General Gaming Article

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• LastPass vs. KeePass
• Recapping Apple’s iPad Event
• Amazon Bumps Minimum Order for Free 'Super Saver' Shipping from $25 to $35
• Microsoft Surface 2, Surface 2 Pro, and Related Accessories Now Available to Purchase
• Can Your PC Replace Your Space Heater in Winter?
• Roccat's Power-Grid App Turns Your Smartphone into a Remote for PC Gaming
• Nokia Joins the Windows Tablet Club with Lumia 2520
• Newegg Daily Deals: MSI GS70 Gaming Laptop w/ Free LG 23.6-inch Monitor, and More!

LastPass vs. KeePass Posted: 22 Oct 2013 02:59 PM PDT LastPass vs. KeePass For years, we've been touting the virtues of KeePass Password Safe, a free open-source program for storing all your website passwords and associated notes behind a single master password. And to synch KeePass across multiple machines, we've been recommending that readers store the encrypted database on Dropbox. However, we got to wondering whether the popular browser-based password manager LastPass was a superior, one-stop solution. So this month, we invited the two free password trappers to duke it out for bragging rights. Round 1: Setup KeePass is a very straightforward database. After selecting your master password and/or key file, you simply start adding entries by typing or copying-and-pasting URL, user name, password, and any relevant notes into the designated fields. There are options for groups and sub-groups, as well as icons to aid in organization of your database. You can enter all of that same info into your LastPass Vault in a similar manner; but with the browser plugin installed, you're also able to capture URLs and login info as you visit your various favorite sites, via the LastPass icon that resides in your browser bar. This makes LP that much more convenient for populating a comprehensive database of all your online sites and accounts. Winner: LastPass Round 2: Security Your KeePass database is kept secure behind either a master password or a key file (that you keep on a USB drive, for instance), or both. The entire database is encrypted using AES 256-bit encryption by default, or Twofish 256-bit encryption, if you prefer. Every password is automatically measured for quality, and a random password generator will churn out a password to your specification. Finally, the open-source nature of KeePass means its code, and its integrity, can be scrutinized by anyone, adding a degree of confidence. Right-click any entry in your KeePass database and you can launch the URL and auto-fill your login info. LastPass also uses 256-bit AES, and reportedly encrypts and decrypts your data locally on your PC, so it's unusable from LastPass's servers. Like KeePass, LastPass will tell you if a password needs improvement, and generate a random password for you if you like, but that feature isn't directly tied to your Vault entry, making it a bit less convenient, so KeePass wins this round by a hair. Winner: KeePass Round 3: Auto-Fill Both KeePass and LastPass offer auto-fill options that can make launching and signing into your websites very easy. In KeePass, you first right-click a database entry to Open URL, and then right-click the entry again to Perform Auto-Type—which will insert your login credentials into the appropriate fields. By default, username and password are entered. For multi-page logins and other special instructions, it's possible to create command strings, but this obviously takes time and trial. Using the browser plugin, you can populate your LastPass Vault by saving data as you visit all your favorite sites. With LastPass, a single click on a Vault entry will take you to a URL and log you in, in one fell swoop. In theory, you can auto-fill on a site with multiple login pages by saving the data entered on each page, but we were unable to get this to work properly and also found it created confusing clutter within our Vault. We appreciate, however, that LastPass is capable of automated form filling, for, say, address and credit card info. Winner: LastPass Round 4: Use Across Multiple Devices On the surface, the browser-based LastPass might seem to have the advantage here. After all, you can access your password vault from any machine that's connected to the Internet—and any changes you make to your data are stored in a single place on the cloud. But with KeePass stored in a cloud drive, such as Dropbox, you have that same functionality, as long as you have the program installed on whatever machine you're using, or you launch it from Portable KeePass on a USB drive (incidentally, to get all of LastPass's functionality, such as Auto fill/Auto login, you need to have the browser plugin installed). What's more, KeePass offers a number of Android and iOS ports for free, so you can also access your passwords from a smartphone. To get LastPass on a smartphone you need to pay $12 a year for the Advanced version. Winner: KeePass Round 5:  Longevity As convenient as these programs make it to store your passwords, it still takes time to get your database set up just right for maximum efficiency, so it's important to consider the long-term prospects of each solution. KeePass lives on your computer, so it's not subject to the failings of a remote server. With LastPass, however, a locally cached copy of your passwords is stored on you PC by default when you use the LastPass plugin. Both programs offer export options for backup purposes and the ability to import into another program if the need arises—although, we had a much easier time importing our KeePass data into LastPass than we did importing LastPass data into KeePass, for what that's worth. We also must point out that KeePass, being an open-source utility, is less vulnerable than a business-based solution, giving it the edge over LastPass. Winner: KeePass And the Winner Is… The fact is, if you want to keep your personal info from getting into the hands of every Tom, Dick, and Sergei hacker, you must use distinct logins, of sufficient complexity, for all your various accounts, and a password manager makes that possible. LastPass offers the convenience of being tied to your browser, so you can easily save your entered data and access it from other PCs. But our loyalties still lie with KeePass Password Safe, for its open-source nature, free smartphone app, and universal access when stored in Dropbox.

