Our desire for Diablo III has been well-documented, but – for the uninitiated – we would do terrible, terrible things to obtain it. Talking during a movie? In a heartbeat. Eating food that someone's clearly claimed with a Sharpie scrawling of their name? Without a second thought. We might even change lanes without signaling, but frankly, we're not breaking that glass unless an unlikely Skyrim delay emergency pops up. At any rate, the Diablo III beta's now just around the corner. Join us in rejoicing.
Blizzard confirmed the news during a recent Activision investor call. In news less worthy of slaughtering a fattened calf and kicking off a celebratory, cow level-themed feast, Diablo III's release date is still artfully dodging any attempt to pin it down. So said Blizzard's Mike Morhaime:
"The game does not have a launch date. We're working very hard to try and release it this year, but we will not compromise on quality."
Activision, meanwhile, is operating under the policy of "not expecting a Blizzard game in 2011." And, if we're being honest, so are we. The beta, however, makes that bitter pill much easier to swallow. Now then, if you'll excuse us, we're off to cram a long, full life into the span of a few months, because – given the circumstances – we won't exactly have time for such frivolous pursuits after that.
Google Chrome has amassed quite a favorable reputation for security with both users and security researchers. To its credit, it is the only web browser to have never been hacked at the annual Pwn2Own hacking competition. In fact, on the first day of this year's Pwn2Own contest (Mar 9-11), Google even offered a $20,000 cash prize to anybody who could circumnavigate the browser's sandbox "using vulnerabilities purely present in Google-written code." While no one managed to claim the prize back then, researchers from French security firm VUPEN now claim to have finally "Pwnd Google Chrome and its sandbox." Hit the jump for more.
The company announced its success in a blog post on Monday. In keeping with the company's stated policy, the technical details of the vulnerability are only available to its government customers. Nonetheless, the company did share a short video (below) showing the exploit in action.
"The exploit shown in this video is one of the most sophisticated codes we have seen and created so far as it bypasses all security features including ASLR/DEP/Sandbox," the company said, "it is silent (no crash after executing the payload), it relies on undisclosed (0day) vulnerabilities discovered by VUPEN and it works on all Windows systems (32-bit and x64).
"The video shows the exploit in action with Google Chrome v11.0.696.65 on Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 (x64). The user is tricked into visiting a specially crafted web page hosting the exploit which will execute various payloads to ultimately download the Calculator from a remote location and launch it outside the sandbox at Medium integrity level."
A Google spokesperson simply said that the company was not in a position to verify VUPEN's claims "as we have not received any details from them."
Yo, dawg! We heard that you liked operating systems and internet browsers, so Jolicloud's letting you have an operating system and a browser with another operating system inside of that browser! It's a cloud computing solution so slick that we've made it our Chrome Web App of the Week.
Unlike other Chrome web applications that only let you perform a given set of mission-specific functions inside of your browser window, Jolicloud offers an entire cloud-based operating system for users to interact with. Boasting impressive customization features, a wide variety of applications to choose from and integration with well known services such as Spotify, Google Docs and Dropbox, Jolicloud is a great solution for individuals who find themselves working on multiple computers during the course of their day. Instead of installing or configuring multiple applications or workspaces, simply navigate to your Jolicloud account and get down to business. Users are invited to customize their Jolicloud desktop by changing its theme and layout, choosing from over 1000 preloaded applications and can even create their own cloud-based apps to utilize.
When you're finished with Jolicloud, simply log out or close the web app's tab. When it's time to get down to business again, log back into Jolicloud from any computer rocking Chrome and you'll find your cloud-based desktop as you left it. That's a lot of mobile-computing power for the low, low cost of absolutely free.
Be sure to check back every Monday for another edition of Chrome Web App of the Week.
Last week was the very special premiere of our sister site: MaximumTech.com - which made us look back fondly on the day that Maximum PC made it's first appearance. So, in the name of Old School Mondays, we went ahead and tracked down the sneak preview pages of Maximum PC when they first appeared in the final issue of boot. Gordon Mah Ung took some time to look back on the premiere of Maximum PC:
"To this day, we still get letters from people pining for the good old days of boot. As someone who was there for the last few issues of boot, it was indeed a special time. With the July / August 1998 issue of boot, we began to wind down the old girl and cranked up something that people on the newsstand could understand was actually a PC magazine, and not a shoe fetish mag or worse – a Canadian interpretation of the word.
Maximum PC would make its debut two months after boot went off line. The name was different, but the staff was the same. For trivia buffs, Maximum PC was actually somewhat of a lovechild of boot and Home PC. Our publisher purchased the subscription list from the dying Home Computing and those Home PC readers would soon begin receiving copies of Maximum PC. We're not entirely sure whose idea that was, but if boot readers were upset that boot was going away (in name anyway) you couldn't imagine the reaction from a Home PC reader who suddenly started getting Maximum PC. Let's just say that an award named Kick Ass didn't go over well. Neither did reviews of "violent" video games and reviews of enthusiast PC's that weren't fixated on prices. It go to so bad that EIC Brad "Big Daddy" Dosland actually wrote an editorial saying, that if the readers were offended, please leave, and here are some alternative magazines you can read.
