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5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Upgrade to the iPhone 3G S

Florence Ion — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:30:00 -0500

Unless you spent this morning snoozing underneath a rock or immersed in your new Palm Pre, you are aware that Apple announced the impending release of a new mobile phone, the iPhone 3G S. The additional letter stands for Speed; the new iPhone boasts a longer battery life, environmentally friendly construction, voice commands, and a 3 megapixel camera with programmable macros, as well as the ability to record video. No doubt plenty of Apple fans have since been drooling uncontrollably over the announcement of yet another reason to empty their wallets on yet another Apple product – but not us, mind you, no siree. Here are five reasons why you won’t find us running to the Apple store on June 19th to upgrade our phones.

1. Pricing Runaround

While the iPhone 3G S will cost $199 and $299 for the 16GB and 32GB models for new customers, those of us who rushed out to buy an iPhone 3G just one year ago (some Maximum PC editors included) will have to pay the full retail price. According to the Apple website, non-qualified customers, including existing AT&T customers will be charged $699, $599 and $499 for the 32GB, 16GB and 8GB models, respectively. And that’s with a new two-year network agreement. Factor in the fact that since iPhone 3Gs are now $99, your 1-year old phone has pretty much no resell value. As one commenter posted on Gizmodo, “"40,000,000 iPhones sold to date. 40,000,000 now pissed off iPhone customers who have to pay out their asses if they want to upgrade.” Amen, brother.

2. New features, Old news

Apple’s dog and pony show this morning touted iPhone 3G S’s fully-functional 3MP camera and voice dialing capabilities. Big whoop. These may seem like some amazing features for the Apple faithful, who have not been able to verbally instruct their iPhone to switch songs or call Jane Doe before the update, but to those of us who have been on other cellphone networks using other brands of mobile phones, voice dialing and a video recording are tricks we take for granted. Just another example of Apple masking their last-gen inadequacies as ZOMG SHINY NEW FEATURES.

3. All the Awesome Rumors were False

We were genuinely intrigued by the photoshop mockups and rumored new iPhone hardware posted online leading up to the WWDC keynote. Rumors speculated that the version 3 JesusPhone bring both major internal hardware and aesthetic updates, especially since that’s what happened at last year’s WWDC. We drooled at the thought of an OLED screen (which has since been announced for the Zune HD) and a front-facing camera for iChat (a la Nintendo’s DSi). But no dice – Apple failed to deliver.

4. iPhone OS 3.0 Update Hosts the Bulk of the Features

We really don’t need the new iPhone when we’ve got a software update that contains most of the features of the iPhone 3G S. iPhone OS 3.0, coming out June 17, will include the ability to copy and paste, run apps in landscape, get push notifications, send artsy photos over MMS, as well as offer tethering support for Apple users who’ve never heard of Verizon’s Wireless EVDO service. And as long as you’ve got the iPhone 3G, these bonuses are a free upgrade. We like free.

5. No Tethering or MMS for AT&T Users (at launch)

Though it’s not specific to the iPhone 3G S, but rather to the iPhone 3.0 upgrade, there will be no tethering OR MMS available to AT&T users when OS 3.0 and the 3G S go live. It could be because AT&T is hammering out the pricing details, but when they’ll figure it out is still up in the air. Additionally, tethering could cost quite a bit (the latest rumor is $40 a month) which seems to be an insane rip-off if you’re already paying $30/month for AT&T’s wireless mobile internet.

The newest iPhone is a non-event for existing iPhone owners, and not even a must-have gadget for geeks in the market for a new phone. Apple has some real competition heating up with the release of the Palm Pre and the Google G2, as well as the ever-growing family of Blackberrys increasing in popularity. The mobile wars are just starting to get interesting, and it’s way too early to put your money on a device that will undoubtedly get ushered into obsolescence next year.

Discuss your thoughts below!

Netflix is Finally Available on Windows Media Center

Michael Brown — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:55:21 -0500

Microsoft continues its quest to convince people to watch TV on their PCs with today’s announcement that Netflix subscribers can finally stream more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes through Windows Media Center. But there’s a catch; two, actually.

First, the feature is available only to customers running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate; if you’re still rolling with Windows XP Media Center Edition, you’re out of luck.

