General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Small Victory: Windows 8 Finally Leapfrogs Vista in Market Share

Posted: 01 Jul 2013 12:31 PM PDT

Samsung Windows 8Vista is now in Windows 8's rear view mirror

It's taken some time, but Windows 8 is now officially more popular than Windows Vista, according to the latest market share data. Furthermore, it doesn't even matter if you put more stock into StatCounter's accounting method or prefer NetApplicaton's approach to tallying market share, both firms are in agreement that Windows 8 is ahead of Vista in usage, if ever so slightly.

Starting with the data from NetApplications, Windows 8 closed out June with a 5.1 percent share of the desktop OS market, up from 4.27 percent a month prior. Vista, meanwhile, has been steadily declining each month. When Windows 8 debuted in October 2012, Vista was holding onto a 5.8 percent share of the market and has since dropped down to 4.62 percent.

StatCounter paints a similar picture. According to StatCounter, Windows 8 is now installed on 5.94 percent of all desktops and laptops, finally eclipsing Vista, which maintains a 5.4 percent share. For both firms, June is the first month Windows 8 has managed to overtake Vista.

What does it mean? For one, it means that Windows 8 is moving in the right direction. We're still talking about a relatively low penetration rate, however, so it also means that Windows 8 has a ways to go before it catches up with Windows XP and Windows 7.

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Newegg Daily Deals: WD Elements 2TB External HDD, XFX Core Edition 550W PSU, and More!

Posted: 01 Jul 2013 11:44 AM PDT

WD Elements 2TB External HDDnewegg logo

Top Deal:

Looking for a place to store all those RAW vacation photos and videos that you keep meaning to edit? You'll get around to sorting through them all someday, but in the meantime, give your primary storage some breathing room by offloading files to an external hard drive. We'll make easy by pointing you to our today's top deal for a WD Elements 2TB Desktop External HDD for $80 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code EMCXPVM52). Preformatted and plug-and-play capable means you need only plug it into a free USB port and you're good to go.

Other Deals:

Asus P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS for $125 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code:[EMCXPVM22]; additional $15 mail-in rebate)

XFX Core Edition PRO550W 80 Plus Bronze Certified Active PFC Power Supply for $55 with free shipping (normally $87 - use coupon code:[EMCXPVM38]; additional $15 mail-in rebate)

Corsair Vengeance M95 15 Buttons Wired Laser 8200 dpi Gaming Mouse for $70 with free shipping (normally $80 - use coupon code:[EMCXPVM74]; additional $10 mail-in rebate)

G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory for $60 with free shipping (normally $70 - use coupon code:[EMCXPVM42])

Asus' 31.5-inch PQ321Q 4K Ultra-High Definition Monitor Available to Pre-Order for $3,500

Posted: 01 Jul 2013 11:25 AM PDT

Asus PQ321QThe world's first consumer 4K monitor

Been looking for a reason to upgrade to a large screen monitor? You might finally have one, provided you're willing to drop three and a half large on a display. Starting today, you can pre-order the Asus PQ321Q, a 31.5-inch 4K ultra-high definition display with a 3840x2160 screen resolution, versus the 2560x1600 resolution found on most 30-inch monitors. That equates to four times the resolution of a Full HD 1080p display.

According to Asus, the PQ321Q is the world's first consumer 4K monitor, though it certainly won't be the last. This is a professional panel with an LED backlight, 10-big RGB for deep color, 176-degree (horizontal and vertical) viewing angles, 350cd/m2 brightness, 8ms response time (gray-to-gray), 14-bit Look Up Table (LUT), picture-by-picture support, and a few other goodies.

Asus went with an anti-glare Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) panel instead of the traditional amorphous silicon found on most displays. The benefit of IGZO is that it supports much smaller transistors than amorphous silicon, allowing for smaller pixels and better detail.

Connectivity options consist of a DisplayPort (1.2) and two HDMI 1.4 ports. The monitor also has two 2W speakers, 3.5mm input, and 3.5mm output.

The PQ321Q is available to per-order now at Newegg, Amazon, and TigerDirect at an "introductory price" of $3,500.

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5 Best Google Reader Alternatives

Posted: 01 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT

With Google Reader shutting down, we walk you through the best RSS feed reader alternatives

Google Reader was a real game changer when it first launched back in 2005. Although it arrived later than many of its rivals, it quickly proved itself to be the RSS feed reader of choice for many. Available on a wide variety of devices, from PCs, smartphones and even game consoles, the highly configurable Google Reader was the RSS service to use for all the latest news and information.

All of that is coming to an end today, however, as the search engine giant closes its reader service forever in attempt to refocus its resources elsewhere. Announced a few months ago, this is devastating news for its tens of millions of users. Yet as the old saying goes, for every door that closes, a new one opens, and the news sparked a mad scramble amongst its competitors - all eager to seize the chance to welcome the market leader's discarded masses.

So what are the alternatives? There are plenty to choose from, and whittling them down to the most promising five was a hard task indeed, but we decided to do the hard work for you and rank the five best RSS feed readers below. We also throw in a couple promising readers to look forward to in the future. 

What's your favorite RSS feed reader? Let us know in the comments!

Origin to Sell Branded Peripherals Through Online Gear Shop

Posted: 01 Jul 2013 09:33 AM PDT

Origin PC Astro A40 HeadsetBoutique builder tries hands at selling peripherals

You know Origin PC as a boutique builder of high-end gaming desktops (Genesis, Millennium, Millennium RTS, Chronos, and Big O) and notebooks (EON15-S and EON17-S), but if you're not in the market for a new system, the company might still have what you're looking for. From t-shirts and beanies to mousepads and headsets and everything in between, it's all available in Origin PC's new online gear shop.

To celebrate the grand opening of its gear shop, the boutique builder is offering 10 percent off its branded Astro A40 Audio System with MixAmp for the rest of this week. With the discount, the price is $225, plus around $15 for UPS Ground shipping, depending on where you live.

Origin PC's gear shop isn't as fleshed out as, say, Newegg or Amazon, but there are a bunch of peripherals to peruse in 20 different categories.

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AMD Isn't Planning to Build Chips for Smartphones, Content to Focus on Gaming

Posted: 01 Jul 2013 08:55 AM PDT

AMD BuildingSmartphone sector isn't appealing to AMD right now

You can hardly go a week without there being a new smartphone announcement, some bigger than others. Thanks to a combination of lower prices (especially subsidized pricing) and advancements in mobile technology, smartphones are more popular than ever, but that doesn't mean AMD is anxious to jump in and start competing with ARM, its licensing partners (like Nvidia and Qualcomm), and Intel.

"We really want to play to our strength in microprocessors, design and graphic capability. Gaming is a major focus for AMD. We are looking for areas to differentiate and gaming is a place where we can differentiate," Lisa Su, senior VP and GM of Global Business Units for AMD, told Gulf News in an interview.

Su added that AMD is always on the lookout for "key opportunities," especially as the traditional PC market evolves with the times, but as far as smartphones go, the company isn't planning to enter the market.

Whether or not it's wise to ignore the smartphone sector remains to be seen. There's the potential to make a lot of money, but as Intel is finding out, it's no easy task taking on ARM in the mobile space. Furthermore, AMD can afford to be patient after scoring big wins from all three major console makers (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo) to have its hardware inside their respective next-generation consoles (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U).

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Posted by Shri Krishna

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