General Gaming Article |
- Alleged Google Drive Screenshot Points to 5GB Free Storage
- Corsair Vengeance 1500 USB Gaming Headset Review
- Plex Media Server Adds DLNA Support In New Beta Build
- Kickstarter Project Wants To Give Bonobos Language, Wi-Fi Tablets And Watergun-Sporting Robots
- Hulu Plus App Adds Support For 7 New Android Tablets
- This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
- Opera Mini 7 Browser Lands on Android; Opera 12 Released, Too
- Gainward Launches Cool and Quiet GeForce GTX 680 Phantom
- RIM Gets Riled Up Over Reports It's Ditching the Consumer Market
- Google Plans to Sell Co-Branded Android Tablets Directly to Consumers
| Alleged Google Drive Screenshot Points to 5GB Free Storage Posted: 30 Mar 2012 05:44 PM PDT The mythical Google Drive cloud storage service just keeps getting better and better. Within a few days, the perennially-rumored service has gone from having 1GB of gratis storage space to 5GB. As is the case with most unsubstantiated reports, this latest GDrive rumor is also based on an anonymous tip. But the anonymous source in this case was kind enough to provide some ocular proof. Hit the jump for more. Earlier this week, TalkAndroid.com published an allegedly leaked GDrive screenshot and claimed that the service would offer 2GB of free space. But now the site has published a new screenshot and retracted its earlier claim, saying it was "completely wrong" about the amount of free storage. This is because the latest screenshot, which appears to be of a GDrive download page, promises 5GB of free storage. In its earlier report, the site had also claimed that Google Drive would be releasing during the week beginning April 16, and not in the first week of April as reported by GigaOm's Om Malik. According to the site, the release schedule remains unchanged from what it reported earlier. Despite Google Drive rumors heating up lately, the reports so far simply aren't consistent enough to elicit true belief. So don't mark your calendars yet.
Image Credit: TalkAndroid |
| Corsair Vengeance 1500 USB Gaming Headset Review Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:51 PM PDT A pretty impressive second act, literally, figuratively, and audiblyWe awarded Corsair's HS1 USB headset a 9 verdict last year, remarking that its huge 50mm drivers, solid and comfortable construction, and $100 price tag added up to a surprisingly good value for a freshman effort. The one element that denied the HS1 a Kick Ass award was its uninspired—nay, downright ugly—industrial design. Corsair's new flagship USB headset, the Vengeance 1500, retains all the strengths of the HS1 and eliminates nearly all its weaknesses. The Vengeance 1500 packs the same gigantic drivers as its predecessor, providing top-notch sound quality for this price range. The circumaural design and thick, squishy padding make for a tight seal around your ears that isolates you from the pollution of ambient noise.
While it doesn't deliver the level of quality that some higher-end products provide—Sennheiser's PC 333D G4ME, for example—the Vengeance 1500 does provide respectable dynamic range and bass response that's perfectly suitable for both games and movies. And while nothing can compare to an actual surround-sound setup, Corsair does deliver Dolby Headphone. This software algorithm upmixes stereo and 5.1-channel sources to simulate a 7.1-channel speaker system wrapped around your head, delivering better positional awareness than stereo phones are capable of providing. Build quality as compared to the HS1 has also improved significantly. The struts connecting the ear cups to the headband feature an attractive brushed-aluminum finish, and the cups themselves swivel to lay flat against your chest when the headset is resting on your neck. They might feel odd if you're transitioning from an on-ear headset, but after many extended gaming sessions, we've found the Vengeance 1500 to be one of the most comfortable headsets we've tested. They are quite large, however, so they might not be the right choice if your head is particularly small. Corsair's HS1 is a solid headset; the only reason we wouldn't recommend it today is that the Vengeance 1500 is even better. If you're looking for a serious gaming headset and can afford to spend 100 bones, you won't go wrong with this one. $100, www.corsair.com |
| Plex Media Server Adds DLNA Support In New Beta Build Posted: 30 Mar 2012 11:24 AM PDT