Okay, so we can’t expect Microsoft to continue enhancing XP when Windows 7 is waiting in the wings. But what about people who bought Windows Media Center extenders—especially the new breed that are compatible only with the Windows Vista version of Media Center? Sorry, you’re in the same boat. Microsoft won’t be extending the Netflix feature to that hardware. Microsoft figures if you’re savvy enough to set up a Media Center Extender, you can figure out how to install one of the third-party Media Center plug-ins that already enable Netflix streaming.

“The enthusiast knows how to install a Media Center plug-in that can do that,” said Ben Reed, Microsoft’s Senior Product Marketing Manager for Windows Media Center. “We’re focusing on delivering the best TV-watching experience on a TV. There’s Hulu and all the network portals for watching TV content, but the consumer faces a different user interface with every site.”

The consumer’s other option, as Reed pointed out, is to buy an Xbox 360 (along with an Xbox Live Gold membership). But this space is crowded with other competitors, too, including the dead-simple Roku box and Internet-capable Blu-ray players with built-in Netflix clients.

Although we weren’t able to access the new service before our story deadline, the user experience Microsoft described to us does sound compelling. For starters, you won’t have to open your Netflix account in a web browser and add movies to your “Watch Instantly” queue before you can begin streaming them. You’ll also be able to search the Netflix library using a filter that shows only content that’s available to watch instantly. Reed told us subscribers will be able to manage both their disc-rental and watch-instantly queues from within Windows Media Center, which should be a improvement over standing in front of your TV to read the small text. Lastly, the Windows Media Center edition of Netflix is designed to work with any Windows Media Center-compatible remote control.

If you need another reason to build a home-theater PC, here it is.

Here Today, Gone to Maui? Hands-On with AMD's HTPC Platform

Michael Brown — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:30:00 -0500

Sorry, we couldn’t resist the headline. For the record: We’re not predicting the early demise of AMD’s new Live Home Cinema reference platform (which is code-named Maui). AMD sent us a sample build several months ago, but we wanted to live with it for a while before publishing our thoughts on the design.

We’re big fans of home-theater PCs, especially the build-it-yourself variety (be sure and check out the May issue of Maximum PC for Will Smith’s terrific how-to guide to building one of your own). If AMD can resolve one major issue, we think Maui will be the best home-theater PC platform on the market.

With a home-theater PC, you can stream all manner of Hollywood content for free (from websites such as Hulu) or for a small fee (from online stores such as iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon’s Unbox). While you can accomplish the same thing with a media center extender and any PC equipped with a version of Windows that includes Windows Media Center, a dedicated HTPC leaves that other machine available for other tasks. A home-theater PC with a Blu-ray drive can play HD movies, too, but comparing home-theater PCs to Blu-ray disc players—which are becoming increasingly PC-like—is more problematic. We’ll get to that soon enough; for now, let’s take a detailed look at AMD’s Live Home Cinema platform.

The hardware to build this particular AMD reference design would cost around $900 at retail. It’s based on an AMD Phenom X4 9350e quad-core processor plugged into an MSI MS-7411 micro-ATX motherboard (which MSI markets as the Media Live Diva). The MS-7411 uses AMD’s RS780M/SB700 chipset with an ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics core (the RS780M is a mobile, low-power version of AMD’s RS780G chipset, with added support for component video output). AMD stripped all legacy components (except VGA) from the motherboard’s design; you won’t find serial or parallel ports, PS/2 mouse or keyboard ports, or even a PCI bus.

Cool Running

The CPU is cooled by a closed-loop cooling system, the Noise Limit SilentFlux Media heatsink and fan. The SilentFlux boasts a very low profile that’s optimized for horizontal installations, such as a home-theater PC: Its radiator rises just 2.36 inches above the CPU. It’s also extremely quiet, with a stated noise level of just 21dB. We didn’t encounter any problems running the PC in our enclosed entertainment center, even those times when we forgot to turn on the ceiling-mounted cooling fan inside there.

AMD shipped this evaluation system with 2GB of Aneon DDR2-667 memory, a Pioneer BD202MR Blu-ray, and a 500GB Seagate Pipeline HD hard drive.

