| Congress Uneasy, Somewhat Confused Regarding Amazon's Silk Browser Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:38 PM PDT  The idea of Amazon's Silk browser, for the Kindle Fire is an intriguing one. By caching web assets ahead of time, Amazon hopes to accelerate the browsing experience. But running all user traffic through Amazon's EC2 cloud has made some privacy-minded people a little uneasy. Now members of Congress are starting to ask questions, and some of them are not totally ridiculous.
Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts sent a letter to Amazon asking for clarification on a number of points. He seeks the specifics about what data Amazon plans to store about user browsing habits, and what it plans to do with it. He also wonders about Amazon's disclosure of data collection to users, and if there will be an opt out. Amazon hasn't been too keen to release all the details yet, but the company has previously stated that usage data for Silk will be stored in aggregate, and no user identifications will be stored. Rep. Joe Barton, however, seems a little more upset, and less sure of what's going on. Saying that his staff informed him that Amazon would be building its own servers that everyone would have to go through to use Amazon. He was further informed that Amazon would have everyone's data, to which he said, "Enough is enough." Do you think Amazon still has some explaining to do? |
| Missing Pirate Bay Defendant Found Guilty in Copyright Case Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:15 PM PDT  Back in 2009, the Swedish courts handed down a conviction to the operators of The Pirate Bay. Those three defendants were each sentenced to one year in jail, as well as a $1.1 million fine for contributing to copyright infringement. The trio have been appealing their case ever since, but a fourth defendant was not included in the initial verdict. Co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm was apparently too ill to attend trial, so his case was suspended. Now, the Swedish courts have gotten tired of waiting.
Svartholm's case was held without him, as no one was able to determine his current whereabouts. Svartholm was supposed to appear in court again last year, but he was reportedly in failing health, and hospitalized in Cambodia. Why Cambodia? Your guess is as good as ours. This new ruling by the appeals court upholds the guilty verdict for Gottfrid Svartholm, thus sentencing him in absentia. This ruling cannot be appealed. Peter Sunde, one of the original defendants had harsh words for the court saying, "I think it's kind of strange putting a guy into jail because he's too sick to appear in court." Sunde also expressed concern that Svartholm may be dead, in which case the trial was unnecessary. Sunde and the other defendants are likely headed for the Swedish Supreme Court, where he predicts a victory. We also feel the need to point out that the original 2009 verdict may have been in favor of the entertainment industry, but The Pirate Bay seems to be chugging along just like always. |
| Google Finally Putting Buzz Out Of Its Misery Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:57 PM PDT  It was a little surprising that when Google+ launched, there was a section of posts from Google Buzz , the company's ill-fated Twitter clone. Google had all but abandoned Google Buzz, but today they actually got around to abandoning it for real. Google will be killing off Buzz, as well as few other products as part of what it calls "A fall sweep."
In the next few weeks, Google will shut off the AOI and web interface for Buzz, ending the service. Instead, focus will be shifted exclusively to Google+. Buzz posts will still be visible on Google+ profiles, which seems very odd. After it's through killing Buzz, Google plans to take the axe to Google Code Search and Jaiku as well. At this point, we're fairly sure that all the activity on Google Buzz is coming from bots. It's hard to see anyone still making use of the aborted social effort. Anyone out there still using Buzz? |
| Plextor Releases M2P Series Solid State Drive to Rule Them All Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:24 PM PDT  Remember Plextor? The name isn't thrown around as often as it once was, but Plextor's still out there, and cocky as ever. Take the new M2P Series solid state drive (SSD). Plextor says it's capable of sequential read and write speeds of up to 500MB/s and 440MB/s, respectively, which "clearly makes the M2P the fastest SSD currently available." Come again?
Other SSDs boast higher read and write speeds, but Plextor argues it's all about sustainable speed over the long haul, not just the numbers based on FOB (Fresh Out of the Box) benchmarks. The difference, according to Plextor, is its True Speed technology that delivers a high level of performance "even after extensive use and long periods of operation." "Most performance information is overstated and does not reflect drastic decreases in performance that many drives undergo with use," Plextor said. "Plextor surpasses the industry norm by doing Enterprise Benchmark testing of consumer drives in a Dirty/Steady state to demonstrate sustained read/write performance." The M2P brings a server grade Marvell 88SS9174 controller to the SSD party. Features include a SATA 6Gbps interface, "highest-quality Japanese NAND flash" by Toshiba, and exclusive firmware with Instant Restore, Global Wear Leveling, and Bad Block Management. Plextor will ship the M2P in 128GB ($240) and 256GB ($450) capacities later this month. Image Credit: Plextor |
| Cool Site of the Week: The Wirecutter Posted: 14 Oct 2011 12:31 PM PDT  Against all odds, you've got some extra cash on hand that you're able to use to invest in a gadget, computer, or other snazzy new piece of hardware. Unfortunately, thanks to the unscrupulous technobabble employed by marketers, similar feature sets, and the constantly shifting topography of the technological landscape, shopping for the piece of hardware that's best suited to your needs can be a nightmare. Fortunately, The Wirecutter is here to wake you up, stroke your hair and whisper that everything's gonna be OK.