Theoretically, all supported content should flow easily between all DLNA-compatible devices, but in the real world, manufacturers sometimes handle DLNA streaming differently. To that end, while the Plex beta should be able to send shows, pictures, music to scads of HDTVs, Blu-ray players and home receivers (assuming they're DLNA compatible, of course), Plex has focused its development to deliver the best possible experience on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and WDLive. As a beta, there's bound to be the eventual bugs, and Plex admits that subtitles aren't quite working just yet. The media server also supports metadata and channels if the receiving DLNA device will accept it. A couple of interesting features have been added to the mix: myPlex queue support allows you prep web videos for watching using a bookmarklet, then stream it to a DLNA device, while the myPlex shared content support lets you play media shared remotely by your buds. We like the way the blog post describes the last shared content support: This is, like, mind-boggling. DLNA isn't supposed to work across the Internet, but with our new server, I get all Obama-like and yell "Yes You Can!" Interested? Head on over to the Plex downloads page and give the Windows build a whirl. (Be sure to select the beta version with DLNA support, all the way at the bottom of the screen on the right-hand side.) A Linux version is currently wrapping up testing and will be available shortly. This blog post includes all the nitty gritty details about the release |
| Kickstarter Project Wants To Give Bonobos Language, Wi-Fi Tablets And Watergun-Sporting Robots Posted: 30 Mar 2012 10:42 AM PDT Tablets are all the rage these days, with the Apple iPad leading the pack and selling like hotcakes in stores throughout the country. Some of the more cynical Maximum PC readers may snort and say that part of the iPad's appeal is its simplicity; I've heard people comment that even a monkey could find his way around iOS. At least one monkey lover disagrees. Ken Schweller, chairman of the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa, wants to slap modified non-Apple tablets in the hands of his hyper-intelligent primate pals to spur communication development. And he needs your help!
That's right, Schweller hopes to fund the development of the custom tablets -- complete with a custom Bonobo Chat app -- through Kickstarter. According to that page and a separate ExtremeTech report, the seven bonobos at the Great Ape Trust already communicate with their keepers using icons on a large, stationary touchscreen monitor. That's just not good enough, Schweller says in his Kickstarter plea: For communication to be truly effective the apes and the people they interact with need to have personal interconnected keyboards they can carry about with them… All keyboards will be fully connected through the internet and available to their bonobo and human users wherever they are located. We would like the bonobos to use the Bonobo Chat app to control their environment using simple lexigram commands - to operate vending machines, open doors, watch movies and, hopefully, to control robots. We believe that controlling robots might be a good way for the bonobos to interact with guests and visitors outside their caged areas. They could play chase games or squirt guests with an on board watergun. They could operate the robot out of site by navigating using an on board camera.
Schweller already has working prototypes of his custom slate, the Bonobo Chat app, and the remote-controlled Bonobo bust-sporting robot, but he's hoping to raise $20,000 by April 15th to continue with the project. Donating at least $25 will nab you the Bonobo Chat app, while more generous backers will receive panels from the laminated keyboards already in use at the facility. Five hundred smackers will get you a one-on-one Skype video chat with one of the bonobos, using the Bonobo Chat software as a translator. What better way is there to spend some of your tax return than to fund man-on-monkey communication efforts, especially if said efforts involve tablet-wielding bonobos and robots with squirt guns? You owe it to Darwin to at least give the Bonobo Chat project a read through. |
| Hulu Plus App Adds Support For 7 New Android Tablets Posted: 30 Mar 2012 10:11 AM PDT
The Play Store-flavored Hulu Plus app previously supported only the Nook Tablet, the Kindle Fire, the HTC Flyer and Vizio's 8-inch slate. This most recent update added compatibility for the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Motorola Xoom, Motorola XYBoard 10.1, Toshiba Thrive, Acer Iconia A500 and LG G-Slate -- many of the major Android tablet players -- and tossed in a redesigned UI, too. "We've improved the user experience with horizontal "trays" so you can naturally swipe while browsing through TV shows and movies," Rajiv Makhijani and Zachary Pinter wrote on the Hulu Blog. "The pages feature large thumbnails with beautiful visuals to show off your Android tablet's graphical prowess." Holding your finger on a show's image will launch the latest episode, or the oldest unwatched episode if you've already begun sloughing through a series. Check out the Hulu Plus app on Google Play if you're a subscriber with one of the aforementioned slates. Netflix brought Android tablets into the fold back in October. |