Awesome Audio

The Maui design’s biggest claim to fame is the presence of a D2Audio DAE-3 digital audio engine, which can output 2.1-channel analog audio from the motherboard. Alternatively, you can pair it with either a five-channel amplifier card or a seven-channel pre-amp card. D2Audio designed both these components, and AMD sent both for evaluation. If you buy MSI’s Media Live Diva 5.1, you’ll get the amplifier card; purchase the Media Live Diva 7.1 and you’ll get the pre-amp card.

The amplifier delivers up to 100 watts per channel to passive speakers (you connect your eight-ohm speakers directly to the card, there’s no need for an A/V receiver or even powered speakers—other than a powered subwoofer, of course). The amp delivers an impressive signal-to-noise ratio of 105dB and total harmonic distortion (THD) of less than 0.5 percent. It will drive four-ohm speakers, too, in which case it will deliver 200 watts per channel. You’d have to spend a great deal of cash to find a stand-alone amp with comparable specs.

The pre-amp card boasts an even higher signal-to-noise ratio of 110dB (with 0.5 percent THD) while adding support for a pair of rear surround channels. You connect this card to your A/V receiver (or powered speakers) using conventional RCA cables—there’s no need for funky adapters or anything else in the signal path. Alternatively, AMD’s RS780M chipset can deliver compressed 5.1-channel digital audio over HDMI. The reference design also includes a Realtek ALC888 audio chip on the motherboard that delivers digital audio over a coaxial S/PDIF connection (optical S/PDIF is not supported).

Can’t Get There From Here

Most people considering a home-theater PC will be looking to play Blu-ray movies, and this is where AMD’s solution (indeed, all PC solutions) falls short. There’s no problem getting high-definition video to your display: You can use either HDMI (integrated into the motherboard, so here again, you don’t need an adapter) or component video cables (although you might have a problem transporting DRM-protected video over component cables). The problem lies in the audio realm, an area in which this solution is otherwise absolutely marvelous. It has nothing to do with technological limitations and everything to do with the D-word (DRM, or digital rights management).

The AACS (Advanced Access Content System) copy-protection system used to encrypt Blu-ray discs dictates that Blu-ray player software (e.g., Cyberlink’s Power DVD Ultra) must use a so-called “protected path” to send high-definition audio (e.g., losslessly compressed Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio) across a user-accessible bus such as PCI or PCI Express. The objective is to prevent anyone from intercepting the unencrypted audio and making a bit-perfect copy. The Blu-ray video bit stream is subject to the same restriction, but the Windows ecosystem is capable of handling this.

The D2Audio chip on the Maui platform uses a closed, proprietary bus, so it does seem to be in compliance with AACS. Unfortunately, AMD has so far been unable to convince any of the companies developing software Blu-ray players to send unencrypted HD audio over that bus.

The work-around is for the Blu-ray software player to decode the losslessly compressed audio, down-sample the bit stream from its 96kHz sampling rate with 24-bit resolution to a 48kHz sampling rate with 16-bit resolution, and then pass the uncompressed eight-channel LPCM (linear pulse code modulation) bit stream to the D2Audio chip. The D2Audio chip converts the bit stream to analog and sends it to the pre-amp card, the motherboard’s line-level outputs, or the amplifier card. The D2Audio chip does not pass digital audio of any form over HDMI.

Needless to say, down-sampling is less than an ideal compromise. Then again, the mere availability of a movie on Blu-ray disc doesn’t automatically mean that it has a Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack or that it’s encoded using the highest possible specs. You’ll encounter many films with audio encoded at a 48kHz sampling rate with 24-bit resolution, for instance, and many more that are encoded at a 48kHz sampling rate with 16-bit resolution, at which point down-sampling isn’t even necessary. The website CinemaSquid maintains a comprehensive searchable database of Blu-ray releases that includes such information.

Many people will contend that the average consumer can’t tell the difference between HD and lesser audio—but who’d be willing to spend $900 or more for a PC that can’t offer one of the features that a $300 Blu-ray player can. In our book, audio quality is the second biggest reason to buy any hardware that’s capable of playing a Blu-ray disc and Maui represents a compromise on that score—whether we can hear it or not is moot.

Amped Up

We played with the amplifier card for a bit, and while it does deliver excellent audio quality, we’re not ready to take our A/V receiver out of our entertainment center. For starters, the amp doesn’t accommodate rear surround speakers (it’s limited to left and right surrounds). And as terrific as it sounds, even a home-theater PC isn’t set up to handle all our audio sources (although the motherboard does have a pair of RCA jacks for analog line-level input. Plug in a stereo source—such as a VCR—and you can route the audio to the amplifier.)

