[Thanks, Drew]
Monday, October 25, 2004
FlashPoint USB memory sticks with computer-free data transfer
How to Buy a Rear-Projection TV
Despite all the attention lavished on plasma panels, rear projection is still the most popular method of creating a big-screen TV experience. The foremost reason is economy, but that doesn't mean rear-projection TV should be considered some sort of poor cousin to video's flashiest trendsetter. In fact, recent technology infusions have brought new excitement to this venerable category, raising performance while trimming cabinet size and weight, sometimes dramatically. (Imagine a 50-inch wide-screen tabletop HDTV that weighs less than 100 pounds!) Here's what you need to know to sort through the alternatives.
The Big PictureNew kids on the block, such as DLP and LCD, are shaking up rear-projection technology. Big doesn't necessarily mean bulky anymore. more
The Specs Explained
We give you the lowdown on all those strange names and numbers. more
Rear-Projection TV Shopping Tips
Before you pull out your wallet, understand how to match size and technology to your needs and budget. more
How to Buy an MP3 Player
Whether you want to get your groove on while working out or would like to amuse yourself as you commute on public transit, a portable MP3 music player could suit your needs. MP3 players--available in a wide variety of styles and sizes and capable of storing thousands of songs--capitalize on digital technology to supplant traditional Walkman-style cassette-tape players and portable CD players.
The Big PictureToday's players pack loads of songs, and the devices are easy to manage, too. We'll help you figure out which one is best for you. more
The Specs Explained
The storage capacity and battery life of an MP3 player can have a big impact on how much you enjoy it. We'll explain what's behind these and other specifications. more
MP3 Player Shopping Tips
Our advice will help you find the right MP3 player for your lifestyle without paying too much. more
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Net2Phone VoiceLine XJ100 Wi-Fi VoIP Phone
( posted by Hubert )
Hey I thought that net2phone was dead (They still owe me some minutes I think!). It turns out they are coming back with an interesting product.
the XJ100 Wifi VoIP Phone is using a wireless internet connection to send/receive calls.
The big issue with Wifi, is that roaming is not quite working seamlessly yet. However, net2phone claims they this will be a non-issue on their XJ100 VoIP phone. I'll believe it when I'll hear it.
Sign Si-200C / Si-300 / Si-288, MP3 Players
Korea is The Mp3 Player country. Sign, a Korean company, has a triplet of very good looking Mp3 players.
Their storage capacities range from 256MB to 1GB. They can be used as Mass Storage Devices (they pop up as hard drives when connected to your PC) and the line of accessories is pretty complete. The specs are in the full post.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
NEC launches world’s fastest supercomputer
TOKYO, Japan -- Japanese electronics giant NEC Corp., said it has begun selling the world’s fastest supercomputer.
NEC claimed its SX-8 is the most powerful “vector-type” supercomputer, with a sustainable data processing speed well beyond IBM’s recently unveiled Blue Gene/L supercomputer.
In September IBM said its Blue Gene/L supercomputer had surpassed NEC’s Earth Simulator to become the world’s most powerful supercomputer.
IBM’s Blue Gene/L is capable of a sustained data processing speed of 36.01 teraflops, or one trillion floating point operations per second.
NEC said its newest SX series model has a peak processing speed of 65 teraflops and a sustainable performance of roughly 90 percent that speed or 58.5 teraflops.
The NEC and IBM supercomputers are different in structure. NEC says its SX-8, because of its vector architecture, “delivers much higher sustained performance than scalar supercomputers” like IBM’s Blue Gene/L.
“We have received 100 orders so far,” with the first models to be shipped too the UK’s national weather forecasting service and the High Performance Computing Center in Stuttgart, Germany, said NEC managing director Tadao Kondo. The Tokyo-based electronics maker aims to sell or rent 700 models in the first three years. The monthly rental fee for the SX-8 is a minimum 1.17 million yen (10,730 dollars) and the purchase price is 130 million yen. Supercomputers are widely used to develop complex products like new airplanes, automobiles and drugs.
Grand Theft Auto ... Stolen!
New version of popular game leaked before its October 26 release.
