General Gaming Article |
- Microsoft Readies Six Updates for March Patch Tuesday
- Nvidia Among Linux Foundation's Newest Members
- Looking Forward: Our Predictions for Windows 9
- Report: Users Call Personalized Search A "Bad Thing" Due To Privacy, Relevancy Concerns
- Zotac Introduces Three New ZBOX mini-PCs
- Wikipedia Dumps GoDaddy Due To GD's Pro-SOPA/PIPA Stance
- This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
- Leaked Slide Offers Clarity on Intel's Ivy Bridge Launch
- Videogame Sales Plummeted 20 Percent in February, NPD Group Says
- Tablet PC Shipments Might Leapfrog Desktops in 2013
| Microsoft Readies Six Updates for March Patch Tuesday Posted: 09 Mar 2012 08:12 PM PST With the next Patch Tuesday just around the corner, Microsoft on Thursday published the Security Bulletin Advance Notification for March 2012. Next week's Patch Tuesday will be a lot lighter compared to the one in February. Hit the jump for more. According to Microsoft's advance notification, the company will deliver six bulletins addressing seven vulnerabilities on March 13, 2012. This is considerably less compared to last month's Patch Tuesday, which brought nine bulletins addressing 21 vulnerabilities. Of the six security bulletins, only one is rated "critical," Microsoft's highest severity rating. All others, as is obvious from the table below, are either rated "important" or "moderate."
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| Nvidia Among Linux Foundation's Newest Members Posted: 09 Mar 2012 07:39 PM PST
The Santa Clara, California-based company has joined the Linux Foundation as a silver member. While undoubtedly an important addition, Nvidia is not the first major chip maker on the non-profit consortium's membership roll, which already boasts the likes of Intel (platinum member) and AMD (gold member). Speculation is already rife that Nvidia plans to open source its drivers. However, the official press release contains nothing regarding the extent and nature of Nvidia's commitment to Linux. In fact, it has little more than the following quote from Scott Pritchett, VP of Linux Platform Software at Nvidia: "NVIDIA is strongly committed to enabling world-class experiences and innovation with our GPU and mobile products. Membership in The Linux Foundation will accelerate our collaboration with the organizations and individuals instrumental in shaping the future of Linux, enabling a great experience for users and developers of Linux," said Scott Pritchett, VP of Linux Platform Software at NVIDIA." Of course, Nvidia is not the only company to have joined the Linux Foundation this week. The others to do so are Fluendo, Lineo Solutions and Mocana. |
| Looking Forward: Our Predictions for Windows 9 Posted: 09 Mar 2012 12:26 PM PST
How do you predict the future? It's easy: There's going to be a Windows 9 in a few years – unless Microsoft pulls an Apple and just goes with, "The New Windows," or "Windows," or something. As for what might be inside Microsoft's future operating system, however, that's a whole 'nother ballgame. It's not that hard to get caught up in some childlike fantasy when asked to predict the future path of Microsoft's main OS. You know – Windows 9 will allow your desktop to transform into a giant robot, or Windows 9 will be an on-the-fly hybrid OS that transforms into a simpler version of Metro for free-floating tablet devices and the full-fledged Windows 9 when these devices are connected up to a dock/keyboard setup. Honestly, I kind of like the robot idea. But let's get serious. What's the likely future direction of Microsoft Windows? Even considering that the general consumer reaction to Windows 8 – assuming it's not just a Band-Aid for tablets while Microsoft devotes the core of its resources to a completely revamped version of the OS – will likely play a role in what Microsoft decides to do within its big follow-up. One Operating System. Period.Since one can't mention Windows 8 without saying something about its Metro UI in the very next breath, here's the first prediction: Metro is just the beginning. The meeting ground, as it were. It feels as if Microsoft's grand goal is to unify its devices under a single operating system, similar to how there's always one story written about Apple every three months that suggests the company is on the verge of combining OSX and iOS. So what are the benefits of transforming Windows into a hardware agnostic platform? Easy: One look and feel for consumers, whether they're using their next-generation Xbox consoles, PCs, smartphones, or tablets. One development platform and unified APIs would allow apps and features to cross over between devices without demanding a huge chunk of developer resources. And, of course, apps could release faster (if not simultaneously) on