But we also use a satellite receiver/DVR to watch and record television, and there’s no way to pipe surround sound from the satellite tuner to the PC. And while we could use the HTPC to stream music from our Windows Home Server machine, we still prefer the Sonos Multi-room Audio System for music listening. Besides, the pre-amp delivers a higher signal-to-noise ratio, and it sounds fabulous.

The reference design supports AMD’s OCUR TV tuner for use with the digital cable set-top boxes, but you can still only buy such a card as part of an OEM system build. Our reference design came with AMD’s ATI Theater Pro tuner card, but the value of over-the-air tuners such as this is severely by the fact that they can’t access premium cable and satellite channels (HBO, Showtime, et al).

On the Case

AMD chose nMedia’s HTPC 1000B enclosure for its reference platform, the look of which fit right in with the other components in our entertainment system. The aluminum case has a single 5.25-inch drive bay for an optical drive and four internal 3.5-inch drive bays. The front panel has a cut-out for an LCD (the reference design had one, but the display is not included in the price of the case), and there’s a flip-down panel that hides one eSATA, one FireWire, and three USB ports; a media card reader; and 1/8-inch jacks for a mic and headphones.

We added Microsoft’s Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000, but we swapped out the useless (in a living-room environment, at least) mouse for a Gyration Air Music Remote (which you can now find for a pretty reasonable street price of $85). We connected the PC to both an Epson Cinema 500 video projector and a ViewSonic N4285P 42-inch LCD television.

Trouble in Paradise?

Everything went smoothly until we connected the Maui system to a Sherwood RD-7503 A/V receiver: The computer would not send the receiver a video signal over HDMI with resolution any higher than 640x480 (480p). Curious to see whether the problem was with the computer or the receiver, we then connected the HDMI from HP’s Pavilion HDX 9000 notebook PC, which is equipped with AMD’s Radeon HD 2600 XT videocard: We ran into the very same problem.

We then tried a second desktop PC, which was outfitted with an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT (with a DVI-to-HDMI adapter). This time, the Sherwood receiver performed as expected. We also didn’t encounter any problems with the HDMI outputs from an upscaling DVD player and a Samsung Blu-ray disc player.

The last we’d heard from AMD, they thought the problem to be related to the computer not reading the receiver’s EDID profile correctly, although they told us they’d never encountered a problem with other A/V receivers they’ve tested.. Sherwood told us they’d seen a similar problem with a Motorola DCH3200 digital cable set-top box, but that they weren’t familiar with AMD’s Maui platform and had no further comment on the matter.

Final Thoughts

AMD’s engineers deserve a big round of applause for giving so much thought and consideration to audio while designing the AMD Live Home Cinema reference platform; sound is all too often overlooked in PC designs, and Maui’s D2Audio components are divine.

We know AMD is working hard to convince Hollywood and software developers that it provides the protected audio path that software Blu-ray players need to avoid down-sampling Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks. Should they succeed, however, stand-alone Blu-ray players will still have one advantage over the PC: They can send both HD video and HD audio to an A/V receiver using a single HDMI cable: Maui will always need at least an HDMI cable for video and as many as eight RCA cables for audio.

Aside from those limitations, Maui is a splendid destination.

Win a HP Mini 1001 Netbook in Our Twitter Contest!

The Maximum PC Staff — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:42:26 -0500

We’ve given out t-shirts, small toys, and even a personal beverage cooler in our weekly Twitter trivia contest (hosted by @willsmith), but this month, we’re raising the stakes by giving away one HP Mini 1001 netbook! Starting next week, our Illustrious Editor-in-Chief will challenge his Twitter followers with a series of three technology trivia questions. Correct answers will score you one entry in our random drawing, which we’ll conduct on Tuesday, March 24th. One lucky grand prize winner will score the netbook (Approximate value, $490 USD) and five first place winners will get a Left 4 Dead t-shirt, courtesy of Valve Software. We won’t be announcing the times of the trivia questions on the website, so subscribe to Will’s Twitter feed to make sure you don’t miss out!

MAXIMUM PC TWITTER TRIVIA CONTEST
OFFICIAL RULES

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

1. SPONSOR: This promotion (the “Contest”) is sponsored by Maximum PC magazine and Future US, Inc. (“Sponsors”), subject to the following terms and conditions.