We're still here too, almost 13 years later. We've survived the Dot.com implosion. The "free PC" craze, the "death" of the desktop. The "death" of PC gaming and a handful of other predicted apocalyptic endings to the enthusiast computing market. It's funny that we post this preview of the first Maximum PC on the eve of a coming war with ARM and people once again writing the obituary on the PC. So, the next time some latte sipping fool tells you about the "post PC era" remind them that the PC has faced this numerous times before.
So, to renew Big Daddy's original manifesto from the last millennium, let's all lift a glass to Pure PC Power."
Despite losing a court case, and nearly selling to a shady gaming company, The Pirate Bay is still rattling cages in the entertainment industry. A February meeting of the European Union's Law Enforcement Work Party (LEWP) resulted in a proposal that, among other things, recommended a European firewall that would block 'inappropriate' sites.
Among those sites, would no doubt be the Pirate Bay. The torrent site is using its clout to rally the Internet with an impassioned (and fittingly "borrowed") speech.Among those sites would no doubt be the Pirate Bay. The torrent site is using its clout to rally the Internet with an impassioned (and fittingly "borrowed") speech.
The LEWP proposal did not go over well in all quarters. ISPs are quite down on it as they do not want the added responsibility of running the firewalls and maintaining the blocklists. Many users are, of course, concerned about government censorship of the Internet. Although, the media lobby is pleased with the proposed measures, which they have been suggesting for years. In response to this document, The Pirate Bay has posted a modified version of Winston Churchill's "this was their finest hour" speech.
It might be a little thick on hyperbole, but it makes it clear how serious the Bay takes the prospect of an EU firewall. "I expect that the Battle of Internets is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of an Uncensored civilization! Upon it depends our own free life, and the long continuity of our sites and our trackers. The whole fury and might of the enemy will very soon be turned on us," the statement reads.
The document reference is just the meeting minutes, so the more complex minutiae of the proposal are still unclear. Do you think it reality is as bad as these early impressions? More importantly, will the firewall go into effect?
Google has announced an interesting new feature for Google image search. Users will now be able to sort image results by subject to better find the picture they are after. This feature has the potential to take a random pile of images, and help users make sense of it all.
As the feature rolls out over the next week or so, you will notice that the sidebar has a new "Sort by subject" option. If you click this, your results will be reorganized with headers for the subject of the image. Google used the example of London in their blog post. If a user searches for London, then organizes by subject, they can get all the images of Big Ben in one place, and all the snapshots of Tower Bridge in a separate row.
We're especially intrigued with the idea that Sort by subject could help identify images you otherwise wouldn't be able to. You might not know what the name of that bridge in London is, but with this new feature, you might be able to find out very quickly. Can you think up any uses for Sort by subject?
Because one screen is never enough! We set our sights on finding the best multiscreen setup for gaming
Three of the more hardcore gamers on staff served as our intrepid testers.
Last month's review of Samsung's MD230X6 six-screen Eyefinity display got us thinking big. We were awestruck by the majesty of so much screen real estate—particularly in games, where a screen config of massive proportions provides a level of immersion that a single screen, or even two screens, can't come close to matching. But the MD230X6 wasn't perfect, as our review revealed. This got us wondering: Would just three of the 23-inch displays side-by-side make for a more satisfying all-around experience? Would it be as encompassing in games? What if we could take three large displays and turn them vertical? And hey, while we're imagining the possibilities, what would gaming be like on three gigantic HDTVs? What, after all, could be more maximum than that?
We knew of no better way to answer these pressing questions than with a Maximum PC Challenge. We grabbed three of the more hardcore gamers on staff to serve as our intrepid testers: Online Associate Editor Alan Fackler, Senior Associate Editor Nathan Edwards, and Senior Editor Gordon Mah Ung. We had each editor play three distinctly different game types—Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and World of Warcraft—on our four test setups: Samsung's MD230X6 with all six screens, the MD230X6 with just three screens, three of NEC's new PA301W 30-inch screens vertically oriented, and three NEC E461 46-inch HDTVs.
We were looking for the perfect combination of screen real estate, game immersion, and functionality across multiple game types. Which config would prevail? We needed to find out—even if it took hours and hours of gameplay (oh, how we toil!).
While our primary objective in this challenge was to identify the most awesome screen setup for games, we also include a sidebar on which GPUs will produce the best frame rates and quality settings in each multiscreen scenario.
Now, with that out of the way… Game on!
