Maximum PC - News

US Internet Gambling May Soon be Legal Again

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:03:28 +0000

It was just in 2006 when the US Congress approved a ban on internet gambling, but reports indicate the legislature is mulling the possibility of legalizing it again. The move in 2006 forced many online casinos out of business as US customers found they were unable to buy in. Many felt that online gambling was too tempting, and trapped people into losing large sums of money too easily.

As usual, this change would probably be aimed at increasing revenue. The bill passed through a committee this week would direct the government to license and collect taxes from online casinos. The bill would allow states to continue with a ban if they choose. This brings up the larger issue of the ever-expanding availability of the Internet. If people have access to a gambling online, or even on their phone, would more people get themselves in trouble?

If you ask us, there are plenty of other things people can spend too much money on around the Internet. Why single this out? Gambling doesn't seem more dangerous than other possible activities. How much control should the government exert over online business?

 

YouTube Increases Upload Limit to 15 Minutes

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:34:22 +0000

YouTube has raised the cap on video length from 10 minutes to 15 minutes following numerous entreaties to this effect. According to the world's most popular video site, the ability to upload videos longer than 10 minutes was the most requested feature. Some of you might be wondering why YT took so long to raise the limit.

On the face of it, the company feared that extending the upload limit without due preparation could have overwhelmed the site with unauthorized videos – especially longish content like movies. So YouTube was busy perfecting copyright-protection tools like its “state-of-the-art Content ID system” while your were clamoring for a more generous upload limit or none at all.

“Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today. We will continue our strong commitment to provide advanced technology and tools to protect the rights of small and large copyright owners worldwide. We’ll also do everything we can to release incremental improvements like this one that benefit our video creators,” YouTube said in a blog post.

Image Credit: YouTube

Russian Dude Shows Off Awesome CPU Collection

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:24:59 +0000

Remember that scaled down replica of Helsinki, Finland constructed entirely of motherboards we showed you two months ago? This Russian guy's "humble collection" of CPUs, as he describes them in a forum post, might just have the motherboard city beat.

"Cat Vaska," as he's known online, listed over a thousand CPUs, or so we're told (it takes long enough just scrolling through the list, let alone trying to count every chip). It's an impressive collection, to say the least, with processors dating back to the 286 era and earlier, and up to around the Pentium III, or thereabouts. He even lists a few fake chips that have been remarked.

Take a look at some more pics here, and scroll through his forum post here. When you're finished, hit the jump and tell us which you think is more impressive, the motherboard city model or the this seemingly ultimate CPU collection.

Image Credit: EnglishRussia.com

AVADirect Pushes Out Two More 3D Gaming Notebooks

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:08:20 +0000

Fleshing out its gaming laptop line, system vendor AVADirect this week added a pair of new mobile 3D setups, the Clevo W860CU 3D and Asus G51JX-3D.

The Clevo W860CU 3D sports a 15.6-inch HD display powered by Nvidia's GeForce GTX 286M graphics. Processor options include chips from Intel's mobile Core i5 and i7 lines, with a bunch of other configuration options, including a whole bunch of SSD and HDD choices, up to 8GB of DDR3-1333 RAM, custom paint, and other odds and ends.

Like Clevo's 3D laptop, the Asus G51JX-3D comes with a 15.6-inch HD display, but pairs the panel with Nvidia's GeForce GTS 360M graphics chip. Otherwise, it boasts similar configuration options across the board.

Both laptops come with a pair of Nvidia 3D Vision stereoscopic glasses with pricing starting at around $1,620 (Asus) and $1,850 (Clevo).

Image Credit: AVADirect

Comcast Cracks Down on Customers with a ZERO Balance

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:25:04 +0000

Yep, you read the title correctly. Comcast, the seemingly masochist ISP that gets repeatedly beat up in the press, is again taking a flogging, this time for billing a customer with a $0.00 balance and demanding remittance.

"To avoid an interruption of your service, please pay $0.00," the confused customer's bill reads. "As your account is currently delinquent, your Digital Voice, High Speed Internet and Cable services may be subject to interruption. While interrupted, you will retain the ability to place calls to 911 using your Digital Voice service."

According to some readers who caught wind of this quirky bill, this isn't a one-time SNAFU on Comcast's part, as others have reported receiving similar bills. And Comcast isn't alone, either. One reader said he received a notice from Charter Communications to pay a $0.00 balance, and when he failed to return a blank envelope or a check written out for absolutely nothing, the ISP allegedly shut off his service and wanted him to pay a $25 fee for the whole ordeal.

Image Credit: Gizmodo

Has something like this happened to any of you? Tell us your quirky biling stories in the comments section blow.

Blu-ray Discs Coming to a Redbox Near You

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:06:28 +0000

Everyone's favorite DVD rental kiosk, Redbox, is about to take a big step into the realm of high definition. The company will soon be rolling out Blu-ray discs to their locations, but it will cost customers a bit more pocket change. Regular DVDs have always gone for $1 per night, but Blu-rays will run you $1.50 per night. 

At first, the selection will be limited, with titles like The Book of Eli, Green Zone, Bounty Hunter, and Brooklyn's Finest showing up in the first batch. The delay in moving to Blu-ray was tied to a legal dispute with the studios. Redbox has agreed to wait 28 days after a film's disc release before stocking it. This move brings Redbox to parity with Netflix, which has been offering Blu-rays by mail for some time.

