The Web Tech Reviews

Ultrabooks: The next Step in PC’s

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:17:32 +0000

The days of the humble desktop computer seem numbered, to say the least. More people are on laptops than desktops, and more still are starting to forgo the computer entirely in favor of handheld devices like Androids and iPads. With the coming Ultrabook, it looks like even the standard laptop and notebook are being threatened now.

What Is It?

The Ultrabook is essentially an effort to make powerbooks and laptops slimmer and lighter than ever before without compromising the power of a good notebook. The end goal is to create a laptop about the size and weight of a magazine and the same graphical power, processing speed and battery life of a full sized laptop.

How Does That Work?

The core of the unit is the Intel processor which works on lower battery life. It stands to reason that once Intel discovered how to reduce the energy intake of their processors, that smaller, lighter laptops would be right around the corner, but the Ultrabook is nevertheless a bit surprising in its sheer lightness.

Something that you will notice if you take a look at photos of an Ultrabook prototype is the relative lack of USB ports. The prototype models being shown currently only have a single USB port. The Ultrabook is simply so incredibly thin that to add a second port would compromise the size of the unit.

Why the Ultrabook?

As we mentioned, laptops and desktops are fast becoming a thing of the past. PC sales are in a slump, it's as simple as that. There are people who will always need a good PC. These are people who need a workstation, people like film editors, writers and graphic designers. However, the market for the PC as a web browsing device, as something for casual use or convenience, is fast drying up.

The Ultrabook is intended to compete not only with the MacBook Air, but with the iPads and blackberries that have replaced the PC in the marketplace for consumer electronics.

Test Driving the Ultrabook

Because of the experimental nature of the unit, it's no surprise that Dell's own XPS 13 model Ultrabook launched with Project Sputnik, a feedback initiative intended to gather intel and opinions from the developer community. By asking for feedback directly instead of waiting for negative reviews to pop up all over the web, Dell have made the effort to keep improving their product right from launch.

Future Features

Outside of some great Dell laptop deals, expect to see the Ultrabook in the $999.99 price range. Intel and other companies are currently looking into ways and means of reducing that price because the end goal is to put out a machine that is as accessible and as fun to use as an iPhone or an Android. Right now, the Ultrabook is for serious users, professionals and hardcore hobbyists. If Intel and Dell can bring the price down into the $500 range before the technology becomes dated, then the Ultrabook may become a serious competitor in the field of consumer electronics.

Is what I am doing really considered camping in Modern Warfare?

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:17:30 +0000

I’ve been playing the Call of Duty series for years, many years, starting with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. From time to time I get messages from haters saying I’m a camper, or something similar but in a lot more offensive tone. That got me thinking, is what I am doing really considered camping? I do realize that staying at one spot for an extended period of time is camping, that’s obvious. But the thing is, I am far from doing that. I mean each game is roughly 7 minutes on average, what is the fun in doing that when I never play the sniper class?

I think I am just playing smart, I move out when I know or have some idea of where the enemies are and attempt to take them out. In a real life situation, would you jump out of no where and risk getting shot from every possible direction? Plus with World at War and Modern Warare 3′s wacky spawning issue, it is really hard to constantly be moving all over the place and sometimes you do have to buckle down in a spot for more than 5 seconds when enemies just keep pouring out of the same location.

What do you guys think? Am I really a camper? Or just a smart player trying to maximize the amount of kills and minimize my deaths for the team?

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Silent Hill: Downpour uber disappointing

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:11:39 +0000

I used to be a fan of the Silent Hill series but ever since Silent Hill: Homecoming came out and broke my heart, it was never the same. The latest addition to the series basically put the final nail to the coffin of the series. Why couldn’t Konami just stick to what worked instead of adding so much new features that actually changed the style of the game? To me Silent Hill: Downpour isn’t a Silent Hill game but rather a generic third person game with bits and pieces of survival feel to it.

The immediate difference I noticed was the amount of combats you had to encounter, paired with a sluggish control which made dodging, at least to me, hard to do and thus taking some series damage at times. The monsters you have to deal with are not impressive at all, they have lost that dark and twisted feeling to them compare to previous Silent Hill series. Monsters have always been somewhat “messed up” and dark throughout the series up to the last game. And why chopping the Pyramid Head and the Puppet Nurses? What’s the deal with that? Those are two of the most iconic monsters of the series with Pyramid Head being one of the most fearsome ones.

Then we have the graphics, which is not impressive at all and there are loads of choppy framerates moments for you to enjoy. They don’t just come out randomly but seem location based, meaning I will encounter the same choppiness going through the same location over and over again.