Configuration 1: Six 23-inch Panels
Samsung's MD230X6 is nicknamed "the Beast," but is it the Best?
Samsung's MD230X6 is particularly suited to a six-screen setup, with super-slim bezels that minimize disruption between screens and a solid setup. While the Beast (our pet name for the monstrous display) isn't hard to screw together, it's a pain to keep track of all the wires coming out of the back. It also takes up significant desk space, and its weight makes it susceptible to some wobbling. Intended for the über-productive user or the intense gamer, the Beast earned a 7 verdict in last month's review—in large part because of the horizontal bezel running through the middle of the display, which made aiming in first-person shooters (such as Call of Duty) frustrating and difficult. While bezel correction is an option in the Catalyst Control Panel, we were unable to enable it with this setup, since the monitors had varying display identification data. Unable to aim or see his team or user tags, Gordon declared first-person shooters on the MD230X6 a "waste of time." And while Alan said he felt "enveloped" by the display, he also declared it nearly impossible to aim. Nathan said straight-out he'd prefer a smaller screen.
Samsung's MD230X6 brings a whopping 5760x2160 resolution to the table.
The Beast fared much better in WoW, where the bezels didn't interfere with gameplay but did cut our avatars oddly in half. Surprisingly there was almost too much screen real estate—both Alan and Gordon found it difficult to swing the mouse through six screens to get to the menu icons, and Nathan disliked having to turn his head to view the chat window and controls—although all agreed that the "panoramic view of the world was encompassing."
All three editors found the MD230X6 most gratifying in a racing game. Nathan summed it up best during his Need for Speed test with the declaration, "This I can get behind!"
Configuration 2: Three 23-inch Panels
Is half a Beast twice as nice?
The obvious solution to the bezels running through the center of the MD230X6 was to remove the top three displays and rerun our gaming tests on just the bottom three displays—essentially making it an MD230X3. Scaling back to just the three displays—for a combined resolution of 5760x1080—provided a whole new set of challenges. Nathan thought they seemed too low and said the setup felt "squat," and that there was still too much horizontal real estate. "I still have to look too far to the right or the left to see vital information." While the aiming in the FPS was easier, as the bezel issue had been removed, the images being displayed were problematic. The settings in Call of Duty seemed off, as though the aspect ratio was incorrect, and the character models and weapons were oddly expanded across the screens. Gordon kept saying, "Something is not right here," and despite lots of fiddling with the aspect ratio and field of view, never quite got it tuned to his liking.
By far the least outrageous configuration of our challenge, three 23-inch LCDs are hardly pedestrian.
These issues were characteristic of the first-person point of view and cropped up to a lesser extent in Need for Speed. World of Warcraft, on the other hand, elicited a positive response from all the editors. While Gordon lamented that the three panels weren't as "in your face" as the six-display setup, he preferred the three screens to a single display and found WoW to be "totally playable" and "a better experience than racing or FPS," adding that a nice wide peripheral view of the world is much better suited to a third-person perspective.
Configuration 3: Three 30-inch Panels
Let's try this one more time with feeling (and portrait mode)!
Despite the pitfalls of the MD230X3, we weren't convinced that multiscreen bliss couldn't be found with three monitors. Enter NEC's spanking-new PA301Ws—professional-grade 30-inch screens with a price tag to match at $2,300 each. Besides each boasting a 2560x1600 native resolution, the PA301Ws offer the unique ability among 30-inch monitors to pivot into portrait mode. Set side-by-side in this fashion, you're looking at a wall of 4800x2560 unabashedly color-accurate pixels. True, the PA301Ws lack the Samsung screens' dainty bezels, but that didn't prove to be a problem, as the bezels didn't cross our primary focal point. As it happens, we were able to enable bezel correction with this setup, but we had mixed feelings about the results. Images appeared less "split" by the bezels, but a great deal of information was lost in the process.
NEC's PA301Ws professional-grade 30-inch monitors overshadow a triad of 23-inch LCDs in resolution, image quality, and girth.
Either way, the editors unanimously found this setup to be unequivocally awesome. Gordon quickly declared it the "best of both worlds" between the previous six- and three-panel setups, and "a superior experience." Alan called his Call of Duty testing "intense, crazy immersive," and Need for Speed "freakin' sick." Nathan said of World of Warcraft, "Rad! It's like I'm peering through a window to another world."
All were in favor of the "vertical improvement" over the other three-panel config and the lack of a horizontal bezel. Gordon was impressed by the details during his Call of Duty run, and he called Need for Speed "ideal," stating that the PA301Ws were "in all ways better than the six panels."
Configuration 4: Three 46-inch TVs
Time to go big or go home!
So far, so good. So… what else? Three big HDTVs! The idea started as almost a joke by Gordon, but then germinated into a why-the-hell-not proposition. After all, if we want to be immersed in gameplay, what better way than by planting ourselves within a fortress of three giant 46-inch LCD screens. We turned to NEC's E461s, and we got busy. After some (pretty extensive) troubleshooting, we were ready to press Play.
