General Gaming Article |
- OnLive Implodes, and is Re-Born On Life Support All In One Day
- Harvard Scientists Stuff Over 700TB of Data Into a Single Gram of DNA
- Crytek CEO Promises To Melt Your PC Hardware With Crysis 3
- Asus’s New Zenbook UX32VD Gets Top Marks For Reparability From iFixit
| OnLive Implodes, and is Re-Born On Life Support All In One Day Posted: 19 Aug 2012 11:22 AM PDT
As OnLive's 200 some odd employees gathered in the conference room for an all hands meeting on Friday, few expected the company to completely and utterly implode, but that's exactly what happened. We resisted the temptation to write this up immediately as the story was still developing, but as of noon hour on Sunday, Engadget is reporting that anywhere from 80 to 90 percent of the staff have been laid off. They also report that OnLive's assets appear to have been bought up by an as-yet-unknown third party company, though we expect this will be clarified over the next few days. This leaves OnLive in a very interesting position where they are "technically" still open for business, but are in a very vulnerable financial position. It's unclear at this point what will happen to OnLive subscribers who have purchased games if the company fails to survive or is dissolved. Our gut tells us these unfortunate souls will be left will little more than a life lesson, and it should serve as a warning for those of us who believe the cloud is completely infallible. To be fair OnLive is still alive and well at the moment, however given how many employees seem to be leaving the building with moving boxes, I would think twice before I purchase anything else using the service. We have little doubt that the streaming technology will come in handy to whomever swooped in to bail out the company, however its possible OnLive as a service is simply ahead of its time. Follow Justin on Twitter |
| Harvard Scientists Stuff Over 700TB of Data Into a Single Gram of DNA Posted: 19 Aug 2012 10:53 AM PDT
Scientists have been looking at the possibility of using DNA as a storage platform for years now because of its density, and also because it's so stable. The issue however has always been with sequencing and reading the data, a problem that has at least partially been solved by recent developments in microfluidics and labs-on-a-chip. Church and Kosuri have posted a 6 minute video attempting to describe the technology in laymen's terms, but also speculate openly about the possibilities of a future where data storage is nearly infinite, and human progress can be documented and stored in HD for all eternity. We have to admit that the prospect of this is both terrifying, and amazing. It will probably still be many years (if ever) before we will get our hands on something like this, but it's great to see people are still dreaming of the world beyond mechanical and SSD storage. What would you do with limitless storage? Follow Justin on Twitter |
| Crytek CEO Promises To Melt Your PC Hardware With Crysis 3 Posted: 19 Aug 2012 10:00 AM PDT
According to Yerli, "PCs are so far ahead, so making Crysis 3 look great on PC at the same time as running fantastic on consoles is going to be the challenge we didn't have in Crysis 2, because PCs and consoles were closer, and in Crysis 1 we only focused on PCs. There is unfortunately always a compromise that we have to take, but at the same time we're trying to not compromise the PC but push the consoles." We would probably respectfully disagree with Yerli on the parity between PC's and consoles when Crysis 2 hit the streets early last year, however if you look at the "average" computing power of a PC Gamer he might have a point. As an enthusiast it can sometimes be easy to forget that these companies need to sell millions, not thousands of copies to justify the development costs of a modern shooter. Check out the full interview over on our sister site PCGamer.com Follow Justin on Twitter |
| Asus’s New Zenbook UX32VD Gets Top Marks For Reparability From iFixit Posted: 19 Aug 2012 09:34 AM PDT
On the surface the Zenbook design looks very much like the highly renowned Macbook Air, however the extra two millimeters of thickness adds a world of possibilities for PC owners. The gorgeous 1080p display can actually be separated and replaced, RAM can be added to increase capacity, and even the storage uses the industry standard 2.5" design, making upgrading or replacement down the road a piece of cake. The Zenbook's 48 Whr battery is also easy to get at and replace, though it does require removing a handful of Torx screws to access. This will no doubt help extend the useful life of the machine well into the future, but might net you a few concerned looks if you try and do it on a transatlantic flight. The iFixit teardown nets the Zenbook UX32VD an 8 out of 10 for reparability, and might be worth looking at if you're on the hunt for a new thin and light Ivy Bridge machine. (Image Credit = iFixit.com) Follow Justin on Twitter |
Science and technology have always been close bedfellows, however sometimes scientist's dream up new technologies that completely and utterly change everything. A pair of engineers at Harvard have been doing just that, and amazingly, have found a way to store around 704TB of data in a single gram of DNA. I re-read the findings of 
The original Crysis was one of the most ambitious shooters to ever hit the PC, however its crushing system requirements limited the audience to a small subset of enthusiasts. To make matters worse, even they couldn't max it out. The hardware requirements improved substantially with the stand alone expansion Warhead, and requirements were even further clawed back in the full out sequel. Some hardcore PC gamers never forgave the company for crippling the sequel so it was compatible with consoles, but hey, you can't please everyone. If you count yourself among those offended by Crysis 2 then you're in luck. Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli promises to 
Component makers are under more pressure than ever to design thin and light products, but as iFixit has pointed out on more than one occasion, a millimeter could be the difference between a throw a way gadget, and a serviceable one. Apple's new Retina Macbook Pro is an excellent example of design over function. It's a glorious mess of metal and glue, and all we can say to those who plunked down over $2,000 to own one, we hope you're never in need of an out of warranty repair. Asus seems determined get the Ultrabook design right, and as enthusiasts who love to tinker, we like what we've seen in the | 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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