Finally, the fact that you can only hold a limited amount of weapons is plain stpuid to me. Making them scarce is one thing, which contributes to the “survival” factor. But limiting the amount of weapons the character can hold makes it annoying. Oh yes, all I saw during the game were bricks, throwable bricks everywhere and at some point in the game you can get practically unlimited amount of shotgun ammo. I mean come on…

All these problems combined killed Silent Hill: Downpour, what was Konami thinking when they were developing this? And I thought Silent Hill: Homecoming was bad enough, this one is even worse.

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Is Buying Traffic For Your Blog A Good Practice

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:24:07 +0000

Blogging can be a mesmerizing activity, yet most people have trouble in increasing their blog readership. Since, more and more people are opting for writing on blogs; therefore, it may take time before your blog’s daily traffic can grow. Now, with slow readership rates, many bloggers may be enticed to pay a little extra to increase their blog’s readership and traffic. But before you decide to shed those extra dollars, wait for a few moments and decide aptly whether buying traffic for your blog can actually be good. Check out these points to know whether you can benefit your blog through buying traffic or other activities.

1. The best things about buying traffic
Generally, people buy traffic for their blogs because they want to increase readership and exposure of the content. So, if you are one of the bloggers who wants to publicize her/his high quality content, then buying some traffic will actually provide you good exposure on the ever growing internet.

Buying traffic will help you operate your blog in a more professional manner through which you can find the target audience and reliable advertisement options.

At the same time, buying traffic will also increase your blog’s visibility and it would rank high on search engines. This way you can get more potential readers who may by searching for content on search engines. This way your blog would have steady flow of daily readers.

Most importantly, buying traffic for your blog will help you market your content effectively and easily. A blog with steady readership can easily get marketing opportunities with target ads on the blog. So, you can even earn some profits.

2. The bad things about buying traffic
The worst part of buying traffic for your blog is the expensive nature of publicity. This expense can be quite heavy on your pocket. People generally create blogs because they want to keep it hassle-free. Moreover, buying traffic for your blog doesn’t guarantee immediate success.

A major problem with buying traffic for your blog is the fact that the blog will not become successful in an instant. It will take a lot of time before you get steady readership on your blog. If you are thinking of investing in blog related designs and content, then this might pose a problem for you.

Also, purchasing traffic for your blog is not really budget-friendly. Most importantly, there is no guarantee that potential readers will ever read it.

3. Tips, tricks and tactics
If you are not interested in buying traffic for your blog or believe that it wouldn’t serve you any good, then you can always try these tips and tactics that can help you to have more traffic on the blog. These tips are small-investment strategies that will liberate you from the hassles of expensive traffic purchase and will allow you to increase the traffic on your blog steadily and effectively.

a. You must write and express your opinions as often as possible without compromising on the quality of your work. So, the readers will expect you to present your opinions and will be interested in knowing how you feel. Therefore, readership would grow and sustain posting regularly will increase your visibility on search engines.

b. Make sure that you reply to all the comments and comment more on other similar blogs to drive traffic to your blog. Also, you can submit the URL of your blog to a search engine.

c. Tagging is another powerful procedure of increasing blog traffic. Although, it can be a little time consuming, yet it helps your present readers to know what’s new on the blog. At the same time, tagging enables readers’ friends to see what they are reading.

d. Images are attractive and draw attention. So, always try to add images on your blog so that the reading becomes more interesting and friendly.

e. Share your blog posts through social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn so that your friends and acquaintances can know what’s new and are tempted to take a look at your blog.

f. Try to rope in some other blog writer. You can be guest writers on each other’s blog. This way you both will be able to have each others’ readers that will increase your blog’s traffic.

Buying traffic for your blog can be a good practice depending upon how you want your blog to be advertised. It is great for those who want to have profits from their blog. But it can be an unnecessary expense. So, think before you buy traffic for your blog and try to adopt smart strategies and intelligent choices to increase your blog’s traffic.
About the author: Claudia is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on luxury and technology. She recently read an article on wireless projector that attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on green building.

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Headphones review – Urbanears PLATTAN headphones

admin — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:47:16 +0000

Today I received a very nice pair of Urbanears headphones from Currys, they were generous enough to send me a pair of Urbanears’ Tomato (red colored) PLATTAN. Though I was kind of hoping for a pair of either white, black or dark grey.