2. ELIGIBILITY: Contest open to legal residents of the United States (excluding residents of Rhode Island and Puerto Rico), and legal residents of Canada (excluding residents of Quebec). Void where prohibited by law. Entrants must be at least 18 years of age. Employees of Sponsors, their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliated companies, and agents, and foregoing employees’ household or immediate family members (defined as parent, spouse, child, sibling, or grandparent) are NOT eligible to enter Contest. By their submission of entry, participants warrant they are legally entitled and authorized to make such submission, either on their own behalf, or as to information submitted upon the express authorization of another on whose behalf the information is submitted.

3. TIMING: Contest begins at 12:01 a.m. PDT on 3/5/09 and continues until 11:59 p.m. PDT on 3/20/09. Incomplete or late entries will not be accepted.

HOW TO ENTER: Between 3/6/09 and 3/19/09 we will post three trivia questions concerning technology at http://www.twitter.com/willsmith. To enter, send your answer either using a Twitter reply using the format “@willsmith answer” or send an email to comments@maximumpc.com with “Maximum PC Twitter Trivia Contest” in the subject line. Entrants must respond to the trivia question within an hour of the post time. There is a limit of one entry per eligible participant per question. All entrants who answer the trivia question correctly will be entered into the random drawing. Entries become the property of the Sponsors and will not be acknowledged or returned.

5. PRIZES AND ODDS: One Grand Prize and five First Prizes will be awarded. The Grand Prize will be an HP Mini 1001xx netbook with a total retail value of $490. The five First Prizes will consist of Left4Dead T-shirts with a total retail value of $25 each.

Odds of winning shall be determined by the number of eligible entries received.
Prizes are nontransferable and must be accepted as awarded. Winner will be responsible for all taxes (federal, state, and local) and all expenses not listed herein related to acceptance and use of any prize. Prize will be awarded if properly claimed. Limit one prize per household.

6. DRAWING: Winners will be selected by random drawing from all valid eligible entries received. Drawing will be held on or about 3/24/09. Drawing will be conducted by Sponsors, whose decisions on all matters related to the Contest shall be final and binding and within their sole discretion. Canadian entrants selected in any drawing will be required to correctly answer, without assistance of any kind, whether mechanical or otherwise, a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question to be administered by mail or by telephone. Winning is contingent upon compliance with all terms and conditions set forth in these official rules; any entry drawn or any potential winner identified thereby found at any time to fail to comply with these official rules will be held invalid and ineligible for award.

NOTIFICATION: Winner will be notified by phone or email within one week following the random drawing. Winner so notified must within ten (10) days of notice of award, complete, execute and return the provided Affidavit, Waiver, Release and Indemnity Agreement including, where lawful, a Publicity Release (plus any additional documents required at the discretion of Sponsors). Failure to comply with the requirements of this paragraph (or the return of any prize or prize notification as non-deliverable) may result in disqualification and in the forfeiture of any right to a prize, in which case prize will be awarded to an alternate by random drawing. A list of winners will be available for six months after the award of prizes by sending a self addressed envelope with sufficient prepaid postage to:

MAXIMUM PC
TWITTER TRIVIA CONTEST
4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400
South San Francisco, CA 94080

Residents of Canada and the state of Vermont may omit return postage.

8. PRIVACY POLICY: Submissions are subject to standard privacy policy, the terms of which can be found at http://www.futureus.com/privacy.php, which terms and conditions entrants accept and agree to by submission of entries pursuant to these official rules.

9. RELEASE: by participating in the Contest and/or accepting a prize, a participant/winner agrees to defend, release and hold harmless the Sponsors and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, divisions, advertising and promotion agencies, and the foregoing companies’ officers, directors, shareholders, employees, representatives and agents (collectively “Releasees”) from and against any actions, claims and/or liability for injury, loss or damage of any kind, (including the violation or infringement of any proprietary or personal right of any individual or entity) resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from participation in the Contest, and/or the use, acceptance, or possession of a Contest prize, and/or participation in a Contest prize-related activity, including any action, claim or liability arising from the unauthorized submission of any information.