all devices – great news for those used to waiting six months for a smartphone version of a new PC program to hit. To borrow a phrase from the late Sun Microsystems: "Write once, run anywhere." I can't foresee how Microsoft might balance the simplicity of its Metro-style interface against the expansiveness of its classic "Desktop" interface – currently a sore point for those playing with Microsoft's squares for the first time. But I do think their roles will switch. Microsoft will make Metro (or an equivalent tablet-style UI) the dominant measure of Windows 9, which will force the company to find some way to make a simple interface complex when it's warranted. Perhaps this will involve a tighter integration of Windows Explorer (et al) within Metro, versus the cop-out "switchy interface" treatment of Windows 9's predecessor OS. Perhaps Microsoft will turn over a rock and find a Jonathan Ive of software to make this difficult pairing possible. It's Just a ScreenMicrosoft is going to do everything it can to pull devices together as tightly as possible underneath the Windows 9 umbrella. Your tablet won't just be an independent product, for example. It'll interact with your primary computer's Windows 9 installation as if it was your primary (or secondary) monitor. It'll be your Xbox controller or Wii U-style helper interface. It'll be your remote control – not just for interacting with other Windows 9 products, but the traffic cop for guiding data transfers and/or streams to the other Windows 9 devices you own. I'm not talking about some souped-up Tricorder fantasy where you can suddenly use your Xbox 720 to turn on your kitchen sink from three miles away. But based on Microsoft's brief experiments with "one screen for many purposes" in Windows 8, it's only fitting that the company extends this philosophy to cover even more scenarios (and more devices) with Windows 9. And maybe the company could even let consumers use their Kinect 2 motion-trackers to shift between screens or send their files flying around different devices. Hey, if Google can let you turn on your lights with your Android phone, Microsoft can surely let your "central data" work in a similar way on any screen in your house. Thanks, Cloud. Thanks, Valve.Another no-brainer: Windows 9's going to be tied into the cloud. Just how much, though, remains the big question. At the very least, you can count on deeper integration – perhaps even build directly into the file system – of Microsoft's SkyDrive-based hosting. The time is not far off when cloud-based storage won't be a separate app you load within Windows or a folder you simply drop things into. It'll just be. You'll still be able to keep certain apps and mission-critical files on your desktop (for performance or security), but Windows' default storage mindset will switch from the local to the ethereal. Plus, this would give Microsoft a way to upsell customers on virtual storage space and permanently tie them into the Windows family forevermore. Ta-da! Now, how much crazier we get with the cloud is anyone's guess. This includes everything from behind-the-scenes backups of your entire hard drive, to apps that run completely in the cloud and just require a minimal hook within your OS to function, to the real biggie: A cloud-based operating system. In the latter – which would use techniques Microsoft's been busy patenting – you'd download or physically install just a small chunk of data required to actually boot an operating system. Which I suppose could even be stored on a flash drive, if you want to get really fancy. The bulk of Windows 9 (or 10?) would live in the cloud – your device would be akin to a terminal. Which makes me wonder how we'd approach software like games: Would these run in the cloud as well and just stream an image to one's device? What happens when one's internet connection is slow, jittery, or non-existent? Does that mean your OS goes offline for good? Your video game dude dies? We can keep our heads in the hardware clouds all day long, if we'd like. But at the very, very least, here's hoping that future incarnations of Windows adopt a Valve-like approach to software. A "buy once, run anywhere" concept could allow a user to authenticate into Windows 9 on any hardware device, and then just as easily download and run apps he or she has previously purchased via the good ol' Microsoft Store. Given just how app-centric Windows 8's Metro UI has become, it only makes sense to let users download (or stream) a "Microsoft Office" app, or a partner's "Adobe Photoshop" app, for example. The world is going digital distribution: Microsoft should, and will, embrace its conveniences for end users. Giant RobotsAnd, of course, Windows 9 will allow you to transform your PC into a walking, fighting robot. Separate downloadable content in the form of add-on packs, Microsoft Flight-style, will allow you to train your PC robot to perform common household chores. For more from David, former Maximum PC editor and Windows enthusiast, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy). |