Recapping Apple’s iPad Event Posted: 22 Oct 2013 02:35 PM PDT Apple announces the iPad Air, Mavericks OS X, and more We may not be the biggest Apple fans, but we still think it's important to keep up with the competition. Apple's San Francisco event ended earlier today with the announcement of two new iPads, two new Macs, and Mavericks OS X. The biggest news is undoubtedly the announcement of the iPad Air. It's the fifth-generation of 9.7-inch iPads and is lighter, slimmer, and faster, weighing one pound, measuring 0.3 inches thick, and running a 64-bit A7 chip. It'll be avilable on Nov. 1 at $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only model and $629 for the LTE-enabled 16GB version. The second generation iPad mini will be packing a 7.9 inch screen with a 2,048x1,568 resolution. Set to release in November for $70 more than the original at $399, the non-Retina iPad mini will continue to sell at the lower price of $299 for the 16GB model. After announcing the cylindrical Mac Pro last summer—get our first impressions on episode 205 of the No BS Podcast—Apple has finally announced the price of the base model: $2,999. Pony up and you'll get an undeniably small machine with 256GB of storage and a 3.7 GHz quad-core Xeon processor sometime before the end of the year. Mavericks OS X will release alongside the updated Retina MacBook Pros as a free upgrade which Apple claims will speed up Macs and increase battery life. The Retina MacBook Pro laptops will be available on Tuesday. They've got beefed up processors, larger batteries, and cheaper prices.  What do you guys think about the announcements? Tell us in the comments.  Follow Ben on Twitter.

