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Steam Pack Bundles 20 Games for $54
Triple Buffering: Why We Love It
"We often neglect to get too involved in the discussion of what options people should always enable when they play games. Rather, we tend to focus on what we test with. Honestly, our recommended settings for playing the games we test would be very similar to the settings we use to benchmark with one very important exception: we would enable triple buffering (which implies vsync) whenever possible. While it's not an available option in all games, it really needs to be, and we are here to make the case for why gamers should use triple buffering and why developers need to support it." ~anandtech.com
"We often neglect to get too involved in the discussion of what options people should always enable when they play games. Rather, we tend to focus on what we test with. Honestly, our recommended settings for playing the games we test would be very similar to the settings we use to benchmark with one very important exception: we would enable triple buffering (which implies vsync) whenever possible. While it's not an available option in all games, it really needs to be, and we are here to make the case for why gamers should use triple buffering and why developers need to support it." ~anandtech.com
Microsoft kills Windows 7 beta
"Microsoft executioners have started the expiration process for the beta version of its Windows 7 operating system. Beginning today, users that are still running the trial version of the company's next OS will see it shut down every two hours. The big idea is to shift early adopters to move to Windows 7 Release Candidate, a more polished preview version of Vista's successor. Windows 7 RC will function until June 1, 2010. After that, users will need to upgrade to a full, paid version of the operating system to continue use. Microsoft plans to ship a final version of Windows 7 on October 22." ~fudzilla.com
"Microsoft executioners have started the expiration process for the beta version of its Windows 7 operating system. Beginning today, users that are still running the trial version of the company's next OS will see it shut down every two hours. The big idea is to shift early adopters to move to Windows 7 Release Candidate, a more polished preview version of Vista's successor. Windows 7 RC will function until June 1, 2010. After that, users will need to upgrade to a full, paid version of the operating system to continue use. Microsoft plans to ship a final version of Windows 7 on October 22." ~fudzilla.com
Hybrid Satellite-Cell Pocket Phone
"Previous attempts to create a mass-market satellite phone may have failed miserably—just ask the backers of Globalstar, Iridium, and Odyssey—but a Virginia-based satellite firm believes it has a better solution that just may work this time. TerreStar Networks plans to launch a mobile phone service this year that offers a mix of satellite and cellular service. Unlike the bulky, brick-sized satellite handsets of years past, a TerreStar device will be no larger than a conventional smartphone." ~pcworld.com
"Previous attempts to create a mass-market satellite phone may have failed miserably—just ask the backers of Globalstar, Iridium, and Odyssey—but a Virginia-based satellite firm believes it has a better solution that just may work this time. TerreStar Networks plans to launch a mobile phone service this year that offers a mix of satellite and cellular service. Unlike the bulky, brick-sized satellite handsets of years past, a TerreStar device will be no larger than a conventional smartphone." ~pcworld.com
Painkillers at a crossroads as FDA
"The FDA advisory panel recommended banning Vicodin and Percocet because they contain acetaminophen, which can cause liver damage if taken at higher-than-recommended doses. The panel also urged the FDA to lower maximum doses for acetaminophen, best known as the branded drug Tylenol. The FDA still must decide whether to follow the panel's advice. The agency is not required to, but typically follows such recommendations." ~philly.com
"The FDA advisory panel recommended banning Vicodin and Percocet because they contain acetaminophen, which can cause liver damage if taken at higher-than-recommended doses. The panel also urged the FDA to lower maximum doses for acetaminophen, best known as the branded drug Tylenol. The FDA still must decide whether to follow the panel's advice. The agency is not required to, but typically follows such recommendations." ~philly.com
Japanese scientists to breed 'super tuna'
"Japanese scientists will have bred a new "super-tuna" within a decade that will be stronger, more resistant to disease and taste better than the bluefin presently in the oceans. A team from Japan’s Fisheries Research Agency, The University of Tokyo and Kyushu University is close to completing the genome sequence of the bluefin tuna to unravel the secrets of the chemical building blocks of the fish and expects to be able to start a breeding programme next year.." ~telegraph.co.uk
"Japanese scientists will have bred a new "super-tuna" within a decade that will be stronger, more resistant to disease and taste better than the bluefin presently in the oceans. A team from Japan’s Fisheries Research Agency, The University of Tokyo and Kyushu University is close to completing the genome sequence of the bluefin tuna to unravel the secrets of the chemical building blocks of the fish and expects to be able to start a breeding programme next year.." ~telegraph.co.uk
HIV/AIDS vaccine reaches milestone
