General Gaming Article

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• Smartphone Theft in the U.S. Nearly Doubled Last Year
• Buggy Microsoft Security Essentials Update Kicks XP Machines While Down
• Reports Shows Over a Third of Purchased Steam Games Haven't Been Played
• Why You Must Upgrade From Windows XP
• Eurocom's Thin and Light Electra 2 Laptop Boasts Maxwell Graphics, TPM 1.2 Security
• IBM Posts Revenue Decline for Eighth Consecutive Quarter
• Newegg Daily Deals: EVA ACX Cooler GeForce GTX 780, Intel Core i5 4670K, and More!

Smartphone Theft in the U.S. Nearly Doubled Last Year Posted: 17 Apr 2014 11:51 AM PDT A potential solution to rising smartphone theft is still a year away It's easy to take for granted how much your smartphone is worth. You may have picked one up for free or not much more than that by agreeing to lock yourself into a two-year service agreement with a wireless carrier, but despite the subsidized price you paid, smartphones are worth several hundred dollars. It's no wonder that thieves stole around 3.1 million smartphones in U.S. last year. That figure comes from Consumer Reports, which notes that it's nearly double the 1.6 million smartphones that were stolen in 2012. In addition to thievery, another 1.4 million smartphones were simply lost and never recovered last year, up from 1.2 million in 2012. It's not just the hardware itself that's valuable, but what's kept on the phone as well. Things like photos, videos, contacts, email accounts, and more. Despite all this, smartphone owners aren't doing enough to protect themselves, Consumer Reports says. In a survey of smartphone owners, 34 percent told Consumer Reports they don't take even simple security measures, such as using a PIN or some other form of unlocking mechanism. Those same users said they're not running AV software or backing up their data. Come July 2015, smartphones sold in the U.S. will include a so-called "lock switch," which allows users to remotely delete data from a lost or stolen smartphone. The lock switch will also render the phone useless, as wireless carriers won't activate a device that's been reported lost or stolen. Whether this will actually curb smartphone theft is something that remains to be seen. Image Credit: Flickr (mkoolman) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Buggy Microsoft Security Essentials Update Kicks XP Machines While Down Posted: 17 Apr 2014 11:20 AM PDT Here come the conspiracy theories After more than 12 years of service, Microsoft finally pulled the plug on Windows XP by ceasing to support the operating system last week. However, Microsoft did promise to keep doling out updates for its Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) software, including the version that runs on XP, but in doing so, the Redmond outfit only made things worse. That's because the latest MSE update is causing some XP machines to freeze up and run slow. Anyone with a tinfoil hat will tell you this is entirely intentional on Microsoft's part and nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to get users to upgrade. The real explanation is likely far less insidious, though equally annoying for XP users who had hopes of holding onto the legacy OS for at least a little while longer. "I am a professional computer engineer and maintain many desktops and laptops for my customers on a daily basis: as of today (April 16th) I have seen about 12 computers on which Windows XP - after every boot up - throws up an error message referring to MSE, stating: 'MsMpEng.exe application error. The instruction at 0x5a4d684d referenced memory at 0x00000000 The memory could not be read', leaving the computer in an unusable state," a user wrote on Microsoft's Windows forum. He goes on to say that "the only solution is to disable MSE or uninstall it completely." Doing so will restore performance, but it comes at the expense of security protection, which is now more important than ever for XP users. Microsoft has yet to acknowledge the situation or issue a fix. One is likely coming, but in the meantime, there are third-party AV vendors that still support XP. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Reports Shows Over a Third of Purchased Steam Games Haven't Been Played Posted: 17 Apr 2014 10:36 AM PDT Sales encourage gamers to stockpile more games than they have time to play It seems like there's always a major Steam sale taking place. There isn't, but certainly Steam sales aren't exactly rare. These sales introduce big discounts to popular titles, both current and ones that are slightly older, and we often find ourselves stockpiling titles with plans to play them at a future date. Apparently that's a common practice, as a new report suggests that nearly 37 percent of registered Steam titles have never been loaded. Aurich Lawson at ArsTechnica did some digging and uncovered some interesting numbers. He didn't pull any of these figures out of a hat, all the estimates are based on publicly available information, he says. So, what exactly did he find? As stated above, over a third of the roughly 781 million games registered to different Steam accounts have never been played a single time. Steam is far from a ghost town, however, as Dota 2 alone currently accounts for around 3.8 billion hours of play time. Lawson also discovered that Steam users have logged 600 percent more time into Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer mode than the single player campaign. Another thing we found interesting is that 17 percent of registered games on Steam have logged less than an hour of play time. If you add that to the games that have never been loaded, it means that 53.4 percent -- a little over half -- of Steam games have either never been loaded or played for less than an hour. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Why You Must Upgrade From Windows XP Posted: 17 Apr 2014 10:11 AM PDT Make your Windows XP-using friends/family members read this important PSA Microsoft has officially pulled the plug on support for Windows XP.  That's it.  Finite.  Done.  No more.  Don't expect to see any future patches, services packs, fixes, hotfixes, critical updates, anything — if you're one of the one-fourth of desktop users or so who are still running the antiquated operating system (yes, there's that many of you), you're about to enter the Wild Wild West of computing.  Microsoft is no longer supporting Windows XP. Which means, "hello, hackers!" So, what does that actually mean?  Simple: You have to upgrade.  There are no buts about it; staying on Windows XP is a bit like seeing a waterfall ahead on a river and opting to stay in the boat instead of safely paddling to shore.  