The Staff of GamePro Magazine
Friday, October 22, 2004
First it was Halo 2. Now the newest version of Grand Theft Auto has been leaked to the Internet.
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Rockstar Games' latest entry in its highly successful crime/action series, San Andreas, is scheduled for an October 26 release, but that didn't stop the game escaping into cyberspace.
No one knows where the leak originated from, but this will undoubtedly result in even sterner measures from game companies to secure their content. San Andreas is ranked number one on Amazon.com in the Computer & Video Games category, and the game is expected to draw huge sales. In response to the leak, Rockstar issued the following statement:
"Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive Software are aware that an illegally obtained version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and images from the game and manual have been posted to various internet sites. The proper authorities are investigating the theft and are continuing to investigate all possible leads to ensure there is no further dissemination of our creative content."
"Downloading, possession and distribution of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, including making the game available on the internet, is theft. We take the theft of our intellectual property very seriously and we are and will continue to diligently and aggressively pursue this matter. If anyone finds information on websites with links to unauthorized downloads, information, scans or videos, please contact us at piracy@rockstargames.com."
Friday, October 22, 2004
ATTN MOH FANS
PART 1
I feel like I've been at war all week. Not the real thing (thank god), but the videogame kind. It started earlier this week with the Vietnam-themed Men of Valor, and now I've shifted back another 20 years for the World War II-themed Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. The latest in EA's WWII series looks like it has come a long way since the demo that was released in early September, and we've been happily working our way through the game since a preview build arrived at GameSpy HQ earlier today. Even in the early going, it appears the game's aiming a lot higher than it's predecessor, the highly acclaimed Allied Assault.
I feel like I've been at war all week. Not the real thing (thank god), but the videogame kind. It started earlier this week with the Vietnam-themed Men of Valor, and now I've shifted back another 20 years for the World War II-themed Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. The latest in EA's WWII series looks like it has come a long way since the demo that was released in early September, and we've been happily working our way through the game since a preview build arrived at GameSpy HQ earlier today. Even in the early going, it appears the game's aiming a lot higher than it's predecessor, the highly acclaimed Allied Assault.
The game starts off with your character -- Tommy Conlin -- on a boat in the Pacific at the Tarawa Atoll in 1944. You're headed straight into a huge battle, and an explosion throws everything into chaos -- you're thrown into the ocean, your vision blurs, and you desperately try to reach the shore as bullets fly everywhere. You reach the beachhead, duck under a pier where the rest of your squad is, and attempt to fight off wave after wave of enemies assaulting your position. Eventually, you're overwhelmed, and... you flashback to 1942, to your character's beginnings back in boot camp.
After this exciting opening, a sweeping orchestral score kicks in and you're suddenly dropped into what's essentially the beginning of a WWII action film. Back in boot camp, you're given a long speech by your hard-as-nails drill instructor, who holds his station in high regard ("On the 8th day, God created a divine creature: the Marine"). During this boot camp, you'll befriend several other soldiers who you'll fight with throughout the game (although you'll be separated from them on occasion). More so than in 2003's Call of Duty, there's an effort to provide some background on your fellow soldiers, so they feel more like supporting actors in a movie than your run-of-the-mill in-game buddy.
Your run through boot camp also serves as a tutorial, and aside from the humor of your drill instructor constantly barking at you, you find Pacific Assault has a few conventions not seen in many other war shooters. Sure, there's your typical movement, leaning and crawling around, but you'll occasionally need to bandage your wounds, carry wounded soldiers to get medical attention or call for help yourself. There's also a simple command system in place for when you're fighting alongside your squad -- you can tell them to advance, retreat, assemble or provide cover fire. It's not so complex to be overwhelming, but adds an extra dimension to the action that we haven't seen often in similar shooters.
MOH:AA was perhaps best remembered for over-the-top set pieces like the classic "Omaha Beach" level, and the early missions of Pacific Assault look like they're deliver in that regard. After boot camp, you're shipped off to Hawaii, where you're given a tour by jeep of your base at Pearl Harbor. There's a lot of time to enjoy the ride and soak in the surroundings, assuming that the level will end at some point before you're called into battle. Not so fast. As your tour nears the end, the base is attacked by the Japanese and it's all-out mayhem as you follow your fellow officer out to the docks, ducking gunfire from Japanese fighters all the way.
