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John Carmack: RAGE Probably Won’t Support Dedicated Servers

Nathan Grayson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:26:28 -0600

Well, we now have absolute proof that at least one member of the PC gaming community wasn’t living in the hornets’ nest Infinity Ward stepped on when it announced that Modern Warfare 2 won’t support dedicated servers. Unfortunately, that one person is none other than id Software’s John Carmack.

“It’s not cast in stone yet, but at this point no, we don’t think [RAGE] will have dedicated servers,” Carmack told Variety’s Cut Scene blog. “The great thing is we won’t have to be a pioneer on that. We’ll see how it works out for everyone else.”

If it’s any consolation, RAGE is primarily a single-player game. But then, knowing id, we imagine that the game’s multiplayer component will still be better than most.

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

Warhammer Online’s Endless Trial Begins

Nathan Grayson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:49:18 -0600

Warhammer Online’s making an offer you can’t refuse. And that’s not because you’ll be sleeping with either a) the fishes or b) a horse head if you turn it down. (At least, we don’t think so…) No, the offer’s allure stems from the fact that it’s completely free! And unending! How can you say “no” to that?

Ok, so there is a bit of a catch. While Warhammer Online’s free trial may have done away with that “10 days” nonsense, your character still goes back on the shelf once he/she reaches level ten. Also – presumably to prevent spam accounts – sending mail and selling items on the auction house is prohibited.

On the bright side, though, most of the game is streamed after you’ve bitten off an initial 1 GB chunk of data, so getting up and running is quick and simple. ~~Almost as quick and simple as upgrading to a paid account!~~

Yeah, Mythic, was that good? Did we sell it well enough? Sure, we take check—Hey! Is that microphone still on?!

Windows 7 Launch Did Not Grow PC Sales as Hoped

Ryan Whitwam — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:46:00 -0600

PC vendors were hoping that the launch of the much anticipated Windows 7 would result in a sales boost. The first reports from those vendors, however, are not painting a very rosy picture. Most vendors report only modest increases in sales.

We know that sales of standalone upgrade licenses for Windows 7 were very good at launch, but it seems not many people went out to get a new PC. Vendors are not expecting sales to pick up in 2009. This may be due, in part, to the fact that Vista users can easily upgrade their existing hardware to the lighter weight Windows 7.

Some notebook manufacturers produced extra units running Windows 7 in anticipation of high demand. With demand ending up weaker than expected, these PCs end up discounted. Expect PC prices to continue to slide. Good for us, not so much for the manufacturers and vendors.

Five Free Alternatives to Kick Windows Sidebar to the Curb

Florence Ion — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0600

Windows Desktop Gadgets was a feature first introduced in Windows Vista. They are widget engine gadgets calmly docked on either side of the screen for easy access and can performs tasks like displaying the time, updating you on the current weather conditions and showing you CPU usage. Windows already comes equipped with default gadgets and includes an online widget library for additional downloads.

However, the standard Windows sidebar can seem limiting at times. And even though Windows 7 hides the Sidebar in the background, it's still a resource hog and not very customizable. Why not free yourself from Microsoft’s shackles and venture forth to discover other sidebar alternatives that work just as well and enable you to do some really awesome customization.

Vista Rainbar V4

Vista Rainbar looks exactly like it’s been plucked from Vista’s original Aero interface, but packed with twenty gadgets and applications to decorate your desktop with. After you’ve downloaded it, simply Right click on the icon in your tray, or a gadget on the desktop, to configure the sidebar to your liking.

Rainbar comes equipped with add-ons like CNN and BBC RSS feeds, several analog clock skins, and monitors for various system functions, even arbitrary ones like your optical drive. It also contains some of the original default Vista gadgets, like a Windows Media Player controller and desktop wallpaper view, as well as 14 different skins to bring a little more flare to your desktop environment. To edit your preferences, however, you will need to edit a text file for each gadget, which can be tricky for the computer shy.

We would like to add that Rainbar is bilingual and seems to have been transplanted from France, so don’t be intimidated if you get a little confused with some of the menu items; the preferences and options are all easily understandable for the native English speaker.

Google Desktop

While it may seem cliché to include one of the biggest internet companies on such a niche list about sidebars, Google Desktop is a candid choice because it integrates iGoogle’s user-friendliness and utilitarian functionality onto your desktop. This downloadable client allows you to tack on gadgets to your sidebar, which can display computer statistics, tempt you to play a game, and keep you connected to the web without an open browser window. The desktop application also comes loaded with a photo slideshow for easy distraction from your work, a weather monitor, and a to-do task list, which can be saved to your desktop as an individual file for later archiving.

Google Desktop also indexes files from your hard drive and enables you to bring up a quick Google search dialog box with two hits of the CTRL key. Preferences are simple and easy to set up; the real customization happens with what types of gadgets you choose to display in the sidebar. If the width is too thin for you, each individual gadget pops out into a resizable window. For users with more than one Gmail account, Google Desktop also allows you to sign in with one account and remotely send and receive emails, allowing you to log into a second account with your browser.

It all comes down to whether or not you want one more app in your life swaying you towards Google’s way. Frankly, we think that Google Desktop is a worthy replacement for the Windows Sidebar and it’s the only one out of the five we played around with that we can confidently say is 100% stable.

