Maximum PC Columns RSS Feed

IP Rights Fairy Tale

Quinn Norton — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:00:00 -0500

Not very long ago, in a land not at all far away, there was a little company called Blueport. It held the copyright on a piece of software that the US Air Force liked using for logistics. Blueport protected its software with a time bomb—a bit of code that made the software self-destruct when the license expired. That date was approaching, and Blueport wanted to negotiate a new license with the USAF—and you know, get paid.

Sons of Minesweeper

Thomas McDonald — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:00:00 -0500

So is PC gaming hosed? That seems to be the case for games that a) are not massively multiplayer, b) don’t have “Sims” in the title, or c) aren’t played by your mom.

But it’s not really as dire as all that. Mass Effect actually made it to number 2, and Sins of a Solar Empire to number 9, on the current NPD PC sales charts.

Flash in the Pan

Tom Halfhill — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:40:41 -0500

Flash memory could become the dominant form of mass storage, replacing magnetic and optical media for many purposes. Although flash retains data without requiring power, the memory cells don’t retain their charges forever. Eventually, the charges dissipate and the bits fade away. Will our data be a flash in the pan?

Getting Away (from DMCA)

Quinn Norton — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:32:48 -0500

Summer is upon us, and it’s a perfect time to take a fair-use vacation.

Here in America you can buy plenty of DVDs, but if you want to copy them for personal use or run them on Linux, it’s another story: You’ll be breaking U.S. law. To make that backup of your kid’s favorite Disney movie before it gets covered in blue marker, consider going somewhere you won’t go to jail for the act.

Houser Problems

Thomas MacDonald — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:45:05 -0500

Watching Grand Theft Auto IV rack up the highest recorded sales in gaming history was one of the most disappointing things I’ve witnessed in 17-plus years of covering this hobby. (PC gamers should get a crack at the game this fall.) If the gaming press is to be believed, GTA4 is simply the greatest game ever made.

MIDs: PDA 3.0? OMG!

Tom Halfhill — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:34:53 -0500

Intel’s strategy for Atom processors and WiMAX hinges partly on a new class of handheld computers called mobile Internet devices (MIDs). Larger than cellphones but smaller than subnotebook PCs, MIDs are supposed to make the Internet available anytime, anywhere.

Actually, MIDs aren’t new. They’re the third major attempt to establish the nebulous product category of personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Waiting for a Windows Renaissance

Will Smith — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:55:52 -0500

I’ve written about Apple’s OS X many times before, and it’s no secret that I’ve long been impressed with Apple’s operating systems. This month, I reviewed the MacBook Air, which gave me the opportunity to spend some quality time with Apple’s latest OS, Leopard, and I had an epiphany: Windows users are in the same exact position that Mac users were in 1999.

Videogame Violence: A Fair and Balanced Study?

Thomas MacDonald — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:26:18 -0500

We’re at a point in history when, if gamers are to maintain credibility, we need to acknowledge both the good and bad in our passion. Grand Theft Childhood ($25, Simon & Schuster) by Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl K. Olson is a fair and comprehensive study of games and violence, and we would do well to pay attention to its conclusions.