Amazon Bumps Minimum Order for Free 'Super Saver' Shipping from $25 to $35 Posted: 22 Oct 2013 12:30 PM PDT 'Free' shipping just got a little more expensive If you're shopping on Amazon's website and hoping to score free shipping, you may have to increase your order size. Previously, Amazon offered its customers free "Super Saving" shipping on qualifying orders of at least $25, but for the first time in over 10 years, the e-tailer decided to bump up the minimum order amount. You must now spend $35 on qualifying items to receive free shipping. "Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping has changed to $35. This is the first time in more than a decade that Amazon has altered the minimum order for free shipping in the U.S.," Amazon said. "During that time, we have expanded free shipping selection by millions of items across all 40 product categories. Look for 'FREE Shipping' on product pages to discover eligible items." That's a bit of a bummer if you're used to making small orders that barely qualify, though $35 is still a relatively low amount compared to what some of its competitors charge for free or reduced shipping. Alternately, Amazon Prime members receive free two-day shipping on more than 15 million qualifying items, plus access to unlimited streaming of over 41,000 movies and TV shows, and access to over 350,000 books to borrow through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Amazon Prime members run $79 per year, or $39 per year if you're a student. Image Credit: Flickr (LordFerguson) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Microsoft Surface 2, Surface 2 Pro, and Related Accessories Now Available to Purchase Posted: 22 Oct 2013 09:45 AM PDT Surface gets a second chance to impress Microsoft's original Surface and Surface RT are officially a memory at this point, having now been moved aside to make room for the Surface 2 (Windows RT 8.1) and Surface 2 Pro (Windows 8.1), both of which are now available to purchase at Microsoft retail stores and authorized commercial resellers in 21 markets, including the United States. For people living in China, the new Surface products will launch next month. We've covered these products before, but to quickly recap, the Surface 2 replaces Surface RT and comes with several upgrades. It features an Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, 10.6-inch ClearType Full HD display, full size USB 3.0 port, 2.5MP front-facing camera, 5MP rear-facing camera, and is both thinner and lighter than its predecessor. Surface 2 comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT and Outlook 2013 RT. For more serious computing needs, the x86-based Surface 2 Pro wields a Haswell-based Core i5 processor, 4GB or 8GB of RAM, and 64GB to 512GB of storage. It's much more powerful than the original Surface Pro and supposedly lasts up to 75 percent longer on a single charge. Surface 2 is available in 32GB and 64GB configurations starting at $449. Surface 2 Pro is available in 64GB and 128GB configurations for the 4GB model, and 256GB and 512GB configurations for the 8GB model, starting at $899. In addition. a bunch of accessories are available to purchase, including various Touch Covers, Power covers, car chargers, a docking station, and more. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Can Your PC Replace Your Space Heater in Winter? Posted: 22 Oct 2013 09:07 AM PDT Space heater and gaming PC face off against the cold Computers can put out some serious heat, especially gaming systems. If you think yours doesn't, try stressing your components for a length of time (Folding@Home will do the trick) and you'll feel hot air being expelled through your PC's exhaust ports. It begs the question, do you really need a space heater in the winter time, or can your PC effectively (and cost efficiently) heat up a room? The folks at Puget Systems were determined to find out. After all, if your gaming PC produces the same amount of heat as a space heater, you suddenly have a valid excuse to blow off your honey-do list and frag your friends during the winter months instead. Puget pitted a $25 HC-0114T 1000/1500W space heater against a gaming system configured with an Intel Core i7 4960X processor, Asus P9X79 Deluxe motherboard, Corsair Hydro Series H60 CPU cooler, 16GB of Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600 Low Voltage RAM, 3 x Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan graphics cards in SLI, Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, and a Seasonic X-1050 1050W power supply all crammed into a Fractal Design Define R4 chassis. The two 'heaters' faced off in a 10-foot by 10.5-foot room (940 cubic feet of total volume) with all incoming and outgoing ventilation blocked off. Surrounding rooms were kept at 70F. So, what happened? The space heater and gaming rig produced roughly the same amount of heat when drawing the same amount of wattage from the wall outlet, which isn't terribly surprising. Still, it answers the question of whether a high end system can effectively heat up a room or not. "If your house is freezing and you already have a high performance gaming computer -or you simply want to know that your gaming addiction isn't actually increasing your power bill in the winter- our testing shows that a PC is just as efficient at creating heat as a space heater," Puget Systems says. "In fact, you could even set the computer to mine bitcoins to make a heat generator that helps pay for itself!" At the same time, Puget Systems points out that if the only goal is producing heat, a $25 space heater is many times cheaper than a tri-SLI gaming system. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Roccat's Power-Grid App Turns Your Smartphone into a Remote for PC Gaming Posted: 22 Oct 2013 08:16 AM PDT A fully customizable peripheral you already own Nearly everyone owns a smartphone these days, and if you're rocking an Android or iOS handset, you can turn your device into a handy gaming peripheral simply by downloading and installing Roccat's new Power-Grid app. The free app is currently in beta, and when used with accompanying host software, which runs on Windows, Power-Grid effectively turns your smartphone into a customizable remote for PC gaming, or just for navigating your PC. You can use it to adjust Windows settings or perform in-game macro sequences in games like StarCraft II and League of Legends, Roccat says. It comes with various "Grids and Controls" to pull these things off, though you can create your own and then share them with other users. "Power-Grid opens up a whole new world of opportunities for PC gamers. Finally you are able to connect your smartphone to your gaming environment – it just feels natural and makes perfect sense. Forget about inflexible solutions like keyboards with integrated displays; create your own command center and benefit from this innovative Roccat technology," Roccat CEO and founder René Korte said. Power-Grid communicates with your PC via Wi-Fi, so commands from the phone are executed in real-time. In addition to using it as a remote, you can also use your smartphone as a secondary display. Roccat doesn't know how long the program will be in beta, though it does promise to deliver a new range of gaming peripherals designed to benefit from the app's features sometime in 2014. Find out more on the Roccat's Power-Grid page. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Nokia Joins the Windows Tablet Club with Lumia 2520 Posted: 22 Oct 2013 07:56 AM PDT Meet Nokia's first Windows tablet Nokia's already gone all-in with the Windows Phone platform for its mobile handsets, but up until now, the company didn't have a Windows tablet in its portfolio. That changes today with the introduction of the Nokia Lumia 2520, a 10.1-inch slate running Windows RT 8.1 and powered by a 2.2GHZ quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The well-rounded tablet also features a Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) resolution, Gorilla Glass 2, microSD card slot, 2MP HD front-facing camera, 6.7MP rear-facing camera with auto focus and Zeiss optics, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, NFC support, micro USB 3.0 port, front facing speakers (hooray!), 4G LTE connectivity, and 8,000 mAh battery. "It's a complete package," product manager Paul Bischof said. "It takes everything you've got in your desktop or laptop and crams all that into a device that's only 8.9mm thick and weighs a little over a pound." The Nokia Lumia 2520 also comes with the "complete Microsoft Outlook and Office experience" pre-installed at no extra charge. Pricing for the tablet is $499 MSRP. It's available in red, cyan, white, and black color options. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: MSI GS70 Gaming Laptop w/ Free LG 23.6-inch Monitor, and More! Posted: 22 Oct 2013 07:40 AM PDT Top Deal: Gaming laptops are notorious for being chunky and heavy, which kind of defeats the whole purporse of portability. Can a thin and light laptop with powerful hardware truly exist? To answer that question, you need only look at today's top deal for an MSI GS70 2OD-229US 17.3-inch Gaming Laptop for $1,550 with free shipping (Free LG 24EN33TW-B Black 23.6-inch LED monitor with first 100 pre-orders). Though it's around the size of an Ultrabook, it boasts some impressive specs, such as a Core i7 4700HQ processor, 12GB of RAM, 128GB SSD + 500GB HDD, and GeForce GTX 765M graphics. Other Deals: Western Digital WD VelociRaptor 300GB 10000 RPM 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive for $90 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code: [EMCXWXM28]) Seagate 1TB MLC/8GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s NCQ 3.5-inch Desktop Solid State Hybrid Drive for $90 with free shipping (normally $100 - use coupon code: [OCTSSHDPRO]) LG 27EA33V Black 27-inch 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor for $230 with free shipping (normally $250 - use coupon code: [EMCYTZT4667]) G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2x4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory for $77 with free shipping (normally $85 - use coupon code: [GSKILLHALLTEN])

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