PC World
- Gala Launches Final Fantasy XIII
The game's official introduction was a party befitting the epic scope of the series. … - Microsoft Plugs Excel Holes
Two bulletins fix security vulnerabilities on a quieter than usual Patch Tuesday. … - New Guitar Game Features Real Guitar
Power Gig: Rise of the Sixstring is one-upping Guitar Hero and Rock Band with its six-string guitar controller. … - Getting Started in Digital Photography
Here's how to choose a camera and an image editor, along with important tips to help you begin taking great photos. … - IT OKs Windows 7
After taking a pass on Vista, organizations are ready to commit to Microsoft's new OS. … - Microsoft Researcher Wins Turing Award
This year's ACM Turing Award goes to Charles Thacker, inventor of the modern PC. … - Google Docs Now Syncing with Outlook
New Harmony sidebar lets you share, e-mail, download, upload, and edit your Google Docs right from your desktop using Outlook 2007. … - Opera to Patch Browser Vulnerability Soon
Opera Software will soon patch a vulnerability in its Web browser that could allow an attacker to run malicious software on a computer. … - Motorola Backflip on AT&T: Not the Full Android Experience
AT&T may have opened its arms to Android with the release of Motorola's Backflip, but it isn't exactly embracing the platform's open nature. … - Where to Store Your Videos
Reader Luis Ortiz seeks my opinion about media storage. He writes: …
Slashdot
- Rock Band 3 Officially Announced For Holiday 2010
An anonymous reader writes "Philippe Dauman, Viacom CEO and President, announced today that Harmonix is currently working on the next Rock Band game, Rock Band 3, due for release Holiday 2010. 'The company is pursuing the game in spite of an industry-weakening decline in the once-booming genre of peripheral-equipped music games. Although the franchise has generated over $1 billion to date, the category in general saw sales contract by as much as half throughout 2009. MTV Games parent Viacom also… - Linux Takes Over E-Voting In Australian State
daria42 writes "The Electoral Commission in the Australian state of Victoria has made plans to expand its use of electronic voting kiosks based on Linux in the next state election in November of this year. But it appears to be a little confused: the documentation states it will be using the '2.6 kernel/Gentoo release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.' Huh?" Read more of this story at Slashdot. … - Puzzle In xkcd Book Finally Cracked
An anonymous reader writes "After a little over five months of pondering, xkcd fans have cracked a puzzle hidden inside Randall Munroe's recent book xkcd: volume 0. Here is the start of the thread on the xkcd forums; and here is the post revealing the final message (a latitude and longitude plus a date and time)." Read more of this story at Slashdot. … - The Value of BASIC As a First Programming Language
Mirk writes "Computer-science legend Edsger W. Dijkstra famously wrote: 'It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.' The Reinvigorated Programmer argues that the world is full of excellent programmers who cut their teeth on BASIC, and suggests it could even be because they started out with BASIC." Read more of this story at Slashdot. … - US Considers Some Free Wireless Broadband Service
gollum123 writes "US regulators may dedicate spectrum to free wireless Internet service for some Americans to increase affordable broadband service nationwide, the Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday. The FCC provided few details about how it would carry out such a plan and who would qualify, but will make a recommendation under the National Broadband Plan set for release next week. The agency will determine details later. One way of making broadband more affordable is to 'consider… - US Gamers Spend $3.8 Billion On MMOs Yearly
eldavojohn writes "A new report from Games Industry indicates that MMO gamers in the United States paid $3.8 billion to play last year, with an analysis of five European countries bringing the total close to $4.5 billion USD. In America, the report estimated that payments for boxed content and client downloads amounted to a measly $400 million, while the subscriptions came to $2.38 billion. Hopefully that will fund some developer budgets for bigger and better MMOs yet to come. The study also fou… - The World's First Commercially Available Jetpack
ElectricSteve writes "It's been a long time coming. While Arthur C. Clarke's geosync satellites have taken to space, and James Bond's futuristic mobile technology has become commonplace, still the dream of sustained personal flight has eluded us — until now. At $86,000, the Martin Aircraft jetpack costs about as much as a high-end car, achieves a 30-minute flight time, and is fueled by regular gasoline. A 10% deposit buys you a production slot for 12 months hence." Here's a video of some i… - Google's Computing Power Refines Translation
gollum123 sends an excerpt from the NY Times on how Google has taken a lead in language translation, in one of the company's few unqualified successes as it attempts to broaden is offerings beyond search. "...Google's quick rise to the top echelons of the translation business is a reminder of what can happen when Google unleashes its brute-force computing power on complex problems. The network of data centers that it built for Web searches may now be, when lashed together, the world's largest co… - Jeff Jaffe Named CEO of W3C
