Computing – Page 26

8 bit Left 4 Dead. I don’t think Nintendo would have released this…

November 18, 2009 drsquid classic gaming, indie gaming, Left 4 Dead, NES, PC0 comment

This, believe it or not, is a real game, coming from EricRuthGames early next year. The flagship title of the PixelForce NES de-makes is Valve’s Left 4 Dead. This game play footage gives you an idea of what the project looks like in action and how it plays. As you can see, it’s a standard top-down 4 directional action/shooter. Remade in the NES retro style, the resolution is at 256 x 240 and features 16 colors and a 4 sound channel soundtrack. Now, let’s just get this out of the…

Flash 10.1 pre-release available

November 17, 2009November 17, 2009 Doug Groves Adobe, Flash, ION, Nvidia5 Comments

The long awaited version of Adobe’s Flash with support for video card (GPU) acceleration is now available for the PC in pre-release form. The new version offloads much of the video processing to the GPU, allowing for what is said to be much better playback performance. This is especially good news for those looking to add inexpensive ION based PCs to their home theatre setup, or want better Flash performance on their netbooks, as Flash based video is just about the only format that has playback issues in high definition. …

Amazon Kindle available in Canada

November 17, 2009 Doug Groves Amazon, Kindle2 Comments

Amazon has announced that the Kindle ebook reader is now available in Canada, which bring an integrated ebook reading experience to the market. Besides books, Canada will have wireless access to over 90 newspapers on a single use or subscription basis. In the US, customers can browse and buy books directly through the device using a 3G connection, for a fee of 10 cents per book. There is a similar deal with one of Canadas wireless carriers, but as of yet that carrier hasn’t been announced. If you’re interested in…

Inside scoop on Modern Warfare 3 via The Onion

November 11, 2009 Doug Groves 1 Comment

Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks Modern Warfare 2 has only been out for a day, but The Onion managed to get some details on the inevitable sequel. The missions in this beta are looking to be even more true to life, and vary from the very easy “Pose for photo-ops for Thanksgiving media reports” to the more challenging “Settle the debate on who’ you’d rather have sex with: Jessica Biel or Shakira“. Infinity Ward isn’t known for adding such subtle role-playing elements, and it’s nice to…

Trio of Acer convertible tablets announced

November 10, 2009January 28, 2010 Doug Groves 1420P, 1820PT, 1820PTZ, Acer, convertible, Laptop, multitouch, netbook, tablet, Windows 72 Comments

Netbooks have been with us for a couple of years now, and although the market has been one of the largest growing consumer tech sectors, there’s been little innovation beyond increasing screen size and the blurring of lines between netbook and laptop. Sitting squarely between the netbook and laptop markets are ultra thin devices that range from reasonably priced products like the Acer Timeline to the ultra expensive and stylish Dell Adamo and Sony Vaio X. I had a chance to play with the Acer 1410, and found it to…

Boxee Media Center Beta arrives Dec 7

November 6, 2009November 6, 2009 Doug Groves beta, Boxee, event, Linux, Mac OS X, Windows0 comment

Boxee, the social media connected media center, is having a beta reveal party on December 7, 2009. The software has been in alpha for the past year or so, and brings a wealth of online content to the living room interface, whether you’re running Windows, Linux, Mac or Apple TV. From the annoucement: At the event we will demo the new Beta, launch new applications from partners and start a 4-weeks early-access for users to test the Beta before we release it to the public at CES on Jan 7th….

A Look at the New Wacom Fun Pen & Touch Tablet

November 5, 2009November 6, 2009 kingpinlei draw, editing, input, mouse, multitouch, nonlinear, replacement, tablet, Wacom23 Comments

Okay, so I recently picked up the new Wacom Bamboo Fun (Pen & Touch) Tablet to see if it holds up to what Wacom’s been promising about offering multitouch and pen tablet experience on both a Mac and a Windows-based computer. I know what you’re thinking, why don’t I wait for one of the new multi-touch monitors coming out? Well, for starters I’m impatient; I want multi-touch NOW! Second, I really like using a pen for some of the drawings and Photoshop touchups I like to do. Thirdly, I have…

Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 trumps GPS for anything else. Pricewise, at least.

October 28, 2009October 28, 2009 Danny X 4 Comments

You hear that? On the wind? That’s the sound of a million TomTom, Garmin, and Magellan owners saying “aw, crap.” It’s because Google today announced their own turn-by-turn navigation application, dubbed Google Maps Navigation. The buyer’s remorse for anyone who bought a standalone GPS will set in when they hear the price, which is significantly less then any other GPS nav system on the market. 100% less, to be precise. In true Google fashion, Google Maps Navigation is available on the Android 2.0 mobile OS and is absolutely free.

Awesome trailer for a game I have never heard of until today

October 27, 2009October 27, 2009 drsquid FPS, Futuremark, PC, Steam12 Comments

Futuremark, creators of the industry standard benchmarking tools 3D Mark and PC Mark, apparently have be working on a game, something that many people would hope they would do, given the quality of the ‘demos’ in their tools. I for one however was totally unaware that this dream had actually become a reality until today, when I saw this trailer. Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor. Shattered Horizon is a zero G online only FPS. This is a PC only title, and with graphics like…

CRTC decision already having effect?

October 26, 2009 Doug Groves Bell, CRTC, net neutrality, throttling7 Comments

Last week, the CRTC released it’s initial net neutrality decision, which was quickly followed by a wide range of opinions, from pie-in-the-sky to “The sky is falling“. More reasonable responses suggested that the ruling wasn’t bad, and the head of a 3rd party ISP or two even said it was pretty good overall, with some problems. That being said, one of the major issues was bandwidth throttling, and there were guidelines put in place that would restrict how and when ISPs could do so. Less than a week after the…

HULU might start charging for content.

October 26, 2009October 26, 2009 Danny X Hulu2 Comments

HULU, the online ad-supported content provider that provides streaming content from FOX, NBC and Disney for free, may start charging for content as early as next year. Chase Carey, deputy chairman of HULU’s parent company News Corp., discussed the future of the company’s model at the B&C OnScreen Summit recently, saying “It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online”.

Apple’s Anti-Windows 7 Commercial Up The Irony Factor

October 23, 2009 Doug Groves advertising, Apple, Mac OS X, Microsoft, Windows 73 Comments

The day after Windows 7 launches, Apple has fired off the latest salvo of spots starring John Hodgman and Justin Long. Although one could argue that they wore out their welcome a long time ago, these just plain old stink. The focus this time round is “hey everyone’s switching to the Mac”, even though according to their own numbers, this is far from true, but then again, the PC/Mac spots were never known for their accuracy. Then again, very little advertising IS accurate (it’s rare, but it happens). The most…