Thoosje Sevenbar

Want all of the beauty and grace of Windows 7 implemented into your outdated machine running Windows XP? Thoosje’s Windows 7 sidebar brings you the goodies without having to pay the price of a new OS. Each gadget works just as well as it does with the original Windows 7 sidebar and includes standard ones like the Windows Media Player remote, Google & Yahoo search, real-time weather, a Wi-Fi monitor, and a notepad. You can also set up a POP3 email account from the preferences menu for instant email notifications, and change the color scheme of the widgets, though they do look a bit distorted when that option is engaged.

We would like to warn you that in the installer, it will query you on whether or not you’d like the Google and Amazon toolbar installed on your system—be sure to select that you don’t want the added bloatware freely roaming on your system.

LongBar 2.0

We were a bit confounded when we noticed that our LongBar download was only 1.3MB, but then we realized it was because it only came packaged with a drive monitor and a built in notes widget. LongBar may seem like it’s really very minimal and simple, but that’s because it comes with the ability for any user to develop their own .NET based widgets. This application was designer to be an alternative “tile-based” sidebar for the three latest Windows operating systems based on the Longhorn Sidebar, but it leaves all the customization entirely up to you.

LongBar comes with a few themes of its own and pairs nicely with the Windows Aero UI. Since this application was developed for the open source community, it’s perfect for the code junkie who wants an ultra personalized desktop.

Samurize

What haven’t we said about Samurize before? Well, it’s a great way to customize your computer to the point of no return, that’s for sure. There are numerous ways to use Samurize to equip you with the ultimate desktop with the ability to create and run custom desktop widgets. Though Samurize gives you the most options for desktop customization, you do have to take some time either creating your own gadgets or downloading new ones to get the desired desktop environment. Read our how-to for a comprehensive look at how you can use Samurize to achieve the same effects as the Windows sidebar.

Class Action Suit in the Works Against Number-Harvesting iPhone Apps

Paul Lilly — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:45:10 -0600

It's all fun and games, until that game you downloaded from the iTunes App Store turns out to be harvesting your cell phone number. That's what gaming developer Storm8 has been accused of doing.

"The wireless telephone numbers of users' phones are not used or necessary to play any of Storm8's games, yet Storm8 has written the software for all its games in such a way that it automatically accesses, collects, and transmits the wireless telephone number of each iPhone user who downloads any Storm8 game," states a lawsuit filed on behalf of Lynwood, Washington resident Michael Turner.

Storm8 first came under fire in late August when news reports pointed out that Storm8's apps appeared to be phoning home. Addressing the reports, the company said the system had a "bug" and that it has since been fixed. But Storm8's explanation isn't enough for Turner's lawyer, who says his goal is to ensure the company is no longer allowed to collect private data in the future.

"A public admission is not the same as a legal representation or legal injunction," Turner's lawyer said.

Twitter Announces Changes in the Works for Retweets, Trending Topics

Paul Lilly — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:04:10 -0600

Some changes are coming to Twitter that the microblogging site hopes will help curtail the amount of spam that flows through its Trending Topics area, the social networking site announced in a blog post.

"As Twitter grows and the number of tweets each day continues to astound us, we’ve noticed an increasing amount of clutter in the public timeline, especially with trending topics," Twitter noted. "Trends began as a useful way to find out what’s going on but has grown less interesting due to the noisiness of the conversation."

Twitter's solution is to start experimenting with ways of ranking retweets, though the service didn't say how this would work. If we had to guess, we'd say it would be based on some kind of algorithm that gauges a user's popularity, among other factors, rather than a manual approach.

According to the blog post, any initial changes will be minor and "the improvement won't be very noticeable at first."

Image Credit: causecapitalism.com

Microsoft Revamps Pricing for Online Business Suite

Paul Lilly — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:02:45 -0600

Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite, the company's cloud-based communication and collaboration SaaS, now sports a new pricing model, more storage, and an international expansion that adds 15 additional countries and regions, according to TechCrunchIT.

That's great news for the suite's more than 1 million paying customers, who are now paying $10 per month instead of the former price of $15. Microsoft said it reduced the price because of "rapid customer adoption."

On the mailbox storage side, Microsoft now offers 25GB for users of the standard service, which has been expanded to include Singapore, along with trials to take place in Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, and Taiwan.

Microsoft's Business Productivity Suite Online Suite includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Live Meeting, and Office Communications Online.

Blue Coat Security Firm Trims Staff, Buys Services Company

Paul Lilly — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:02:36 -0600

As part of a restructuring effort, Blue Coat Systems said it plans to slash nearly 20 percent of its workforce. The firm will issue about 280 layoffs in all and close its facilities in Riga, Latvia, South Plainfield, New Jersey, and Zoelemeer, Netherlands.

At the same time, Blue Coat announced plans to acquire S7 Software, a services company out of Banglaore, for $5.25 million in cash. The acquisition will also add 65 employees to Blue Coat's workforce.

"The combination of the restructuring program and the acquisition of S7 Software strikes an appropriate balance between profitability and investment for innovation," said Gordon Brooks, senior vice president and chief financial officer. "Together these actions will allow us to invest for future growth while aligning the Company’s cost structure to its current revenue level, which should drive higher and more consistent levels of profitability."

In addition to the layoffs, Blue Coat will relocate an undisclosed number of engineering jobs from its Sunnyvale, California, and Austin, Texas offices to S7's offices in Bangalore and a few other locations. After factoring in S7's employees and a few new hires, Blue Coat's workforce reduction will be closer to 10 percent.

Image Credit: Blue Coat