By participating in the Contest and/or accepting a prize, a participant/winner consents to and gives the Sponsors the right to use, publish, and display a winner’s (and where applicable a participant’s) name, city and state, and prize awarded, for the purpose of advertising, trade, publicity and promotional purposes in any media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide, and on the Web, without review, notification or approval, all without additional consideration, unless prohibited by law.

10. CONDITIONS: Participants agree that by participating they release the Releasees from any liability in connection with: a) Entries that are ineligible as a result of being lost, late, illegible, damaged, incomplete, stolen, postage due, or misdirected: b) Any typographical or other human or technical errors in the offer or administration of the Contest, including but not limited to errors in advertising, these official rules, the selection and announcement of a winner(s), or the distribution/awarding of a prize(s); c) Any omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay, misdirection, damage, injury, technical malfunctions or traffic congestion on the Internet/telephone network, or at any website, or any combination thereof.

Sponsors reserve the right to modify these rules for clarification purposes without materially affecting the term and conditions of the Contest. In the event that the Contest is infected by a computer virus/worm, or is not capable of running or being executed as planned (as a result of but not limited to an error, omission, defect, delay, misdirection, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, action of entrants, or technical failure) or any other cause which in the sole opinion of Sponsors corrupts or affects the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Contest, Sponsors reserve the right in their sole discretion to disqualify any suspect entry or entrant and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest. In the event of such cancellation, termination, modification or suspension, notice thereof will be posted at the entry website(s) mentioned above, and winner(s) will be determined solely by Sponsors in a random drawing from among all eligible non-suspect and/or non-disqualified entries. In such event, Releasees shall have no liability to any participant who is disqualified due to such an action. Failure to enforce any term of these official rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.

11. LAW: This Contest is governed by the laws of the United States and is subject to all federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited or restricted. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of entrants or Sponsor in connection with any drawing or award, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of, the State of California, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any cause of action by you with respect to the offer (and/or any information, products or services related thereto) must be instituted within one (1) year after the cause of action arose or be forever waived and barred. All actions shall be subject to the limitations set forth in above. The language in these official rules shall be interpreted as in accordance with its fair meaning and not strictly for or against either party. All legal proceedings arising out of or in connection with the offer of these official rules shall be brought solely in San Mateo County, California. You expressly submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of said courts and consent to extraterritorial service of process.

Microsoft Sidewinder X8 Mouse -- Unboxing and Hands-on Impressions

Norman Chan — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:45:09 -0600

Look what the mail truck dragged in! After first announcing the X8 in early September (where we got our first look and photos of the mouse), Microsoft has finally shipped the latest addition to the Sidewinder gaming mouse family. The X8 adopts Microsoft’s proprietary Bluetrack technology, which empowers it with 4000 DPI tracking resolution (scalable from 500) and the ability to work on almost any surface. We tested this claim on five different surfaces, from a rough wood desk to Styrofoam board and even coarse carpet. The mouse worked fine (though understandable not perfectly smooth) on all of our test surfaces, and only failed when we tried moving it over glass.

The shipping version doesn’t differ much from the pre-production model we fondled back in September, and retained the nice grip and smart button placement that we liked from our first hands-on. The included rechargable battery was a cinch to install, and tethering the mouse to the thin magnetic cord didn’t hinder our sweeping mouse movements. The wireless receiver is built into a clunky puck-like disc that sits on your desk, which ensures that you get better reception than if the receiver was hidden on a USB key behind your PC. The X8 still feels big for some hands, but our initial impression is that this is a winner. We’ll post our full review soon, but for now, enjoy these sexy unboxing and handling photos.

Will Smith's Terrifying Zombie Transformation

Florence Ion — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:00:00 -0600

In our March 2009 issue, we dressed our illustrious Editor-in-Chief up as a one of the ravenous antagonists from our Game of the Year, Valve’s Left 4 Dead.

The transformation from living human to decaying dead took almost two hours, though in the end it made for an amusing, but slightly horrifying, photo shoot. Read on to find out how we managed to turn this famed zombie slayer into one of his victims, or follow along to attempt your own zombie transformation.

It took a variety of ingredients to emulate the undead’s rotting flesh, including Mold Builder Liquid Latex, Vaseline, a roll of toilet paper, fake blood, and glycerin-based make-up pallets from Kryolan.

Secret ingredients: make-up remover, various make-up pallets, Mold Builder latex, and Vaseline.

