up in the second half of 2012.

"A meaningful reduction in Elpida's manufacturing will cause the DRAM market to go into a state of undersupply, causing prices to increase," said Mike Howard, senior principal analyst for DRAM & memory at IHS. "Shipments likely will decrease because of the Elpida bankruptcy, even though the resulting increase in revenue—driven by higher prices—will cause the market to perform better than expected in 2012. The ultimate fate of Elpida's manufacturing assets, which remains to be decided, will be the major factor impacting pricing and revenue growth in 2012. But one thing is certain: Elpida's bankruptcy means the remaining DRAM players can look forward to a much rosier 2012 than they did just one week ago."

Some of the effects of Elpida's bankruptcy are already reverberating throughout the industry. According to IHS iSupply, spot prices for PC DRAM spiked 15 percent in a single day, and that's just a "preview" of what's to come later this year.

It might turn out that the DRAM market can absorb the loss of a player like Elpida, but if you don't want to risk it, now's the time to think about stocking up on memory.

Image Credit: Elpida

Coming Soon: A 3D Printable Case for Raspberry Pi

Posted: 06 Mar 2012 03:55 AM PST

The diminutive Raspberry Pi computer got off to a sensational start last week, with pre-orders selling out within hours. There is very little, if anything, to dislike about Raspberry Pi, a dirt cheap Linux PC the size of a credit card. But the fact that currently no case is available for the Raspberry Pi might bother some of the early adopters. Even though the Raspberry Pi Foundation plans to begin "selling cases by the summer," a designer named Marco Alici has already finished designing a 3D printable version.

In a post on his blog, Alici described the task as something that wasn't particularly easy, for "the board has been designed for the minimum dimensions and cost, and some choices are not suitable for a good design for the case." Another challenge for Alici was -- and still is -- the absence of an actual Raspberry Pi.

Alici has already received a 3D printed prototype of the case from 3D printing company Shapeways -- a development that has probably made his wait for the Raspberry Pi all the more excruciating. So he is now just waiting to test this prototype with the Raspberry Pi. "After that," he wrote, "I'm planning to make it [the Raspberry Pi case] available for printing on my space on Shapeways." You can view a 3D model of Alici's case at this link.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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