When your character reaches the dock, you're greeted with one of the rail-sequences that have become standard for the genre. This time, you're in a small gunboat fighting a sky filled with an endless supply of Japanese fighter plans, and it's all you can do to keep your boat from being blown up as it weaves its way through sinking battleships. Eventually, you make your way into one of the remaining battleships, where you need to reach the deck to help fight off the attack. Before you can do that, however, it's a race against time as you try and locate a drainage valve that will help right the ship before it lists and flops over. Your race through the fiery interior of the ship is aided with an axe, which you're able to use to break down doors, in between picking up wounded officers and carrying them out of harm's way. Finally, on the deck of the ship, you jump into an anti-aircraft gun to try and protect the ship from going down until the attack is repelled. In all, the opening Pearl Harbor sequence is four long missions strung together, creating a fairly epic opening to the game.
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After this exciting opening, a sweeping orchestral score kicks in and you're suddenly dropped into what's essentially the beginning of a WWII action film. Back in boot camp, you're given a long speech by your hard-as-nails drill instructor, who holds his station in high regard ("On the 8th day, God created a divine creature: the Marine"). During this boot camp, you'll befriend several other soldiers who you'll fight with throughout the game (although you'll be separated from them on occasion). More so than in 2003's Call of Duty, there's an effort to provide some background on your fellow soldiers, so they feel more like supporting actors in a movie than your run-of-the-mill in-game buddy.
Your run through boot camp also serves as a tutorial, and aside from the humor of your drill instructor constantly barking at you, you find Pacific Assault has a few conventions not seen in many other war shooters. Sure, there's your typical movement, leaning and crawling around, but you'll occasionally need to bandage your wounds, carry wounded soldiers to get medical attention or call for help yourself. There's also a simple command system in place for when you're fighting alongside your squad -- you can tell them to advance, retreat, assemble or provide cover fire. It's not so complex to be overwhelming, but adds an extra dimension to the action that we haven't seen often in similar shooters.
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MOH:AA was perhaps best remembered for over-the-top set pieces like the classic "Omaha Beach" level, and the early missions of Pacific Assault look like they're deliver in that regard. After boot camp, you're shipped off to Hawaii, where you're given a tour by jeep of your base at Pearl Harbor. There's a lot of time to enjoy the ride and soak in the surroundings, assuming that the level will end at some point before you're called into battle. Not so fast. As your tour nears the end, the base is attacked by the Japanese and it's all-out mayhem as you follow your fellow officer out to the docks, ducking gunfire from Japanese fighters all the way.
When your character reaches the dock, you're greeted with one of the rail-sequences that have become standard for the genre. This time, you're in a small gunboat fighting a sky filled with an endless supply of Japanese fighter plans, and it's all you can do to keep your boat from being blown up as it weaves its way through sinking battleships. Eventually, you make your way into one of the remaining battleships, where you need to reach the deck to help fight off the attack. Before you can do that, however, it's a race against time as you try and locate a drainage valve that will help right the ship before it lists and flops over. Your race through the fiery interior of the ship is aided with an axe, which you're able to use to break down doors, in between picking up wounded officers and carrying them out of harm's way. Finally, on the deck of the ship, you jump into an anti-aircraft gun to try and protect the ship from going down until the attack is repelled. In all, the opening Pearl Harbor sequence is four long missions strung together, creating a fairly epic opening to the game.
ATTN MOH FANS
PART 2
If you look back at those last few paragraphs describing the Pearl Harbor missions, you'll notice nothing about picking up a gun and shooting things. That's because, at least for those first few missions, you don't. Sure, you shoot from your boat, you shoot with the anti-aircraft gun, you use an axe as a melee weapon to bust down doors inside the sinking ship, but that's it. There's obviously a lot of shooting in later missions, but it's an interesting observation; we're seeing signs that MOH:PA will be more than "walk down hallway; shoot bad guy; repeat," which is encouraging. Obviously, we're looking forward to some good run-and-gun, but we're also hoping that variety will stay constant throughout the entire game.