The E461's obviously eat up huge amounts of space, and while this was easily the most unrealistic of the configs we tested, we had to see how it would play out. Like the three 23-inch panels, the HDTVs, which are 1920x1080 each, had a combined resolution of 5760x1080. But unlike the 23-inch panels, no one was complaining that the display felt too squat. Unfortunately, the aspect ratio and field of view issues that arose in Call of Duty with the other 5760x1080 setup remained.
NECs E461s offer a standard 1920x1080 resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate.
Need for Speed was the biggest hit on this setup. Nathan's initial impression in the game summed it up nicely: "This is madness." Alan felt similarly, declaring that the peripheral view of the road rushing past made the game feel faster. Gordon, actually preferred Need for Speed on the TVs to the 30-inch screens, saying it felt like he was really driving and that the horizon appeared as large as in life.
World of Warcraft produced some complaints about the extensive screen real estate: "Turning my head to view data on the side screens destroyed the feeling of immersion and also took my eyes off my character," said Nathan. Gordon wasn't bothered by that so much, but did find WoW's relatively low-res textures to be unusually noticeable on the all-encompassing displays. During Alan's testing of World of Warcraft, Nathan declared it "more impressive looking" from further back. In fact, one of the drawbacks to using such large screens is that it's difficult to find a position that's close enough to feel immersed but not visually overwhelmed; Call of Duty caused dizziness during one portion of our testing.
Seeing Is Believing
Our pick for the best multiscreen setup for gaming
In the end, the PA301Ws won the votes of all three of our testers—the combination of pristine images spread across increased vertical landscape was just too good. Hey, anything that makes curmudgeonly Gordon utter "ideal" or "bingo" is definitely noteworthy. It's also one of the more practical setups (while the models themselves might be prohibitively expensive, the configuration is what impressed us); the sheer space that six panels or three HDTVs take up already puts both into the realm of fantasy for most users.
With a combined resolution of 4800x2560, three 30-inch LCD monitors offer grandeur and detail without requiring an outrageous amount of desk space.
But this challenge wasn't about being realistic; it was about putting our fantasy multiscreen configurations to the test in games—and in that respect, the PA301Ws were the overall winner. While the three E461s did well in World of Warcraft and excelled in Need for Speed, they left us cold during Call of Duty. The six-panel MD230X6 display tripped over its own toes with the bezel issue, and its three-panel sibling wasn't grand enough to fulfill our desires and struggled with first-person point of view.
While all of the configurations required a considerable amount of setup and troubleshooting, the three vertical displays were ready to go with the fewest difficulties.
Additionally, the three vertical displays could easily be utilized for any other productivity task—from web design and photo and video editing to PowerPoint and Excel, it's hard to imagine a task this setup couldn't tackle with ease and aplomb.
What Video Card Do I Need?
A multiscreen setup calls for robust graphics. Here's a quick guide
Gaming on three or more monitors is no easy feat. Pushing that many pixels is hugely demanding on a GPU. So if you want to get the most from your multiscreen setup, you'll need to pair it with adequate graphics power. Using our challenge scenarios as examples, we examine what kind of GPUs you will need to achieve adequate frame rates and quality settings.
To get the best gaming experience on a six-screen setup, you need two Radeon HD 6990 videocards—if you can find them.
The Wall of Six
AMD likes to tout the ability of its GPUs to handle up to six LCD panels simultaneously. You'll need a special Eyefinity Edition card, complete with six Mini DisplayPort connectors, if you want to drive six panels with one card, based on the previous-generation Radeon HD 5870.
The problem is that the HD 5870 doesn't really have enough gas to drive six 1080p panels with decent frame rates in many games. You'll either have to significantly dial down the eye candy or reduce resolution—which defeats the purpose of having six panels. You'll see better performance if you pair up two Radeon HD 6970s. Even then, you'll need to sacrifice some high-end features. If you want to go all out and drop in a pair of Radeon HD 6990 dual-GPU cards (assuming you can actually find them), then you can get pretty decent frame rates.
You can theoretically drive six panels with Nvidia-based cards, but you'd need either three cards in triple-SLI mode or two GTX 590 dual-GPU cards. It's unclear, however, whether driver support is really there to deliver the same level of experience.
Triple HD Desktop Monitors
For more practical gaming, three 1080p LCD monitors is probably the sweet spot right now. You can drive three 1080p monitors with a single high-end, single-GPU card like the Radeon HD 6970 and get decent frame rates at the full 5760x1080 resolution. You will need to sacrifice some detail settings in some games. And there will be a few titles, like Metro 2033, that won't be playable at these resolutions with a single card.