At the rate Redbox and Netflix are taking over the market, we have to wonder how Blockbuster can expect to continue on. Are you a frequent user of Redbox? Does $1.50 for a Blu-ray sound like a reasonable price to you?

 

Google's Mobile Search Market Share: 98.29%

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:38:06 +0000

We all know that Google is pretty much dominating the desktop search market, but a new analysis from Pingdom shows the mobile market is even more under Google's control. Google appears to be rocking a 98.26% share of mobile searches. The nearest competitor is Yahoo, with about 0.8%. Probably all from the Motorola Backflip.

It's clear this is due to Google's placement on the iPhone and Android as the default search engine. Microsoft's Bing has less than half a percent of mobile searches. When Windows Phone 7 launches, it will have Bing as the built-in search provider. But is that enough to even put a dent in Google's piece of the pie? 

Honestly, we can't think of a time we've used a search engine other than Google on a phone. Have you?

 

Zeno Clash Dev: PC Gamers Are More Open to Trying Weird Games

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:13:02 +0000

And we're not talking weird as in “Japanese pornographic PC game weird.” (At least, we really hope we're not.) Instead, we're talking good weird. Zeno Clash weird. For the uninitiated, Zeno Clash was a first-person brawler in which you explored a strange, colorful world and beat the stuffing out of its inhabitants, many of whom were bird people. And it was awesome. So anyway, we're fairly sure ACE Team co-founder Carlos Bordeu knows a thing or two about weird games, and he's willing to wager that you do too.

"I don't know whether it was because most people had already played Zeno Clash on PC, or that the console game launched a year later, but we definitely had much stronger sales on PC than on Xbox 360," he said of Zeno Clash's console port to Eurogamer.

"Zeno Clash was definitely weirder than most games, and it would be absurd to think that didn't put-off some people. PC players are maybe more open to trying weird games - games that aren't so mass market. But I don't know that I'd put it as harshly as PC gamers are smart and console gamers are stupid," he added.

In other words, it's a case of different strokes for different folks. Really though, even with as many off-the-wall indie titles as the PC has in its loony bin, we can't forget console gamers' favorite big old ball of crazy, Katamari Damacy. And how about Nintendo's toilet-paper unrolling, dog paw-shaking WarioWare series? Really, if anything, we're just glad that there are plenty of oddballs yucking it up on both sides of the great divide. In a gaming landscape dominated by gray shooters, brown shooters, and the occasional gray-brown shooter, it's comforting to know that plenty of color still exists if you just know where to look.

Blizzard: Activision “Hasn't Changed Anything” About Us

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:29:55 +0000

You could be forgiven for thinking that even Blizzard – perhaps the only company more powerful than the natural disaster it's named after – might not escape a run-in with and subsequent buy-out by Activision unscathed. After all, if the Infinity Ward fiasco proved anything, it's that Activision isn't afraid to bust down the doors and assert control when it feels like things aren't going its way. But unless Activision's got some kind of 24-hour hypno-ray constantly blasting Blizzard's offices, it sounds like Activision has yet to recreate the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo developer in its image.

“Since we had our merger with Activision, it hasn’t changed anything at Blizzard,” Blizzard VP Michael Ryder told MCV. “We operate in pretty much the same way we already have. Since we have been working with Activision we continue to be who we are. We make the same decisions in the same way we always have, and the relationship with Activision hasn’t changed that.”

“For example, one of our values is that gameplay is supremely important. We talk about play nice and play fair, which has to do how we work with each other and our partners. Preserving that culture is a key part of our ability to continue to deliver great games. We nurture it, protect it and take care of it as much as we can, because it is a big part of who we are.”

So yeah, if you thought Activision might have been pulling the strings behind the whole Real ID debacle, this seems to suggest that you were wrong. Granted, we're not ready to about-face and start handing out fliers for St. Activision's Church just yet. After all, what happens when Blizzard starts pitching something that doesn't fit nicely into its steady diet of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo? If the goose stops laying golden eggs, will its goose be cooked? Tough to say. Hopefully  we'll get a definitive answer when Blizzard reveals that new MMO it's been working on. 

eBook Reader Shipments Fall Far Short of Expectations

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:24:57 +0000

The eBook reader market expanded by 1.35 million units in the second quarter of 2010, and while that might sound like an impressive amount of mobile readers for such a short time span, it's 33.2 percent less than the 2.02 million analysts were expecting, says Digitimes Research.

Digitimes blames the slump in shipments to customers holding out for new models, many of which ended up delayed until the third quarter. One new model that was just announced is Amazon's third-generation Kindle with a 21 percent smaller frame and same 6-inch reading area.

But buyers waiting for the latest and greatest isn't the only reason more eBook readers didn't ship out, Digitimes says.

"Two other factors also prevented shipments from reaching the target. Telecom carrier China Mobile Communications' subsidized sales of eBook readers were weaker-than-expected in the China market, and volume shipments of SiPix's e-paper solutions were delayed," Digitimes Research explains.

Taking the lead in the second quarter was Barnes & Noble with a 33 percent share of the market, followed by Amazon with 27 percent.