blozza2070 notes the news that Jeff Jaffe has been appointed CEO of the World Wide Web Consortium. Until January Jaffe was CTO at Novell and, while his name hasn't come up very often in this community, he is one of the architects of the Novell-Microsoft patent deal. A reading of Jaffe's blog while at Novell tends to paint him as a software patent supporter, Microsoft apologist, and no fan of the FSF. This strongly worded page at Boycott Novell features copious links to support the above characte… - NewEgg Confirms Shipping Fake Core i7s
adeelarshad82 writes "After originally rejecting the story, online retailer NewEgg confirmed that a shipment of Core i7s were indeed fake, and apologized for the affair. NewEgg has also broken off its relationship with IPEX, the supplier of the phony lot. The retailer said that it has already contacted affected customers and would continue to reach out and replace the counterfeit parts. We discussed the fake Core i7s over the weekend." Read more of this story at Slashdot. …
GameSport: PC
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online Screens
6 new shots posted.… - GDC Awards, Sony press briefing streaming live on GameSpot
Thursday's Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony and Wednesday's suspected motion-controller unveiling top coverage of San Francisco event; write-ups of Meier, Pardo, Molyneux, Pitchford, Muzyka, Sakamoto, Yamaoka, Toriyama, and Schafer talks also on tap; full schedule inside.… - Raising indie awareness through game design - Keynote
GDC 2010: Tiger Style co-owner Randy Smith advocates immediacy, depth as a way to elevate the status of small-scale developers.… - Daily Demo
GameSpot hardware editor Sarju Shah shows off the power of gaming on six monitors.… - Split/Second Game Demo
Check out this demo of Split/Second from GDC 2010!… - True Crime First Look
The third game in this sandbox action series has you exploring Hong Kong as an undercover cop.… - Mafia II Exclusive Hands-On - Driving, Open-World Exploration, and Cover-to-Cover Shooting
Mafia II is a gritty crime-drama game that will let you climb the ranks of a postwar Mafia syndicate to become a made man. We try out this sequel's driving, exploration, and ferocious gun battles at GDC 2010.… - Mafia II Interview: Denby Grace
We get the latest on Mafia II straight from Denby Grace, the game's producer.… - Dawn of Discovery: Venice Review
This modest add-on to a great game is aimed at players who fancy some multiplayer competition.… - Modern Warfare 2 map pack hits Xbox Live March 30
First add-on to controversy-stricken Call of Duty game arrives on Microsoft's console in three weeks; PS3, PC DLC coming afterward; game reaches 25 million unique players across all platforms.…
BetaNews
- Google unveils its cloud-based Apps Marketplace, wants 20% revenue share
By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews Tuesday evening, during an event televised over YouTube called Google Campfire One, Google executives lifted the curtain on its cloud-based Apps Marketplace for PC-based applications, with the promise of opening its online store with 50 charter vendors later in the evening. The Marketplace is designed to feature applications that integrate with the company's existing Google Apps, Gmail, and other cloud-based services.Google Vice President of Engineering Vic Gond… - Samsung launches its eReader, connects with Barnes & Noble
By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews After showing a prototype of its first electronic reader at CES in January, Samsung on Tuesday officially rolled out the new device, spilling all the details about the final feature set while also unveiling a new partnership with Barnes & Noble.Unlike other gadgets in the increasingly crowded field, the Samsung eReader lets people make notes in the margins of e-book pages, pointed out Vickie Cullen, a Samsung spokesperson, at a press event in New York City where the… - Get your glasses ready: Samsung soars into the third dimension
By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews At a press conference in New York City on Tuesday, Samsung unveiled new 3D products that include six HDTV series, a Shrek 3D movie, and a DVD player designed to handle 3D along with regular Blu-ray and standard DVD disks. Samsung's initial 3D TV line-up -- which requires 3D glasses for viewing - ranges from the LED 7000/8000/9000 Series to the LCD 750 Series and the Plasma 7000/8000 Series. Samsung also debuted the 3D-capable BD-C6900 Blu-ray player, a 3D-enabled re… - American cities fight for Google's attention
By Tim Conneally, Betanews One month ago, Google put the word out that it was looking to build and test its own fiber-to-the-home networks in a couple of cities. The speeds would be up to 1 Gbps and the reach would initially be about 50,000 homes.Immediately, hundreds of cities began making pitches to attract Google's attention, some earnest, some outlandish.Topeka, Kansas unofficially renamed itself "Google" for the month and garnered a considerable amount of attention; Sarasota, Florida quickl… - Almost #3 now: Dell's decline is Acer's gain
By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews With the economic sinkhole of 2008-09 now a figment of many technology companies' past, most PC manufacturers are back on their regularly scheduled growth curve. Last month, Dell had indicated to investors that it was returning to that curve as well, reporting "product shipments...up at double-digit rates year-over-year" during its end-of-fiscal year 2010 earnings report.According to iSuppli, which tracks worldwide PC unit shipments, that Dell claim -- which not… - That wasn't supposed to happen: IE usage share steady since choice screen