"An HIV/AIDS vaccine developed by University of Western Ontario professor Chil-Yong Kang has reached "an important milestone" as it pushes towards the first phase of human trials. Sumagen Canada announced this week it has submitted an Investigational New Drug application to the United States Food and Drug Administration to begin Phase 1 human trials for its SAV001 AIDS vaccine. “The application for the approval of Phase 1 human clinical trials is a very important milestone for our vaccine development,” he says." ~communications.uwo.ca
"An HIV/AIDS vaccine developed by University of Western Ontario professor Chil-Yong Kang has reached "an important milestone" as it pushes towards the first phase of human trials. Sumagen Canada announced this week it has submitted an Investigational New Drug application to the United States Food and Drug Administration to begin Phase 1 human trials for its SAV001 AIDS vaccine. “The application for the approval of Phase 1 human clinical trials is a very important milestone for our vaccine development,” he says." ~communications.uwo.ca
YouTube doubles video file size to 2G
"ideo-sharing site YouTube announced on Wednesday that it was doubling the size limit for uploads to its website to allow users to post more high-definition (HD) video. YouTube, in a blog post, said the size limit for uploads to the site was being doubled -- from one gigabyte to two gigabytes. "The increase means you can upload longer videos at a higher resolution as well as large HD files directly from your camera," YouTube said." ~google.com
"ideo-sharing site YouTube announced on Wednesday that it was doubling the size limit for uploads to its website to allow users to post more high-definition (HD) video. YouTube, in a blog post, said the size limit for uploads to the site was being doubled -- from one gigabyte to two gigabytes. "The increase means you can upload longer videos at a higher resolution as well as large HD files directly from your camera," YouTube said." ~google.com
AMD Rolls Out Latest Quad-Core Opteron
"As AMD’s six-core “Istanbul” Opteron server processor gets the bulk of the publicity, AMD is rolling out additions to its line of quad-core chips. The latest is “Suzuka,” which addresses the issues of power consumption and cost more than scalability. Suzuka is targeted at such environments as cloud computing, Web servers, small business servers and workstations. The new Opteron comes as AMD ramps up its Istanbul push, and as rival Intel rolls out its new Xeon “Nehalem” architecture." ~eweek.com
"As AMD’s six-core “Istanbul” Opteron server processor gets the bulk of the publicity, AMD is rolling out additions to its line of quad-core chips. The latest is “Suzuka,” which addresses the issues of power consumption and cost more than scalability. Suzuka is targeted at such environments as cloud computing, Web servers, small business servers and workstations. The new Opteron comes as AMD ramps up its Istanbul push, and as rival Intel rolls out its new Xeon “Nehalem” architecture." ~eweek.com
Gaikai Cloud Computing Service
ION 2 has 2X+ more shaders
"ION 2 should launch toward the end of the year, but Nvidia doesn’t want to talk too much about it, as it still plans to sell many original ION chips. Our industry sources have told us that the new, shrunk version of ION, probably branded as ION 2, should have much faster graphics and much more shaders. We don’t believe that the thermals will change that much, but we’ve heard that ION 2 will have more than double the number of shaders of the original Geforce 9400M /MCP79 /ION chip. Since ION has 16 shaders , or processors as Nvidia calls them these days, you should expect that the new one has more than 32. This will get much better gaming to netbooks and nettops based on ION 2 which is definitely something you cannot say no to and at the same time Cuda applications might run faster, in case you found one that matter to you. ION 2 should be launching by the end of the year." ~fudzilla.com
"ION 2 should launch toward the end of the year, but Nvidia doesn’t want to talk too much about it, as it still plans to sell many original ION chips. Our industry sources have told us that the new, shrunk version of ION, probably branded as ION 2, should have much faster graphics and much more shaders. We don’t believe that the thermals will change that much, but we’ve heard that ION 2 will have more than double the number of shaders of the original Geforce 9400M /MCP79 /ION chip. Since ION has 16 shaders , or processors as Nvidia calls them these days, you should expect that the new one has more than 32. This will get much better gaming to netbooks and nettops based on ION 2 which is definitely something you cannot say no to and at the same time Cuda applications might run faster, in case you found one that matter to you. ION 2 should be launching by the end of the year." ~fudzilla.com
Cisco may offer Web-based office software
"Cisco Systems Inc is considering offering Web-based alternatives to Microsoft Corp's popular Office software as the networking giant expands on the Internet. Cisco Senior Vice President Doug Dennerline said on Tuesday his company may develop a service that would allow business users to create documents they could draft and share through its WebEx meeting and collaboration service." ~reuters.com
"Cisco Systems Inc is considering offering Web-based alternatives to Microsoft Corp's popular Office software as the networking giant expands on the Internet. Cisco Senior Vice President Doug Dennerline said on Tuesday his company may develop a service that would allow business users to create documents they could draft and share through its WebEx meeting and collaboration service." ~reuters.com
Sony OLED television.