You might not know when you're going to go over the precipice, but it's likely that something quite bad is going to happen to you at some point in your future. We're not just being overdramatic for the sake of it.  Why do you think a number of businesses (banks, especially) are spending a small fortune to get their systems upgraded as quickly as can be?  Why do you think that a number of them are likely going to be paying Microsoft a princely sum for XP support after the fact, as they've simply been unable to upgrade important devices like, say, ATMs before the big cutoff date? If you're still not convinced — or know those that need a little bit of extra convincing — we're going to run through a few Windows XP scenarios to show you that, yes, it's time to kick this legacy OS to the curb for good. Patch Tuesdays Could Break Windows XP Patch Tuesday sounds like it's a good thing, right?  That tried-and-true time that comes around once a month, on the second Tuesday of each month, where Microsoft dishes out new security updates for its operating systems.  Only, it's not going to be doing that for Windows XP any more.  And that doesn't sound quite so bad until you realize just what this might mean for the legacy OS.  Consider the following situation: Microsoft finds a security exploit in Windows Vista, 7, and 8 and decides to fix it up using a Patch Tuesday update.  Since Windows XP isn't being fixed anymore, an industrious hacker reverse-engineers Microsoft's fix and heads on over to his or her Windows XP installation to see if the exploit exists there as well. If it does, he'll most likely exploit it, and then we could be in some serious trouble.   In other words, Microsoft will now be feeding those interested in breaking Windows XP a constant stream of possible exploits to investigate.  It's like turning Patch Tuesday on its head. Disbelief A number of novice users might feel that they're protected from the effects of the Internet underground by running a box-copy virus or malware scanner on their system and calling it a day.  While that's certainly true in some cases, even the best malware scanner on the market isn't going to protect a person from any raw exploits that can be found or abused within the base level of the operating system itself. It's really apples and oranges.  Using Windows XP today is like dangling over a dangerous waterfall. You wouldn't do that now, would you? Malware might take advantage of core areas within the operating system, but running Avast, or Norton Antivirus, or what-have-you is only going to help a user out by scanning what he or she downloads from the Web (or plugs into his or her PC).  If a weakness is discovered that's core to Windows XP's operation, and doesn't need a software vector in order to affect one's system, then a scanning app isn't going to be able to do anything about it. What to do? If we've finally managed to convince you that it's time to switch – or you've successfully convinced a friend or loved one that it's time to move away from Windows XP for good — there are a few routes you can go.  The first and most obvious solution is to upgrade, and we recommend that you jump to Windows 7 or Windows 8 when you do.  You'll have an easier time finding copies of the latter and, while it's a bit of a learning curve for those accustom to the no-frills Windows XP UI experience, more changes coming as a result of Windows 8.1's official "Update 1" patch will hopefully ease the learning curve ever so slightly. Before you do, however, make sure that you download, install, and run Microsoft's official upgrade "advisors" for either Windows 7 or Windows 8.  They'll tell you whether your system will work well with the new OS from a hardware and software perspective, and they're valuable tools for getting a general sense of just how well your PC stacks up before you splurge money on an OS upgrade that might not work out that well for you. Read our Windows 8.1 review here. If you're stuck in that camp, those looking to use the death of Windows XP as an inspiration for a shopping trip can also benefit from some of the current promotions running as a result.  Microsoft, for example, is offering $100 off new PC purchases for those who access its online store from a Windows XP machine — or, if you want to be truly awesome, for those who drag a Windows XP system into one of the company's retail stores. Learn how to install Windows 7 from a USB key here. That said, some users will still face a bit of heartbreak when moving up to a new operating system.  Outlook Express, for example, does not exist in Windows Vista or higher – if that's your XP-using grandmother's favorite email client, you might need to help her out in moving on up to something a bit more comprehensive… and supported. Learn how to install Windows 8 from a USB key here. For what it's worth, you can go back to running Windows XP in a secure, virtualized environment.  While we don't recommend that you do anything super-secure in your virtual machine (Amazon shopping might be out), you can at least have access to legacy applications and/or anything else you need from good ol' Windows XP.  And, should this virtualized copy of XP get infected with (or exploited by) something horrible, it won't affect the contents of your primary operating system – and deleting it / restoring up a new version of Windows XP is super easy. The truly die-hard can also switch on up to a free Linux variant if they feel as if they're done with Microsoft now that Windows XP has been put out to pasture.  Newbies to Linux can give a Live CD a try, which packs an entire, working operating system onto removable media – an operating system whose contents cannot be affected beyond the point at which you power down your PC for the day.  If your sole interest in having a Windows XP machine is to have a simple way to browse the web and check email, this might be a great way to do that — on a legacy PC — without having to spend a penny post-XP. Stop reading; start upgrading We've covered some of the more general concerns and issues related to the imminent loss of Windows XP.  There are plenty more scenarios as to why upgrading is in your best interest, and there are surely quite a few more ways to do it.  What's clear is that Windows XP support is over.  Any additional days you spend chained to the legacy OS, you do so at your own risk.  Upgrading is easy.  Buying a new computer is easy.  Setting up your new apps and migrating your data over is… less easy, but it's better you spend the time doing that than, say, calling up your credit card companies because some industrious hacker connived their way into your Windows XP-based Web shopping, to name one example. If you're on Windows XP, stop reading right now.  Start upgrading.  Stay safe.

