| Latest Humble Bundle Features Civilization Franchise Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:11 PM PST  It's a Sid Meier explosion
The Humble Sid Meier Bundle is out and offering a selection of strategy titles developed by Firaxis Games, many of which are made by legendary game developer Sid Meier. For those unfamiliar with the Humble Bundle, you are able to name your own price for a selection of games and then decide how the payment will be distributed between the developer, charity, and Humble Bundle website. Consumer's who name their own price will receive Sid Meier's Civilization III, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition, Sid Meier's Ace Patrol, Sid Meier's Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies, and Sid Meier's Railroads titles. If you pay more than the average donation, which is at $7.47 at the time of this writing, you will also receive the latest installment of the turn-based strategy franchise, Civilization V and its Gods and Kings DLC Anyone who pays more than $15 will receive all the previously mentioned titles and Civilization V's latest Brave New World DLC. So far, over 71,000 of the Humble Sid Meier Bundle have been sold with 13 days remaining. If you wish to delve into the strategy genre, or add to your games collection, head on over to the Humble Bundle website and name your price. |
| Mad Catz Tritton 720+ 7.1 Surround Headset Coming to PC Posted: 04 Feb 2014 02:34 PM PST  Headset being shipped out to stores today
Mad Catz has launched its Tritton 720+ 7.1 surround sound headset. Originally released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles in 2012, the Tritton is finally being released for the PC platform. The closed-back headset comes in white with 50mm speakers and neodymium drivers to provide a surround sound experience with the push of a button that activates the Dolby Headphone technology. Consumers will be able to plug in the Tritton via USB but can also plug it into various mobile and smart devices via a 3.5mm jack once the inline audio controls have been detached. Tritton's inline audio control, aside from being detachable, allows the user to mute the microphone, adjust the headset's volume, and turn the surround sound feature on or off. The flexible microphone is also removable and can be used to take calls on a smartphone. Consumers can purchase the Tritton 720+ at Mad Catz's web store for $129.99. |
| Powercolor Introduces Passively Cooled R9 270 Graphics Card with Nary a Peep Posted: 04 Feb 2014 12:12 PM PST  A potential candidate for a home brewed Steam Machine
It appears Powercolor is getting ready to launch a passively cooled version of AMD's Radeon R9 270 graphics card. Powercolor has yet to formally introduce what it's calling the R9 270 SCS3 edition, but if you look around the web, you'll discover some overseas retailers listing the SKU, including one that managed to get its hands on a press photo of the upcoming card. Credit goes to Fudzilla for bringing this to our attention. The news and rumor site said it stumbled upon the listing at Alternate.de, where it's being sold for 180 euros (around $243 in U.S. currency). Overclockers.uk also has the silent part listed for sale (bonus points for posting a pic of the card) and describes it as the first fanless R9 series graphics card. The silent card sports what looks like a giant aluminum heatsink with a series of heat pipes running through it. Powercolor has the core clockspeed set at 900MHz, along with 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 5,600MHz (effective) on a 256-bit bus. There are two 6-pin power connectors and outputs consisting of DVI (x1), DisplayPort (x1), and HDMI (x1). It remains to be seen when/if this card will make it to the U.S., but assuming it does, it would be a decent candidate for a dual-booting Steam Machine that pulls double duty as a home theater PC. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| How We Test Wireless Routers Posted: 04 Feb 2014 11:24 AM PST  Say hello to Maximum PC Lab Midwest
For the past several years, we've been testing routers at Maximum PC Lab North, a 2,800-square-foot home located on 10 acres of what was once a dairy farm. The new location is Maximum PC Lab Midwest, a 1,400-square-foot home flanked by houses on either side, a yard extending into a wooded area out back, and a semi-busy road in front. The new location offers a harsher, more real-world testing environment. We measure the performance of each router in five separate locations starting with the Bedroom in a spot 10 feet away from the router with no obstructions. The next test takes place in the Dining Room 15 feet from the router and separated by two walls, followed by the Entryway with 20 feet and three walls of separation. The final two tests take place outside in the Driveway (35 feet) and Backyard (90 feet) toward the edge of a wooded area. When possible, each dual-band router is configured to run in 802.11n-only mode on the 2.4GHz channel and 802.11ac-only mode on the 5GHz channel, both with WPA2 encryption and channel bonding. We use the open-source Jperf utility, a GUI front end for Iperf, to measure throughput in each of the five locations. Our Jperf server is an HP Envy Ultrabook with a Core i5 processor wired directly to the router being tested, and the client PC is a Dell Inspiron laptop with a Core i3 processor. Since the client PC doesn't support 802.11ac natively, we run the tests with a Linksys USB6300 dual-band USB adapter. We compare the 802.11n scores to our zero-point router, an Asus RT-N66U. 