| This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Posted: 30 Mar 2012 08:53 AM PDT The more we play with the Apple TV, and the more Apple updates it with new features and new software, the more we like it. But the problem is that unless you've got at least one Mac or iOS device, it's simply not something you'd want to buy. This latest version is a perfect example of that. New 1080p features and a new interface will be enough to attract Apple fans, but for anyone else there are simply better, cheaper options out there. Still though, we've enjoyed our time with it and it's been fun to test it alongside some of Panasonic and Sharp's 2012 TVs this week. The Sharp in particular offers stunning value for money – so if you're looking for a great home cinema TV on a budget, be sure to check out the review below! The more we play with the Apple TV, and the more Apple updates it with new features and new software, the more we like it. But the problem is that unless you've got at least one Mac or iOS device, it's simply not something you'd want to buy. This latest version is a perfect example of that. New 1080p features and a new interface will be enough to attract Apple fans, but for anyone else there are simply better, cheaper options out there. Still though, we've enjoyed our time with it and it's been fun to test it alongside some of Panasonic and Sharp's 2012 TVs this week. The Sharp in particular offers stunning value for money – so if you're looking for a great home cinema TV on a budget, be sure to check out the review below! Apple TV hasn't changed much in function since the first version emerged in early 2007. But in form, it has changed significantly and this latest release is better than ever. It's really only when you own an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad that owning an Apple TV makes the most sense. All Apple's devices know how to play nicely with each other, so you can use an Apple TV to mirror the screen of your iOS device and have everything it displays appear on your HD television. But if you don't already own an iOS device, even with the addition of 1080p HD, there's no compelling reason to buy an Apple TV over other media streamers right now. The Toshiba AT200 is a good, solid and delivers everything you'd expect from an Android tablet. However that's all it is - another Android Tablet in an already crowded market. So we can't help thinking that Toshiba has only done half a job with the AT200. It looks great, we love its thin, lightweight and well connected body – but when you get to using it you're not wowed by anything. Toshiba has made a competitive tablet, a marked improvement on the AT100, and it will certainly give the established dual core Android 3.0 tablets a run for their money. But it's still nothing special. On paper, the Sharp Aquos LC-60LE636E sounds too good to be true. Being able to get a 60-inch screen from a respected brand for £1,300-2,600/$2,000-4,150 pretty much rewrites the big-screen pricing rule book. The screen isn't nearly as basic with its specification as you might expect either, managing to include extensive picture calibration tools, 100Hz processing, multimedia playback from USB sticks and DLNA PCs, and even a degree of online functionality. It looks very pretty too, putting to shame the bland plasticky finishes of your typical budget TV. However, tragically much of its excellent work is undone by a single but aggravating flaw: noticeable and distracting backlight consistency during dark scenes. Why is Panasonic offering an Edge LED alternative to its plasma TVs? Given that the latter performs peerlessly with 3D and nicely upscales lesser-than-HD sources, the choice of Edge LED is surely all about the innate slimness it brings. There's no doubting the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B's style, but is it over substance? There's no escaping the fact that this is an expensive TV, despite it being Panasonic's biggest ever Edge LED TV. It may have sacrificed plasma at this living room-friendly size, but its love of active shutter 3D tech refuses to budge. It's a strange move that leaves the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B neither a slim and cheap option nor a high-end home cinema screen, although at its best it's just capable of surviving in either environment. By turning cores on but turning overclocking off, this eight-core Xeon is a zero sum game. As expected it's just not cost effective on the desktop, but still puts into question why exactly we don't have a full eight-core desktop processor in the desktop Sandy Bridge E family. One thing's for certain; it's not a technical limitation. This week's other reviewsCameras Hands on: Sony Alpha a57 review Cases Cooler Master Cosmos 2 Ultra review Cooling Desktops Hard drives Western Digital My Passport Essential USB 3.0 review Laptops Toshiba Portege Z830-10N review Monitors Philips Brilliance 273P3QPYES review Tablet accessories Tablets Televisions |
| Opera Mini 7 Browser Lands on Android; Opera 12 Released, Too Posted: 30 Mar 2012 07:27 AM PDT
"Opera Mini 7 for Android makes browsing faster and panning around sites smoother, thanks to improved hardware acceleration," Opera Software stated in a press release. The main trick in Opera Mini 7 is data compression. As you surf the Web, Opera Mini 7 "squeezes and jams webpages from the network into your phone," cutting out up to 90 percent of the original data. In related news, Opera Software also recently released its Opera 12 browser for the desktop. Opera 12 sports improved HTML5 support (including Drag and Drop), CSS3 Animations, and 64-bit builds with Out-of-Process plugins. Image Credit: Opera Software |