By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews The window of opportunity may be closing for the first test of government mandated fairness and equal choice among Web browsers, with neutral results. There are a number of studies recently that say computer users in general have a tendency to automatically distrust notices that pop up on their screen. More attention was paid to those studies since last March, after Microsoft's deployment of Internet Explorer 8 over Windows Update was followed by a general downt… - Sony proves PS3 is still a movie machine with HD content from all major studios
By Tim Conneally, Betanews Sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 have lagged behind Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 for most of this generation, and the PSP and PSP Go now face a serious threat from Apple's iPhone OS-based handhelds. Despite these factors, though, Sony has managed to set up one of the strongest Web-based storefronts for digital content distribution to its consoles. Offering full downloadable games, add-ons, XMB customizations, game trailers, and HD Hollywood feature films and te… - Samsung reveals just how expensive 3D in the home is going to be
By Tim Conneally, Betanews At CES this year, every major consumer electronics company involved in the HDTV market had floorspace dedicated to 3D TVs. They were convinced that 3D in the home is ready for widespread adoption, and the popularity of James Cameron's Avatar would kickstart adoption.Samsung today announced its full 2010 3D TV lineup, which shows just how expensive it's going to be to upgrade your home theater to the third dimension.The 3D TV lineup includes the LED 7000/8000/9000 Serie… - Welcome back to the big leagues: Opera denies severity of 10.5 exploit
By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews 12:02 pm EST March 9, 2010 · A spokesperson for Opera Software provided Betanews this morning with a summary of a complete blog post on the alleged exploit of Opera 10.5, published moments ago:"The original report about the Windows-only malformed Content-length header problem is not a security issue, but a variant of the issue, brought to our attention by Secunia, has a theoretical possibility of allowing arbitrary code to run. We have developed a fix for… - Latest HTML5 working draft published despite claims of 'sabotage'
By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews Should the next version of HTML, the Web standard that embodies how pages are laid out and constructed, include explicit specifications for inline, 2D dynamic graphics? There's valid arguments on both sides. One side believes that the ability to plot charts and animations would have been part of the original HTML standard anyway, had the technology existed on the back end in the beginning; giving HTML 2D graphics now, they say, plugs a hole left open for too lon…
GameSport: Xbox 360
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Celtic Manor Trailer
Get a bird's-eye view of Celtic Manor, one of the new courses in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.… - GDC 2010 Game Demo - 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
Brian Ekberg talks with EA Sports producer Matt Prior for a game demo of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Paula Creamer Trailer
Paula Creamer, LPGA golfer, shows off a little of the motion capture used in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Tutorial Trailer
Get a quick tutorial for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11!… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Meet Rory Trailer
Meet Rory McIlroy, sharing the cover of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 this year.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Ryder Cup Trailer
An epic match, for honor...for country! All in the new Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 PGA Tour Online Trailer
Get the lowdown on Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online!… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 First Look
The Ryder Cup, new controls, and the 16th at TPC Scottsdale are just some of the new features in EA's upcoming golf game.… - 2010 FIFA World Cup Updated Hands-On
We talked online, penalties and post-release DLC as EA Sports showed us the latest build of 2010 FIFA World Cup.… - EA SPORTS MMA Screens
17 new shots posted.…
GameSport: PlayStation 3
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Celtic Manor Trailer
Get a bird's-eye view of Celtic Manor, one of the new courses in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Paula Creamer Trailer
Paula Creamer, LPGA golfer, shows off a little of the motion capture used in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Tutorial Trailer
Get a quick tutorial for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11!… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Meet Rory Trailer
Meet Rory McIlroy, sharing the cover of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 this year.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Ryder Cup Trailer
An epic match, for honor...for country! All in the new Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 PGA Tour Online Trailer