Jperf's wealth of settings aren't just good for benchmarking; you can use the open-source app to troubleshoot your network, too." Finally, we also test each router's attached storage performance by plugging in a 32GB Lexar JumpDrive P10 USB 3.0 flash drive. We chose this drive because it's one of the fastest on the market with up to 265MB/s read and 245MB/s write performance. Once configured, we use a stopwatch to time how long it takes to write a single 3GB file to the flash drive and then again with a 1GB folder containing several smaller files. We repeat both tests to read the large and small files to the hardwired server PC. |
| Get a Free Lumia 520 Handset with Purchase of an Annual Xbox Music Pass Posted: 04 Feb 2014 10:57 AM PST  Microsoft continues to wheel and deal
If you're on the fence about which subscription-based streaming music service to cozy up with, Microsoft has an offer it hopes you'll find too good to refuse. That offer is a free Nokia Lumia 520 or 521 handset when you purchase a 12-month pass to Xbox Music. That's not a bad deal on a couple of levels, the first being that you're essentially receiving two months free by paying for a year in advance -- Xbox Music typically runs $9.99 per month. The second thing that makes this a tantalizing deal is obviously the free Lumia 520 for AT&T or Lumia 521 for T-Mobile. There are no contractual strings attached to either device, meaning you're not obligated to activate either handset with AT&T or T-Mobile. You could use them for target practice if you really wanted to. If you need a refresher, the Lumia 520/521 sports a 4-inch IPS display with an 800x480 resolution, 1GHz dual-core processor, 5MP rear-facing camera, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, and Windows Phone 8 software. As for the Xbox Music Pass, you get unlimited, ad-free streaming to Microsoft's catalog of around 30 million songs. You can create playlists and download songs for offline listening, which comes in handy when traveling through dead zones. You can grab the bundle at the Microsoft Store online. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Investors Hammer Lenovo Following Sony Vaio Buyout Rumor Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:58 AM PST  Rumor has it Lenovo is interested in Sony's Vaio PC business
Reports emerged over the weekend claiming Lenovo, the world's No. 1 PC maker in terms of shipments, has been in talks with Sony about a possible joint venture involving the sale of Sony's Vaio PC business. Considering that Sony's Vaio PC division is operating at a loss, not to mention Lenovo having just announced plans to purchase Motorola Mobility for $2.91 billion, investors are spooked. As a result, Lenovo's share price dropped more than 16 percent today, Reuters reports. Lenovo has been doing well by outperforming its competitors in the PC space, though it decided to go on a spending spree in recent weeks, highlighted by the Motorola acquisition. The company also purchased IBM's low-end server unit for $2.3 billion. The PC maker declined to comment on the Vaio rumor. Sony, on the other hand, denied the accuracy of the report, though admitted it was looking at various possibilities for its Vaio PC division. Since announcing the IBM deal last week, Lenovo's market value is down nearly $3.8 billion. In addition, Lenovo's drop in share price today is the company's biggest one-day dip in more than 5 years. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Mark Zuckerberg Looks to Teen Years and Beyond as Facebook Turns 10 Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:31 AM PST  World's most popular online playground turns 10 years old
They grow up so fast, don't they? One day they're these little immature things making friends, and the next they're forming alliances and making tons of money. We're talking about social networks, of course, and though it might be hard to believe, Facebook is celebrating its 10th anniversary today. Mark Zuckerberg used the occasion to reflect back on the past 10 years as well as ensure users that he fully expects Facebook to be around for another decade, and beyond. "People often ask if I always knew that Facebook would become what it is today. No way. I remember getting pizza with my friends one night in college shortly after opening Facebook," Zuckerberg reflects in a Facebook post. "I told them I was excited to help connect our school community, but one day someone needed to connect the whole world. I always thought this was important -- giving people the power to share and stay connected, empowering people to build their own communities themselves." 