If you're willing to go with two cards or a dual-GPU card, the field opens up. Either Nvidia or AMD can run a triple HD desktop display with either dual-GPU cards or two discrete cards. If you're willing to go with the high midrange—Radeon HD 6950s for AMD or GeForce GTX 560 Tis for Nvidia—then you can probably get decent frame rates.
The 30-inch Solution
Assuming you have the monitors and the necessary stands, you can get an awesome experience from three 30-inch panels in portrait mode. That translates to 4800x2560 resolution, or 12.3 million pixels. You can go with a single AMD card, but don't expect a good gaming experience. What you really want is a pair of high-end, dual-GPU cards. If you've got the cash, you might be able to hit good frame rates with two Radeon HD 6990s. That's a lot of cash, but then you're driving a lot of pixels. Remember, three of these 30-inch panels are really only about 150,000 pixels less than six 1080p panels. So in terms of GPU horsepower, you need about the same performance for a three-panel, 30-inch setup as you'd need for six 1080p panels—but it will probably look better.
Triple HDTVs
What if you want to hook up three HDTVs? That's the same resolution as three 1080p desktop panels, and the performance requirements are the same. However, unique problems exist. For one thing, you'll want three HDMI connections. That's not as hard as it sounds, though. If you're going with Nvidia, you'll need two cards (or a single GTX 590) and three DVI-to-HDMI cables. With AMD cards, you'll want DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapters. Both of these solutions exist, thankfully.
The other issue you'll run into is overscan—where the signal extends beyond the visible boundary of the display—although this problem crops up less with the newer HDTVs. If you're hooking up older TVs, however, overscan can be enough to make you tear out your hair. In that case, you'll definitely want a third-party solution, like PowerStrip ($29.95 for a single license). But that's not a solution for the faint of heart.
Lessons Learned
There's more to using a multiscreen setup than just plugging in the displays
So you've cleared off a huge swath of desk space, and you have your multiple large screens arranged just so. Now what? If you're using an AMD graphics card, you need to pay a visit to the Catalyst Control Center. Getting your displays to work in concert isn't a totally obvious process. You'll see all your monitors represented by icons, but no standard menu option for extending the desktop. Rather, you need to select one monitor, then use a drop-down arrow in the upper-right corner of the icon to span a group of your choosing.
In the Nvidia Control Panel, you might think you can take care of the job in the "Set up multiple displays" tab, like you would with two screens. But if you're using more than one GPU—in either a single- or double-card config— you actually need to go into the "Manage 3D settings" tab to get three or more screens working together.
With Widescreen Fixer, you can adjust the aspect ratio of select games for improved playability across multiple screens.
While gaming can be glorious across three or more large screens, some games are more adaptable to that format than others. In our tests, for example, we found that Call of Duty: Black Ops assumed an unnatural aspect ratio and field of view when we ran it on three 1080p LCDs (with a combined resolution of 5760x1080). But there is a way to compensate for these issues. A free third-party app called Widescreen Fixer (www.widescreenfixer.org) will adjust the aspect ratio to suit your screen setup. It requires that you install a separate plugin for each game you want to adjust—plugins are available for many popular FPS titles, including the Battlefield and Call of Duty franchises, BioShock, and Ghost Recon.
Another issue we encountered involved the placement of various maps, menus, toolbars, etc. in a massively multiplayer game, such as World of Warcraft. By default, this information occupies the far edges of your display, out of the way of the action. But when using an array of large screens, you find yourself having to crane your neck from side to side to access that information. Fortunately, there are a ton of custom interfaces that move those elements to alternate parts of the display. A multitude of custom UIs for WoW can be found at Wowinterface.com.
AMD today launched its second set of Catalyst display drivers in a little less than two weeks. The newly released Catalyst 11.5 driver suite replaces the 11.4 suite as the most up-to-date drivers and, like before, applies to Radeon HD 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, and 6000 series graphics cards, and Radeon 3000 and 4000 series chipsets. So what does the latest update bring to the table that wasn't served with 11.4?
Not a whole lot. AMD made a couple of enhancements to its HydraGrid feature found in HydraVision, which is now aware of user created Bezels with Catalyst 11.5 installed, and also includes an 'Automatic Grid' option that aligns to the user defined Eyefinity display layout.
Otherwise, Catalyst 11.5 is more about resolving a handful of issues, most of them in Windows 7, and one in Windows XP in which Civilization V no longer stops responding during game launch when CrossFire is enabled.
Misplace your heatsink? Try checking your wallet, right in between your Visa credit card and your Paypal debit card. It's not outrageous, it's Novel Concept Inc.'s new ThinSink cooler, which the company claims is the world's thinnest forced convection (fan cooled) heatsink. This thing's not just as thin as a credit card, it's even skinnier, yet supposedly has a volumetric cooling efficiency 25 times greater than today's best microprocessor heatsinks, Novel Concepts says. Can it really be true?