| Gainward Launches Cool and Quiet GeForce GTX 680 Phantom Posted: 30 Mar 2012 06:57 AM PDT
The Phantom II consists of two "Great" (GR8) 8cm PWM fans nestled underneath a giant heastink with modified fins and five "Grand Prix" heatpipes. What this all adds up to is a cooling solution that's 7.8 dB quieter and 60 percent cooler in 2D and idle mode, and 11.5 dB quieter and 6C cooler when processing a heavy 3D load, Gainward claims. With all that additional cooling and noise control, Gainward opted to overclock the GPU to 1,150MHz and the 2GB of GDDR5 memory to 3,150MHz (6,300MHz effective). The card also boasts "QuattroPorts," Gainward's fancy way of saying it has a DisplayPort, two dual-link DVI ports, and an HDMI port. No word on when the Phantom II equipped GTX 680 will be available or for how much. Image Credit: Gainward |
| RIM Gets Riled Up Over Reports It's Ditching the Consumer Market Posted: 30 Mar 2012 06:23 AM PDT
"We plan to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalize on our leading position in this segment," Heins said in a conference call to media on Thursday. "We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength." Many media outlets understandably took that to mean RIM is exiting the consumer the market to focus entirely on its enterprise customers, but Patrick Spencer, RIM's managing director of Global Sales and Regional Marketing, told Pocket-line.com the claim is "wholly inaccurate." "While we announced plans to refocus on efforts on our core strengths, and on our enterprise customer base, we were very explicit that we will continue to build on our strengths to go after targeted consumer segments," Spencer clarified to Pocket-lint. "We listed BBM, as well as the security and manageability of our platform, among these strengths." RIM has struggled to compete in the consumer market as competition from Android, iOS, and even Windows Phone ramps up. RIM's revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was $4.2 billion, down 19 percent from $5.2 billion in the previous quarter, and down 25 percent from $5.6 billion in the same quarter one year prior. Image Creidt: Flickr (BestBoyZ GmbH) |
| Google Plans to Sell Co-Branded Android Tablets Directly to Consumers Posted: 30 Mar 2012 05:52 AM PDT
Citing "people familiar with the matter," The Wall Street Journal says Google won't be manufacturing the devices it sells, leaving that up to partners like Asus and Samsung, though the ones it does sell are likely to be co-branded. In other words, you won't see Google pushing the Transformer Prime, but you might see a line of Nexus One tablets. One thing that's important to remember here is that Google acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. It's very likely Google will offer Motorola tablets in its online store, WSJ says, though Asus figures to have a prominent role in this venture as well. |
The Plex media server is purdy, flexible and capable of handling gobs and gobs of metadata, but one major hurdle has been holding it back: relatively skimpy device support. Yeah, you could run Plex on Google TV, some LG products and (starting recently) Roku, but that was about it. That's poised to change with a new beta release that adds support for the widely utilized DLNA protocol.
Universal compatibility is a strong selling point in today's always-connected world; one of the reasons Netflix has spanked its competition (thus far, at least) is because it supports virtually everything out there, with 
Growing tired of Android's stock browser? With so many alternatives to choose from, there's no reason to be weary with your vehicle of choice for surfing the Web. One of those alternatives is Opera Software's newly released Opera Mini 7 browser, now available as a final, stable build for the Android platform. Opera Mini 7 boasts unlimited Speed Dials, faster performance, and "significant improvements" to language support, including support for Farsi and Arabic, in case either of those are of interest.
We're starting to see some unique twists on Nvidia's recently launched GeForce GTX 680 graphics card, including a model from Gainward that's been outfitted with the company's new Phantom II cooler. 
Like Mark Twain's false death report (before he actually died), Research In Motion insists that the media has it all wrong and that supposed plans to exit the consumer market have been greatly exaggerated. The confusion came after RIM CEO Thorstein Heins addressed a shaky 
Borrowing a strategy from Apple and Amazon, Google is said to be opening an online storefront to sell tablets directly consumers. Google's reasoning in doing so is to help Android capture a larger share of the tablet market, which is currently dominated by Apple's iPad line. You may recall that Google tried this approach with the Nexus One smartphone built by HTC, but this time around, Google plans to sell more than just one device.| 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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