I’m a sucker for good packaging and Urbanears sure knows how to do it right. I had to slowly and carefully unwrap the box because I didn’t want to ruin it. As soon as I “unwrapped” the box I saw those pair of Tomato red headphones placed nicely in there. Underneath the headphones was a friendly reminder there were more parts hidden under the, with a lack of a better description, triangular folded layer that hid away the two extra adapter cables (Nokia and Neutral) that came with the package as well as a product catalog. Let me tell you even the catalog was nicely done.

Let’s get to the actual product review and keep in mind that I’m NOT an audiophile. But I did notice a huge difference in sound quality from my Sony MDR-E9LP earbuds particularly the fact that the sound was much clearer and provided enough bass. I’m not really a headphone person and I wasn’t sure if it would be comfortable wearing these headphones, but they fit my Asian head and covered my ears almost perfectly as I was pretty secluded.

I’ve also asked two of my friends to test them out and the results were mixed. One thought the PLATTAN could use more bass. The other thought the sound quality was more than enough, particularly in the bass department. For myself, I thought the bass was more than enough for my taste so I guess that’s 2 vs 1.

I did a simple comparison test by listening to music on my iPhone back to back with my old Sony MDR-E9LP earbuds and then the PLATTAN . Then I watched a movie on my labtop using the PLATANN and it was obvious the PLATTAN were much, much better that it actually made the movie experience more enjoyable as if I was wearing a pair of mini home threatre sound system over my head.

Now the design, first thing I noticed was the cables weren’t the usual soft plastic but felt like those similar to fabric-ish material used in shoe laces. This probably contributed to why it felt comfortable around my head. The PLATTAN also comes with an “auxiliary” or they called it “zound plug” that allows a second person to plug in and listen to them as well. Me and my friends all agreed that the headphones were a lot sturdier than they looked and very easy to pack. Me and one of my friends thought the packaging was nice while the other friend thought the packaging and design were “ok”. I guess its subjective, but again its 2 vs 1.

Overall, I think the Urbanears PLATTAN headphones provide great sound quality with its soft fabric and collapsible design. Not to mention the great packaging! The PLATTAN headphones might not be for the hardcore audiophiles but for sure they are more than enough for the more casual users like me.

PLATTAN’s report card:
Design (headphones): 8.5/10
Sound quality: 8/10
Packaging: 9/10

Product page:
>Official product page for the PLATTAN

For Canadians, Urban Outfitters is also selling the PLATTAN headphones:
Urban Outfitters product page for the PLATTAN

Currys is currently running a laptop promotion at Curry’s laptops

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The Weather Network Tops Apple’s Top 25 All-Time Free Apps List

admin — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:51:41 +0000

Canadians love the weather and their number-one source for mobile forecasts is The Weather Network.

Last week Apple announced the Top 25 All-Time most downloaded paid and free apps for iPhone and iPad as part of its “Countdown to 25 Billion Apps” promotion. According to the free-app list, The Weather Network mobile app landed the top spot for the iPad and in the Top 3 for iPhone.

Being one of the first companies to break into the world of mobile applications four years ago, The Weather Network has seen incredible growth in its industry-leading app business with download numbers surpassing the 20 million mark and impressive ratings across all platforms.

The newly launched Weather Network-branded app for iPhone boasts two million unique users and over 100 million page views, monthly. It was also recently upgraded to include enhanced ski reports, a fixed Trip Forecast date button, as well as improvements to the charts and maps performance.

Averaging over 300 thousand unique visitors and nine million page views month-to-month, WeatherEye HD for iPad is now compatible and optimized for iOS 5. It also has improved satellite/radar maps usability and location search.

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Blacklight Open Beta Now Live!‏

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:15:20 +0000

With the launch of Open Beta you can now start building up that reputation as someone to be feared on the battlefield. All character progression is permanent and a new map – Vortex – is now available for play.

An incredible amount of updates, bug fixes, and gameplay tweaks have been implemented thanks to feedback from Closed Beta players. So get in game to check it out, and don’t forget to head over to the official Blacklight forums and website for all the latest information.

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Log Entry 022: Deadlock 0.3.0 released

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:57:22 +0000

Deadlock version 0.3.0 is online and available to all Spearheads and Frontliners. This version continues our commitment to Open Door Development which provides access to Deadlock, while it’s being developed. Remember that you can get access to Deadlock as well as support the development of Interstellar Marines by upgrading your profile to Spearhead or Frontliner in our Shop.

This update includes, among other things, the ability to shoot each other in multiplayer, new dynamic weather/game modes, new impact effects and lit particles system and weapon aiming with RDS (Red Dot Scope). Watch the video and read on for a detailed changelog.