Game Information
If you look back at those last few paragraphs describing the Pearl Harbor missions, you'll notice nothing about picking up a gun and shooting things. That's because, at least for those first few missions, you don't. Sure, you shoot from your boat, you shoot with the anti-aircraft gun, you use an axe as a melee weapon to bust down doors inside the sinking ship, but that's it. There's obviously a lot of shooting in later missions, but it's an interesting observation; we're seeing signs that MOH:PA will be more than "walk down hallway; shoot bad guy; repeat," which is encouraging. Obviously, we're looking forward to some good run-and-gun, but we're also hoping that variety will stay constant throughout the entire game.
One interesting feature of Pacific Assault are the "pop-up facts" that appear throughout the game. If you've seen VH1's "Pop-Up Video," you get the idea: at regular moments throughout the game, interesting facts about WWII will show up at the top of the screen. Sometimes, you might pick up a weapon and get a small tip about it; other times it might be tidbits like where the phrase "the whole 9 yards" came from (it's an artillery reference). There are settings so you can have the game pause every time a tip shows, continue uninterrupted, or turn them off altogether if they get on your nerves. (Personally, it's one of my favorite things in the game so far.)
In fact, it looks like Pacific Assault will offer a lot in the way of customization. Our preview build's default settings had no on-screen information at all: no compass, no health meter, no crosshair. Don't worry: you can turn all this on pretty easily from the game's menus, along with icons over your squadmates' heads so it's easier to tell who's on your side. Playing with everything off was certainly a bigger challenge, but something that any FPS fan should experiment with at least for a little while -- it's definitely a different experience when you can't tell what direction you should be going, exactly where your gun is firing or how much health you have left.
Graphically, Pacific Assault looks stunning in motion. The new technology used by EA probably isn't as cutting edge as other games on the horizon, and it shows at times with fire effects, a few stiff animations and the occasional clipping issue. However, the environments themselves are amazing to look at, gorgeous skies, beautiful water effects, and lush jungles to fight through. The environments are complimented with a wealth of special effects that give the game a unique feel: some of the big guns cause a blurring effect when you use them, and the color briefly drains for a second every time you're wounded, often accompanied by the sound of your heart beating faster. Large explosions will knock you off your feet, blur your vision and muffle the sound for a few seconds.
The graphical splendor may come at a price, however, leading to our biggest concern with the game. When we play tested Pacific Assault at EA's offices a few months ago, the controls felt a little sluggish, often the sign of a new, unoptimized engine that's pushing a PC to its limits. Our in-house playtesting was done on the same machine we used to review DOOM3, but the game still felt a little non-responsive, which made aiming and shooting a little harder than necessary. Lowering the resolution down to 800x600 helped a little, but it still felt nowhere near as tight as games like UT 2004, Call of Duty or DOOM3. Of course, the game's still not finished, so we're hoping this will be fixed in the weeks leading up to the game's launch. Outside of that, the only real weak spot we saw was the enemy AI -- they don't seem bright by any stretch, but if the game is filled with epic scenes like the opening ones at Pearl Harbor, it may be a moot point.
From our early play tests, it looks like there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in Pacific Assault that we didn't necessarily expect a few months ago. My initial reaction back then was that it looked like MOH:AA in a new setting (not necessarily a bad thing); now it's starting to look like a game with the potential to top it. We'll be looking forward to seeing how it all turns out when Pacific Assault is released on both CD and a special DVD "Director's Edition" in early November.
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In fact, it looks like Pacific Assault will offer a lot in the way of customization. Our preview build's default settings had no on-screen information at all: no compass, no health meter, no crosshair. Don't worry: you can turn all this on pretty easily from the game's menus, along with icons over your squadmates' heads so it's easier to tell who's on your side. Playing with everything off was certainly a bigger challenge, but something that any FPS fan should experiment with at least for a little while -- it's definitely a different experience when you can't tell what direction you should be going, exactly where your gun is firing or how much health you have left.