The ThinSink measures 85mm by 55mm by 0.75mm, uses a 50mm diameter smooth fan spinning at 6000RPM, and sips just 0.031 watts of electricity. A single AAA battery powers the cooler for up to two days. And because of the smooth fan surface, it runs quiet without the pulsating sound and vibration caused by traditional fan blades, Novel Concepts claims.
At that size, you're obviously not going to drop one of these into your overclocked Core i7 desktop, but you will find the ThinSink being used in notebooks, monitors, and tablets, or so Novel Concepts hopes. The ultra compact size and potent cooling ability can be used to cool integrated circuits, semiconductors, LEDs, and other microelectronic heat generating devices. And it's cheap too boot, consisting of just two thin plate parts (excluding motor), which can be molded from metal or plastic.
A premium MMO gaming mouse that takes time to master
With the introduction of the Naga Epic, Razer has split its highest gaming mouse tier into two segments. The Mamba is still the top-of-the-line general-purpose gaming mouse, but it's now joined by the Naga Epic, which runs the same high MSRP ($130) but offers features more tailored to MMO gamers. That's a lot of cash—is the Naga Epic worth it?
The Naga Epic packs many of the same "elite"-level features as the Mamba, including a 5,600 dpi laser sensor, a 1ms response time, and responsive hybrid wireless/wired control. Build quality is solid, as usual, and custom-color backlighting shines through the scroll wheel and thumb grid.
No, you're not hallucinating. The Naga Epic has more buttons than a touch-tone phone.
So what sets the Naga apart as an MMO gaming mouse? First, there's the shape: a higher-backed, more bulb-shaped design than you normally expect from Razer. If the Mamba is a Corvette, the Naga is a VW Bug. It's a comfortable layout that leaves your hand in a more relaxed position for long gaming sessions. The Naga Epic has a degree of physical customization as well, in the form of three swappable pinky-side plates that let you change the feel and look of the mouse. The plates feel sturdy while in place, and are well designed; the mouse looks very nice with any of the three attached.
The second thing that makes the Naga Epic suited for MMO gamers is the 12-button side plate, which puts an incredible number of potential hotkeys right under your thumb. Razer's excellent driver software makes it easy to customize the 12 buttons, allowing you to save different profiles for different games. To help you "train" on the 12-button grid, Razer includes sheets of adhesive, rubbery dots so you can feel your way around. Unfortunately, we found that even with the dots, it takes a lot of effort to become adept at finding the right spot on the Naga Epic's tightly packed grid.
So, as a top-tier MMO gaming mouse, we can recommend the Naga Epic. It's a comfortable mouse with a strong feature set, including a staggering number of buttons—if you're willing to put in the time needed to learn to use them.
After being placed on administrative leave on April 18, 2011, Systemax today said it has accepted the resignation of Gilbert Fiorentino as Chief Executive of the company's technology products group. Fiorentino was under investigation for "anonymous whistleblower allegations" in relation to the company's Miami operations, though Systemax, which sells computer parts and other electronics through its TigerDirect, CompUSA, and Circuit City subsidiaries, never said exactly what those allegations were.
"The matters investigated occurred over a number of years, did not have a material impact on Systemax's previously reported financial results in any reporting period, and were limited to the company's Miami operations," Systemax said in a statement.
Systemax said it came to an agreement with Fiorentino whereby within 5 business days, the former Chief Executive will surrender assets worth around $11 million, including 1,130,001 shares of Systemax common stock owned or beneficially owned by Fiorentino, and $480,000 in cash. According to Forbes, Fiorentino received a little under $3.1 million in compensation in 2009, including $501,000 in salary.
Robert Leeds, founding CEO of Systemax's technology business, is taking over as Interim Chief Executive while a search for a permanent replacement is under way.
A netbook loses most of its appeal when prices soar near or above that of a traditional notebook, and to prevent that from happening, Intel put certain restrictions in place for any manufacturers hoping to score a discounted Atom platform. One of the biggest rules netbook makers had to follow was the 10.1-inch form factor, or at least at they used to. According to reports, Intel is rethinking things going forward.
With tablets taking over as the trendy option for mobile users in need of a glorified web surfing device, Fudzilla says Intel has put in place a new set of rules for Atom-based netbooks. With the introduction of Cedar Trail-M in the fourth quarter of 2011, netbook makers will officially be able to use displays anywhere from 7 inches to 12.1 inches. Netbooks will no longer be limited to 2GB, so be prepared to see new models shipping with 4GB of DDR3-1066 standard, at least for those equipped with a dual-core Atom N2800 processor (N2600 still must adhere to 2GB of DDR3-800).
Intel is going to recommend 32GB SSDs or HDDs up to 250GB for its Cedar Trail-M platform. New netbooks will come with either a 4-cell or 6-cell battery, and operating systems will consist of Windows 7 Starter/Home Basic, MeeGo, or Chrome OS.
