| Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair HX750 750W Power Supply, Intel Core i5 4670K, and More! Posted: 09 May 2014 11:03 AM PDT |
| NeoCitiesThrottles FCC Down to 28.8Kbps in Opposition of Proposed Net Neutrality Rules Posted: 09 May 2014 10:48 AM PDT  NeoCities slows the FCC's Internet connection down to dial-up speeds
There's a lot of back and forth going on in regards to net neutrality and new rules proposed by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Tom Wheeler, who also happens to be a former lobbyist for cable and wireless companies. To show its opposition to the proposal, which is scheduled for a vote on May 15, 2014, web host NeoCities managed to throttle the FCC's connection to its website down to dial-up era speeds. In a rather angrily written blog post, NeoCities creator Kyle Drake referred to Wheeler as the "bonehead responsible for this idiotic and insane proposal," and said "the FCC isn't doing their job of protecting American consumers." Rather than stop there, he neutered the FCC's connection and created "The Ferengi Plan," which for $1,000 per year he'll happily remove the 28.8kbps modem throttle. "Since the FCC seems to have no problem with this idea, I've (through correspondence) gotten access to the FCC's internal IP block, and throttled all connections from the FCC to 28.8kbps modem speeds on the Neocities.org front site, and I'm not removing it until the FCC pays us for the bandwidth they've been wasting instead of doing their jobs protecting us from the 'keep America's internet slow and expensive forever' lobby," Drake wrote. While this is likely to have limited effect, Drake went the extra mile by posting the throttling code they're using on GitHub. Game on, in other words. "It's time for the web to organize and stand up against these thugs before they ruin everything that the web stands for," Drake said. Image Credit: Flickr (Tristan Schmurr) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| 10 Awesome Websites to Share with Mom on Mother's Day Posted: 09 May 2014 10:15 AM PDT  A variety of websites to put a smile on mom's face
Raising a geek has its challenges. Just ask your mother who could only shake her head when you straightened out your Slinky. She also had the patience to carefully and methodically peel the stickers off your Rubik's Cube to rearrange the color sequence after you messed it up and couldn't figure out how to solve the contraption. Your memory bank is probably filled with such shenanigans, along with loving gestures, like decorating a birthday cake to look like R2-D2 and finding Star Wars themed party favors to match. It's easy to take these moments for granted when you're a kid, but now that you're all grown up, you can better appreciate all she's done. Mother's Day presents the perfect opportunity to flip the script and take care of her for once, instead of the other way around. Not everything has to be a grand gesture -- if you're looking for gift ideas, check out our Mother's Day Gadget Gift Guide from last year -- but something as simple as updating your mother's bookmarks with thoughtful links can get the message across. To help you do that, we searched high and low for websites your mother will appreciate and organized them in a gallery. |
| No BS Podcast #223: Wolfenstein's Insane System Requirements, Z97 Boards, San Disk's 4TB Hard Disks Posted: 09 May 2014 09:28 AM PDT  Nonstop talk of the future of PC hardware and gaming
The Maximum PC No BS Podcast is back for episode #223! We begin by introducing new Managing Editor Alaina Yee, and learn of her transition from OXM to Maximum PC. We then discuss Wolfenstein's crazy demanding system requirements, from an i7 CPU to eating up 50GB of storage, and what it may indicate for the future of PC gaming. Afterwards, we discuss new hardware features on the 9 series motherboards as manufacturers prepare for the upcoming Haswell refresh. We eventually touch on the future of enterprise storage in the wake of San Disk's new 4TB enterprise drive, and how SSD technology is rapidly advancing compared to traditional HDDs. Finally, we answer your questions, give you our picks, and sign off with tales from tech support in Gordon's rant.   
Editors' Picks Tom McNamara: My Steam Gauge Gordon Ung: Galaxy S5's "iPhone mode" Jimmy Thang: Dehumanize your friends: cards against humanity app on Android Clark Crisp: Poop Salary app on Android Alaina Yee: Child of Light Stalk us on the following networks: Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes Become a fan on Facebook Tweet us on Twitter Subscribe to us on Youtube Check out our Windows 8 app in Microsoft's app store Subscribe to our RSS feed If you have any feedback or questions feel free to: Email us at maximumpcpodcast@gmail.com or Leave us a voicemail at 877-404-1337 x1337 Subscribe to Maximum PC in print or on Google Play, iTunes, Kindle, Nook and Zinio. Thanks for listening! |
| Electronic Arts is Giving Away Plants Vs. Zombies for PC and Mac for Limited Time Posted: 09 May 2014 09:18 AM PDT  Don't let zombies ruin your backyard!