Graphically, Pacific Assault looks stunning in motion. The new technology used by EA probably isn't as cutting edge as other games on the horizon, and it shows at times with fire effects, a few stiff animations and the occasional clipping issue. However, the environments themselves are amazing to look at, gorgeous skies, beautiful water effects, and lush jungles to fight through. The environments are complimented with a wealth of special effects that give the game a unique feel: some of the big guns cause a blurring effect when you use them, and the color briefly drains for a second every time you're wounded, often accompanied by the sound of your heart beating faster. Large explosions will knock you off your feet, blur your vision and muffle the sound for a few seconds.
| 
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The graphical splendor may come at a price, however, leading to our biggest concern with the game. When we play tested Pacific Assault at EA's offices a few months ago, the controls felt a little sluggish, often the sign of a new, unoptimized engine that's pushing a PC to its limits. Our in-house playtesting was done on the same machine we used to review DOOM3, but the game still felt a little non-responsive, which made aiming and shooting a little harder than necessary. Lowering the resolution down to 800x600 helped a little, but it still felt nowhere near as tight as games like UT 2004, Call of Duty or DOOM3. Of course, the game's still not finished, so we're hoping this will be fixed in the weeks leading up to the game's launch. Outside of that, the only real weak spot we saw was the enemy AI -- they don't seem bright by any stretch, but if the game is filled with epic scenes like the opening ones at Pearl Harbor, it may be a moot point.
From our early play tests, it looks like there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in Pacific Assault that we didn't necessarily expect a few months ago. My initial reaction back then was that it looked like MOH:AA in a new setting (not necessarily a bad thing); now it's starting to look like a game with the potential to top it. We'll be looking forward to seeing how it all turns out when Pacific Assault is released on both CD and a special DVD "Director's Edition" in early November.
Essential Links
- Preview: Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (05/13/04)
- Preview: Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (07/20/04)
- Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault demo
Game Information Thursday, October 21, 2004
NHL NEWS
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| NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman (left) and Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos speak with fans during a town hall meeting at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C. |
Bettman: Contraction, timetable not option for lockout
Oct. 15, 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The NHL has no plans to eliminate teams in the face of an extended labor dispute with the players association.
"We are not considering contraction," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said at a news conference with Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. "We have not, we will not and we do not believe in contraction. With the right economic system, all 30 of our clubs can be healthy and competitive."
Bettman later joined Karmanos for a town hall-style meeting with over 1,000 season ticket holders and fans at the RBC Center -- where the Hurricanes were supposed to open the season Thursday night against Atlanta.
The NHL has been shut down for nearly a month following the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. The league and the players association are so far apart philosophically that they haven't met or spoken since Sept. 9.
The decade-old deal ran out a week later. Training camps didn't open on time and the entire preseason was wiped out. Now the entire regular season is in jeopardy.
The league wants a deal that would slice the percentage of revenue paid out in player salaries, and Bettman has said teams combined to lose more than $1.8 billion over 10 years.
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| Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos reiterated to fans during Thursday's town hall meeting that he believes Raleigh is a "solid, solid marketplace." |
The league has no deadline for making a deal that would save part of the season, Bettman said.
"That's a question we know is out there and we're not even thinking about," he said. "We need to make the right deal to make this league and our franchises healthy. We owe it to the game. We owe it to our fans. We owe it to our franchises in the markets we play in.
"When we have the deal, when the agreement is signed ... then we'll determine whether or not based on that timing we can have some semblance of a season. If we can, great. If we can't, we'll do it next year. This is about the deal as opposed to the timetable."
Bettman's comments about contraction could come as a relief to hockey fans in the area, where speculation has persisted that the Hurricanes could be at risk. But Bettman called the Raleigh area a "terrific market" and said he didn't know why there was such speculation.
Karmanos said last month that he has lost $12 million to $16 million a year since buying the franchise in 1994. General manager Jim Rutherford also said last month that the franchise lost about $22 million in last year's 82-game season, but expects losses of $7.5 million if no games are played in 2004-05.
"We really would like to make sure our fans know that we're alive and well, and that we're working hard to get the economic system right," Karmanos said. "We're not worried about (contraction). This is a solid, solid marketplace."
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