His remembrance of Facebook's birth differ from what was portrayed in the docudrama The Social Network, but no matter how it came to be, Facebook is here and it's bigger than ever. According to Zuckerberg, the past 10 years have been all about bootstrapping the social network. "Now we have the resources to help people across the world solve even bigger and more important problems," Zuckerberg says. One of those problems is the simple act of connecting to the Internet. Zuckerberg points out that two-thirds of the world's population lack Internet access, and over the next decade he would like to use the power Facebook wields and continued advancements in technology to change that. Zuckerberg avoided the topic of relevancy. As Facebook grows older and more people flood the network, including parents and grandparents, those all important teen and young adult demographics tend to flock elsewhere. MySpace is a real world example of a popular social network losing its luster. Even though Facebook is much bigger than MykSpace ever was, it will still be a challenge to remain relevant for another decade. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Microsoft Promotes Satya Nadella to CEO, Names Bill Gates a Technology Advisor Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:39 AM PST  Steve Ballmer's replacement was under Microsoft's nose the entire time
After announcing his impending retirement in August of last year and giving Microsoft 12 months to find a replacement, Steve Ballmer can now exit stage left for last time now that it has a new leader. Microsoft's board has named Satya Nadella Chief Executive Officer (CEO), promoting from within to fill the position for only the third time since Microsoft was founded 39 years ago in 1975. Nadella, who previously served as Executive Vice President of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group, was rumored to be the front runner to succeed Ballmer after some high-profile external candidates dropped out of the race, including Ford chief Alan Mulally and Ericsson's Hans Vestberg. Nadella also beat out Qualcomm COO Steve Mellenkopf and former Nokia chief Stephen Elop, among others. "During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella," said Bill Gates, Microsoft's Founder and Member of the Board of Directors. "Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Microsoft needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth." That's a pretty strong endorsement coming from company co-founder Bill Gates, who will step into a new role as Technology Advisor. Gates will spend more time at Microsoft grooming Nadella for the position and helping him navigate the company through what have become some rough waters as of late. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls for $33 and a Bunch of Hardware Capped at $70! Posted: 04 Feb 2014 06:28 AM PST |
| Asus Announces Its Own Chromebox Posted: 04 Feb 2014 06:00 AM PST  Small package with Cloud space
Asus has revealed that it is releasing its own Chromebox. With a starting retail price of $179 the small, compact device, measuring 4.88x4.88x1.65-inches, will give users access to Google's web services and web store. Consumers who purchase the Chrome OS-based device will be provided with 100GB of Google Drive space that can be accessed with the built-in dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi. There will be two different Chromebox SKUs available in North America. The first is powered by an Intel Celeron 2955U processor while the second comes with an Intel Core i3-4010U processor. There will also be a third SKU featuring an Intel Core i7-4600U processor but, as of now, will not be available in the North American market. All three models will come with integrated Intel HD Graphics (up to 4400 according to Asus), offered 2GB or 4GB of DDR3 memory, and have one HDMI and one DisplayPort output, allowing for dual monitor capability while also supporting 4K displays. Other features include a 12GB SSD, four USB 3.0 ports, one LAN port, one Kensington lock, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 2-in-1 card reader. An optional wireless keyboard and mouse combination will also be offer alongside the device though no price has been provided. The Asus Chromebox will be available for purchase in March with the starting price of $179. |