The Wirecutter is a site designed with one mission in mind: Helping you to choose a gadget or device that suits your needs to a tee, no matter what your price range or needs may be. Covering a wide variety of hardware categories such as cameras, laptops, tablets, stereo receivers, TVs, and smartphones, the site provides consumers with metrics they can actually use. You'll find little talk of benchmarking here, but plenty of input on build quality, features, and cost versus value: all important factors to consider, no matter what kind of budget you're rocking. 
What's more, should The Wirecutter not cover a device or hardware peripheral you're in the market for, a number of tech pundit notables such as Brian Lam, Brian X. Chen, and Kyle VanHemert, are standing by ready to do their best to provide you with the answers you need to make your next purchase a smart one. Constantly updated, even handed, and easy to understand, The Wirecutter will keep tech aficionados coming back for more. Be sure to check in with us every Friday for another Edition of Maximum PC's Cool Site of the Week. |
| Amazon Prime Vs. Netflix: Head To Head Posted: 14 Oct 2011 11:39 AM PDT Remember when "Netflix" and "Streaming video" were virtually synonyms? Yeah, those were the days. Then, in the course of three disastrous months, Netflix jacked prices by 60 percent, announced it was splitting off the DVD business, and then announced that, no, actually, it was going to keep DVDs in house after all. The wacky moves sent investors fleeing like rats and confused customers looking for alternatives – alternatives like Amazon Prime Instant Video. The service offers unlimited streaming and Amazon has signed several new content deals since Prime Instant Video's launch in March. But is it a Netflix killer? Let's find out. Catalog 
When it comes down to it, it's all about the content. Who has more of what you want? It's not really much of a contest at this point, unfortunately. Although Amazon offers a massive 100,000 a la carte programs for download at $2 to $4 a pop, only around 10,000 of those are available for unlimited free streaming via Amazon Prime. Netflix plays coy with its exact streaming offering numbers, but we've found estimates ranging from 30,000 to 45,000 titles. Most titles available on Amazon are also available on Netflix, but not vice versa. Winner: Netflix
Pricing 
Neither Netflix nor Amazon Prime breaks the bank. As everyone probably knows from the price hike outrage earlier in the year, a streaming subscription to Netflix costs $8/mo. for all the video you can watch. Amazon Prime Instant Video costs even less on a monthly basis – about $6.66 (ooh, spooky!) a month – but that's kind of deceiving; you'll have to pay a flat $80 up front to purchase a year's subscription to Amazon Prime. That $80 also includes free 2-day shipping on many Amazon purchases, though. Both offer a free 1-month trial. Winner: Amazon Prime Image Quality 
It's kind of hard to make a call on image quality because the speed of your Internet connection makes such a drastic difference. Netflix offers more HD content in general. In a head-to-head viewing test of "Star Trek Enterprise: Season 1: Broken Bow" in HD, Netflix's image quality looked slightly better overall and ran much more smoothly. We ran into repeated issues with Amazon Prime constantly bouncing our connection speed from the minimum to the maximum rating and back again, which resulted in stuttering playback and reduced image quality. Netflix (and Speedtest.net) didn't suffer from the same problem. Winner: Netflix Device Compatibility 
Amazon Instant Video (which Amazon Prime utilizes) certainly works on plenty of devices, including over 200 Internet-enabled HDTVs, tons of Blu-ray players, Roku, the Logitech Revue and – soon – the $200 Kindle Fire tablet. Even still, that's not a fraction of the device support offered by Netflix. In addition to HDTV and Blu-ray device support, Netflix ups the ante by streaming to home theater systems, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7 smartphones and tablets, tons of set-top boxes (like Boxee Box and Apple TV) and all the major video game consoles – including Nintendo's 3DS handheld. Winner: Netflix
Future Prospects  Let's get the bad part out of the way first: in February 2012, all Sony and Disney movies will disappear from Netflix. Since the news broke, however, Netflix has inked deals with Dreamworks, the CW and AMC and says it plans to expand its TV programming. Amazon has deep pockets and recently signed contracts with Fox, CBS and NBC to bring more content to its service. It's looking like TV content providers seem more willing to dance with digital media than movie companies are, at least in the short term. Winner: Push
And the winner is… NETFLIX Don't get us wrong, Amazon Prime Instant Video brings plenty of stuff to the table: its catalog and device support are nothing to sneeze at, and it's technically cheaper than Netflix over the course of a year. Unfortunately for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, everything that Amazon Prime Instant Video does, Netflix does, too – and Netflix does it better. (Amazon's lack of a play queue doesn't help things, either.) Amazon Prime is doing great things for a streaming service that's less than a year old, but Netflix is still king of the hill. |
| Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review Posted: 14 Oct 2011 11:18 AM PDT Not quite a revolution, but pretty damn close Deus Ex: Human Revolution gave us a game-over screen seconds after the opening credits, and we loved it. We were about to tiptoe into our first mission—deftly defusing a hostage crisis—when we encountered a trio of friendly SWAT guards. "Good guys," said our brain. "No can hurt," it concluded in caveman. There is, however, a certain comedic appeal in watching large objects bounce harmlessly off people's faces, so we assisted a nearby garbage can out of earth's pesky gravitational pull. THWACK. Immediately, the three future musketeers whipped out their firearms and turned us into cybernetically enhanced Swiss cheese. That's when we knew: It was love at first murder. Human Revolution may sport a shiny, modern coat, but make no mistake: Underneath all the pretty lights and robo-sunglasses beats the heart of PC gaming's most revered classic. See, unlike other shooters, Human Revolution actually assumes you have a brain. So let's say the obvious paths to your goal—stealth, hacking, shooting, talking, punching holes in walls, and about a million other things—just aren't panning out. Well, why not try making your own Tower of Babel out of boxes and awkwardly scrambling right over your troubles? Where other games reply, "Invisible wall, filthy ground peasant," Human Revolution politely says, "Go right ahead." 
Augmented arms? Awesome. Augmented eyes? Excellent. Augmented salivary glands? Ewwwww.
Really, that's Human Revolution in a nutshell. Sure, it's a series of linear missions—separated, mind you, by a few absolutely gorgeous hub areas—but you're granted an almost absurd degree of freedom within those bounds. Most games try to erect a giant baby pen around the experience—to say, "No, don't do this crazy/stupid/everyone's-on-fire thing because it's not precisely how we want you to play the game." Human Revolution, on the other hand, assumes that you will be crazy and stupid and set everything on fire. It gets you drunk on power, rolls out its finest red carpet, and says, "Here, vomit all your zaniest plans onto this." And then everything goes horribly wrong. Even with solid shooting, a generally excellent cover system, and a dazzling array of super-powered "augments" to suit just about any play style imaginable, you'll still find yourself cornered and "augmented" with a few hundred extra subcutaneous bullets. In fact, truth be told, there's quite a bit of trial-and-error in Deus Ex. Each area is basically an extremely open-ended puzzle, and—odds are—you won't get it right on the first try. Occasionally, it's genuinely frustrating. A large part of the game's excellence, though, stems from that experimental spirit. Sure, you died, but what did you learn in the process? What did your brain sponge up—aside from bullets? Hell, even Human Revolution's conversations will have your mind firing on all cylinders and your heart thumping out of your chest. These aren't simple "good or evil or snarky" affairs. You have to get inside people's heads—understand where they're coming from—or else, say, an innocent civilian might get their head blown off. In a way, these wars of words are almost boss fights, which makes the game's inclusion of actual boss fights all the more perplexing. Really, those four infuriating, keyboard-flinging encounters are the ugliest blemishes on an otherwise incredible game—especially if you're normally a stealth player. Other flaws like inconsistent AI and occasionally silly writing look positively minor by comparison. That particularly painful belly flop aside, though, Human Revolution is one of our favorite games to come along in quite some time. It's that rare franchise revival that manages to nod knowingly in its predecessor's direction while boldly blazing new trails of its own. Gaming industry, take note: More of this, please. $49, www.deusex.com, ESRB:M |
| Microsoft Wireless Desktop 2000 Review Posted: 14 Oct 2011 11:18 AM PDT A little encryption goes a long way If you're like most of us, it's unlikely that hackers have much interest in intercepting what you're typing. Still, with schematics and software to build keyboard sniffers readily available, it's nice to know you're protected from ne'er-do-wells, and Microsoft aims to give you that sense of security with its Wireless Desktop 2000. While it won't keep your cubicle mate from looking over your shoulder, it does use 128-bit AES encryption to keep your keystrokes a secret and your paranoia at bay. Foremost, the Wireless Desktop 2000 is a keyboard, and to this end, it features soft, chiclet-style keys set in a glossy black frame. It connects to your computer wirelessly with a stowaway USB dongle and has a full array of media keys for skipping through your music playlist, as well as shortcut keys for quick access to the first five apps pinned to your Favorites in Windows 7. The keyboard also has separate (but small) function keys and a texture wrist rest that's comfy enough for extended hours of typing. Microsoft found room on the board for a battery indicator light, but not for indicators associated with the Cap- and Num-Lock keys—you'll have to install the bundled IntelliType Pro software to get on-screen notifications about that sort of thing. It's a very simple keyboard made for an office environment—folks in the market for flashy lights or an ergonomic curve should look elsewhere. 