"Sony have just released the first consumer OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) television. This is the world’s 1st OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TV that is available to the public, we were able to see this OLED in action just a few weeks ago, These TV’s make high end LCD’s & Plasma’s look out dated, The Sony Oled XEL-1 features 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, is only 3.3mm thick." ~oledreviews.net
"Sony have just released the first consumer OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) television. This is the world’s 1st OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TV that is available to the public, we were able to see this OLED in action just a few weeks ago, These TV’s make high end LCD’s & Plasma’s look out dated, The Sony Oled XEL-1 features 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, is only 3.3mm thick." ~oledreviews.net
Gold Farming Not Really Banned In China
"Despite recent news that China had banned Gold Farming, IncGamers reveal that folks jumped the gun on that one. Taking a closer look at the legislation it has now been made clear that all of the hullabuloo had nothing at all to do with gold farming. Richard Heeks explains the situation. This is a government restriction on the use of the quasi-Paypal-like currencies (mainly QQ coins) that are used extensively in China to pay for virtual game stuff. As announced they can now only be used to pay for virtual stuff, and you can’t buy real things with them as game companies were allowing to happen, nor can you gamble. This therefore is not about what gold farming clients do: use real money to buy these virtual currencies; it’s the mirror image." ~ve3d.ign.com
"Despite recent news that China had banned Gold Farming, IncGamers reveal that folks jumped the gun on that one. Taking a closer look at the legislation it has now been made clear that all of the hullabuloo had nothing at all to do with gold farming. Richard Heeks explains the situation. This is a government restriction on the use of the quasi-Paypal-like currencies (mainly QQ coins) that are used extensively in China to pay for virtual game stuff. As announced they can now only be used to pay for virtual stuff, and you can’t buy real things with them as game companies were allowing to happen, nor can you gamble. This therefore is not about what gold farming clients do: use real money to buy these virtual currencies; it’s the mirror image." ~ve3d.ign.com
Ghostbusters Gameplay Performance & IQ
"Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! That’s right; a brand new video game marks the re-release of the feature film on Blu-ray. We’ll take this game, which pays homage to the feature films perfectly, through our gauntlet of video cards to see what kind of value and gameplay experience you can get. We’ll also see if the stories are true about this being a multi-core CPU aware game using CPU-based Physics." ~hardocp.com
"Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! That’s right; a brand new video game marks the re-release of the feature film on Blu-ray. We’ll take this game, which pays homage to the feature films perfectly, through our gauntlet of video cards to see what kind of value and gameplay experience you can get. We’ll also see if the stories are true about this being a multi-core CPU aware game using CPU-based Physics." ~hardocp.com
Sega: Not game over for mature Wii titles
"Sega's recent targeting of a mature audience on the Nintendo Wii has been successful in the long-term, with the publisher telling GamesIndustry.biz it has more budget for similar adult content on the format. Although The House of the Dead: Overkill didn't set the charts on fire on initial release, the company said that sales at a lower price point have made the game profitable, and the company is still willing to experiment with product despite the Wii being seen as the home of sugar-sweet games.." ~gamesindustry.biz
"Sega's recent targeting of a mature audience on the Nintendo Wii has been successful in the long-term, with the publisher telling GamesIndustry.biz it has more budget for similar adult content on the format. Although The House of the Dead: Overkill didn't set the charts on fire on initial release, the company said that sales at a lower price point have made the game profitable, and the company is still willing to experiment with product despite the Wii being seen as the home of sugar-sweet games.." ~gamesindustry.biz
Hackers Target Neopets Users