Before using the liquid latex, our makeup artist, Nick Katich, tested a bit of it on a fresh area of skin to make sure it wouldn’t cause an allergic reaction. Then, he prepared Will's face for zombification by greasing up the eyebrows and hairline with a wax stick and Vaseline, so that the latex could eventually tear off with a bit of ease.

To achieve the scaly texture of undead skin, Nick applied a thin, even layer of Mold Builder to the face and arms, and then strategically applied torn up pieces of tissue paper to the top of the latex. After fifteen minutes of waiting for the latex to dry, Will's skin was covered with a bluish-white base coat, on both the arms and face, to make him look as if he had just risen from his grave.

Will's arm, covered in toilet paper.

Splotching paint on top of dried up tissue.

Next, the latex/paint combo was torn with fingers to imitate flesh-tear, and then separated it with a spatula, using the flat edge so as to not accidentally remove all the tissue. Then, we had to make the rotting flesh look believable. After applying red makeup base on the inside of the tissue paper and the top of the exposed skin, Nick dumped fake blood over those areas, making sure it looked like Will was covered in boils and cuts.

Looks like the revenge of the Black Plague!

The transformation was finalized by dusting gray powder with a blush brush all over Will’s face so as to remove shininess and make him look truly lifeless.

Voila! A zombie editor!

At the end of the photo shoot, Will had a hard time taking off the latex from his arms, so remember to shave before attempting this gory feat.

Would you trust your children with this man?

Nvidia: It’s Time to Kill CUDA

Will Smith — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:22:02 -0600

Like many of you, the first real 3D accelerator I owned was a 3dfx Voodoo card. This was way back in 1995. DirectX and Direct3D had yet to be released to the public, and OpenGL was only used for CAD and scientific rendering apps. In those primordial times, if a game developer wanted to harness the awesome rendering power of the Voodoo hardware, he had to write his game with Glide, 3dfx’s own application programming interface (API). This was all before the open standards movement became a powerful force in development circles, and Glide offered 3dfx a major competitive advantage: If a gamer wanted to see all the kick-ass 3D effects that Glide enabled, he had to play the game on 3dfx hardware—lest he suffer Glideless, in a depressing, busted-up world of jaggy, unfiltered textures.

The 3dfx/Glide domination ended when id Software and other game developers started releasing titles that used the OpenGL API, which wasn’t dependent on 3dfx hardware (but worked with 3dfx chips through a Glide translation layer). OpenGL opened the door for other 3D chip companies to build competitive products, and thus ATI, S3, Matrox, and Nvidia entered the fray with hardware of their own.

With every new OpenGL or DirectX game released, Glide slowly transitioned from an advantage to a liability for 3dfx. As competitors like Nvidia embraced new technology and embarked on a period of incredibly rapid improvements, 3dfx remained tied to its Glide past, and, as a result, was slow to embrace new rendering enhancements, such as 32-bit color and antialiasing. Ultimately, this contributed to 3dfx’s demise, and embracing open standards allowed Nvidia and ATI to flourish.

Why are we talking about this today? Because Nvidia stands at a crossroads, with two closed, proprietary APIs that have mainstream potential: the general-purpose computing CUDA API, and the PhysX physics-acceleration API, which sits on top of CUDA. These are both promising technologies, but only owners of Nvidia hardware can harness their power. Meanwhile, there are two emerging open standards that mirror what Nvidia is doing with its proprietary development. One is OpenCL 1.0, and the other is a general-purpose GPU computing API, which Microsoft will include in DirectX 11. There are a relatively small number of consumer applications that use CUDA, PhysX, or OpenCL right now, but the possible applications for the tech are endless—grossly simplified, these APIs let graphics chips perform CPU-like functions. The question Nvidia needs to be asking is simple: Will developers write their general-purpose GPU computing apps using a proprietary API that works on only a subset of PCs—those stuffed with Nvidia hardware—or will they use an open API that will work on every PC on the market?

Nvidia’s path is clear: It needs to stop trying to convince us that closed APIs are good, and instead embrace OpenCL and Microsoft’s yet-to-be-named solution. It needs to port PhysX to run on one of the open APIs, then use PhysX as a platform to advertise the kind of power that Nvidia delivers (with the recipients of all this messaging being ATI diehards and anyone considering the forthcoming Larrabee GPU from Intel).