The biggest addition that will hit upcoming netbooks is the introduction of WiDi, a wireless display that will let users connect their netbook to an HDTV via 802.11n. Using an Atom N2600 or N2800 processor, users will be able to get up to 30fps with dynamic resolution.
Look for these systems to appear in the fourth quarter for between $330 and $400.
Sony is still trying to figure out how to best to handle the recent attacks on its PlayStation Network that compromised credit card and other personal information for millions of user accounts. Unfortunately for Sony, sweeping the situation under the rug is no longer an option, not with the continued downtime and literally millions of eyes now on Sony. Company head Howard Stringer already offered up a $1 million apology in the form of an insurance policy, and now we hear Sony is considering a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for causing this whole mess.
According to All Things Digital, Sony hasn't reached a final decision on whether it will actually go this route, and perhaps company decision makers have been watching too many westerns lately. However, the idea is at least out there and shows how badly Sony wants to capture those responsible for the attacks.
Sony won't act on its own if it offers up a bounty, All Things Digital reports. Instead, the company will work in cooperation with law enforcement agencies like the FBI and local authorities in other countries.
In related news, Sony President Kaz Hirai sent a letter to Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal containing previously undisclosed details about the attack. According to the letter, the systems used to break into Sony's network used 130 servers and 50 distinct software programs, using "very sophisticated and aggressive techniques to obtain unauthorized access to the servers and hide their presence from the system administrators."
The eggheads at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego did a little number crunching lately and presented their findings in a research report. What they found is that, as of three years ago, the world's 27 million business servers processed 9.57 zettabytes of information. As for the average worker, he or she receives an average of 3TB of information every year, enough to fill today's largest consumer hard drives.
ComputerWorld dug up the report released last month titled "How Much Information?: 2010 Report on Enterprise Server Information," and in it, the researchers say 9.57 zettabyes is roughly equivalent to a 5.6-billion mile high stack of books extending from Earth to Neptune and back, repeated about 20 times.
"Most of the information is incredibly transient: it is created, used, and discarded in a few seconds without ever being seen by a person," said Roger Bohn, one of the report's co-authors.
As big as those numbers are, researchers erred on the conservative side and may actually be underestimating the world's data workload. That's because the server industry sales figures, which was used to come up with their estimates, don't fully take into account the millions of servers built and used by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and several other companies.
Don't accuse Hewlett Packard of having a case of the Mondays. The OEM woke up this morning and hit the ground running by announcing a handful of new products and services, including an ultra-thin notebook, a light and powerful laptop, a convertible tablet, a redesigned netbook, and even a pre-paid 3G mobile broadband service.
First up is HP's new ProBook 5330m. Sporting a dual-tone color scheme and brushed aluminum chassis, the ProBook 5330m is a 13.3-inch laptop built around Intel's Sandy Bridge platform with Core i3 and i5 processor options. It also features a backlit keyboard, TPM circuitry, and Beats Audio, which has never before been included on HP's business line. Pricing starts at $800.
Next up is the EliteBook 2560p notebook and 2760p convertible notebook/tablet. The 2560p is a 12.5-inch laptop aimed at enterprise customers and comes with second generation Core i5 or i7 CPU options with vPro and Turbo Boost technology. Business heads can choose from a 2.5-inch hard drive or SSD. Other features include an integrated optical drive and HP's new FORGE design. As for the 2760p, it's essentially the same product, but in hybrid notebook/tablet form with support for the included stylus and finger tapping. Pricing for the 2560p and 2760p starts at $1,100 and $1,500 respectively and will be available this month.
Moving along, HP's redesigned Mini 210 netbook sports a streamlined look and is now available in five colors, including "sweet purple, charcoal, crimson red, luminous rose, and ocean drive." It's also been upgraded with Beats Audio and HP's QuickWeb 3.0 pre-boot environment. Pricing starts at $300 with availability beginning June 15.
The other big announcement coming from team HP is its new DataPass pre-paid 3G mobile broadband service. Users are able to purchase wireless broadband data using major mobile carriers in the U.S. without worrying about contract obligations, hotspots, or setup fees. Pricing starts at $5 for 75MB for a duration of 5 hours.
If your one of the 5.6% of PC Gamers that Steam has identified as being DirectX11 compliant, your early adopting ways are about to pay off. Our sister site PC Gamer has confirmed that Creative Assembly is adding DX11 support to Shogun 2 Total War, along with tons of bug fixes and four new multiplayer maps.
According to the patch notes DirectX11 will add "very high quality shadow maps", "high quality depth of field" and "up close to the camera rocky terrain surfaces are visibly more detailed and realistic". As noted above a very small percentage users will actually stand to benefit from the changes, but we are pleased to see developers continuing to offer unique and gorgeous experiences on the PC.