Changelog
ADDED: Marine damage system (early iteration – 3 shots to die!)
ADDED: Marine death & respawning (‘K’ to suicide)
ADDED: Weapon consumes ammo (Ammo counter in bottom center of screen. Automatic unlimited reloads when depleted.)
ADDED: ‘Warzone’ weather mode
ADDED: Weapon aiming (early iteration – Hold Right Mouse Button)
ADDED: Lit particles support
ADDED: Network support to Lights (‘E’ to toggle on Playground)
UPDATED: Divided world/character/helmet rendering into multiple compositing cameras
UPDATED: Mainline with a performance overhaul
UPDATED: Dynamic weather system and modes
UPDATED: Weapon firing loop tech & sounds (1p and 3p)
UPDATED: Impact effects for all physical materials on Mainline
UPDATED: Stabilization of marine animations for a steadier camera
FIXED: 1p character mesh flickering when looking down
FIXED: 3p Marine “floats” above the ground

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New Developer Videolog from Heroes & Generals shows Bicycles‏

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:20:34 +0000

This videolog is the fourth in a series of videos, which takes gamers behind the scenes for a closer look at the development of Reto-Moto’s upcoming Massive Online Strategic Shooter: Heroes & Generals. The game is currently in Alpha-stage, so bear in mind that the graphics and sound shown here is still far from final.

The features highlighted in this Videolog are:
An introduction to the Strategic Multiplayer Campaign and the connection to the Shooter-part of the game
The new Factory Map
New Vehicles (including bicycles)
New Character models
And many more…
The previous videologs covered amongst other vehicles, environments and mines:

Heroes & Generals – Alpha Videolog 3
Heroes & Generals – Alpha Videolog 2
Heroes & Generals – Pre-alpha Videolog 1

See Heroes & Generals live at GDC
Reto-Moto will be present at the Game Developers Conference in San Fransisco, giving a preview of Heroes & Generals to members of the gaming press. Look for us at the Nordic Pavilion Booth 1824 in the North Hall.

About Heroes & Generals
Heroes & Generals is a Free2Play Massive Online FPS with a Strategic Multiplayer Campaign, taking place in the European theater of war during WWII. Players can enter the fray as ‘Heroes’ in the trenches of war torn Europe or take a step back and manage battlefield assets, army units and reinforcements as ‘Generals’.

With seamless access to both forms of gameplay, players fight an ongoing battle between Axis and Allies where the result of every clash alters the scope of a persistent war campaign. Every conflict takes place across diverse battlegrounds including contested cities, factories and airfields, each one represented on the strategic map with hundreds of key locations.

Heroes & Generals is a PC game that’s fully playable in a browser, yet it offers state-of-the-art graphics and sound thanks to the proprietary Retox engine. Detailed infantry and vehicle-based battles erupt in sprawling, sophisticated environments flanked by cutting-edge effects and audio.

Heroes & Generals is being developed in close collaboration with the community at every step – including the current playable Alpha stage. The game offers incomparable early hands-on access and participation: A real opportunity for gamers to influence everything from map layout to weapon handling, evolving the game’s design alongside dedicated interaction with Reto-Moto team members.

Reto-Moto at a glance
Reto-Moto was founded in 1997 and quickly transformed into IO Interactive, which went on to release Hitman and Freedom Fighters. In 2004 IO Interactive was sold to Eidos, however the founding members of Reto-Moto left Eidos and reformed their old company, bringing in some of the core developers from IO Interactive. Heroes & Generals is the first game from Reto-Moto.

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Fatal Frame 2 – Crimson Butterfly remake for Wii only

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:36:55 +0000

Fatal Frame 2 – Crimson Butterfly was and still is one of the best Japanese survival horror out there. You don’t fight against the typical zombies like in Resident Evil or to a lesser extend, House of the dead and Dead Rising. This game makes you capture evil spirits using an old camera called Camera Obscura. It was a pretty interesting and refreshing experience back then. Even now I still find this game amazing (check out my playthrough videos on my YouTube channel), well, minus the fact that there is really no difference between running and walking.

Fortunately, for Wii owners, there will be a remake coming soon later this year with improved graphics (check the trailer below). Unfortunately the remake is for Wii only. Why Tecmo why?! Seems that all the Japanese horror survival games are specifically for Nintendo only. Like the new 3DS game called Spirit Camera. You can pretty much guess who is the developer behind Spirit Camera. That’s right Tecmo!

Please make a remake for PS3 and Xbox360 please Tecmo!