"I regularly see a lot of extremely dubious and rather slimy techniques deployed to get end-users to run horrible things or fall for scams. Generally, the targets tend to be the technologically inept or granny, sitting in the corner. See granny? Sure you do, she's right over there replying to the Third King of Nigeria and helping him out with his cash relocation problem. However, I've come across a scam rapidly spreading across numerous underground forums and IRC channels that is truly one of the scummiest tactics I've seen in some time. How bad? Allow the following screenshot to spell it out for you.." ~blog.spywareguide.com
"I regularly see a lot of extremely dubious and rather slimy techniques deployed to get end-users to run horrible things or fall for scams. Generally, the targets tend to be the technologically inept or granny, sitting in the corner. See granny? Sure you do, she's right over there replying to the Third King of Nigeria and helping him out with his cash relocation problem. However, I've come across a scam rapidly spreading across numerous underground forums and IRC channels that is truly one of the scummiest tactics I've seen in some time. How bad? Allow the following screenshot to spell it out for you.." ~blog.spywareguide.com
Firefox 3.5 released
"Things move quickly online, and we’ve beefed up the engine that runs Firefox to make sure you can keep up: Firefox 3.5 is more than twice as fast as Firefox 3, and ten times as fast as Firefox 2.* As a result, Web applications like email, photo sites and your favorite social networks will feel snappier and more responsive." ~mozilla.com | ~Download
"Things move quickly online, and we’ve beefed up the engine that runs Firefox to make sure you can keep up: Firefox 3.5 is more than twice as fast as Firefox 3, and ten times as fast as Firefox 2.* As a result, Web applications like email, photo sites and your favorite social networks will feel snappier and more responsive." ~mozilla.com | ~Download
Wikipedians Are a Bunch of Grumpy....
"A study making the rounds suggests that Wikipedians may feel at home online, in part because they're grumpy introverts. But the results need to be interpreted very cautiously, as they were based on only 69 contributors from a single nation, a tiny drop in the Wikipedian ocean.." ~arstechnica.com
"A study making the rounds suggests that Wikipedians may feel at home online, in part because they're grumpy introverts. But the results need to be interpreted very cautiously, as they were based on only 69 contributors from a single nation, a tiny drop in the Wikipedian ocean.." ~arstechnica.com
Mushkin goes back to GPU market
"A while back, or to be precise, in January last year, Mushkin has announced its first graphics card, the Geforce 8800 GT XP. As of today, it looks like Mushkin is getting more serious about this part of the market and has announced several Nvidia based cards ranging from GTX 260 to GTX 285 with promise of Overclocked and GTX 295 that should be announced soon.
As far as we could tell, a new Mushkin branded cards are all based on Nvidia's reference design, but it appears that Mushkin is also doing an overclocked cards branded as OC and OC2, brands already seen at BFG. The new series is called ultimateFX and will be delivered in a WoodBox, which is a box made of wood, just in case you wondered.
The currently announced lineup include GTX 260, GTX 275, and GTX 285 as well as GTX 260 and 275 overclocked models. In addition to these Nvidia based cards, Mushkin is apparently preparing to do AMD/ATI based cards as well and we are quite sure that these will look good. After all, Mushkin is quite a well established name in the memory business, and that name should sell some of these cards. Precise details about the cards are still unknown but we are quite sure that we will see those pretty soon." ~fudzilla.com
"A while back, or to be precise, in January last year, Mushkin has announced its first graphics card, the Geforce 8800 GT XP. As of today, it looks like Mushkin is getting more serious about this part of the market and has announced several Nvidia based cards ranging from GTX 260 to GTX 285 with promise of Overclocked and GTX 295 that should be announced soon.
As far as we could tell, a new Mushkin branded cards are all based on Nvidia's reference design, but it appears that Mushkin is also doing an overclocked cards branded as OC and OC2, brands already seen at BFG. The new series is called ultimateFX and will be delivered in a WoodBox, which is a box made of wood, just in case you wondered.