By focusing on what its always done well—building kick-ass hardware—instead of force-feeding us closed APIs, Nvidia will thrive. As for CUDA? It’s served its purpose, but its time has passed. It’s time to kill CUDA.

Comcast Filtering-For-Profit: A Three-Phase Plan to 'Right-Size' Consumer Bandwidth

Will Smith — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:18:08 -0600

Maximum PC intercepted the following memorandum from a high-level Comcast executive to the company’s Board of Directors. We suggest you read it once, and then immediately delete all traces of this text from your PC. This is seriously twisted stuff.

MEMORANDUM

Date: October 6, 2007
To: Comcast Board of Directors
From: Alexis Luthoré, COO, Comcast Internet Services
Subject: Bandwidth Filtering; next plans of attack

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board,

You're undoubtedly aware of the brouhaha growing over our new traffic filtering software. By limiting the traffic of heavy users, we’re improving performance for the majority of our customer base, while protecting our bottom line. The complainers are upset because our methods forge packets that appear to originate from the user; in effect we pretend we’re the user, then transparently disconnect them from the offending services. It also seems we’ve been inadvertently filtering other, more legitimate applications as well. To offset the extreme financial liability of impending litigation by the offended parties, I propose further cost-saving measures. It’s all wrapped up in a simple, easy-to-implement, three-phase plan that should solve all our problems. We've recruited Hollywood legend Christopher Walken to help us introduce our customers to the "Comcast Happy Bandwidth Initiative" on its November 15 launch.

Phase One: Cap Unlimited Bandwidth
We need to establish reasonable bandwidth limits, especially among our greediest customers. By capping our generous unlimited plans with a 150GB Monthly Usage Limit (or MUL), we can minimize the impact of the our most rapacious users—the so-called “outliers”—on our bottom line. Typical users should never notice the MUL, ensuring that the vast amounts of revenue we exact from them remains intact. (After all, unlimited bandwidth only feels “unlimited” once you begin to thoughtlessly consume more than your fair share.)

Phase Two: Good Citizen Incentives
Phase two hinges on the rollout of a new Comcast toolbar. In addition to tracking our users' web surfing habits and favorite pornographic sites, this toolbar also alerts customers before they download any file larger than 75KB. A helpful pop-up bearing the question “Are you sure you really meant to do that?” appears, and if the user does the right thing, and opts out of his bandwidth-intensive download, he’ll be greeted by a clever multimedia ad unit for a free webcam. The Happy Bandwidth Initiative team will be using the webcams to track user eye movements, allowing our research department to identify the content that users enjoy most, so that we can charge them a modest premium to access these high-traffic pages. The toolbar will be a mandatory download for all of our customers.

Phase Three: Pay More for Popular Protocols
Our current pricing structure is needlessly oversimplified. Even the dimmest mouth-breathers understand that “faster” connection speeds are “better,” and it’s currently much too easy for customers to determine exactly what level of service they need. Users can immediately tell whether they should drop to a less expensive plan, or if the features of the higher-priced plan give them real benefits. You'll all agree that this policy has a negative impact on our revenue picture and long-term profit forecasts.

To fix this problem, we propose shifting to a per-protocol pricing structure. By implementing a sliding-scale pricing structure based on the popularity of various protocols, we can ensure that every customer pays for his or her fair share. For example, telnet makes up just 0.0001% of overall network traffic, so users who subscribe to our telnet service will pay a relatively minor $0.02/month fee for access. More popular protocols, such as HTTP and BitTorrent, will cost more. We’ve run some numbers, and are projecting that the average monthly fees for users of mainstream protocols would range between $10/month and $3,275/month.

BitTorrent, in particular, represents a large potential revenue stream. Modeling out the current traffic of customers who use BitTorrent to "download the latest version of Linux," we are looking at a minimum monthly spend of $135. More enthusiastic users would pay between $25 and $3,275 monthly to download their regular faire of what we must assume are license-free movies and music--which are all really quite entertaining. No, they really are. There’s some really good copyright-free content out there. Seriously.

In closing, we of Comcast Internet Services believe the Comcast Happy Bandwidth Initiative is a modest proposal that exposes us to virtually no liability, while promising exponential returns in revenue. We happily await the Board’s comments on this plan.