Computing – Page 15

PC64 aims directly at the nostalgia crowd

September 3, 2010September 3, 2010 Doug Groves Atom, C-64, Commodore, Commodore 64, ION 2, nettop, Nvidia, PC64, portable2 Comments

One of the more oddball computer announcements in the past week or so was Commodore USA would be coming out with the PC64, and all in one computer that will be a 1:1 replica of one of the most successful computers of all time – the Commodore 64. The basic concept is that they’re going to stuff the guts of a modern nettop, complete with an Intel Atom dual core 525 processor and Nvidia ION2 graphics processor into the original chassis, along with a modern variety of ports. The machine…

Canadian telcos to share high speed networks with 3rd party providers

September 1, 2010August 31, 2010 Doug Groves Bell, CRTC, ISP, net neutrality, ruling, Teksavvy, Telus2 Comments

Back in 2008, the CRTC ruled that internet wholesalers should have fair access to higher speed data networks controlled by incumbents such as Bell and Telus. Partly due to growth in high speed cable internet, the incumbent telcos haves have been resisting providing the high speed access to 3rd party wholesalers, to maintain a competitive edge with their cable counterparts. The original 2008 ruling was challenged and sent to federal cabinet, which sent it back to the CRTC. On Monday, the CRTC reaffirmed its position, which with means independents will…

Pure Pwnage Android app l33t Speaker beta demonstrated

August 30, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Android, app, Apple, beta, Boom Headshot, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, Geoff Lapaire, google, HTC, iPhone, l33t Speaker, l33t Speaker Pro, Nexus One, Pure Pwnage, smartphone, soundboard3 Comments

At Fan Expo, Geoff Lapaire of Pure Pwnage was kind enough to give us a look at the still-in-beta app that they’re developing for Android phones (an update to the already available iPhone app). The soundboard app, l33t Speaker, will have both basic and Pro versions, and Geoff shows it off on his Nexus One. The soundboard is a popular app category, but sound quality can sometimes be an issue. Since this is an official app, not only is the sound quality going to be top notch, but they’ve actually…

Fan Expo 2010 – The Big Crunch

August 30, 2010 Doug Groves Anthology Project, Comics, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, Film, PC gaming, PS3, Pure Pwnage, Xbox 3601 Comment

With the end of the last weekend of August comes the end of Fan Expo, by far the largest gathering of fans from across the geek spectrum in Canada, and third largest in North America. 2010 also marks the third year that we at RGB Filter have stormed the gates with video cameras and mics in hand to interview artists, writers, game designers and the occasional geek celebrity, meaning that I’m personally looking at about 6 hours of footage to pour through. One of the consistent highlights of Fan Expo…

Hand Eye Society Arcade at Fan Expo

August 26, 2010August 26, 2010 Doug Groves Bigpants, Fan Expo 2010, GetSetGames, Golden Gear Games, Hand Eye Society, indie gaming, PC gaming, Spooky Squid, Spyeart, TORONTRON4 Comments

Good news gaming fans! The Hand Eye Society Indie Arcade is going to be at Fan Expo this weekend. The Torontron arcade cabinet is going to be there and loaded up for your enjoyment. They’ll be set up in Room 201 on the main floor, so make sure you drop by. For more info, including details on the gaming party, read on…

Sony Announces New Digital Cameras

August 26, 2010August 26, 2010 kingpinlei 1080i, A33, A44, A560, A580, alpha, AVCHD, camera, digital, DSLR, HD2, launch, mirror, pellicle, SLT, Sony, Still, translucent0 comment

Sony has just announced yesterday four brand new Alpha DSLRs – the A33, A55, A560 and the A580. Sporting the brand new Exmor APS HD CMOS sensors, the A33 and A560 clock in at 14.2 MP while the A55 and A580 are 16.2 MP. The main difference between the A33/55 and A560/580 is the mirror technology that they utilize. While the later are traditional DSLR’s the former are what Sony call ‘Single Lens Translucent’ cameras. The “new” SLT technology Sony is unveiling with the A33 & A55 models is a Translucent…

Java must be stopped

August 26, 2010November 6, 2020 Jason Cobworks, cross-platform, Java, programming5 Comments

Java has passed its expiry date. It is no longer the only cross platform, fast language available. There are few examples of widely used Java applications. The few popular ones there are are noticeably slower and more resource intensive than native apps. And as a developer, I waste far too much time worrying about types in Java and generally writing out a lot of boiler plate code. Here are some examples of Java compared to Python (a more modern language): converting an integer to a string in Java: String aString…

Acer launches four new notebook models in Canada

August 25, 2010August 29, 2010 drsquid 5741, Acer, Acer Aspire, AO533, AOD260, AS8943G, Aspire One, canada, netbook, notebook, press release0 comment

Acer continues to make sure that every segment of the notebook market is covered with their latest releases. For the power user, the AS8943G series, with an 18.4 inch edge-to-edge glass display, include 4GB of RAM and use Core i3 or Core i5 processors depending on price point, and for graphics include ATI’s 1 GB Mobility Radeon HD5650 with Direct X 11 support so it should be up to snuff when it comes to gaming as well. Another interesting feature of these is the dual mode trackpad, which can easily…

Razer gaming gear

August 20, 2010August 24, 2010 Doug Groves Futureshop, headset, keyboard, Naga, PC gaming, Razer, Razerone1 Comment

At the recent Futureshop ‘Back To School’, Alex also caught up with Razer, which makes a wide lineup of gaming accessories, from keyboards and mice to headsets. We take a look at some of the gear, including the Naga mouse, which sports a numeric keypad on the side, for the hardcore MMORPG player. Check out more Razer gear at Future Shop here. This article now featured on the Future Shop Tech Blog here.

Nikon D3100 Officially Announced by Nikon

August 19, 2010August 20, 2010 kingpinlei 1080p, camera, canada, D3100, DSLR, Film, filmmaking, HD, indie, manual movie mode, Nikon, Nikon D3100, photography4 Comments

First reported by Nikonrumors.com and turning those very loud rumors into reality yesterday when Nikon officially announced their new D3100 DSLR along with their new batch of lenses. This is very cool as it becomes the first Nikon DSLR to be able to shoot HD in glorious 1080 @24p! The Nikon Canada website has the D3100 listed with a street price of $569.95 for the body only, and $699.95 for the D3100 Kit with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G VR Lens. This is great news for indie filmmakers!

Alienware’s laptop line up

August 18, 2010August 23, 2010 Doug Groves Alienware, Area 51, Dell, Futureshop, gaming laptop, Laptop, M11X, M15X, M17X, PC gaming6 Comments

Futureshop recently held a ‘Back To School’ event with various hardware vendors showing some of their wares. Despite the ‘…School’ moniker, there was a plethora of gaming oriented companies there. For example, Alex got to take a look at the Alienware notebooks coming to retail in Canada via Futureshop, including the M11X ($1199), a portable gaming rig in an 11.6″ almost netbook sized form factor. The M11X has switchable graphics so you can jump from the integrated Intel solution to NVidia’s GT 335M chip for gaming good enough to play…

The State of Mobile Application Development

August 16, 2010November 6, 2020 Jason Android, developer, iPhone, Mobile, programming, Symbian, tools4 Comments

It is amazing to see the amount of enthusiasm people have for their smartphones. Many iphone users not only like their phone, but regularly put on a sales hat for Apple and convince others that the iphone stands alone in its awesomeness and to not have one is the same as losing a sense. Android too isn’t without it’s feverish supporters, though I think most are just happy to have a decent device that isn’t an iphone. It is fun to watch and participate in such meaningless fanfare, but it’s…