The currently announced lineup include GTX 260, GTX 275, and GTX 285 as well as GTX 260 and 275 overclocked models. In addition to these Nvidia based cards, Mushkin is apparently preparing to do AMD/ATI based cards as well and we are quite sure that these will look good. After all, Mushkin is quite a well established name in the memory business, and that name should sell some of these cards. Precise details about the cards are still unknown but we are quite sure that we will see those pretty soon." ~fudzilla.com
Carnivorous Clock Eats Bugs
"It's not enough that humans gave robots a place to congregate to plan our demise, now we've adapted them with the ability to extract fuel from the very nectar of life. All that innocent experimentation with fuel cells that run on blood has led to this, a flesh-eating clock. This prototype time-piece from UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau traps insects on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The ensuing chemical reaction, or "digestion," is transformed into power that keeps the rollers rollin' and the LCD clock ablaze. The pair offers an alternative design fueled by mice, another contraption whose robotic arm plucks insect-fuel from spider webs with the help of a video camera, and a lamp powered by insects lured to their deaths with ultraviolet LEDs. Man, this is so wrong it has to be right." ~engadget.com
"It's not enough that humans gave robots a place to congregate to plan our demise, now we've adapted them with the ability to extract fuel from the very nectar of life. All that innocent experimentation with fuel cells that run on blood has led to this, a flesh-eating clock. This prototype time-piece from UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau traps insects on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The ensuing chemical reaction, or "digestion," is transformed into power that keeps the rollers rollin' and the LCD clock ablaze. The pair offers an alternative design fueled by mice, another contraption whose robotic arm plucks insect-fuel from spider webs with the help of a video camera, and a lamp powered by insects lured to their deaths with ultraviolet LEDs. Man, this is so wrong it has to be right." ~engadget.com
China delays internet filter plan
"China is to delay a controversial plan requiring all new computers sold in the country to be equipped with an internet filtering software, state media says. The filter, called Green Dam Youth Escort, was to have been required from Wednesday, but the industry ministry said computer makers needed more time..." ~news.bbc.co.uk
"China is to delay a controversial plan requiring all new computers sold in the country to be equipped with an internet filtering software, state media says. The filter, called Green Dam Youth Escort, was to have been required from Wednesday, but the industry ministry said computer makers needed more time..." ~news.bbc.co.uk
The Huge Hidden Cost of Microsoft Software
"Yesterday I wrote about a report from ACT that brought up the issue of TCO for free software. As I pointed out there, it's old news that free software has costs; but what is more interesting is the fact that fans of the proprietary world always fail to point out the huge hidden costs of using poorly-written closed-source software. Here's a great demonstration of my point:" ~computerworlduk.com
"Yesterday I wrote about a report from ACT that brought up the issue of TCO for free software. As I pointed out there, it's old news that free software has costs; but what is more interesting is the fact that fans of the proprietary world always fail to point out the huge hidden costs of using poorly-written closed-source software. Here's a great demonstration of my point:" ~computerworlduk.com
Comcast offers wireless 4G to go
"Comcast has kicked off a nationwide rollout of its wireless high-speed 3G and 4G data service. The company claims that High-Speed 2go provides the "fastest available wireless Internet in the nation." ~tgdaily.com
"Comcast has kicked off a nationwide rollout of its wireless high-speed 3G and 4G data service. The company claims that High-Speed 2go provides the "fastest available wireless Internet in the nation." ~tgdaily.com
Fable III teased by New York Times' Style?
"What we heard: Lionhead Studios' Fable II sold like gangbusters as an Xbox 360 exclusive, shifting 2.6 million units as of Microsoft's last accounting in March. It came as little surprise, then, when BBC personality Jonathan Ross said on his Twitter feed on the night of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards ceremony in March that he had been tapped to provide work on Fable II's follow-up, Fable III..." ~gamespot.com
"What we heard: Lionhead Studios' Fable II sold like gangbusters as an Xbox 360 exclusive, shifting 2.6 million units as of Microsoft's last accounting in March. It came as little surprise, then, when BBC personality Jonathan Ross said on his Twitter feed on the night of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards ceremony in March that he had been tapped to provide work on Fable II's follow-up, Fable III..." ~gamespot.com
Hands On: The Video Bay
"Sometimes a product comes along that reminds you of the good-ol' wide-open, no-holds-barred days of the early-90s Internet. The Pirate Bay's new Video Bay is such a product. But the recent news of TPB being sold to a legitimate public company could spell the end of the nascent service's freewheeling approach. The new owner, Global Gaming Factory X, has expressed its intention to make everything on the up-and-up, even saying that content owners would be paid! In the meanwhile, however, I put the Video Bay through its paces, and found that it has a way to go before unseating YouTube." ~pcmag.com
"Sometimes a product comes along that reminds you of the good-ol' wide-open, no-holds-barred days of the early-90s Internet. The Pirate Bay's new Video Bay is such a product. But the recent news of TPB being sold to a legitimate public company could spell the end of the nascent service's freewheeling approach. The new owner, Global Gaming Factory X, has expressed its intention to make everything on the up-and-up, even saying that content owners would be paid! In the meanwhile, however, I put the Video Bay through its paces, and found that it has a way to go before unseating YouTube." ~pcmag.com