If you've been holding off on buying a new card, will DX11 support in Shogun 2 push you over the edge?
Sandy Bridge was a huge leap forward for Intel, but in the never ending core count race, they still have some catching up to do with AMD. Rumors were circulating about a new possible eight-core variant, but now we have proof. An overzealous third party is looking to sell off its preview chip, and the image you're looking at here is for an eight-core Sandy Bridge part that is branded "E" for "Enthusiast". The chip shown is only rated at 1.6 GHz, but we expect these numbers to be not just overclockable, but likely to grow prior to launch.
Intel seems to have succeeded at shutting down the auction prior to any sale being made, but this will no doubt pop up again somewhere else. At $1,360 USD the asking price is a bit on the high side, and when you combine this with the reality that you're unlikely to find a Socket 2011 to drop it into, you're looking at a pretty expensive paperweight.
It remains to be seen if this chip will ever see the light of day, or if Intel will choose to take on eight-core Bulldozer parts with a faster six-core CPU's instead. We continue to see quad core Intel chips outperforming AMD's six core variants in most benchmarks, but some heavily multi-threaded applications are starting to tip the balance. Either way I doubt any self-respecting Maximum PC reader would turn their nose up at 16 threads.
Our desire for Diablo III has been well-documented, but – for the uninitiated – we would do terrible, terrible things to obtain it. Talking during a movie? In a heartbeat. Eating food that someone's clearly claimed with a Sharpie scrawling of their name? Without a second thought. We might even change lanes without signaling, but frankly, we're not breaking that glass unless an unlikely Skyrim delay emergency pops up. At any rate, the Diablo III beta's now just around the corner. Join us in rejoicing. 
Google Chrome has amassed quite a favorable reputation for security with both users and security researchers. To its credit, it is the only web browser to have never been hacked at the annual Pwn2Own hacking competition. In fact, on the first day of this year's Pwn2Own contest (Mar 9-11), Google even offered a $20,000 cash prize to anybody who could circumnavigate the browser's sandbox "using vulnerabilities purely present in Google-written code." While no one managed to claim the prize back then, researchers from French security firm VUPEN now claim to have finally "Pwnd Google Chrome and its sandbox." Hit the jump for more.
Yo, dawg! We heard that you liked operating systems and internet browsers, so Jolicloud's letting you have an operating system and a browser with another operating system inside of that browser! It's a cloud computing solution so slick that we've made it our Chrome Web App of the Week.
Despite losing a court case, and nearly selling to a shady gaming company, The Pirate Bay is still 
Google has announced an interesting new feature for Google image search. Users will now be able to 
AMD today launched its second set of Catalyst display drivers in a little less than two weeks. The newly released Catalyst 11.5 driver suite replaces the 11.4 suite as the most up-to-date drivers and, like before, applies to Radeon HD 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, and 6000 series graphics cards, and Radeon 3000 and 4000 series chipsets. So what does the latest update bring to the table that wasn't served with 11.4?
Misplace your heatsink? Try checking your wallet, right in between your Visa credit card and your Paypal debit card. It's not outrageous, it's Novel Concept Inc.'s new ThinSink cooler, which the company 
After being placed on administrative leave on April 18, 2011, Systemax today said it has accepted the resignation of Gilbert Fiorentino as Chief Executive of the company's technology products group. Fiorentino was under investigation for "anonymous whistleblower allegations" in relation to the company's Miami operations, though Systemax, which sells computer parts and other electronics through its TigerDirect, CompUSA, and Circuit City subsidiaries, never said exactly what those allegations were.
A netbook loses most of its appeal when prices soar near or above that of a traditional notebook, and to prevent that from happening, Intel put certain restrictions in place for any manufacturers hoping to score a discounted Atom platform. One of the biggest rules netbook makers had to follow was the 10.1-inch form factor, or at least at they used to. According to reports, Intel is rethinking things going forward.
Sony is still trying to figure out how to best to handle the recent attacks on its PlayStation Network that compromised credit card and other personal information for millions of user accounts. Unfortunately for Sony, sweeping the situation under the rug is no longer an option, not with the continued downtime and literally millions of eyes now on Sony. Company head Howard Stringer already offered up a 
The eggheads at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego did a little number crunching lately and presented their findings in a research report. What they found is that, as of three years ago, the world's 27 million business servers processed 9.57 zettabytes of information. As for the average worker, he or she receives an average of 3TB of information every year, enough to fill today's largest consumer hard drives.
Don't accuse Hewlett Packard of having a case of the Mondays. The OEM woke up this morning and hit the ground running by 
If your one of the 5.6% of PC Gamers that 
Sandy Bridge was a huge leap forward for Intel, but in the never ending core count race, they still have some catching up to do with AMD. Rumors were circulating about a new possible eight-core variant, but now we have proof. An overzealous third party is looking to 