| Report: Users Call Personalized Search A "Bad Thing" Due To Privacy, Relevancy Concerns Posted: 09 Mar 2012 10:23 AM PST
Pew phrased the question a couple of different ways to get a better grasp on why users liked/disliked personal results: all mentioned having your online behavior tracked in order to provide tailored search results. Just around two-thirds of all respondents -- 65 percent -- said they dislike personal search results because it "may limit the information you get online and what search results you see." A whopping 73 percent of respondents feel that the behavior is an invasion of privacy. The research group also asked about the perceived ethics of tracking online behavior to deliver targeted advertising: 68 percent of respondents say they're "NOT OKAY with targeted advertising because I don't like having my online behavior tracked and analyzed." Despite all that doom and gloom, things aren't all bad: 91 percent of those surveyed found exactly what they were looking for "all or most of the time" they booted up a search engine. Check out the survey for yourself if you're a statistics freak, or even better yet, drop a line in the comments below and let us know how you feel about being tracked and targeted with tailored ads and search results. Crappy or awesome? Check out our guide on how to disable G+ SPYW results in Google searches while you're at it! |
| Zotac Introduces Three New ZBOX mini-PCs Posted: 09 Mar 2012 10:16 AM PST
The Zotac ZBOX ID82 -- they have to come up with better names for these things! -- sports a Sandy Bridge Core i3-2330M proc, two DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM slots and an open 2.5-inch 6Gbps SATA hard drive bay. Connectivity is handled via four USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.0 ports. Meanwhile, the Zotac ZBOX nano ID61 marks the first time an Intel processor has made its way into a ZBOX nano case, the company's press release brags, but it's a Celeron 867 rather than a Sandy Bridge proper. The nano ID61 sports fairly similar specs to the ID82 otherwise, but it only includes a single SO-DIMM slot and cuts the USB 2.0 ports in half -- although it picks up an eSATA port and an IR port in return. The Zotac ZBOX Blu-ray AD05 moves away from Intel and includes a 1.65GHz AMD E-450 APU with a Radeon HD 6320 GPU. As you might have guessed from the name, the AD05 packs in a 4x Blu-ray/8x DVD read/write drive, but its space requirements cost you some connectivity options; the AD05 includes just two USB 3.0 ports, a single USB 2.0 and a combo eSATA/USB 2.0 port. Two SO-DIMM slots and a 2.5-inch drive bay round things out, but be warned: the AD05's HDD only sports a 3Gbps SATA connection. (The ID82 and nano ID61 both use 6Gbps SATA connections.) All of the ZBOXes include an Ethernet port and built-in Bluetooth 3.0/Wi-Fi, along with HDMI, DVI-I and S/PDIF ports. Multicard readers are also onboard. Not included: an installed operating system. Preconfigured variants of all three models will be available with 2GB of RAM and a 320GB 5400RPM HDD. Check out the press release and visit the Zotac site for more information about all three makes. Unfortunately, there's no word on pricing details. Most bare-bones Zotac systems tend to fall between $200 and $300, though. |
| Wikipedia Dumps GoDaddy Due To GD's Pro-SOPA/PIPA Stance Posted: 09 Mar 2012 10:11 AM PST
The news was hidden in a single line of a long list of engineering changes, which Network World helpfully pointed out. The sentence itself seemed plain enough: "The Wikimedia Foundation has started to move its domain names from GoDaddy to MarkMonitor." A link to a February listserv message from Jay Walsh, Wikimedia's head of communications, shed more light on the issue: Hi folks - you may have seen some media coverage recently about Wikimedia's intentions around GoDaddy. It is true that WMF is still planning to move 100% away from GoDaddy for all of its domain name services. I've been informed that we're currently working with MarkMonitor to carry out a full switch-over, which as many of you will appreciate, takes time. WMF is going to post to the blog and generally share this information as soon as the process is complete. Until then, it does mean that you'll see in some of our DNS registrations that GoDaddy is still listed. We're working on it :) Kudos to Jimmy and the Wikimedia Foundation for staying true to their word! |