Get the lowdown on Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online!… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 First Look
The Ryder Cup, new controls, and the 16th at TPC Scottsdale are just some of the new features in EA's upcoming golf game.… - 2010 FIFA World Cup Updated Hands-On
We talked online, penalties and post-release DLC as EA Sports showed us the latest build of 2010 FIFA World Cup.… - GDC 2010: EA Sport MMA Interview With Randy Chase
Brian interviews Randy Chase about the upcoming game EA Sports MMA at GDC 2010.… - GDC Awards, Sony press briefing streaming live on GameSpot
Thursday's Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony and Wednesday's suspected motion-controller unveiling top coverage of San Francisco event; write-ups of Meier, Pardo, Molyneux, Pitchford, Muzyka, Sakamoto, Yamaoka, Toriyama, and Schafer talks also on tap; full schedule inside.…
CNET: Software
- McAfee Total Protection 2010 (1 User)
McAfee Total Protection 2010 hits many of the right notes. It's easy to use and it's effective, but years of below-average releases will likely leave many users unwilling to give it a try.… - Quicken Deluxe 2010
Quicken 2010 is a solid finance package, especially for novices, but offers little that's substantively new.… - Apple iTunes 9
iTunes 9 is a natural, yet relatively minor, evolution of Apple's popular media management software and is a required download for new iPod owners.… - Trend Micro Internet Security 2010
Trend Micro Internet Security Pro's broad feature set combined with its look and feel make it a serious contender, but its questionable efficacy and middling performance make it a program we're not recommending.… - Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2010
Trend Micro Internet Security Pro's broad feature set combined with its look and feel make it a serious contender, but questionable efficacy and middling performance mean it's a program we're not recommending for this year.… - Trend Micro AntiVirus plus AntiSpyware 2010
Going by older detection and removal numbers, Trend Micro AntiVirus plus AntiSpyware offers competent if basic security protection. However, so do many free competitors. This year, we recommend giving Trend Micro AntiVirus plus AntiSpyware 2010 a pass.… - Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Intel Mac users will like Snow Leopard's smartly designed interface enhancements, and its Exchange support is a must-have (especially with Outlook for Mac on the way). With a ton of technological improvements, Snow Leopard is worth the $29 upgrade fee.… - Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 (CD-ROM, 1-Year License)
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 offers pricey antivirus protection. The 2009 version scored well on independent antivirus detection and removal tests, but be prepared to pay a premium for what you're getting.… - Corel Home Office
Despite some compatibility setbacks, Corel Home Office suite is useful for creating documents. Its conscientious size, small-screen optimizations, and attractive price make it a good buy for a Netbook office suite, or for saving space by shedding advanced features.… - H&R Block TaxCut Premium Federal + State + E-file 2008 (1 User, Box Set, Download)
TaxCut 2008 is missing TurboTax's advanced importing engines and sophisticated tax tools, and it takes longer than TurboTax to fill out. However, its free session of live tax advice and free live audit support will win over taxpayers who value personalized customer service.…
GameSport: Wii
- Kid Adventures: Sky Captain First Impressions
We take to the skies and water-bomb forest fires in our first look at this kid-friendly flight game.… - Kid Adventures: Sky Captain Demo
We get a demo for Kid Adventures: Sky Captain from GDC 2010.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Celtic Manor Trailer
Get a bird's-eye view of Celtic Manor, one of the new courses in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Paula Creamer Trailer
Paula Creamer, LPGA golfer, shows off a little of the motion capture used in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Tutorial Trailer
Get a quick tutorial for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11!… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Meet Rory Trailer
Meet Rory McIlroy, sharing the cover of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 this year.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 Ryder Cup Trailer
An epic match, for honor...for country! All in the new Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 GDC 2010 PGA Tour Online Trailer
Get the lowdown on Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online!… - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 First Look
The Ryder Cup, new controls, and the 16th at TPC Scottsdale are just some of the new features in EA's upcoming golf game.… - EA Sports Active More Workouts GDC 2010 Trailer
New trailer for EA Sports Active More Workouts from GDC 2010.…
GameSport: PlayStation 2
- Rock Band 3 confirmed for this holiday
Harmonix and MTV Games getting the band back together, Electronic Arts handling distribution once more.… - Black creator talks up Bodycount on PS3, 360
Q&A: Shooter specialist Stuart Black shares details on "glossy techno-thriller" shooter, due out in Q1 2011; says Black 2 "bit the dust" at EA.… - Black creator back with Bodycount
New destructible-environment, first-person shooter from Stuart Black and Codemasters' Guildford Studio revealed via UK magazine leak.…