Eurocom's Thin and Light Electra 2 Laptop Boasts Maxwell Graphics, TPM 1.2 Security Posted: 17 Apr 2014 08:32 AM PDT Eurocom's latest laptop is an ultraportable that starts at $825 Most of the time when we receive word of a new system offering from Eurocom, it's a desktop replacement-class laptop with all the bells and whistles, and price tag to match. This time around, Eurocom dropped us a line to let us know about its new Electra 2, a thin and light ultraportable that starts out at $825. It comes standard with a 15.6-inch Full HD 1080p IPS display and Intel Core i5 4200M (Haswell) processor clocked at 2.5GHz (3.10GHz Turbo). Other baseline parts and features include 8GB of DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM memory (single stick), Nvidia GeForce GTX 850M graphics based on Maxwell, 500GB hard drive (7200 RPM), 8X DVD burner, 1080p webcam, 802.11n Wi-Fi, 9-in-1 card reader, GbE LAN, Bluetooth, two USB 3.0 ports plus an eSATA/USB 3.0 combo port, a single USB 2.0 port, HDMI and VGA output, and 6-cell battery. Windows 7 and 8 options are available at an additional cost. The Electra 2 also features Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 hardware data encryption, which indicates that Eurocom is targeting IT environments and business users. However, the Electra 2 is configurable and upgradeable, so you can configure a system that's custom tailored to your needs. Eurocom's Electra 2 is available now. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

IBM Posts Revenue Decline for Eighth Consecutive Quarter Posted: 17 Apr 2014 08:02 AM PDT Declining hardware sales and expensive layoffs hurt IBM's bottom line It was another rough quarter for IBM, which reported a drop in revenue. That marks eight quarters in a row of revenue declines. For the first quarter of 2014, IBM's total revenues reached $22.5 billion, down 4 percent from the first quarter of 2013. On the plus side, IBM is still making a profit -- $2.4 billion in Q1 2014, though even that figure is marred by the fact that it's down 21 percent year-over-year. Part of the reason why the numbers are down this time around is because of IBM's recent layoffs. The company took an $870 million "workforce rebalancing charge" as it makes changes and reductions to staff that it hopes will pay off in the long run. IBM's bottom line was also affected by a drop in hardware revenue. The company's Systems and Technology segment totaled $2.4 billion for the quarter, down 23 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. Total systems revenues decreased 24 percent, including a 40 percent reduction in revenues from its System z mainframe server products. "In the first quarter, we continued to take actions to transform parts of the business and to shift aggressively to our strategic growth areas including cloud, big data analytics, social, mobile and security," said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. "As we move through 2014, we will begin to see the benefits from these actions. Over the long term, they will position us to drive growth and higher value for our clients." IBM benefited from a bump in software sales. The company's Software segment generated $5.7 billion in Q1, up 2 percent year-over-year. Revenues from IBM's middleware products jumped 4 percent to $3.7 billion. Included in that is a 12 percent year-over-year jump in WebSphere sales. Image Credit: Flickr (br1dotcom) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: EVA ACX Cooler GeForce GTX 780, Intel Core i5 4670K, and More! Posted: 17 Apr 2014 06:33 AM PDT Top Deal: Come May 27, 2014, Ubisoft is going to let the dogs out -- Watch Dogs, that is. We've already been given the heads up that in order to run the game at Ultra settings, some burly hardware is needed, including a GeForce 780 GPU. With that in mind, say hello to today's top deal -- an EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked w/ ACX Cooler for $490 with free shipping (normally $520 - use coupon code: [EMCPFWE36]; additional $20 mail-in-rebate). Other Deals: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory for $128 with free shipping (normally $150 - use coupon code: [EMCPFWE32]) Intel Core i5-4670K Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics for $220 with free shipping (normally $240 - use coupon code: [EMCPFWE33]) Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case for $40 with free shipping (normally $50 - use coupon code: [EMCPFWE29]) Acer B6 B296CL 29-inch 8ms (GTG) HDMI UltraWide (21:9) LED Backlight LCD Monitor IPS 300 for $350 with free shipping (normally $400 - use coupon code: [EMCPFWE89])

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