| This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Posted: 09 Mar 2012 10:10 AM PST The beginning of March traditionally marks the start of new products season in the world of tech. It's the time when all the exciting kit that was announced at IFA at the end of last year and at CES in January starts making its way onto the shelves and into our testing labs. We probably won't have to tell you that Apple's new iPad is one of these products. It was only announced on Tuesday but it'll go on sale at the end of next week. You can also expect graphics cards, TVs, Blu-ray players, tablets, phones, cameras... You get the idea. It's the start of the reviews season! Let's go! We're still calling it the iPad 3, how about you? Whatever you end up knowing it as, be it iPad 3 or new iPad, you've not heard the last of it. Not by a long shot. That's because it's the most impressive iPad ever, and it's going to sell more units than an Irish pub on St Paddy's Day. The stand-out feature is that retina display, which offers up a resolution of 2048 x 1536 at 264 pixels per inch. It's also got more powerful graphics to drive that higher resolution which should lead to some very pretty games and apps. On the downside it's also slightly thicker and marginally heavier than the iPad 2, which can now be had for as little as £329. The AMD Radeon HD 7870 arrives alongside the Radeon HD 7850 to complete the line-up of AMD's next-gen graphics cards. The 7870 is a step down from the 7970 and a step up from the 7770, theoretically putting it firmly in the performance/price sweet spot. The fact AMD has included the full Graphics Core Next feature set is something to be applauded. It may not have the straight performance edge over the previous generation, but it's got a lot more extras to back it up. We can't ignore the awesome overclocking potential in the Pitcairn chip either. There's no guarantee all AMD Radeon HD 7870s will be able to clock this high, but there is at least precedence. The UE55ES8000 is Samsung's most uncompromising TV yet. From the moment you first behold its almost sci-fi design and bold, dynamic pictures, you'll be entranced. Crucial to this performance is the introduction of a dual-core processor to the Samsung UE55ES8000, since this makes the smart TV services more comprehensive and slick to navigate and delivers palpable benefits to picture quality. Admittedly you'll need to calm these pictures for normal domestic viewing, but once that's done pictures still look hugely impressive. And your admiration only grows as you explore the TV's revolutionary interfaces and the depth of its online and multimedia functionality. There are still things Samsung can improve, but as the first true next generation TV of 2012, the Samsung UE55ES8000 throws down a terrifyingly big gauntlet for the following pack to pick up. The fact AMD has filled out these lower-caste cards with all the same features as their higher-end brethren is refreshing, as is the fact that we'll get all the HD 7850 goodness in such small footprints as 7.8-inches. Again, it's the same Graphics Core Next story – the overclocking headroom is immense. The OC path is the only way to get the most out of these cards. Sadly that's also part of the problem. At stock speeds both the HD 7870 and this AMD HD 7850 are rather uninspiring, and it takes ramping up clockspeeds yourself to get the real performance out of them. That's a bit of a shame as most people probably wont take the risk with their new hardware. These pint-sized cards pack some impressive punch for sub-£200 GPUs, but only if you take the risk overclocking them. Sorry N910 - it's not us, it's you. You feel cheap and insubstantial to hold, you're chunky and you don't even work properly. We're prepared to give you a second chance, but if these annoyances continue in our full ZTE N910 review, then we're sorry but it's over. Cameras Hands on: Canon 5D Mark III review Hands on: Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN lens review Gamepads SteelSeries Simraceway SRW-S1 Steering Wheel review Headsets SteelSeries Diablo III Headset review Keyboards Mice HP 2.4GHz Wireless Laser Mobile Mouse review Mobile phones Hands on: HTC Sensation XE Ice Cream Sandwich review Scanners Speakers Webcams |
| Leaked Slide Offers Clarity on Intel's Ivy Bridge Launch Posted: 09 Mar 2012 06:48 AM PST
Assuming the slide obtained by Turkish website Donanimhaber.com is real -- and they usually are -- Intel's 22nm Ivy Bridge launch will take place on April 29, 2012 and consist of the following desktop CPUs:
A second batch of Ivy Bridge chips will follow on June 3, 2012 and include the following models:
More Core i3 and Pentium models will follow in the "Holiday" period, though the slide doesn't mention which ones. In regards to chipsets, Intel will roll out the Z77, H77, Z75, and B75 for desktops and HM77, UM77, HM75, and HM75 for notebooks. Image Credit: donanimhaber.com |