The Walking Dead has it all wrong -- zombies aren't just interested in human flesh, they also have an appetite for plants and sunflowers, and pretty much anything you put in their path. So we were taught when Electronics Arts published the highly addictive Plants Vs. Zombies game two years ago this month. If you happened to miss out on the fun, now's your chance to give it a go -- Plants Vs. Zombies is available for free on PC and Mac until May 28, 2014. Electronic Arts is giving the PopCap Games title away via Origin. Why? We're not sure, but hey, we won't argue. It normally sells for $4.99, though these freebie promotions aren't exactly rare -- EA and PopCap Games have been known to give this game away for free before, particularly during Halloween. For those of you new to Plants Vs. Zombie, it's a tower defense title comprised of 50 levels, over two dozen types of zombies, 49 flavors of plants, and five different game modes (Adventure, Mini Games, Puzzle, Survival, and Zen Garden). Click away if you want to add this to your gaming greenhouse. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Netflix Begins Streaming in 4K Ultra HD, Rolls Out $1 Price Hike for New Subscribers Posted: 09 May 2014 08:39 AM PDT  Netflix now charges new members $8.99 per month instead of $7.99
You snooze, you lose. Netflix last month said it was planning to raise the price of its subscription-based streaming service by up to $2 for new members, and sure enough, it made good on that promise today, though it settled on a $1 price increase instead of $2. A typical Netflix subscription now runs $8.99 per month, though if you're willing to limit yourself to standard definition (SD) content on one screen at a time, you can still subscribe at the old $7.99 per month rate. "To continue adding more movies and TV shows, we are increasing the price of our $7.99 a month streaming plan by one dollar to $8.99 for new members. Current Netflix members get to keep their current price for two years, enjoying HD-quality movies and TV shows on any two screens at the same time," Netflix announced in a blog post. The price hike comes just weeks after Netflix inked a multi-year agreement with Comcast for an undisclosed sum to ensure its content is delivered to subscribes at full speed. Netflix wasn't happy about it, but without the deal in place, Comcast subscribers who signed up for Netflix were complaining of poor quality video, long buffers, and dropped feeds. Netflix also recently began streaming select content in 4K Ultra HD to compatible TVs (be wary when shopping a 4K television, as not all of them support Netflix in Ultra HD). Later this year, Netflix will add Breaking Bad to the list of programs available in 4K (reportedly in June). Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Apple Reportedly Interested in Acquiring Beats Brand for $3.2 Billion Posted: 09 May 2014 08:03 AM PDT  If this goes through at $3.2 billion, it would be Apple's priciest acquisition ever
If the stars align just right, the next iPhone model may sport a Beats by Dr. Dre logo on the back. According to various reports, Apple is engaged in talks to acquire Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion, which would be the largest acquisition in Apple's nearly 40 year history. However, that's less than half of what Microsoft paid to acquire Nokia ($7.1 billion) and is well short of the $19 billion Facebook forked over for WhatsApp. Multi-billion dollar buyouts are suddenly vogue it seems, and this would would give Apple a recognizable brand that also includes the new Beats Music streaming service, The New York Times reports. One of the unique selling points of Beats Music compared to other streaming music services is the inclusion of a $14.99/month family plan that covers up to 5 accounts across 10 devices. No deal is yet in place, though it appears talks are in the advanced stages. Assuming the negotiations don't run into a brick wall, a sale could be announced as early as next week. This would be an interesting move on Apple's part for a number a reasons, not the least of which is it represents a departure from Steve Jobs' preference to make smaller deals. As current chief Tim Cook pointed out in Apple's most recent earnings call, Apple's made 24 acquisitions in the last 18 months. "We are expanding Apple's products and services into new categories, and we are not going to underinvest in this business," Cook said. Apple can certainly afford to make an acquisition like this. The company is sitting on a mountain of cash piled $159 billion high, so plucking $3.2 billion would hardly register a blip. What's more interesting than the purchase price is exactly what Apple would do with the Beats brand and how it would affect the company's approach to streaming music. Image Credit: Flickr (foeock kannilc) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