With the Wireless Desktop 2000, Microsoft bring a touch of class to an office-bound keyboard.
The keyboard's headline security feature is 128-bit AES encryption, which is the minimum strength of encryption (highest is 256 bits). We were curious as to whether this encryption feature includes some sort of custom drivers to circumvent physical or software-based keyloggers, so we set up a simple experiment: We wrote some very incriminating emails with a KeeLog USB keylogger residing between the PC and the keyboard's wireless dongle. The keylogger managed to trace our every stroke, which confirmed our suspicions that the only protection this keyboard affords is between the dongle and the keyboard itself, so no outside sources can access what you're typing via a wireless sniffer. This is good if you're suspicious of your cubicle neighbors, but not so if there's something (or someone—eyebrow raise) logging your keystrokes internally. The other half of the Wireless Desktop 2000 is a bare-bones optical mouse. The mouse isn't bad for basic office use, but we'd like to see Back and Forward side buttons on the mouse for Internet browsing. Also, the scroll wheel tends to get a little sticky after usage. Neither the mouse nor the keyboard are especially well suited for gaming, but, of course, that's not what the Wireless Desktop 2000 is marketed for. For cubicle dwellers, the Wireless Desktop 2000 keyboard is a stylish, secure keyboard with plenty of productivity-enhancing hotkeys. One tip to you: If you want the keyboard, be prepared to splurge on a better mouse. $40, www.microsoft.com |
| Researchers Use Table Salt To Increase Hard Drive Density Six-Fold Posted: 14 Oct 2011 11:02 AM PDT  Think the 4TB hard drives hitting the market now are impressive? You're right. But one group of researchers say that's nothing compared to the storage capacities that could be unlocked using a new technique they've discovered. Dr Joel Yang and his team from the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering in Singapore claim that simply by adding table salt to an existing lithographic process, they have come up with a way of increasing the information density of HDDs six-fold. Basically, 6TB of info could fit onto today's 1TB platters.
Yang and his team use "an extremely high-resolution e-beam lithography process that produces super fine nano-sized structures" to create the high-density disks, the Institute's press release (PDF) says. The addition of sodium chloride to an existing, unnamed lithographic solution lets the crew "produce highly defined nanostructures down to 4.5 nm half pitch" – without an equipment upgrade. That precision allows the team to arrange the nanoscopic magnetic grains on the disks in a tightly-packed pattern, as opposed to the random splattering of grains found on standard HDDs. Whereas standard HDDs have an information density of around 0.5 terabits/sq. in., Yang's refined process has created disks with densities up to 3.3 terabits/sq. in. However, the number is a bit deceiving; while 3.3 terabit/sq. in. disks have been fabricated, the crew has "only" demonstrated data-storage capabilities in disks with 1.9 terabits/sq. in. |
| Could The Kindle Fire Outsell All Honeycomb Tablets Combined By The End Of The Year? Posted: 14 Oct 2011 10:25 AM PDT  Just how big could the $200 Kindle Fire be when it launches next month? Pretty friggin' big. Not "Bigger than the iPad" big – at least not yet – but some sales forecasts and thought-provoking, yet unofficial calculations by an Android developer show that the Fire and its custom Android 2.3 interface could own a bigger slice of the market pie than all Android Honeycomb tablets combined before the end of the year.
First, the easy part: an analyst from Rodman & Renshaw told CNET yesterday that record preorders for the Kindle could very well leave Amazon with over 5 million of the tablets shipped by the end of the year – and that's not even counting the other, cheaper versions. Sales are expected to increase even more once the Fire actually hits the streets on November 15th. Then, there's Honeycomb tablets. A dev by the name of Al Sutton did some quick math and came up with some interesting numbers after hearing Google head Larry Page say that there are 190 million Android devices out there in the wild, a number Page threw down in yesterday's earnings calls with investors. Engadget reports that Sutton checked the Android Developers website, which shows that only 1.8 percent of all Android gadgets that have tapped into the Android Marketplace in the past two weeks run Honeycomb. Running the numbers, that boils down to approximately 3.42 million tablets running Honeycomb . Of course, two-weeks isn't the largest sampling frame, but the calculation is food for thought, nonetheless. And the iPad? The same CNET article says Apple pushes 12 million of the tablets every quarter. So what do you guys think? Will the Kindle Fire's low price point push it past Android Honeycomb's limited sales success in the tablet market? |