| Videogame Sales Plummeted 20 Percent in February, NPD Group Says Posted: 09 Mar 2012 06:31 AM PST
That wouldn't explain a 20 percent drop in sales from $1.33 billion in February 2011 to $1.06 billion a year later. Software was the worst offender, dropping 24 percent to $485.7 million, while non-PC hardware sales also took a double-digit hit, declining 18 percent to $381.4 million, according to NPD Group's data. Sales of accessories also fell into a funk, dropping 16 percent to $215.2 million compared to one year prior. While NPD Group didn't say why sales fell so sharply, we can surmise it's not from a lack of awesome titles. The top 10 list of 10 games for February 2012 looks like this:
In somewhat releated news, Skyrim, which appears at No. 8 on NPD Group's list of top selling games, was named the Game of the Year at the 2012 Game Developers Choice Awards earlier this week. Image Credit: THQ |
| Tablet PC Shipments Might Leapfrog Desktops in 2013 Posted: 09 Mar 2012 06:05 AM PST
Folks entrenched in the electronics supply chain in Taiwan tell news and rumor site DigiTimes that they think global demand for tablets of all types will jump to 130 million units in 2013, which is possibly high enough to skip ahead of desktops. The charge is being led by Apple and the company's iPad line, of which a new model was introduced to the world earlier this week and will begin shipping on March 16, 2012. Looking back at last year, Apple accounted for two-thirds of the 60 million total tablet shipments around the globe. By the time 2012 comes to a close, DigiTimes predicts tablet shipments will climb to 90-95 million units. One thing to keep in mind is that many people are buying tablets as secondary or even tertiary devices to complement their desktop and/or notebook, so in that way the numbers can be a little deceiving. And then you have the crowd that's buying into glorified eReaders like the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. So, while tablet PC shipments could leap ahead of desktops, it doesn't spell doom for the latter any more than the rapid rise of smartphone shipments does. Image Credit: LG |
The Linux Foundation earlier this week welcomed four new members. It's not the number of new 
Google raised a lot of eyebrows when it introduced the Google+-infused Search Plus Your World personal results to its bread and butter Search results, but the most publicized criticisms have come from big name companies and 
Zotac's ZBOX line of itty bitty mini-PCs must be doing well; new models have been popping up on what seems like a biweekly basis. Nothing changed at CeBIT! The company spent its time at the German tech conference showing off three new ZBOX mini-PCs announced earlier this week -- one standard-sized Sandy Bridge-sporting model, another ZBOX nano offering, and a third with a Blu-ray drive. 
A couple of months have passed since the SOPA/PIPA uproar, and things on the online rights front have simmered down quite a bit, for the most part -- Megaupload and related happenings aside. One organization hasn't forgotten the promises it made in the heat of the moment, however: the Wikimedia Foundation. If you remember, Jimmy Wales said Wikipedia would transition away from GoDaddy's services because of the registrar's support for the controversial bill. 
Feel free to run up and down your block screaming, "Ivy Bridge is coming! Ivy Bridge is coming!" That's not something you would have wanted to do prior to today, because if a fellow pedestrian grabbed you by the arm and demanded to know exactly when Ivy Bridge would roll into town, all you could have offered in return was a bunch of 
If it weren't for stereotypes, we'd say diehard gamers unplugged for a week of romancing and lovemaking to celebrate Valentine's Day last month, which would explain why NPD Group noted such a sharp decline in videogame sales in February. We don't condone stereotypes, but let's get real, February was just a crummy month for game sales and it had nothing to do with there being a day for lovers.
If you're brazen enough to ask a power user which he would prefer, a tablet PC or a desktop system, be prepared for a backhand to the cheek. Tablets, including ones that slip neatly into multi-functional docks, pale in comparison to desktops in terms of raw horsepower and what you can do with the thing. At the same time, users who just want to look up recipes on the Web and fart around Facebook from time to time may find that a tablet is a better option, and if there are enough people who think that way, it's conceivable that the demand for tablet PCs could surpass desktops as early as next year.| 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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